Dorset September 2013.

After a few days at home, we packed up again headed down to Dorset. We stay in a friends cottage in Swanage. It is near the beach and shops and there are some lovely walks right from the cottage. This one to Old Harry is about 6 miles.

Old Harry.                 And........                        Old Malcolm

    

This is Old Harry's Rock. Just one of many odd rock formations on the Dorset Coast. 

  

It took us quite a while to get to Dorset but for some reason we decided to do this 6 mile walk as soon as we got there. It was one of those walks that convinced you that the most staggeringly beautiful view was just over the hill. It was! Problem was that hill was 3 miles away and it was sooooo windy .

Views from the walk.

It was just as well we did do that walk because for the rest of the week the weather went downhill.

We went into Shaftsbury on Tuesday. It was the location for a famous Hovis advert several years ago. It poured down but we were able to walk up and down the famous hill

                       

We also visited Wareham. Strange little market town . We walked around the "walls" and if the weather had been better the views would have been superb.

The river Piddle. Oh yes! 

                  While we were there we went to the "market" . There were AA type signs out on the roads so we thought it would be a big proper country type market. Wrong! It was actually in a shed no bigger 

 than  our garage. And...it was an auction..... There was an old girl with a mike, around about a 1000 eggs on a bench, not any old eggs though,these were turkey eggs, bantam eggs, duck eggs and maybe dinosaur eggs, I don't know. Once we were in we just stood and watched, absolutely out of our comfort zone. They were flogging these eggs for silly money, £1.00 for twenty , that sort of thing. They also had dead things for sale

                                        ⬇

We left before they got auctioned!!

Sat by the water and had fish and chips one night. Only had my phone but it did well to capture this .

               No trip to Dorset would be complete without a walk to Lulworth and Durdle Door.

We did a circular walk which took us through an area called Scratchy Arse, so called because of all the gorse bushes along the valley bottom. Have to admit we were trudging towards the end of the walk.

                             

    Swanage is a lovely little place. Most of it is old fashioned sea-side, but there are some places that seem to attract the most scummy people on the planet. However,nothing can spoil this.

                             

        

                               

   A lot of the coastline is owned by the military and is off limits during the week. Within  this restricted area is a village called Tynham. In 1943 Winston Churchill requisitioned the village so that the whole area could be used as a practice area for the D Day landings. All the people in the village were found somewhere else to live and told that they would be able to return. However, the land reminded in the control of  the military, and still is, so the village became derelict.

                  

                              

 The wording on all the information makes it sound as if the villagers left because they wanted to do their bit for the war effort which was rubbish. They had no choice.Their lives were ripped apart and I guess for them life was never the same again. Very sad.

We didn't get to do the "range walk as the weather closed in and people were turning back. Shame really as the place is only open weekends. Maybe next time!

Malaga September 2013

After a lovely summer in the UK we went to visit Roy and Sheila in Spain. They had organised a few different things for us so it was a busy week.

First event was a Classic Car Club dinner at El Chaparell golf club in Fuengirola. The club, which Roy and Sheila belong to,has been going for 5 years so this was an event to celebrate that.

All very lovely,bit difficult to talk though as the bloke singing was right next to our table.!

                                    

     Not a bad place for coffee 

     

We went into Nerja the next day. It is a beautiful place. We've been before and had some fabulous tapas so we did that again. Then had a mooch around before the shops shut for siesta.

                              

  

 After that we had an ice cream. Colouring  in food is not a problem for the Spanish

 

Next day we went to Mijas. Been there loads of times but it is probably one of my favourite places .

                                

There was a festival going on and as often happens a random band appeared and began to play that plinky planky type music that is so popular in Spain. I don't know if they were part of the celebrations or just a group of blokes having a good time. We also went up to the gardens where the fountains are. Not quite up to the Bellagio standard but enjoyable never the less.

Beautiful Malaga City. 

We've been to Spain loads of times but have never been to Malaga. Shame as it is lovely. Apart from some pretty impressive architecture there is also a castle and a Cathedral. We were there too late to visit either and as it was near the end of our stay we couldn't even get back for a day trip. One day .....

 The first place we went to was an authentic Bodega. Just a scummy room with some barrels lined up on the wall. No prices were displayed or any description of the sherry. We just pointed, he slopped it into the glass, banged it down on the table and wrote how much you owed on the table

After a quick one ( unfortunately)it was off to dinner in another bodega . This one was quite expensive but never the less by the time we left it was heaving.

We are sitting just by a door that led into a courtyard that was absolutely rammed. I tried to take a photo but it was too much for my poor little phone. Reminded me a lot of Brum.

