Travurple

We know …. another delayed blog !  it’s a good job you are not sitting around waiting for us to publish this blog, just so you can curse us about being away in the sun in February!

So week 4 in Gran Canaria, and our second week in our cave, and more doing not a lot, but taking all day to do it !

We have had a couple of glorious sunny days, when we sat on the patio reading. We have managed another couple of walks from the cave, into the next valley surrounding the cave, all walks start and end either up or down hill!  It is still really peaceful, hardly anyone else in the surrounding caves or out and about walking. 

Had another drive to Tejeda, to replenish the supplies, and have lunch in the same restaurant. We know it might seem slightly odd going back to the same restaurant, but it definitely looked like the best in town. 

Thursday the gas for the double burner cooker ran out ! So the owner, god bless him, dropped everything bought more gas and drove the 1hr & half to the cave to deliver the gas, so all sorted and not problem, it ran out when trying to make tea at 4pm in the afternoon, so we had to have a beer instead.

Started the packing process, as we move to Fuerteventura on Monday (14 Feb).

A quiet week as planned, in the mountains, in a cave ! We are at 1,200 meters, nearly 4,000 ft in old money, and for the Manxies that is almost twice the height of Snaefell.

We have been relaxing and not doing very much, a shopping to trip into Tejeda only 14km away but because of the roads takes 30mins to drive. The roads are stunning and newly tarmaced, just relatively narrow and very windy (in both senses of the word – bloody English language! (Rog))

The general grocery shopping option was the small local Spar, but thankfully it had everything we needed.  Then had a nice lunch out in a restaurant called “ La Casa d’Almendras“, they also had a pastry counter, so it would have been rude not to buy a pastry or two for the rest of the week!

We have also managed a couple of walks, one down the valley and up the other side on the path, we can see from the cave, and one around the block, which sounds easy until you remember we are staying in a hole in the side of a cliff, therefore the walk was literally around the block of rock/mountain, therefore it was down the valley again and keep turning right until we got back home, about 7km of mainly steep (up or down) gravel and rock footpath. But worth the effort a stunning walk,  especially through the blossom covered Almond trees in the gorge.  The only people we saw were a group of 5, all of a certain age, wearing a lot of bright new shiny walking gear, we hope they know what they are doing and where they are going. They  each had a GPS tracker with them, if they know how to use them. 

Some more quiet days relaxing in and near the apartment. Continuing the running/walking training, along the costal path, nicely paved underfoot but a little undulating. 

Went to Garden Marquesa, a privately owned botanical garden, that is obviously the place for your wedding reception in Gran Canaria, as there is a large structure in the grounds surrounded by trees, and places staged for the “perfect” wedding photos.(benches, little bridges -all a little bit twee).

Visited Las Palmas cathedral and the covered Market.

Lunched at the local cookery/hospitality school restaurant, run by the students. 3 course meal including a drink for 9 euro (£7.50) plus the entertainment of the students working, you can’t go wrong. 

On Saturday, we took Nic’s parents back to the airport to fly home, we had had a lovely two weeks with them. 

At the airport, Rog was accosted by an elderly UK couple trying to deal with the UK Passenger Locator Forms (PLF), they had already missed one easyjet flight home, and had been trying to get a Ryanair flight, family in the UK had completed the UK PLF, but they were struggling with the technology and not able to get the form onto their phone. Rog sorted that out, but by then the Ryanair flight had closed and they were unable to buy a ticket for that, so they planned to get a hotel for the night and try again in the morning, hopefully they will have got themselves sorted ! 

Sunday, we packed up, loaded the car and drove to Maspalomas for lunch, and to collect the keys for our next place in the mountains. 

Maspalomas – what an eye opener! a cross between las Vegas and Blackpool in the Sun,  some strange buildings including s shopping centre with copies of the leaning tower of Piza the Eiffel tower, the Brandenburg gates etc etc …. Quite amazingly tacky.  However the sand dunes were impressive. 

We collected the keys and headed into the mountains, on an amazing road – lots of climbing, lots of switchbacks,  a narrow road in places, with lots of cyclists and motorbikes coming the other way, neither of us can remember driving such an impressive mountain road before, it ended with a single track road to our home for the next two weeks … a cave.   “Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with ends of worms and an ozzy smell, nor yet a dry bare sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” – Sorry Rog is reading The Hobbit again ! 

