Gladlee of Guernsey

Summer is on us and the "Birds and the Bees" (well the birds anyway) are at it as can bee seen from the above photos of our ever growing extended family. Bee(n) fun to watch but pleased when they departed and stopped doing their droppings all over the patio.

We had a couple of party's to attend mid-June; First off was one of our fellow hashers June's 70th birthday bash held at the Buffs Lodge. As can be seen a poor attempt at a 60's theme (me as Dave Berry and Julie as....well some sort of rock chick I suppose). Second was in aid of the Queen's Official Birthday which was organised between the two hashes we attend. This was a semi-formal dinner at the Dipato Artcafe in Pervolia just down the road from our house. Great evening helped by our friendly DJ Ged.

While we are away, Jan and Al are moving into our house to look after the cat, water the plants and garden etc. Very lucky to have such good friends.

June 15th - July 27th - England, Scotland and France

Mid June sees us heading back to the UK for a few weeks to avoid at least some of the summer heat and humidity.

Initially back to Wellingborough for a few days before heading up to Wakefield for a family catch up.

June 24th - 26th - Navy reunion in Grangemouth, near Edinburgh.

Then even further north and up to Grangemouth near Edinburgh for Rons Gibraltar Comcen reunion. Nice weekend catching up with friends - and even Julie came this time. A visit to the Royal Yacht Britannia was the highlight of the weekend. Saturday night was our "formal" dinner night with lots of good rum available to liven the assembled crowd - not that many of them needed livening up!

June 29th - 19th July - La Mayne, France.

Next part of our plan is a three week visit to France, staying at Julie's brothers house in La Mayne near to the city of Cahors which is the centre of a major wine growing area. The first week is spent sorting out the garden including getting to grips with the four foot high "lawn". We ate at a couple of our favourite restaurants in the nearby village of Castelfranc, visited Joe and Lyn, our hash friends from Cyprus, who have a house about a 45 minute drive away, walked through and around the small medieval village of Luzech, and also walked up to the ancient Dolmen sites in the hills above the river Lot. The Dolmen are medieval stone dwellings which abound in the area.

Thursday 7th - Rocamadour

Having done all our chores around the house we head off for our first away trip and head up to Rocamadour. We have been here before but there is a special reason for us wanting to come back.  We have decided to spend the night here so that we can visit the evening show at the Roche des Aigles (Eagles Rock). This is a bird park where the staff put on shows with eagles, vultures, condors, parrots etc. but at the very last show of the day there is an extra show with the Owls. We had to miss this last time but a certain someone was determined not to this time.

We also managed to have a bit of a spectacular meal here which came as a bit of a surprise. The restaurant was part of the Best Western Hotel but was definitely in the 4/5 star level. Excellent food and excellent service.

Friday 8th - Padirac Caves

From Rocamadour we head on just a little bit further to the Padirac Caves which are fairly spectacular. The first thing is to get down the 103 meters to the ground level. Choice of stairs or lift or any combination of.  Then at the bottom you have to take a boat ride to get into the caves. There is a river running right through which goes on through parts of the cave which are not accessible to the public.  

The biggest problem then is that you have to get back up the 103 meters. Easy you say - take the lift. Not easy as there are parts the lifts don't go to, part where the lift wasn't working and Julie who is determined to walk all the way up!!

Sunday 10th - Monday 11th - Nick and Jackie Huckle visit.

Back to La Mayne and believe it or not we have visitors. Julies brother Phil was supposed to be here but got held up at work in the Far East so we found ourselves hosting his visitors. We did of course know them having met the previous year and Julie having known Nick since childhood.

Wednesday 13th - Friday 15th - Le Maxil Hotel, Massat.

We have decided to head south into the foothills of the Pyrenees for a couple of days just to do something completely different that neither of us has done before. So, where to go. Pin in the map and we find the small town of Massat which happens to have a hotel mentioned in Booking.com. Hotel might be an exaggeration - more of a restaurant/cafe with a few rooms. It is quirky but also good - especially as the food is excellent.

One of the main reasons for coming here was to do a little bit of hiking in the Pyrenees. This is made considerably easier but the fact that there are dozens of trails around the town and all conveniently marked so as not to get lost. (Hopefully). Perfect weather for hiking and totally enjoyable - even though some of the trails were just a touch muddy!

And so back to the UK for one more week before heading home to Larnaca. We manage to catch up with our good friends Linda and Seamus for dinner at a very good, and very popular Indian restaurant. Have lunch out with Molly to celebrate Julie's birthday and finally up to Sheffield for a quick visit to Ron's sister Yvonne who has been hospitalised there at the Royal Hallamshire. (All turns out well and she is now back home)

July 27th - Back to Cyprus

We head back home to Cyprus and the onslaught of the summer heat and humidity. The Temperatures are touching 40 deg C. on top of which we have very high humidity.

No sooner back than we are corralled into attending a Yorkshire Day Party in Limassol at the UKCA club. Didn't take to much coercion even though in a moment of weakness Ron had agreed to "do something Yorkshire" as part of the entertainment. So totally unlike Ron he did something serious and read a poem - My Bonny Yorkshire Lass - in his very best broad accent.

August

August sees us working hard. We have decided to give up the house by the beach and have found another house in the village of Alethrico. The problem had been that the house was damp and all the cupboards smelled of it, we have been burgled which was unsettling and a few other minor things. The new house is bigger, better and has an 8 metre pool. Should be nice - watch this space.

Towards the end of the month we move from the house in Meneou to our new rental in the village of Alethriko.

Very pleased with the new house which is more spacious and also of course the swimming pool for those hot summer months. We are also very near to a few friends in this village and of 20 minutes closer to our cottage in the hills.