Hi
We have had the van re upholstered at Regal at Ilkston Derbyshire.
Apart from a few bits and bobs like the stitching running off on the drivers seat and the new curtain's not being the right size we are very pleased with them.

They completed the whole task in one day including all the various trims and all the seating.
Here are a few photos.

Nice break away with the grand kids.

Hi.
We had a lovely 5 day break in the motor home with the grand kids, our first trip since we had it refurbished by Regal.

Well back to the trip!.
We went straight up to Holy Island Northumberland hoping to stay on there, but there were no camping signs every where, so we went to Warren Mills camp site at Budle bay. Expensive but OK. We were very honest because when we got there the office was shut and nobody was about, so we found an empty pitch with hook up and set up camp, then Sandra went round to pay the next morning.

Next day we went back to Holy Island and had a great day out, the grand kids loved it.
There are know amusements and the such but they threw themselves into the scenery and history of the place without the need to spend money, a great day out.
We then went back to Beadnell camp site to try and get on but it was full again, even though it wasn't. Seeing as we were booked on for the next two nights anyway I can not for the life of me see why they couldn't accommodate us for one more.
Instead we went down into Beadnell village near the harbour and set up camp for the night in the car park and then had a day out on the beach till we could go on the camp site.

The grand kids had two good days on the beach rock pooling for crabs, and I learned them to play crash, a card game which they soon picked up and became too good!.

We then called on the way back home in Beamish Museum and a good few hours there, the weather brightening up while we were there.
Then back home to Aldbrough.

Once again I will put some pic's on when I have uploaded them from my camera

Motor home show Pickering.

Hi.
Sandra and I went to the motor home show at Pickering, we had previously booked and intended to stay on Saturday taking in the show and entertainment.
We went instead on the Friday as the weather looked decidedly iffy and I thought the field might be a mud bath if we went later, churned up by the other vans, as it was when we got there it was ok.
Unfortunately Sandra who had been working Friday until 2pm decided she would have a snooze while we were travelling, OK until we hit a bit of road with lots of bends, she was thrown off the seating onto the table where she hit her chin cut it open and this enormous bruise started, I felt like putting a sign round her neck saying I didn't do it, a bit of a downer to start the weekend.

We went round the show on Saturday ignoring the motor homes and concentrating on the side stalls to get various bits and bobs which we needed.
We had our tea and got ready for the entertainment which was suppose to be Freddie Starr but turned out to be the Grumbleweeds.
P J Proby was also on and he was crap, drawling on in this accent which nobody could understand a word he was saying, and that was better than his singing.

On the way back on Sunday we stopped at a fish shop for our dinner, and I can say they were the worst fish and chips I have en counted anywhere ever, totally disgusting and nearly £ 9.00 for both of us. We will never go there again for sure.

It was worth going for the bits and bobs we bought especially the toilet blue which we will need for our 3 months in Spain and Portugal in 2010.
Anyway I will sign off for now

Hello from Aldbrough

Hi.
Well it is a good 3 months since we arrived back in the UK and we are back to the old routine at the caravan in Aldbrough.
We are not using the motor home as much with only a couple of trips off.
One to Beamish with the grand kids with a stop over at the Farnes Northumberland, and then we are going to the motor home show at Pickering at the back end of July, there are a couple of vans we are interested in looking at, and the show on Saturday night has Freddie Star on, it should be a right laugh.

At the end of July the motor home goes in for a face lift as we are having completely new foam seating and then re-upholstered including new drivers and passengers front seats. .

We have just bought a reversing camera from Maplins, and I am just going into Hull to purchase some electrical bits and bobs to hard wire it into the van so it is on when we are driving we can then monitor the trailer at the back, as I can't see it properly when driving. If there is a flat tyre the only time you would know is when it is on fire or somebody flags you down!.

The fishing at Aldbrough has been hit and miss at the moment with a couple of exceptions, I have been lucky enough to catch some noticeable fish, a couple of 18lb common carp, one mirror carp of 21lb and what appears to be the lake record a mirror carp of 24lb.10oz.
But as far as the matches goes nothing only bothering to weigh in once in 4 matches, still there is always this Saturday on Lambwath lake.

Wayne Slob?





