Lovely week in the caravan spent exploring the Derbyshire Peak District with great company and a lot of laughs! Highlights:- Buxton; I’ve drank the bottled water but never given the place much thought.  What a lovely town! All credit to the council as the place is spotlessly clean, the gardens stunning and the buildings and heritage really well preserved. And of course I had a drink from the well; it was warm! The Tram Tour is an absolute delight and highly recommended. There are so many lovely towns and villages in the area such as Ashbourne with its controversial pub sign, the longest in the world. But a must see is the village of Ilam with its unusual gothic inspired cottages and school. Poole’s Cavern is a subterranean marvel and very interesting. Dovedale is another natural delight. For the transport buffs the Great British Car Journey is a must and of course there’s a steam train! Every time I go away in this country it continues to amaze me; we are soooo lucky.

We come to the end of our grand tour of England, Scotland and Wales by steam and soot. 9 days, 6 hotels, 1800 miles by train and 50 miles on foot. We visited all three capitals and many more villages, towns and cities. We saw cathedrals, harbours, mills and heard locals sing ditties. We travelled through tunnels, over mountains, hills and many a dale. We tucked into fine food, wine and Gravy Train Ale. We saw wildlife a plenty including alpacas, foxes, ponies and deer. Did I mention we also had beer? The beauty of Britain was all around; waterfalls, lochs and lakes, rivers and the sea shore Hauled by the Flying Scotsman, Galatea and more, we crossed bridges and viaducts, the trip has left us truly in awe. Many thanks to the staff of the Railway Touring Company, West Coast Rail, Gravy Train Catering, Network Rail, the devoted crews of our fabulous steam trains and all the wonderful people who waved and welcomed us on our journey around our breathtaking isle. Highly recommended!

We started by booking a cruise to Japan over 3 years ago but with various things such as Covid we ended up changing to the Baltics, a region we’ve never visited before and have just got back from a two week cruise. With my Dad’s recent passing, making the decision to still go was not an easy one, but we have to continue his mantra that life is not a dress rehearsal and make the most of every moment and we certainly tried to do that. We went on our beloved Cunard Queen Victoria which felt like home and went to Hamburg, Copenhagen, Visby, Helsinki, Tallin, Kiel, Skagen and Stockholm replacing what was to have been St Petersburg. On board I became a bit of a groupie for Celtic duo, Cula, who were absolutely brilliant. And one of the guest speakers was celebrity chef, Reza Mahammad, who was extremely funny and entertaining while showing us some great recipes. We had the pleasure of chatting to him one evening putting the world to rights and I got to try his biryani which was delish! We had incredible weather; no surprise there! But seriously we look like we’ve been to the Caribbean rather than Scandinavia with temperatures typically between 28-33 degrees.  I know people will be screaming about global warming but when you visit a 2km square sand dune that is moving at 60 metres a year you realise how insignificant we really are!

Felt very privileged to be on the Cunard Queen Anne maiden voyage this last week. The new ship in their fleet is a move away from the others but is stunning nevertheless and retains the Cunard charm and sophistication. My heart still skips a beat when I see that red funnel. Just a short one week shakedown cruise we had stops in La Coruna in Spain and Lisbon in Portugal which is one of my favourite cities. The weather was perfect the entire trip and the Bay of Biscay behaved herself! We’ve even returned home to sunshine! 

This year marks my 50th year on the planet (Earth that is!) As a special treat to myself I have just returned from a two month sabbatical (you didn’t even know I was gone did you?! Brexit goes on though the rest of the world really couldn’t care less!)

I have to admit this country has never crossed my radar and I knew next to nothing about it but it was a stop on our cruise and I’m so pleased it was; not only did we see some great wildlife but what a fascinating country it is.