Danube Cruise – Day 2

Today we travelled by coach to Regensburg. We could not travel by ship because river levels are too low.

We had a walking tour of the town. It is a medieval town with the oldest stone Bridge still in use in Germany.

It was very hot. We had to visit a Biergarten to cool down.

Danube Cruise – Day 1

We flew from Heathrow to Munich this morning to begin our cruise along the Danube with Great Rail Journeys.

We were met at the airport and taken by comfortable, air conditioned coach to Passau where our ship Amadeus Silver III was waiting.

We had time to explore Passau before the ship departed.

I’m back!

My last post featured my beautiful grandson on the day of his birth.

Here he is now

He is nearly 2!

I’m afraid I have neglected my blog over the last couple of years, partly due to Covid and lack of travel opportunities, but also due to me being very poorly and in hospital for 3 months last year.

I’m back now and we’re off on a river cruise along the Danube tomorrow so I may have some photos to share with you all.

Birth Announcement

This is the most exciting post I have written. Daughter, Amy, gave birth to our first grandbaby at 04.23am on 28th August. Due on 8th September, Jaxon Andrew Rogers was obviously in a hurry to meet his family. He weighed in at a healthy 8lbs.

Jaxon on his birth day in hospital.
Neville the cat and baby Jaxon seem unconcerned about each other.
Proud Granny
Proud Grandad
Just chillin’

Mum, Dad, and baby are all doing well. What a lovely little family.

Short Story

Returned from holiday yesterday to a pile of post, including the July edition of ‘Let’s Talk’ magazine. ‘Let’s Talk’ is an East Anglian publication, mainly concerned with memories of the area, but they have an annual short story competition and feature one of the winning stories every month.

This month one of my stories was chosen!

If you would like to read the whole story, without getting a copy of the mag, click on My Creations, where lots of my stories can be found.

Final Day – Wales to Dursley

We stayed in a B & B in Machynlleth last night and set off home after a lovely breakfast.

We stopped briefly at Aberystwyth beach.

We drove to Llandrindod Wells and went to the National Cycle Museum.

We were particularly interested in seeing their collection of Pedersen bikes, originally designed and produced in Dursley.

We carried on through Herefordshire, stopping for lunch at a garden centre, attended by lots of scarecrows!

Another holiday over! Let’s hope it’s not too long before the next one.

Hope you have enjoyed sharing our journey,

Holiday continued, Wales – Day 9

After a comfortable night in our room at Bangor University we woke up to a lovely view of Anglesey from our bedroom window.

We travelled on the Welsh Highland Railway from …

… to ….

It was an amazing trip through stunning scenery.

We had a picnic by the stream at Beddgelert, then back on the train again.

Cairns on the river bed
Mount Snowdon
Back to Caernarfon.

Slow drive home tomorrow, through Wales,

Carol

The Isle of Man – Day 8

Our last day on the island.

As our ferry was not leaving until 3pm we managed to fit in a visit to the Laxey Wheel, and Peel Castle, both opening to the public this morning for the first time in months.

The Laxey Wheel is the largest water wheel in the world. It was designed to pump water from underground so that the miners could work safely.

Peel Castle was originally built in the 11th century by Vikings.

Looking out over the beach and harbour.
Overlooking the bay with all the scallop shells.

After lunch we headed back to Douglas to board the catamaran, Manannan, back to Liverpool

Our stay on the Isle of Man was over, but after dinner with family in Wallasey, we drove to Bangor in Wales to continue our travels.

Carol

The Isle of Man – Day 7

We were up and away early this morning ready for our boat trip around The Calf of Man. When we arrived at Port St Mary we received a text from Steve to say that the trip had been cancelled due to the wind! We went to the breakwater to see the boat and met Steve there. He and his father have been doing trips in the same boat for 40 years.

Port St Mary
When I saw the size of the boat I was quite relieved the trip was not going ahead!

We drove to the Calf of Man, and it was, indeed, very windy!

We carried on to Douglas and saw the Grandstand at the starting point of the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motorbike races. The race covers 37 miles of public roads, with bikers doing average speeds of 135 miles an hour! The race has not taken place for two years due to Covid.

After lunch in Douglas we drove to St John’s to see Tynwald Hill. The word Tynwald is of Viking origin, meaning Parliament field. On 5th July every year the Manx Parliament meet here and new laws are claimed. This parliament is over 1000 years old and is the oldest parliament in the world with an unbroken existence.

We drove back to Peel and sat by the beach with an ice cream.

The tide was in.

Later, in the evening, we went back to the beach.

The tide was out.

The sand was absolutely covered in scallop shells.

We also saw jellyfish.

Tomorrow is our last day on the island …… but not the last day of the holiday!

More to come,

Carol

The Isle of Man – Day 6

We had a drive across the hills seeing some of the sights we glimpsed from the tram yesterday.

The largest reservoir on the island, the Sulby Reservoir, opened in July 1983.
We carried on into Ramsey.
A steel arched swing bridge, opened in 1892, 64m long, crosses the River Sulby at the entrance to the harbour.

We watched the bridge swing open.

We had lunch overlooking the bridge, then drove to Laxey. Due to Covid the Laxey wheel has been closed to visitors until now. Today it was open for a private group but on Friday it opens to the public, so we will be back!

We tried to visit the Knockaloe Centre, just down the road from our cottage, but found this notice on the door …

Tomorrow is our last full day on the island. Fingers crossed for a calm day tomorrow!

Carol