Peter & Joanne McLeod's Travels 2018

We have arrived in Madrid and on the way to Barcelona We have finally got some good WIFI so I can upload some photos. Up until now WIFI has been slow at best and mostly diabolical. Consequently posts have been rather mixed. Spent an interesting day in the hills between Madrid and Barcelona - the hinterland of Catalonia. A heat wave has hit Spain so it was HOT - 38C and hotter in some of the rocky areas we visited. It has been a day of windy hilly roads, dry conditions and kms of olive trees. Just Olives with a few prune trees for km after km. In the more fertile areas where irrigation was available it was pears, maize and apples. A lot of the apples were covered with shade cloth. All of the maize was irrigated with fixed sprinklers. It must cost the earth to set up. The rest used flood irrigation. Convention just north of Barcelona tomorrow A shepherd watering his flock. The sheep were in good condition. No fences but they weren't going far from water. Olives as far ...

Our boat trip ended at Holyhead, the very north-west corner of Wales. Here we had to leave Robin & Brigitte to carry on to the Isle of Man and we headed back by train to London Gatwick. England and Wales are beautiful and the train is a wonderful way to enjoy the beautiful - in spite of the countryside being browner than it has since 1976. We got to Gatwick on Friday afternoon, a week after school had broken up for the year. It was one of the busiest days of the year. Then planes started being delayed. No planes left for several hours. No announcements just delays. An hour plane was called for boarding. We went to the boarding area, sat for another hour then they told us the plane was canelled and you're on your own for getting accommodation and another flight, but we will pay compensation. We sat from 8.00 pm until 10.30pm trying to get another flight - out of London to Majorca at the height of the holiday season is asking for miracles. At 10.30pm we gave up and got a ho...

Our boat trip ended at Holyhead, the very north-west corner of Wales. Here we had to leave Robin & Brigitte to carry on to the Isle of Man and we headed back by train to London Gatwick. England and Wales are beautiful and the train is a wonderful way to enjoy the beautiful - in spite of the countryside being browner than it has since 1976. We got to Gatwick on Friday afternoon, a week after school had broken up for the year. It was 36C. The hottest day in London for years. It was one of the busiest days of the year for flights. Then planes started being delayed. No planes left the airport for several hours. No announcements - just delays. Our plane was finally called for boarding about 2 hrs after we were due to leave. Then we sat in the boarding area for another hour until they told us the plane was cancelled. 35 flights cancelled out of Gatwick, a similar number out of Stanstead and probably Heathrow too. There were very heavy thunderstorms all over London causing major ...

We arrived in London and traveled straight to the far west of Wales to Fishguard to meet up with Robin & Brigette and their new boat Ruby Tuesday. It is a Jeanneau 39 ft 6 birth yacht. Very roomy and good for cruising. They have been sailing for the past 2 months around the south coast of England and are now heading up towards Scotland. The sailing has varied from dead calm motoring to some nice sailing days. Some days warm other quite cool. Not Greece but a very good UK summer. England is DRY. All the parks in London were brown. the countryside also very dry. The west coast of Wales greener. Robin & Brigette have had beautiful hot weather for the past month or so - most un-English! We have stopped at a few small villages like Aberdyfe and Pwllheli (wondering how to pronounce those? - Try Aberduffy and Perfwhelly). Also stayed at Aberystwyth, a town of maybe 15,000 people, where Robin did his PhD 40 years ago. Quite a few of his lecturers and staff are still living...

We are on the way. Arrived safely in London last night We have left a very nice lady, Kelly Worthington, as a house sitter in our house all the time we are away. Joanne has got a new SIM card for her phone will we are here. Her no is +44 7425215077. I will keep my normal NZ number.

The rough plans for our trip in 2018 are: 18 July       Leave for London via Singapore 19-25 July   Meeting Robin and Brigette in Fishguard in SW Wales and sailing north either up the Irish or Welsh coasts 26-31 July   Fly to Mallorca, Stay in Cala Millor 1-26 August Fly back  to Madrid and pick up a Eurolease car. Drive from Madrid to Barcelona, around Med coast to Gibraltar, north to Lisbon and back to Madrid. 27 Aug - 2 Sept.  Fly to Arrecife on Lanzarote Is in the Canary Islands. Airbnb near Arrecife 3-16 Sept     Tour of Morocco with Intrepid Tours 17-24 Sept    Back to nthn Spain for some walking 26-30 Sept    Canberra to see Adam Kirsty and Sophie 30 Sept          Home