stepping outa babylon

Kings day in Alora

2012-01-16T13:48:00.000Z

Our next stop was Alora where Simons Uncle lives. We met him at a bar just outside the town called the Tropicana. It is a nice little bar run by an English woman with free Wi-Fi & English meals available. We were there the day before Kings Day which in Spain is the day when the children get their Christmas presents & people celebrate. On the day before there are often parades with people throwing sweets at the people they pass, beware they are boiled sweets & can hurt!

Sweet throwing!

Torreguadiaro

2012-01-16T13:46:00.000Z

After visiting Gibralter we headed North again. Only about 20 miles away is Torreguadiaro where we stopped for the night. There is a beach park up there which a lot of campervans use. It is a handy place to stay if you want to be able to get to Gibralter or the Costa del Sol easily & you can pick up a couple of English radio stations there.

Torreguadiaro

Gibralter

2012-01-16T13:44:00.000Z

We stopped for a day in Gibralter as we were passing by. It was very busy at the border especially for vehicles where there was long queues. We parked in La Linea at the border & cycled in. It was strange getting the British money out again to use & seeing all prices in pounds. We had a look round although we didn't go up the rock to see the monkeys, we are going to do that next time. We did go to the Morrisons to get some English goodies & got some cheap tobacco. Gibralter is nothing special really but is handy for cheaper things & British things.

The Rock of Gibralter

Local graffiti

Africa

2012-01-16T13:42:00.000Z

After three weeks at the Pig field we had to start heading North to Murcia where my Mum lives as my son Lee was flying in for a weeks holiday. As we climbed the mountain away from Tarifa we looked back accross the water to Africa. Agua is doing well now, putting on weight & is so cute even Busta loves her :)

Africa

Best Friends Forever :)

Pig Field, Tarifa

2012-01-16T13:40:00.000Z

Our next stop was near Tarifa on the Southern most tip of Spain. There is a tarmaced carpark & a field (known locally as the Pig field) where there is free parking at Punta Paloma. We spent Christmas & New Year there with lots of other van dwellers. We took lots of walks along the beautiful long stretches of beach & our new baby, Agua seemed to settle in, we even managed to teach her to recognise her name, to sit & to sometimes come when called!

Pig Field

Punta Paloma Beach

Agua!

2012-01-16T13:30:00.000Z

On our first morning in Vila Real de Santo Antonio we saw a very young puppy looking very sad sat under a tree at the park up. After a couple of hours of her sitting there & no one collecting her I went over to see her. Immediatly she attached herself to me & came back to the van. She was thin but not too bad compared to some of the strays you sadly see around so often in Portugal & Spain. She was a bit smelly & had a couple of fleas but nothing too bad so we don't think she was born on the streets. I think she was probably about 8-10 weeks old. She didn't want to eat anything but was happy to hang around with us for the day. We were going to move on that day but decided to hang around an extra day to see if anyone came looking for her. That night she curled up on the front seat & we didnt hear a peep out of her all night. I think it had been the first night for a while where she was sleeping somewhere safe & warm. The next day we named her Agua (Portugese & Spanish for water) & we took her with us. Hopefully she'll settle in!

Agua

Vila Real de Santo Antonio

2012-01-16T13:27:00.000Z

After spending nearly two months at Barranco it was time to move on into Spain. We stopped for a couple of nights at a park up in Vila Real de Santo Antonio which is right on the border where the Rio Guadiana seperates Portugal & Spain. There is a large area just outside the town on the riverside where campervans park up. It is close to all amenities & a nice large area. We saw quite a few storks there in their big nests on chimneys. I had thought all storks migrate to Africa for the Winter months but obviously not!

Rio Guadiana

Storks

Wildlife/death

2012-01-16T13:18:00.001Z

At Barranco beach we were lucky enough to see all sorts of wildlife. The beach & surrounding area is a nature reserve & so there is no hunting & the wildlife is free to flourish. There was some amazing colourful small birds that I was unable to get photos of & we also saw a big white bird of prey one day that may have been a Sea Eagle that flew off before I could get the camera out! We also saw some amazing storms out at sea which I couldn't photograph with my main camera due to the torrential rain but I did take some videos on my phone of the lightening. Unfortunatly we also saw a Dolphin that had been washed up after being killed. We think it had got trapped in a fishing net as its tail had been cut off :(

Praying Mantis

White Heron

Weavil

Lightening

Dead Dolphin

Barranco

2012-01-16T13:12:00.000Z

Barranco beach near Sagres on the South West tip of Portugal was to be our home for the next few weeks. We had been here in the Spring & it is a lovely place to park up for a while. The nearby town of Villa do Bispo has everything we need; a supermarket, spring water & free internet access at the libary. It is a good base to explore the Algarve.

Barranco beach

Algar Seco

2012-01-04T14:31:00.002Z

On the way to our first long stay park up we visited Algar Seco, a small lagoon among the rocks on the Algarve. The rocks around this area are amazing & well worth a visit. Algar Seco was a nice spot to visit but a bit touristy for us to stay any length of time. At nearby Lagos there are some other amazing rock formations at Ponta Piedade which are also worthy of a visit.

Algar Seco

Alamendres

2012-01-04T14:30:00.000Z

Our first night in Portugal was spent at the Neolithic site of Alamendres near the town of Evora. The whole area has quite a few Neolithic sites including Alamendres which at 7000 years old is one of the oldest sites in Europe & the biggest in Iberia. There is also some standing stones & dolmens nearby, one of which is huge! Alamendres is also a good spot to park up for a while, the nearby village of Guadalupe has water, toilets & showers as well as a cash point & bars.

Alamendres

Barren lands

2012-01-04T14:28:00.000Z

We have now driven all the way accross Spain & into Portugal. I know there are some parts of inland Spain that are beautiful & well worth visiting but I must say that most of what we saw from Vitoria Gasteiz to Badajoz was pretty barren. There was some nice looking rocky mountains nearer the North but the further we travelled inland the flatter & more barren the land became. The land was very dry, I don't expect it has seen much (if any) rain for a few months & everything looked brown & dried out. There was very few crops or animals grazing & I wonder how the people living out here make a living as the tourism is all concentrated on the coast. It did make a difference from the mountain driving we did last year around some parts of Spain though & for a couple of days we did nearly 300 miles each day as there was nothing much to stop for. It also meant we got to Portugal a lot sooner than we expected!

View towards Caceres

No WI-FI!!!

2011-12-05T13:30:00.000Z

Hey bloggers I have not forgotten you all! We are down near Sagres in Portugal now but I have to go into the library for the internet and so cannot post you the things I have saved on my laptop. When we move somewhere new maybe I will be able to! In the meantime if you are interested we are at a little beach called Barranco, you can look it up on Google Earth!

Into Spain

2011-10-20T14:45:00.002+01:00

We spent our last night in France at Moliets Plage near the town of Moliets-et-Maa. There is an Aire there with showers at 5 Euros for 24 hours out of season & 11 Euros in season. We stayed in the carpark for free though as the place was a bit of a ghost town with all the shops & bars shut for the winter. We crossed into Spain at Irun, a typical border town with lots of shops selling tat. A good place to stock up on cigarettes, tobacco & fuel on the way North though as they are all cheaper in Spain than France! As we are heading south we dont need to worry about that. Our first day in Spain was glorious with sunshine & blue skies, we took the toll road from San Sebastian to Vitoria Gasteiz which was only 10 Euros & we went through a tunnel 3.5km long! We spent our first night in Spain was spent at the monument of Al Pastor near Miranda de Ebro, there is plenty of room to park there & a bar/resturant & campsite. We spent the next day driving on through the country until we were South of Salamanca. The countryside is quite barren around here, there is not much between the few main towns. We stopped near the Embalse de Saint Teresa where a nice local man engaged us in conversation. Our Spanish is pretty terrrible but we managed to have a bit of a chat! We have now done 1500 miles since arriving in Calais!

Monument of Al Pastor

Dolmens

2011-10-20T14:42:00.002+01:00

In the area of Carnac & further south we visited quite a lot of other Neolithic sites. France is rich in Neolithic history & there are a huge amount of Dolmens, Menhirs & Cairns around the country. Many are marked on an average road map of France & they are usually well signposted. We found that we often found a few more on the way to one marked on the map. We saw an interesting one near Carnac called Dolmen de Mane Kerionned, there is 3 Dolmens on the site. One is completly underground & on a few of the stones inside there are authentic engravings. At Locmariaquer there is also a Cairn with engravings inside, be warned though the site there is 5 Euro per person entry fee. There are plenty of sites to visit for free including another Alignment at Kerzerho which is impressive even though it is not on the same scale as the Carnac Alignments. One of the biggest Dolmens we visited was the Dolmen de la Frebouchere which has an 100 ton cap stone. We have now finished our tour of the Neolithic sites & are heading towards Spain now :) We parked up on the way at Pointe de l'Aiguillon which is just North of La Rochelle near l'Aiguillon-sur-Mer, the town has an Aire but we decided to go out to the point where there is also plenty of places to park.

Dolmen de la Frebouchere

2011-10-20T14:40:00.001+01:00

We visited the Alignments at Carnac to start our Neolithic tour of the area. What an amazing sight! I have spent a lot of time at Stonehenge, Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow & Wayland's Smithy which I feel are very dramatic Neolithic sights but Carnac is something else! Rows & rows of stones as far as the eye can see, some quite small but others 2-3 metres high. The stones dominate the landscape as it rises up hill & then back down again. The Alignments are divided into six sections as there are some gaps in between in places. From October to March it is free to visit although some sections are closed off. There is an informative visitors centre at the west end of the Alignments which is also a gift shop. There are car parks along the route of the stones which helps anyone with mobility issues. There are also toilets at the visitors centre & at a carpark halfway along the route. In the evening we parked up in the town at an Aire with a few other campervans. Luckily there was a Pizza house opposite so Simon got to have Pizza for his birthday! There is also a good tourist information office in the town where we found out about all the other Neolithic sites in the area.