Given most of our followers are in the UK, and it is currently January, we are probably now going to irritate most of you, with tales of good weather, Sorry!

This week started so windy, that the air was full of sand blown in from the Sahara Desert, it was not pleasant sitting out on the balcony, (“what a shame” we hear you all say!)  however, the temperature has been OK, especially when compared to the UK, as we are nearly 2,000 miles south of Pocklington. 

We will not revert to documenting our daily travel as we did with the narrow boat and motorhome last year, as the days here are not that different from each other, which is sort of the plan, to chill out and relax. We will however document some “highlights”. 

Wednesday, we drove up to the Gran Canaria ‘national’ botanical gardens, which was well done, showcasing the different habitats around the island, pine forest, scrub land, and no surprise that the gardens were up the side of a steep ravine, so much so that to get to the restaurant on at the top, we actually went back to the car and drove around.

We have both been trying to run or walk most days, in an attempt to get little fitter. Rog has signed up for the Parish Walk in June. For those of you who have not heard of the Parish Walk, it is a walk to every Parish church on the Isle of Man, a mere 85 miles which must be completed in 24 hours… Rog is planning on starting the Parish Walk with no intention of finishing it, he will probably do the 32 miles from Douglas to Peel. 

Saturday, we booked a ½ day boat trip, with Blue M Boat, out of Puerto de Mogan (in the south of the island).  Thankfully the weather has turned, it is now less windy and the sea is calm. We managed to see a large number of Striped Dolphins, with lots of mothers and calves. 

The south of the island is a very different landscape from the north west, where the apartment is, the south is a lot hillier and less developed, due to the more challenging terrain. Illustrated by the main road to the south, which appeared to be either tunnel or bridge!Sunday, the best weather so far, we sat on the balcony in the sun, reading and watching the planes go overhead (we are 7 km from the airport), the boats and people swimming in the sea. We both managed 3.5 / 4 mile walk today.

Sorry Readers, we missed another week last week, just a whirlwind of family, which has been lovely. We have not spent this long in Pocklington since we left for our respective Universities. 

This week we have a bit more to talk about:

Rog celebrated a birthday all week, starting with an meal out a week early, and involved lots of cake.

We pack-up the AirBnB and stashed all our stuff back in our parent’s garage and loft space. 

We know we will not get any sympathy, but we have also had to deal with the hassle of “paper” work to enable international travel, our third version of flights to Gran Canaria actually happened, (but until we got on the flight I was still awaiting a fourth cancellation)! 

The “paper’ work included: 

UK Travel Covid Passes – easy 

Spanish Health forms – can only be completed online, no more that 48 hrs before travel, and they were a bit of a pain!

Online check-in – should be easy, but thanks to the Tui computer system we could not manage it!

Travel Insurance and Car Hire excess insurance. (Unlike most people, Rog actually reads the Policies !!!).

We had not flown for just less than two years, it felt like a long time compared with all the flights we used to regularly take from the Isle of Man. We were flying from Doncaster Airport (Robin Hood ? no idea why it is called that), there were only three flights departing on Saturday, so check-in was easy, there was no queue at security, and a half empty plane.

Landed in Gran Canaria, had the passport scanned on the electronic gates, then the passport stamped by a man, then our Spanish health form checked, then had to show a nurse our UK Covid passes, she was on the phone and didn’t seem that interested.  Then the wait for the luggage, which eventually turned up. The Car hire next –  we found the Budget desk, which was closed, thankfully it had a sign stapled to the door directing us to the small office in the Car hire car park. So all turned out OK. A short drive to the apartment in the dark. Met by the owner, a very nice apartment. 

You may have noticed that we did not publish a blog last week, as it was Christmas we decided to have a week off.

So, this blog is covering the last two weeks, however it will still be very short, as the last two weeks can be summed up by … Festivities, Friends, Family, Food & Drink (or to stay with the alliteration “falling down juice”). 

We are still in Pocklington in an AirBnB, but planning for our next adventure, subject to Covid restrictions, a couple of months on the Canary Islands. We have already had one flight cancelled (thanks EasyJet) and re-booked with TUI/Ryanair.

In the next two weeks, we just need to re-organise and pack-up everything we got out of storage.

We hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year

A busy week, starting early start of Monday morning, with a positive covid test for a Contact, so we had to work out the rules, which was 7 days of lateral flow test (“LFT”), but luckily no requirement to self-isolate, (unless we got a positive test) and Monday morning was a negative test for both of us. 

