Category: travel

To the glory of God

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I am posting some of the things that I never got chance to share from last summer this week, before I have more adventures in Spain in the next few months. If you visit regularly you will know how much I love cathedrals and the one at Exeter was stunning for so many reasons. This post will be about the cathedral itself and the next about the textiles there.

It never ceases to amaze me how these structures got built when they did, and the complexity of the architecture. There is an amazing beauty to the interiors and Exeter is definitely one of the most beautiful that I have visited.

There were also many unusual features, such as this altar and the golden gate next to it. One of my plans for retirement was to do some designs for black work and goldwork, based on historical architecture and decoration and this gate would make an incredible goldwork piece.

There were also some beautiful memorials, the decoration, the painted ceiling and the floor of this one, and the chapel behind it also contain so much inspiration for designs.

A truly wonderous celebration of the craftmanship of all who built the place and their beliefs.

I am now at my daughter’s for a few days, part of my volunteering for the food bank this time has involved making knitted egg cosies for sale at the market next week. It has been very interesting to see the other side of the organisation. I have visited their other site in nearby Retford, where I was pleased to see that the contents of my old craft room are being put to good use. I also helped out on the market stall there that they use to raise funds for the food bank.

I had an unexpected brief trip to Durham yesterday as I had to get a new passport, due to Brexit the rules have changed and I did not have enough months left for the upcoming trip. Fingers crossed I will be back home soon 🙂

I will post about the amazing textiles at the cathedral next time, meanwhile I hope that you are all having a good week, whatever you are doing. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Van life, baby!

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Over the past few years I have been watching many videos on You Tube from various people who live or travel in vans. One of my absolute favourites is Kinging It, and ‘van life baby!’ is something Craig often says to Amy, especially when they are discussing the joys and not so wonderful bits of van life (such as emptying the porta potti).

I have been on a very, very long journey of my own to try and join the van life community, regular readers will know that I started learning to drive last year, which was already delayed a year due to the pandemic, then couldn’t get a test date before leaving for Spain in September. This is why I have been living with my sister and doing driving lessons here in Worcester, as she very kindly offered me the opportunity to try and learn to drive on about the fourth attempt.

So I am very, very excited to tell you that last week I passed my driving test (first time with only a few minor errors). I really did not think it would happen, and I would have to come back from Spain and redo it but the heavens aligned and I did! I was nervous but had a lovely examiner and I have had a very patient instructor, Julian, from No Gears No Fears. They are a company who specialise in working with people with disabilities and understood when I was in a lot of pain.

Then after a very busy couple of days that saw me travelling the country visiting garages, I bought this gorgeous Renault Kangoo that I am going to turn into a no build mini camper. She was delivered today. Please welcome Katy, my companion on lots of future adventures! I know you are not supposed to choose a car based on colour but I am very glad that I have got this lovely blue one, it will go so well with the Liberty accessories 😉

I have changed my mind many times about what I wanted van wise. I would have loved to buy a Romahome but when I started driving lessons last year I was having a lot of pain in my knee and hip due to the arthritis, and this was affecting clutch control. So I learnt this time in an automatic, which meant that sadly those vans were out of my budget at the moment.

I then considered a small van, such as the Ford Transit Connect, as many people convert those as well but after thinking about being a new driver thought it would be better to have something with a rear view mirror 😉

There are many people who have converted Kangoos, along with Fiat Doblos, VW Caddys, Peugeot Bippers and Citroen Berlingos, and I have been very inspired by these. Wild She Goes is one of my favourites and there is also an interview with some other women who have converted Kangoos and other tiny vans here that I am using for ideas.

For this year Katy will be a no build conversion, which means that I will be using things that can be removed so she can be used as a normal 5 seater car. She will live at my sister’s when I am in Spain, so my sister can use her if she needs something smaller than Eva, the lovely camper.

I am planning to spend the summer testing Katy out and may make modifications next winter but for now she will be a combination of things I already own from my minimal camping kit that I put together last summer and some new things that I have bought of a very practical nature. I have had great fun going through my Amazon wishlist for magnetic hooks, boot carpets and storage items!

This has been a long, and sometimes very emotional journey, I actually first started learning to drive 32 years ago but life kept getting in the way. One of things that I most wanted from retirement was to be able to do this and thanks to all my family and friends, especially my sister Jacky, my daughter Ellen and best friend Kerry, for supporting me so much along the way. I have especially valued their advice about how to chose a car. It means so much to me to be finally able to have this.