Le Menec, 1050 stones over 950 metres

Kermario, most visited area due to large stones

Cap Gris-Nez & Gorron

2011-10-15T21:33:00.000+01:00

Bonjour! We are now in France after a smooth Euro tunnel crossing. The tunnel is a bit more expensive than the ferry but it is quicker & we are able to stay with Busta (the dog) who hates loud noises & I'm sure would hate being left in the van on his own on the ferry. We crossed at about 5pm after stopping at a supermarket on the way to stock up on t-bags & a few other things that are more expensive or hard to get over here! We stopped for the night just 20 miles or so outside Calais at Cap Gris-Nez, the same place we had found when we came back in June. There is a big carpark at the Cap which says not to park overnight, it might just be the summer though I can't remember now. Anyway we found a road just before there that goes down to the beach which has some car parking spaces & campervan spaces. It is free & you can stay as long as you want I guess! Also further along that coast road towards Boulogne are a couple more parking areas, handy to know when you are coming & going accross the channel :) We then went to visit a friend near Mayenne who has just bought a house there. A beautiful house, although it is only a shell at the moment it will be lovely when finished. He also has some land & old barns so plenty of renovating to do! On the way we stopped at a nice Aire (French rest area) in Gorron, it has water & electricity available there & a nice location on the riverbank. If you are in Gorron follow the campervan signs, there is a Super U supermarket a few minutes walk away as well. Handy to know if you are in the area :) We are now heading towards Carnac to have a couple of days seing the Neolithic sites in the area before heading south for the better weather!

Mussel farming on the beach at Cap Gris-Nez

Time To Go...

2011-10-15T21:31:00.000+01:00

It is time for us to leave the UK again, infact by the time I get to post this up we will already be overseas! At the time of writing though we are in Brighton & leaving in the morning for the Euro tunnel. We have spent 3 weeks staying in Stanmer Park on the outskits of Brighton with some other vehicle dwellers. I have never been anywhere where there are so many live-in vehicles around! Everywhere you go there are live-ins, some not permanant homes but quite a number are. There are a few park-ups in the Brighton area & a couple of sites. It has been nice staying somewhere that feels a litle more accepting than other places in the UK & we have met some great people, some of who we hope to see over the winter on the continent. We have had some work done on the van ready for our trip which meant a few days of not being able to move & a few hectic days buying last minute necessities & doing last minute jobs. We had a few days of beautiful summer like weather whilst the van was off the road which was a massive bonus but now it has been feeling quite Wintery at times & the wood burner has been fired up a few times. We have luckily had time just about to catch up with some old friends in the area & Simon managed to do a tattoo on a mate. So thats it from the UK for a while, we are heading for Carnac in France to start with & then onto Spain & Portugal to see some bits of the country we didn't see last time & some of the bits we loved so much we must go back! Hasta luego amigos xoxox

Autumn leaf at Stanmer park

Alchemy Festival

2011-10-15T21:26:00.000+01:00

We were lucky enough to get tickets to Alchemy Festival which is one of the few festivals left in the UK that still allow dogs. The line-up was great with Zion Train, RDF, Back to the Planet & Rhythmites being some of the great bands playing. What made the festival extra special was that so many of our friends were there too which was lovely. Also at the festival was a pretty good fire show, (although not a patch on the one at Freekuency Festival in Portugal earlier in the year!) some workshops on wild foods & some nice stalls. There was quite a lot of dance music which wasn't really to my taste but the live music stage more than made up for that. The vibe was amazing & the toilets were pretty OK all weekend. Thanks to the organisers for such a great little festival & thanks to Neil for the tickets :) Here's some pictures...

What's wrong with us all?

2011-09-15T19:05:00.001+01:00

After my little rant on the UK riots last month I have decided to try & write something now & again with a little more thought & insight than my usual posts about where we have been with my photographs attached. I might not always get to post them up straight away due to not being near the internet but now we have a solar panel & lesuire battery in the van I can write them up on the laptop & post them up when we do get online.

Lots of diseases have been eradicated over the last century & there are now vacinations against some others that once could have killed us. People are living longer & yet are we really a healthier society? Many people older than me are always saying that they do not remember so many people having cancer years ago. Is this because we didn't always identify it years ago or has it really increased? There certainly seems to be more children with asthma & alergies than when I was at school in the 1970's. Has there really been that much of change in 30-40 years? There are certainly a few things that have changed dramatically in that time that I think have had a detrimental effect on our health.

Firstly the shear amount of fast food outlets that are in every town & city of the UK. I remember when you were lucky if there was a Wimpy in your town. Now there are McDonalds, Burger Kings, KFCs, Subways & no doubt a few I have forgotton or don't know about springing up everywhere. There is no or very little nutritional value in the food sold in these outlets & it seems like visiting them now are an everyday thing. When I was a child we got a Wimpy maybe twice a year when we went to the nearest big town for new shoes & clothes. Alot of my friends didn't even get that, we were lucky to be what was seen as middle class. Many of my friends from working class families didn't get the luxury of a burger when out shopping! Now a lot of kids go at least once a week, quite often more.

Coupled with that is the crap food sold in supermarkets like ready meals. There is now hormones & antibiotics in meat & mercury in fish, none of this can be good for us. There are also some very suspect ingredients found in lots of food in the shops. Particually frightening are Aspartame, Corn Syrup, Sodium, Sodium Nitrate, Yeast Extract, Propylene Glycol, Phosphoric Acid, Food Colours & GMOs. Please take the time to look these up if you are unaware of them particually if you have children to feed. The food industry's A to Z of toxic ingredients to avoid on www.wakeup-world.com is a good place to start. Unfortunatly if you are not buying totally organic you will probably have some of these nasties in your diet.

Now busy parents can stick a different meal in the microwave a few days a week & go out to a fast food outlet a couple of times a week. This easy way out might have devastating effects on health in the future. It seems like we have a nation of parents that like to take the easy way out whether it be going to McDonalds for dinner or sticking little Jonny in front of the TV to keep him quiet. Why is this? Perhaps because we are all so busy, having to work long hours to pay our mortgages. We (meaning those of us aged 35+ish) were certainly not brought up this way. But we were brought up in the Thatcher years when it was drummed into people that owning your own home was 'the' thing to do & it made you a sucessful member of society.

Then there is also the pollution of our country, traffic & industrial pollution, the spraying of pestisides in fields, the dumping of rubbish in land fill & the general way in which we seem quite happy to poison our green & pleasant land. Some of these issues may be being addressed but it seems like too litle too late to me.

I am also concerned that we may be being poisoned by the trails left by airplanes every day. Look up to he skies & watch the unmarked aircraft that leave trails accross the sky. But these are vapor trails I hear you cry, vapor trails vanish at between a few seconds & a couple of minutes after being left by the plane. The trails being left by certain planes last for hours dispersing accross the sky into wispy looking clouds often making a clear blue sky overcast. There is lots of videos on YouTube showing the planes leaving these trails (or chemical trails) turning back on themselves & leaving more trails. Have all these pilots bad memories & left their wallets at the airport? If you are over 25 think back to your childhood, do you remember these trails then? There is no documentation on these trails before 1995. Are the governments poisoning us, protecting us or what?

Another thing I see a lot is mental illness, mostly depression & drug or alcohol addiction. Many people are disillusioned with the world & their lives & turn to substance abuse to shut this out. Many other people push themselves in jobs they hate as they feel it is how we 'should' live or because they have to pay the mortgage & bills but end up exahusted & depressed after a few years. Life has always been a struggle for human beings but just look at some of the poorist (financially) people on this earth, they are sometimes the happiest. They might have to struggle every day to find food but they have a great feeling of community, they live with their whole family, they share stories & wisdom. It is also worth noting that psychological studies have shown that an hour watching TV can bring on the same kind of emotions as mild depression!

It seems to me that we have eradicated or overcome some diseases but we have made a society that is still struggling with illness on a massive scale. The difference is that this time the illnesses have been man made or made worse by mans intervention. It is time to protect & nurture ourselves & our planet, time to relearn the wisdom our ancestors had about how to use plants to help us but to use modern science & medicine to compliment that. It is time to cherish the food we eat & be wise about what we put into our bodies & it is time to bring a balance to our lives where our minds are not in turmoil all the time. It is time to rediscover ourselves as the loving human beings we are.

Thanks for reading :) Comments most welcome :) xoxox

ridgeway

2011-09-15T19:01:00.000+01:00

Back on the Ridgeway, our favourite place to park up in case you hadn't noticed dear reader, I got a few more nice photos...

spider house

boletus toadstool

curvy beech trees

beech tree stump

thanks for looking :) xoxox

drawing and painting

2011-09-15T18:57:00.001+01:00

Thanks to the encouragement of an artist friend I have been doing lots more drawing & painting. I've always quite liked drawing but have been endlessly disapointed that the end result never really looked like it should have done. After a year on the road without the stresses of work & bills etc I have been far more creative in every way, taking photos, making jewellery, writing & drawing. I have taken up painting after not really doing any since I was a child. My friend gave us some watercolours & so I have been experimenting :) Here's a few of my paintings...

thanks for looking :) xoxox

stonehenge

2011-09-15T18:53:00.000+01:00

We went to park up on the Drove road near Stonehenge for a few days before heading back East accross the country. It is amazing the shear number of people that visit the stones every day. While we were there the so called 'King Arthur' turned up to knight Alex Reid (Jordan's ex husband for those like me who had never heard of him) no doubt some stupid publicity stunt.

view of the stones from our first parking spot

view of the stones once we moved

Alex Reid goes to get knighted with camera crew in tow

small heath butterfly

teasel

night time shots of the stones

car lights created some light grafitti

thanks for looking :) xoxox

figures in the clouds

2011-09-15T18:35:00.001+01:00

We went back to the Ridgeway at the Sanctuary near Avebury for a while. While we were there we saw an amazing sunset spoiled by the chem trails but then the chem trails turned into two figures! One looked like a woman the other like a small mystical person maybe a wizard? What do you see??...

