johnstonsineurope

The kids are hooked on exploring by bike, especially Lucy; she tags on the back of Darren’s bike and has an easy ride. The track we chose was an old railway line so it’s nice a flat, running along beside the river through a few tunnels and over bridges to a little village with a pub for lunch. Trouble was we were too early for lunch so when we saw a sign to the ancient ‘Stone Circle’ we took a detour….down hills…back up again...mile after mile. We finally reached it, and it was impressive but Darcy’s first reaction was ‘hey, sheep in a paddock’ he was impressed but hadn’t even noticed the stone circle. Then we had to make our way back to the pub for a well deserved cider. ... read more

Having skipped Scotland we had to cut across the top of England and find somewhere to stay. Our resident ‘Roman History’ buff wanted to see Hadrians wall. The Roman’s built it to separate the area they conquered from the ‘barbaric Scottish’…yawn.…miles and miles of nothing…yawn…stone walls (though slightly wider) just like all over England…yawn…a few wind swept sheep, some rocks and hardly a tree in sight. The hostels are full with walkers (crazy people wandering over barren landscape in the wind and rain!) so we sought out a cheap pub. After dinner we started chatting with a couple of old guys…well we could talk to one but the other had such a strong (Scottish I think)accent I could only pick up a word here and there (Darren had no idea what he was saying). ... read more

Pronounced Anick, how can they keep skipping letters of a word!! I keep having to check words for local pronunciations. We have a hostel in a quiet country lane all to ourselves with the added bonus of an open fire. It’s still not getting above 16-18. But we soldier on and go for some nice walks around the coast discovering a castle here and there and try to warm up on a sheltered beach and watch some crazy kids paddling in the icy water, our kids could only manage dipping in a toe. We’re still really tired and the trip to Edinburgh didn’t win out over staying an extra night here beside the fire. ... read more

The rain has eased so we went into the old harbourside town of Whitby. Quaint little shops in quaint little cobbled streets around a harbour with old wooden fishing boats. If everyone would just dress in 1800’s style clothes I would feel like I stepped back in time. As it is there are a lot of ‘Goth’s’ around, Bram Stoker centred a lot of Dracula in Whitby. Goth’s and crazy English in singlet tops and shorts on a cold, rainy, windy (though technically summer) day.... read more

Yeah, it’s a nice day at last, so we set off for a bike ride through the wonderful old streets of Brugges. It’s a great way to see the town but riding on cobbled streets through pedestrians and traffic is a challenge though. We’ve loved every minute of Europe but we’re looking forward to being able to speak to some one in English…anyone, even a shopkeeper. We’ve been able to get by with a very limited grasp of the language but it’s strange not being able to understand even the simple things like ‘would you like that in a bag’. Catching the ferry tonight back to England. Our budget’s going really well, Italy and France were surprisingly cheap even Rome, Venice and Paris (we haven’t had to resort to pinching money from the church collection urn ... read more