We left Cobham at just after midday on Friday and headed north, to spend a long weekend with Seb and Ally. It’s just over 220 miles door to door. The first 2 hours of the which were spent sitting on the dreaded M25 ( London’s orbital road network, AKA “Europe’s largest car-park”) , where I sat playing mind games, whilst Rach tapped away on her keyboard. It took a further 3 hrs to get to Little Fenton and we arrived under the cover of darkness, trying to enter the wrong gate with the right code and scaring the neighbours, which we both laughed at after Bella (Ally’s younger sister) had pointed us in the right direction. Chris & Lesley (Ally’s folks) had headed off to Spain for a long weekend and so had very kindly offered their lovely house for us to stay at for the weekend. We had intended to go to puppy training with Seb, but as we’d arrived later than expected, we rustled up some food for Seb and Arlo instead for when they returned. Ally was at a networking event that evening, so wouldn’t be joining us. It was great catching with Seb and Bella, whilst Arlo spent most of the evening chasing his tail and leaping up on us, he’s very friendly and Seb assures me that the gun-dog training is working! The following day we walked up to see Seb and Ally’s farm project for the first time, which I must admit looked very daunting, but I’m sure will be fantastic when it’s complete. But for the next year or so they are staying in a rather posh looking mobile home, not at all what we imagined. Ally prepared a very welcome brunch, after which Seb and I went outside to plant small shrubs into some of the gaps in the hedgerows…I don’t see Seb as often as I’d like, so it’s a real treat spending time together. Later that day, and as a first for Rach & I, Ally & Seb took us into Leeds for diner at an Asian restaurant. After dinner we had a good wander around the city, whilst soaking up some of the Saturday night atmosphere. On Sunday we all met up with Josh and Becky and Arlo’s mum and sister, (Winnie & Wilma) for a good walk and chat, as we strolled through some of the surrounding countryside, watching the dogs run around tirelessly, we then headed back to Ally and Seb’s for a delicious Sunday roast. It was great fun catching up with everybody and getting a peek into Seb and Ally’s project and catching up with all of the Watson’s.

The main reason for heading back to the UK was for Rachel’s fathers funeral, which took place in Whitstable in Kent. Fred, Rachel’s dad had chosen the church whilst spending a long summer there with Rachel’s sister Ruth. We made the journey from Hartford, which took us across & through the Dartford Crossing, (the busiest estuarial crossing in the UK, which essentially links Kent and Essex) it’s the first time I’d been across it. We arrived at the very small church (30 seats) built in 1140 and known simply as “the Old Church.” The service was very touching, with Fred being laid to rest in the small graveyard, feet facing out to sea, as he wanted and everyone raising a glass to him in the pub thereafter. I’ve also been doing little jobs for my parents, whilst Rach has been looking in on her mum everyday, which has kept us both busy…Rachel especially, as she’s had to fit everything in around work. We’d willingly agreed to look after our surrogate doggo Rhubarb, in Cobham for a week, as Rachel & Keith were heading off on vacation. After fighting the Saturday morning traffic we arrived early afternoon and after unloading we took Rhubarb for a brisk walk, which is always entertaining with both the anticipation pre-walk and then chasing around a good old stick! Christien popped in to see us early evening, for a bite to eat and a good chat which is always nice. Early every morning we exercise with gym, yoga, hot tub, for Rach, cold tub for me ( I just about managed 2 minutes….Keith reads his book in it 😂) Rach works and at lunchtime we’d take Rhubarb out for a good walk (the best part of the day), there’s some wonderful walks close by and he’s such a nice chap to be around night and day. It was nice to spend time with Joel and catch up with Ella, before we headed off. A really nice week and just what Rachel needed after the week before.

