A few days in Prague

We’ve just returned from a few days in Prague.  Never having been before, the city was as beautiful as we’d expected.  We used the bus and the tram from the airport to the city (cost £1) and were delivered safely just a few feet from our hotel at about 3’o clock in the afternoon.  That was early enough to get settled into the hotel and for the short walk across the bridge to the old town in the evening.

One of the very large locks (yes we have to get one in somewhere!)which allows boats to pass down the River Vltava.

James, on our first evening, crossing the river with the Old Town, and Charles Bridge, in the background.

On Monday we did a lot of walking and sight seeing . We went up the Astronomical Clock Tower in the Old Town square to get an awesome view of the city.  It’s a very long way off the ground and James is having to get used to heights these days!

A view from the Clock Tower with the Old Town Square below and the fantastic towers of the church of Our Lady Before Tyn (the Harry Potter church as we liked to call it!).

The Charles Bridge – the most frequented place in Prague.  This is where the Royal Road crosses the river on it’s way to Prague Castle and the cathedral of St Vitus (up on the hill, right of centre).  It’s a spectacular medieval structure with it’s many huge stone statues. Spot the bloke in the yellow hat!

Close to our hotel was this very thought provoking monument in memory of all those who lost their lives, or had their lives ruined, by communism.  The statue is repeated on each step but less and less of the man remains as you walk up the steps.

Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral at night.

The “Harry Potter” church at night.

On Monday evening we went to a classical music concert in the Smetana Hall which is in this beautiful Municipal House.   

Wherever we go we like to get off the tourist trail and experience the “real” thing.  For about 50p you can get a tram out of the city centre to where people actually live and where the bars and restaurants offer great food, great atmosphere, amazing prices and where the people are really surprised to see two crazy English people!  We had some interesting experiences!  

On Tuesday we had a wonderful surprise ourselves – it snowed!  In fact, for a while it obscured the fabulous views of the city during our visit to the castle.

The man with the yellow hat again! – getting towards the top of the steep climb to the castle.  The view should have shown the Lesser Town, the river and the Old Town in the background, which we did eventually see when it stopped snowing.

In the centre of the castle complex (which is absolutely vast) is the Cathedral of St Vitus (which is absolutely vast!)

A frozen guard at the one of the entrances to the castle.

After our visit to the castle we walked back into the Old Town to see it in it’s snow covered beauty.  Surprisingly, the cobbled streets and pavements are lethal in the snow – even worse when they use their big motorised brushes to sweep it away.  James survived intact despite several collisions with the ground!

We very much enjoyed our three nights and four days.  It’s a very lovely city with all the buildings being exceptionally well maintained.  It’s just a pity there is so much graffiti in places.  We had an enjoyable flight home during which we had an interesting and informative conversation with Honza, a very pleasant young man from Prague who was destined for Falmouth in Cornwall to meet up with his girlfriend and who will be delighted to read about himself here. 

We now have a few days at home and then we’re off on Monday for a week in New York to celebrate Doug’s birthday.  Hopefully we’ll be able to blog while we’re there this time. 

Solihull–still up north!

Thursday morning saw us having a fried breakfast with Stephen and Jayne at ‘The Willow Tree’ cafe in Mercia Marina before bidding them farewell and heading our way in a southerly direction.  We had a great couple of days with Stephen and Jayne, and getting a very welcome “canal kick”.  Thanks guys!

We headed towards Birmingham to visit more canal boat friends – this time Bob and June, from nb ‘Autumn Myst’, in Solihull.  After another wonderful warm welcome we got settled into their beautiful home and enjoyed an Indian take – away meal in the evening.

On Friday morning we took a walk into the centre of Solihull with Bob and the gorgeous Phoenix (guide dog puppy in training).  Having never been to Solihull before we were equally impressed with both the old parts and the fantastic new shopping centre.

Early afternoon Bob and June took us the short distance from their home to Kingswood Junction to get yet another ‘canal fix’.

This is June at the top end of the junction with Bob, Doug and Phoenix heading off in the distance.

Here we are appreciating the feeling of leaning on a lock gate again!

We enjoyed a bowl (or two) of June’s terrific home made soup back at their place before we set off home in the late afternoon. It seemed much longer than an overnight stay with them and lovely to catch up again. Thanks very much Bob and June and we look forward to doing a bit more cruising with you in the spring.

Footnote:  After the last blog we kindly received a definition of “North” from one of our readers and we’d just like to say that, for people who live just a gnat’s whisker off the sea wall on the south coast, anything past the M4 is north!

Up North!!

Yes, we’re above the Watford Gap right now.  Yesterday we travelled up to Mercia Marina, in Derbyshire, for a couple of days to visit friends Jayne and Stephen on nb ‘Dolce Far Niente’. On the way we called into our boat builders MGM at Thurmaston, Leicester for an impromptu visit and to see their latest build nb ‘Muleless’ – and it’s coming on well and looking good in its maroon livery.

We arrived at Mercia marina mid afternoon in a snow shower and biting north wind.  Amid the cold weather our welcome from Jayne and Stephen was as warm as it always is.

In the evening we took the short walk into Willington to the The Dragon pub for a lovely meal together, followed by the regular pub quiz.

Jayne, Stephen, Doug and James just about to tuck into a marvellous meal.

Today we made a homage visit (by car this time) to dear old Fradley Junction where we had a drink and a bite to eat in one of Jayne’s favourite places – The Swan, or the “Mucky Duck” as we all know it.

James, Jayne and Stephen outside The Swan at Fradley (making light of the biting cold north wind again today!)

After a quick bit of shopping in Burton on Trent, which was much nicer than we expected, we headed back to Mercia and warmth of Jayne and Stephen’s boat for a cosy evening in tonight.

