A beautiful morning, although again chilly with a strong wind.

I left for my bike ride around 11:00 – headed to the canal and rode as far as Dunhamstead again, where I left the canal and tried to find a road back to Tibberton.

Unfortunately there is no quick way through like I’d hoped – I rode all the way to Crowle (where I’d been once in August) then came to the intersection of the road that goes to Worcester in one direction and Tibberton in the other. Luckily Tibberton wasn’t far at all, and I was able to get back on the canal – probably a 4 or 5 mile detour in all, and the sunny sky had totally clouded over.

Rode back along the canal, and stopped – where else? – at the pub for a cider. I didn’t even have to ask for it – she was already heading for the tap.

I arrived home just as Colin was about to leave to get a haircut. When he returned we took the doggies for a walk up to the orchard – I’m really glad I brought the right combination of clothes and jackets as it was cold!

Watched another cycling race from Italy that was taped earlier. Had lamb chops again for dinner – not huge but very tender and tasty. I’ve been eating way too much – I’m pretty good with the meals, but it’s all the peanuts and potato chips (not to mention ice-cream) that are starting to make some of my clothes a little snug. I better smarten up or I’ll be a big fattie by the time I get home.

The plumbers arrived right on time at 7:45 am to have a look to see what’s plugged – they routered the line and managed to un-plug whatever was the problem. At least they didn’t have to dig anything up, and they were gone in under an hour.

Young Neil arrived for a coffee right as I was getting ready to go for a ride – it was a bit overcast and very windy. I rode north to the canal, then headed east for over half an hour. Not too far along I pulled to the side of the path to let an oncoming cyclist pass, and he said that there was another 25 or 30 coming – all sorts of cycles including reclining ones and ones powered by the arms. Some of the guys were missing parts of limbs so I think they were some sort of club or something. A few had American flags, but others said thank you to me with English accents.

I continued on until just past Dunhampstead before I turned back.

I’d taken off the hoodie when I turned around but only made it about 100 yards before I stopped and put it back on as the wind was so cold.

There were a couple of boats going up the canal, and many others moored at certain points along the way. Some of them must stay the winter at a couple of the spots – I saw folks doing maintenance and touching up paint, etc.

I stopped at the Lyppard Grange pub for a pint of cider before returning to the house. I then took the dogs out for a walk up to the orchard, let them loose for a little run-around, then took the long way home along the paths, including through a meadow that I would never have gone into on the bike because of the gate at the entrance.

Colin went out to meet some friends for a drink and dinner while I stayed home and had another batch of fresh pasta. Watched a couple of shows on Egypt, and a couple more on farming in England – went to bed very early – before 10, I think.

Went floor shopping with Colin – he’s replacing the carpet in the living room with wooden flooring. We drove to a large home-store in Kidderminster and spent an hour or two looking at various types and colours of flooring boards – he settled on a walnut laminate that should look beautiful. Several of the boxes were slightly damaged, so they gave him 6 of the 10 for 50% off.

After that was done we stopped at the Bull pub in Fern Hill Heath for Sunday lunch. It was great – I had the roast pork, which came with roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding, stuffing and gravy, and had a bowl of mixed veggies and another bowl of potatoes au-gratin on the side. I managed to eat most of it – nothing left for the doggies at home, but was I ever stuffed.

Took the littles ones for a walk almost as far as the orchard. Back at home we watched 3 different bike races that had taped on tv – the season’s almost over so we’re watching as much as we can before it ends.

It rained off and on most of the night and looked to be an overcast day. Colin went out with young Neil to watch Neil’s little boy Joseph play football (soccer) while I stayed at the house and did yoga.

I was just getting ready to take the doggies for a walk when Colin returned so he joined us.

Walked up to the orchard again and let the little ones loose, then re-leashed them and followed the paths to the pub for a drink – no sign of Chips the cat – he must have heard the dogs coming and vamoosed for safety. The weather turned fairly nice, although still a bit windy.

Back at the house there seems to be a bit of a plumbing problem – starting from the bathroom upstairs and bubbling up through a lid in the back courtyard. Colin called the fellow that was here the other day fixing the heat registers – he’ll try to come by Sunday or Monday.

Watched a cycling race from Italy, had lamb chops for dinner, watched a movie on tv.

Got up at a decent time, and on the road to Birmingham in the campervan to get the electrical and other things fixed. Colin had to use his new jump-starter twice – once to get going, and again after stopping for gas. The drive to Birmingham was on quite busy roads, and it was raining almost the whole way.

We passed the Dunlop fort, which was the original Dunlop tire factory, and also the Aston Villa stadium. Dropped the campervan off and they gave us a lift to the area where the train station is.