Also got some nice shots of Busta...

and some of the plant life...

We walked down to the Avenue & I got some nice shots of the stones...

thanks for looking :) xoxox

horsedrawn summer holiday

2011-09-15T18:01:00.000+01:00

On the August bank holiday weekend we went to the horsedrawn summer holiday, a small festival put on by horsedrawn travellers. The event had to move at the last minute as the landowner who had hired out a field to the travellers for their event got a better offer from some born again christian gypsies who also wanted to hold an event that weekend. Needless to say the greedy bastard took the better offer & the horsedrawn folk had to find another field a week before the gathering was due to go ahead. A field was found without permission of the land owner & so there was a visit from the police who allowed the event to go ahead with a warning that if the noise levels got too much they would be back to confiscate sound systems. Presuambly there was no complaits as nothing was shut down & I didn't see any police the whole weekend. For the very reasonable £10 admission price per person we stayed from the Friday until the Monday, we were also able to bring our dog. There was a stage/marquee which held workshops during the day & live music at night, also there was a couple of bars & a couple of food stalls & best of all there was no security! It was a very low-key event but good fun, very relaxed & a chance to catch up with some friends & make some new ones. Here's some pictures from the weekend...

in the marquee at night

headgames

riding through the site

brilliantly painted caravan

beautiful wagons

i think these birds may be harris hawks but i'm no expert so correct me if i'm wrong!

lovely truck & caravan

the badge says "i've survived damn near everything!"

lamp light

flipstar

socio suki

leaving the site on monday morning

thanks for looking :) xoxox

travelling the road

2011-09-15T17:48:00.001+01:00

We've done a bit of a round trip of the South of the UK seeing friends & family & also getting our home through the MOT. The MOT is always a stressful time but when it is your home it is even more so! We went to friends in Southampton to get the work done & the MOT. Mechanically there wasn't much to be done except a new back part of the exhaust but there was lots of welding to be done underneath :( This involved 3 days of Simon in the van putting out smoldering woodwork when the welding got too hot too close to our floor. Pretty scary stuff knowing your home is catching fire! At last it was all done though & the van sailed through the MOT & we were able to look forward to another year on the road :) After the MOT we visited friends & family in Bracknell & Stevenage. Then it was back to Cheltenham for Lee's 20th birthday (crickey I feel like an old mummy now!). We stopped at Haresfield near Gloucester for a couple of days before heading South. Here's some pictures I took on our travels...

burnt woods in bracknell

not sure whether this is a wasp, bee or just a fly posing as one on the ragwort

caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly

our park-up in bracknell

ship in southampton

saw a van nearly the same as ours :)

cheltenham by night

the sky at night

light grafitti from lights of cheltenham

a bee & a ladybird on this woolly thistle

woolly thistle

hawthorn berries

busta chewing up yet another stick!

some kind of boletus toadstool

trees at haresfield near gloucester

dandelion clock

duck feather

thanks for looking :) xoxox

my opinion on the uk riots

2011-08-11T13:25:00.002+01:00

I'm sure there is people out there fed up to the back teeth of everyone having an opinion of the riots happening in the UK right now. But thats tough shit as we're all entitled to our opinions & in this digital age free to broadcast them over the net to anyone that will listen.

Firstly I want to make a few things absolutely clear. I understand it is frightening for people in their homes witnessing rioting outside on the streets and I understand it is devastating to see your home, car or business go up in flames... But...

People are angry & frustrated, not only at the shooting of Mark Duggan or the treatment of the crowd that gathered outside the Tottenham police station after his death but with society in general. I'm not going to pretend that I think everyone on the streets has a political motive at heart but even those just following the crowd & enjoying the thrill of rioting & looting are mostly doing it because of the shitty state of this country. I'm not prepared to believe that there are that many purely thuggish people out there. There is a reason they are behaving this way.

I am not too far outside London at the moment & have been picking up BBC Radio London. Their reporting has been biased & bigoted. The people ringing in have pretty all been right wing bigots & it is scary to hear everyone talking of bringing the army in, using water canons & plastic bullets. Even David Cameron said yesterday " We will not let any phony concerns like human rights get in the way" Rather than just get angry & slag off these people I'm going to try & look at some of the reasons this has happened & what a pitiful state our country is in.

These points are in no specific order I just think they are all factors in why society is in such a bad state. I also feel really strongly that we will never be able to fix the problems in our society unless we tackle the all the problems as a whole. For instance there is no point giving people decent housing if there are no jobs to pay the rent on those houses. There is no point treating someones heroin addiction unless you are going to find out the cause of that addiction in the first place & treat that. Holistic treatment is badly needed for our society.

Terrorism laws were brought in here & in the USA after 9/11 & 7/7. Both countries brought in laws that were aimed at terrorists but have been used time & time again on innocent people. In my opinion the whole terrorism thing has been blown out of all proportion. The governments & the media have conspired to make everyday people feel scared & to accept these unjust laws. I'm not saying there are not extremists, we know there are but the fear that has been created in the wake of 9/11 & 7/7 is irrational to say the least. The police in London have been using a stop & search law brought in after 7/7 on all sorts of people but often young black kids. These kids are fed up of being targeted in this way & I can't blame them. My Grandfather fought for this country to be a free country where people could live their lives without being harassed for their skin colour or what they are wearing.
Policing has gone totally in the wrong direction. The police force are there to help us the public, they are not there to indiscriminately pick on people to harass them. I can't comment on Mark Duggan as I have no idea as to whether he pulled out a gun & threatened police officers but I do know that in the past innocent people have been killed by the police. If you are in doubt look up the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead by over zealous police officers after 7/7 or look up the death of Ian Tomlinson, unlawfully killed by a police officer using excessive and unreasonable force against him at the G-20 Summit protests even though he was actually not involved in the protests at all. There have been others & there will be more. Of all the police officers I have come into contact with in my life at least 50% of them (and thats being generous) have been power crazy bully boys. The police continue to harass people on the streets for no other reason than what they are wearing or because they 'look dodgy' studies have shown that if you treat people like animals they will be animals (or criminals).
Whether you believe in a New World Order or not the fact is that studies have shown that the richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth. There is a global elite who are getting richer as the rest of us get poorer. Footballers like Wayne Roony are earning £250,000 a WEEK while most nurses earn less than £20,000 a YEAR! Can no-one else see how wrong this is? I despair at this inequality, when did it become so important to pay blokes who kick a ball around? All money should be taken out of sport, sport should be something people do for fun, for free. Money has ruined society & is not even a real commodity anymore it is made out of nothing. A really good film to watch on this is MONEY AS DEBT if you want to find out where money comes from.
Big corporations are ripping us off daily, the big companies have taken over our towns & pushed out most independent traders. We are forced to buy our groceries at Tesco (or the like) at prices they say are cheap but still announce billions of pounds in profit at the end of the year. We are sheep just accepting this as the way it is. I don't blame people for looting, some of these people could probably never afford a brand new TV unless they bought it through a catalogue company & paid stupid amounts of interest on it. We have a society where we are fed images of everyone with new TVs, stereos, cars, Ipods etc on TV & in magazines, we are made to feel that we are a successful normal member of society if we own these things. Most of the population have to get themselves into debt to afford these things & it seems like the lower the wage you are on including those on benefits get into the most debt.
There is no pride in working now for a lot of people. We are mostly slaves to big organizations that have taken away as much as they can, paying minimum wage & giving minimum benefits. There are no apprenticeships for the young, there are not many local businesses left to make you feel you are working as part of the local community. Pensions are pretty much a thing of the past for those of us still of working age. We have to work longer hours & retire later in life to get any kind of reward. We need to reassess what we are doing to people. If hours were reduced we could create more jobs, if multi-nationals were forced out we could have local people running small local businesses employing local people & maybe people would feel like they are more part of the community.
Social housing has become a joke in this country. Margaret Thatcher decided everyone should buy their own home & stopped the building of any more social housing. Not everyone even wants to own their own home, some are happy renting off the council until they pass away & why is this a problem? Why should people be made to think owning your home makes you successful in society? Housing associations have taken over from the council building social housing in some areas but this shouldn't have happened, it should be the local council providing this. The social housing that is old & outdated needs to be ripped down. Inner city areas have appalling blocks of flats that most people would not choose to live in. There have been many psychological studies over the years which proves that the type of housing you live in does make a difference to the way people behave who live there.
Children today are brought into a country that has no time for them, the UK has always been behind when it comes to how children are seen in society. Other countries have far more child friendly policies in restaurants or at their parents work place. Even though the UK has tried to catch up in this sense there are a lot of parents out there who think sticking their child in front of the TV, computer or Xbox is a good way to bring them up. These parents are the same people that complain about the youth of today & yet they are too busy or tired to take their children out into the world. Too many parents are going back to work after having babies, these youngsters are spending the first few years of their lives with people that don't actually care about them, this has to be wrong. Studies have shown that children who spend the first few years of their lives in childcare rather than with a parent or grandparent do not do as well academically or socially. Even families where both parents are unemployed seem to think that as they want to watch TV all day then it is OK for their children to spend most of their time in front of a screen. Anyone who was a child in the 80s or earlier never had computers or loads of TV channels & are always saying how much better life was then. They seem quick to judge the kids of today but yet we are the parents of those kids, it is us who should have turned the TV off & done something else with our children. On top of that youth clubs have shut down, activities for kids are expensive & so only those with money can provide entertainment for them. Yes a walk in the park to identify the trees is free but you can't do that every day!
Our governments are corrupt, FACT! We endlessly hear about this or that indiscretion of the politicians that are meant to be running this country. OK no-one is perfect but when you hear that they have been fiddling their taxes, making claims for things that don't exist etc you start to wonder who these power crazy people are & what they are doing. We need to find a better way, we need to find a way where local communities take control to run their communities. We need to see the end of red tape & bureaucracy & we need to see those who have a position of power made accountable for everything they do.
The media in this country is a joke, haven't we just all witnessed how corrupt they are with the News of the World fiasco? NEWSpapers should report the news, end of story. We all know they lie & twist the truth all the time & yet people still read their daily rag of choice being fed the fascist bullshit a lot of them print. The media are responsible for a lot of the tension in this country. They lie or exaggerate race issues to stir up racial tension. They lie or exaggerate news on wars & terrorism to stir up hatred. They lie or exaggerate stories about benefit cheats to stir up social tensions. We are all the people of the UK, we are all as valid as the next person but while we are fighting between ourselves the government are laughing.
We need to get back a feeling of community. This means EVERYONE in the community feeling a part of it. All ages, all races, all social backgrounds need to let go of their egos & get together. This needs to happen all over the UK. We need to get away from this feeling that certain members of our community are inferior to us whether it is because of their race or age or social standing. We need to forget these stupid rules like not being allowed in a shop with a hood up, I wear a hoodie & am a 40yr old mother! People should be judged on their behavior not their clothing! We need more public spaces where communities can meet, more community gardens, more community organised events, more youth events.
The war on drugs is a war that will never be won, a war on a plant is a pretty stupid idea anyway. Most people must see that policies so far have not worked. People will always take recreational drugs, they have been doing so for thousands of years. Do a bit of research if you don't believe me. People who take harder drugs & have problems with addictions need to be treated properly. I sincerely believe that if society wasn't in such a bad state we wouldn't see as many addicts anyway. We need to take the criminality out of drug taking, teach young people the truth about drugs & treat people for addictions in a holistic way.
I find it so sad that there are still so many racists in the UK. I cannot believe that people are still so stupid. The immigration issue that the media exaggerate all the time has fueled a lot of the racism in the UK over the past few years I think. What is really stupid is that half these racists (& I know some personally) own homes in other countries or want to emigrate themselves. Personally I believe the world should have no borders & we should all be free to travel & settle where we please. I think that will be a long time coming but we need to get a grip on the racism in the UK. The media is definitely partly responsible & we need to put a stop to their biased reporting.