Then we headed up to London for a few days, staying at the Premier Inn in Clapham. (yes near Clapham Junction). Monday we went to see ‘The Feeling, with special guest Sophie Ellis-Bexter’ (yes, she is married to the bass player of The Feeling) for their Christmas charity concert at The Clapham Grand, a small intimate gig. Nic said she didn’t know any of The Feeling’s songs, but managed to sing along to all of them, including the festive covers. 

It was good to see most people were wearing masks, for most of the time. 

Tuesday (LFT negative) we had a plan to see a friend, third time lucky – it couldn’t happen on the boat in Uxbridge or in the Motorhome in Henley, and  sadly, given the ‘working from home’ requirements brought in this week, it could not happen in London either, so better luck next time, hopefully next year sometime!

As we didn’t have any other plans for the rest of the day, so Rog found the ‘TodayTix” app for last minute West End tickets, and managed to score cheap tickets for ‘& Juliet” (a Musical based on what would happen if Shakespeare’s wife Ann Hathaway re-wrote the end of his Romeo & Juliet play, making Juliet a more independent women, using pop music). We’d paid £25 for £85 tickets in a relatively small theatre – so had a fabulous view of a stunning performance. 

Wednesday  (LFT Negative) – tickets to the Imperial War Museum.  Interesting, if harrowing exhibition on the holocaust.  Then walked across London to the Victoria Apollo Theatre to see the matinee of “Wicked”  (the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz). The Victoria Apollo Theatre is a large theatre, and we were in the cheap seats, so we have to say that our experience of ‘Wicked” was overshadowed by “& Juliet”. 

If that was not enough for Wednesday, we then walked down the Kings Road, to our friends for dinner. A lovely curry and a few drinks (Thanks – you know who you are!). 

Thursday (LFT Negative) – Brunch in Clapham Common, then the Tube to Kings Cross for the train back to York. Another great app is “SeatFrog” got a cheap 1^st class upgrade for £14 each, which included refreshments (sandwich and coffee).  Got back to Pocklington and checked into an AirBnB, our home for the next month. 

Friday (LFT Negative) – we both got ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid app saying we had been in contact with someone on Thursday who tested positive  and “highly recommended’ that we got PCR tests, so arranged for test kits to be delivered. We collected some of our stuff from a loft, a garage and motorhome, moved it to our AirBnb to sort out  – also managed to put up a Christmas tree…..getting festive.

Saturday (LFT Negative) – completed the PCR test, and negotiated the finding of a priority postbox to send them off! Then picked up family from York Railway station. Had a good night in front of the telly watching Rose triumph in Strictly, although John would also have been a worthy winner.

Sunday (LFT Negative – final test day!) – had the family around for coffee, it is lovely to have somewhere in Pocklington, that we can host at.

Monday, we walked out for brunch before heading to Holyrood Palace, which was a little disappointing in relation to Christmas decorations, a couple of impressive trees, but not a lot else.  Walked back to the hotel, via the Christmas market. Even though it was Monday there were still a lot of people around. The market consisted of a fun fair, lots of food and drink stalls, and a few festive goods stalls. Had dinner in Pizza Express as Nic has a Pizza Express App with free dough balls and drinks, but as we are in Scotland, there is no promotions allowed on alcohol! Free Lemonade it is then!

Tuesday, as Storm Barra was heading in we decided to bring our travel plans earlier, and got a 10: 20 train, rather than a 3pm train, down to Newcastle, and managed lunch at a great independent restaurant called The French Quarter, before checking in to the Premier Inn (on the quay, right next to the Tyne bridge).

Wednesday, walked around Newcastle, went to the ‘Great North Museum – Hancock’ with an interesting collection of exhibitions, including Egypt, Hadrian’s Wall and local Nature. Called at the Grainger indoor market, where we had lunch at Fed’s Chicken, a small independently run stall doing their version of fried chicken on a sandwich, very tasty.

Thursday, back on the train to London King’s Cross, and on to Tonbridge, a little strange being on the train going through York station, and not getting off.

Friday, Nic ‘s parents arrived in Tonbridge, for a pre-Christmas celebration.

Saturday, out for lunch  at ‘The Carpenter’s Arms’ with Nic’s family, as we will not see all of them at Christmas.  Good food and a few drinks. 

Sunday, a walk in to the centre of Tonbridge, to ‘Castlemass” (Christmas market at the Castle). Watched the dramatic end to the Abu Dhabi F1, then more food and drink with the family.   

