26th October 2014, Ready for the off!

After leaving Hereford we had a week in Oxford to visit as many family and friends as possible. Sorry to those we did not get round to see, but we will definitely catch up with you on our return next year. It was good to see Dean’s mum looking so well as she had a nasty fall recently and broke her elbow, (ouch!) but is on the mend and now back into her swimming again. Bless her, she is 74 and does not change. Towards the end of our stay Angela had a day out with her mother so I took the opportunity while the weather was good to tidy up my mum’s garden. I try to trim the large conifer in the front garden with the hedge trimmer before we go away for the winter, and this time I got carried away and trimmed lots of other shrubs in the front and back garden filling up her recycling bin.

It was good to see our nephew Dean and niece Hollie, as it has been over two years since our last meeting. Dean has been living the dream in Canada working for Sunshine Village in Banff. He had his laptop set up and had a slide show of his pictures which were amazing. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and to think that it was as he called it, his office. Hollie has what seems like an amazing job in the marine technology industry and can still talk for England! She told us in great detail what she has been up to and it sounds really exciting, hopefully she will have a good career ahead of her. We are both very proud of them.

After saying goodbye to everyone we set off to see the lovely Al, Isabel and Hamish at their little campsite “Fieldgate” in Sidlesham, Chichester. It has been a year since they took over the campsite and we were amazed how well it looked since our last visit. They have both been extremely busy building lodges, putting up fences, digging in shrubs and hedging, cutting grass with their shiny new Kubota and as if that was not enough they have been busy with campers. Well done you two – a long, well earned break awaits you in La a Manga after your trip to the Netherlands. We all went out for a lovely meal on the first night to The Seal in Selsey and the food was brilliant. We had a good catch up and the following day Al and Isabel flew out to Rome for a few days so we campsite and dog sat until they got back.

Whilst there we had a great time catching up over cups of tea, biscuits and cake, discussing travel plans and building plans for the campsite. All very exciting.

Angela and I had a massage in Chichester with the lovely Lauren and she worked her magic on us both, as we were so relaxed and obviously in great need of it after a busy and stressful year. We will definitely be visiting again on our return to England. Thanks for booking us in Isabel.

I had spoken to Al before leaving Oxford about whether or not I should bring my golf clubs down and if I did would we get a game in. Well, I took them and on the day that Angela and Isabel had a girlie day out in Chichester Al and I had a round at the local club. I had not played for at least seven years and it showed! We had a great day and I did manage to chip in for a birdie on the second hole and had a par on another. I was very rusty but thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks Al.

Yesterday we were taken to West Wittering and had a fantastic walk along the beach. The weather was great for the time of year and it was great to see so many others out doing the same. There were dog walkers, families having picnics, kite flying, wind surfers, beach volleyball, a couple of scantily clad women on a photo shoot and lots of other things going on. The beach huts looked great – all nice and brightly painted.

Last night we were treated to a feast made by Isabel and spent the evening chatting about life. We will miss all our lovely family and friends while we explore overseas, but we now begin another adventure and are looking forward to spending time with family in Germany!

xxx