Just a few shots of Malaga, I took loads.

This was my favourite.

We finished off our week with lunch on Saturday at El Chapparel. Some friends of Sheila and Roy have a beautiful apartment there and they very kindly bought us lunch at the club house.

The view from the club house.

Sunday was the Classic Car Club Birthday Rally. I have never seen so many beautiful cars in one place.

                                  Mustang Sally!!

A Plymouth Prowler.

 Just incredible!

We all met at a restaurant in the hills near Malaga. A route had already been planned to give the drivers and cars every opportunity " to stretch their legs" The first 20k or so was on twisty mountain roads and through sleepy little villages. Well, they were sleepy until this little lot drove through. They noise was incredible when they all fired up. The rest of the drive was on fairly straight quiet roads which gave the Ferrari 380 Spyder the opportunity to overtake everybody and get  there first.

           We incidentally,were in amongst this lot in our hire car, a Seat Leon.

How this huge roller managed on the mountain roads, I don't know!

                          

       

Or this old Bentley. 

                     

Driving shoes !

Beach Club El Capa

At the end of the rally we end up here for lunch . This hotel over looked the beach and had a fabulous pool.

  Lovely pool.

Final evening and the obligatory walk along the sea front

                   Obligatory sand art too.

Nerja - Yum!

August visits. 2013

It's been a busy busy week! Started off by meeting Dave and Sheila, Jon's mum and dad, for lunch on Monday. They were in London to go to the Royal Mews and Buckingham Palace. We met them in Paddington, never been there before. Very nice ! 

We had arranged to visit Joyce and  Colin for a few days before visiting Jo for the Bank Holiday. We had a few bits and pieces for Jo and had hoped to stay over on the way up to Yorkshire to drop things off.However, Andy's dad was staying so as we didn't want to intrude we agreed to go straight to Colin's on Tuesday. Just  as we were leaving the pub, Jo phoned to say Andy's dad had decided to leave early so we could stay. Quick turnaround and we were on our way to Jo's a day earlier than expected. Bonus !

 It was lovely to see Joyce and Colin. They  always make us welcome and we inevitably eat and drink far too much. However a long walk helped limit some of the damage

                             

                           

  

 Joyce had mentioned a bridge on this walk that she thought I wouldn't like. She also threatened

 Malcolm and Colin with a fairly drastic surgical procedure if they mucked about and shook it while we were crossing it.

She was right. I didn't like it. 

It was very wibbly wobbly and moved far more than I was expecting. Joyce didnt like it anymore than I did.               

               Hanging on for dear life!

Bridge crossed, we headed off for lunch. This was the view from our table. Not bad eh?

The walk followed the river for a long way. It is very shallow in places and there were lots of people messing about with boats and lilo's.

Nearly at the tea time stop.

The old school house tea rooms.

               

This used to be a school but is now a very busy tea room. We all had a cream tea, watched over by a 

                             

 ( He wasn't actually that close!)

After a lovely few days we headed down to Desborough.

Jo and Andy had invited a golf buddy of Malcolm and Andy to stay. Madelyn was very taken with Malcolm B. He got to play finger puppets for ages.

    

We went to Foxton Locks on Friday afternoon. No yum yum for the ducks but they came over anyway.

While the blokes played golf we went shopping

Madelyn enjoyed herself in Rymans. This little chair was just right.

Just standing here looking beautiful.

Avril bought Madelyn these super cute Peppa Pig Pjs.

She looked lovely in them

                        

          

        

          In the garden                                       

    She played for ages in her little house. The stones are from Jo's water feature. Just goes to prove that expensive toys are not really necessary.

So that Jo could get some work done we took gorgeous chops out for a couple of days. We went to a  country park in Corby. It was soooo hot. This is what Madelyn was wearing when we went out.

This is what she was wearing when we came back

                                       ⬇

   One of her favourite pass times is feeding the ducks with some yum yum.

She breaks the bread off a few crumbs at a time and it takes ages .

 But she loves it!

Fish fed it was time to share a drink and an ice cream

     

                        

The next day we went to Wickstead Park. It has lots of big rides for older kids but there is a superb selection of things for little ones. She went up and down the slides about a hundred times. This was one of 3 all getting progressively higher.

   

This was a train that wobbled if you shook it hard enough. Grandad is just out of sight wobbling for all he was worth. Madelyn wobbled too but she was just not heavy enough to make it move at all.

Super cute in Peppa Pig !

                                               Look at me !!    

                             

One day she is going to work out how to turn it on

                                Say cheese.

                   

    

And finally. This photo isn't particularly clear, but I like it. A bit moody don't you think.