Ramblings in Retirement
October 2009

This month we set off, (reluctantly),for the UK and to our house in Gildersome. We have decided to let out the property and, having also decided to let it as vacant, we needed to move the furniture and take back to Spain our personal items. This necessitated us driving back by car (not a nice prospect). We set off aiming to get to Millau (where the famous bridge is) where we had a comfortable night in a Campanaile
Hotel, the following morning we set off for Boulogne via a sightseeing tour of Paris (actually I got my SatNav confused and we wandered all around the Perpherique probably more than once)! (as an aside, the peripherique is a driving experience not to be missed, the cars speed past on all sides, the lanes vary from 3 to 6 and sometimes more, motorcycles and scooters scream up the inside/outside and all this is done at a fairly high speed plus, you get various French gesticulations and mutterings if you are not doing what they think you should do)!
An early morning ferry got us to Dover and 5 hours later, we were in our house in Gildersome. Phew!


We arrive at Gildersome

Our son Stuart had stripped the wallpaper from the small bedroom in readiness for me to paper afresh and the for Penny to paint. Our other son Stephen, has spent a whole day removing the polystyrene tiles from the living room ceiling and then, the unenviable task of removing the adhesive with the aid of a hot gun. This was fantastic as it enabled me to redecorate the ceiling quickly. (apparently the agents don't like letting properties with polystyrene tiles) There was quite a bit of work needed in the garden and in the end a skip was required to shift all the debris. I'm satisfied now the place looks great. Between the services of an auction house, family, neighbours and yet another skip, we managed to get rid of all our furniture and stuff. (it's amazing how much stuff you have and how much you never use/look at but store away “just in case”).

In between all the work we managed to have some great times with family and friends having meals out together, notwithstanding the obligatory Marks & Spencer visit, fish & chips, pork pie and mushy peas, and a number of pints of delicious Tetleys, Timothy Taylors and Black Sheep. It was great to spend time with Millie and Daisy but a wrench when it came time to go back home, nevertheless we have fond memories and some video footage.


We decided that our return journey would be slightly more pleasurable and I arranged for us to stay overnight in a Château in St. Preuil which is in the cognac region. This was a lovely hotel which had history from the 15th century and had been recently sympathetically renovated by the current owners.



We were the only occupants that evening and the owners nonetheless offered us a meal in the restaurant, (we still think it was their own dinner) accompanied by local wine and a lesson on all the stages and types of Cognac which fortunately included some tasting! Following a splendid breakfast we set off on a misty morning for Spain. We had lunch in Bairritz which is a beautiful coast town in the south west of France and at one time used to be the “in place” for socialites, now we've been there, that notion is truly shattered.



After crossing the border into Spain we soon arrived at Pamplona and just south of there the small historical town of Olite where I had booked us into the Parador. The Parador is abutted to the castle of Olite and retains similarities in it's architecture.
Parador Hotels are state managed and more often than not, they are in some kind of historical building, all the standards are very high and we were delighted with our stay.



After another 7 hours driving we arrived home safe and sound if not a little sore around the posterior area due to all the sitting. Our task now is to find space for all the stuff we brought back with us!!!!!

While we were in the UK the weather was not too bad for which we were grateful but it was nice to return to our Spanish home where the temperature is in the mid 20s and the sky is blue, a nice reminder of why we are here.