So many people have told me that I will have freedom with a licence. I feel I already have that and absolutely loved my UK camping tour last year by public transport. What this will give me is flexibility, to be able to stop if I see something interesting and to change my plans when I want to. I also get to have a cool micro camper! I have already created a Pinterest board for it, look at some of this for inspiration.

This first one is from Kangoo Cottage Camper, who has an Instagram account here. This just shows how much you can get in one of these vehicles.

This is by Dot, no further details supplied. I love the simplicity of this decor but mine will have to have far more Liberty and vintage linen 😉 There will be crafting needed as of course. I have already made some bunting and when I get back to Spain I will work on the soft furnishings that I need, pretty curtains and cushions for Katy will be at the top of my to do list.

These two are from House Beautiful and the Quirky Campers site. There are so many lovely ways you can personalise your van. Although we enjoyed looking round the vans at the recent visit to the Camping, Caravan and Motorhome show, many of them were very dull and boring inside. Plus I don’t have £60,000 in the budget for a new one.

So, dear readers, you can expect further updates on the adventures later this summer. Meanwhile I hope that you are all having a good week. Have fun, take care and thanks for visiting.

May the road rise up to meet you

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I was reminded of this lovely Irish blessing when we were walking in the Peak District this week. The words here of the first part are so apt for our walks in beautiful hills.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.

The wind was not always at our backs, our fault for going away just after Storm Eunice and getting a little bit of the next one or two as well, which meant some windy nights and days, but it was still a brilliant trip. You can always tell how good a walk is by how muddy you are and this was me at the end of day one!

We stayed at a lovely little site called Poplar’s Farm, not far from Ashbourne and spent four nights there.

We had a few specific walks in mind, one inspired by a video from Darren of Scoobie Dee and managed to do them all, albeit a little shortened due to the rain coming in on the last day.

I love the fact that the weather changes so much in the Peak District and the effects on the light and the clouds are amazing.

Our first day we went to Lud’s Church, a short walk across a ridge and down through some woods to this gorge. It was very muddy due to the recent storms but still a brilliant walk, the colours of the moorland and skies just stunning.

On the second day we went to Carsington Water and I got the chance to try out my new binoculars. There are so many different birds who live here and I got to see my first ever cormorant. That was a beautiful sunny day, but with a very fierce wind. Look at these wonderful blue skies!

The final day was the trip to the Dragon’s Back, two amazing hills just over the border in Staffordshire. I had seen Darren’s video last year and although we only got half way round the bottom of the hill before the weather turned bad it was an amazing journey there. I hope to go back one day, maybe not in February, and attempt the walk again.

As always we kept ourselves amused with dice and card games each evening. We are really looking forward to the big trip to Scotland and the Hebrides later this summer. Jacky will be away a few times more in the van before then as well. I am very lucky to be able to share van life with her.

We have a very exciting trip planned on Sunday as we are going to the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show in Birmingham 🙂 I have got to be good and not be tempted to actually buy a campervan, (still hoping to pass my driving test next month and then we will see what happens), but we are very excited just to go and look at everything so I will take lots of photos of ideas for if I do get a van.

Meanwhile I am spending time sorting out equipment and clothing for this year’s adventures, be they in tent or van. I have gradually added to my outdoor wardrobe, this week’s purchases being extra thermal layers, so am fully kitted out for fun in any weather. Most of the things that I bought last year for my new mini camping kit were fine, I just needed to replace a couple of items.

I hope that you have had a nice week, my week ahead will involve a lot more crafting as I am now on a deadline to get things finished for my niece before I go back to Spain so should be able to show you some of that soon.

Whatever you do have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Caceres – Moorish influences

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One of the things that I love about Spain is the history and architecture inspired by the conquest by the Moors. I have only visited Morocco once, (so far!), but love the art and design elements that come from there, and the influences on ceramics and particularly lanterns. If I had the space my little house would be full of hanging lanterns as I love their designs so much.

We visited a small museum in Caceres called, ‘The House of the Arab’, a small building which has been owned by the same family for centuries and which displayed Arab life and culture.

Many of these things have been absorbed into Spanish culture, particularly the use of water and beautiful secluded and tiled gardens. This house was a lovely collection of rooms that demonstrated life before modernisation, including the original well and underground bathing chamber in the house. Absolutely fascinating and well worth the 2 euro entrance fee.

The house was located near to the Jewish quarter so a wander around there led to an encounter with some of the re-enactors who were at the market. We had a lovely chat with them about what they did and watched their fight demonstration later in the day.

