Onto the Loire

The weather's still wet so we've pushed onto the Loire.

We've ended the day at a lovely little village, Ange on the river Cher.

Saw this and thought of all my sewing friends.

And how about this for traffic calming, the flowers, not the husband.

And lastly saw this giant bee in the field.

We've ended the day at a campingcar aire where there's a rally on with 100 French vans and 1 UK...... Interesting !

Moved a bit further South to a town called Uzerch, which has lots of lovely medieval style architecture.

We had a lovely walk along an old railway line by the river, just what we needed after a day on the road.

Lots of things to see

A converted mill I think.

And then back for tea over this amazing bridge.

France again

We're of on a French adventure again, but first we dropped off at Dungeness for a wind down. 

And then onto Dover for a night stop and an early start.

The crossing was fair, not too choppy.

And we're now in a lovely village about on a level with Paris.

This lovely old mansion is for sale!

Sorry about the quality of the pics, I'm having to do a workaround just using the phone to blog.

Girls glamping

I've just had a wonderful few days with my girls, and grandchildren, camping on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire at Merley Court

I haven't camped in years so it was a bit of a different experience to just pulling up in the Nomad wagon and putting the kettle on. You have to first find your kettle and then find and assemble the cooker, hmm..... and then you have to light it with a cigarette lighter, not an ignition button, hmm..... bit of a challenge that one :-)

We had a wonderful time, chilling on the the beach......flying the kite

Digging holes and making sand castles all day......

Where did that sun go?

and then a bit of putting.......I just know I can get that ball in the hole.....

And there was just time for a bit of driving practice before tea, did someone mention food again??

........and something a bit more scary for one of our older members, a proper champion, he managed to run for 26 steps, no mean achievement inside this ball.

I hope he never gets as ambitious as this amazing young man that we saw at the Dorset Steam Fair.

It wasn't all thrills and spills, three of us girls went for a pamper at the spa with treatments too, so I was glammed up for a bit with a lovely manicure, thank you Pru, it was a fabulous day.

And of course there had to be time for technology at the end of a very busy day 

Thank you vey much to all of you for a very special trip.

A perfect visit

Having spent the day in Cardiff Bay we then went off to visit out son and his lovely family.

We had lots of quality time together and have come home exhausted but happy. You really do forget how busy a little eighteen month old is during his day.

Especially when you go solo riding Shaun the sheep.

And smiling for the camera Mummy...

But then it was time for Daddy to do some work.

Then it was back in the push chair and what a mean trick, Mummy, to give me a snack and then strap me in... I don't think that was funny!

It was a lovely relaxing catch up, see you all again soon.

And on to charming Cardiff

We had a lovely evening at our favourite marina in Cardiff

My phone camera just managed to pick out the lovely twinkling lights.

And then it was off to Ikea for breakfast in the morning, a full English for 99p and 2 teas plus 2 coffees, all for £1.98, with the Ikea family card,  magic.

After shopping for a couple of hours it was time to go in search of cake....so we did the healthy thing and walked through the park.

The iconic St David's hotel.... 

I went to look at the yachts, but looks like this lot got there first.

Anyone got a strong stomach for this, not me, certainly not after cake.

I love these sails on the Techniquest building, they  could definitely inspire 

my current textile adventure.

Or maybe this might find its way into something.....

And just in case you thought I'd forgotten we did have cake and it was brilliant :-) 

And where are we you maybe asking, well where else but Craft in the Bay of course. 

So even more inspiration with all the lovely work on show.

Delightful Bristol

Had a lovely day, as usual with our friend Carrol, and as well as a lovely lunch we went on a tour of the old docklands, now all poshed up and trendy.

And on the way I spotted these lovely artichokes, just a bit further out than mine.

Then I got sidetracked by this bit of found art.....

Before eventually arriving at the quay side.

 

More patterns and textures  waylaying my progress, 

And then I saw this wonderful house on the water, magic!

Then it was back on the ferry to the other side.  

What a lovely day, thank you Carrol :-)

Can you tell I'm enjoying my 3G on my new phone ?

Doesn't get much better than this

We're off to the West again, Bristol and Wales.

Spent the afternoon at Portishead outside Bristol. It's the only English coast where ships come in this close to the shore.

And we were lucky enough to see 2 come in.

It was raining, so I had to take this shot from the Nomad wagon.

Then it was sailing practice....

Watching the yachts sail up and down while we had our dinner.

Had a nice evening walk to see what I'd been sketching from the cab this afternoon, I think it's a beacon.

Then spotted this graffiti on the swimming pool wall!

It's dark now and the lights are twinkling in Wales and in our travelling home :-)