Summer in Europe and back to Oz 

June 21st 2012 to Sept 30th 2012

From Norway to N. Wales

Tuesday 20th June - We had no real plans other than we were to meet up with Bob and Diane in France in last week of August and we had booked flights back to Sydney via HK on September 30th. Apart from that the world (or at least what could be reached in a Skoda) was our oyster.

Our first stop was going to be Oslo, Willy had some old friends he wanted to catch up with so we decided to spend a few days in Oslo on the way through to Fredrickstad. The problem with Oslo is the cost of accommodation it's a killer. 

Jan kindly let us use what was his old dental workshop which was no longer used, fortunately it's right in the middle of Oslo so in spite of being subterranean it's very handy if a little spooky.

Camping in Sweden with
the new tent

We catch up with some of Willy's old friend, I do the Vigerland sculpture park again and then carry on down to Fredrikstad to see Kirsten for a few days.  By now summer had arrived and the weather was really nice, lots of evening barbeques which in the long Norway evenings was really nice.

Sunset on a Zealand Beach

Thursday 28th June - Time to leave, we decide to make our exit via Sweden rather than taking the ferry to Denmark. The first stop was Gotenburg where we found a great campsite down by the water. Camping was now a little easier as we had a new tent which  I had brought over from the UK so we were better prepared for all weather camping

Design Museum Copehagen

From there we moved on to Copenhagen for the weekend staying at a hotel very near the Tivoli Gardens which we didn't actually visit. Copenhagen is a really nice city with only one problem - people smoke in bars. It's make you realise just how anti-social smoking is.  Anyway apart from that the place is really nice, we visit the Design Museum and I wander around on a really sunny Sunday afternoon and came across a giant sand castle building competition next to the opera house.  

Design Museum

The people are very friendly but it feels like a land of giants, everyone seems to be really tall and very well built - can be a little intimidating as they do tend to drink rather a lot and after about 10.00 at night there seems to be no sober people anywhere, fortunately they are very pleasant drunks just a a bit daunting.

Sand Castle competition
& Opera House

From Copenhagen we moved on to the coast of Zetland and camp there for a couple of nights. I have never considered Denmark to be a particularly interesting country but there is some really nice country side and beaches, considering it's really all a giant sand dune!

Torunn and Ole

July 8th Saturday - William looks up an ex-flat mate of his from his days in Oslo. She normally lives near Copehangen but when we call is on holiday with her husband on the far north of Jutland at a place called Torup Strand.  Torunn and Ole have a beach house is which about 5 minutes from the beach and  5 minutes from the forest so it's a great spot. 

Fishing boats at Torup Strand

 Torunn is Norwegian and Ole is Danish. This make life interesting as she speaks Norwegian to Ole and Ole speaks Danish to her. This make no difference to me but is very confusing for William as he can only understand half of any conversation. Like all Scandinavians they speak absolutely perfect English most of the time, even with William as apparently his Norwegian is crap!

Uncovering skeletons
in Denmark

Go to Aalborg one day and came across an archaeological dig at the local cathedral. If you look closely at the pictures you can actually see the skeleton as it is bring unearthed. 

After a couple of nights with Torrun and Ole decide it's time to move on so we head for Hamburg, there's really no alternative when leaving Denmark. From here we have to decide to go down the Atlantic coast of France which we had done the year before or drive down through Germany and the Eastern part of France. I have always wanted to visit Berlin so we book a hotel for the weekend. Hotel prices in Berlin are particularly good so we get a good hotel near the centre.

Eastside Gallery Berlin

Friday 13th July - Berlin is a fascinating city. Although obviously the Berlin Wall has long gone the difference between what was East and West is still visible.  The biggest difference is probably the grand boulevards and squares much favoured for military parades by the East. 

Spend the three days wandering around and taking in  the sites. 

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Berliners have preserved many examples of building and structures from both WWII and also the cold war era. 

The Eastside Gallery is a 1.3Km stretch of the Berlin Wall with over 100 painting by various artists - it is a memorial to peace and freedom. 

Somewhere in Denmark we had managed to get a chip in the windscreen. We decided to try and get it fixed in Berlin. The chip was on the left side so the first garage refused to do it. Apparently in Germany garages are not allowed to fix cracks on the left (drivers) side of the windscreen. We pointed out that as this was a right hand drive car but to absolutely no avail, obviously rules are rules. However the next place was somewhat more flexible and we managed to get it fixed.