I started with terrorism & will end with the wars that this country have been involved in since 9/11. Wars that really are about money, power & oil. We need to stop following the USA into whatever they want us to do & realise that the USA are as bad as many of the dictators they are so say tying to stop. We need far more peace keeping type bodies that are in countries because most of the people of that country want us there. The USA have armed most of the countries they then fight against, does no-one see the irony of that. These countries also owe loads of money so are struggling to rebuild after troops have eventually left. I for one am fed up with hearing that our troops are hero's, why? They are fighting a bloody war for profit, a profit they will never see. They are sheep, blindly obeying orders & killing thousands of innocent civilians (not to mention a few of their own now & then). Help for Hero's is the sickest charity I have heard of, even if some of these people have done a fair job then it should be the government that looks after them not a charity. If all the people that raise money for this, display stickers, join Facebook groups etc spent the time lobbying the government for better conditions, pay etc for servicemen & ex-servicemen maybe they'd get somewhere.

I don't pretend to have all the answers & I certainly don't have all the solutions but I know this country is divided, it is angry & frustrated. There is no hope for many people, no hope of getting a decent job, no hope of getting somewhere decent to live & no hope of ever living the life that is pumped into us all from the TV & magazines, you know the sort of life? David Beckham leads it.The media is dividing us & making us fearful.

The only thing we have to FEAR is FEAR itself.

Thanks for reading :) Comments most welcome even if you don't agree with me :) xoxox

2011-08-01T16:20:00.000+01:00

This amazing seed head was on its own in a field, it is not from a Dandelion as it was far too big. I got some good shots of it that I played around with in the photo editing programme...

I like how you can see the other flowers in the background out of focus...

I wanted some pictures of my dreads, now over 5 years old. My friend took some & I messed about with them in the photo editing programme...

Thanks for looking xoxox

new tattoos :)

2011-08-01T16:05:00.001+01:00

Simon has been doing some more tattooing since we've been back, mostly on me lol except this Reindeer on our friends wrist...

My new Kokapelli tattoo :)...

Turtle tattoo to symbolize our travels...

Banksy tattoo to go with my other one on my graffiti leg...

I love how Kokopelli comes out of my boot!...

Thanks for looking xoxox

back in the UK

2011-08-01T15:34:00.000+01:00

So we find ourselves back in cold wet Blighty to MOT the van & see family & friends. Actually the weather hasn't been too bad but it is too stressed out here. Everyone is in a rush, everyone is stressed & we can't park up anywhere without getting hassle from either the police or nosy locals! Anyway hopefully we wont be here for that long & we will be back on mainland Europe soon either back to Portugal & Spain or off to Eastern Europe, we're not sure yet. It all depends on how much money we spend on the van & while we are here in the UK! As usual I have been taking lots of photographs, here are some of the best...

Tree roots growing around an old wall, Forest of Dean.

Pine cones & leaves, Forest of Dean.

Hoverfly at a thistle flower, Forest of Dean.

Old canal, South Cerney.

Bee, South Cerney.

Visitors at the crop circle, Ridgeway path, Avebury.

Young hare, Ridgeway path, Avebury.

Straw bales, Ridgeway path, Avebury.

Horse, Ridgeway path, Avebury.

Poppies in the corn field, Ridgeway path, Avebury.

Walking to the crop circle, Ridgeway path, Avebury.

Thanks for looking xoxox

portugal, northern spain & home

2011-07-31T18:57:00.001+01:00

April 2011: We crossed the border into Portugal & almost immediately everything was cleaner & greener! Spring was in full swing & the weather was mostly warm & sunny. The amount of insects about was amazing apart from when they got in the van & wanted to sleep with us! On our first day in Portugal I saw this beautiful butterfly.

We visited the city of Marvao, set upon a hill & surrounded by the old city walls it is a lovely old town with narrow cobbled streets.

We found a nice park up nearby in the grounds of a ruined farm. The ruin stood on a hill & at the bottom was a lake called Barragem de Apartadura. It was a lovely area & was had some nice walks as well as some lazy sunny days. Again there was plenty of wildlife around like this little frog.

We also found that Portugal has many ancient sites including the clapper bridge pictured below & lots of Dolmens.

Southern Portugal was full of storks, we had seen a few returning to the south of Spain from Africa in early March & driving across Western Spain & into Portugal we began to see more & more.

We saw lots of insects that we see in the UK but they all seemed bigger, like these massive ants.

We spent a week at FreeKuency festival an amazing free festival set in beautiful surroundings. There was some sound systems playing dance music, a live music stage as well as cabaret & theatre. The best things we saw was a great theatre show by Lux collective & the most amazing fire show from Crowlin Circus. This is better than any of the over-priced festivals in the UK :)

Here is a good video of the fire show from someone on YouTube...

By the time we left Freekuency festival the Storks had had babies :)

We stopped in the old town of Evora, it has a well-preserved old town centre, still partially enclosed by medieval walls. There are a large number of monuments dating from various historical periods, including a Roman Temple & lots of Dolmens & stone circles nearby. There is also an amazing bone chapel or Capela dos Ossos that we visited. We parked up for a couple of nights at the Menhirs at the Almendres Cromlech, at 7000 years old it is one of the oldest megalithic sites in Europe & one of the largest with 92 stones.

We then headed down the West coast of Portugal through Porto Covo & Almograve picture below.

Quite by chance we discovered storks nesting on the cliffs at Cabo Sardao. It was a brilliant sight seeing the massive nests balanced precariously on the high cliffs.

Once we got to the South coast we stopped at the touristy town of Lagos.

May 2011: After a couple of weeks of driving every day we were ready to take a break & found a beautiful beach called Barranco near the town of Vila do Bispo. There was spring water at the old wash house, free WiFi in the town & the beach was quiet & chilled out. We ended up staying there for six weeks as it was so lovely.

While we were there we found this, a stalked barnacle.

We also found this Rhinoceros Beetle.

Someone had dropped some dried lentils & these ants spent all day taking them back to their nest.

We were collecting water one day when we heard something screaming. It was this poor frog who ended up as the snake's lunch.

There were lots of Milk Thistles growing down by the beach.

This was the biggest fly I have ever seen!

We found this Turtle skull on the beach but couldn't take it with us as it still had some tissue attached & so was rather smelly!

Saw this snake basking on the rocks by the sea.

Rock art at Barranco beach by unknown artist.

This little fella had been caught by someone & left in a plastic cup. We released him far away from our van! It's the first time I have seen a Scorpion in the wild.

We took a day trip back to Lagos & visited Ponta Piedade where there are bizarre rock formations & grottos. It is one of the most photographed places on the Algarve which is not surprising!

Unfortunately the only Turtles we saw were washed up dead on the beach :( They are amazingly beautiful creatures & I hope one day I will see one in it's natural environment.

June 2011: We did see loads of Terrapins in the river at Aljezur.

On the way back up the West coast we stopped at Cabo Sardao again to see how the baby storks had grown.

I'm glad this beast didn't get in the van!

We parked up for a night by the docks at Vila do Conde.

Our last stop in Portugal was at the Dolmen da Barrosa.

We then crossed the border back into Spain to the area called Galicia. Galicia is very different from the Spain of the Costa del Sol. It is untouched by tourism & it felt like very few people visit the area. It is an area where people still toil their land by hand & there is a slower pace of life.

These weird dwellings are at Cabo Udra, I cannot find any information on what they were used for.

These rock carvings are on the beach at Mogor.

More stalked barnacles, alive this time!

Beautiful purple starfish.

Cape Finisterre is the final destination for many pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, the walk to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela where some believe Saint James is buried. It is a recent tradition for pilgrims to burn their clothes or boots at the end of their journey at Cape Finisterre.

We discovered quite a few Dolmens in the North West park of Spain & even came across a marked route taking in ten Dolmens.

