June 2012 - To England

And so begins the Wildebeast-like annual migration across the Continent to find greener pastures.

This time, on advice from friends, we are to travel to Santander in Northen Spain in order to take the ferry across to Plymouth.

Due to the successful efforts of a pickpocket in Cartagena we had no camera for the journey so all photographs were taken on my HTC phone. As it turned out the photographs are quite good with nice colours and a good aspect ratio. Gets a bit shaky in low light.

The good thing about this relatively short journey is that we do not have to leave at the crack of dawn to reach our destination. We hit the road at 10:00am heading for our overnight stop in Aranjuez.

We have never travelled in the Spanish hinterland and were pleasantly surprised as we travelled north to see how green everywhere was. The day was beautifully warm and we stopped at a very small village where the owner of the local cafe seemed very pleased to serve us with lunch. It was absolutely marvellous to sit outside in the sunshine in the middle of nowhere and enjoy the food he prepared for us.

We arrived in Aranjuez at our hotel, the Mercedes, and parked our car in their car park. I mention this because parking is at an absolute premium in this city so to have a hotel with its own car park is a bonus. The hotel was very clean and well equipped if somewhat old fashioned but along with this came old fashioned manners and courtesy. The air conditioning was already switched on in our room and because we did not have one of those card-in-the-slot devices were able to leave on the A/C whilst we went out.
Ten minutes walk saw us in the grounds of the Royal Palace in the 36 degrees of heat. We immediately decided to visit the palace as there were no queues or crowds and we were able to stroll around the beautiful building at leisure. Treasures inside date from many different centuries up to the 19th.

Afterwards we repaired to the nearest cafe and drank wine (of course) under the massive shade trees and chatted with three ladies from Australia who were doing a whistle-stop tour of "The Jewels of Europe". The had done Italy and France and this was their final Jewel before their next-day flight to Melbourne. They had absolutely no idea where they were and were just about "palaced-out".

The next morning we visited the grounds of the Palace of which about 60% is totally shaded by trees.

Onwards to Santander leaving Aranjuez at noon. The hotel restaurant had served an excellent evening meal and a large buffet breakfast. Total cost was €119.

We had motorway for most of the journey, skirting Madrid and heading up the A1. This was against advice as we were warned that there may be roadworks further north but they came to nothing other than driving at 40kph for about 10km.

We were surprised at the size of Santander, expecting a small port but finding a very large town along the lines of Biarritz in France. Lovely beaches and large Victorian houses once outside of the centre. We dined in a pavement restaurant and were surprised at the northern prices. Everything was dearer by about 60% than at home on the Costa Blanca.

Now the part we had not been looking forward to began. The ship sailed at 21:30 so we had to check in no later than 19:30 so as to have the dogs checked over by the DEFRA vet. The dogs had to be left on the dog-deck once on board. Kathie was all for smuggling them down to our cabin but we left them with all the others in the howling, barking cacophony having given them tranquilisers to calm them down. As it turned out they seemed less worried about the cages and noise on the dog-deck than did Kathie. The trip over was uneventful and boring. I had an excellent night's sleep but it was strange to wake and feel the sway of the ship.

Arriving off Plymouth it was announced that high winds might prevent us from docking. (Oh joy) This was after we had been instructed to put the dogs in the car and leave them there as it was not allowed to stay in the car during entry into harbour. The Captain enlisted the help of a tug boat and docked only fifteen minutes late. Once unloading began it took over an hour to get off the ship and through customs. No complaints about the ship, it was very nice and we had a comfortable cabin. Breakfast was excellent and all the crew were most pleasant, helpful, and polite. It's just not our scene.

Decision made -  we are not used to all this waiting about so will return via the Channel Tunnel and France.

And so off to Cornwall. We booked a room at Marazion and this could not have been better. The owner described it as a Bed and Breakfast Guest House but to call it this is like calling the QE2 a boat. See their website here.

The family room we had was fully 70 square metres in size, with one King Bed and two large Singles. It was equipped with a full sized fridge, (kept stocked with fresh milk and orange juice), electric kettle, large glass table and four dining chairs, massive TV, DVD player and supply of DVDs, ample supply of coffee both instant and ground, tea bags, sugar, drinking chocolate, and a large bowl of fresh fruit. The large bathroom had a whirlpool bath.

