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Eggy bread for breakfast to use up everything that was in the fridge then Julie and I went round the flea market, while Andrea and Catherine went to mass. The  market is always good, with lots of little stalls with a variety of antiques. Bought a couple of necklaces, a wedgewood cream jug, a silver ladle, and a silver serving spoon with the initial C on it.

Lunch in the Rising Sun, back to the cottage to finish clearing up, and then the walk to station. Rather bizarrely we saw a bishop, complete with purple frock, flowing cape and crook walking past the cottage. Of course, we had to ask him if he was real or in fancy dress. He assured us he was real, as was the crook, and he turned out to be the Bishop of Hereford.

Uneventful journey back, someone sitting in some of our seats who told us that they'd been treble booked, but didn't believe him! Great weekend as always.

Retail therapy and history

Today was still misty but not as bad as yesterday. Got up even later, and after a fairly full English breakfast, went for a walk round the town. Walked down to the river, saw the restored horseshoe weir.

and up past the Broadgate and the Wheatsheaf.

Into town, and visited some lovely food shops, and bought meat and game to bring back with us. Then back to cottage for soup lunch. After lunch we did the Ludlow Town Trail, purchased from Tourist Information, which took us round the town, mainly to places we knew, but some we didn't. Ludlow is a beautiful town, full of half timbered buildings and Georgian houses. It's also a foody place, with gourmet restaurants and food shops. Went in the lovely old church of St Lawrence, and bought some Christmas Cards. Heard the local choir rehearsing for the evening concert which was quite atmospheric.

Had a good mooch round the shops, and then finished up in the Church Inn where we tried the beerbat:

and then  a glass of mulled wine.

Back to the cottage and watched Strictly Come Dancing and then out to the Charlton Arms for a meal. The pub had been done up a lot since last we went there, and we had a great meal. Andrea and I called at the Wheatsheaf for one last drink, then back to the cottage.

Foggy Walk

Woke up latish on Friday, about 9am, to thick fog. Could hardly see across the road. Had a good English breakfast, including some huge mushrooms we'd bought from the market yesterday. Andrea and I left the others clearing up,  and quickly walked up to the market to buy the veg for tonight's meal.

Then we set off for a walk, except for Val who didn't think she could walk that far. First we had to negotiate the market square where there was a nice market, and we stopped to look at some interesting stalls. One in particular caught our eye, it was selling wind chimes made out of old silver knives and forks, and pendants made out of farthings While I was looking at this stall I noticed my glasses didn't feel right, and realised a screw had come out. Luckily there was an optician nearby, and I took them in, felt a bit stupid when they noticed the lens was also missing, and I hadn't noticed. After some frantic searching round the stall I assumed I'd lost it, and opened my glasses case to put the broken glasses away. And there was the lens. I'd obviously put them on in the morning with a lens missing and hadn't noticed!

From there we set off on the the walk. Very misty and atmospheric, but not cold and it was pleasant walking. The castle looked very spooky in the mist.




Walked for a couple of hours, with me in charge of map reading, and only got mildly lost once.

Had a coffee stop where embarrassingly we realised we had more hip flakes than coffee flasks





Ended up at The Clive for lunch. Very nice place, and we managed a local pint, bottle of wine, crab sandwich and chips.

Next door was Ludlow food centre, a sort of glorified  farm shop which obviously we had to look round, but that made us a bit late setting off to get back, and it began to get dark, as well as more foggy.

For about a mile we walked through a very muddy lane, without the lovely views of Ludlow castle we normally get. The mud was worse than usual  and we all ended up very wet,

but soon made it back and into the Bulls Head for a drink. We'd walked 6 miles and the route's here:



Then back to the house for firelighting and food preparation. It was Children in Need night so the TV wasn't  brilliant, but we had a good time, a good Christmas dinner, including one of my mum's Christmas puddings and crackers

After dinner me, Julie and Andrea went for a walk and end up in the Wheatsheaf, a pub under one of the gatehouses.
Then came back, and made the traditional soup of all of the leftovers, managing  to fuse the kitchen lights in the process. Late to bed, about 1am.

Girls go to Ludlow

Off to station for girls weekend in Ludlow - wonder how old you have to be to be to stop referring to yourselves as girls? Lots of police about, thought they might be after me after the twitterjoketrial stuff, but then remembered the Queen is visiting the University and arriving at the station. Had to leave before she got there, and caught very packed train to Stockport. Quick change of platforms and onto train to Ludlow. Andrea and Julie managed to wind a skein of wool, and we all managed a couple of glasses of Bucks Fizz.