This Dolmen de Dombate had been built round, I would have preferred to see it how it was.

Celtic settlement at Castro de Borneiro.

We visited this impressive Celtic settlement in Coana. The Celtic settlement is made up of 80 huts, a sacred room and an acropolis. There is a collection of household tools used at that time and also a significant collection of Roman tools in the visitors centre.

We found this unusual beach next to the Playa de Huelga, we stayed here for a couple of nights. After staying here we headed towards France.

We parked for a night in France at this Roman ruin.

In the train on the way back to the UK :(

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

leaving the UK, France, Holland, Belgium & Spain

2011-07-28T14:51:00.210+01:00

November 2010: We finally left the UK on the 9th, we decided to take the train through the Euro tunnel so as we could stay in the van with Busta (the dog). he doesn't like loud noises & so we didn't think he'd cope very well being left for an hour on his own if we went on the ferry. For anyone that is thinking of taking the train across remember to book in advance, we had looked up the prices the day before & it was £80 but when we got there we had to pay nearly £200!!!! The crossing was quick & uneventfull & we drove straight to Amsterdam to meet the friend we had made a couple of months before whilst at the Ridgeway. We met in the middle of Amsterdam at a coffee shop, it was €4 an hour to park which was a bit of a shock! We met up with our friend & also a friend of his whose caravan we were going to be parked up by for the week we stayed. He lived outside a squat just outside of Amsterdam, we spent a great week cycling into Amsterdam everyday & sampling the delights of the coffee shops. Busta really enjoyed all the running as well :)

After a week of getting stoned we headed south towards the sun as the weather was getting colder & wetter. Our first nights stop was by this beautiful lake called L'Eau d'Heure.

Now into France, it has been really foggy in the mornings but has cleared by mid-morning. We have been getting up early so as to get lots of miles in & have been averaging about 200 miles each day. Have passed a massive second world war memorial & graves of unknown soldiers. We stopped in Charlons en Champagne for supplies one day which is where Champagne comes from but we didn't try any. I've never got the whole Champagne thing, give me a glass of red any day! There are lots of crazy French lorry drivers who hate our slow hippy bus & have been frightening the life out of me by driving right up our ass, overtaking & then cutting us up when they pull in in front of us. After a couple of days we started seeing more mountains, a lot had snow on top. We stopped at a rest station for a cuppa & the police pulled up & decided to search the van. We have no idea why as we don't speak French which is a pain, at least in the UK we can understand the police & their motives even if we don't agree with them. We stopped one night after passing the 1000 miles since we left mark just south of a town called Millau where there was some unusual looking rocks.

We headed through the east side of the Pyrenees & across the border into Spain. The first night in Spain was spent at this beautiful ancient site called Dolmen de la Cova d'en Daina. The weather is changing now, it is warmer & sunnier as we get further south. We headed towards Barcelona, we were meant to go round the city but ended up right in the centre & then broke down! Luckily we have breakdown cover & eventually we were back on the road after a few hours in Barcelona. It was only the fuel filter & they were able to temporarily fix it thank goodness!

Afterwards we found a great park up at Cala Romana where we stayed for a few days as it was my 40th birthday. We found a nice little restaurant for my birthday meal, I had Sardines & mushrooms which was lovely. I also had nearly a whole bottle of wine so I stumbled back to the van! Simon had Spaghetti & a spicy sausage with vegetables & a beer. All for €20, what a bargain! While we were there we saw some amazing sunsets, a fantastic storm out at sea & some beautiful coastline.

After a few days rest we headed off further south following the coast. We stayed up in the hills for night away from anyone & anything. After we passed Supplicant airport we stopped for the night & found this graffiti.

We stopped in at my Mum's in Murcia on the Mar Menor for a while & whilst there unfortunately my zoom lens decided to play up, thankfully it seems to be an intermittent problem & so I still sometimes get some good shots!

Quite by accident we found these amazing rock formations at Bolneuvo & further down the road we found a beautiful beach where we stayed for a week.

December 2010: Our next stop was the town of Nerja famous for it's amazing caves which we visited. We found a great park up between Nerja & the next town Maro, it was in a valley & there was a beautiful walk down to a secluded beach. We stayed there for a week & made some new friends that were also travelling in vans. As well as the massive caves that you have to pay to enter there are also some smaller caves in the area, we found a couple that people were living in.

We had been told about the town of Orgiva & my guide book said lots of Brits have moved there especially New Age types. The town has various businesses offering new age therapies, a health food shop & an English bookshop. After asking around we were directed to a valley called El Morreon where there were a lot of UK traveller vehicles & UK travellers living there. It was a good place to park up for a while & we made some great new friends & found out about other places to park.

We had been told about the hot springs at Santa Fe near Granada where there are people parked up in trucks & buses so we went there ourselves to see. There were a lot of travellers there from all over Europe in a variety of vehicles. There was also lots of people coming & going to the hot springs which were lovely to bathe in.

While we were in the area we went to see Zion Train play in Granada.

We went to visit Simon's Uncle Peter who lives in the hills near the town of Alora. While we were there the rain came down in torrents & we were stuck there for almost two weeks. Peter was very hospitable though & he is also a photographer so gave me some good tips. The Alora hills were a great place to take some beautiful photos.

We stopped again at the hot springs in Santa Fe.

January 2011: After spending New Year at Santa Fe we headed off again. We stopped in a town called Guadix where there are some amazing cave houses.

We made it back to my Mum's for my son's visit where we visited a few different places to take photos. We saw some birds & jellyfish on the Mar Menor & went to Elche where there is the biggest Palm forest in Spain.

On the way back down South we stopped at Santa Fe again.

And we stopped at El Morreon again.

We didn't go into Gibraltar but we did stop to look at the rock. Gibraltar is not very campervan friendly & most people with campers park in the border town of La Linea & walk or cycle in. It is worth going for cheap shopping & UK food!

The Roman ruins of Bolonia near Tarifa were interesting & free entry.

February 2011: We spent six weeks parked up near Tarifa at Punta Paloma. Tarifa is popular with kite surfers due to the winds there. At first we were in a car park that was €1 a day to park in but after 4 weeks the police turned up & told us to move. We moved a few hundred metres to a field known locally as the Pig Field. It was amazing waking up every morning & being able to look over the sea to Africa :)

March 2011: We headed back to Santa Fe for the Dragon festival. Dragon used to be held near Orgiva but has now moved due to council opposition & flooding of the valley where it used to be held. We had a great time as did most of the people there :) See Official Dragon Festival for more information.

We stayed on at Santa Fe after the main festival had ended. The Spring weather brought out all sorts of wildlife :)

April 2011: We decided to head towards Portugal, on the way we stopped at El Chorro gorge, an amazing limestone gorge with a dangerous walkway that was built in the 20's. We didn't go on the walkway because we couldn't actually find a way to get to it but plenty of people do go on it even though you get fined if caught & a few people have fallen to their deaths.

cool video of walking the pathway by some nutter here...

We also stopped at El Torcal park which is full of unusual limestone rock formations. We saw Eagles there as well as other wildlife.

Our last stop in Spain was Antequera where there are some massive dolmens, all are free to enter. There is also a mountain nearby known as lovers rock due to the fact it looks like the profile of a woman.

Thanks for looking xoxox

time to catch up... eek!

2011-07-27T18:16:00.001+01:00

So long time no blog my blogger friends :) I had great hopes to travel & blog at the same time but it didn't work out like that. Firstly after we sold up & left our house we had two deaths in the family, that meant our plans got delayed for a couple of months so we spent some time in the UK living in the van. Then once we were travelling I either wasn't near Wifi very often or had no battery left on the laptop. So now we are back in the UK for a couple of months living in the van still but more often near WiFi & we have just hooked up a solar panel so can charge the laptop even when we are not driving. Anyway I did write a diary every day so can kind of catch up here although I know it is not the same as doing it as I go along. Maybe next time that will happen, I do hope so as I think it would make for interesting reading & informative for anyone travelling in the same places.

August 2010: When we first left the house we went & parked up for a couple of weeks on the Ridgeway path at the Sanctuary near Avebury in Wiltshire. There are often other van dwellers up there especially at weekends & we were lucky enough to make a couple of great contacts whilst we were there. We met a guy from Amsterdam who told us where we could park when we visited there which was really handy as despite the Dutch's relaxed laws on drugs & prostitution it is illegal to sleep/live in a vehicle unless you are at a proper campsite! We also met a lady who spends 6 months of the year in Spain who gave us some tips on places to go & places to park up. This was really handy & proved to be a godsend as the places she told us about where good & we made many new friends there & learnt of other places to park up from there :)

And now for some pictures...

Sunset on the Ridgeway

Ripe corn

Spindle tree

Tortiseshell butteryfly

Common blue butteryfly

September 2010: Even though we've only been living in the van for a few weeks I am already reading more & learning more about the plants & wildlife around me, it's great :) Also taking lots of photographs so here's a few more...

Caen locks in Devizes

Wayland's Smithy

Park up on the Ridgeway

Fly Agaric mushroom

October 2010: There are mushrooms everywhere at the moment! How I have missed them before I don't know. Maybe living on the road & being out in nature more has made me more aware. I found a mushroom book in the charity shop in Marlborough so am learning to identify them. Some I am not sure about though as there are so many similar ones. We found some puffball mushrooms in a field off the Ridgeway & collected enough to add to our pasta for dinner which was great :)

And now for some fungi pictures...

This is a type of Boletus, I think it is edible as most Boletus's are but we didn't try it!

Another Fly Agaric, definatly not for eating!

Razor Strop fungus

Another Boletus

A dragonfly that landed nearby as we were inspecting mushrooms :)

We headed off from the Ridgeway to the Stevenage area to say goodbye to friends & family. Whilst we were there we took in some of the countryside. I love living in the van, I have felt every moment of the summer turning to Autumn. It would be nice if the police didn't insist on knocking on our van late at night just to ask us what we are doing!