Hi.
Well we are both back safe and well, tired but hey ho! its a long way and a long time in a foreign environment, seeing everything like road signs, advertisements, all in a language that is hard to understand actually wears you down.
Then when you get back into the UK it is hard to drop back into driving on the "right" side of the road, and you have to concentrate hard for the first few miles, unlike driving on the continent which I just drop into without any problems, Strange!.

Mequenenza and fishing in Spain in general really stuffed me this year, bugger all.

Never mind the weather more than made up for it it was brilliant and Sandra and myself both have sun tans, it was lovely sitting outside the van in our new carp chairs, talking to the various folk who seemed to want to talk at length about "nothing" in various languages, it is amazing how you can summon enough words, and gesticulating to hold a meaning full conversation with them.

34 degrees
















Our journey down or is it up to Honfluer was very relaxing taking 2 overnight stops to complete the 600 odd miles from Spain, the first stop in Andora a land locked country between Spain and France. The scenery is stunning as it is a skiing country with big mountains and lots of snow, we stayed at an Aire de service well into the snow line at 1500 meters, it was bloody cold during the night.
The second stop was in an Aire de service in France, this time at near sea level, it was a very nice place and we would stay there again.

When we arrived at Hornfluer it was quite miserable weather, blowing a gale with frequent rain showers, but it eventually bucked up and we had a lovely walk round the medieval town.
We finally made our way to Calais for an overnight stop in preparation for taking the Channel tunnel, which we went through in the early hours of Tues morning. Then the final trip back to exchange one tin box for another!.

We can not Wait for the trip next year!.

But not until we have annoyed some of the fish on the caravan pond.




Ready for the off next day.

A misty day in Mequeneza

Hi.

The crappy wifi signal in Mequenenza is getting even more iffy that is unless somebody has sussed out I am nicking their signal and spit their dummy out, somebody keeps turning the signal off.

I have been fishing most days now from about 12am to 12 pm and have bugger all to show for it apart from a sun tan, even fatter and being totally chilled out.
To be quite honest I couldn't care less if I catch anything or not, OK! one 40lb er plus would be nice, I think I blew that with the 2 that cracked me off when we first arrived still we have another 6 days to go and I am still whipping them up into a frenzy!.



Not a cloud in the sky but the moon is peeping out!.

(Double click any image to see full size.)











There are hardly any carp coming out of the lake, the ones I know about are from a lad who called in for a chat while passing a couple of days ago, he was on his way to catch the ferry from Barcelona to Ibiza to sell ice cream for the season, he said he always stops to break his journey with a spot of fishing here , he caught two, one at at 18lb and one at 15lb.
There was Eric the optician and his wife Leslie from Royston near Barnsley, he said he had caught one 28lb and that is all the fish I know about. Eric and co were a right laugh and we spent a good afternoon talking to them and they were the first to see the new DVD (Comedy) I made of the time when we were fishing the Barragem at Markadia Portugal.
Oh! I was told by one of the fishing guides who pop's in to see us there have been 2 Siluro (catfish) caught in the town length, one of 175lbs and one 130lbs. He was moaning that the punters were giving him grief because the carp were not crawling up the line, I suppose you can see their point they have come from the UK and are only here for a few days, and expect results. I wonder if Mequeneza is now a spent force with its glory days well over, if it is, it is a shame as so many folk over here rely on fishermen as it is the only tourist industry of any size, especially as it is over 100 miles away from the Costa holiday beaches.

I think when we come next year we will have a “Tourist Information” sign hung on the van as we seem to have a constant stream of folk stopping to ask about stuff and where they can camp without the Garda moving them on, even asking if they can stop for the night near us. “Get on with it mate its nothing to do with us”.

Well we should be in Honfluer at the mouth of the river Seine on Friday the 27th of march to have our Evie checked by the vet and then have her passport stamped up, we will probably stay for a few days as it is a beautiful medieval place and only about a 4 hour drive to the chunnel, which we have to arrive at on the 31st in the early hours of the morning. We set off through at about 5.30am and arrive in the UK at 4.45am, it must be the Tardis!.

Hi from Mequenenza.