Arrived about 12.30, walked to lovely cottage, Emily Place, dumped bags, and we were in one of our favourite pubs, The Church Inn by 1pm. A pint and some lovely food, and then outside to the market square, where it was raining. Lots of great shops, so we had a good look round, bought some meat in the local butchers which has lots of fresh game hanging outside.




Then to Tescos. Halfway round with a trolley full of booze we remembered that we had to carry everything.

After shopping, back to house. A martini, a rest, a read of various books and newspapers, and then busy again - cooking tea ( sausage, mash and broccoli with cheese sauce), and lighting the wood burning stove. Bit hard as there was only one fire lighter, but managed it with lots of paper.
Finished tea with mince pies and cream, and then watched TV until bed time. Didn't go out for a change. Too tired.

Long journey home

Went to bed at a reasonable time on Saturday night, and up by 0730 - seemed like the middle of the night!
Drove to the airport, but had a panic at the end because couldn't find a petrol station and we had to take the car back with a full tank. Risked turning data roaming on the iPhone and used "AboutMe" which took us to one straight away. Mahon's a nice airport, small and not busy at all. Boarded our lovely little turbo prop plane (I'm being sarcastic - hate them) and took off in glorious sunshine. Actually had a nice flight. Only in the air for 20 mins, so barely got high at all and had fantastic views of the whole of Menorca, and of Mallorca as we flew in to Palma. I even looked out of the windows and took some photos.

Then to Palma for a 90 minute wait, and was really grateful for our Priority Passes as we got to spend it in the VIP lounge. Free drinks, sandwiches, newspapers and wifi. Then on to our flight to Madrid. Another hour and a half and we were there. Quite uneventful. No turbulence, but was getting very sick of the Iberia menu of ham and cheese sandwiches by now.

After less than an hour's wait we were on the final flight to London, clutching a bottle of duty free brandy and several bags of gummys for the grandchildren. Spent the journey playing Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies on the iPad, much to the amusement of the people sitting next to me. For some reason Stu and I had been seated apart. Landed a few minutes early, but then had to sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes as there was no gate for us. Must have been a shock to ground control, us arriving out of the blue like that.

Finally got off, quick passage through passports etc, got all the bags (I was amazed that they'd followed us through 3 airports), and we set off to drive back to Sheffield. We were keen to make it back to the pub quiz as a friend celebrating his birthday would be there. Normally takes about 2hrs 40, and we had a good start with Stu driving and playing the normal beat the satnav game. Got slowed down a bit by a police car doing 69 miles an hour in the slow lane. Spoilsport. Anyway, made it for 9.30, and arrived in time for start of quiz, and for a change we won!

Great holiday!

Last day, pool and more caves

Fantastic sunny day, hardly a cloud in sight, so decided to head for the pool. First time we've actually sat by, it, but today was too good to waste and we both felt we needed some rays! It's a lovely pool area, overlooks the sea, and there was only another two couples there.




I read my book, "Eleven" by Mark Watson, very good, and Stu listened to music on his iPhone. The rest of us listened to him snoring. A white cat stayed eith us most of the morning, sleeping first under, and then on one of our sun beds,
After a couple of hours headed back to the apartment for a bit of lunch.




Then decided to go to the caves at Cala Morell, the ones I thought we were going to yesterday. This time we found them. Really are quite impressive. They're set in a deep valley just off the road, and apparently have been used for a variety of things, including as dwellings and as burial chambers.
Some of them are huge with central stone pillars




There's evidence of complex water collection systems





It's a lovely site, and about 20 caves to explore, all different.





Cant risk posting anymore photos from here as BlogPress doesn't like it, but will do when I get back.

Got back in time to pack. Then out to eat for final time. Had a minor panic as Stuart's glasses fell to pieces, and we had to fix them with an oversized screwdriver, Stu almost blind with no glasses on, and me as clumsy as ever. Managed it finally, much relief as far as I was concerned as without his glasses he can't drive, and we've got a lot to do tomorrow!.

Sad to be leaving this lovely Island, and not particularly looking forward to the journey home, 3 flights and a long drive!

Caves?

Today we woke to glorious sunshine, so decided to go hunting for some caves. Last time we were here we went to some which both us remembered clearly, and I was fairly certain were at Calescoves. So, we drove there, on the way saw a couple of red kites circling overhead. Very beautiful, so low we could see their markings, but they were very camera shy and flew off as soon as we stopped and got the cameras out. So we parked, walked for 30 minutes down a lovely track, through very lush, tropical vegetation, with the sea in the distance.