Old ruined church at Clophill

More puffball mushrooms

Tree cathedral on Dunstable downs

Tri-tree :)

Saw loads of deer whilst parked up at Ivinghoe Beacon which is the other end of the Ridgeway path

Also found this amazing deer skull

Gnarly tree on Mardley heath

Another mushroom, not sure what this one is

November 2010: Just about to leave the UK only a few days to go now :) Last few pictures from Blighty...

We came across a burnt out van & really old van whilst walking on Mardley heath

Autumn is well & truly here in Stevenage

So thats it we are off to new lands, what an adventure!

Day 2

2010-08-25T16:06:00.001+01:00

I sorted out some admin stuff on the computer. We were going to go into Cirencester but it started pissing down & has done ever since :( It's now nearly 4pm so the days a bit of a wash out. We did sort the van out though as yesterday we just bunged stuff in cos we were later than we expected & had to get over to the warehouse with our stuff. Battery on the laptop is about to run out, it only lasts a couple of hours which is pretty crap but I'm looking forward to writing some of this diary on paper sometimes... it sounds so old fashioned lol. Hope to upload it from time to time :)

Our 1st park up - Dad's drive!

Day 1

2010-08-25T16:04:00.005+01:00

We left the house & took the last of our stuff to the warehouse. On the way there it was really windy & the tarp on the roof came undone. We must have looked a bit like a drag racer trying to stop lol. The first time Simon tied it back on it came undone again, the second time was better but when we got to the warehouse we took it off. Went to Anna's & had dinner, Simon got Shephards pie & I had a salad. It was lovely to see them & king of Anna to feed us. I think she thinks we might starve on the road lol. Went to Dad's & stayed on the drive, seems a bit of a crap thing to do for the first night but it was late & dark & we couldn't be bothered to try & find a park up. We have to go to Longlevens on Thursday & then Cheltenham so need to stay in the area anyway. May as well stay where there is electricity & internet!

finally leaving...

2010-08-25T16:04:00.004+01:00

We've left the house! We are now officially on the road :) We will still be in the UK for about a month visiting family & friends on a long way round to Dover. This is the last picture from our house...

finally leaving :)

Will write more in time but for now thanks for looking :) xoxox

endorse-it in dorset pt 2

2010-08-23T22:11:00.000+01:00

My Endorse-It experience is just as much to do with the friends, good vibe & general weirdness as the music. We had our friends Ian & Byron camped with us in the campervan field which was cool. As neither of them drove to the festival they were already well into the festival mood when they arrived! There was also other people I knew camped elsewhere or working at the festival. I was looking forward to catching up with old friends I had worked with at previous Endorse-Its, Flounder, Morph, Ffi, Alex and also people I had met over the years there, Chris, Duncan, Gary, Vinny & Sara. Also I was chuffed to be meeting Alan who I had as an 'internet friend' for many years after he kindly let me use some words & pictures from his book 'A Time To Travel'. This book is amazing, now sadly out of print you can get it as an ebook or keep an eye on Ebay!

The Endorse-It site had some beautifully weird sculptures dotted around courtesy of the Wrekon crew who are masters of road scrap sculpture. There was a massive EIID (Endorse-It In Dorset) which got painted throughout the weekend. There was also a 'Naughty Step' a massive step for people to sit on after they had been very naughty! The site was interesting & well laid out apart from the stages being too close especially the Bus Bar stage, La Boite A Musique stage & the Wigon Casino.

This year saw the return of the Strummerville camp fire area. Strummerville is a charity that help aspiring musicians. Strummerville camp this year was bigger, with a bigger fire, a bigger stage & more sofas :) It is a really nice area & it is great to be able to sit round a fire & on sofas :D Also back this year was the Purple Purge stage, put on by teenagers for teenagers we were lucky enough to catch veteran DJs Dapper the Mascara Man, also good friends I think they would agree that they're not quite teenagers any more! Never the less they played a great Reggae set that the teenagers seemed to enjoy.

We looked round the very chilled out Pixie Chill area which had some small tents offering a range of healing therapies. It is a lovely quite corner of the festival & the perfect place to really chill out. We also enjoyed the Peaceful Progress cafe in the kids area which played some lovely Reggae at times & made a lovely cup of hot chocolate :)

All to soon Sunday was upon us but to top the festival off in style Sunday was ladies day. The amazing array of blokes in frocks was brilliant. I could sit all day watching them, guessing who had bought a costume from home, who had bought theirs at the festival & who had borrowed their wife's/girlfriend's clothes. There was a Miss Endorse-It competition that unfortunately I missed but was lucky enough to meet the winner :)

So another great Endorse-It festival was over. The weather had just about behaved, it had always been prety warm. There had been some rain on the Friday for a few hours when we arrived & on the Saturday we had a brief but really heavy downpour. There was not enough rain to make things really muddy though & Sunday was a scorcher.It's sad that we wont be able to go next year but hopefully we'll be able to experience a continental festival or two :)

Here's some pictures that capture the festival...

Ian & Byron using each other as a back rest :)

A very wasted Ian :p

A weird spider like sculpture with a giant eye.

The brilliant bus bar.

EIID, this was painted on all weekend. By Sunday night there was not much white showing :)

Byron not impressed by the toilet!

Friends Vinny & Sara chatting round the fire at the Strummerville camp.

Byron tried to show off some football skills but just fell on his arse!

DJ Dapper Dan & The Mascara Man, the funkiest town criers I have ever met & all round great blokes with the wickedest taste in music!

People gathering at the Wild Cat stage.

Painting the EIID.

Cute kid who turned round just as I was taking a picture :)

The Pixie Chill area.

Had to include these two as their dreads are so cool :D

Walking out of the arena area to the campsite.

A 10 minute burst of torrential rain brought this amazing double rainbow. I didn't get my camera out quick enough to capture it in all its glory :(

The crowd watching Symarip.

The winner of Miss Endorse-it 2010 :)

Some beautiful ladies on ladies day :p

Fancy a Hula Hoop lesson?

This lady has had enough :D

Boy scouts are looking really old these days :)

A real lady doesn't drink pints lol

Get a load of those legs :D


Hanging round the main stage waiting for the next band.

Me, Alan & a guy I know only as Mr Orange!

You could now read my friend Alan's review HERE :D

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

endorse-it in dorset pt 1

2010-08-17T17:17:00.002+01:00

Endorse-it in Dorset festival has been my favourite UK festival since I first went in 2005. There is always a great selection of music with a focus on punk & reggae but plenty of other stuff. It is a relaxed family festival with a great mixture of different people of all ages. This year was the first year I have been and haven't been working in one way or another so it was great to see the festival from a slightly different perspective. First a little about the bands I saw.

Robb Blake - A one man Ska band from what I could see, he was ok at what he did but is in desperate need of a band if you ask me. Very weird seeing music like this played by one guy along to a pre-recorded track!

I don't know who this guy is but he did a couple of sets with a guitarist. It was really good and if anyone knows who he is please tell me!

Symarip - I had never heard of them before the festival but apparently they were one of the first Skinhead Reggae bands noted for 'Skinhead Girl' & 'Skinhead Moonstomp'. They played a nice set of old school Ska.

The Sporadics - Dubby Ska Punk from this newly formed band. I liked them a lot, we need more bands like this! We also heard bassist Bimble's DJ set one night only to get gassed when someone let a powdered fire extinguisher off in the tent. At first everyone thought it was the smoke machine as that was going at the time. Then nearly at once everyone made a hasty move outside as they realised the air was unbreathable. It was horrible and made the inside of my nose burn like crazy!

Rhythm-ites - Roots Rock Reggae from a band well known on the festival circuit of the late 80s & early 90s. Along with RDF, AOS3 & Dub the Earth I think the Rhythm-ites were and still are a great band. With conscious lyrics & a reggae beat it was great to see them live for the first time. There will always be a place for them on my stereo!

Love Grocer - Despite being a massive Love Grocer fan I have only ever seen them twice before, once was years ago in Bristol with MC Spee at the mike & Ben Balafonic at the controls, and then years later with no vocalist and Chazbo at the controls. Love Grocer bring brass instruments to life with beautiful dubby tunes. Dave on trumpet, Chris on trombone & Richard on flute & saxophone have all played with Zion Train & are masters of their craft. The set was great, I'm not sure who the vocalist was or the guy at the controls but they did a marvelous job.

After Love Grocer I eagerly awaited Credit to the Nation. Another band from the 80s/90s free festival/traveller scene who had only just reformed. I had never been a massive fan but was looking forward to hearing them now. Now older & maybe lacking that passion of years gone by they were ok but I did leave before they finished their set.

Dubmatix - Dub & Roots from this Canadian outfit with the UKs Brother Culture on the mike. Thought these guys were really good, have just downloaded the free tracks from their website!

Macka B - Reggae legend & long time vegan Macka B was a real treat. A true Rasta man with lots to say on many issues affecting us all. I was disappointed that he didn't do 'We've had Enough' but he did do 'Big Mack' a song about not eating McDonalds. Great to see this legend live :)

Pauline Black - I was really looking forward to seeing Pauline Black, unfortunately she was my biggest disappointment of the festival. I have always been a big Selecter fan & was looking forward to hearing some of those tunes live for the first time. Although the songs were the same they just didn't sound quite right. None of the backing band were in The Selecter & Pauline just seemed to lack some of the passion of the past which left me feeling like I'de just seen a Selecter tribute band.

See more of my pictures of the bands HERE :)

Well thats a run down of the music I saw, next up the fun, friends, frolics & frocks :)

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

Funny FKN Planet - Deek Jackson

2010-08-15T12:24:00.000+01:00

Nucleus Roots

2010-08-11T23:22:00.000+01:00

A great night was had by all at a recent gig at Klub 85 in Hitchin. Headliners Nucleus Roots now back to a full band line up pumped out some beautiful Dub/Reggae. Support bands New Groove Formation and The Defekters both played wicked sets :)

The Defekters

New Groove Formation

Nucleus Roots

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

nature in the garden

2010-07-25T23:38:00.000+01:00

i found a few interesting visitors to the garden the other day.

