spain – Page 4 – turnrightoutofportsmouth

Last 2 days in Portugal – then a little gem – Ciudad Rodrigo :)

We had considered staying an extra night at the Orbitur Guincho, but decided against it when they wanted 28Euros for the night.

So we used the extra night to just go a few hours up the road to a site near Figuera de Foz, Orbitur Gala in Vila de Sao Pedro. This site wasn’t as nice as the one at Guincho although many aspects were the same.

We set up and then went off for a walk down to the beach, which is just about 1/4 mile from the back gate of the park. When you arrive at the beach there is a steep dune to negotiate to get down to it! It is another beautiful beach though.

It was, as ever on the West Coast, very windy and 1 minute you think you’re paddling in the shallows and the next a wave has rolled in much further than the last and you’re running to keep from getting your shorts wet! Continue reading “Last 2 days in Portugal – then a little gem – Ciudad Rodrigo :)”

El Rocio – another WOW!

First off, this post is out of sync as I haven’t yet managed to get my thoughts about Camino del Rey down in words. Also the WiFi here is pretty bad and I’m having trouble uploading photos. I’ve managed a couple so I’ll put these on, but will add more to the gallery at a later date.

After El Camino del Rey we didn’t think we’d have many more ‘wow’ moments on this trip. But we were wrong…

Some other travellers told us about El Rocio weeks ago and we were quite keen to visit, so were very happy to find there was a site right at the entrance to the village, Camping La Aldea.

The day after we visited El Camino del Rey we relaxed at the van for much of the day, did a wash, started packing up, I made a chicken and bacon pie for tea (well I made 2 actually, 1 ready for another day – today, Friday, as it happens!) We also spent an hour or so at the beach and in the evening met Chris and Elaine halfway between us and them at Luna Beach, which turned out to be a very nice little bar with nice views. On the walk there, along the beach, we could clearly see Africa (as we had been able to all day). We also said goodbye to Roger (aka ‘Good Looking’) as we knew he wouldn’t be up by the time we left in the morning.

For once we were ready to leave quite early, and so were saying goodbye to Jill (Good Looking’s wife) before 9am and then on our way by 9.

We had to head back towards Malaga before going north and then west towards Seville. From what we could see of Seville as we bypassed it (we went the wrong way onto the ring road, but it didn’t matter as going north or south was much of a muchness), it looked like rather a lovely city. As we drove through the outskirts we saw a temperature gauge reading 32degrees! We had a good run and no toll roads were needed!

We finally made it to our new campsite at about 3.15pm (we had stopped on the way for breakfast and then lunch and a spot of grocery shopping). There was plenty of space and we could see that we were indeed right on the edge of the village. Unfortunately the swimming pool doesn’t open until Easter, otherwise we would have been straight in there!

After a dirty burger for tea we decided to go and have a quick look, via the site bar, before it got too dark. It was still warm enough to be out walking in a vest top (and we had eaten outside as well). In the bar we met the young couple who were pitched next to us – they have a 5 month old baby and are taking their parental leave as 5 months travelling in their motorhome. How wonderful is that?!

We walked around the village for a while. It’s all sand roads and you can see that all the houses have ‘bars’ outside to tie the horses up to (sorry, I don’t know what they’re called). We also saw many, many lodgings for particular ‘Hermandads’ – these are the brotherhoods from different provinces who come here on a pilgrimage at Pentecost (50 days after Easter) – apparently up to 1million people descend on this tiny village for the weekend of festivities.

On the way back to the van we walked along to a serenade of crickets and frogs. In the mornings we are waking up to cockerels crowing, donkeys braying and beautiful birdsong.

Friday morning, once we’d properly woken up, we set off to explore the village properly and this time we found the main square containing the Ermitas and where no cars are supposed to enter… We saw many horses and horses and carts (we’ll take a trip tomorrow) and also found out that the nature reserve starts immediately in front of the main area.

This is a horse village, many of the bars have high counters outside so that people can stay on their horses to have a drink! We were told this morning, by a British man, that apparently Americans still come over here to buy horses that have a gene going all the way back to the original wild horses, and that the breed, Mustang, originated here.

The high point of the pilgrimage is on the Monday when the statue of the Virgin Mary is taken out of the church and paraded through the village to visit every 1 of the Hermandads (brotherhoods) – there were 106 of them shown on a sign we saw in the village. Apparently the campsite charges 50Euros a night during the week of the pilgrimage (we’re paying 17…) We saw the statue in the Ermitas and it’s huge. We have no photos as individuals make pilgrimages here throughout the year and there were several people in there who were clearly on their own personal pilgrimage.