Strasbourg Cathedral

From Berlin we drive down into France crossing the border near Strasbourg. Although in France Strasbourg is more German than French, it has, after all, changed hands so many times there has to be some confusion.

Monday 16th July - It's the city where, at great expense,  the whole of the EU parliament decamps to to every month.

The Thinker

The city itself is quite small, the architecture is more German than French with a great old town and cathedral. The food is a good mixture of the two styles with lots of pig's knuckles and the like.

In addition to the EU parliament it has one of the oldest universities in Europe and at this time of year a large visiting student population. We did the Museum of Contemporary Art which has Rodin's "The Thinker" and an exhibition of Max Klinger works. 

We had one of those wonderful surreal moments when trying to get a top-up for the broadband SIM card. You can top-up on-line but need a French credit card so that was out. So you go to the shop and get the voucher, but to activate it you need a French phone. 

Strassburg

Normally this is OK you just ask the shop to make the call and do the activation. However for some reason the shop assistant stated that they didn't have a french phone - so here you are in a French telephone shop, surrounded by phones and the shop assistant is saying they can't do the activation as they don't have a phone!

William nearly managed to get himself and the car flattened by a tram through driving along the tram tracks rather than car track. Roads in European cities can be very confusing as they are designed with public transport, bicycles and pedestrians always having priority over cars....

Lapin makes you happy

Thursday 19th July - After hotels for the past few weeks it's time to save a bit of money and go camping.  We head for Dijon and find a nice campsite walking distance to the city. There's also a regular bus service which according to their blurb was "Bus of the Year- 2004".

During our stay in Dijon the car develops a very loud squeaking noise from the front leftside wheel. It lasts about 20 minutes and then goes away. Back at the campsite we take the wheel off but can't see anything. This is a really worry as it really does sound like the wheel is about to drop off. We extend our stay and spend the next few days driving around to see if we can recreate the problem but no luck and everything seems just fine.

Testing La Skoda in the Vineyards
of Bourgone  

Dijon is very close to the villages of Bourgogne which includes such places as Beaune, Chablis and Nuit St. George. We end up one lunchtime at the village of Nuit St. George and had a great lunchtime meal - Salad for me and Lapin for William washed down with a local Chablis, this has to be one of the nicest regions of France - it is just so french! It's just a shame that Dijon itself is not a particularly interesting city.

Although the problem with the car seems to have gone away we decide that rather than driving further South (we were going to Barcelona) we will stay in France and head West towards Bordeaux and then up the Atlantic coast. 

From Dijon we decide to go make for Lyon and book a hotel for the weekend in Lyon. 

Monday 23rd July - Between Dijon and Lyon we stay at a campsite at Etang de la Fougeraie in Burgundy. The place has it's own carp and trout lake and is right in the middle of a National Park. It's a great campsite with it's own small bar and restaurant and the usual early morning delivery of baguettes and pain au chocolate...

We stay here for four nights and lo and behold the car noise comes back again,  This time we are rather less freaked out by it and try to do some diagnosis, breaking, accelerating turning etc etc but to no avail anyway it goes away again after about 30 minutes.

Friday 27th July - Off to Lyon - the Gastronomical Centre of France and France's 2nd largest city. The hotel turns out to have the smallest room imaginable - but will do for a couple of nights and it is right in the centre of the city. The new part of Lyon is spectacularly unimpressive but the old town is really nice and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Lyon is at the confluence of the RhÔne and SaÔne rivers so the city seems to have lots of water and several banks which make it rather a confusing city to get around. There's also a lively nightlife so all in all not a bad place for a weekend.

Saturday lunchtime we go to a Lyonnaise restaurant - big mistake. I'm not the most adventurist of eaters and my French doesn't run to knowing many animal parts however I recognize chicken fricassee when I see it. William dives into pig's parts stew and isn't disappointed.

Rocamadour

Tuesday 31st July - Push on towards Bordeaux and we pick a camping site in a National Park in the Dordogne at a place called Thegra. Another good campsite in a forest with lots of walking tracks. We stay here for 4 nights and visit the nearby town of Rocamadour which is quite beautiful being built on a cliff face but oh so full of tourists! The place is built into a cliff face with a monestry at the top. We do a 12Km walk around the town which is rather nice if a little warm and for once we don't get lost!

Rocamadour

We try to get to see the Gouffre de Padriac which are caverns with sub-subterranean rivers. Unfortunately it's now the height of the  holiday season in France and the queues are unbelievable so we cross it off the list.  By this time we are both a little over sightseeing so it has to be something really spectacular and easy to get to to get us interested......and caves just don't do it!

