The Adventure Begins!

The Adventure Begins!

1 October – After sleeping in a pub carpark (The Pilot, Poole) we arrived at Poole Harbour 3.45 am for the crossing from Poole to St Malo via Guernsey – ferryman asked Mogs: Where are you going?

M: Poole!!!  Way too early for M J

Then round the corner to get on the ferry: -

D: That’s not right – it’s going to the Channel Islands….

M: We ARE going to the Channel Islands!!!

2 blonde moments to start the day!!

Bye bye England!

Setting off and harbourmaster pilot who we saw jumping back to his boat

Well rough crossing – lots of sick golightly’s (grandad’s prediction was right!) but got to Guernsey and straight to cousin Pete at his fruit and veg wholesalers – good to catch up with him and he gave us a huge box full of food – thanks Pete!  We won’t need to shop for ages!!

Off on the next ferry to France and Vannie is front of the queue to drive off – even had a compliment from the French ferryman on how well D drove onto the ferry – M’s turn to drive in France – where will we end up?  Ditch??!!

Mogs is catching up with this blogging thing while on the ferry – ready to upload when we have free WiFi – with a wine of course – we are now European Globetrotters forever on the lookout for free WiFi!!

Going Going.... Gone!

Going Going …. Gone!

25 Sept and we are now just waiting for Vannie’s bits to arrive!!!

Not sure how long we’re going to be away for so spending a week seeing people and saying goodbye!  Way too many drinks and meals out but fab to see everyone – healthy French diet on the way…..??!!

Here’s the week …..

Called in at Kate and Benji’s for a goodbye cuppa and to check their LARGE TV screen was working ok!  Then back to Seany’s

Lunch at the Rydon Inn Holsworthy with Andy Squirrel and Debs on Andy's birthday.  Then back to Seany’s

Goodbye meal at Sagor – Launceston Indian with grandad, Les, Koik, Lauren, Alec (birthday boy) and Ames – lovely curry – thanks Grandad!!

Then back to Seany’s

Friday 28 Sept – VANNIE IS FIXED!!!  Woooo we can book our ferry – Brittany Ferries on strike but found a Condor crossing via Guernsey - not back to Seany's!!!

Friday eve – farewell drinks at the Bay View in Bude with lots of friends and family- thanks to everyone who came and wished us a good trip – D’s rum king came out and we only have a pre-evening pic for the blog as M was also on the red stuff (pissed!)  Spent night in Bay View car park in Vannie - next day not much happened J

Mogs and Seany before the drinking began - bit cold!

Saturday D sold his boat – D:  all I can say is he never asked the right questions like “ has it ever sunk before?”  Stupid boy!!

Sunday and it was a teary goodbye to Sean as we went off to grandad’s for the shipping forecast

Bye and big cheese to Seany!

Grandad: Shipping forecast – Force 7 Swell High – could be golightly sick everywhere! 

After all the hic-cups we are finally OFF!!!!!

G and A's Big Day

22 Sept - It had finally arrived - the Wedding of the Year – although Vannie wasn’t there as still in bits in the garage and waiting for parts to arrive from USA we wanted to include this in the blog as it was a very special day for us all.

We had the practice the day before and when Annie’s pageboy was practising ringing a handbell for the ceremony the end kept coming off – yep the bell end ;)  Dave was straight on his phone and found a ‘bell app’ as a back up in case this happened on the big day!!! Cool!

The whole day went so well and Mogs loved all the bridesmaid prep at Northcott House – Annie looked stunning and G had tears in his eyes – we saw them G!!!  Very proud moment too for M as daughters Sam and Kez were Maitre D’s and made sure the whole day ran smoothly – they did a great job!

Must mention G & A getting everyone a taxi at the end of the night but not one for themselves so Annie had to put on her hoody and flipflops and hitch up her wedding dress (the second one she wore that day having bought 4!!) and they hiked over the cliffs from Northcott to Bude to their wedding night hotel in the mud! J  Well funny!!

A perfect day for a very special couple

Derbyshire Tour - Upe theerrr!

10 September we arrived upe theerrr!

Dave's Birthday – 12 Sept – all Dave wanted to do was fill his box and go to the cinema so we did!  Steve and Dave went to Total Recall and Mogs and Aud treated ourselves to the luxury director’s box and watched the Anna Karenina film – very good but bit of a history lesson!!  Mogs loved the wine waitress service during the film J

Birthday Boy fills his box!!

Next a trip to the Peak District and our tour guide Steve gave us all the info on dark and light peaks – yep we do remember Steve!!!  Fab scenery and a great day

Aud and Steve have a resident wild pet they're trying to get rid of - sitting having a quiet wine Mogs looked out and saw the RAT climbing the bird table!!!  EEk!!  Time for the Rat Shooter to get his gun out......

Rat Shooter!!

Pub Challenge – on the Saturday 9 of us headed off on the Hulland Ward pub challenge – 18 miles walking and 5 pubs on the way – 10 am start and 7.30 at last pub – fab day with lovely scenery and everyone was impressed D made it without moaning J

End of the pub challenge - taxi home 3 hours later!!

Great time up in Derbyshire and Eth arrived on the Friday ready to get settled in college for his Music Technology course – when we dropped him in Nottingham and saw all the young fit girls staying in his Halls Dave and Steve wanted to stay and take up Music Tech too!!!!

Thanks Aud and Steve for a lovely time and look forward to seeing you in Europe in your new Vannie – here she is!

The Time Machine!

