Devall Travels

The second and final payment was paid to the cottage owners and I received the confirmation and directions on how to find the farm and the converted barn we are going to stay in. I had a look on Google Maps and although the pub is easy enough to find, the farm isn't. It says that it is next to the pub car-park.  The pub car-park is on both sides of the road, called Main Street. Main Street looks more like Main Very Narrow Dead End Street. We have to call the owner a few days before we have to go and I'll do that on the Monday of the week we are there from the Wednesday late afternoon. Still we are going to have to keep our fingers crossed that the weather doesn't get too shitty!

As today was actually a in the low teens temperature wise we decided to get out to Sissinghurst and I could walk the dog, and Claire could pop into the garden to see what was happening - plant-wise. In the end there wasn't much but there are signs that the crocuses will be out n the next couple of weeks.  One of the success stories is that the path around the outside of the "moat" have been laid with hard core and graded. More for the needs of the estate's farm vehicles than us dog walkers. Still it means we don't end up in the mud or having to negotiate huge puddles. The photos abouve were taken on the Sony Cybershot before the battery ran out and I moved to my Moto G50 phone instead!

If you want to know anything now you just need to go to Google and ask. My search for places to go, hopefully open in February, just after the schools' half term holiday over has come up with quite a few places.  Whether being dog friendly is Reggie-friendly remains to be seen. Luckily we, Claire and me, have plenty of waterproof walking boots and warm coats to wear should Derbyshire turn into the cold and wet place it has a few time I have been before. Reggie though has a choice of waterproof coats and a Rough & Tumble towelling body wrap that we force him into when he is wet, after a rough towelling down! Although he looks more miserable when he is wearing it than the dog in the website photo! In my previous life as a rough-tough biker I have camped often in the Peak District at motorcycle rallies. Mostly around the Ashbourne area.  Usually though in the summer when it has been mostly warm and sunny.   So where to go? Well there are plenty of places here:...

Not heard from the booking company as yet but when I logged in they will take the outstanding balance automatically on or around the 15th December.   I hope that they take it after my MasterCard statement for December is created and so the cost will be on the next one due after 13th January. Spreading the costs! Once it is all settled I can start to look at places to go that are dog friendly in late February!  Still need to have fingers crossed about the weather!   Even though the climate experts were telling us some fifteen to twenty years ago that the south-east of England would have a Mediterranean climate by now, we still have nothing to show for it.   Storm Arwen has recently struck the north east of England and border areas with Scotland and high winds and snow have taken out overhead power supplies.  Some 8 days later people are still without heating and light. Augers well for a carbon neutral future with everyone driving electric cars... b...

I have merged the Cruising merge into this blog. I've not deleted it just leaving it to die a natural death. https://pandc-cruising.blogspot.com/

I have been looking for somewhere to go for Claire's birthday next year and then eh voila, a cottages.com email arrived. Black Friday! Initially I looked at the south coast, Hampshire or maybe Dorset.  It's outside school half term holidays when prices rocket, but even so for a short break prices were silly money. I think that many owners are trying to get back what they lost during the lockdowns. I won't play that game. So I expanded the search and thought about the Peak District and had a look. Even here there are Black Friday discounts.  With the filters set for "dog friendly" and "enclosed garden/patio" there were very few options.  Individually there were quite a few but once both were entered, the choices became fewer and fewer. I bookmarked a few places but in the end decided on The Stables near Matlock in Derbyshire ! It's dog friendly so Reggie can come too.  I need to plan  how to get there. We can't check in until 3pm in any case.  Go...

I've not added any posts to this blog since 6th April 2021.  Many of the UK population had had their second jab by then and we were looking forward to being "safe" from the pandemic. Here we are in late November.  Many of us older people have had a THIRD jab and still there is no light at the end of the tunnel. People are still getting Covid-19. People are still dying. We can hope for a better 2022 but only a fool would bet any money on that being true.