At lunchtime we sat in 1 of the bars at the top of the main square and had some tapas. We tried patata Ali Oli (garlic potato) – which I would have liked if it had been hot, but it was straight out of the fridge and I’m not keen on cold potato – and Pimiento asados con atun (peppers with tuna), also cold, but I really liked it (sometimes I surprise myself!)

While we ate we watched the swallows flying around the Ermitas and into the eaves. There were hundreds of them!

There was also a fenced off grove of Olive trees nearby. These were fenced off as they’re all over 100 years old and 1 of them is over 600 years old. It seems that those attending the pilgrimage used to touch them (maybe hug them??) and they needed to be protected. It would be interesting to see if fencing them off actually had the desired effect!

By 2pm we were beginning to flag as it was so hot so we headed back to the campsite to relax for a while.

But by about 4.30 Calv was getting bored! So we got the bikes out and headed for the lakes to see what birds we could spot.

This gave us another view of the main square and we also saw horses grazing in the shallows. Calv made a friend of a stray dog that seemed to want to play, but I was a bit concerned that he was going to bite him – he just wouldn’t leave him alone…! He got some good photos of the birds (including flamingos, spoonbills and black kites), but nowhere near as good as our Swedish neighbour next door, who visits us regularly and brought over some of his photos to show us this evening – truly amazing (mind you he has rather an impressive lens!)

Tomorrow we will go back into the village and hopefully take a trip in a horse and cart, and perhaps visit the ornithological centre to find out what some of the birds that we’ve seen are. We might even get closer to the flamingos and get a better picture of them 🙂

It’s now tomorrow and we’ve had a lazy morning before walking back into the village. It was hot again today and we were hoping to get some got pictures of the various wildlife. I think Calv did get some pretty got shots, but we’re having trouble uploading at the moment so I can’t put them on here.

It’s Saturday today and there were, as expected, more horses around. Naively we thought that perhaps there would be fewer cars in the village, but there were many more + many coaches… Before we came here I had a daft idea that there would be no cars in the village. In fact they’re only barred from the area around the Ermitas – however, being in Spain, this rule is regularly flouted…

We took a 25 minute trip, just the 2 of us, in a horse and cart, at a cost of 20 Euros, which we were happy with. The driver spoke to us in Spanish, and we managed to communicate in some small way. We now know there’s a famous singer living in El Rocio and he knows we also visited the village yesterday! Also that El Rocio is pronounced El RoSio – I thought it was either El RoKio or El RoTHio. (they also say GraSiaS here, rather than grathia…)

The Spanish love to come out to play at the weekend which is great to see. We saw them having picnics, family gatherings, a wedding party in full swing, ladies practising playing their castanets and their flamenco moves by the water. It was all very uplifting! (Actually that’s another thing that’s big here, flamenco. There are several shops dedicated to selling flamenco outfits – and they’re not cheap….. There was also a show in 1 of the bars, but we missed it!

We also now have a party of scouts, or equivalent, here on the campsite – we could hear them this morning before they set out for the day, playing games and singing.

We saw horses at the bar – raised counters so that riders don’t have to dismount in order to have a drink. People sitting in their carts outside bars drinking.

We saw several different species of birds plus frogs and a couple of lizards. All in all we were pleased that we stayed an extra day.

Horses grazing in the water at El Rocio

The Ermitas at El Rocio

‘Horse Bars’ in El Rocio

Hasta manana 🙂

Walk to the top of Cruz de Juanar

It’s Sunday now and I’ve just realised how far behind I am on the blog. Mind you, apart from our walk up the mountain, we haven’t done an awful lot except sit on the beach or sit in the van (it’s been raining for the last couple of days 😦 )

So on Tuesday it turned out to be a lovely day and we finally made it down to the beach. There was enough wind for the waves to be rolling in quite nicely, but we positioned ourselves beside the breakwater and had a patch of calm water to paddle in (I got in up to my waist – it was rather cold…)

Calm waters (taken from the water!)

Cabopino Playa

The other side of the breakwater

We popped down the shop in the afternoon, forgetting that it was still a bank holiday and most were shut. But we found a Supercor express open and got a few essentials (San Miguel, an Oreo cheesecake….)

