Terrafirma Travels

Lesley & Stephen's culture slot in this scientific conference was a triumph. People really listened, and asked good questions. 

A cool hotel room and a big TV for Wimbledon, while it's 32° outside. 

David joined us for the swim - took him a while to get in.

Good breakfast swim off North beach. Just us! All went to Burton Agnes

Explored Scarborough a bit, including the ancient Market Hall. We cooked dinner for 10, Italian chicken casserole and Eton mess which was well received. 

Long old drive from Preston to Scarborough not least because we took the pretty route, and pretty it was but we didnt record it. Stopped halfway-ish at Fountains Abbey, a most imposing ruin.

Lovely time with Matt, Shell, Hugo, Rhea and Jude. Louis was at football. Can't show the kids but reckon Matt has enough profile! As usual, he is having interesting times with his business, but his drive and positivity will carry him through.

Bit of a lie in for once, nice cooked breakfast at 0830. Static morning with L finalising and submitting pamphlet and N following up actions and emails from yesterday, and catching up with this blog. Bridgeen for lunch, and Bernard and Doreen for tea. The latter amazingly keep going in their 90s despite various ailments that would have taken out people without their spirit.

N had all day mtg in the Spine Building next door to hotel, on the subject of a new organisation to provide a professional 'home' for all HCPs working in the field of bone health. N was one of two invited patient advocates in a room of clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, physios and relevant organisations including ROS. A most stimulating day. L worked on a pamphlet she and Stephen want to publish, then took a bus into the city centre and visited an art gallery. At 5pm we drove, v slowly through the Liverpool traffic, up towards Preston. Stopped at a random restaurant near Bamber Bridge which turned out to be lovely. N could not finish his pasta; was it the large soup starter, or leftover adrenaline from the day?! Got to Claremont Hotel in Ashton-upon-Ribble (it's Preston really) in time to watch Serena Williams not quite make her comeback at 44 after 4 years off - what was she thinking? This was after we retuned the TV. The WiFi is also a struggle as we're in the furthest...

N had an online strategy call with ROS, then we left at 11 for much motorway. V sticky through Birmingham as usual. Arrived Novotel Paddington in Liverpool at 1530, chucked bags in room, drove to Sefton Park where L spent her first year or so.  We viewed 17 Ivanhoe Rd and then walked in the Park where no doubt little L was pushed in her pram. Had a cuppa and just got into the wonderful Palm House before it closed.  Tried to drive across Liverpool to a cinema to see the NT Liaison Dangereux but the traffic started as terrible and became gridlocked. L bailed out, good decision, back to hotel where we ate in and watched Djokavic scrape a first round win at Wimbledon.

We're starting one of our complicated tours, 5 different locations, and beds, in 12 days across England ... in the car! Complicated packing. Today is Bristol, the usual 2.5 hrs with no problems on a Sunday morning. We dropped into Breese's by the River for half an hour, admired the ferry that takes an hour to come up from the harbour, while Sam got used to the idea of us intruding into his space. Joe is perfectly accepting these days, so Sam will get there.  After lunch, that we brought by emptying our fridge, we went with Joe to the Sensory room at Imperial Sports which was great fun. Back at the house we admired both boys and sometimes an adult on the new trampoline. Good bouncing! Went to Arno's Manor while Sam had bath & bed, then pizza & salad in the house & much catchup. The Manor was a bit hot with no a/c, but we managed with just the duvet cover.

Up before 6. Usual dismantling and mantling in the van. Off for the 8 min drive to the Brittany ferry. Long queues. A cursory check of the back of the van, then a frustrating wait for a passport check at the final hurdle by Private Security- paid for by the Brits? Once on board, a rush to get a prime seat at the bow and then in another queue for the 9 euro English breakfast. Soon polished off. We are without roaming, to avoid silly phone charges while at sea, so we must converse instead. Or read a book. Or make a list of the hundred things to do back at home. Used the binos, but little to see except gannets and container ships. Had unnecessary cooked lunch on board. Back in the van, and a ludicrous half-hour queue for passport control. With one bound we were free, trying to remember to tenez la gauche.  Passed some lovely old Citroën cars from Switzerland, bound for some concourse show. Through the beautiful Dorset countryside that is so familiar to Nic.   Takeaway tea boug...

