We went out at night!

Claire and I went to visit a most beautiful house designed by Gaudi. I have never been in such an amazing place. It is called Casa Batlo. The rooms were beautiful, doors and windows were odd shapes. Even the roof was special. I am including some pictures but it has to be seen to appreciate it.

This is the lift. Below is the central atrium - sort of - to allow air and light to flow through the building. His motto was everything should be practical and beautiful. Even his ceilings were interesting!

we both really enjoyed the evening.

A new day

With some bookings! Claire et al went to the zoo whilst Tony and I went to the top of the mountain - well nearly to the top but first, Tony went here

And I waited here

Then we caught a funicular halfway up the mountain and walked down. Lovely walk past galleries and through big gardens. some pictures-

The next photo is to show a street in an old part of Barcelona with new apartments on one side of the street and old ones on the other. It is such a mixture- and so many people crammed into small spaces.

as we were walking back to the apartment we walked through a market / very crowded and colourful.

Off to Barcelona!

Sunday morning, we drove to Bournemouth airport for our flight to Barcelona. We are staying in a good apartment in a very handy area.

Monday we did our usual thing and bought a ticket on the Red Bus and rode around nearly all day with a break for lunch. We stopped thinking we would just turn up and buy a ticket into Park Guell (one of Guadi’s designs) but found we couldn’t get in! So back on the bus and that night we did our bookings for most of the week. Some sights along the way

The round building used to be a bullring - now a shopping Centre.

After the bus, Andy and family went to inspect the beach whilst Dad and I followed a walk through the Old Town back to our apartment. These are some pictures

Easter days.

So a treat for me was to take the girls to see Kung Fu Panda 4 at the cinema. The seats were reclining so I watched the opening 10 minutes and woke for the last 10 minutes and thought I had missed anything in between.

We arrived home to Dominic delivering Pop from Australia. It was all go from then on - no time for jet lag! Dominic stayed 2 nights and took Andy and Tony and showed them how to play golf. First of all, we went to the Abbey for Good Friday ceremony - quite long. Lovely singing though in the Abbey.

Saturday morning, Dominic dropped us off in Winchester where we tried to fix up our bank accounts. After quite a long time, we went off for a walk around Winchester. Lovely day and walk.

That night Solomon came to stay and the next morning we drove to Petworrh - about an hour from Romsey. We met Dominic and Emma and had a lovely wander through the house and the Gardens. Then off to a lovely old pub for lunch.

Some ideas for anybody renovating -

This is the space for your own chapel- you could probably make up your own religion!

Back from London.

London was just as I expected - found all the right things - wool and material! Caught up with Emma for a coffee then I had a trip to her office and took in the views over London from the 16th floor - almost as good as some of the investment artwork on the walls!

I also visited the Tate Britain along the Thames. The art was magnificent as was the building. Below is the view walking over the river to the Waterloo station.

It has been a busy week at Halterworth school. A Rock Steady concert on Monday morning - Beth played the keyboard; next day the Spring Concert and Book Share with Beth ( I went to look at her book work for the term). Today there were Class Discos where they had to have a costume starting with their initials so Beth was a bunny

And Abigail was Alice in wonderland

And after binge watching The Great British Sewing Bee with Abigail, we were able to “transform” a pillowcase between us!

Back in the UK!

I am in Romsey now. I returned to Emma and Dominic’s for a couple of nights - spent the days exploring Brighton. Dominic drove me to meet Claire after work at Portsmouth on Tuesday. On a couple of days I bussed it to Winchester where I poked in the shops and also went for a long walk out of town. Winchester is a good place - quite busy but there are good walks just out of the city.

This is a quintessential scene in England.

On Friday, I trained it down to Southampton about 15 mins away. I went for a walk through a couple of parks and around the town.

Clock Tower of Southampton.

Saturday, I went for an 8k walk with the local ramblers through the New Forest - pretty muddy but had the proper boots and sticks so quite comfortable. It was a bit chilly though.

Lazy start on Sunday then a trip to Mottisfont. Beautiful old house and gardens. The girls did a Rabbit Trail round the grounds and won an Easter Egg for their trouble.

Today I am involved in costumes for Beth and Abigail’s dress up day at school. Tomorrow I am off to London to visit the King. Probably no pictures as I will be much too busy. Xxx

The group

I have a sort of a group photo.

The leader didn’t organise a photo as he had found over the years some people don’t enjoy being in photos. The one above was organised by the Canadian lady on the end who was very outgoing - very kind and lovely. There were 4 Canadians, 8 English and me. One of the Canadians was 60 years, worked for UN Humanitarian section and living in Somalia presently. She was probably the youngest. Mostly people were in their 70s.

The bus we drove around in - pretty noisy and a bit jolty.

The lady on the left is my sewing friend - in her 60s; the lady in black is the lovely Canadian. She and her husband had been walking in Madeira for 2 weeks, then 1week in Portugal before this walk. She was a bit worn out by then so took of couple of days but when she did walk she wore Sketchers slip on sneakers! The man on the right was 84. So not a young bunch.

Some odds and ends.