Sandra and myself are fine and getting nicely sun burnt as the weather here at the moment is sweltering after the first few days when it was foggy and then blowing a full gale, (for 4 solid days).
That didn't sit well as we could not have the satellite dish up for Coronation St and Emerdale for Sandra!.
Today is Wed the 11th of March and time is storming on and we will be making our way back home in a few weeks, the time has flown and I can speak for us both that we have never been bored once, even when the weather was a bit challenging.
Talk about challenging the fishing here certainly is, so far no fish!, even though I am fishing into the we small hours and sometimes through the night.
We fish and sunbathe during the day, have our tea about 5/6 pm then Sandra settles down to a couple of hours telly now we are back into Astra 2 satellite which has all our home channels on. I sit in the front passenger seat to watch the rods just in case something picks up the bait, which is 2 no 25mm pellets.
I have had 2 runs at about 11 pm on separate nights, the first broke me off after a few Min's the second as I picked up the rod both fish were enormous and felt like steam trains, maybe they were Saluru (Catfish). I have had a few alarm bites but they might have been line bites.
I have just been speaking to one of the local guides who told me where to get a wifi signal, and bugger me it works albeit at only 11 meg, and it keep dropping in and out, but hey ho beggars can't be choosers.
We have become word famous over here as every body keeps dropping in for a chat and discuss the fishing or lack of it, it seems nobody is catching anything at the moment, well this hot weather should warm the water up, we still have 13 more days fishing here.
We can get water at the local Pesca Articles shop (Tackle shop), as long as we buy stuff off him he seems fine.
Talking about tackle Sandra took our Evie down the far bank for a walk yesterday and there was two guys fishing with poles, being nosey she went over to have a look and promptly stood on one of his whip poles and cracked it, she paid him 50 euros to get a replacement. what can I say!, I thought she was deaf not blind.

Any way I will sign off now and let you know what is happening later.

Poorly pussy, what a gob! the fish not me

Hi.

Tuesday the 24 th of feb, this is the last time I will be able to log on in Ferraira as we are moving on to Spain on Thursday morning. The area around the village of Mequenenza at the side of the river Ebro is very rural and I do not think that television has arrived never mind the tinternet!, the hobby the inhabitants have is walking about looking lost and throwing bricks at one another.

It is 637 miles according to the navigator from Markadia, so we should just about manage it in a days driving, if we get fed up we will be able to pull into one of the petrol station overnight stops along with the lorry drivers. One thing about the trip back North is it will be very sunny and hot as the temperature as I write this is about 27 degrees in Ferraira.

It is there bank holiday this week until Thursday, with lots of Maddi Grass going on especially down on the Algarve about 80 miles from here, won't be going down this year as the weather is just as good where we are.

he fishing is now crap the hot weather has killed it, there is nothing moving on the lake, Sandra spanked me again yesterday she caught one and I blanked, just one massive take that cracked me off before I even picked up the rod.

Poorly pussy has appeared again I think I have caught it 4 times now and Sandra once, its a tenacious bugger and it always gives a good fight. I have taken a photo of it and I will put it on the blog.

A test bit of video I do not know if you will get it?

I will sign off now and will try to nick a wifi signal in Mequenenza or Fragga when we get to Spain.

From a very sunny hot Ferraria Portugal.

The biggest so far just over 15lbs

Hi.Thursday 19th Feb and the weather is absolutely glorious and has been for the last week, we have just been into Beja to the hypermarket and to McDonald's for an e:number sandwich, it was very nice !.

The fishing is not as good at the moment as the sun is beating down on the barragem and the fish have moved up above the thermocline into the warmer water but they are not even feeding on the surface. Never mind it is excellent for us, I sit in my shorts with no shirt on to take in the sun.

We have a picnic lunch with a few cold beers and wine at the side of the lake and watch the wildlife, the amount of wild rabbits running around has to be seen and the racket they make calling to each other has to be believed.

There are all kinds of exotic birds flying about, I will have to ask Adie what they are when I next see him, (the miserable old git).

Poorly pussy is showing quite regular!, I have caught it 3 times and Sandra once, there is now daughter of poorly pussy I caught her yesterday, the same mouth deformation but half the size.

I have taken a video of "Poorly Pussy" and I will try and load it down here, I do not know if it will work?.(

Nope it failed)

Sandra has adopted our next door neighbour Marjorie as her friend, they seem to get on quite well, her and husband ray have just had their dog put down at a local vet in Beja the same one we took Evie too when she had her ear problem, apparently it was not long after we arrived, so they have both semi-adopted our Evie and Marjorie is always bringing round snap for our Evie much to her delight.