Friday 3rd to 20th August - From Thegra we move on to the West Coast - Le Porge (a beach near  Bordeaux). The campsite is in a pine forest about 5 minutes from the beach. By this time it's getting quite hard to get places due to the school holidays plus the campsites seem to be full of children.... However the beach is great even though there are some days when it's almost impossible to get in the water due to the breakers. We end up spending almost three weeks here. To be absolutely honest we are both so over travelling we just want to stay in one place and 'chill out' - I'm just an old hippie at heart!

The campsite is enormous but we manage to get a nice quiet pitch with no noisy neighbours, there is also a restaurant on site and more restaurants and bars on the beach so all in all it's OK. The weather is great, a bit too hot if anything but perfect beach weather.

Fishing nets in Pornic

Monday 20th August - Thursday 23rd August We are due to meet Bob and Diane in Honfleur on 25th August so start to move up the coast. We stayed in Pornic last year and really enjoyed it. The campsite is set on top of a cliff and there are restaurants and a town within walking distance. The difference is that we are now in August and last year was September -therefore more tourists.  We find a rather nice quiet beach within walking distance so have a very pleasant few days eating at the local beach restaurant which does rather nice seafood.

Bob and Diane 

Friday 24th August - Drive to Caen where we spend the night, go to a great restaurant shown on 'Trip advisor' wonderful food!.

Saturday 25th August -1st September  - Drive to Honfleur, pick up the keys and settle in. Meet Bob and Diane at Deauville and go out to dinner.  This is a sort of replay from last year except this year it's a week earlier and the weather is much much better. 

On Monday go to "D Day" beaches starting at Omaha ending up at Arromanches where the remains of a Mulberry Harbour can still be seen at low tide.

The Benedictine Factory

Tuesday is Dane's birthday so Champagne all round. On the Wednesday we go to Fecamp and do a tour around the Bededictine factory which was rather interesting. Thursday is a rest day and Friday we drop D & B off at Le Havre railway station for their onward trip to Bordeaux.

We go back to the house, tidy up and pack the car ready for the trip back to the UK. 

Saturday 1st  September - Up really early to drive to Calais to catch the ferry back to Dover. Arrive in the UK about 12 and travel down to Banbury before taking Willy to Manchester on Wednesday to catch his flight to Norway.

The garden in North Wales

5th September 22nd September - Off to Manchester to put William on the flight to Norway and then on to North Wales. Not much happens for the next couple of weeks. I walk up and down Snowdon one day - perfect weather for a walk that takes about 3.5 hours in each direction, collect William from Manchester on Wednesday 19th.  Not a lot of activity, we visited the local pub several times to enjoy the late summer evenings, caught up some friends and sadly put the car in the garage to await our return in 201n? 


Sunday 23rd September - catch the train down to London and check into the hotel which is just off High Street Kensington.  A friend of Willy's from Norway comes over towards the end of the week, I meet up with Catie and we generally pass the week shopping, eating drinking and sleeping. 

Sunday 30th September - The start of the trip home, rather like 15 months ago we are both looking forward to getting to our destination (this time Sydney) but there is some trepidation. After 15 months away we realise the holiday is over and it's back to reality...  Fly out of Heathrow in the evening, a couple of G & T's and into Hong kong on Monday 1st. 

Monday 1st October - We had arranged to stay with Joanne for a couple of nights but unfortunately she was away on a business trip.  We still stayed and are welcomed by Irene, Max and Max's new brother Charlie. 

For Hong Kong the weather was really nice, not too hot and not too humid. Managed to catch up with some friends including Paul and David. Did the usual shopping and eating but were itching to get back. We were due to fly out on the Thursday 4th October arriving Friday in Sydney. Everything seemed to be going well until I tried to check-in online with Cathay Pacific. Managed to get William checked in but then when I was entering my details realised that my Australian passport had expired in March 2012. I hadn't used it since we flew out of Sydney 15 months ago!

To say a mild panic set-in is a slight under-statement. Spent the next three hours running around Wan Chai getting an emergency passport issued. The High Commission came to the party and $100 later had a passport valid for precisely 5 days or until I landed in Australia.
which ever came sooner. 

Thursday 4th October 2012 - Off to the airport to catch the evening flight back to Sydney - this was it the last leg home and probably the last flight of the trip. Settle in, Gin and Tonics all round and a very uneventful light back to Sydney.

