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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.