All things must come to an end, including this phase of ROAD TRIP, time to start heading south. First stop on our journey south was a couple of nights in Inverness  Underlining how lucky we had been to get good weather to get out to The Orkney Islands yesterday, we left Dunnet in torrential rain and Force 8 windsstopping in Tain, for a coffee breakthen out to Portmahomack, for a walk, around it’s harbourwe had a lovely chat with one of the local fishermen, on the dock. He showed me what one of their local lobsters looked likeBehind Inverness is the famed Loch Ness (of Monster fame).

So I had to do my best monster impersonations, for the photo. a pint at the nearby Dores Pubthen it was off to our accommodation, at Bunchrew House, on the shores of the Moray Firthwhich was another one of our accommodation splurgesthe dinning room was splendidwith flowering orchids in our room and throughoutthe sunrise over the bridge at the top of the Firth, was in keeping with the themeThen it was a drive down to Keswick, in the Lake District (back in England)with a stop at Borrowdale, for a walk in the purported walker’s paradise of The Lake District

then further down the road, to the Ashness Bridge

The gorse was in flower, to add some more colour to the photothen back in the car, to Keswick, to find our accommodation for the nightScotland was perfect in so many ways, but it’s Pubs did not have the same great atmospheres of the English Pubs, and the quirky charactersthere was a beer on tap called Barista, the name is the give away to what was added to the brew. It tasted like one of those Jägermeister/ Red Bull concoctions, and had the same affect. After a pint of this stuff I was bouncing off the walls, and then found it impossible to get  to sleep, when we returned to the room.The next day, we continued our journey southstopping at Amblesidefor another walk in The Lake DistrictTime to say goodbye to the snow capped mountains, that have been in the background since we drove into Wales, 3 weeks ago

a glorious day for a walk, in some very high quality walking country

 

 

and then just to be different, Lisa decided to go to Blackpool for the afternoon A place that had significance from her childhood and youth. All the population from the surrounding cities, including Chester, Manchester, Liverpool etc, would come here for the night time illuminations when they were young and the rides, as they got older.

the Ferris Wheel, out on one of the piers had to be ridden

Lisa relived her childhood

In true Northern Girl style, Lisa just had to have a “Kiss Me Quick” hat and pose in front of the Blackpool TowerAs we did on the way north, we overnighted at Jacquie and Mike’s, at their home near Manchester, before finishing the drive back to Falmouth the next day.

25 days and 3,300 miles and we were back in Falmouth, to a very excited Rufus Dogfollowing on from the discussion at the bottom of my last blog post, no…I have not been off the booze for the last week.

Lisa was not happy with the Rufus photo, so I took another and then went off to Plymouth for 5 days, without my laptop charger, so I could not finish the final bit of this blog post.

I am coming home soon, so I will add the photos from the last week to the bottom of this blog post.

Plymouth is a name synonymous with anything nautical in British maritime history for hundreds of year, and only 2hrs on the train from Falmouth .My accommodation was above a lovely old pub, in the Barbican area, on the waterfrontcalled the Admiral McBridewith views over the marinathe sun was out and the temperature was a tropical 12C, ideal for a walk around the shore

a great old hotelEverywhere I looked, there are now daffodils in bloom I took the ferry from out the front of the Admiral McBride, across to Mount Battenfor a walk and too see the port fortifications  from the sea Then I caught the bus to meet up with Lisa in PadstowAs per usual we enjoyed a walk around the port, which was currently having 7.5mt, king tides You may remember from my first ROAD TRIP post, the problem I was having  drinking warm (non chilled) beer, it may be the cold weather, but they are now tasting greatthen off to our accommodation at the Metropole Hotel The reason we had come to Padstow, was to eat at Rick Stein’s restaurant (The TV chef)Unfortunately the food was very disappointing

great presentation, but there was way too much oil, to taste the delicious seafood it was smotheringOne would expect a Rick Stein’s curry to present better than this and taste better than this one did. The best taste sensation of the night was the bean salad that accompanied the curry!!

The walk from Padstow the next day was superior to Rick Stein’s foodOn the way back to Falmouth we stopped off at Bedruthan Stepsfor a walk on the low tide sandy beachaccessed via a very steep 130 steps

After 6weeks of cold weather the novelty has well and truly worn off, so I will come home early and save the planned trip to Ireland for next year.

Time to give Logic an antifouling and get her ready for the end of the cyclone season, return to The South Pacific.

And Francis needs to get back into cruising yachty shape! 5 weeks of full cooked breakfasts, all that tempting beer and pub food, has my girth way past, were it should beWhile I am now getting ready for my next exciting adventure, Lisa is the preparing for the surgeon’s knife, as she embarks on a battle with the Big C. Her lovely locks are going to not be there very shortly.