We met with John and Helen on the first night (Kathie's brother and his partner) and spent most of the next two days with them visiting the sights of Cornwall and eating copious amounts of food.

Sunday saw us making the seven hour trip to Settle where we found our lovely park home safe and sound, ending our journey.
We had filled our car with diesel in Torrevieja and Santander and if we hadn't been to Cornwall it would have got us all the way to Yorkshire on two fills.

May 2012 - Venues for our Music Group

One of our favourite Interest Groups in the U3A is the Classical Music Appreciation Group. We have been members since it was started in late 2010 and attend the meetings every Saturday afternoon. We listen to a 2 hour pre-prepared programme of music ranging from the 16th to the 20th century.

The true definition of "Classical Music" is that wich was written between the years of about 1780 to 1825 but the term has come to mean all music of a similar genre and our choices have included composers from Bach through to John Williams.

We normally meet in the apartment of David and Graham Evans, in San Miguel. They live in Spain from October to April then leave for their other home in Hastings for the English summer. They have some beautiful hi fi equipment and a vast collection of music.

Unfortunately David has been unwell of late and his doctor has forbidden him to leave England so we have been holding our meetings at the home of Norma and Tommy Hood in Villamartin. I take the hi fi gear and speakers and they provide the venue and tea and biscuits at half-time. I have been making up most of the programmes with contributions, requests, and suggestions from some of the other members. We altered the frequency to once per fortnight as I do not have such a large collection of music.

Tommy and Norma also leave Spain for the summer so happily Terry and Maureen How stepped in and offered us the use of their home in San Luis.

And what a venue this is (see above picture). The previous owner of their house had built an extra building in the grounds which was designed to be a Spiritualist Church. It is fully equipped with kitchen, toilets, a dais at one end, and enough space to comfortably seat about sixty people. It is ideal. We have had several meetings there up to the end of May and enjoyed the freedom of being able to play the music as loud as we need without disturbing the neighbours.

Many thanks to Norma and Tommy, and Maureen and Terry for enabling us to continue our Group meetings.

April 2012 - A London Wedding

Our nephew Lee, who is just a few months older than our son Michael, decided with his partner Rowen that the time had come to be married. This was decided during 2011 and invitations were duly issued and venues arranged.

Lee, all 6' 7" of him, is in the Metropolitan Police Force and so the ceremony took place there. This was our first experience of staying in the city, having only ever visited for single days in the past. The happy couple, quite by chance, chose the same weekend as the London Marathon to get married so we were quite apprehensive about prices, crowds, hotel availability etc. We chose what we thought was a reasonably priced hotel (for London) and arranged two nights in the Southwark Travel Lodge. Whadda mistaker to maker! Kathie's brothers chose the Docklands Hilton. We paid £60 for the first night, but £120 for the second night (eve of Marathon). Add on breakfasts, early check-in etc. and our total bill was around £240. Meanwhile the luxurious Hilton (which we never even considered) were charging an all-in price of £120 per night per room including breakfast. If we ever go to The Smoke again we will check and double check room prices.

After some investigation on the Net we found that the cheapest way to get around London was with an Oyster Card. You just have to remember to swipe in and out on the Tube and each journey is clocked and charged to your card. The beauty of it is that you don't pay any more in a single day than a Rover Ticket so a full day's travel on the Tube, bus, or local train will cost no more than about 8 quid.

Friday afternoon was rainy and windy but Saturday dawned bright and sunny ready for the big day.

The wedding was delightful. Southwark Registry Office laid on a great and friendly service with no hang-ups about photography or anything. They managed to squeeze everybody into the ceremony room and afterwards opened up the doors on to their excellent garden where numerous photographs were taken and greetings and congratulations were exchanged.

We repaired to the Old Salt Quay pub and restaurant afterwards for the reception which went on until the early hours. The pub is right by the River Thames in what would have been a very busy industrial area in the Docklands heydey. Now the area is clean and landscaped and provides great views of the river and new buildings and hotels.

A few words in favour of London.

Everybody we came across in official capacities were very helpful and most polite. The cynical told us that everybody was under orders from above and once the Jubilee and Olympics were over they would return to their normal manners. If this is so, more's the pity. It was quite refreshing to be helped and informed wherever we asked.