I think we've never reported saying GRACE just before we leave a site - that's Gas Roof All Cupboards Electricity. Our 4-point check. We left about 1030 this morning after a very leisurely up. It rained overnight and while L did her run at 7am, but by the time we headed to the facilities it was a lovely mild sunny morning. We have warmed to this Huttopia site with all its free games, its indoor and outdoor pools, its sink cubicles with a light you control and a tap that stays on ... although the showers and toilets are unisex with a tendency to harbour noisy children.  We were thinking last night about how we felt, and that perhaps 3 weeks in the van is a tad too long. This is coloured certainly by N's hip problem, which hopefully is temporary, but also by the communal living which a campsite requires. Other people, and their young kids, can be lovely and they can be quite annoying. With only a 2.5 hr tollroad run to Caen we decided to go off piste into a Parc Natural du Re...

We did the French thing of ordering a fresh baguette for collection at 8am. It was actually our second breakfast, and v. welcome.  Nic suggested a spot of table tennis.  Nice idea but... The ball had no bounce, and kept falling into a muddy patch. It was not a good game. We longed for our own kit and our usual table. We packed up the van to take a trip down the road to the Ackerman Caves, home of one of the region's most famous sparkling wines, Cremant de Loire.  We wandered around the extraordinary caves in a self guided tour.  The 'caves' are actually old stone excavations, ideal for making and storing wine. We spotted some giant aged bottles and gasped at the soaring height of the so-called cathedral with its small hole of natural light. We learned about all the stages of making fizz. At the end of the tour were some rather fanciful art installations.  And of course, the ritual degustation. We tried 2 small glasses of fizz each. It was delicious and we bought...

Long drive day, 5 hours on the road plus stops, 540km, lovely, empty motorways, €60 in tolls! Sunshine and showers. Green landscape, no towns seen. If Camp de Lyon was 'city scruffy' tonight's Huttopia Saumur is 'country scruffy' in a nicer way - mildly bohemian/hippy vibe. Big, flat pitch - hoorah. We don't quite have a view of the Loire valley from the van - didnt have the smarts to book that kind of pitch.  On the way in, along the Loire, we happened upon many Caves offering tours & tastings. Signed up for one about Cremant Loire, our favourite posh fizz, as soon as we arrived at the site, well just after an ice lolly.

We were waiting at the campsite bus stop by 10am, with a crowd of other campers. Our bus thundered through junctions, taking no prisoners despite the fact it was a huge bendy bus. After 20 mins we reached a station where we planned to take the metro into the old town. But our Santander credit card would not allow entry into the metro. Two kind local women tried everything to help. The ticket machines were broken. L tried loading the Lyon travel app into her phone but it refused to load. We were apparently stuck. Until L tried her debit card, et voila. We had not realised that only a debit card would do. Had a coffee in the centre, wandered around the old town. Found a traboule, one of the mysterious ancient passageways that are to be found around old Lyon. The door has a brass plaque requesting the curious to be quiet when they enter in. The stone interior winds around different high buildings and ends up in another street. Very Gormenghast, or Harry Potter.  By now it was time for...

A cool grey morning dissuaded us from a swim, and anyway it's a long drive today. We feel like we're headed 'downhill' to home now with only 6 days left ... but we still have the delights of France. Prompt departure at 9am all of 200m to El Gigante supermarket for more food & drink topups plus paracetamol. On the road (many roads ... have I said what a mess the road system is?) by 10 as planned. Cloudy sun, good driving day. We've decided on 4 short 'watches' of about an hour and twenty, with a long break at Chamonix, because these roads and traffic are quite tiring.  Good road and less traffic as we head north west towards Mont Blanc, much easier driving. Pee stop and swap drivers somewhere. As we get into the mountains the scenery is excellent and the series of tunnels quite stupendous. Only 5 cars and a few minutes queue, and no customs, to pay €56 (!) to transit the Mont Blanc tunnel - it's impressive but at 11.6km it's shorter than the other...

L went for a run inside the enormous campsite, as the security gates will not open until 0730, too late for our schedule. She tried to run on grass or concrete to avoid waking the sleeping hordes in vans and tents. Coughed endlessly as pollen blew in a fierce breeze.  By 0915 we were ready for the bus to the ferry port to take us to Isola Madre, one of the famous Borromean islands on Maggiore. Reception suggested that instead of the bus, we take the child-friendly road train that picks campers up to take them into town. We agreed. It was a rollicking ride, first of the day. Cost us twice as much as the bus! A number of jolly German couples got on board, laughing like drains, and soon we were dropped off at a street market somewhere near the port. No signposts to help, in Italy everyone assumes you know where to go. The tourist office told us where to find the ferry ticket office and we bought our round trip tickets. It was not where Reception had told us, with full confidence....