Four go on an adventure

Probably quite a short post but who knows. We were leaving Stafford behind and were checking where we would stay next when I spotted on the map the town on Gnosall. By the way who knows how to pronounce Gnosall?  We were clueless so decided to ask the wifey in "The bakery" which might not have been a wise move because "The Bakery" was some way short of what one might expect of an establishment with such a name. It did have some bread and some buns but was sadly laking in the baked goods which were promised by the name. Alas I digress. How do you pronunce Gnosall. Well according to the aforementioned wifey in the aforementioned bakery it is No as in the word no and sall and in the start of the same Sally. No-sall.  OK having sorted that out why were we stopped in Gnosall? Well I happened to know a guy who, in combination with others, runs an open mic night in the Royal Oak in Gnosall. As it happens it is on a Thursday night so we decided, having plenty of time to get...

  After a few days of "radio silence" we are back. I had a very busy few days of work there and we were camped by the side of a fishing lake although there was not much actual fishing going on and we never saw any fish getting caught so maybe we should just call it a lake. Oh and on that front I guess it was really pretty small so maybe a pond would be better so all in all I think Seighford Fishing Lakes might be better to be called Seighford Ponds. Mind you it did have quite a selection of birds including a fine flock of Canada Geese. A tad noisy but otherwise they were good neighbours. It was, as previously indicated, a busy work spell and so we did not manage to do that much except work but it was notable that our journey from Banbury to Stafford took us (deliberately) through Fenny Compton. Now here is a test for you, where do you know that name from. Fenny Compton. It is a tiny village in the middle of England with not much happening. I can hear you know thinking, I know...

So we have now left France behind us as we end our third week on the road. In actual fact we ended it not in the motorhome but in the home of our good friends Karen and Michael Moffat who now live in Banbury. We met them a long time ago in Bahrain and have remained close friends ever since. More about our Banbury adventure in due course. We left France via the Channel Tunnel. This is our second crossing using this route but the first time with the motorhome. I really recommend it. It is fast and easy. I was a little uneasy about driving the motorhome onto the train because it goes inside the carriage but we were behind two buses so I thought, if that guy can get his big bus in there, I can get my comparatively tiny motorhome on safely. I am delighted to report a straightforward boarding.  Approaching the train We're going inside Inside the train, you drive through all the carriages to the front Getting off was fairly easy too (for me) because I was lucky to get the benefit of ...

I have had a busy couple of days working but we have still managed to move twice. Firstly to the really pretty town of Honfleur which is right at the mouth of the River Seine. Who knew the Seine flows northwards and discharges into the English Channel? Not me anyway but I know now. It was another leisurely journey avoiding the motorways and most of the traffic. Weather in Honfleur has been amazing. Really sunny and also quite warm 18 degrees today. Here are a few pictures from Honfleur. Below, the hedges are cut to look like boats Big towery tower This is where the women used to gather to wash their clothes. A "Steamie" without the steam! Old buildings So after leaving Honfleur this morning we have again travelled north. France is famed for its cuisine and it seems that French people have an especial attachment to a particular ITALIAN dish. They seem to be infatuated with PIZZA. Now where do they buy these pizzas I hear you ask. In fancy pizza restaurants? Nope have you ever ...

We have moved again a little further north towards our channel crossing. Today saw us take a leisurely drive north through rural France. No motorways (and no tolls). It probably ends up costing more in fuel and wear and tear but hey ho, it is a pleasure to drive the country lanes and pass through villages and actually see a little of how French people live. Some of the villages are really pretty and some not so. It was really noticeable how many crosses there were in this region and several scenes depicting a full crucifixion. Several crosses and many statues onlooking. If I see another one I will make a point of stopping to try to get a picture. We have made it to a very small village called Joué on the edge of another called Valanjou. This spot only has room for four motorhomes but it is quiet and seems perfect for a couple of days. I have a lot of work tomorrow so will be busy. We had a quick walk into the hamlet to get a picture in case there's no time tomorrow. Of course every...

