Having spent several months in Spain, we finally got our home back on the 5 December, and after several days of cleaning with lots of help, we had a lovely Christmas and New Year, ready to do our next trip, we had our new tenants but unfortunately the day we were planning to leave Geoff had to have tests on his breathing, he is struggling to climb hills etc., so we had to move into Rosie on the camp-site, and await all the tests.
We had several problems at home with the wedding, the main one was the Hotel was going into liquidation, and Richard would not guarantee it would go ahead, Andrew kept saying it would be OK, but our nerves were frayed.
With all the hassles we decided to fly to England to check on things, so we booked our trip for 29/1/13 , I messed up the flights and ended up flying into Luton, so we hired a car, we were hoping to go to Mark’s but they were busy, so we went straight to Marian and Martin’s, what a lovely time we had, even though we were so cold, have forgotten how cold England is. On the 4/2 we went to Worcester still no joy, very frustrating, Richard was so unhelpful, he is very negative, we were going to stay the night, but decided to go to Jane’s, we went shopping trying to find bridesmaids dresses, with no joy, then on Friday, Jane from Jersey flew in, so we stayed in Portsmouth with Tom and Kathleen. It has been good to catch up with most people, sad we couldn’t see the Grand children, but hey ho next time.
We flew back from Gatwick, will not make that mistake again, but the flights were cheap!
On 26/2, we decided to go back to England in Rosie, we had to look for an alternative Hotel, and maybe apply for our licenses again. We left first thing, and we decided to go for the long drive, so we can clear Spain, it is difficult to find a safe spot to stay on Spanish Motorways. We reached Perpignan as it was getting dark, I had planned a stop, but unfortunately we were too big to go down the road, so we started again, and found a lovely spacious motorway stop, which was very good, we all slept very well.
Next day we headed for Catriona’s in St. Claud, near Anglemene, we stayed a couple of nights, and managed to go for lunch at our favourite restaurant, food was excellent as usual.
Friday we were heading for Pouilly sur Loire, to complete our wine choices for the wedding, we arrived in this lovely little village, and parked outside, not sure where we are going to put this wine, as we are bulging at the seams.
We met the lady who owns it, and fortunately Geoff managed to speak the language, to her very well, we went and had some tasters, then bought 8 cases, not sure we need all those, but sure it will not be wasted. We had admired her glasses, so she gave us two as a wedding present, isn’t that sweet, plus 3 other bottles. I squeezed everything into Rosie, and we went and parked by the river, where we took the dogs for a lovely walk, another peaceful and scenic parking space, and it was free.
On Saturday we headed for Calais, as our ferry goes on Sunday, we decided to go to Gravelines, another pretty village with a castle, we wondered around with the dogs, and then settled down for the night. We were parked by the marina, so it was lovely, we could walk the dogs easily, we had to pay 3 Euros, but worth it, just about 30 minutes away from Calais
When we arrived at the Ferry Port, we checked in, and the lady asked if we wanted to catch an earlier ferry, so we did, we drove towards the ferry just in time to be waved on, what a result that was, we then drove to Jane’s to catch up with the washing and ironing, exciting life we lead.