We are one week in already. The “Great European Adventure” has finally begun, but not without a few hiccups!
Despite months and months of almost military precision planning, we have learnt that flexibility is a wonderful form to embrace!

As we waved farewell to the baby girl and flew out from Florida, we still weren’t certain if the bike was ever going to make it to the UK. Despite dropping her off to be shipped 5 weeks prior, we actually beat her there. It’s been a long and convoluted story, dotted with various strongly worded emails and some angry phone calls, during which I learned some new curse words (!)

Eventually, and not without a great deal of hard work from the amazing David, the receiving agent at Shippio, we were able to collect her two days later and start getting her set up for the long ride ahead.

I thought I’d packed so carefully with all eventualities, stop overs and weather taken into account. However, on arriving at our friends, where we were staying for four days, it was soon evident that we’d need to go sock shopping. Bearing in mind that we dressed on Tuesday morning and this was now Wednesday evening…Iain’s socks nearly walked by themselves and I’d forgotten to pack him any! Hurrah for your local Sainsburys wink

 

Sock crisis averted, we spent a lovely evening just catching up with Jac & Jase and meeting their wonderful granddaughter, Lilly. If you can order your grandkids, I want one just like her! Of course, first nights with friends that you haven’t seen for a while, generally result in being led astray and raging hangovers the next morning.
Pounding head aside, the next day we spent a lovely couple of hours meeting up with Marcus (son), his fiancé Charly and our fur-grand-baby Sky.
On the way back from theirs, we diverted down to Northampton and FINALLY reunited with the bike. A better sight has never been seen than when they opened that crate and we saw her there! Iain was so happy to be back with his 2nd love! He really enjoyed the ride back up to Bourne and was a happy, happy man that night!
Just a lazy day on Friday, which included a lovely pub lunch at a cute place called “The Wicked Witch” in Ryhall. We enjoyed sitting out in the beer garden and enjoying the weather we’ve been blessed with. We took a wander round the old town of Stamford with it’s 17th & 18th century buildings and seeing the shop names bought back some memories!

As explained in my last post, it was a plane ride to France for me instead of the ferry as planned. Landed in La Rochelle to be told that dad was doing fine but he wasn’t allowing visitors! Well bloody hell, doesn’t he know I’ve travelled half way round the world to see him! Had to respect his wishes though and I actually do understand. I hate visitors when I’m sick too and apparently, he gets upsets when we leave. However, I was able to talk with him a couple of times and was encouraged by how well he was sounding.

*as I write this, he just arrived home. A little frailer then when I last saw him but looking good considering 🙂

So yesterday was my first day in France and it was business as usual…a lot of wine drunk and too much food eaten. I really haven’t got off to a good start with my intentions of keeping to the Keto diet we’ve been following. All went downhill from day one when Jac got the bread out!
I did manage a bit of exercise and took myself off for a little stroll around the village before we all set off to the local bar, imaginatively named, “Le Bar”, where we enjoyed a great roast dinner.

Today was an exciting day. Dad was due to be discharged from hospital and Iain was due to arrive (2 days early due to ANOTHER plan change!)
It didn’t get off to a very good start though. Before leaving Iain, I had fixed our phones to “Find My Friends” so we could track each other. I sent him a “good morning” text and tried to track him. He should have arrived in St Malo already. “Unable to find”, was the message I received. What? He’s only been in the country 5 minutes and he’s got himself lost!
…and no response to my texts either. What has he done already?!?
The morning went by, Dad arrived home and still nothing seen or heard from Iain. I messaged the kids to say that even iTracker couldn’t find their father, so I was giving it until 2pm when I would open the whiskey (there’s plenty here) and check out the insurance policy. Marcus said “fair enough”. Beth ignored me! Apparently she was asleep, I forget the 6 hour time difference!
It didn’t get to that though. Soon I heard the purring of a bike and sure enough, rolling magnificently up the drive was my man cool

Never did work out what he’d done to be so unconnected but he’s here now and we are all relaxing in the sun, shooting the breeze and catching up.

We plan to spend a couple of days here, celebrate mums 70th birthday on the 24th and have (French) Mother’s Day breakfast together this Sunday before we head off across France and up into the Alps; woo hoo!!

……..why am I such a ‘techno fud’?!?!

Techno fud; tec-no fud, adjective One who hasn't a damn clue about what he/she is doing on a computer So I decided to start a blog. How hard can it be? I thought to my sweet delusional little self! I have the idea, I have a plan for subject content, I have the...

…….by golly folks, I think I’m getting it!

Fantabuloso; fan-tab-you-low-sow, adjective Describes something that is both fantastic and fabulous. With a Spanish twist to it so the speaker sounds smarter than he or she actually is. It is said with a rhythm to it i.e. fantabu-lo-so, or with a posh accent i.e....

…….it must be real, it’s on Facebook 😉

Facebook; fays-book, noun A social media facility without which an occurrence cannot become the truth until it has been announced So I went 'live' with this fun new project of mine. It is fun now! If you look back at my Blog Posts one and two you may wonder if I have...

……..I’m back!!

Happy weird period between Christmas and New Year where you're not really sure what's going on or what day it is! When we lived in England, this was a pretty laid back week, dedicated to relaxation, eating, drinking and spending time with friends and family. It was...

………we do things differently!

Now, it has been said that we are a bit different...especially to some of our American friends, but even I can see how backwards our latest adventures have been! After 11 years of living in Tampa, and as we start to see our great Florida escape plan coming together,...

……I got a new ride!

Like I said in my last blog post; "we do things differently" 🙂 So today I'm going back to front and leapfrogging over the blog that is due, about our trip to Falling Waters State Park, to tell you all about yesterday and why I have a new ride! For a long while I've...

…..back to Falling Waters State Park

  .....I got freedom and upgraded my wheels! Have you ever watched 'Grace and Frankie'? Hilarious Netflix original series with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. If you haven't seen it you need to! Channeling my inner Grace, (you need to watch Season 4, Episode 6 to...

…..13 is not a bad number!

.....today is a great day; after 4 weeks of being restricted to using my (admittedly wonderful) soaker tub, I was finally able to stand unassisted and enjoy a good shower! One more week of the pins in and then I should be getting back on track and ready to ride and...

….I’m getting so organized!

...shit’s getting real folks! The bike is now booked on the transport ship – along with a fun night out in Savannah – and that makes it feel like this is really happening now! I have spent hours and hours, very literally (being immobile after surgery paid off),...

ATV fun; side blog…!

Marcus is here! Hip hip hooray! Marcus, aka "the boy", is our 26yr old son who is currrently living in the UK with his girlfriend Charly. They arrived a week ago and we've just been enjoying our time together, relaxing, catching up and doing some fun things. One of...

Europe 2018

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Follow our posts as we prepare for our 13 week tour of Europe that starts in May 2018!

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