We are just back home after a couple of lovely weeks in the UK, delivering Christmas presents to family and friends and stocking up on all the goodies we cannot get over here. With everyone spread from Kent to Liverpool and back to Dorset it always feels like a mammoth logistics exercise and takes some careful planning, not just where we will be sleeping each night but the packing of the car, making sure that we drop off the right parcels to the right place and they don’t end up buried in the car.
Jo grew up in Benenden, a small village in Kent, so we decided to start our trip with her mum, who is 84 but still very independent. Anyone who knows how easy the roads are in France will agree that it was better to drive the extra 3 hours in France and travel via the Eurotunnel, rather than get on the M25 at rush hour. The crossing was a dream and we actually managed to get onto a train 1.5 hours earlier than planned so arrived in time for tea. There are always a few jobs to do there, which get shared between Jo’s sisters, and Pat likes to walk and go to the local pub for a meal so we managed to tie that in as well with a couple of friends. Miles driven – 525, time taken – 8 hours 40 minutes, friends and family seen – 3.
The next stop was Jo’s middle daughter, Sophie, in Oxfordshire and we had lots of reminiscing about their wedding last year and lots of hugs and cuddles with little Dotty, the youngest grandchild, and the two dogs. We don’t take Maisie with us as we have so many stop offs and there would not be much space for her in the car! We did a bit of retail therapy in Witney on Thursday with coffee and cake included and had a lovely pub lunch on the Friday with Matt’s mum and nan. Miles driven – 149, time taken – 3 hours 45 minutes, friends and family seen – 5.
Saturday was manic as we had to get to Nigel’s daughter in Northamptonshire to collect Mason, aged 5, to take him to see the mighty Cambridge play at Northampton. We arrived for lunch and in time to see Scarlett who was off to her dance show dress rehearsal. The weather at the football was cold, wet and rainy, perfect weather to sit and watch a game but Mason loved it as it was his first big ground game and he could scream and shout without being told off! We are sure he learned a few new words that day which he hopefully won’t repeat and he said that he was watching how the players kicked the ball really high so learned some new skills too. The game ended at 0-0 so not too disappointing (by the U’s current run) although Mason would have liked them to end in a penalty shoot out like they always do at his session on Saturday mornings.
Last year Nigel’s cousins all got together just after we had come back to France so we were pleased we could join them this year and luckily the meal had been arranged in Northampton straight after the match. It was great to see everyone again and we had a lovely time. We then headed back to Irthlingborough for a couple of nights staying with friends as Nigel had arranged to play golf on the Sunday. That was the plan, anyway but due to the rain and the wind it was called off so the pub beckoned instead! We went to Rushden Lakes for a bit more retail therapy and caught up with everyone who had been over to see us fishing or otherwise and had a nice curry on the Sunday night in our old local curry house. Miles driven – 127, time taken – 4 hours 9 minutes, friends and family seen – 26.
Monday we were on the move again, and after a quick coffee with a friend at Rushden Lakes we drove half an hour or so up the road to Jo’s eldest sister who moved up from Kent just before we moved to France (it was not a deliberate move!). The area was very badly flooded during Storm Bert and we were lucky to be able to get into and out of their village, especially in one direction which was barely passable with a 4 wheel drive car. We had a nice walk as Jo’s youngest sister, Julianne was also there on Monday but definitely needed our wellies on. There is always a nice mixture of jobs to do and relaxation at their house and they are in the middle of relandscaping their garden so we did a bit of soil moving and bulb planting. Nigel went off for an eye test on the Tuesday afternoon and Jo and Janette spent the afternoon at a garden centre at Rutland Water, followed by coffee and cake. Miles driven – 50, time taken – 1 hours 33 minutes, friends and family seen – 4.
From Northamptonshire we headed up towards Staffordshire to spend the evening with Nigel’s brother and family. Our French neighbours happen to live en route so we joined them for a lovely lunch at the golf club and Nigel spent the afternoon playing golf and Jo went to another very Christmassy garden centre and bought Nigel a couple of pork pies (probably the food he misses most from England). We arrived at our hotel in time for a quick change and down for dinner with Stephen, Sue and Amie and woke up the next morning to a hard frost on the alpaca field next to the hotel. Miles driven – 127, time taken – 3 hours 52 minutes, friends and family seen – 5.
The next morning we headed up to Liverpool where Jo’s other two daughters live for the penultimate stop of our trip. After a trip to Costco to stock up on supplies we made some Christmas cakes at Emma’s and went to the local pub 90 seconds walk away for some drinks with Tony’s family. On Friday morning we went to see Izzy’s flat had a lovely walk on Crosby beach admiring Antony Gormley’s Another Place sculptures, which always give pause for thought, and gave the dogs a good run in the wind. Julianne arrived from North Wales to come out for a curry with us on the lively Lark Lane and we had a couple of drinks at the pub where Izzy works. Miles driven – 126, time taken – 3 hours 54 minutes, friends and family seen – 7.
Our final destination was Bournemouth to see where Nigel’s son moved to over the summer. It was great to see his new flat and explore the area a bit. With Christmas market weekend in the town we picked up a few more presents and had a walk along the pier. Nigel had a go in the Snowman Flight Experience and we enjoyed a hot chocolate and listening to the band playing Christmas hits on the Sunday before we headed to Portsmouth ready for the overnight ferry home. Miles driven – 322, time taken – 6 hours 45 minutes, friends and family seen – 1.
With Storm Bert having caused chaos in the UK we were intrigued to know what had happened at Carp France Fishing whilst we had been away. Our Maisie sitter had told us that there were no major issues and some neighbours had cleared some of the leaves away from the grill on Kingfisher to prevent flooding. After a 5 hour drive from Caen we arrived home to a very excited Maisie and a quick walk around the lakes outlined the work we need to get done to clear up the fallen trees and branches. Miles driven – 305, time taken – 5 hours 6 minutes, friends and family seen – Maisie.
The final summary of our two weeks away: Miles driven – 1,731, time taken – 37 hours 44 minutes, friends and family seen – 48……plus Maisie, pounds put on – too many.
Will hopefully get another update in before Christmas, with hopefully some exciting news …. à bientôt et bonne journée….