Blogs from Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

So, another trip – not long now. Getting excited .......but leaving our two gorgeous grandsons for 3 months will be harder this time as we now live so close and obviously see them more often. Of course Claire and Paul will be missed, as will Tom, whom we’ve just seen for a few hours between returning from Cape Town and driving the truck from the UK to Istanbul for a 8 month trip to Beijing and back. However the yearning for a bit of sun and adventure is calling and go we must. The final organising/stocking-up is underway and we hope to be ready to set forth on Tuesday 17 April, arriving in time to check in for our Portsmouth to Santander crossing at 5pm. Our last Spanish trip in 2010 took us through France, down ... read more

April the 1st finally arrived and after tearful goodbyes (Tina had said her goodbyes the day before) we set off to Kettering station excited & nervous, but overall more than ready to get the travelling started. Travelling light was the plan but we still seemed to have heavy bags and every imaginable travel accessory possible. If it said we needed it in the book then Tina bought it. If you add to that Mrs B's egg sandwiches then we were well laden as we boarded the train to St Pancras. After blowing half of our years budget on a cup of tea in St Pancras (in bowls!) we boarded the Eurostar destination Brussels. The stop at Brussels was only a brief one - we barely had time to make it out of the station and weren't ... read more

With leaving party 1 of 3 complete, it's almost time for final goodbyes.... thank you everyone for coming, fun was had, Tom the The Love Doctor was out, and we partied Corby-styleeeee. Bye Adam, Greg and Tom, see you in 6 months ... read more

We never got around to finishing our French blog - probably because it was all pretty anti-climactic after the idyllic days spent in Normandy. We drove to Rouen on a motorway, it rained pretty much non-stop, we stayed in a modern hotel with all mod cons; our own toilet and everything! (The Ibis, on the riverbank - would happily recommend it; underground parking, big quiet rooms, walking distance to the centre). So it couldn't have been much more different. Not all bad of course - the centre of Rouen is pretty cool, even if the outskirts could be any industrial city anywhere in the world, and we did some nice bars and restaurants in the narrow, cobbled backstreets, gazed at yet another massive, awe-inspiring cathedral, and went to a Sunday market with a decidedly cider-orientated product ... read more

Hi everyone, We made it to my Auntie Erin's house near Northampton, England. We were flying for 21 hours (including a rest in Malaysia) and it was daytime the whole time because we saw the sunrise in Perth and the sunset in London! Can you imagine a day with 21 hours of sunlight? Exerpt from written journal: When we were on the plane to Malaysia we saw the sun shining up and the clouds down the bottom. They were in little pieces, it was so beautiful. I couldn't stop looking at it because it was so so so so beautiful. Jade :) ... read more

10.50 p.m. Having a bit of a minor panic for past week as we have been unable to contact our Helpx host, Dominique, to confirm our arrival on Monday 4th July. We sent emails through the website and directly but 'rien'. Anyway last night Bill tried phoning and all he got was a recorded French message - and the only bit we could understand was 'desolee' - eeeeek, woss going on, we wondered? We were just about to invest the help of our intrepid fluent French speaking friend, Trudi, but before doing this had one more go a la telephone. Result! We are no longer 'desolee' as we have made contact with Dominique (I wish I could say that without thinking 'dominatrix) and confirmed our imminent arrival. Tres bonne. I wonder what work we will be ... read more

7.10 a.m. Just having a bit of a 'dry run' with this blogging business to make sure all our equipment is working. We are off to France on Friday to the Arras Festival and then driving on down to Grandcamp-Maisy in Normandy to stay with Dominique and her family via helpx. We work for 5 hours per day and in return we get fed, watered and accommodation! We are 62 and 55, respectively, we have never done this before - what could possibly go wrong?!... read more

Hi, we will be updating this blog as and when we can, only 6 days to go!!... read more

Saturday. Left Yelvertoft near Crick at 10:15. Weather sunny but with a keen wind. Uneventful until reaching Watford Top Lock. We are boat number 9 in the queue! Time of arrival in the queue is 12 noon. Through the locks by 16:00 and we decided to proceed through Braunston Tunnel before looking for a mooring for the night. Lovely, sunny day but quite breezy. David played with his new gizmo - a GPS tracker - a birthday present form his boys. Braunston Tunnel an evil place. We hit the sides a few times because of the way it snakes along. Reached the end and decided to moor up straight away at 6:20pm. Rang Mum at about ten past seven after preparing supper (chicken and bacon casserole). Had to climb up over the tunnel to get a ... read more