jackieandchris2011

North Macedonia Friday 3rd May 2024 We left , Albania and then we drove through a seaside town, and we had to go across a bit of unmade road to get to the Border!! Got through in about ½ hour and Chris got his Green Card!! Our first stop was the Monastery Saint Naum. It had started to rain again so I don’t think we were able to give it justice! Even the peacocks were sheltering from the rain- the boat trips to see the Springs were still going though!! Walked across a bridge that was gushing water from underneath ( I can only assume from the spring!) into Lake Orhid. The monastery was established in 905 by St Naum of Orhid himself ,and he is also buried in the church! ( That explains why people ... read more

Saturday 20th April 2024 Well hello Montenegro!! Caught the bus to Dubrovnik bus station, coach turned up early ( not the modern Flixbus but a Jadran Express...( Toilet didn’t work!) white coach with an eighty year old( I’m guessing!!) with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, driver!! This couldn’t be our driver, surely not.....but yes it was. And to be fair he did get us here despite over 2 hours delay at border!! Stunning scenery, especially where went into Montenegro as the coach took us all the way around the Bay of Kotor, which took about an hour!! The Bay was surrounded by mountains and it was definitely black over the mountains by Kotor! NB Sit on right hand side of bus! Sure enough, as we arrived at Kotor, the heavens opened and we got ... read more

Everything went as planned - apart from getting absolutely drenched in Wales on the 21stFeb on the way to the airport!! Caught the end of the carnival in Mijas on the Sunday ( I always thought they finished 40 days before Easter?!) and did a few walks, including going up to the Castle at Alora and lunch at Kens with all the dogs (Six of them!!) We were leading a walk up the Alhaurin mountain so that was reccyd and then enjoyed by about 20 people and we also went to a few of the European Cricket matches as well where the Scottish Team and supporters all turned up dresses as ‘Vinny’ – the cricket commentator who dresses very flamboyantly!! Unfortunately we are not here for the finals ☹ My sister also came over for a ... read more

SPAIN Nov 15th – Dec 2nd This trip will be remembered, by me anyway, for ‘The Time that the Parrots Came’!! They have been on the coast for quite a few years (noisy horrible things but quite pretty to look at!!) and I always hoped that they wouldn’t move inland. We have had one or two over the years but now there seems to be a small flock of about twenty parrots that have moved into a large tree the Plaza de la Legion. One can only hope that they disappear, as quickly as they have appeared, otherwise it will be a sad goodbye to all the small native birds, as the parrots have no predators. Parrots excepted, it was a quiet, if not busy couple of weeks. We rented Howards car again and was duly ... read more

Saturday-Thursday 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th,11th, 12thOctober 2023 Cobh, S.Ireland We were informed that someone needed to be dropped at hospital so we went northward from Corner Brook to the Straight of Belle Isle between Newfoundland and Labrador, and a rib boat came to collect them at St Anthonys. Wild place – not much there…except a few dolphins playing around the headland!! Miles from anywhere ….or so it seemed!! Anyway, after 5 days at sea, we were going a bit stir crazy!! There is only so much reading, gazing at the fog, ice carving, fashion shows, towel folding, vegetable carving, shows, jigsaws and lectures you can do!! There is a full programme of activities but a lot of them are Mind, Body, Soul exercises, quizzes , choir or learn to play the ukelele!! We arrived at Cobh ... read more