It was very hot, and we were both aware that we were walking downhill, which means the way back had to be up. I was also fairly certain I'd not been there before. So, eventually we got to the sea, which was beautiful. A lovely cove, with blue sea, and many caves in the rocks above. Stu put his hand on a rock, and the cicada sitting on it wasn't happy, so bit him.




We managed a quick paddle, and clambered over some rocks to look at the next bay, but these were definitely not the caves I thought we were going to. So, we walked back up the hill, accompanied by a small black cat who obviously thought we might have some food on us.

A quick search on google images on the iphone for "caves menorca" found a picture I recognized, and the caves I'd intended to go to were on the other side of the island. Not to worry, it had been a lovely walk. So, we drove further round the coast to Binnebeca Vell, described in the guidebook as an architectural curiosity, a village designed to look like a typical Menorcan fishing village. Very odd, looked like something you could film an episode of The Prisoner in, and it was shut!





Eventually we found a bar which was open in Punta Prima, but they had no food, so our lunch was:




The view was fantastic though, and I did have an ice cream as well! Back to the apartment, and we got a lift to a bar in the neighbouring village where we had a good meal and lost the pub quiz, a pleasant evening spoiled only my the amount of smoking going on. Thank goodness for the smoking ban in British pubs. Forgotten what it was like to have watering and stinging eyes and clothes that smell of stale smoke.

Cuitadella

Woke up early this morning, but it was raining, so went back to sleep! In fact, it had been raining, and thundering, and lightning all night. Eventually after a couple of good cups of coffee, and a look at the Jeremy Kyle show (I've never seen it before- what a eye opener!), the sun came out, so we decide to go to Cuitadella. It's the second biggest town in Menorca, and very different to Mahon, it has a Moorish feel to it, illustrated beautifully by the Town Hall in one of the squares





We spent a couple of hours wandering round narrow streets, of course, all shops were shut, but that wasn't a bad thing.





We walked through squares, passed markets, and saw orange trees loaded with fruit. The town was much busier than Mahon, and seemed much more lived in. Many more tourists as well, because it's full of lovely architecture, like a smaller version of Barcelona. We went for a walk along the harbour, past the moored yachts, and found somewhere to have lunch.





Unfortunately, we thought we could just have a salad but when we were settled, discovered that they were only serving the "menu del dia", so we were forced to have a three course meal. Wasn't too much of a problem, but then a bottle of wine appeared as apparently each menu included half a bottle of wine each. Stuart was driving, so it was down to me. I put up a good effort, but did in fact leave about half a glass..... The meal was lovely, and my lemon sole was perfect.

After lunch we set off to drive back, but stopped off at the Naveta des Tudons, a prehistoric burial monument, just by the main road.

Got back in time to have a play with the newly installed wireless network, a nap, and then to eat at Smithy's bar up the road on the last night before he closed for then winter. Back in time to see Terry Wogan hosting Buzzcocks.

Christine's really cross again

Just posted this on my work blog, but think its so important, have put it on here as well!

I might be on holiday, but am still in touch with what's going on in the world, thanks to free wifi in many cafes and bars, and as of today, some paid for access in the apartment. So, why I am I breaking blogging silence, on what is really a work blog? Well, it's because I'm really cross, that's why. Today Paul Chambers found out whether his appeal against his conviction for sending a "menacing electronic communication", or a tweet, had been successful. It wasn't. Thrown out on all counts. Too many people have written about it and much more eloquently than I can, but in summary:
Paul was fed up because flight to Belfast to see his girlfriend had been cancelled. Tweets to his 40 or so followers that he might blow the airport sky high. Duty manager at said airport (Robin Hood, how ironic can you get,..), found the tweet a few days later when he searched for the airport. Didn't think it was a credible threat, but passed it to his manager. He didn't think it was a threat either, but passed it to the police. They turned up at Paul's workplace and arrested him. After some hours of interviewing, they decided it wasn't a threat, but passed it to the CPS. The rest is history as they say. You can read the story here.

Today's judgement is outrageous, for so many reasons. Graham Linehan, of Father Ted and IT Crowd fame, has suggested it's because people just don't get social media, and Twitter in particular. Heresy Corner disagrees. Martin Robbins has written a great piece in the Guardian about it.

Is it ironic that the judgement came on the day we remember those who died for our freedom, and one of our basic freedoms, that of speech, is being gradually eroded? I hope this case makes it to the High Court and the judgement is overturned. But that will cost a lot of money. You can donate to the cause here.

Don't know what else to say. Going back to enjoying my holiday, but will be supporting Paul when I get back.