Ok apologies for the radio silence for a few days. Some of us have to work you know. Let's get you caught up without any further ado. I promised you pictures of Arjuzanx and I am going to have to modify that slightly to say picture, singular. I only took one of the war memorial. It is not the best picture of what I thought was one of the nicest war memorial's I have seen. The guy on the top was all painted beautifully and it was really striking. We stayed a couple of nights in Arjuzanx but the weather was awful. I was working and Sheila was confined to book reading and cooking. I must say the food on this trip has been pretty awesome. We often think let's eat out and so we go to the local restaurant. We look at the menu and the prices and think, sod it, we're not paying that. Sheila makes something ten times better for a tenth of the price. It is a no brainer really. Pork teryaki (or however you spell it) tonight. Might just open a bottle of my favourite 2 euro a bottle...

Well today was a bit of an adventure. We decided to play it safe and drive westwards along the south side of the Pyranees in order to evade the risk of snow at high altitude heading directly northwards form Jaca. All good. What a sensible choice I hear you say. So we head westwards and get to Pamplona where, since the weather is really nice, we decide to head over the border and into France. The weather was extremely kind and was actually really nice. OK so far so good. Now once we are in Frasnce we fail to realise that our phone does not provide data in France. Instead of some warning of loss of connection the lovely sat nav lady continues to provide instructions. Like a complete plonker I follow them blindly and soon find myselkf thinking, "this cannot be the best way". However in for a penny in for a pound I continue to follow oblivious to the fact that she is randomly suggesting turn after turn. After a short time I look out of the right hand window and see the most beaut...

Today we have moved a shortish distance north to Jaca. When I was a child there was a childrens program called Jackanory and it became (at least in my world) a rhyming slang, what's the jackanory? What's the story. Of course I shortened it to what's the jaca? So here is the Jaca. Jaca allows us to tick off another province and complete an autonomous region. We have now done all three provinces of Aragón because Jaca is in Huesca. The weather on the journey has been pretty bad with a lot of rain and it is pretty cold. A bit like Scotland on a good day! We managed a quick walk into the town centre and were astonished by the number of people going about the town. It was pretty busy and we did not really undertsand why. You are probably aware of the Camino de Santiago which is a famous walk along the north coast of Spain ending at Santiago de Compostela. Well such walks have to start somehwre and there are several potential starting points and apparently Jaca is one of the firs...

  Day 2 in Zaragoza and a trip into town on the tram. There is only one line on the system but it passes right past the aire where we are staying.  We took the tram right through town to the south side and to the Parque Grande José Antonio Labordeta (big park of José Antonio Labordeta) who was a singer-songwriter and former Deputy of the Cortes of Aragon. It seems a bit strange that such an old park should be named so. Maybe it has been renamed? Who knows? Anyway its a nice park and pretty big which is maybe why it is called the Grand Park. Our first stop in the park was the Museum of Ethnology. The building was rather quaint and looks really well preserved but in fact was only built in 1959. It's only just a smidgeon older than me.  As you enter the park from the tram stop you are faced with this view.  There's a statue of some guy on a plinth away in the distance and it turns out to be the Monumento al Rey Alfonso I el Batallador   ( Monument to King...

Zaragoza of course, the leaning tower of Zaragoza. I have to confess that in the photos it does not look like it is leaning that much but it is enough to notice. This image is taken from the end of the magnificent square, well rectangle really outside of the big fancy church place. There is a fairly modern water feature in the front and then the tower in the back OK it's time to admit it, you thought that the leaning tower was the one on the extreme left. No. That apparent lean of that one is an optical illusion caused by the angle of the picture. The actual leaning tower is the one in distance in the middle of the picture. It is called the  Church of San Juan de los Panetes  How Much Does It Lean? It's not dramatic, but definitely visible — locals joke that the tower is "slightly tipsy" 🍷. Fun Fact There’s a popular myth in Zaragoza that the tower leans because the monks who built it drank too much wine while laying the foundations. 😄 Remember I mentioned a big fan...

It's been a while since I posted on this blog and a lot of water has passed beneath a good many bridges. We have overwintered with a few practice outings in the new motorhome and now feel ready to launch once again, into the semi-unknown. We left home on Monday and travelled roughly northwards to a tiny village called Torremocha de Jiloca. Why did we choose this spot? Well firstly, it is free and secondly is really quiet most of the time. The perfect place to get some work done. Unfortunatley I am still working full time online so we have to find places to stop to work. All my work is online and so we have bought a Starlink satellite system which, apart from the fact that I am lining Elon Musk's pocket with my hard earned cash, is brilliant. The dish can even stay inside of the motorhome most of the time and gets the signal it needs through the skylight at the front. It will work everywhere we go on our journey. This is the church in Torremocha de Jilcoa You might have recalled...