End of Travelling Year - and How!

 Well, here we are again - back to lockdown....

So that's the end of travelling for 2020, I fear. We look forward to our trips to the local supermarket. At least we managed to complete the intended parts of our UK coastal tour, which turned out brilliantly - now the 'van gets a wash and polish before it goes back into storage. We've got to completely empty it, too, because it's going back to the Swift factory in Hull over Christmas to have another replacement rear panel after their (ex)dealer-who-shall-be-unmentionable messed up with the last one. 

Oops, that's not how you do it....

Good for Swift, though, because, after reviewing photographs and a report from WKD Caravan Services (Thanks), Swift's engineer gave the OK to sort the problem. The timing of all this is not too great because we're downsizing our house in a very big way and we'll have to take all the gear, cushions and mattress out; goodness knows where we're going to put it all.

So no posts from Spain, no Malaga Lights 😢. We'll be in the UK sorting out our house stuff ready to move to Leigh-on-Sea in the early New Year: fun of a different kind.

 See you in 2021.

A Different Sort of Travelling

 So...

😥Our Scandinavian caravan tour is cancelled.

😢Our motorhome tour of China is cancelled

😢We can't go to Nerja; infection rates are going up.

😞Our coastal tour is problematic because of Covid and the caravan sites we need are all booked with staycationers.

 OK, lets move house; it's a kind of travelling, after all, it's just a bit more permanent and dear Rishi has driven the housing market into a frenzy with his stamp duty holiday. LET'S DO IT.

A big decision

We resolved to consider the big decision of downsizing at the next big birthday (which is just around the corner) but COVID lock-downs, quarantining plus the house purchase stamp duty holiday presents the opportunity to do so without sacrificing a major travelling trip or so. We want somewhere a little more manageable, within striking distance of London and family and within walking distance of a vibrant cafe culture street: looks like here, then.

This decision is not without anguish; our current home has been extended and designed by us to some extent and has been a wonderful family home for some 22 years - but now it's time to move. It's oddly exciting to house-hunt again, although the chances of joining all this up to get the kind of house we want in the location we want feels a little remote at times. Time will tell.

Venturing out again

We've had a couple of trips out; how exciting is that, these days!

Our youngest daughter treated us to a trip around Kew Gardens for our birthdays. We drove, parked easily and met her and boyfriend complete with picnic gear: a wonderful day.

A nostalgic trip to Clacton and Jaywick was fun with our middle daughter; nostalgic because I lived in Jaywick as a student, taking my physics degree at Essex University in the late sixties; don't ask! Jaywick is listed as one of the most deprived areas in the country and little had changed since my period of residence - which is quite amazing if  you think about it. 

Beach is still great though.

An enjoyable and fascinating day out with friends at the Henry Moore sculpture park and gardens distracted us from the stresses of house selling and buying. Highly recommended if you like sculpture. Picnic again!

Enough!

Let's escape to Herne Bay in the 'van; it's coastal tour time.