We landed back in the UK nearly three weeks ago, on a late Saturday afternoon and as they say, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. So expecting freezing temperatures we’d packed the warmest clothes we had in our carry-on’s and climbed into them as we left the aircraft and boy we needed them, it was bloody freezing! We picked up a hire car and raced up M11 to Peterborough to be with Rachel’s mum, who sadly isn’t well at all, and it was really nice to sit with her for the evening. We then spent a few days with Jon & Jo which is always great fun and this time was no exception . From there, we headed down to my brothers, as Rach had some team meetings in that area to be around for. So I took the opportunity to catch up with some friends, Andy in Sandhurst on one day, Paul in Mattingley on another and also my brother and nephew in Sunningdale. And finally a tasty birthday lunch with Rachel and Christien on the Sunday, before heading up to my parents in Hartford, where we’ve been for nearly a couple weeks. Rachel’s mum lives about 30 minutes from my folks, so Rach has popped in everyday and I’ve tagged along every other. We’ve gotten back into our early morning walks around Hartford, especially down to the marina and along the banks of the river Ouse, which never gets old for either of us. I’m not especially keen on the cold, unless I’m skiing, but on those winter mornings when the sky is that vibrant colbalt blue colour and there’s a heavy frost decorating the landscape, it really is something special.

We had a very welcome visitor this last week….Christien surprised us and popped out for a long weekend, to cheer his mum up. We picked him up from the airport and decided to go for dinner in Aricife, which is both where the airport lies and the capital. We found a nice little Tapas bar hidden away down one of the back streets, which was very good. After dinner we stretched our legs around the old harbour, with little boats seeming to rest under the soft lights. The following day we headed south to Papagayo, it’s about 45 minutes from where we’re staying, with the last 3km being an off-road track that wind up and down the mountains, which gives you a sense of achievement, when you finally arrive high above the seven beaches. It was a further 20 minutes traversing the cliff edge to get to the beach we’d chosen, but again well worth the effort. There were plenty of sailing and windsurf races going on so it made for compelling viewing to just watch and relax. We took the long way home, driving over one of the mountains and dropping into the incredible lava fields below, before stopping in at the Stratus restaurant in la Geria, the wine region. It was so good the first time we went, we thought Christien would like it too. Rach and Christien tucked into the delicious wines, before we all feasted on some tasty meat and fish. It was really nice being together again laughing and joking, he’s great fun! The following day we pointed the car south again this time towards Playa Blanca and specifically the red mountain, which is a volcano that you are able walk up (many you can’t), before descending into its crater (150m in diameter) it took us about 45 minutes to walk up to the top and offered great panorama’s across to Fuertaventura and the southern tip of the island and beyond. A couple of hours later we were on our way to the marina and the Red House restaurant, for a few drinks and some more good fish. Rach had seen a few nice bits in a boutique in the marina that she liked, so we picked them up and Christien bought a necklace for Georgina. When we got back to the villa we settled down to watch a whodunnit film, something we don’t do often, but it was entertaining. We woke to a windy morning, but had decided the night before to go for a nice long walk along Femara beach and watch the surfers. I dropped Christien off at the airport for a mid afternoon flight…I never like seeing him leave. We didn’t do too much for the rest of the week, as Rach had plenty on and weather wasn’t great, but Friday we got out and had a really chilled last full day.

The weathers been a bit hit and miss this last week, but we’ve made the most of it. Swimming at our sheltered spot in Costa Teguise. Walking the interesting Famara beach, with its dark mountain backdrop. Continuing on the Manrique theme, we took a trip to see his final (he died in 1992) project; “El Jardin de Cactus” it has 1000+ cacti with over 450 different species. The garden itself was created inside an abandoned landfill and thoughtfully created to add a tourist attraction to an otherwise failing agricultural area. It’s a peculiar place, set against the backdrop of black volcanic stone, with sculptures and water features, which only aids to accentuate these interesting plants. Although none of them seem to be native, many of them are now thriving freely across the island. The cacti are woven around the inside of the bowl on ascending levels, with the whole project blending seamlessly and worth a look. We headed up to Haría, which sits at the most northern tip of the island and is a charming little village nestled in the valley of 1000 palms. On the way back we made our way to “Valle de La Geria” the now highly acclaimed wine region. A dark volcanic area that sits in the valley between the mountains and volcanoes. Again incredibly this baron looking area is dedicated solely to wine growers, who use a growing technique where they create individual funnels (a geria) dug 2 to 3 meters below the volcanic ash, allowing the plant to reach the fertile soil and retain the moisture and dew, capped off by building dry stone walls around them as protection from the constant trade winds….very resourceful indeed! We discovered a wonderful restaurant there, where together with the great food, guests were able to drink the varying vintages all of which rachel assured me were excellent!

