Posts – Page 13 – The Adventures of Melvyn and Lesley

Chill Facter with Caroline and Lesley

Caroline wanted to go to the Chill Facter to see if she could still ski. She is hoping to go on the school trip this year and hasn’t skied since she was at school herself. As you will see from the video she has a natural ability and won’t have any problems when she gets to Austria.

After skiing we popped over to the Trafford Centre and grabbed a burrito. For Lesley and me it was a first. Very tasty, very filling and very unusual. It’s basically a huge wrap of Mexican food that is rolled in silver foil. The secret of eating it, is to gradually peel off just enough silver foil to expose a mouthful of burrito. Lovely!

Pick Ella up from school

IMG_0470 (1) The weather was fine when we picked Ella up so we decided to head out to the park before going back home. We had the park to ourselves, and as you can see from the photographs Ella made full use of it. Once we got home she did her usual of enthralling us with her ability to read and pick up difficult concepts. We talked to her about the days of the week, months and years – she was amazing.

South Cheshire 20

As a club, we are very proud of our races. The South Cheshire 20 is a tough race over undulating terrain with beautiful views. We believe our organisation and marshalling are second to none, so it is a great honour to be the lead bike on this race. You get a view of the race no one else gets. Once again the race was full before the day of the race. For the results check our website and for more photos check out Bryan Dales site.

Camping Citta di Bologna

This campsite is good for it’s convenient access to the historic city of Bolognia. Although the pitches are too small for our motorhome (9.25m), they let us park in the car park, which is flat and tarmac with an electrical hookup point. They also gave us a 10% discount for the inconvenience – we thought it was fine. There is a bus from the campsite directly into the centre of the city for a small cost.

Our neighbour, a musician, seem to have permanent residence and good be heard playing his rock guitar from the morning onwards, but never too early or late. We saw him in the centre of the city playing to the crowds – he was very good. Here is a little clip.

[quicktime]/Users/mel/Pictures/2015/Travel to vass/Italy/IMG_8957.mov[/quicktime]

Bologna

A very old city with many interesting buildings and porticos. The scale is all on the large size, many cobbled streets, piazzas, cathedrals and palaces. There was also an Escher exhibition at the Palazzo Albergati.

A Daytrip to Freiberg

Today started grey, overcast with intermittent showers. Not the best weather for exploring new places, however, undeterred and armed with waterproof clothing, we decided to visit the City of Freiburg. Included in our campsite fees was a tax that allowed us free use of public transport.

We caught a bus from the top of the road into Titisee, and then a double-decker train (I do like these European trains), into Freiburg. Freiburg is a bustling University City with interesting and ornate architecture in all directions. Many of the roads are still cobbled and there is busy tram system used throughout the city. Our first Port of call was the tourist information centre, when we picked up a map and a few key points of interest. The map is good because it had a planned route that took in some of the main features of the city. These included the old and new Town Hall, several squares, Churches and cathedrals. The city, at one time, was protected by walls and the gates into and out of the city are still well maintained. You needed to be careful while you walking and looking up around you because along the roads were open drain ways where the water flowed.

Camping Bankenhof

We arrived about 5:30 in glorious sunshine. We were lucky enough to find a good pitch and were soon settled in, with chairs out basking in the sunshine and drinking a well-earned cup of tea.

As I Lay back in the sunshine reflecting on our journey and thinking about how lucky we are to be able to spend our days travelling around Europe’s most beautiful places and meeting folk from many different countries.

Lesley made one of my favourite dinners, kedgeree, and I finish the evening by reading some of Chris Evans autobiography and watching the first episode of Inspector George Gently.

Triberg Falls

Triberg Falls are Germany’s highest waterfalls and quite spectacular. The waters of the Gutach plunge over 160 m in seven cascades into the valley below. The dense ravine forest, with its varied moss and fern flora, are canopied by silver firs and spruces of up to 50 m in height. Granite rock formations, crags and rambling streams contribute to the spectacular scenery at the waterfalls, the preferred habitat of the delightful squirrels. Triberg is in the heart of the Black Forest and one of its most renowned tourist attractions. It is famous for its woodcarving, cuckoo clocks and the Black Forest Railway. The railway has 37 tunnels and is said to be one of the most beautiful mountain railways in Europe.