On Wednesday we headed back to do our mountain walk. It was another beautiful day and we made sure we had plenty of liquids and snacks. I even remembered my hat! Continue reading “Walk to the top of Cruz de Juanar”

Thursday 23rd- a rainy day on the Costa del Sol

We knew it was going to rain today and had already decided to visit La Canada, a Centro Commercial near to Marbella. Not that we’re really into shopping – we just wanted to have a look really.

The centre is situated at the point where the A7 and AP7 converge – you head onto the road towards Ojen and come straight to the entrance. It’s very impressive, and new, and very much aimed at the British. Having said that amongst the well known British High Street names there are plenty of Spanish stores. It is a bit expensive though in some stores.

I did buy a top in H&M and we got a few bits in the, small but perfectly formed, M&S Food ‘Hall’ (Hall is pushing it a bit…)

Calv did have a couple of complaints though. The workmanship (this is a recurring theme) and the fact that the female cleaner had no qualms about mopping around the urinals whilst they were in use!

We’d also decided to go on a little drive up into the mountains culminating, hopefully, in a visit to Mijas Pueblo, one of the whitewashed villages in the hills above the resorts.

So we headed off towards Ojen on what turned out to be a really good road. We stopped at a viewpoint above Ojen itself, which afforded rather lovely views, despite the murky conditions.

Continue reading “Thursday 23rd- a rainy day on the Costa del Sol”

Gibraltar – Tuesday 21st February 2017

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I started this post last night while it was still fresh in my mind – unfortunately it had disappeared by the time I came to finish it. Now I’ve got to remember everything all over again!

First to get us up-to-date. We arrived here at Cabopino (Calahonda nearer to Marbella than Malaga) on Thursday. The site is okay and we settled in quite quickly as we’re staying here for 3 weeks – it’s just a shame that it’s directly on the main Costa del Sol road. Mind you it looks like it’s pretty impossible to avoid that if you want to be located near the beach.

It’s not particularly cycle friendly (mainly because of the location and reliance on the A7) although Calv has been out and about (and managed to snap his chain…) He’s fixed it, of a fashion, but does need a new one. He’s also identified some work arounds for cycling, so I will be going out at some point!

We’ve also been out for a couple of long walks. There’s a boardwalk along the beach here, and also a bit past the port. The one nearest to us is to protect the dunes mainly, but during the week we will be able to cycle along it.

However, we quickly realised that in order to really appreciate a bit more of the area we would need a car, so on Monday we picked one up for 10 days. What a painless process that was! We were then able to go shopping without having to worry about how much we bought. But we’re now very much into the habit of not buying what we don’t need, so didn’t spend that much anyway 🙂

In the afternoon we dropped down on the A7 to Marbella. We tried a couple of times to find a road down to the beach with no luck, so decided to continue onto Puerto Banus. This wasn’t at all what we were expecting. As we wandered through the port we were accosted by scores of hawkers wandering around. Calv’s comment was ‘It’s not Monaco is it?’ We were definitely in the right place as it was lined with designed stores! I expect it’s different when the sun’s out.

With the car we were able to go along the coast to visit Gibraltar, which is about 60 miles from where we’re staying. Calv has never been and I’ve visited once about 10/11 years ago.

We returned to old habits and managed to get lost in the border town, La Linea de la Concepcion, having decided that we wouldn’t take the SatNav as “it couldn’t be that difficult to find”.. Not somewhere you want to get lost… Anyway we pulled up Google maps and found our way to the big car park by the border. It costs 1.80 per hour to a maximum of 14.40 per day (Euros that is).

We had no problems going through – this is a busy crossing! Don’t forget your passports!

We were inappropriately dress in shorts and t-shirt as the weather we looked at turned out to be lying to us. Also we didn’t check the wind speed. We should have checked the wind speed! It was VERY windy. Also the clouds, I think they call them the Levant, hung around for most of the day. Luckily we walked a lot which kept us warm 🙂

So we took the bus over the runway and into the city centre. After breakfast in ‘Little Rock’ in Casemate Square we wandered the main street of shops (which included M&S, Next, Dorothy Perkins & Monsoon) and saw the government buildings and also the courthouse, where barristers were milling outside and there was a camera crew outside – presumably waiting for a newsworthy verdict to come in.

When we came to the end of the street we turned round with the intention of going off up one of the little side streets, I fancied visiting the Victorian Police Station, but we didn’t actually make it there.

