Woken in the night by the wind outside and sure enough when we got up in the morning, the lovely early summer weather we’ve enjoyed so far had vanished to be replaced by very cloudy skies and an icy wind. Not pleased, had quite enough of freezing wind-chill throughout May and had hoped for better things now we are into June and much further south. Back to cold weather gear as Bob got the scooter out of the Tandy garage and I rode on the back, into Canterbury, not in my usual scooter gear of suntop and shorts but jeans and fleece topped with waterproof. Brrrr. Bob found a handy free scooter parking spot just outside the city walls and we parked and walked in. This is a obviously a very popular city visit spot for ... read more

The drive from Crystal Palace to Chartwell was only an hour and took us along quite a lot of roads which were marked as “unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles”. Not terribly well suited for a Tandy either as some areas were little more than single track with lots of bends, often blind. All made worse by the fact that the entire cycling fraternity of the county chose today to cycle the route we were taking. Quite hazardous really and we were pleased when we eventually came to a proper road which was wide enough for a white line down the middle. Chartwell is located in the middle of lovely rolling countryside and the house and grounds are an absolute delight. We’ve joined the National Trust this year so entry was free and we were waved into ... read more

It’s 7 years since we’ve been to London. For several years before that we’d visited regularly as daughter Jenny was living there but she moved out of London to Gloucestershire and we haven’t had reason to visit the City since. We had decided to have a tourist day out. Bob had prearranged Oyster and London Pass cards so we were well prepared. The no. 3 bus leaves from just across the road from the campsite and takes an hour to get to Westminster. All very easy. We visited Westminster Abbey as somewhere we’ve missed in the past and it was wonderful, well worth the visit. We then walked up to Buckingham Palace where we only just missed the Changing of the Guards but did see, and hear, them as they rode away from the palace resplendent ... read more

Said our goodbyes to Janet and Eric who were also leaving to get their ferry home. We had another full driving day across Normandy to get within spitting distance of our chunnel crossing tomorrow. Back the way we had come to Caen, heading East and then Bob managed to find a route over the Seine bypassing Rouen (a place we avoid when we can as we’ve had a couple of problems there in the past). A far more interesting drive today as we went through rather than round lots of pretty Normandy villages. Pont D’Eveque is always a pleasure to drive through, albeit very slowly today as Monday is market day. It was also tractor day on the roads and we found ourselves behind quite a few along the way. That time of year. We bypassed ... read more

Rather sad to leave our very pleasant site in the Dordogne but need to take another step nearer to home. We really are having a lovely holiday. Superb weather, super campsites and scenic routes from one to the other. Can hardly complain if today we need to use some motorway to get us further North. Loaded up and on our way by 9am. I queried with the very friendly, and laid back, campsite owner how long she had been at the campsite. This is the first year. That explains why in 2011 we rejected this site because of bad reviews. I cannot praise it enough now, a treasure of a campsite. We headed first of all to Brive using ordinary roads and this gave us the opportunity to look out for a supermarket as we needed ... read more