There were also several visits to the Arab tea tents, these are always a very popular feature of any medieval market, serving sweetened mint tea, and you get to keep the little glasses they are served in. I love mint tea and have been drinking more since my visit. I use the little glasses as wine glasses as they are so pretty.

We had an excellent journey back from Caceres, I love just sitting watching the scenery and there were some brilliant mountains to look at, some of which I managed to capture in photos which were not too blurry. We also had a beautiful sunset on the way back past our local salt lakes, with my lovely mountains in the background.

I am so looking forward to more adventures on Spanish soil when I return in a couple of months. Today marks my six month anniversary of being retired and it is so much better than I ever thought it would be. One of the nicest things, aside from planning and going on all of these trips, is knowing that I don’t have to come back to lots of e-mails and piles of marking, it makes it all the more pleasurable! I am very, very lucky to be able to have this lovely life.

I am still doing a bit of crafting in between everything else, I have made some Barbie dresses for my great niece and am still working on knitted foxes. My new machine is very lovely, I have not had chance to do much with it yet as I don’t have much fabric here but am looking forward to doing a lot more with it in the coming months.

I hope that you have had a nice week and have an enjoyable week ahead. We shall be carrying on with a little bit of swimming and increasingly more social events as the weather gets warmer.

Whatever you are doing have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Caceres – traditional costume and incredible embroidery

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As I have mentioned there were many palaces in Caceres that have been turned into museums. One of the first that we visited was the Fundacion MCCB, set up by two local residents Mercedes Calles and Carlos Ballestero. As well as some great photography and paintings by local artists about fiestas within the city, there were also some gorgeous artefacts and paintings.

The one that I loved the most was a painting of a young girl, wearing the most amazing traditional costume, she looked so happy that I was thrilled when I managed to buy a small mirror with the image on in the gift shop.

There was also some information and personal items from the couple, Mercedes was born in 1915 and clearly had a very interesting life. I would love to find out more about her, and as I am planning to write a book set in Spain one day, may research more about the area in the future.

One of the other palaces held a brilliant collection of traditional costume from the surrounding area. What was especially lovely was that there were photos of people wearing the costume next to each item.

This was particularly interesting when looking at how they sat wearing the very full skirts. This is where ethnographic sources like this are so vital.

This wonderful hat was used for everyday wear to shade workers from the sun, rather than just being for fiestas.

This photo shows the local people at the opening of the museum in the early 1920s. Even though the picture is blurry it is wonderful to see them all in their best clothes for the occasion.

There were so many lovely embroidered costumes from the surrounding villages, each one slightly different but all with an emphasis on colour. It was really interesting to see this, as previously I have only seen the sorts of costume that are worn at the large fiestas, which are more based around what looks like more formal hooped dresses.

The following day we were lucky enough to see the local folk group who still wear versions of these costumes, complete with matching masks at the moment!

The linen work was incredible, I could have been there for hours just looking at these pieces. They were so finely done and it was very interesting to see the same motifs come up as I have seen in many other countries, and reinterpreted in a lot of Quaker inspired cross stitch designs.

As well as other displays of weaving, spinning and embroidery, there was the ubiquitous Singer sewing machine.

I love seeing these in museums, it always makes my little heart so happy to see them and to think about the women who may have used them. I have more pictures from another Caceres museum to show you but will save those for a later post.

Life here with my sister has settled into a nice routine. I have finished two creative writing courses and have started two more. One is a group class with the WEA using Zoom and I am really enjoying it. I never wanted to have a Zoom meeting ever again, after last year’s teaching. However, it is much more fun when you are a student, rather than the teacher worrying about losing people in the ether. There are lots more courses that I like the look of so will do more in the future. It is lovely to study informally with no deadlines or pressure, and I am finding that it is really helping with the progress with the first book.

It has been very cold here, though sunny, so apart from trips to the gym I have been cuddling up with cat, writing, knitting and sewing and generally enjoying the peace and quiet. Jacky and I have just booked an amazing trip to Scotland for August, we are going to Loch Lomond, Skye, Harris and Lewis, and North and South Uist, following in the footsteps on many of my favourite travel vloggers. We also have camping in the Peak District booked for February half term. So we have lots of exciting adventures to look forward to!

I hope you are managing to stay warm, or cool, depending on which season you are in. Have a good rest of the weekend, and a great week ahead. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Amazing lights, beautiful city

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Edinburgh was so beautiful, as expected. We have both been before, but to be there at Christmas was just magical. We stayed in a very central location, just near the castle so it was within walking distance of everything. The apartment was beautiful, here it is on Air bnb , if you are ever interested in visiting Edinburgh. Last two pictures are from the listing.