Instead we went up Bombhouse Lane and found the Gibraltar Museum. We took a while to decide to go on in, because it sort of undersells itself. There are archaeological remains in there together with some pretty well preserved Turkish Bath remains that existed in the house itself. It cost just £2 each to visit and was well worth it. Thoroughly recommend it. (No photography allowed though).

Look out for the red plaques on buildings as they give you historical information. We then made our way along Lovers Lane and the bastions to find the cable car. We could see it in the distance so just headed that way! It costs just over £10 for a one way trip, just over £12 for a return or just over £20 (each) for a one way trip and a ticket to visit the attractions in the nature reserve, which entails walking back down. We went for the last option. Once at the top we went out onto the terrace of the café and were very nearly blown away, the wind was vicious up there! But we saw our 1st macaques of the day 🙂

Grooming

Brooding

Calv thought you might have drunk in here Kathy?

We then headed off to explore. We lost our map early on; no idea how but Calv thinks the wind snatched it out of my hand and I was so busy trying to stay on my feet that I didn’t notice! Anyway this, eventually, meant that we missed St Michael’s Cave as we thought we’d gone the wrong way – as it turned out we were just too impatient! So we turned back too early and headed on down towards the other side of the rock to see the attractions that I didn’t see the 1st time I visited, namely, The Siege Tunnels, WWII Tunnels and the Moorish Castle. It’s rather a long walk, even though we shortened it a little by walking down a closed road (our rationale being that it was only closed to cars as it was easy to walk around the barrier). It did mean we didn’t have to play chicken with the taxis for a while. Which was nice.. 🙂

We visited both the Siege Tunnels and the Moorish Castle and I was impressed with both. I didn’t realise how ignorant I was of the history of Gibraltar before coming here today. I now know, for instance, that Spain itself has only held the Rock for 33 years in the last 800 or so, and the Siege tunnel was built to wait out the 3 year siege laid by the Spanish with French reinforcements.

The tunnels are a mine of information which really brings the history to life. It’s worth carrying on to the end, even though it’s like walking down a wind tunnel. Calv thought it would be funny to tell people that there was a nice café at the end…

The inside of the castle was unexpected. For instance the ceilings inside are domed and I found out that the King had a suite of rooms which included a heated shower! Whilst interesting there’s little to see in there and so the visit is short, although the top of the tower does provide an excellent viewpoint of the runway to watch take-offs and landings.

On leaving the castle you’re on the last stretch back down to the main drag. I spotted some ‘Castle Steps’ on the right of the road and persuaded Calv that this was probably a quicker way to go. He wasn’t too convinced that I wasn’t going to get us lost again but, although there were a lot of steps, it brought us out opposite Peacocks in the Main Street. We were thinking of stopping somewhere for a cup of tea and a slice of cake but were so tired that we headed straight back to the car.

On leaving the car park we stayed on the coast road and spotted the Aire, that we’d been told about, on the Eastern side of the peninsula. The wind was still really high and I took this video of the waves – it doesn’t really show just how rough the water was though. (The video is at the beginning of the post as it keeps putting it there and I’m getting cross now…!)

We decided to pay the toll on the way back (a total of 5.10Euros) back to Marbella, but much quicker. As it was quite late and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast (and had walked about 8 miles since) we ended up in McDonalds. And we had McFlurrys… I doubt we’ll be doing that again for a while!

Today (Wednesday) we are both aching all over, so we walked over to the beach and the port to make sure we didn’t seize up completely. Calv managed to get in a bit of beachcombing as well 🙂 (We also found where we’ll be watching the rugby on Saturday).

Cheers 🙂 See you again soon x

From Benidorm to Alicante – About 40 miles distant, but hundreds of miles apart!

Separated by 40 miles of land but so very different! A completely different feel to Alicante (and El Campello where we are actually staying).

Saturday and Sunday in Benidorm proceeded much as expected. We did very little, went for a couple of swims, walked a little, went to watch the rugby on Saturday in a bar where even the San Miguel was only 1.50 euros per bottle!..So later on Saturday evening was spent singing and dancing along to music in the van (some of you may have seen the video!)

Sunday evening we walked along to the Benidorm Palace to see The Rat Pack. A very enjoyable show but a little disappointing that the main event only lasted for 20 minutes more than the support act…. Glad we went though 🙂

We knew we would have to pay for any electric that we used over 4kwt per day at the campsite – we weren’t expecting over 23euros! In the UK campsites aren’t allowed to actually make money out of the electric; we’re guessing the same rules don’t apply here…

So, whilst we’ve enjoyed our time in Benidorm, we’re not sorry to be moving on now. We’ve just headed a little way down the coast to El Campello, just outside of Alicante. It’s probably not even 40 miles (it took less than an hour). Some lovely views along the way (and also the usual impatient Spanish drivers!)