Friday 5th October 2012 - Arrive back in Sydney after being away for exactly 15 months - we left on 5th July 2011.  Michael and Stephen were there to meet us and we got chauffeured back to Clement Street. Bart was back but hiding behind the washing machine and didn't actually show himself for several hours and then very reluctantly.

Back in Oz with the best cat in the world

Now several week later it feels like we have never been away. The apartment is back to normal,  Bart has started attacking me again, William has started the mammoth task of sorting through a gazillion pictures and I am desperately trying to finish this blog!

Monday 19th November - As a rather sad footnote to our travels  Willy is back in Norway  having attended his mother's funeral who died on the 7th November   Good that that he spent time with her so recently. 

Willy builds a terrace and The Priests arrive in Norway

 

 April 2012 to June 20th 2012 

My solo trip to Norway

April 30th to May 15th 

After our holiday in Gran Canaries (April 2012), Willy flew to Norway to spend Easter getting instructions for terracing the West coast of Norway and I stayed on in the UK. The plan was for me to drive up to Norway with the car after May 2012. I had to wait until May because if not we would have to buy a complete set of winter tyres for the car to be legal in Norway. As that would have cost more than the car was worth we decided to wait.

On the way to the West Coast

The 1st part of the trip was a drive down to Harwich via Judith's (sister) in Banbury, then an overnight ferry trip from Harwich to Arlsberg in Denmark, this was followed by a 3 hour drive to Hirtshals in the far North of Denmark for an overnight stay. The following day I caught the ferry to Larvick in the South of Norway followed by a drive North through Oslo (which is incredibly easy as there's a tunnel) and an overnight stop just north of Oslo before the final assault on the West coast which is another 7 hours drive. 

Still on the way

I was really very lucky as the Norwegian winter was still very much in the air and the road up to the West coast would not be easy in snow without at least snow tyres if not chains but fortunately no snow on the roads.

Arrived safely on 1st May to assist with the terrace building activity.

Cement Mixing

Before we left Australia, Willy's sister, Kirsten had asked Willy if he was interested in building a terrace on her house on the West coast of Norway. This sounded like a good opportunity to spend sometime in Averøy (the area Willy comes from) and earn some spending money. 

As it turned out it's a very big terrace with large expanses and a grand staircase down to the sea but as always nothing is beyond the capabilities of William.

By the time I arrived Willy had managed to get the framework laid out and built a small sample section which met with approval so it was full steam ahead.  My job was mixing concrete - lots of it.  You can get some idea of the size of the terrace from the photograph and this is just one part!  

Bart II

Bart II  - Most evening we would go for a walk over to one of the other Islands (they are all joined by either bridges or causeways). One evening we managed to collect a cat just like Bart but in many ways much nicer than Bart. This cat thought he was a dog as he just followed you everywhere and followed us all the way home.  This was a problem as Kirsten doesn't like cats and also it would be unfair to feed it as we were leaving soon. The poor thing sat outside looking in through the windows and was still there in the morning. We tried to catch it and take it home, but Bart II was having none of that. So the only way, was for me to walk him back to where he lived.  Bart II followed me, and  Willy  came to pick me up in the car.

Grant & Brian with
red scarf

Monday 7th May - Brian and Grant Day. This was the day B&G aka The Priests arrived in Molde on the Hurtigruten from Bergen. They were on the start of a 8 day cruise up the West coast of Norway. The boats are part of a daily mail service that was started in the late 19th century carrying mail and supplies to the inaccessible northern areas of Norway.  Today it still a carries freight and mail but also passengers. The boats go as far as Kirkenes well inside the arctic circle and then back to Bergen.


Molde is quite a large regional centre (famous for an annual jazz festival) about 90 minutes drive from Willy's so we decided to go early pick up some supplies from the Asian supermarket and the hardware store and then eat.   Pepe's Pizza was selected for the gourmet meal. The most expensive Pizza in the world as it turns out. It was also Norwegian Schoolies day - didn't know anyone could make so much noise without alcohol!

Unfortunately it was a rather wet and cold evening, so not a great welcome  and certainly not showing Molde at it's best as it is a rather nice town with mountains and Fjords etc. 

The boat arrives dead on time and the boys are there glass of red wine in hand. 30 minutes later,after a quick chat on the quay side, off they sailed to the Arctic Circle. We would see them again in Nesna one week later.

More cement mixing

Between the 7th and 14th building continues on the terrace thankfully it was by now starting to take shape to the extent that you could walk on parts of it but there was still a long way to go. Sometime during this week I was thrown off the building site, something to do with quality control I think, or  maybe that there was no more concrete to mix so I was made redundant. However I was soon let back on the site to do other menial tasks....

