May turned out to be a hectic month as we drove back to the UK. It is unfortunately inescapable that the journey is some 2000kms plus and it takes quite some time. We decided to make the journey in relatively easy stages stopping frequently. Our first stopover was with our friends, Paul and Annette in Tortosa where we had a lovely meal of local shellfish (Penny had pork instead)! The next day we travelled to Millau, (that famous suspension bridge) and we over-nighted there.

The following day we headed to a small town north of Paris called Senlis, which was quite charming and had a beautiful cathedral (yes, another cathedral)! On our final day we got the ferry, landed in Dover and then joined the rat race driving (ha, ha, traffic jammed) round the M25 and up the M1. There seems to be cameras everywhere in the UK and now the latest invention is quite Orwellian, cameras that talk at you if you misbehave!

Our principal reason for the trip was to have Penny’s blood tested following her angioplasty last year so, when Penny made her appointment she also handed in my prescription for my Cholesterol and Diabetes tablets. Imagine my surprise when the surgery telephoned next day saying the doctor wanted to see me. This proved to be a real bummer, on the bank holiday Monday, we had our family round for a meal accompanied by several bottles of wine followed by a couple of brandies so as you can imagine, the next day, I was not in the best of salts not to mention that I marched up to the surgery to meet the Doc. The first shock was that my blood pressure showed 175/100 then he went on to give a full diabetes test on sensitivity to legs, feet arms etc. and finally, saying I should return in one hour for a full series of blood tests! Worse was still to come, he wanted me to return in two weeks for another check-up!!!!! Now here was me thinking that as soon as Penny got her results and that they proved positive, we would be off back home but rather it was I holding us back. Anyway, to finish this story, Penny’s results were fine, my blood tests were fine and I managed to get an early appointment with the Doc who said he was now happy that my cholesterol, sugar and blood pressure were within acceptable limits. He was intent in sending me for a “retina” scan at a diabetic ophthalmic clinic and said an appointment would be made for me, well, sianara, auf weidersehen, adios, adieu I’m off home.

During our stay in the UK, we crammed in quite a bit visiting my Aunt in Scotland (she looked great and fit for an 88 year old), dropped in on Penny’s Uncle Eddie and Chris in Durham, dined with our neighbours (Charles and Evelyn), had Sunday lunch with Lovette and Rodger (Penny’s sister-in-law). We ate fish and chips, pork pies and mushy peas, drank Yorkshire beer and had nice meals out. Penny managed a bit of Marks and Spenserism (among other stores) and I bought her a new laptop as she is getting quite clever with her Internet browsing and emails.

It was a great joy to see our new granddaughter, Daisy, she is only a few months old but I have not seen her at all till now. I know all babies are lovely so I will not bore you by saying that she is the most beautiful of all babies, but she is.

Lovely little Daisy

Millie is also turning out to be a little charmer and starting her 4th year.

Our return trip was going to combine my 60^th birthday and our wedding anniversary (27 years), so I booked us into a couple of chateaux and a Parador. We do enjoy rooting around old chateaux trying to imagine the splendour of yesteryear. We stayed at the Chateau de Beaujeu near Sancerre which as you can see looks quite impressive however it turned out to be like some of the old Berni Inns Hotels that I once looked after insofar as it was probably worth €2m and needed €3m spending on it’s infrastructure.

To be fair, the rooms were very nice as were the public areas as you can see.

Our next stop was at the Chateau de Creisells, which is close to Millau, and this chateau, by comparison, was nicely done throughout (although it did not seem as old as it purported to be), nevertheless a great room, view of the bridge (if you hung out of the window far enough)!

Our final stopover was at the Parador in Tortosa,

an ancient castle in its day, now tastefully renovated by the Parador chain. We invited Paul and Annette to join us for dinner, which was very nice (both the meal and the company).

We arrived home to find hat the weather had been great and, as a result, the garden was a bit of a mess so, the next few days were spent tidying up. Our Pool was “green” due to the sun and lack of chlorine tabs so a few days of hovering, filtering and correcting the chemical balance soon got it glistenly blue again. Penny, being brave and a Yorkshire Lass decided to try it out (it’s only 23 degrees so far so I’ll wait till 25 before venturing in).

Our constructor paid a visit to say he was starting work on the lift at the end of May so it looks like the fun is about to start. We have now taken the house off the market, as the lift will resolve the major problem we would face in years to come. (It’s just like me after hauling tons of sand, cement, and gravel chips and other stuff up those steps we now install a lift when there is no further need for construction)!

It would appear that our summer has started to arrive, sunny days with temperatures in the high 20s, all the winter clothes packed away and lightweight stuff ready and waiting, even EKE has been shampooed and is now the vehicle of my choice for day to day motoring.

Looking forward to a relaxing month (with builders bashing away around the garage area) and Edith and Calum arriving on the 24^th.

If you will forgive my pride, here is a short video of my other two granddaughters , just click to activate.

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