There is a nice fairly large part of the city that is traffic-free and there were hundreds of folks walking around – some very nice looking restaurants, and high-end stores, in addition to an old moss-covered church.

There’s one whole area and a high building called the Bull Ring – and a large statue of an angry-looking bull – it’s where the farmers used to gather to sell their livestock.

There was a statue of Nelson, and an Apple store in a beautiful old building that looked like a museum.

The train station is fairly new and very large and airy. There are cafes, restaurants and shops on two levels. We only had 3 minutes to catch the next train to Worcester, so instead of frantically rushing to try to get it we sat in a swanky cafe on the second level and had some coffee and tea.

Caught the 12:49 train, that left right on time. On the way out of Birmingham we passed the original Cadbury factory. A couple of teenage girls got on after a stop or two and one of them talked almost non-stop the entire rest of the way – we learned all about her life and how popular she was. Her friend got a word in now and then but mostly it was a monologue – in a very loud voice – from miss popularity cheerleader with the short-skirted school uniform.

Arrived in Worcester in around an hour and walked around just a bit before heading up Tolladine road and home. Shortly after we got home Colin went to pick-up the mini while I took the doggies for a walk to the orchard. I let them off the leash as no one else was around and was surprised that they didn’t just take off running like they usually do. I think it’s because they haven’t been there before, so they kind of stuck a little closer to me than they normally would have when off-leash. I walked around with them, then leashed them up again for the walk home.

Colin went out around 5 – a friend picked him up and they went to meet a group of other friends for a drink, then dinner. I walked up to the store and bought myself some pasta and sauce for my dinner, then watched tv surrounded by doggies.

Went for a long walk yesterday with Colin, Mo and Ben down to get a battery charger and some food. Cleaned the fridge in the campervan – turns out it wasn’t the beets that had leaked all over the place, but the frozen raspberries in the little freezer. Washed everything off, including the floor – dried raspberry juice is very sticky.

The weather this morning was beautiful – slight breeze, clear blue sky. I did yoga while Colin took his mini in for servicing. Just after noon I went for a bike ride – stuck fairly close to home rather than riding to the canal.

Visited the community orchard, the grange, the pond (which is already full of floating plastic bottles and garbage again). Everything is turning gorgeous colours.

Stopped at the local pub that has the cat, and got a pint of delicious cider that I took outside to one of the many picnic tables on the terrace. The cat ignored me to begin with as two guys at another table had some food. The minute they left kitty was up on the table seeing what was left for him. After he’d cleaned the plates he came over to me when I called him – the waitress had called him Chips, and he’s a neutered male so likely more a pet than a wild stray.

He came over and eventually jumped up beside me and then onto the table. I petted and scratched him for a few minutes until he’d had enough and hissed and scratched at me. Luckily I still had my riding gloves on and he didn’t get to any skin.

Back at the house Colin had pulled the campervan onto the driveway and Lyn and Philip were out talking with him. Lyn was quite interested in the campervan – she told me they used to have one and did a lot of traveling around. Colin had bought a device to hook up to the satellite and the downstairs tv now works with all of the many channels.

Had a lovely baked salmon dinner, did some sudoku puzzles (from the book I left here in August) and went to bed fairly early.

Didn’t sleep too badly – little Mo snuggled up right on top of my right arm for the last few hours. At one point I heard cars dis-embarking from a ferry that had arrived – must have been around 5:00.

Got up around 7:30 – kind of cloudy day but not frigid. Gas still not flowing to the stove, so no hot tea with breakfast. Colin showed me the receipt from the tow-truck service yesterday – almost $800 euros!! So fortunate that he has full insurance. He then tried to start the campervan but the battery was totally dead again – another call to his insurance company, followed by another visit from a tow-truck. Again the campervan started up immediately, and the guy told him that it was charging ok.

Colin kept the van running in case it didn’t start again – we took a drive up the coast a ways, then by the time we got back to the ferry terminal they were lining up to go thru customs. We got thru without much problem – doggies have up-to-date passports of their own, and micro-chips as well. My passport wasn’t questioned either.

Sat in lines on the other side of the customs barrier waiting to board – motor running the whole time. Colin had asked before we got on what would happen if we had a problem starting the van again and was told that it was ok – they have cables to jump-start vehicles if needed. We were parked right in front of several large trailers that had been dropped off and would be picked up on the other side.

As we pulled out, right on time, I was struck by how retarded the plan of landing at Dieppe in the War was – it’s a beach in front of a small plain, surrounded all around by huge towering cliffs. They were sitting ducks – simply insane. The morning was very hazy and misty, so visibility wasn’t great, but I could still see the general area.

