14th July - 3rd August 2019 After a quick look at Trakai castle we crossed over from Lithuania to Poland. Jim had identified a national park camping spot on his phone and recorded the approximate co-ordinates where the pin seemed to be and we headed there. It was a very quiet rural area with only the odd small house dotted along the beautiful, slow flowing river of crystal clear water and reed beds. The road was an unpaved track but passable. After a few minutes wandering up and down where Kate kept saying we should turn into our camp site we realised there was no camp. We had turned back towards the main road when we saw some kayaks on the river and a sign, so Jim hopped out to read it. It said (Jim guessed, ... read more

6 - 26 June Oslo had proved a wonderful cultural experience with museums and stunning old and new civic buildings. We soon realised that our journey into and through the fjord area west of Oslo would be a radically different adventure but I don't think either of us had an inkling of how challenging it would prove. We set of on the E18 through the outer sprawl of the city enjoying the feeling of escaping the busy capital and trusting Kate, our Sat Nav, to do all the hard work for us. She was doing fine despite the thunderstorm and very heavy rain until near Drammen and less than a mile from our turn-off when there was a sign saying the tunnel ahead was closed. Immediately the traffic ground to a standstill on a high flyover ... read more

2 April – 15 May 2019 After returning from the Caribbean we did the usual annual jobs and visited friends and family. We collected Astrid 2 and stayed with James's parents for two nights to get to grips with her controls. It was very kind of Maria and Martin to let us have a couple of nights in a real bed, also giving us time to check for faults before we left the dealership area. Until we drove back to Anna's in Wantage we did not have the bedding and cooking utensils to sleep in her so it was lovely to have some luxury before we moved into Astrid. The four of us went to a quiz which turned out to be a speed quiz, a new experience for us all. By the end of the ... read more

Farewell to Dominica, then Couva & Carnival After posting the last blog we still had a couple of days in Dominica which so far has been our favourite island as we loved the forests, waterfalls and geothermal features. We returned to Portsmouth, site of Fort Shirley, but this time to visit Indian River, only a short walk to the south of the town. On the way we met up with a character, Gregory. At that point we did not know he was a boatman/guide from the river and at first Jim was reluctant to engage in conversation. But we soon realised he was looking for his first clients of the day and as we chatted it became clear he knew his fauna and flora. So on reaching the river we hopped into his rowing boat, preferable ... read more

San Juan, Puerto Rico to Trinidad 1 – 6 January 2019 Happy New Year to you all! Christmas passed for us in a wonderful parade of people and places as we managed to see lots of family and friends during our brief stay of eighteen days in the UK. It was lovely to catch up and see so many people but it was also good to return to a warm clime in Puerto Rico after Tasmania and England. The days here have all reached towards 27/28 C and nights not fallen below 21. Bliss! We started in Puerto Rico which is a commonwealth of the USA and a semi-autonomous territory so not a US state. Puerto Ricans have some benefits from this arrangement so for instance they can reside in the US but they do not ... read more