Time for the gypsies to head back to Devon for an overnight stop with our super mechanic buddy Russ

Fab to see Russ who made us really welcome and took us to the pub for dinner – we didn’t complain!

Russ's Pad

Dinner at the Black Horse - Torrington

Back then to Devon and our second home at Seany’s J

Gypsy Life!

We're out the house - homeless! - at the end of the road with 3 vehicles packed solid -

D: where do we go now?!'
M: Bay View Inn - we need a beer!!

First stop - Holsworthy Fire Station for 3 nights - Dave is still a fireman till end August :) Drinks at the White Hart - last night.

Next morning woke up to a fire shout at 6.30am - uniforms everywhere!!  Mogs hated it!

Next stop - Crooklet's Beach car park for Annie's Bude hen night - who was the waiter?!

How many socks can he fit in his pants?!!

LOTS

Next stop Crummys!!!  After a long sesh in the Rydon!  Our home from home in Holsworthy - Mogs not being the tidiest of people is taking over :)  but he's loving the fish and trees dinners?!

Great week at Sean's - he's a star! - plus Mogs last week at work :)  bit of a Vannie trauma at the last service before heading off - Russ came knocking at the door saying 'come quick!'  The flux capacitor has blown up and we need a 32/34/32 box imported from USA!! Sounds bad but D is on the case and ordering parts from afar.  Russ is ready and waiting to put Vannie's bits back!

Then the gypsies headed for Bude and a wine tasting evening - new stop was Annie's B&B Shorebreak -www.shorebreakbude.co.uk  - had to find somewhere to pee till the guests had gone - Dave found the window!!

Next stop - Weston super Mare - shit hole!!  Full of go-lightly's and mud - moved on to Portishead - another shit hole!!  Moved on to Premier Inn at Cribbs Causeway - TIDY :)  Dave's happy

Next stop - Kez's luxury dockside flat in Gloucester - great to see her and have dinner and catch up - decided my daughter has more furniture and stuff than we do now!!

Moving on....Off to Brum in the morning to hand in Mog's work laptop and phone - end of the England Athletics Education Co-ordinator role - Mogs is now officially a European Globetrotter with her Musician on Tour!!

Then the travellers headed to Hulland Ward, Derbyshire to stay with Aud and Steve....ooppp thure...

P45 on the way - We're moving out!

The Move

Back home from London and the signed Tenancy Agreement was on the mat to rent Mogs' house out - time to hand in notice at work!!  We really are off soon!!

A and G got the bubbly out to celebrate and we had a lovely time catching up with Jim, Maria, Will and Ollie who were down in Bude on their annual holiday

It was Maria who noticed Vannie's numberplate when we were showing them the van - P450 SHK !!

Hectic weeks ahead getting ready to move out....

Dave has been on Bude Bargains EVERY night selling stuff - how much more can Owen buy?!!

Rox is off to her new home!

The only sad part about going travelling was saying goodbye to Roxy but she has a fab new home with Shirley, Sara and Mr Pakey - here she is below with her pal.  She will have loads of walks and be spoilt rotten and is already settled in well.

Settled in :)

The Big Swim!

We really should have been cleaning and clearing stuff the Sunday before moving out but had trained for weeks for the mile sea swim from Port Gaverne to Port Isaac - it was a fab day for it and we headed down the coast - both very nervous - Dave's first race and Mogs hates swimming in waves!  It was good to leave the cleaning behind for a day though!

Les and Kirk and Alec and Ames were there to support us - really appreciated them coming - here we are before the swim - Dave isn't breathing in (honest)!

Faster than a Lightening Bolt!

The swim was hard but great fun and we both did brill - Dave 33:06 and Mogs 28:46 - watched the live bands after and had a few well earned beers :)

Next day was MANIC cleaning - luckily we had super cleaners Les and Kirk with their pinnies on!  We were on a deadline to get out of the house as the tenant was arriving lunchtime to move in - we were still moving stuff out as well as cleaning so the policy was if in doubt stick it in Vannie!

So the pics below show Mogs moving out and Mogs moving in!!!

Moving Out!

 Moving In!

Gypsy life is next.........



Vannie goes to the Olympics

Team Vannie GB

After getting through the first round, Vannie was now on her biggest trip ever (obviously not what John would say!) - 4 nights at the Olympic Park!

Whilst cruising on the M5/M4 the postcode of the campsite was put in by Mogs and we started heading that way - 4 hours later we arrived at the wrong campsite!!  A weird old man met us - Mogs said she'd spoken to him on the phone but he didn't know what we were on about - in fact the campsite just had 5 empty caravans there!  Oops - off to the pub over the road to google campsites in Woking - luckily Mogs remembered the one she'd phoned and the SatNav recalculated and got us on our way......

1 night in a field then off to watch the women's marathon in Parliament Square - great to catch up with Alison and Malc then back to Woking for BBQ at Kate and Paul's - fab to see them and Chris and Dave - way too much wine consumed but great night - thanks to K & P for the shower and leccy for Mogs to use her hair straighteners in the morning!!

Kate and Paul's lovely tea and coffee in morning! Plus shower and leccy :)

The travelling musician chills before heading for the big city!

Like Rats in the Sewer!

Dave loves the Underground....

At the Olympic Park - awesome atmosphere for the Athletics

Lunch and a wine or 2 with Joyce in Wanstead - Mogs godmother and her mum's friend - fab to catch up after many years and thanks for the painting tips for Dave!!

How high up are we?! what an atmosphere though...