Cabo San Lucas, Mulege and San Ignacio 2 – 28 December 2017 If you remember , we changed our original plan of spending a month in Cabo to two weeks. That was a good decision as Cabo, although a much smaller town than the vast sprawling La Paz, is an acquired taste, very busy, visited by large cruise ships, sometimes two or three at the same time, and an enclave of North Americans, both from the US and Canada. Everyone speaks ( a version of) English and every hundred metres around the Marina can be found special ATMs to deliver American dollars. Everything is priced in dollars. Apart from the bar names and souvenirs, probably many made in China, there is nothing Mexican about Cabo Marina. It is huge. With a narrow entrance on the Sea ... read more

The 20th October saw us set off on our travels again and we landed in Mexico City in the early evening. We were staying two nights to recover from the flight, adjust to the time difference and to allow a day between flights as we always do. As we pulled up at the hotel the area around looked really run down and the driver must have seen our faces as he quickly said, "Outside bad but in hotel very good". He was right, the hotel was fine despite having a machine gun armed guard standing by reception. I was nervous around him to begin with but strangely we soon bonded by necessity. Neither he nor the reception staff spoke any English so I spoke Spanish. For some reason the reception staff could not understand me but ... read more

17 - 24th July 2017 At last we have ventured 'abroad' in Astrid and drove her on and off Le Shuttle with ease. Before leaving Abbey Wood we had taken the train to Charing Cross and visited Stanfords travel book shop to buy a book listing commercial camping sites in France and Spain. There was only one, a huge tome that covers all of Europe, called Camperstop. The assistant said it was the only one she knew so we bought it despite the price of £28. Anyway, once we had chance to read it we realised it was not what we had been looking for. It does not list 'normal' commercial sites but places where motorhomes (not caravans) can stop. Many of the sites are free and a high proportion provide toilets, water fills, grey water ... read more

Denali 11 June to Anchorage 23 June 2017 I was so keen to post the last blog (knowing we would only have wifi that night and not again until we reached Valdez) that I think I should have explained a little more about Denali National Park & Preserve. As you might guess from the name it prohibits hunting and any contact between humans and animals. So there is no feeding of animals or any attempt to interfere with the balance of life in the area. There is a scientific research centre which monitors and studies the flora and fauna but in theory does not intervene. The Park was established under a different name in 1917 so has it's centenary celebration this year. We could have had some birthday cake but we went walking when it was ... read more

Vancouver to Seward 21-31 May 2017 We boarded the Holland America ship Noordam by lunch on Sunday 21st with some trepidation as Jim and I were unsure we would enjoy the cruise 'experience'. However we were soon settled into our 'stateroom', cabin in other words. It was spacious with a queen size bed, small sofa, table, desk, TV, double wardrobes, ensuite with bath, and best of all, a private balcony with a table and two chairs complete with footstools. Getting to grips with the complexities of 10 decks, four entertainment venues, (in fact I think there are 5 but I did not see the last one until we were disembarking) numerous bars and quiet areas including a library, two pools, three hot tubs, a fitness centre and spa, medical centre, casino, shops, two main restaurants and ... read more