A mountain, a lighthouse and a good lunch

Today we woke up to glorious sunshine, so decided to drive to the top of the tallest mountain on Menorca because we wanted to have some good views. Last time we went up it was cloudy. Monte Toro isn't a very tall mountain, only 361m, but you can see most of the island from the top. The drive up isn't too bad, I've done a lot worse, and when you get to the top there's a convent, church and a huge statue of Christ, completely dominated by radio masts, and not a wifi signal in sight!





There's amazing views over the island, including Fornells where we drove to later. Menorca is a beautiful island, very lush (probably because it's the wettest of the Balearics), and full of wildlife. We've seen Red Kites, Kestrels, and a little bird that looks like a black robin called a Stonechat





And because it was so clear we could see Mallorca really well. It was very windy, and I was beginning to question putting shorts and a t-shirt on. Luckily I had a fleece top, but the locals were all in thick coats and scarves, and thought we were mad. The church is set in a lovely quiet courtyard, with white walls and lots of plants.

So, we hung around looking at the views and taking photos for a bit, and then decided to drive to Cap de Cavalleria, a long peninsula along the side of Fornells bay with a lighthouse at the end. Last time we did this drive it was in December, and it was freezing. There's a photo of me in a fleece jacket, with a scarf and a wooly hat, shivering. Today it was windy but sunny and much warmer. We were still the only ones in shorts though!




Some great views of little harbours, big waves, and lots of sunshine. A lovely drive, and the roads weren't too scary either. In my experience, drives up mountains or to lighthouses often involve very sharp corners with sheer drops on one side, usually mine, and when I'm not driving I'm usually either hanging on to the door, or have my eyes shut.




By now it was nearly lunchtime so we drove to Fornells, a little fishing village, which we last visited in the pouring rain. This time it was glorious and even my fleece came off. We found a lovely cafe and had omelette, chips and salad, a couple of beers, and free wifi.



Sat here for ages, it was a real sun trap, and then had a walk around the harbour and bay. Then drove back towards Arenal d'en Castell where our apartment is, and decided to explore Na Macaret, which is just round the corner from us. Of course, it was closed, with the beachfront shops and houses boarded up against the winter tides, but we had a pleasant walk along the beach and a boardwalk, saw lots of little green fish:

And some lovely views of Addaia



Then back to the apartment where we discovered the TV had been fixed so we could watch the Apprentice, and a wifi router had been installed. Unfortunately it wasn't working, but it might be before we leave. Cooked a meal in tonight - steak, garlic mushrooms, green beans and jacket potato, washed down with some good cava. Intention is to have an early night to make sure we get up early so that we can get to Cuitadella tomorrow before everything shuts at 1pm. We'll see!

Ooops...

...seem to have broken Blogpress with that last post. Too many photos.
They're all there if you click on them. Will fix when I get back.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Taulas, talaiots and hipostolic chambers

Today we ventured out to see some of the archaeology on Menorca. There's loads of it, most of it easy to find, and the bigger sites have good interpretative information, and at this time of year, entry to them all is free. Started off a bit cloudy, but with some blue clouds, and thankfully no rain. First off we went to Trepuco, just outside Mahon. This has one of the tallest Taulas in Menorca - a Taula is basically a standing stone with another stone resting on top of it. Like a table. Used for worship apparently.

You can just see a Talaiot behind it, or a big heap of stones. Apparently used as a fortress to guard against invaders, and not hollow, but some of them have some chambers near the top.

Then we drove to Talati de Dalt, a huge site with many Talaiots:

and a Taula that was interesting because one of the nearby stones had fallen onto it.

There was also some dwellings which had survived, and this cased a minor panic as half way round the site I realised I no longer had my bag on my shoulder. It only had my money, passport, credit cards etc on it, so not important, and after the first panic, I realised I'd taken it off to take a picture of them. Ran back, and there it still was. Can you spot it?




From here we went to Torralba d'en Salort, and narrowly escaped being locked in the car park, as it closed at 2 and we hadn't realised. Not a lot to report from here as we only had 10 mins to look around. Another Taula, another Talaiot.

Finally we went to Sa Torre d'en Galmes, the biggest of the sites and the best, with views of the sea and in the distance Mallorca. The taula here wasn't very impressive as the top stone had been taken off in Roman tomes, but there were some very good remains of dwelling places in amongst the talaiots, with lintels still in place




And an excellent example of a circular house where you could see the rooms, central courtyard etc.



I managed to get my picture taken by all the Taulas, and you can see the difference in size, and the difference in temperature during the day:

Then, as it was getting late in the afternoon and we hadn't had lunch, we decided to drive to the nearest beach, Son Bou to see if we could get something to eat. But, like the rest of Menorca at the moment, it was closed. We did see some amazing waves though, very big for the Med, and watched some guys on small boards with little kite like sails attached (I'm sure there's a name for it but don't know what it is!) shooting up and down along the beach and jumping into the air.