To the Artic Circle in a Skoda

Monday 14th May - off we go to pick up B&G.  William's geographical  knowledge of Norway is not good. We discovered this when we went looking for Nesna on the map. We were sort of expecting it to be near Trondhiem which is about 3 hours north, Nesna is actually 750Km north which is about a 12 hour journey. This is mainly due to the Norwegian speed limits which rarely get above 80KPH and frequently are set at 50KPH and the fines are heavy AUD500 for 10% over the speed limit....

On the drive from Nesna

Anyway off we go and stop for the night in a place called Mosjøen which is about 90 minutes from Nesna including a 30 minute ferry trip. Weather on the way up was good, the road goes through some great country side with a couple of ferry trips thrown in. Unfortunately by the time we got to Mosjøen the weather had turned cold and very wet or as the Norwegians say was "raining female trolls". 
Surprisingly for what seemed like a rather sleepy town out of season, accommodation was surprisingly difficult to find but anyway we eventually to get a room for the night.

The Trollstigen

Up early the next morning for the final leg to Nesna arriving in good time to meet the boys after their epic trip.  Managed to fit most of the stuff in the car (by now we had a roof pod) and off we set on the trip South. Hadn't decided yet whether to break the journey or drive straight through back to Averøya. On the way down we made several stop for photo shoots and a picnic lunch - the weather was good all the way which was very welcome after the previous nights weather.

As it turned out we drove straight through from Nesna to Averøya arriving back home just before mid-night. It had been a long journey with Willy doing most of the journey and me just doing the important part, mainly to catch the last ferry with just 2 minutes to spare.

The Lighthouse 

The week with B&G was fairly quiet, after their time on the cruise think they were quite happy to take it easy and just enjoy the peaceful surroundings.  We did some short trips including a visit to Kristiansund for shopping, the same walk we had done the previous year to the lighthouse and a day trip to Bud which is a really nice very picturesque village not far from Averøya. 

One night whilst out walking with Brian we came across Bart II again, Brian obviously has a way with cats as on this occasion he decided not to follow us home.

Åndelnes

Tuesday 22nd May - Brian and Grant are catching the Oslo train from Åndalsnes tomorrow so decide to drive to Åndalsnes and spend the night there. Åndalsnes is about 100Km inland from Averoya it's an extremely beautiful area which includes the Trollstigen (trolls footpath) road which is a series of loops and switchbacks. Unfortunately when we arrived the road was still closed due to the danger of avalanches. Normally the road opens at the end of April but not this year!

Åndelnes

Wednesday 23rd May -  Drop Brian and Grant off at the railway station. Decide that as we are in great walking country we should do at least one walk before heading back to Averoya. Talk to the lady at the local Tourist Information office who recommends an easy 2 hour walk that starts in the middle of the town. After 30 minutes on this "easy track" I give up, it's almost vertical and we've only reached half way. WRK carries on but he also gives up not because it's too steep but because he's alone and arrives at an area where there's very little to hang on to and the path drops away on both sides.  So it's back to the car and back to Averoya.

The Terrace

Thursday 24th May to Monday18th June - Time to complete the terrace. The weather is very mixed with some really nice days and some that are not so good. I am allowed back on the building site cutting timber and general dogs body. Must admit it seems to be taking forever to finish but looks really good.  

Willy has somehow acquired a large dried salted fish - cod I understand, also known as baccalao. Not sure where it came from but there is no way it's coming in the house - the smell is just unbelievably rank!.

Willy's Fish

 Every morning the fish is taken out of the garage and hung on the washing line and then put back into the garage at night - strange ritual but I am led to believe that the sun and wind is good for it.  In the meantime bit are broken off and chewed.

In the evenings we do some fishing with Willy's brother Jan Ove and I catch an awesome cod. 

John's fish

That's a slight exaggeration as Jan Ove caught it but I reeled it in. It's enourmous and tastes absolutely delicious.

Eventually, despite the weather, the terrace is completed and we prepare to head South once more.

We are leaving just before mid-summers day which is a shame as I am now used to endless daylight. It's also a bit sad as I am not sure if I will be back before we set off back to Australia. 

Completed at last

We say our good byes and 'thank-you's' to all at  Averoya and set off the next day back on the trek down to Oslo en-route to see Kirsten and Arild before leaving Norway.