We spent most of the first day we were there just wandering around admiring the buildings and looking in some nice shops.

We were stunned by the amount of beautiful Christmas lights on all the shops and hotels. There were some absolutely gorgeous displays, including some very innovative light displays on the buildings.

We had tickets for the Botanical Gardens light event on Boxing Day which was also wonderful, a trail through with all different lights shows and music, the photos so not do it justice really as most of the light installations changed colour as well.

One of the best things was the number of gorgeous places to eat, so many stunning architectural gems as well as the food and drink being great. We had delicious gluten free pancakes in the old Assembly Rooms, a company called Stack and Sill, and Bailey’s hot chocolate in a lovely café called Tiles which was the previously the reception area for the Prudential insurance company.

We also visited the gorgeous Café Adaluz for a tapas lunch and had an evening meal in a restaurant, Angel’s Share, that I did chose for its amazing tin tile ceiling and chandeliers. Luckily the food and cocktails were nice as well!

We had a ride on the big wheel and a lovely couple of tours on the big red tour bus which is always a great way to get around a city and find out lots about it.

Another highlight was a visit to a cat café, Maison de Moggy. We had been planning to visit one of these in Japan, so spent a lovely hour having some very delicious Turkish Delight hot chocolate and cake. The visit was a chance to pet the ten cats they have there, including a beautiful Maine Coon, Pauline, that had the most amazing lion like face. This photo at the bottom of her is from the web site as I couldn’t get a good picture while we were there.

I am enjoying my time at my sister’s, I have bought a new sewing machine, with 99 stitches so am looking forward to using that and am knitting my first Little Cotton Rabbits fox.

I am enjoying cuddling up with her lovely cat as well, Scully, she is my sofa companion when I do my studying for my writing courses.

Jacky and I have also been to the gym a few times and I have done my first aquarobics session which was fun. We are having a quiet weekend at home as the weather is a bit rough. My sister is a primary school teacher and has had a busy first week back at work so it is nice to have some quiet time.

I hope that you have all had a nice week, and have a good week ahead. I will be back with the first of my museum series of posts, as I have lots to share with you from all the lovely costume and textiles things I have seen since August. Until then have fun, take care, stay safe, and thanks for visiting.

Bright lights, big city!

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Happy New Year to you all, let’s hope 2022 is a year when we can do the simple things like meeting up with family and friends more often without worrying, and plan things without the risk of them being cancelled.

I have been lucky enough to meet up with lots of people over Christmas, seeing all of my ex work colleagues and friends in Marsden before a lovely time in Edinburgh over Christmas with Ellen. I am now staying with my sister in Worcester for a few months and start driving lessons again in a couple of days so wish me luck!

I will post later about Edinburgh but wanted to show you the lovely things in Manchester first. This was a last minute decision as I was going to stay with my brother, but due to the fact that he had to isolate when coming back from Spain decided to go there for a little tour of some of the places I had never visited.

I stayed at the Salford Quays development in a very cute little room in an Ibis Budget hotel. This was only a short tram ride from central Manchester and I got to admire all of the amazing tower blocks on the way in to the city.

The area was created out of the old dockland area from the era when ships used to sail as far as America via the Manchester Shipping Canal, as Manchester is a long way from the sea. It was one of the first urban regenerations in the early 1980s.

Within the modern shopping malls there were some lovely photos of the old docks and the workers are commemorated along the walkways with art and poetry. I spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around the new areas admiring the Christmas lights and the sheer scale of the buildings there.

My first visit was to the Manchester Art Gallery. Their fashion collection is still being developed but they had some beautiful art depicting costume, which I always love looking at.

There were also some very interesting other exhibitions looking at the role of ‘unskilled workers’, particularly during the pandemic.

That afternoon was a visit to the Manchester Jewish Museum, which is housed in the old Spanish/Portuguese Synagogue which was so beautiful. I have never visited a synagogue before so it was very interesting and very well interpreted with oral history recordings from the people that used to worship there.

There was also a separate museum with the history of the many people who had come to Manchester to settle, which was again full of the personal stories and belongings. I love museums like this that tell the history of ordinary people, it is so important that their stories are not lost.

I was also lucky enough to come across The Portico Library, a beautiful little subscription library that was founded in 1806 and had a quick look around. They had a lovely exhibition on ‘polite literature’ and they also have some resources on fiction writing that I am going to follow up on You Tube.