I am back in Brighton staying for a couple of nights. I am just clearing up photos etc and finishing off my notes of the walk. We stayed in two hotels, both had good points. The first one was set up with self catering facilities so you could make a cup of tea for yourself The breakfast was just a continental meal it was also in a village and close to some shops. The other one pictured below was on an estate out of town. It had a terrific breakfast but no facilities in the room I had forgotten that this was quite normal in European hotels. the second hotel had a very moorish feel.

Each night we ate at a restaurant near the hotel where we had 3 course meals with wine. The first course every time was puréed vegetable soup. There were lots of traditional Portuguese dishes for mains. My favourite dish was the Pastel de Nata otherwise known as Portuguese tart - so delicious!

Another lovely thing was the wildflowers everywhere along the coast.

Also the sign for the Portuguese Camino kept popping up so we did something a little spiritual too.

I have a photo of the map and I think you can read the towns mentioned on the photo.

Day 7 - Vila do Bispo to Cabo de S Vicente

Last walk and shortest - only 8.5k. A pretty flat start from inland to the coast where there was the usual up and down path finishing with 1.5ks of rocks - the soles of my feet were sore the next morning. The end of the walk was the most South-eastern point of Europe and Prince Harry the Navigator used to watch his ships go out to discover the new world and all that went with that. The weather was great again - 19degrees. At the end of the walk we went into a town for a drink. Some pictures.

These are the rocks - hard to find flat sand to walk.

This is the lighthouse at the Cape. I mostly took the photo to get one of our illustrious leader. He had the worst haircut and beard ever, a very pink shiny nose but was like a mountain goat everywhere we walked and such a fast walker. He would sometimes go ahead to check out the paths for us and would always run so as not to waste time. He was extremely patient and never minded that people were slow and had to wait for them to catch up. I wasn’t always amongst that group, depending on who I was talking to about their life story.

Day 6. Friday - Zambujeira Do Mar to Odeceixe

Back along the coast. Lots of ups and downs around beautiful coves. The sea was calmer today and the beaches had a few more people on them. The path on the coast is quite challenging but you feel pretty good at the end of it. The last kilometre of this walk was on quite jagged rocks - thank goodness I had the walking poles! They help so much with balance.

Day 5 - Thursday. San Teotonio to Odemira

Another lovely day of walking, this time inland through the countryside - about 18ks. This walking is much easier than the coast where you are walking along paths with soft sand. The last picture is supposed to show a little black sheep

Day 4 - Wednesday. Vila Nova de Milfontes to Almograve.

Back to the coast - although sometimes this wound in and out of shrubs and tracks not right on the coast. 16ks into a village where we had a drink at a tavern before catching the bus back to the hotel. Some more scenery -

Day 3 - Tuesday. Cercal to Porto Covo

A different scene today. We were dropped off at a town about 15 ks inland and walked back to Porto Covo through forests and fields. A bit of excitement- a stream crossing was overflowing which meant we had to go upstream and cross where it was a bit narrower and had to walk across floating logs, scramble up the bank and get under a wire fence. Only one fellow ended up with a foot in the drink. There is a photo of the stream. It was another lovely walk with ‘elevenses’ and a picnic lunch taken in the forest.

Day 2 Monday. Porto Covo to Vila Nova de Milfontes

Big walk today. I was a bit nervous as the leader kept saying how hard the sand dunes would be but not so bad. It was around 19degrees so warm enough. The path is called Rota Vincentina which runs along the coast and it was beautiful. The path was very varied with rocks and lots of sand and through vegetation of rosemary and lavender - beautiful smells. We overlooked the water the whole way Quite spectacular. Our first stop was at a fort which had a cafe/restaurant! That was a stop for Elevenses, or rather coffee. After that it was just eat wherever on the cliff top.

It was a great day, quite tiring - as we all thought but we recovered enough to meet for dinner that night.

On to Portugal - Sunday

Day one. Up early - 5am. Dominic drove me to Gatwick- half hour from Brighton- and put me on the plane to Faro where I was met by group leader with some other walkers. We had to pick up another group which meant a 3.5 hour drive to Porto Covo on the coast. It is a seaside resort town now, probably fishing village once. It is an interesting place - every house is white with blue trim - it seems to be the same all through South of Portugal although sometimes the trim will be orange or yellow. The town is a mix of neatness and shambles but nice to walk around with wide streets and sort of white stone footpaths. Some pics to try to illustrate

Every country has their own version of terrace homes.

Here I am in UK.

Arrived on time to find Andy at the airport to take me to Romsey. Great welcome from the girls when we picked them up. I had a welcome note from them on the bedroom door and a welcome hamper. Thursday I had a long walk around Romsey admiring the daffodils which pop up everywhere at this time of the year. So beautiful!

Friday was another walk around the town after dropping the girls off. Dominic arrived for the night.

Saturday, Dominic drove all the girls to Brighton where we met Emma and went to a ‘Hello Kitty’ cafe. An experience. I would include a photo of my avocado on toast but have forgotten how to insert a photo. (I am doing this on the bus travelling to the beginning of a walk so not on WiFi.)

The Unveiling

Hi

Mum has been working very hard on this lately. Great result for all the hard work!

UK Christmas 2021

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Christmas 2021

Hi All

Great day yesterday over at Dan and Dee’s house - Thanks a bunch for having us. If anyone has photos they want to add let me know

June/July birthdays