Mint Moth

Forest Shield Bug

A Cricket I think. Not sure what type.

Three types of Bee, the top one is a Bumble Bee, not sure about the other two.

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

robinswood hill

2010-07-25T23:16:00.001+01:00

We went for a walk up Robinswood Hill in Gloucester and found all sorts of wildlife.

Comma Butterfly

Red Soldier Beetles

I think this is either a Ringlet or a Meadow Brown Butterfly. Anyone know?

7 Spot Ladybird

Not too sure about this one, was much redder than the other ladybird & looks like its got 17 spots but I cant find one like it on the internet.

Some green bugs I can't identify.

Hoverfly

Red Admiral

Flat-backed Millipede

Huge Dragonfly that wouldn't land for a photo lol

Rosebay Willowherb

Cherries on a Cherry tree

Greenbottle Fly

Burnet Moth

Cute Duck at the farm

Rabbit

Cute Lamb

Wood Pigeon

Crows

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

spiral tattoo

2010-07-24T19:10:00.000+01:00

My friend came straight from a 10 day meditation retreat to us where Simon gave her the tattoo she'd wanted for ages...

She found this grass that had grown into a heart while she was away...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

brecon

2010-07-24T19:04:00.001+01:00

We spent a few days in the Brecon Beacons near all the waterfalls. We had lovely weather & so were able to take long walks through unspoilt countryside. We explored mountains, river banks, caves & waterfalls & saw loads of amazing nature.

I caught these flies investigating a Foxglove flower...

Wild Thyme...

Doing what I love, taking photos...

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly...

Horsetail...

There was a bee's nest in that hole, you can just see a few bees on the ground...

From inside a cave...

I think this is a small brown Trout...

Looking into the cave...

Waterfall...

Busta with a stick as usual...

Having a cuppa by the fire...

I think this is a Dunlin, can anyone confirm?...

The best spotting was some Mink cubs. I saw at least 5 of them together but didn't have the camera to hand. I had to wade back accross the river to where we had stopped to get my camera. I went back & stayed for a while but they didn't reappear. Gutted I went back to sit down accross the river & then they came out :) Only one at a time so I couldn't get a group shot but it was great to see them. I know they are depleting some of our native species but they're here now & they were very cute :)

Another waterfall...

Bee...

And another waterfall...

A dead fish being eaten by Tadpoles...

I think this is a wasp or hornet nest. It was across the water where we couldn't cross so couldn't get a better look. Biggest nest I've seen...

When I saw this I assumed it was a hornet as it was so big but from research I think it could be a type of hoverfly. I didn't realise they got that big! This poor creature looked like he was about to die...

This is an old Silicone mine...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

fire in the forest

2010-07-24T18:37:00.000+01:00

We have been having more fires outside for cooking rather than use the gas cooker in the van. We found out that Calor gas is not available in Europe & most countries have different bottles which means needing a different regulator. Camping Gaz is available everywhere which we may have to use but as it works out rather expensive we decided the best way to go was to cook on a fire as much as possible. We've even been watching Ray Mears to learn more about firelighting, fires & cooking techniques lol

Here I am at one of our fires...

We went to Symonds Yat & took a walk down the River Wye. We crossed the river on a small people ferry pulled along by this guy...

We stopped on our walk to make a small fire in an old tin can to boil some water for a cuppa...

Busta was a real pussy as usual when it comes to the water. Even though it was really shallow it took him ages to retrieve his stick...

The next day we were near Speech House where there was lots of pony & traps leaving. I saw one later coming back...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

amazing nature in the forest of dean

2010-07-24T18:20:00.001+01:00

Foxglove

Wild Strawberry

Honeysuckle

Duck

Seagull

Young Common Frog

Squirrel

Beetles

Pied Wagtail

Young Great Tit & Blackbird

White Water Lily

Ducklings

I have no idea what this is, some sort of Fungi maybe? Have tried to find out but no luck so far so please leave a comment if you know. Cheers :)

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

leaving work

2010-07-23T23:00:00.002+01:00

So after 15 years of doing the same job it was time to say goodbye at the end of June. Not that there are loads of people to say goodbye to as it is a very small company. The boss is my Dad so it was not really goodbye as obviously I will see him again. Both the women I had worked closely with over the years I will hopefully see again but who knows so that was sad. On my last day Kathy, my Dads wife made a brilliant cake of our van & we had champagne & cake on a Wednesday afternoon at work! I can't pretend I'm going to miss it as I wont, I'm looking forward to doing far more interesting things :)

Just before I left work we had moved to a new warehouse & whilst moving everything I came accross this amazing wasps nest...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

tattoos

2010-07-23T22:50:00.000+01:00

Simon did this great tattoo on his leg...

He also tattooed my nephew...

Alan at Alzone tattoos in Gloucester did an amazing job of Simon's rat bike sleeve...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

summer solstice at avebury

2010-07-23T22:46:00.000+01:00

We went to Avebury for the Summer Solstice gathering of the tribes. As usual we parked our van on the Ridgeway near the Sanctuary. It is a very apt name even now as it is the only place near Avebury you can park if you have van. Wiltshire police in their wisdom decided on the Saturday to shut the Ridgeway to any more vans as they were 'worried' there were too many people. This stupid move only created an unsafe environment as people arriving expecting to get off the main A4 road were forced into the laybys. What is so unsafe about that you may ask. Its important to understand that most people had kids & dogs with them & so it was a very unsafe place to be. Would you fancy spending any length of time in a layby with a restless toddler & cooped up dog? After much discussion the police backed down & reopened the Ridgeway. The really sad thing is that there is plenty of room on the Ridgeway for thousands of vehicles & yet I can see if the police were 'worried' this year because there were 40 vehicles they may try & stop this happening in the future. Nearly all the people that arrive for the pagan festivals only stay a few days & most are very conscious of not leaving litter & being respectful to others. Most want to have a happy summer solstice at a very magikal place & have no intention of making trouble or whatever it is the authorities are scared of. Personally I think they're scared of too many conscious people coming together but hey what do I know :) Anyway here's a few pics from the weekend...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

summer insects on the ridgeway

2010-07-21T20:31:00.001+01:00

There was an abundance of insects along the ridgeway at summer solstice...

Bee:

Peacock Butterfly Caterpillar:

Spotted Cranefly:

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

learning about nature

2010-07-21T20:03:00.001+01:00

My interest in photography has led me to really marvel at the beauty of nature. Since getting my SLR a year and a half ago I have taken some lovely shots of plant life, insects & birds. More and more I find it frustrating that I do not know what these plants or creatures are called. I find myself putting 'plant' as a title for a photo as I don't know the name. It's also rather embarrassing as I spent the first 13 years of my life in a small village surrounded by nature. I was often out in nature but it seems I have learnt very little about the countryside around me. So I am really trying to educate myself and hope to be able to identify more of the things I take pictures of. I'm sure there will be things I need help identifying as well :) For now here's a few things I found recently...

Daisy:

Soldier Beetle:

Deadly Nightshade:

I think this is Mayweed or Oxeye daisy... can anyone id it?:

Then some cows came and I photographed them :)

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

bude

2010-07-21T19:39:00.000+01:00

We headed down to Bude in Cornwall for a weekend stopping at Spinsters Rock in devon on the way. Here's a few pictures of our trip...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

roofrack!

2010-07-21T19:34:00.000+01:00

There's been a terrible lack of updates to this blog i know :/ It has been so hectic trying to get everything done to move out. Now into my 3rd week of no work I feel like I'm finally getting there! Will post more about all that another time as it involves rather a lot of writing! For now a few short updates & pictures :)

We thought it would be handy to have a roofrack on the van for travelling & had the offer of one for free, trouble was it was attached to a Mercedes Sprinter of a different size. With a little thought and a lot of help from a friend we took it off the Merc, cut it down to a half size roofrack, lengthened the bars and got it fixed on :)

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

modified

2010-05-13T19:23:00.000+01:00

Here's a few pictures I messed around with...

Thanks for looking :) xxx

new tattoo :)

2010-05-13T19:20:00.000+01:00

Had some more work done on my leg. I'm not too sure what else I'm going to have on this one, maybe I'll leave it as it is :) Another great job by my huni xxx

Inked :)

party at the pumps

2010-05-13T19:16:00.000+01:00

Party at the Pumps Saturday 15th May 2010. Meet 1pm at Oxford Circus.

Please share and spread the word :)

gloucester docks

2010-05-13T19:12:00.000+01:00

I took a walk around the docks recently. These are a selection of pictures I took...

thanks for looking :) xxx

double dreadness

2010-05-13T19:06:00.001+01:00

Had two trips to see Dreadzone, first to Club 85 in Hitching and then to The Sub Rooms in Stroud. Both gigs were great. You can see my review of the Hitchin gig HERE and lots more photos HERE. My mini review of the Stroud gig is HERE.

Dreadzone have a great new album out called 'Eye on the Horizon' it's well worth buying :)

thanks for looking :) xxx

spring equinox at stonehenge

2010-03-30T20:32:00.000+01:00

We went to Stonehenge for the spring equinox sunrise. There was no sun to be seen due to cloud cover but at least the rain held off :) There was a few hundred people there and a few vans and trucks parked up at the drove. There are proposals for a new visitors centre further away from Stonehenge and closing the nearby road. They will then restore the countryside to a more natural environment. All this is great news except the fact that they also plan to close a by-way nearby known as the drove. Many people park their vehicles there when visiting the stones particularly at the spring and autumn equinoxes and at winter solstice. On these 3 occasions the stones are open at sunrise for free but there is no parking in the car park on those nights/days. Many people fear they could be left with no where to park and more importantly somewhere to get some rest before driving home. People do stay up all night and drink alcohol on these celebration sunrises and it's important they can freely park up their vehicle and get some sleep or rest until they are able to drive. Some of the by-way further up will still remain I think so it might just mean a longer walk but for people with disabilities it still may be a problem. If they don't allow people to park in their carpark they owe people who want to visit somewhere to park up. The stones belong to us all not just English Heritics, look at their website for more information on the proposals.

xoxox spring blessings xoxox

cats n vans

2010-03-30T20:04:00.000+01:00

I caught Jaffa with his claws out...