The final visit was to The People’s History Museum, which is a museum about the history of democracy and has many really interesting sections on the struggle for votes and worker’s rights. Some of these I remember well as they happened during my teens and early twenties. They also had a really interesting collection of banners, from the simple home-made ones of the 1970s and 80s to the very elaborate ones of the Victorian and Arts and craft era.

It was a lovely couple of days and it was nice to visit some of the smaller, less well-known museums in the city. After a busy few weeks I am looking forward to a nice quiet time here. I have bought a new sewing machine with lots of decorative stitches and am looking forward to trying that out this coming week so you never know there may be more evidence of crafting on the blog very soon!

I hope that you all have a nice week ahead, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Caceres, the cathedral and church

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Unusually for us on a trip to any European city we only visited one church and the cathedral. There were so many other things to see in our three days there so I can share only a little bit of Catholic bling and goldwork with you 😉

The cathedral was in the main square where the market was and was beautiful inside, the light on the stonework was amazing. In contrast to most Spanish churches the main altarpiece was not gold, but a stunning wooden one with a painted ceiling above it.

There was a side chapel with a gold altar and some gorgeous icons, including one with lights which is something I have not seen before.

The museum had some excellent examples of gold work on the priests’ robes and icons. There were also some unusual painted robes, which were done on white satin, and the under robes had beautiful lace edging.

We climbed up a very narrow, twisting route to the bell tower where there were great views over the city. We did happen to be up there as the bells struck, but luckily it was only 1pm, it was very noisy but I love seeing bells in towers like this.

The other church we visited had an extensive collection of belen, nativities, from around the world and was in the process of building their belen, in the middle of the church. Although this was just a small church there were again some beautiful examples of lace and painted ceilings.

I will post about the museums and all the fabulous costume at a later date. I am going to be doing some volunteering this coming week at the food bank with Ellen and then hopefully on Thursday going to visit various friends in Yorkshire. It will be lovely to be travelling again, I have had a whole week in the house as I have been isolating until my Covid test result came through, which is very unusual for me nowadays. I am really looking forward to getting out and about again, though I have enjoyed doing lots of cross stitch for my ornaments this year.

I hope that you have all had a good week, and are looking forward to the festive season if you are celebrating. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Caceres – a step back in time

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I organised the trip to Caceres myself, rather than it being a coach trip, which meant a journey across Spain via Madrid on two of their marvellous and very comfortable trains. I love Spanish trains as they look often like birds which I think is deliberate given the name of the train company.

I found our apartment on Booking.com and it is called Apartmentos Turisticos Caceres if you ever fancy a visit there yourselves.

I have visited many old cities but none with the very unique character that Caceres has. As it was built as a walled city it has not been altered within the walls and so you get a very unique sense of what life would have been like. The centre of the city is crammed with churches, palaces and other historic buildings. There are 98 listed on the tourist map, though not all of them are open to visit, some being used as offices for the city. There are 1300 pieces of heraldry on these buildings, like the one below, which is partly why it is a World Heritage site.

We were staying inside this walled city so every step outside our apartment was like being back in the 1500s when the city was being built. The apartment was not decorated in a medieval style, which I would have loved, but was very impressive anyway, with huge thick walls and views across the city. These photos show the view from the apartment and the narrow streets that surround it.

It is also the perfect setting for a medieval market and I will post some pictures of that next time. We love these markets, and have been to many in Spain and this one was huge with lots of stalls and entertainment.

As well as wandering the streets, just soaking in the atmosphere, we also visited some of the palaces which have been turned into museums. I have some gorgeous textiles to show you as well in a later post, from the cathedral and the city museum which had a brilliant section devoted to traditional dress.

One of the palaces had a beautiful garden to visit, with this amazing old tree. I think it might be a fig tree.

We also spent time in the main city square, the Plaza Mayor, which is just outside the walled city. You go through an archway from the walled city and down the steps, past one of the many defensive towers which you can visit to walk round part of the walls.

As with many Spanish cities, the plaza was so lively with bars and restaurants, as well as entertainers who were with the market. We found a lovely tapas bar just off the square, which we visited twice to sample everything on their menu as it was so good.

It was all so beautiful and more than lived up to my expectations for the trip. You know how much I love medieval art and architecture. Although much of the ironwork was quite utilitarian, being defensive, I did find this beautiful door at the first tapas place we ate at, in the palace round the corner from our apartment.

