Advertisement
I know, I know, we’ve only just returned from Dubai and Oman, but three weeks of work had tired us out so it was time to head back to Blighty for a little over a fortnight.
Why? Well, one of Trish’s friends, Jane, was getting married and we really wanted to go. There was also the small matter of Brighton’s quest for a great escape from relegation. There will be a separate blog for the football though!!
We flew back from Baku in the middle of the night with
Air Baltic, a no-frills airline who are based in Riga, Latvia. When we booked we were expecting to have the whole day in Riga but two weeks before we left, we received an email ominously titled “Your flight has been cancelled”. It hadn’t in fact been cancelled, merely rescheduled. That meant spending 5 hours at Riga airport from 6am waiting for a connection, not a good enough time to go and explore the city.
Anyway, we eventually got to London’s Gatwick Airport at about 1230 British Summer Time. That gave us time to get our bags and relax in the Wetherspoons pub for a couple of hours checking out their
festival beers (!) before Trish’s sister came to collect us. Our 2 night stay in Chiselhurst, Kent, was most welcome but the weather wasn’t: it poured with rain stopping us from getting out for a walk. We had some shopping to do in any case.
Sue took us half way to Southend where we were heading for the wedding. We got a train for the rest of the journey. The Westcliffe Hotel was full of wedding guests and it was good to catch up with Jane again and finally to meet her man, Paul. The weather was very kind and the sun shone all weekend. The wedding took place in one of the hotel’s large conference rooms and we were then treated to a lovely meal of fish and chips with pea puree (which is different to mushy peas!). There was also a disco in the evening and we met lots of lovely people whilst being well looked after by Brazilian barman Leandro.
From Southend we travelled by bus and train up the Essex coast to Frinton-on-Sea where Trish’s parents live. The weather was amazing and the sun shone all week. We managed to get out into the
On owl
I thought they were supposed to be nocturnal!countryside for a nice walk during the week and also walked back from the nearby town of Clacton along the seafront. It really does make a change to get such weather, although I seem to recall we were similarly lucky last May.
Normally when we travel back to England we book a car through rental company 1-car-1. This time Russ had forgotten to book, and a good job too, as they went out of business just a few weeks before we travelled. Instead we negotiated a price with
Thrifty in Colchester who were very efficient in sorting us out. Trish then drove all the way to Huddersfield where we had a fabulous footballing weekend with friends.
Next stop was Grimsby and Cleethorpes on the Lincolnshire coast. This time the weather forecast was pretty grim but they got it wrong as usual. Okay, so there were a few light showers but we still managed to do a nice walk around Tealby and Market Rasen in the Lincolnshire Wolds. It was great to catch up with all the family again, but sadly we just didn’t have enough time to see any of our friends.
Our trip to England was
What would the English countryside be...
...without the odd burnt out car and a passing owl?! drawing to a close so it was time to head down to Sussex on the South coast. We stayed in Hailsham with Tracy and Mark, Russ’ cousin and her husband, for a night where we had a delicious curry and a few real ales! It was great to see them and the next morning we awoke to bright sunshine. We looked forward to a drive along the Sussex coast from Eastbourne to Brighton via Beachy Head. Unfortunately the coastal fog soon put paid to any thoughts of seeing the scenery. It was a real pea souper in places and very disappointing.
The weekend in Brighton was far from disappointing though, but you’ll have to wait for the next blog to read all about it!
On Sunday we flew back to Baku with Air Baltic. We left Gatwick on time at 1310 and had 2 hours on the ground in Riga this time. The major part of our rescheduling was that our Baku flight was going via Tblisi (Georgia) which added the best part of three hours onto the journey. That meant arriving at 3am and getting home at 4am. Not so bad but Trish was teaching again at
Canals
Or are they dykes? 9am, and Russ at 1030. We were a little bleary eyed but I don’t think our students noticed too much. Does that mean we always look like that????!!!!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.375s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 37; qc: 133; dbt: 0.2151s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
