After a rather bumpy but otherwise uneventful ferry across the channel, Clancy once again hit French soil at Calais. It was mid afternoon and after a quick reintroduction to driving on the right, we managed to get a little lost getting through Calais and were on our way. That night we made it as far South as Cap-Griz-Nez and found a nice little local camp ground on the coast next to an old German gun emplacement. After here we headed South and inland to the historic Somme region, the home of the Western front during WW1. Here we visited the Canadian/Newfoundland war memorial complete with the preserved trenches in the surrounding fields, as they were as the war ended. We continued down to Villers-Brettenaux visiting the Australian War memorial just outside town and the touching museum ... read more

It seems like only a few days ago that mum announced her plans to travel to the UK and Europe....really that was about six months ago and time has gone very quickly. Mum arrived on the 15th and got herself up to Manchester on a bus. In true Fay style she hit the ground running and has not stopped since. Even the 24 hours or so on a plane then 6 hour bus ride was not enough to stop her from getting started on her European adventure. We visited the Manchester museum the day she arrived followed by a traditional British curry for dinner. The next day Fay and Kirstyn set off in Clancy for a tour of the Lakes District spending the first night camped behind a real british pub on Lake Coniston. Day two ... read more

This weekend was supposed to be Kirstyn’s weekend of crazy things she’s never done (now she’s 30 and getting old) but the Adrenaline Gods had other ideas. We did the usual trick and took off straight after work, first stop, the Tacky-a-rama of Blackpool. The main reason, the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Europe is there, and Kirst has never been on any roller coaster! (I was shocked too when I found this out). By the time we got there by 8pm, it was last ride and our plans had been destroyed. We had to settle for the run down boulevard of dodginess, and the Blackpool tower, all topped off with the worst ever fish and chips! Bloated and in pain, both physically and emotionally, we left on our way to the other side of ... read more

May day long weekend we decided to venture back to Scotland to spend a bit more time next to one of the many Lochs. We left on the Friday night straight after work and hit the M6 most of the way to Glasgow before sleeping at a services stop. Awoke early with the sun and after a quick brekkie, we headed into Glasgow for a better look around than our very brief visit at xmas time. Wandered around Finnieston Quays taking in the sites of ‘The Armadillo’ (Glasgow’s answer to the Opera house) and the Science Centre. We then ventured into the city centre which by this stage was opening up and had coffee and cake before hitting the road again. We stopped in at a place called the Whangie, a deep chasm through the ... read more

Our last few days in Caerphilly unfortunately have left us with a bad taste….we arrived home to Caerphilly to find that some intellectually challenged nobs had slashed all four tyres on Kit! (Kit is/was our beloved Volvo sports car!?see earlier blog) It wasn’t worth paying to get new tyres so ended up having to give her away to a group of local bums (probably the same guys who slashed her tyres). A very sad farewell indeed. Never mind, it could have happened anywhere. We spent a few days packing up our room in Caerphilly before heading off for the next chapter in working in the UK. We had to rush our leaving a little as our landlord had decided to put his house on the market whilst we were away, so we left in a little ... read more