I am now back in the UK, slightly earlier than expected due to a change in travel regulations, so am making the most of my time here at Ellen’s stitching the last of my Christmas ornaments and having a quiet week. Fingers crossed, (if the Day 2 PCR test comes back negative!), I will be off back to Huddersfield at the end of next week for a catch up with friends.

Meanwhile I will be making the most of time here, Ellen is going to try and teach me to crochet a snowflake, which is something I have wanted to do for ages, so watch this space! I will also be back with more of wonderful Caceres soon.

I hope that you all have a good week and weekend ahead, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Adventures on Welsh Railways – Part 2

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We had an amazing time at Caceres, it exceeded all expectations and I have a couple of hundred pictures to sort through but for today I am going to finish my UK tour posts, otherwise I will get very confused! My final stop on the tour was the lovely campsite Ynys Faig which I chose both for its location and the fact that it is right next to the railway station.

The journey there was beautiful, as I mentioned in my last post, and although the forecast for the afternoon was bad, the gods of camping were with me and I managed to pitch just before it started raining. I was really lucky with all my camping trips, I managed to pitch and strike in good weather and only got rained on a few times. This five days in Wales was the wettest part of the tour but that is only to be expected. There is a reason it is so lovely and green!

Fairbourne is at the edge of the Snowdonia National Park, with fantastic views behind into the mountains and across to the Llyn Penisula. It is a little village with a couple of shops, including a village store that sells absolutely everything, and great transport links, being on the mainline between North Wales and Birmingham. I also chose the site as the village has a miniature railway, which was used originally for mining in the area but which is now a tourist attraction.

I was in train heaven on the trip as not only was there the Cambrian Coast Railway and the miniature train, which I already knew about, but I also spotted another heritage railway on my way there, at the nearby town of Tywyn. The Talylynn Railway is the world’s first preserved historic railway and was developed for the slate industry. It is a gorgeous trip on the narrow gauge track up into Snowdonia and there is plenty of opportunity to get off and walk to various viewpoints and waterfalls. It was such a fun day out, needless to say I loved it and the whole area.

I also went on the Cambrian Coast Railway to Porthmadog, I have many happy holidays there so didn’t spend much time in the town but just went for the amazing train ride, especially the part where it crosses the bridge over the Barmouth Estuary. The moody weather just added to the dramatic scenery.

Barmouth itself was another day out and I combined this with the miniature Fairbourne railway and a trip across the estuary on the outward journey on a little ferry. On the way back I had a quick boat tour of the estuary and that was lovely, especially seeing the bridge from the boat. This was the wettest day so after a good soaking in Barmouth I was very happy to find a lovely cafe with delicious soup and gluten free cake to dry off in.

My final day was a long walk around the estuary, following a little part of the Cambrian Way along the estuary. Again it was a fantastic walk and I would love to go back and do more of the walk the other way into Snowdon one day.

This is an area that Jacky and I would like to go back to so we have added it to our list. I would definitely go back to Ynys Faig campsite again as it was a lovely friendly little site and the best bit was that I was able to hire a firepit! Due to the rain I only used it for 2 nights but it was brilliant to sit and read while watching the flames.

I have preliminary plans for next year’s tour, I will hopefully return to Wales and am also thinking about more of the South West and North Yorkshire. We have lots of lovely events and festivals already planned so fingers crossed they will all go ahead and I can fit my tour stages in between them. We are also working on our travel plans for Spain for when I return, we have just booked a trip to Galicia in May with a coach tour and are working on a trip to Granada as a postponed 80th birthday trip for Mum.

I really am living the dream here, still can’t believe this is my life. I am sitting here looking out of the window at the most glorious sunshine and am off on a bike ride later this afternoon.

This time last year I had just finished my 9th Saturday of term 1 teaching and would have probably been sitting freezing given the horrible storms they have been having. My heart goes out to all of the people who have had damage, especially my lovely friends who were due to trade at the Ludlow Medieval Market which got cancelled due to storm damage on Friday.

I hope that you are all ok and have had a good week. I have an exciting week ahead, our sewing group has been holding a two day workshop to make an etui, (needlework box), which has been great fun so far. This is a rather messy work in progress shot, the process involves a lot of gluing fabric to card to make the box.

I am going to finish that this coming Weds, and then I am off to see the Christmas lights in Alicante next weekend. I am putting my tiny tree up this week, I did manage to bring a few ornaments over from the UK so am looking forward to having those up for a couple of weeks.

I will be back later in the week with some of the Caceres pictures, until the enjoy your week ahead, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.