Michael, Stephen, Winter, Christmas and New Year 2012

From November 3rd to April 21st 2012


A very big thank-you to Michael and Stephen for the accommodation in London

We decided somewhere along the way that once we returned from the Spain, Willy would go to Norway and I would go to North Wales until we were due to meet up with Michael and Stephen early in December. Both of us needed a time without travelling and a bit of a break from the 24/7  constant companionship - no real problem but you do run out of things to say!

We arrived back in Portsmouth from Santander (Spain) on Thursday 3rd November and drove to Banbury for a night at Judith's. Owing to a clerical error I managed to book Willy out to Norway the following day. This was a pure accident caused by the Ryanair website not allowing you to go back and check your dates....an honest mistake.

A relaxed WRK in Gran Canaria

Willy was booked out of Stansted late in the evening, unfortunately getting to Stansted from Banbury involves a section on the M25 (London Circular) which, for those not in the know, is a disaster of a motorway with frequent mile long queues and never ending road roads as they try and widen it to cope with the  every increasing traffic.

We did actually manage to find a bus, but he wasn't having any of that nonsense as it meant he had to get out of bed before midday.  Anyway managed to get him to the airport with only a couple of hours to spare and off he went.

From then until our rendez-vous with the Lutterals not a lot happened. I spent most of the time in North Wales doing a bit of walking but nothing too energetic.

Willy arrived safely in Oslo and stayed with Kirstien for a few days before flying up to Averøy. There he remained in splendid isolation until his return to the UK which was on 24th November when I picked him up from Manchester airport. it was lovely to see him again....

From Manchester we went back to North Wales and stayed there until the 2nd December when we caught the train from Colwyn Bay to London to meet up with Michael and Stephen.

Friday 2nd December to Thursday 15th December 

The Shard

Michael and Stephen were renting an apartment in Shoreditch near Angel and kindly offered us accommodation for a couple of weeks. They too had been travelling and had spent the previous 4 weeks in the US.

Much of the time in London was spent eating and drinking with several visits to some of London's gentlemen's bars - more visits by some than others! Also went to the infamous Vauxhall Tavern. Normally I don't like drag acts but the "Dame Edna Experience" is really hilarious - just don't stand anywhere near the stage!

Michael's Nightmare

One night we caught up with an old friend of mine, James, from Singapore. This ended up being a very drunken night in a great restaurant somewhere near Trafalgar Square. That's where the photo was taken. I must admit I found it on my phone several weeks after the night-out.

St Pauls

Michael and Stephen were spending Christmas in Italy and were driving there from Paris via Milan just before Christmas. Stephen took off for Belgium on 14th Dec and Michael, Willy and I took the train to Colwyn Bay on Thursday 15th. Unfortunately on the way up I started to feel rather flu like and spent the whole of the weekend in bed.

Michael, for those of you who don't know him has the widest circle of friends which included a couple - Phillip (Australian) and Aldo (half Welsh half Italian) - who happen to live in London and have a weekend place in Colwyn bay and what's more were going to be in Colwyn Bay this weekend.  That small world again!  They all went out for Saturday Lunch at The Toad whilst I stayed on my death bed.

On the Sunday we drove down to Banbury dropping Michael off at Bicester to catch a train back to London. Willy and I went to Banbury for a family lunch. All Judith's children and grand children were there as it was their pre-Christmas get  together.

Christmas at the Klovens

We stayed there until 20th Dec when I took Willy to Stansted to catch his flight to Oslo. He was then going to drive from Oslo to Averøy with his sister Kirstien and Arild for a family Christmas. I was flying up to Norway on the 28th December to spend New Year in Averøy with William and the Klovens.

I spent Christmas in Banbury with Bill and Judith. It was their childrens' year to spend Christmas with their respective in-laws so it was a quiet Christmas and did the usual seasonal over indulgence in food and alcohol.

Thursday 28th December -   Up really early to catch a 10:00 flight from Gatwick arriving in Molde (Norway)  about 18.00. Was met at the airport by Willy. Norway was much colder with snow most of the way from Molde to Averøy about a 90 minute trip. Went to Willy's brother for dinner which was home-made pizza - someone had given them a pizza receipe book as a Christmas present. Norway eats more pizza per head of population than any other country in the world.

New Years Eve - 2011 - A rather quiet new years eve, Robert (Willy's friend from Spain) came over for dinner and then we wandered over to Willy's brother's house and stood on the bridge (connects Averøy to the next island Langøy) setting off fireworks. It was a really nice evening very low key but a good start to the year. Quite different from the usual Tropical Fruits party in Australia.

