Devall Travels

Just in case we have a problem driving home after possible meetings with relatives I have booked a hotel near Ipswich for the night. It's dog friendly and at £38 still quite a bargain.  As usual I have used booking.com  with the free cancellation and no prepayment option.  If we aren't going to use it, then I have to cancel a couple of days before we are booked. Sorted.

As the country starts to pull itself out of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns we are hoping that by mid-August we can get a holiday. Rather than bother with going to foreign climes, we decided to stay in England.  I looked for somewhere dog friendly and with an enclosed garden. We decided on Norfolk. We have thought about the county before and have ended up in Devon.  After the 2019 journey to and back from Devon, where we could have been south of Lyon in the same time (!) we have marked the South-West in August as a write-off. At least until I retire when we can go at times when the school aged children are not on holiday!  It's the nature of my job I am afraid. So Norfolk it is. A cottage with enclosed garden and mostly 10/10 reviews.  I paid part of the cost with £99 by cashing in some Tesco Clubcard points (£33 in vouchers) and the rest of the deposit on dear old Tesco MasterCard. At least we'll earn some more points to spend as vouchers from that! Booked through ...

When I last posted back in June 2020 we didn't think that we'd be here in March 2021 and still up to our eyeballs in the pandemic. Covid-19 simply won't go away. So maybe 2022 will be the first chance the vaccinated population will get to have a proper holiday, and maybe even a cruise.

Whilst it gives us a chance to bang the drum for the UK's roll out of the vaccinations again Covid, it doesn't look good for foreign travel to the EU! They have barely begun to vaccinate their populations and many are entering a third lockdown.  Depending on your political affiliations I guess you'll view the EU's lack of coherent strategy and blame culture differently. First they don't order the OAZ vaccine. Then they complain they aren't getting enough supplies despite not actually authorising it for use. When that's done Macron and Merkel decide it's no good for over 65's.  Then they change their mind.  Now they are attacking the UK as we have vaccinated about 25 million adults.  They are way behind us. Now they want to ban exporting OAZ from EU countries to UK! Both Claire and I have had the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine. We are both 65+.  We had the first jab back in early February.  We have had no major side ...

Judging by the reports in the mainstream media it seems that since we have begun to roll out the vaccines against Covid-19 to about a sixth of the UK population (although that proportion is greater once you remove kids who won't get it) people have started booking holidays/vacations abroad and also in the UK! This seems madly premature, but if there are refund guarantees I suppose people want to feel there is an end to it. So for me/us. Where to go? All the planning I did last year for the trip to France/Italy and Switzerland is still there and loaded into the TomTom. It would just be a matter of checking what I wrote on the blog and re-book where I can. Instead with all the scenic railways I have been looking at on the TV programme "World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys" some of them look worth a visit and would be less of a major trek. Okay we have the choice of two cars and two  motorcycles,  but the latter though my favourite is ruled out as Claire won't go on ...

 I was reading a blog entry on one of the blogs I follow, "Key West Diary", and the latest post is about crossing the state on US41 -  https://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2021/01/alligator-alley.html It brought a couple of memories of when I did it in 1991 and when Claire and I did it a few years back on route from Punta Gorda to Weston. In December 1991 I was staying with a work colleague and friend, Carole Belcher,  in the south of Miami in Cutler I had the loan of a Kawasaki Z750 twin from her neighbour I only knew as Sgt Steve.  He was in the air force based at Homestead. I had already done a trip to Key West and decided a longer trip to Sarasota to see where my Cavalcade had come from was the next trip.  Remember in 1991 there was no internet. On the Key West trip.... I set off along US41 stopping at various places to check out the Everglades.  One stop was because I saw a large alligator on the opposite side of the water filled ditch.  He...

Day 5 - Dali Day Well, it was supposed to be Dali Day. We got up relatively early and breakfasted and then the battle of the GPS' started with both of us trying to make sure our GPS had the best route and could find the centre of Figueres! I led (as usual!) and we opted for a motorway run down into Spain, have the usual coffee break and then go into the Dali Museum. Part 1 accomplished but part two... err never happened. So for the second time we saw the outside and didn't get in. Last time back in 2001 it was closed for lunch, this time the queue to get in was about 300 yards and moving at about a yard every five minutes. It was over 90 degrees in the  Fahrenheit scale and the queue wasn't in the shade at all... Dali Museum & Theatre (N42.16096 E2.57587) Dali Theatre So after a drink outside a bar we buggered off on the next leg of the trip that would take us to Rosas/Roses for lunch and then the coast road back to France and then home. The GPS was set and off we went,...