Bournemouth and Budleigh Salterton

We had a good stay in Bournemouth last week – Doug enjoyed his whist convention and we still had plenty of time for a little shopping and sightseeing.

Earlier in the week we took a trip to Poole (in the rain).  There are few things more bleak and lonely than coastal towns in the rain, but just occasionally something happens which grabs the attention………….

……….like the local boat building company (sunseeker) premises catching fire and threatening to destroy their newest vessel half way through it’s construction!

Thankfully the fire brigade got the blaze under control quickly.

Back in the comfortable surroundings of the hotel we enjoy a drink (or two) with some of the whist players – Doug, Wendy, Ivy and Marion.  Sorry we didn’t manage to get the whole group together for a photo.

For most of the week we had great weather – dry and sunny but with a strong wind some of the time.  Just across the road from the hotel we had this lovely view of the pier and seafront.  To the right is part of the Russell – Coates Museum.

The museum is the legacy of Sir Merton and Lady Russell – Coates who were wealthy Bournemouth benefactors in the nineteenth century.  They left their home (a birthday gift from Merton to his wife!) and it’s contents to the nation.  It houses their collection of art, furniture and objet d’art from their world travels and is well worth a visit if you’re ever in Bournemouth. It’s free in the winter months.   

The main hall of the house, which has many rooms, all of which are open for you to wander round.  It’s one of those places which probably require a second visit in order to see everything.

After our five days in Bournemouth we continued west for a week end in our previous home town of Budleigh Salterton, where we caught up with a few friends.  We had a busy and most enjoyable time and thanks go to Palle for putting us up and for dinner on Saturday evening,  to Howard and Wendy for their hospitality and company on Friday evening and to Marion for lunch and the lovely time we spent with her and Janet.  It was also nice to bump into Jill who is a regular reader of this blog we found out!

Sunset on Budleigh Salterton seafront.

Sunset, looking east, on Budleigh seafront.

Canary Capers Continued

We’re still in Bournemouth, with Doug playing his cards, but here’s the final instalment of last weeks’ trip to Fuerteventura. We managed to see the island from north to (almost) south and there are some fantastic views to be had…………..

………this is around the middle of the island where we were so high up we could see the coast on both sides.

Just around the corner from the last view point we came across these two very nice chaps!   Here’s James making friends with one of them.

At this one of the numerous little bays and inlets around the island the Atlantic surf was coming in with spectacular power – these waves were at least 30 feet high.

At the north end of the island (where there’s an awful lot of sand!) we could look across to Lanzarote, with the tiny island of Lobos (the dark bit) in the foreground.

Our sightseeing trips were punctuated in the evenings by some local nightlife at Peiro’s Cafe Bar in Caleta de Fuste.   The star talent being Brian………… 

………..who did brilliant impressions of Freddie Mercury and Tina Turner and who was the liveliest “wire” we’ve ever seen.

One evening we met a lovely couple – Sharon and Robert from Glasgow, who were on the last night of their holiday.  We had a great evening with you guys and we’re pleased to have met you.

Another day’s sightseeing took us south, with more dramatic scenery.  All the roads look as if they were laid yesterday (thanks to EU grants!) and, even though we were on this tiny island, it sometimes felt as if we were in the USA.

This ancient volcanic landscape is barren beyond belief.

Our last night was spent back at Piero’s Cafe Bar where Brian’s amazing voice and energy kept us dancing the night away.  This is Les and Doug strutting  their stuff!

The last picture goes to Brian! Thanks for giving us some great entertainment as you may be reading this!

Canary Capers.

We spent last week in Fuerteventura, visiting members of the Braidbar Boat Owners Club (Canary Islands Branch!), aka Bill and Eileen from nb ‘New Dawn’ and Chris and Les from nb ‘Eleventh Heaven’.  They are ‘wintering’ there at the moment and kindly invited us out to spend some time together.

Doug  breakfasting/lunching  in No 1 lounge at Gatwick before our departure.

Our meal together on the first night – Les, Bill, Eileen, Doug and Chris.  Notice the the doors on the front of the restaurant are wide open – we were feeling very sorry for everyone back home (!).

This was probably Monday when we enjoyed a BBQ (and the sunshine) at the villa.

We did quite a lot of walking while we were there – the main town of Caleta de Fuste being about a mile from the villa, we decided the hire car could stay put.  On this occasion we met up, and had coffee, with the other four who drove down to the town later in the day.

The fun and laughter continues well after dark back at the villa in the incredibly warm pool (29 deg!).  Eileen, Doug and Les.
More pics in the next blog – for ‘technical’ reasons we couldn’t seem to blog on our tablet / ipad last week while we were there.  This blog comes from (not so sunny) Bournemouth where Doug is enjoying a whist convention this week!  It was a quick turn round for us as we didn’t get back from Fuerteventura until midnight on Saturday and we arrived here Sunday afternoon!  

Chance Visit

We are spending a couple of nights on ‘Chance’ as there is a warranty job to be done on the engine and it seemed like a good idea to check on things as the weather looks to be getting cold in the next few days.

After quite a cold night a reasonable spattering of snow greeted us when we woke this morning.

It quickly turned to rain as Marcus from Marcus Marine, who carried out the warranty repair for Beta Marine, started on the work.

There was small diesel leak from the flexible pipe just below the fuel filter.  It took Marcus about half an hour to put another pipe and clip on and getting fairly wet in the process! 

Later today we popped down the cut to pay a surprise visit on Tom and Jan on nb ‘Waiouru’ based  at the moment at Reading Marine and sitting out the bad weather before they make their maiden voyage in their  finished boat.  We had a good technical chat (as usual) before leaving them to their domestic cosiness and Tom who was trying to fix a technical fault on his new satellite dome.

Tonight we are going for a meal at the Butt Inn at Aldermaston Wharf.