We stayed in Averøy until 19th January when we travelled down by train to Oslo. The first part of the trip from Molde to Dombås is a great trip as it cuts through the mountains to the rail head at
Dombås. Once at Dombås it's the mainline train to Oslo which is also a nice trip if not so dramatic. There was snow most of the way with temperatures down to about -16c.

We had booked into the cheapest hotel in Oslo. Maria, Willy's niece had kindly offered us her studio but it didn't seem right taking that over so we went for the hotel. It wasn't too bad but three night was enough.

Oslo was very cold and snowed most of the time, still it's a nice city, easy to get around. We visited Jan and Siegfried and went to the famous Vigeland Sculpture Park which I have been to many times before but is a great spot. Lots of locals out with their skis and toboggans...

On the Saturday night we caught up with a couple who Willy knew from many years ago. Had a great evening with them and their family.

We flew out of Oslo on  22nd January in to Gatwick and then spent a couple of days with Bill and Judith before returning to North Wales on the 29th January.

Kitchen renovation

On the previous stay at North Wales I had decided it was time to so something about the kitchen, wallpaper was beginning to peel off the kitchen walls and I needed to find out what was going on. Unfortunately the investigation went a bit further than I expected and by the time I had finished there were large areas of missing plaster.

As it turned out, at sometime in the past, the lining paper had been painted with gloss paint and a foil lined paper used on top of that. This was having the effect of damp building up behind the paper which was then reacting with the metal electrical conduit.

The updated kitchen

So when I last left North Wales in December the kitchen was in a bit of a mess. So it was now time to finish the repairs and put it back together again .

Fortunately WRK was wonderful doing lots of carpentry and repairing my mistakes so now it looks rather good. Pity about the colour as it's a bit boudoir like, not really what I was looking for.

Sunday Feb 26th - Could this be the beginning of Spring - decided to go for a walk in the Conway Valley and did the Llyn Crafnant walk.

Lake Crafnant

 This is a nice level walk around the elevated Lake Crafnant near to LLanwrst which is about 30 minutes drive from Colwyn Bay. The walk was good if  a bit wet under foot. The fields around the walk were beginning to show signs of Spring with lots of daffodils and small fluffy lambs gambolling about.

Wednesday 29th February. Fixing floor boards, you know who got a bit gung-ho and managed to put a screw straight through one of the central heating pipes. Didn't realise until several hours later - fortunately the leak was very slow and didn't flood our neighbours downstairs. Certainly was panic stations for a while! Oh dear Mr Grumpy was not happy!

Thursday 1st march - Must get a life - the new washing machine is delivered - at last can get rid of the piles of dirty washing that have accumulated over the past 10 days.


Friday 2nd March - Weather has been really nice for the past few days - WRK up early to go into the mountains for some sun-rise pictures. I have a tooth that is becoming very sensitive to cold - have put up with it for a couple of weeks but today it's too much so off looking for a local dentist.  Diagnosed as a cracked tooth have to go back in 10 days time for a filling. Hope they manage to save the tooth and hope the insurance covers it

The Master at work
 in Bodnant Gardens

Not a lot happened over the next few days - we booked a holiday in the Canary Islands for 12 days starting 19th March (WRK reliving his youth), I finished the kitchen, caught up again with Aldo and Philip (Michael Lutteral's friends) for dinner at the 'trailer park' in Mochdre and that was about it.

Family mausoleum
Bodnant

We did go to Bodnant Garden which is a rather lovely spot about 15 minutes from the flat. I can remember when I was a child and would be out for a drive with the parents it was always a great relief when we drove past Bodnant,if we stopped it meant hours of wandering around boring gardens and there no obvious fun in that.  

Tuesday 13th March -  Back to the dentist to get the tooth fixed. All went well until the dental nurse decided to faint, fortunately, although I still had a mouth full of dentists fingers, the actual drilled was finished. Not sure exactly what happened, just heard a crashing sound and felt a sense of mild panic in the room. The dentist was excellent, he managing to finish my filling while directing the first aid for the nurse who had managed to faint behind the door of the surgery.

As it turns out dentistry in the UK is much cheaper than Australia, X-rays, filling and drama all for $140.

Today WRK got his first pair of prescription glasses - another major milestone in life...

Playa del Ingles - Gran Canaria

Saturday 17th March - The flight to Las Palmas was from Birmingham airport. As the flight left at 7.30 and Banbury is only one hour from Banbury decided this was better than driving from North Wales to the airport.