Once again we managed to get into our chosen site, albeit in the ‘winter camping area’, which turns out to be really rather pleasant. We met another British couple coming the other way (around Spain & Portugal that is) who gave us some interesting information about Lisbon.

We set off down to the seafront for a bike ride and found a tramline! It turns out the tram goes direct into Alicante for 1.45 euros each – bonus. (It also goes back to Benidorm and beyond – who knew? Not us evidently!) Rather a lovely aspect along this seafront and much more chilled than Benidorm; also with a few statues thrown in.

A feature of the beaches over here is the volleyball nets and basketball nets etc. that are provided all along the beach. Also a lot of outdoor gym equipment is available. There’s a cycle path along almost the length of the seafront too. All very pleasant 🙂

I’d made a chilli for tea, which was okay but I’d forgotten to look for the fat content of the mince when we bought it…. I won’t make that mistake again!

Today we caught the tram into Alicante and walked 169m up to the castle (even the steps were steeply sloping). We made it anyway 🙂 (There is the option to take a lift all the way up – you only have to pay (2.70 euros) if you go from the very bottom, otherwise it’s free). The castle is really amazing, there’s a lot of it and it costs nothing. The lift takes you all the way back down to the beach, which is handy – last time I came here (with Lou about 11 years ago – I think) we pretty much walked back down the side of the mountain – in our flip flops!!

Walking up to Santa Barbara Castle in Alicante (from the very bottom….)

We had lunch, and a sangria, at a bar by the beach, and then wandered a little more. Unfortunately my heel was hurting again by now so we needed to head back to the tram – which we had to find first! Needless to say we did so and headed back to sit in the sun by the van (we’ve had 25 degrees today – bikini weather).

We’d also found a bloke’s wallet on our way out in the morning; we tried to contact him but ended up handing it to a policeman at the gate to the castle! Hope he gets it back.

We’re moving on tomorrow and hoping to stay close to Cartagena – it looks like it could be worth visiting 🙂

Pamplona :)

2 posts in 2 days – I’m on fire! Well actually it’s because I have about another 3 hours left on Wifi and I want to make the most of it 🙂

Also I wanted to tell you how lovely the old part of Pamplona is. Yesterday afternoon we sat out by the van in the sunshine (it was only about 13 degrees but out of the wind it was lovely). We knew it was unlikely to get above about 4 degrees today so we put our base layers on and wrapped up warm ready for our cycle ride along the river (about 10km). (Btw, base layer bottoms seem to be like tights ladies – you need to get a size up for them to actually fit properly and be comfortable – just saying…!)

It was fairly straightforward – we only went wrong twice, once on the way there and once on the way back. Quite good for us, don’t you think?! Continue reading “Pamplona :)”

Welcome to Spain!

We’re coming to the end of our 1^st full week in Spain, and up until today we were staying in Basque Country. It took me a while to realise that the 1^st language on signs was actually Basque (as it bears no relation to Spanish). On reflection it’s a little like Welsh is to English.

Yes, I did leave my tablet on the ferry and, having found it in our cabin, the ferry company sent it straight back to Portsmouth! Anyway, all’s well that ends well, and, with the help of Calv’s daughter (thanks again Lisa) I now have my precious tablet back and can properly update the blog. We did have a few problems on delivery day as DHL, Spain seemed to have issues with the address of our campsite, but it eventually turned up about 4.30 (meaning we could finally go out J ) Also thanks to Brittany Ferries for dealing with the issue so quickly.

On arriving in Bilbao we knew where we were heading and had programmed our new SatNav (an Aguri and a vast improvement on the one we bought last year for France). We’d decided to go with the main road instead of the motorway (we were only going about 60 miles after all), because we’re worried we’ll miss out on some worthwhile sights on the motorway. It was the wrong call this time unfortunately – until we got to the coast road at Deba (only about 10 miles from our destination at Zarautz). The N-634 wound its way through several towns, all very industrialised and with nowhere to pull off the road at all. We’d paid 1.22Euro for the short bit of motorway we did have to use, but later found out it would only have cost just over 8 to go the whole way. You live and learn.