So we drove home, and had lunch at 1630 in the apartment. Our clocks always change on holiday. Get up late, have breakfast late, lunch late in the afternoon, evening meal about 9pm.

Mahon in the rain

Yesterday we woke up to rain. Lots of it. But, there was a hypermarket within 20 minutes, so off we went. Part of the holiday for both of us is shopping for the week, in a supermarket we don't know. Actually, it used to be more fun when shops were less similar, but it's still fun. Still get a cheap laugh from buying bread called Bimbo and coffee called Bonka. After buying the essentials, plus lots more stuff that wasn't, including a bag full of dates, apricots and figs, we drove into Mahon, or Mao, the capital of Menorca. A lovely town, even in the rain. We walked through pretty old streets, past the cathedrals, into loads of squares with orange trees in them.





We had tapas and beer for lunch in a bar in one of the squares, and it had free wifi so we caught up on Facebook and Twitter. Something that baffles most of us from the UK is that the shops shut between 1300 and 1700, just when most of us would be shopping. It's like a ghost town. Don't understand it at all.





Got back to the apartment about 5 and had a lovely rest in a very hot bath with a g and t. Then off to find somewhere open. It really is very quiet. Even the bar on the complex is closed. Found a great small place about 10 mins walk away called Smithy's Bar. Full of English tourists and ex pats, but good food and pleasant company. Full of garlic mushrooms, chicken and wine we walked back to the apartment. More wine, chocolate and Spooks on the TV. Never watched it before but there's only 3 English channels, so we have to watch whatever's on. Enjoyed it! But then The Trip came on. Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan at their best.

Woke up in the middle of the night to very stormy weather and no electricity, but this morning the sun is shining and everything's working except the English TV channels. No Breakfast Show then. Off on a Taula hunt later.

Fireworks, bonfires and a long journey

I love fireworks, the bigger the better, and I particularly like setting them off. I even hitched my wedding dress up and let them off at our wedding. I was really lucky this weekend to get invited to a firework party, and to go to a big bonfire. 30 years ago on bonfire night two good friends of ours moved to Sheffield, bringing with them a carefully wrapped rocket to set off when they got here. So, on bonfire night 30 years later they had a celebration, asking everyone to bring a firework or rocket. The food was excellent, the company great fun, and I got to help set the huge amount of rockets and fireworks off. Luckily they have a big garden. But it does have a number of very mature trees through which we tried to angle the rockets. We only failed on three occasions and they either came crashing back to earth or blew up in the tree. Luckily no damage was done, although we did run, jump and swear a couple of times.

Then on Saturday we went to Chatsworth bonfire. Some friends who live nearby invited to eat there first, so didn't have far to drive, but the traffic was horrendous when we got close. We decide to park by the estate house and walk through the park to the house. Very exciting in the pitch dark, and made even more so by our encounter with a herd of deer, with the stags' antlers silhouetted on the skyline. The bonfire was huge, and I didn't get burned this year - last year a spark landed on me and burnt through 3 layers of clothing and I only realised when my bra started smouldering.

We queued for ages for a glass of mulled wine, and decided next year we'd take our own, but that was made up for by the firework display which was fantastic. Some great ones that landed and burnt on the lake, and others which had small parachute type sparks floating down.

Then home to finish packing, and up early on Sunday morning to drive to Heathrow. We always try and get away in the autumn, usually to either Tenerife or the Balearic Islands, but this year when we booked the apartment for November, I hadn't realised that many airlines had stopped flying at the end of October. I couldn't find a single direct flight to Menorca. The only option was to drive to Heathrow, fly to Madrid and then to Mahon. Now, I don't like flying. I especially don't like taking off, and turbulence just makes me think I'm going to die. So, I wasn't too happy that I had to take off twice, and both flights were very bumpy. The first one had the captain tell us not to worry, and the second one was such a small plane I thought it was going to fall to pieces. It also dropped several times. Good job it was Stu sitting next to me as I tend to grab the person next to me, no matter who they are. I once spent a whole flight from Belfast to Sheffield grasping the knee of the random man sitting next to me. Anyway, we got here. Picked up the car and drove the 30 minutes to the airport, in the rain! Reception was closed because it was gone 2300 when we got here so we had to phone the emergency receptionist to let us in. Luckily we'd had the foresight to pick up a couple of bottles of duty free so could at least have a quick drink before bed, together with a couple of fried eggs on toast which was the only thing we'd eaten all day except for a couple of airline sandwiches.