Driving around Lanzarote it’s easy to imagine how the island nearly fell into the hands of greedy property developers, hell bent on throwing up as many concrete apartment buildings as they could, all of which would have obscured the landscape and dreamy panoramas out across the Atlantic. There are still some sizeable apartment buildings at some of the coastal locations, but they’re not all sharp lines and concrete and seem to blend in. The houses, as I mentioned before are all white and look individually crafted, as a posed to manufactured. And against the black backdrop of the volcanic landscape, with date palms and cacti scattered around, look very dramatic. With Rachel feeling better and not working we’ve been out exploring this week. We’ve taken some long walks up and down our local beach “Caleta de Famara”, we’ve also taken a look at Playa Honda & Playa Blanca both of which have wide long sandy beaches and we’ve even found a nice place to swim in Teguise. We took a trip to the volcanic park and a private tour through the volcanic terrain, with around 25 volcanoes in the park. After the tour we had lunch in “El Diablo” a restaurant designed by Cesar Manrique, that sits at one of the high points in the park. The restaurant uses the heat from the volcano below (600 degrees Celsius a few metres below) to cook the food, which was tasty indeed and the views across the landscape only accentuated the experience. I’ve become a little obsessed with Manrique & not just for his wonderful creations, but also for his contribution to the Island. With that said we went to see the home that he had carved into the volcano, well more specifically the lava tunnels. Not only is it incredible to see how he’s blended the 3000 metre home perfectly with the beautiful plants and trees that run through the 30,000 metre plot, with its entertaining areas inside and out, it’s a hedonists paradise.

I’ve not been to the moon before, but the landscape here in Lanzarote is how I’d imagine it to look like. We landed in the capital “Arrecife “at about 7pm, but by the time we’d got on the road it was closer to 8pm. I haven’t driven for a while and the unfamiliar roads with no streetlights had left me feeling a little daunted, but on the plus side, as there’s little light pollution, you get a amazing views of the night sky…according to my co-pilot! Fortunately for me, it was only about a 25 minute drive west to La Vegueta, where we’re staying, it’s also right on the outskirts of the Timanfaya national parc, which is home to the most incredible volcanic landscape. The villa’s brand new and is well equipped, with everything we need. Rachel hasn’t been very well this week, so we’ve had a quiet week, but have had a little look around. Lanzarote is the most northerly of the Canary Islands, but because of it’s close proximity to the Sahara, it’s also the sunniest. The islands unwanted reputation, of the 70’s/80’s was rescued by the wonderful local artist, sculpture and architect Cesar Manrique who with clear direction and government support restored it back to what it is today. All of the buildings are of a certain style and painted white and often with green frames and doors, the surrounding areas too are well presented. Our local beach Caleta de Famara is a surf beach with 2km of beach and surrounding dunes to walk through. We took a walk around part of Timanfaya, which unsurprisingly is a protected UNESCO site. These volcanic eruptions between 1730-1736 helped shape the islands and it’s stunning landscape. We had lunch at the marina in Playa Blanca, which was delicious. It’s a very pretty island!