I was quite impressed by the ferry – it had beautiful gleaming wood floors everywhere, and the tables and chairs and all the railings were lovely wood also. In some areas there were large comfy-looking leather recliners in front of a big screen tv – apparently used for night voyages by folks that don’t book a cabin.

The sailing wasn’t full so there was lots of choices of where to sit, and lineups for drinks or food weren’t long. Colin bought me lunch, which was actually quite tasty – I had beef bourguignon on rice. The crossing was fairly smooth, but unfortunately it was still quite hazy and you couldn’t see far.

As we approached New Haven after 4 hours sailing it looked almost like a mirror image of Dieppe – if you took that part of the English coast and squashed it up against the coast where Dieppe is it would fit like a glove – high white cliffs fit against high white cliffs.

As expected the campervan wouldn’t start, but the ferry workers were right on the case and got the jumper cables hooked up and the battery going again in a matter of moments. We didn’t hold anyone up and were dis-embarking in no time. I had to fill out a short one-page form at the English customs place on where I was going in England and why, but didn’t have a problem.

We headed west near the coast on fairly busy roads for quite awhile, then turned north. We had enough fuel that we didn’t have to stop at all and got to Worcester around 8:30. When we stopped I saw a large red stain on the floor leading from the fridge – I thought perhaps my wine had spilled, but that would be weird without me noticing it. I then concluded that maybe the beets in the fridge had burst (they were pre-cooked in a plastic bag with liquid).

We loaded the important baggage and stuff into the house, then I returned to empty the food from the fridge – the gas wasn’t working to keep it cold and we didn’t want the food to all spoil. When I removed the beet package I couldn’t see a hole in it, but bundled everything into a bag and took it inside the house.

Got settled back into the bedroom I’d used in August, and got to sleep quickly.

We got loaded up and ready to go by around 11:45 am – but didn’t get anywhere as the battery was completely dead. Luckily Colin has a charger, and he plugged it in for 45 minutes and got fully charged and on our way before 1:00. Bye-bye Mansle.

Stopped for food supplies in Ruffac, then continued north past Poitiers, Tours (crossed the Loire river again), Le Mans, and then Alencon, where we stopped at a nice road-side rest stop for dinner. Unfortunately the gas wasn’t working – apparently there’s an air bubble in the gas line from when it was filled in Ruffac, so instead of having steak we had baguette/bun with cheese – not the same, but at least we’re not going to starve.

There are large signs on the side of the highway notifying about all of the local points of interest – there is so much to see here. Crossed into Normandy – same kind of large signs everywhere. It got quite stormy off and on – rain hit hard a couple of times.

Not long after that we came to another toll-booth, and when Colin went to re-start after getting the ticket out of the machine the campervan battery was dead again. Very strange, as the van had been turned off at the gas station, the store and where we stopped to eat and had started again with no problem at all.

They put the big red X up in the lane we were stuck in and Colin called for help (he has good insurance). About 45 minutes later a tow-truck showed up and got it started again in a matter of moments. The guy filled out a paper that Colin signed and we were on our way.

Another 1 1/2 hours and we were at the ferry terminal in Dieppe – parked in the parking lot, along with several other campervans and cars and got settled for the night.

Long, tiring day, and I wasn’t the one driving.

Haven’t done much the last couple of days so nothing to post. Took doggies for walks, stopped at the bar – the usual.

Except I believe my back bike light was stolen when I stopped at the store since I can’t find it anywhere and I’ve only been out for one ride here this time.

And also the men’s elite road race happened today – it was very long at over 260 km and they showed the whole thing on tv – except that the video failed during the final 4 km and all we got to see of the very exciting finale was the last 900 metres or so. In the end that was all we needed – Peter Sagan came through for the third world title in a row – yay!!

Got up a little earlier – did chi-gong and yoga while Colin took the doggies to the vet. Went for a bike ride north to the village of Saint-Groux, crossed the river and came south via Goue, passed a very large chateau, then back to Mansle.

Colin and the little ones were at the bar when I got back to town, so I joined them for a glass of vin rouge. Back at the house we watched the junior women’s road race – won fairly convincingly by a young Italian.

Neil got back from the vacation he took with his daughter – sounds like they had a wonderful time hiking, etc. in the Pyranees. Colin and I then went to an outdoor photo festival in the nearby town of Barro.

It was much larger than I had expected – all of the photos were blown up and displayed outside on either large easels or hung on building walls, some even displayed over the river. There were quite a few black and white displays and the subjects were extremely varied – I quite enjoyed it.

Bought fish and chips for dinner at the same place as before – they were just as good as I remembered. Watched a bit of tv, read for awhile, listened to a couple of videos on you-tube, fell asleep quickly and easily.