We finally climbed a steep hill to our site, where we received a warm welcome. Our ACSI card gave us a rate of 17Euros per night (we thought we’d probably stay 4 nights, but hadn’t discovered that I’d left my tablet behind at that point..) Our pitch overlooked the sea, and we had dozens of birds around the van. A couple of robins were so tame that they fed from Calv’s hand and settled on our knees – 1 even kept going into the van (and left a present for us…!)

view-from-zaurutz — On the walk down to Zarautz

You can find more info about the site here – Gran Camping Zarautz review.

We could see a ruin far below us and after dinner we headed down to check it out. It was an old mineral loading facility called Malla Harria. I was very pleased with myself making it back up the steep hill from the ruin – see the photo below. A couple of days later we decided to avoid this climb when we found a shortcut through the undergrowth that took us straight to the campsite – of course it was steeper than what we were trying to avoid!

Marra Harria (Zarautz)

We could also see the beach from our pitch and knew it was accessible with a 10-15 min walk down the hill. The next day we headed out to explore Zarautz via this walk – the steps, when we got to them, were relentless. Then there was a boardwalk over the dunes and then the promenade along the beach. It was pretty busy for a cold Friday in January, and busier still when we rode our bikes into town on Saturday. On Saturday there were loads of people on the beach and in the water surfing. We even saw a couple of lads in swimming in just normal swimming trunks!

From one end of the beach to the other at Zarautz

On Sunday we headed the other way towards the village of Orio. We were stopped from going the wrong way by a young guy with a dog, who then came back to help us with the right way (the younger generation are very friendly and go out of their way to help. The older generation of men, much like we found in France, don’t tend to be so welcoming (obviously there are exceptions)).

Orio is a pretty little village in parts with a medieval street full of old houses – Kale Nagusia. It’s a real mix of ancient and modern, and because of the steepness of some of the streets you suddenly come across a lift to a higher level!

Like France we have noticed several old, abandoned, dilapidated buildings. Unlike France we haven’t seen so many churches.

On Monday we were a bit stuck due to the problems with receiving delivery of my tablet, but once it arrived we were able to escape the confines of the van (we’d done ironing, hoovering, cleaning and polishing…) and we headed off down the hill again for a walk ‘round the block’. It was harder work this time though where we’d been stuck in all day.

So after 5 nights we could move on and tonight we’re near Pamplona. We came along the Autovia de Montana and there were some stunning views along the way. It turns out we see better views from the motorway than on the main roads (and it only cost a total of just over 4 euros).

We’re now at Camping Ezcaba which is open all year. However, it’s not all open, and we’re the only ones here. We’re struggling to understand the 19Euro ACSI charge (the highest possible). On top of that we paid 10Euros for 2 days of WiFi (which gives us 2 codes) only to find that each code only gives access to 1 device! We also put a wash on having purchased a token – at 4.75Euros I, naively, thought that this would be for a wash and dry – no this would have cost 9.50Euros! So the washing is currently hanging outside – could be a problem as we’re expecting temperatures below zero tonight (even though we were sat out in the sun this afternoon!)

Tomorrow we’re going to cycle into Pamplona (10km along the river) before moving on again on Thursday. The rest of this evening will be spent investigating our options on where to go next J

See you next time we have free (or cheap) WiFi!

Today’s the Day! :)

The final run-up to the off 🙂

20170116_072839 Countdown to the Off!!

And we’re off! (Literally, right now, as this posts…) Okay, so I’ve cheated with this particular blog (in that I’m actually writing it a week before we leave and updating whenever I have a few minutes!)

I’m finding that I have some wonderful ideas for what to write – just as I’m falling asleep each night..!

To be honest we are almost ready now. The house is almost completely packed up ready for moving into storage at the weekend, we have piles put aside to move into the van, 1 last wash to do and 2 loads of ironing (I know, this is almost too much excitement for you all – me too).

Had a little panic yesterday when I found out that I was meant to have got an independent valuation on the property (even though it’s sold through the proper channels). I managed to get this organised quickly though (thank goodness for the January lull), the visit has been made and we’re just waiting for the report. Phew

I’ve just got a few more letters to write to leave for Sam to fill in the completion date and pop in the post and then we’re good to go.

We’re even doing well with running down the fridge/freezer and cupboards contents 🙂

So I’ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions so far this year. You know that feeling you had through most of your teenage years (I know some of you are still there; lucky you! but for many of us this is 30+ years ago!). Continue reading “Today’s the Day! :)”