Pip and Joy at Cassa Foster

We always have the warmest welcome when we head to Villamartín, it’s beginning to feel a bit like home from home and we always look forward to visiting. As I said previously Ian’s favourite Spanish citizens live here and although he does look forward to the human company, we all accept the pooches come first! Luckily he really isn’t too allergic to Pip and Joy, so although he can’t stroke them, he can spend time with them and play catch - new balls provided, of course.

For those of you who are new here, Vickki and I were at school together, we weren’t best friends, but of course we got on really well, our school was small, and everyone knew everyone. A few years ago, when I mentioned on Facebook we were in Benidorm, Vickki got in touch to say she was living not far away and we should visit. We are both so glad we did. Although a bit camera shy, hence the lack of photos, we always have a fabulous time with them both. 

This time we stayed for several days, joining their brilliant friends group at the bar, explored a few more restaurants and generally wound down after the journey. Ian offered his tech support skills and saved the day for Vickki and her precious files.

It’s funny how as you get older, spending time with people you enjoy being with becomes so much more important than doing stuff or having things. Thank you so much for having us Vickki and Darren (and Pip and Joy) all being well, we’ll be back next year!

It’s only a couple of hours drive (at our speed) from Villamartín to Benidorm, and it’s a pretty journey. Blue sky, turquoise sea, green olive trees and orange groves line the road and before you know it you have the familiar Bull and then Benidorm Island comes into sight… and the next stage of our winter retreat begins.

AgyVan 2 and her first big trip

It's been a long time since I blogged, and I know I didn’t finish the Irish trip. Sometimes life takes over and other things become a priority, but here we are, off in our beautiful new motorhome (she’s Agy Van2, and she's made life so much easier!).

As many of our trips do, we started with a trip to see family, dad is still doing incredibly well and at 94 is as sharp as ever, even if his body may be failing him. 

We saw so many family members in the short time we stayed, but managed to take almost no photos, so here are the few I took, prompted by my lovely sister in law Air, who is a Facebook whizz!

As we were getting ourselves ready to head south again to get the ferry an unexpected message came through to say with very strong winds expected across Biscay our ferry was delayed by 28 hours, so a quick reshuffle was necessary, and we managed to visit my big brother and his family for an overnight stop rather than just a couple of hours, which was a real treat as we don’t see each other too often. Luckily Emma took a photo (sorry Lexi you were at work). It also meant on this trip I managed to see all my nieces (which is just fabulous!).

Our ferry delay meant a long wait at the ferry port with a departure time of 1am. Everyone else seemed to be there early too. No chance of early boarding sadly! Thankfully I remembered to take a photo of where Agy Van 2 was parked as those ferries are huge and we were tired! Finding her again 2 days later needed a little planning and forethought.

Once again we had chosen to travel Brittany ferries from Portsmouth to Santander. It’s easy, comfortable and with a cabin and lounge access, feels like a mini cruise. Fortunately as we boarded our cabins were ready and the lounge stayed open. A bowl of homemade vegetable soup and a glass of rose (the best option on board) was just what we needed before bed.

Considering the delay caused by a huge storm, we couldn’t quite believe how fabulous the weather was on our sailing. By the time we woke up the next day we were met with blue skies and a wide flat tranquil sea, and this stayed with us throughout the trip- perfect.

The food on board in the lounge is delicious and with a 2 night sailing, plenty of time to try the stinky cheese, hearty soup, salads and meaty casseroles. The wine is free with meals, so we did partake of a little, although obviously not too much as we had a long drive ahead of us as we disembarked. If you asked my favourite food on board, I would have to say the freshly baked Madeleines. They are sublime. How I managed to only have 1 all trip… well… I will never know! 

On disembarkation (at 6am!) we were warned that the border checks had been extended due to the new fingerprinting immigration rules being rolled out. However this is Spain and it was Sunday morning and quite rightly the Spanish border force were not up for all that hassle. After a very short queue our passports were stamped, we were waved us through with no checks - a first for us, we are always searched. So before we knew it we were off!

As is often the case at this time of year  Northern Spain is snow capped, beautiful, and as it was a Sunday the roads were empty as we drove south east. Once we got past Madrid the scenery began to slowly change and the grass got greener, our first big black bull was spotted and the orange groves came into view (along with the awful plastic that gives us tomatoes all year round).

By 6pm we’d reached our destination for the next few days, with special permission to park here, and Ian was very excited to see his favourite Spanish residents.

The Giant's Causeway

Driving alongside stunning coastline, over high moorland,  through another stone arch that  had no historic monument status (!)  and through colourful villages we arrived in Bushmills, famous for its Whisky. 

As you may know Ian really enjoys a whisky, and I have learnt to appreciate it, however Irish whisky really doesn't do it for Ian, so we avoided the spirits and shared a flight of local drinks. An IPA, a stout and a larger, if you know us well, you know we love an IPA, and true to form, it was our favourite, but all went down well with a spot of lunch between us (we’d parked up for the night and got the bus, before you worry about us driving after this!).

Deciding to spend a few days on a campsite we stopped at Portrush (home of the North West 200 bike race) so we could do the washing, empty out and top up Agy with essentials and visit the Giant’s causeway.

Technically I have been before, but to my shame, I didn’t actually see it when I went before. It was my birthday when I last visited with my BMYC friends on our Ireland choir tour. In fact, I’m fairly certain it was my 18th birthday! It was a rainy day all those years ago and for some reason I didn’t fancy a windy, rainy walk to see an iconic location, so I had stayed on the bus, watching Faulty Towers with Martin, our bus driver (BMYC friend will remember him well!), while everyone else headed off to visit the rocks!

However this time I was keen to visit. We skipped the extortionate price to park and visit the visitors centre, and instead simply walked past them down the self same public path for free as those who had paid £34 to the National Trust.

This time it was a sunny day and the coastline looked stunning. You walk downhill for about 15 minutes spotting several areas with less prominent, but equally stunning basalt rock formations before turning the final corner. And there they are, the stepping stones over 39 ft (12 m) high, that you can scramble over, take a seat on to soak up the atmosphere, and of course, take a selfie. 

The legend tells us that these are the remains of a causeway built by an Irish giant who was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant, and so built the causeway across the channel so they could meet.

High above the causeway you can see the Organ, so named because this section looks very like Organ pipes. I’m just sad none of my organist friends were here ( this time -several were last time!) to have a go at playing them!  

From here, after dinner at a stunning location overlooking the coast we headed further east to Derry/Londonderry. A very different experience to the open vistas along the way.