I think we will be moving off the campsite and on to Mequeneza Spain on the 27th of this month, if the weather is half as nice as it is here it will be brilliant,!!!!!!!

Hi.

The weather has now bucked up in a big way it is glorious!.

Sandra and myself are never away from the lake fishing at every opportunity.

The biggest I have had is about 15lbs with a couple of 10 and 8 lb fish, most are about 4/5 lbs but all make very good fishing.

We have decide we can not be arsed moving now we are on the cheapest rate at Markadia, so we will be here for the next 2 weeks and then we will go straight to Mequeneza in Spain for about 2 weeks, we will then make our way to Hornfluer in France so Evie can see the vet and have her passport stamped up to get back into the UK.

We have just had a ride out to Pego De alter to see Arthur to collect a walking stick he has carved for Sandra, it is a work of art too good to use as a stick, well outside anyway. it will be good to beat the dog with so long as she doesn't bleed on it.

Just a few more photos looking out of the motor home window, the small dots on the far bank are Sandra and Evie.

Hi.

Sounds like you are getting it bad in the UK with the snow and ice, here in Portugal it is overcast at the moment but very warm and sticky.

It is a very relaxing place where we are at the moment, as I look out of the car window opposite the Tourist Information building there are loads of locals all hanging about chewing the fat, in fact that's all everybody seems to do for excitement round here, and drive around in there beat up pickups at 20 mph, about as fast as you can go as the roads are atrocious, any faster and your fillings would fall out.

The wifi signal the other day was rubbish and so slow I lost the will to live as I waited for the down load, so I just gave up. I will try to load down some more photos today so if you see them OK if not I have given up again.

The fishing has slowed down a touch, well it has for me as Sandra has spanked me twice the last time she caught 4 carp, me "water licked", hmmmm. The water level in the barragem has risen about 6ft over the last 2/3 days making the place where we sat fishing well underwater.

I have finally sussed out what was breaking me so much on the initial take, it is barbel. I caught one yesterday and it nearly pulled the rod out of the rest a very violent take, I also struck into one fish which went straight out and snapped 15lb line like cotton taking the bolt rig and everything with it, I suspect that was a barbel as well.

We are fishing at distance about the same as life belt to life belt on the caravan pond, and we are line clipping off to land in the same spot and build a pile of ground bait up with sweet corn in, this seems to work quite well as we are catching far more than anybody else.

I have found a fishing tackle shop not far from where I am typing this, he has just completed 60hours of English lessons and is more than happy to talk to me in English as I am his first English speaking customer, he is teaching me Portuguese words for different bits of fishing tackle, its a right laugh you just can not pronounce the words and he laughs his head off at my attempts, Foreign git.

Hi.

We have decided to stay at Camp Markadia for a full 30 days because after 15 days you get 50% off your bill making the last 2 weeks in the month for free!, including electricity. You can take the man out of Yorkshire but you cant take Yorkshire out of the man!!!!....
The fishing is not too shabby just like a good summers day fishing on the caravan pond. I am still getting smashed off on the take even though I have changed back to nylon main line instead of braid, the bloody fish must be on steroid's. The biggest I have had so far are two at 8lbs, one of the fish I have caught twice as it has a mouth like a poorly pussy, or if you like Mick Jagger, "all puffed up".
The weather is so changeable and just does not no what to do with itself, today it is sunny but very windy, we have had to put down the sky dish as it is not safe to have it elevated as it it is getting the full blast where we are.
We have just moved real estate on the site to a very attractive location higher up on the hill, so we overlook the full lake, and the added advantage is we gain another 2 channels on the receiver as we can get all the news channels, but now we can get 2 movie channels as well.
We have never had as much news information (all bad), we have come away to get away from all the crap in the UK. Never mind when we get back up to Mequenenza in Spain we get all the normal Chanel's back.

Norm if you are reading this and you still can not get the pictures, they are in JPEG format, make sure your computer is set up to read this format.

We had to take our Evie to the vets on Wednesday in Beja as she picked up a bad ear infection, the vet gave her a good mot even clipped her nails and it only came to 38 euros including any pills and ear drops, anyway she seems fine now. Sandra has to put drops in every morning for the next 10 days, and clean her ear out. Evie does not seem to mind at all now I even think she is enjoying the attention.