*Could this be
you know who?

Monday 19th March - Up at 2.30am to drive to Birmingham a really heavy frost with an iced up windscreen. Found the long stay car park and checked in O.K. Arrived in Las Palmas at 11.30 and eventually arrived at the hotel at Playa del Ingles about 13.00. Literal translation - The English Beach - or Euro Trash Central.

Fortunately the hotel was four star and not too bad which is just as well as WRK had book 1/2 board - Breakfast and Evening meal.  You could get full board which included Lunch and as much beer and wine as you could drink between the hours of 9am and 10pm - messy.

chat chat chat

*Seen wandering around the Playa del Ingles nightlife at the Yumbo Centre - Could this possibly be the man who was supposed to be on sick leave from the NSW health department - certainly looks like him! 

We spent the first 3 days getting used to the sun and sampling the night life which was plentiful if a little dilapidated.

PC correct name for a place
full of Germans?

Spent most days on the beach which was quite a walk from the hotel. The place has many different microcosms and one appears to be arid dessert condition in one particular part of the island where the main beach is. So getting to the beach was either a long walk along the beach or a shorter trip through the sand dunes and desert.

Norwegians on the
Beach

The first day we did the longer walk along the beach and came across some Norwegians on holiday as shown in the photo. You can tell they are from Norway by the walking poles.

As always with European holiday resorts, the whole place seems to be populated with Germans and a smattering of Scandinavians.  WRK even managed to run into an ex boyfriend who he hadn't seen since leaving Norway 20+ years ago.

On about the third day I managed to get a really bad case of sun stroke and spent the night thinking I was going to die, not that this seemed to trouble WRK he just took a sleeping pill and slept through my delirium.

The sun stroke was unfortunate as we had booked a car for the next day which we had to cancel.  However the sun stroke passed and we hired the car for the following day.

Up in the Mountains

Not exactly sure what to expect from the trip but you can certainly see the mountains rising steeply not far away from the town. This is after all the remains of some fairly big volcanic activity. 

Once you get out of town you realise just how rugged this country is. Most of the roads are single track with some zig-zags that seem to go on for ever.

Fortunately the roads are not very busy and most roads, but not all, have safety barriers. You may or may not know that WRK suffers badly with vertigo and can be stubborn - this adds a new dimension to car trips.

More Mountains

Unfortunately we badly underestimated the time taken to get anywhere and ended up driving in pitch darkness on some very difficult roads. However we made it back safely to the hotel.

Whilst we were looking for a car hire company came across this advertising sign - spot the give away about the Playa del Ingles!
 

What's wrong with this sign?

Departed  Las Palmas on Saturday 31st March arriving back in Birmingham about midnight. Fortunately the plane was almost empty so was a good flight.  Eventually got back to Banbury about 2.00.

As my nephew Jonathon and family had been there since Friday so we had a big Sunday lunch with some rather smashing roast pork.

Tuesday April 3rd - April 21st  -  Off to the airport again, but this time Gatwick for a 09.00 flight so up and away by 06.00. William needed to get back to the ancestral home while sister Kirstien was still there so he could get final instructions on the verandah he was about to build.

Planned Trip to Norway
- April 2012

Once WRK went off to Norway I took myself off to North Wales to get the car MOT'd and collect together the gear from the previous summer  - tents, sleeping bags etc.  Much soul searching about taking the car over to Norway or flying. As it looks like we are going to be there for sometime, probably until mid June, I decide  to take the car but using the lazy (and more expensive) route using ferries rather than driving through France and Germany.

Not much else happened. It eventually stopped snowing in Norway the week after Easter so WRK could make a start on the verandah - just hope the back holds out or you know who will be humping stuff around. I managed to do some good walks in North Wales before the weather turned cold and wet again in the middle of April.

Sychnant Pass walk

Had one very trying experience with ANZ bank when my Verified by Visa stopped working. Was told there was absolutely no way I could get it working again without either (a) Visiting a branch of the ANZ bank in Australia, (b) going to the Australian High Commission in London or (c) finding either a Justice of the Peace, policemen or high court judge in North Wales who also happens to be an Australian citizen Oh dear - so much for technology and the ANZ bank.

Now looking forward very much to the Priests (Brian and Grant) arriving from Australia mid May and then several days touring in Norway. Once that's over it will be work work work on the verandah.

The plan after that is a slow drive back via Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France with camping stops on the way - more on this is the next update.