A domestic start to the week, sorting and repacking to the motor home, so it can be parked up for the winter months. It will be at least mid-march before it is back on the road.  We also managed a hair cut each, Rog in the garden with a set of clippers, whereas Nic went for a professional cut. 

Rog had a covid booster jab, thank you NHS.

Catching up with family and friends. 

Friday, we caught a busy train to Edinburgh, walked to the hotel (Hub by Premier Inn @ Haymarket £127 for 4-night, bargain!) 

Lots of people in the city attending the Christmas Winter Wonderland, a lot more people than we have seen for a long time. Obviously, masks are compulsory indoors, however, at times, we have found ourselves wearing them outside. we walked to Grass Market and had dinner at ‘El Toro Loco’ for Mexican.

Saturday, we walked around Edinburgh, when the weather turned wet we visited the national museum of Scotland, whilst indoors it started to snow. Thankfully it did not settle, and had stopped by the time we left, it did make us fell festive though! In the evening we did a Beer Tasting at the Lost Close – plenty of beer and a few stories about Edinburgh. Dinner at a Kurdish and Middle Eastern restaurant.

Sunday, our wedding anniversary, we had booked ‘Purslane Restaurant’ for lunch, a small restaurant, which looked nice on the website. We were not disappointed, we had a set menu with accompanying wines. Wonderful food –  parsnip veloute, scallops, partridge, hake, venison, cheese, lemon curd icecream, panna cotta and petit fours.  We needed a good walk afterwards to assist the digestion.

Monday, we met Nic’s god daughter, and boyfriend for brunch in The Early Bird Café, about half an hour walk from the campsite, we worked out that it was 8 years since we have seen each other.   Great to catch up over good food.

We walked around Cardiff, seeing the sights, the Castle, City Hall, through some of the shops. Had Coffee/Hot Chocolate in ‘Barkers’ , a couple of pints in the ‘Head of Steam’ Pub, dinner in Mowgli (a small Indian street food restaurant chain, started in Liverpool).  We saw Deacon Blue, who were supported by Jamie Lawson (‘I wasn’t expecting that.’) at the Motorpoint arena. As we had booked tickets late we were sitting in the middle of about 80 empty seats, our own covid free bubble. Our first concert since the beginning of the pandemic, it was good to be out. 

Tuesday morning, we packed up the Motorhome expecting to leave, and those of you who read last week’s blog know that there was a problem that we were expecting to have to face again! And we did, as the Motorhome would not start! Thankfully a cycle hire firm on the campsite had a large van, and were able to jump start us again, the kindness of strangers,  at this point we still did not know what was causing this problem.

So, once the Motorhome had started we drove up to Cheshire, without stopping the engine, a quick change of drivers in the services. Whilst driving up we got the number of a friendly garage near Nic’s Aunt, and we drove straight there.  On checking the battery, it was found that the battery terminals were not connected properly, and that was causing the issue. It was thankfully an easy fix, so after 10 mins and a couple of washers on the battery terminals we were on our way. Because it was such a quick job, and they knew Nic’s Aunt the garage would not take any payment for the job,  again …the kindness of strangers. 

We finished the day off with dinner at ‘The Morris Dancer” pub in Kelsall.

Wednesday, we went to check on the Motorhome and it started – hooray! Had a walk around the village and helped out doing a few jobs at Nic’s Aunts.

Thursday, we had a walk in Chester, down by the river and racecourse, on another dry day, we have been blessed with good weather throughout our UK Motor Home trip. Then we saw the weather forecast for Storm Arwen, predicting 6 inch of snow in Derbyshire, for our next planned stop! So, after a couple of quick phone calls, we changed our plans to return back to Pocklington a couple of days early. 

Friday, keeping an eye on the weather forecast for Saddleworth Moor on the M62, the highest motorway in England, and our route home.  We set off after coffee time, and got back to Pocklington mid afternoon. 

Saturday, we started sorting the Motorhome out , as it is to be parked up for a few months, and watched the news of the weather disruptions, including the M62 being closed with 120  stranded trucks. We were thankful to have made it back yesterday.

Sunday, Rog went to watch his nephew play rugby on a very cold day. Nic assisted the local Women’s Institute on cake stall at the Christmas fair. A busy day in Pocklington, lovely to see all the families queueing to see Santa, lucky it had not been planned for the day before!