Hi.

Just a few pic's to see if I can upload onto the blog.

Some of Ginestar looking over the peach trees to the mountains, one down at the river, and the rest in the mountains Sierra Nevada range highest we got to was 1800 meters above sea level.

The motor home did OK towing the trailer and car on the back, no problems so far! (cross fingers).

If it works out when I hit the publish button I will post some more pictures of where we are and any kippers we catch of note.

We seem to be happy were we are now at camp Markadia pulling out the carp, nothing big but it is never boring as the bites keep on coming.

Thanks for my birthday cards and presents, I opened them this morning. Very nice and it make us both think of you all back home.

Hi everyone.
Managed to log on on in Ferreira a town about 15 miles away from where we are staying at a place called Camp Markadia, at the side of a Barragem (Portuguese for dam or lake).
The camp site is brilliant and is the third time we have been here, the lake is formed by damming a river and is absolutely enormous, Evie loves it here as there are lots of rabbits and she spends loads of energy chasing them, they must be laughing at her she has no chance of catching one as they must be twice as quick as her!.
The water in the lake is crystal clear and is used by the Portuguese as a seaside resort in the summer with lots of swimming and boating. The fishing is OK a bit like down at our lakes and I would expect to catch something, the only fish I have ever caught are wild common carp and a 5lb fish is quite big for here, with the average being about 3lb but with them being wild they fight like stink three times stronger than the fish down in the caravan pond!.
The tally so far is the first days fishing I caught 8, got smashed off 7 times with out even picking the rod up! and on the nearly 9lb bottom hook length as well lost 2 off on the way in. Second day went fishing with Sandra she had 6 carp I had 5 with same thing being smashed off on the take, hmm she gave me a good spanking that day. the 3rd day I managed to get 4 fish and the same thing smashed off on the take very violent takes all on pop up sweetcorn which have now all gone.

The weather is very hit and miss at the moment and Sandra speaking to some of the long time campers was told it has rained and been crap since November. When it is nice you can sit out in a tee shirt it is that warm, and we have the window open on the van at night as it gets too hot to sleep.

We are about 150 miles away from the Algarve at the bottom of Portugal, but we are undecided when to travel down as the weather there can not be much different than where we are now at the moment, but I suppose we will wonder down sometime there is no rush as we still have tons of time left to follow the sun.

I will sign off now as I am going to the Tourist information place across the road from where I am logged on (I think it is their wifi signal I am using) to ask were there is a Pesca shop to get some more fake corn and groundbait, Catch up with you later when I can blag another wifi signal.

Hi everyone.
Managed to log on in Mora and can not believe it is a week since we left the UK, the weather down was interesting to say the least!. it snowed most of the way until we came out of the mountains then it was glorious sunshine for about 2 hours driving, then it snowed again.
Up in the mountains on our first nights car parking the temperature fell away to daft degrees and everything froze up, including Sandra's and my noses the only thing poking out of the sleeping bag. The front of the motor home looked like a big giant ice lolly and stayed that way until we hit sea level.
On our way on the last leg to Ginestar after our second nights car parking we stayed over night in a lovely stopover in Spain, I bet it is crawling with motor homes in the summer, as it was there was only us there, another night with snow falling but luckily it didn't settle.
We finally arrived in Ginestar on the 7th Wednesday and the weather was absolutely glorious with clear blue Sky's but there was still a nip in the air, this lasted 2 days and you can guess what it snowed again really big flakes.
We managed to get some gas from Fraga about 20 miles away so we are at least warm.
After we had set up camp I had a walk down to the river with Evie she was that excited just running like greyhound, she went down the river bank and straight in the water, I have since discovered why, the banks are muddy with the floods and are like ice I have fallen flat on my back and so has Sandra except hers was more spectacular she ended up in the river!, she always said she wanted to be seen in something long and flowing.
I have been fishing down at the river but it has been in flood and its just going down so the water temperature is bloody cold and the fish do not want to know, I am hoping it will warm up to get them to feed, so nothing to report on any catches yet.

I will sign off now until we can find another wifi hot spot.

Hi.
Saturday 3 rd of January rushing about loading the van in anticipation of tomorrow's early start for the tunnel, a lot of effort for Sandra as usual!.