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It’s a tradition for Ashley and his family to go to Chester Zoo just after Christmas. This year Caroline suggested that Lesley, me, and the Taggs all came along too. Good weather and a chance to spend time with my Girls, Granddaughters, Dominic and meet more of Ashley’s family was too good to miss.

I’m a lucky boy, I know that. I get to spend lots of time doing the things I like. Windsurfing, Skiing/snowboarding, running and more. Most of the time I get it right, Ski, when sunny, blue skies and lots of snow, windsurf, when it’s sunny, blue skies and lots of wind etc. This boxing day, however, conditions weren’t quite so good.

Okay, there was some blue sky, check, there was some wind, check. But, it was freezing cold, the wind direction at West Kirby NNW and not West, (it makes a difference).

This was the first time I’ve used the van since I’ve had the board racks put in. I’ve learnt a lot about what doesn’t quite work from this expedition.

I was seriously overpowered on my first sail, 5m, and I was still overpowered on the second sail, 4m. The wind direction made it a bit of a slog to get back upwind to the starting point, so not the best days sailing. Enjoyable nonetheless.

Happy birthday Lesley!

What a beautiful day to meet up with the Girls, Dominic, Ashley and the dynamic duo, Ella and Leyla.

We had a lovely walk around the Peckforton Hills, starting and finishing at the Pheasant Inn, followed by a lovely meal.

No wind today, so we’re off to El Teide. El Teide is the third highest volcanic structure and most voluminous in the world after Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in Hawaii. At 3718m, it is the highest peak on the Canary Islands and in the whole of Spain.

We took the scenic route up, our poor Fiat 500 hire car struggling up the winding hillsides. There are times when you just have to stop to admire the breathtaking vistas.

We’re making good use of the walkie talkies while we’re out running. We set off on different routes and then after a while we check out where we both are and run towards each other so that we can run back together. It’s not the best place for serious training but it’s lovely conditions to run in and keeps us ticking over.

A very good trip to the Apple Store at the Trafford Centre today. My iMac died, or at least the graphics card did. Apple is going to repair it for free, even though it’s nearly 6 years old.

I was also hoping to order the new iPhone 7 Plus.  According to the press, these are unavailable at the moment so I expected to have to order one. I was pleasantly surprised to find out not only did they have some in stock, but also in black, the colour I wanted. So I am now the proud owner is of an iPhone 7 Plus 256GB.

On Saturday 16th September we set off from home in our VW van fully loaded up with windsurf kit and Mel drove to West Kirby. It was a lovely day so we parked up and had a walk round the marine lake. There wasn’t much wind so there were only a few people on the water, mostly beginners having sailing or windsurf lessons. We had a coffee in the town and then sat in the van until it was time to go to the port at Birkenhead about 25 minutes away.

Check in opened at 7.30.pm and embarkation started at 9.00.pm, all very efficient and straightforward. We quickly located our cabin and after a very nice cappuccino we went to the cabin and watched TV in bed. We had a very comfortable night’s sleep, the sea was very calm and the ferry quiet until the 5.30.am announcement over the tannoy telling us we were nearly in Belfast and should be getting ready to vacate the cabin!

We disembarked on time at 6.30.am to a bright, dry, Belfast morning and set off on our journey to Gortahork in County Donegal. We arrived at the Ostan Loch Altan Hotel about 11.00.am after a very interesting and picturesque drive across the north of Ireland.

We went to the beach at Meenlaragh and Mel had his first taste of windsurfing in Atlantic waves (although they weren’t very big or powerful today). The beach is a typical Irish Atlantic coastal beach with a great stretch of sand, mountain backdrop and stunning scenery in every direction.

We had a meal in the hotel in the evening with all the group on Peter Hart’s windsurf clinic and other hangers on! It was good to meet everyone but Lesley was the only partner here for the week so she is going to have to suffer windsurf talk as the main topic of conversation!

 

Monday was the first official day of Peter’s windsurf clinic so after a briefing they all went of to the beach at Meenlaragh. It was a lovely day, sunny and dry so Lesley walked to the beach (about 6km) and then sat outside the van watching the windsurfers. There wasn’t a lot of wind but Mel still enjoyed it, tiring himself out in the process. We went for a drink at the nearby pub and then went back to the hotel where we had our evening meal again.

Tuesday morning’s weather was similar to yesterday but a bit more cloud. The windsurfers all went off to the same beach and Lesley set out to walk there again. The conditions for windsurfing weren’t so good so they drove back to go to another beach, Mel picking me up on the way. It was quite a long way away, near Letterkenny but it was another spectacular beach with gorgeous scenery. The sea was a long way out and Mel did a lot of walking and also got rescued by Peter Hart when he kept getting close to the rocks. There wasn’t a lot of wind so it made it hard work and Mel was tired again.

In the evening we went to Liz’s place, a restaurant in Dunfanaghy about 15km away. Mel drove us in our van and the others went in a minibus which Brendan had organized. We had a fantastic meal with brilliant service and good company. We met a guy who has windsurfed all around the British Isles on his own with no land support – amazing and crazy!

On Wednesday the team were going back to the beach near Letterkenny so Mel got up early for breakfast and left just before 9.00.am. It was a dull, windy and wet morning so Lesley stayed at the hotel hoping for a dry patch to do a run or walk. Mel came back about 10.30.am as they had decided to return to the beach at Meenlaragh.