We got out of the taxi and said our goodbyes to Miloud as a weathered chap put our cases into the small cart and we made our way through the winding medina, to the “Medina Sun“ a small Riad, where thankfully I’d had the forethought to order food the day before. It takes a good few hours to cook a chicken tajine properly and I knew we’d be hungry when we arrived. After the delicious tanjine we decided to go off exploring and after weaving our way through the narrow streets that we’ve become accustomed to, only this time having the hazard of dodging the endless mopeds racing through, we ended up at the “Place Jemaa el Fna” the main square at centre of the Medina where all of the entertainers go to showcase their talents. As we walked around everyone seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere and entertainment and having a good time, sadly there’s no more snake charmers though. We’d had a long day, so didn’t stay out too late. The following day after a typically French breakfast we decided to visit the “Jardin Majorelle” a beautiful garden where the French artist Majorelle set up his studio, but perhaps more famed for the restoration and unique touches carried out by Yves Saint Laurent. It’s not a huge garden, but it’s beautiful created and maintained. After the garden we really wanted to see the “Palais el Badi” a stunning, huge walled, 16th Century palace, commissioned by Sultan Ahmed el Mansour, who’s responsible for so many prolific building across Morocco. We perhaps enjoyed this the most, it’s one of those places that you wander around and can really feel a sense of the past. The final stop of the day was the “Palais Bahia” built just before the 20th Century, with some 160 rooms, with some really ornate architecture and incredible painted ceilings. We’d completely missed lunch so an early dinner was called for, at a delicious Lebanese restaurant, before jumping in a cab feeling well exercised, both mentally and physically. It was a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve!

We’ve really enjoyed the laid back feel of Essaouira with its colourful markets, good restaurants and it’s very welcoming people. We had some some sad news this week with the sudden passing of Rachel’s father. Rach was very close to her dad. Rach’s parents travelled extensively right up to their late seventies so they’ve enjoyed seeing and hearing about our little adventures and Rach is convinced his spirit is travelling with us. The beach walks every day have been a blessing, they’re calming, interesting and therapeutic, not to mention good exercise and we’ll definitely miss them. Some of the other things we’ve also enjoyed here has been the darkness of the Riad at night and looking straight up through the middle of the Riad to marvel at different constellations. I’ve also liked being able to hear and smell the sea, especially before sunrise, when everything is still. Unfortunately there’s been no more kitesurfing, as my knee is still too swollen, but we’ll try again. On Friday we were packed up and ready to go on our next adventure which was about a 3 hr ride in what was to be a comfortable people carrier. We’d both had our books to hand in preparation for the journey, but in truth never opened them, as the whole journey was pretty interesting, from the small villages and their colourful markets, we drove through, to the swathes of vibrant green arable farmland with busy farm hands darting about, loosely interwoven with the arid rusty landscape. The roadsides were also home to enterprising street sellers and artisans. As we got closer to our destination the Atlas Mountains came in to full view, with visible signs that snow had already made its mark on the higher peaks. At just after 3pm we pulled up on to the outskirts of the Medina in front of a sizeable mosque ready to spend Christmas in Marrakesh.

It’s been a strange 3, or 4 days. Morocco doesn’t get a lot of rain, but we’ve been here for a few of those days and it’s been very welcome to the farming community. Watching the rain coming down through the centre of our Riad has made for some interesting viewing, it’s also turned it into a bit of a sanctuary for some of the small local birds to shelter and they’ve entertained us with their enchanting little melodies. We haven’t done too many trips since arriving in Essaouira, so we decided to take a trip about 30km along the coastline to Sidi Mbark where we’d be making our way to a Berber village set back in the hills, by foot. Berbers are the indigenous people of North Africa, while Arabs are native to the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East, Arabic is most widely spoken in Morocco. Berbers tend to live in rural communities and have their own dialect. We arrived after a 40 minute journey, where we met Hassan and his donkey (Moroccans don’t typically name their animals, so it’s just donkey). We spent the next 3 hours rambling across different terrains, coming across goat herders and farmers, while understanding a little bit more about the area, through Hassan’s French interpreter. Before taking tea and enjoying some of the local delicacies, it was a really enjoyable day. We started kitesurfing with Abdo, which perhaps unsurprisingly isn’t as easy as it looks, our first 2 hour lesson was spent with a smaller kite learning how to handle it on the beach and getting used to the harness. The second lesson was much the same as first, but with a bigger kite and more wind and by the end of the lesson I was feeling pretty confident, Rach less so. By the third lesson I was thinking that I had this sussed, Rachel too, was feeling much more confident. However just as we were heading into the water I got overly confident and was completely taken out by the kite, launching myself head first into the sand, smashing my glasses, cutting my lip and damaging my left knee, fortunately I was wearing a helmet, but it took me some time to find my feet before I reluctantly made it into the water to be dragged around again and feeling a whole lot less enthusiastic…..Rach did famously though.