Simon put a new carpet in the van and put a new shelf up :)

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

light grafitti & tattoos

2010-03-30T19:52:00.003+01:00

I tried out some more light grafitti the other day using a red, yellow & green light I had. Some came out quite cool looking :)...

Simon tattooed a Banksy rat on my leg below the dub I already have. It's all going to be part of a bigger tattoo :)...

Thanks for looking :) xoxox

swings and roundabouts

2010-03-30T19:31:00.001+01:00

All this moving away lark brings with it a whole load of stuff to sort out so yet again I haven't blogged as much as I wanted to. There is so much to get in order before we leave, it seems so far away but yet I know it will come around before I know it and I really don't want too much last minute panicking due to jobs left not done.

We had a letting agent round today to value our house and let us know what we need to do before renting it out. It looks like I will be able to rent it out for enough to cover the mortgage, their fees & a little bit left to put by for unexpected repairs. I will not be making any money to live on from it which I didn't expect anyway. With only about 10 years left to pay it might be an option for us to try and keep the house until the mortgage is paid as then we could get a monthly income from it. We are not sure how easy it will be for us to get an income once we settle again. If we don't sell the house we might not have the money to do up the property we eventually buy. Swings and roundabouts I think is the appropriate phrase here!

Just sorting out letting the house is enough for me to deal with in one go as to do that I have to visit my mortgage company and sort it out with them. I have to get a landlords gas safety certificate, an energy efficiency certificate & insurance. We have to do some decorating and repairs and I have to visit the accountant to sort out tax.... blimey!

We still have lots of other things to prepare like what belongings we are going to store to eventually get once we settle again. What we need to have with us in the van. We need to get the van fully serviced, probably a new cam-belt, fit the last ceiling panel round the chimney and do some rust repairs.

I need to find out about re-homing my cat or trying to find someone who will look after him for a year or so. I would love him to come and live with us again when we settle but the fairest thing seems to be to re-home him. If I did find someone who was happy to have him until we settled again I would love that :) That doesn't seem too likely though so he needs to find a new family :( On a happier note Busta, our dog will be coming and needs to get his passport. He has to go in for a rabies jab and then blood test and he'll be all ready!

When Lee, my son is back for sumer holidays I need to sort out anything of his that needs to be stored until he's finished university. Then we have to get him moved into his new place. I'll have to do the panic stricken mum bit and go through with him emergency procedures, making sure he has every family members phone no. and generally worrying far too much about a young man who will be 19 by then!

I'm glad we do have these few months to get sorted out. I would defiantly advise anyone planning this sort of thing to give themselves plenty of time if they have relatives, pets, houses, vehicles etc that will need sorting out before they go. Anyway enough for now, I will report back on progress soon :)

free music downloads :)

2010-03-10T08:08:00.000Z

So I got this free fancy MP3 converter thing and so have been ripping my last few remaining tapes. I gave away most of my tapes once I had a CD copier & discovered file sharing but had to hold onto the rare ones. All the following recordings are not available for sale and are really old so I think it's OK to share :)

Zion Train Live in USA or Canada 1994/95?

P.A.I.N. Live Inna M6 Style 1995

Rhythm-ites Live in Reading 1987

Rhythm-ites Demo 1986

beautiful nature in the forest of dean

2010-03-08T21:29:00.001Z

We went for a lovely walk in the Forest of Dean yesterday. It was nice to get out and forget about ebay, rental agents, currency, jobs and the cat! The forest was looking beautiful, with the first signs of spring all around. It was like the forest was waking from a long sleep.

We found a lake that was frozen in places but Busta still decided he wanted to swim :) I was really pleased how this shot came out. I wasn't even thinking about the water droplets coming off him but they showed up great in the bright sunshine. I'm looking forward to the next time he goes swimming, I'll actually set my camera to the optimum settings to capture this sort of shot!

When we got back to the car park some cheeky sheep were eating all the food people leave for the birds. Some evn climbed up onto a massive tree trunk to get a meal :)

When the sheep ate all they could find the birds came back in full force. There was a variety of birds visiting to find food. First a blackbird came to visit closely followed by some blue tits, great tits, robins, pied wagtails and chaffinches.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures. Thanks for looking :) xoxox

steppin outa babylon

2010-03-06T21:33:00.001Z

Hello friends & readers of my blog :)

Firstly many thanks for reading over the past 4 years... yes it really is that long :)

We have decided to leave the UK and go traveling in our van around Europe for a few months. We hope to do some volunteer work on the way at eco-builds and organic farms in exchange for food and lodgings as well as take a break from the endless grind of working every day.

We have family in Spain and Bulgaria and friends in France, Italy and Croatia so we hope to see them and some of the amazing countryside, beaches, mountains and wildlife Europe has to offer. We plan to settle in Bulgaria after our travels and buy a house or land and either build an eco-house from scratch or convert an existing building into a eco friendly home.

First though we have to tie up our lives here in the UK. I finish my job at the end of June and we plan to leave the UK at the end of August or beginning of September. We have a house to rent out or sell, a cat to try and find a temporary home for (we want him when we settle, we love him!) as well as a house full of stuff to sell, give away or throw away.

Hopefully this blog will give you an insight into how we manage with all the preparations to leave. Once we are on the road I will update this blog as often as possible with words and pictures from our travels. Once we are settled again you will be able to see how we cope with living in a new country and how we go about living a self-sufficient lifestyle and building or converting an eco friendly home.

I hope it will be a valuable resource to anyone thinking of doing the same thing.

The story so far...

Long long ago I had dreams of traveling in a bus around the UK, I wanted to join the thousands of new travelers that were living on the road. After the CJA life became so hard for new travelers that many left for Europe or returned to house dwelling. Even though I still dreamed of traveling I knew it was going to be too hard in the UK as I had a young son and no friends living on the road and no money to buy a vehicle. Soon my son started school and I got a job and it seemed all of a sudden we were settled with a decent wage coming in. Dreams of travels came and went and were often of further away places.

We had many holidays in Spain, France and the USA to explore this amazing planet. Before long I found myself with a mortgage and a son going to secondary school! As my son got older I started stretch my wings a little by working at festivals and often borrowing the van from work to sleep in. I met loads of amazing and inspiring people, people who had chased their dreams and were happy with their lives. I was happy with most of my life but work was taking over and after years in the same job it was becoming increasingly mundane and tiring.

My son stayed on at school to do A levels and I met a wonderful man who left his life 120miles away and came to live with us, he also brought Busta, a manic but lovable staff cross lurcher. He too had dreams of living somewhere different, where there is less of a nanny state and less CCTV, where people can live happily with not a lot of material possessions. We bought a van and converted it to a live-in and set off exploring the UK whenever we could. We talked vaguely of possibly moving but as my son was still at school we didn't take it seriously.

My son got into university and left to start a new life. We visited family in Bulgaria and saw the amazing potential of the country. House and land prices were cheap and the weather was ideal for growing all sorts of crops as well as being able to harness the power of 300 days of sunlight. The family in Bulgaria offered for us to come and stay with them for as long as we like and so with my son settled in halls and already having signed a lease on a shared house for the next two years of his degree we felt the time was right to leave.

I really wanted to travel before we settled again and by searching the internet I came across a great website that listed all sorts of organic farms and eco-builds that people could go and work at in exchange for food and board. Its called Help Exchange and it seems the possibility of working some of the way around Europe is very real. Not only that but we could learn valuable skills to help us when we settle again.

After telling my son our decision and making sure he was OK with it all (he was fine and had been expecting it anyway as I talked of traveling and moving abroad many times) I handed my notice in. As I work for family and it's a very small buisness I gave plenty of time and I leave at the end of June. The plan is to use July for last minute tasks as well as spend some time with my son before he goes back to university. The first weekend in August is Endorse-it festival and we are going there and hope lots of friends will join us for our leaving party there.

I plan to rent the house out in the short-term as we will not need the capital from it for a while, even when we get to Bulgaria there will be no rush to buy as we can stay with family. I have quite a few things to sort out and the stress is already starting although I am trying my best to stay calm! I have started writing lists (yes I am a massive list writer!) so hopefully I can break things down and get things sorted in good time and with the least amount of stress possible.

One of the first things I have been doing is sorting out things in the house we don't want or need anymore. We plan to travel light in the van and store some of our stuff in the UK until we are settled and then go and get it or get it shipped over. We have loads of stuff that we either don't want or that is pointless to try and store and pay to be shipped over as well as things we have to sell to make some money. I have overnight become a massive Ebay seller with half my clothes and shoes on offer at the moment as well as other random items. We have yet to tackle the vinyl, CDs and books, they will be a mammoth task. In fact any Ebaying is a mammoth task, I have spent nearly all day today photographing and listing about 30 items. It takes so long when its different things as you have to write a different description each time. When they sell I have to wrap and post them as well! For those interested my Ebay is HERE.

Well this is probably one of the longest posts I've written in a long time :) I really do want to update this regularly to give an insight into what it is like to make a life changing decision like this. I am sure there will be times though when life gets in the way and I may be absent for a while! I will always come back in the end. I will also no doubt still add posts of total randomness, photos and thoughts not connected with our move as I debated making a whole new blog just for our adventures but I think it will be good like it is.

Thanks for reading xoxox

busta's new coat

2010-03-05T18:15:00.000Z

busta was getting cold and we couldn't find a proper dog coat that would fit him and that was suitable so we used my friends daughters old one lol

he seemed happy enough in it even though it was thomas the tank engine hehehe