Anniversary Cream Tea

Day 1

Actually our wedding anniversary is Monday but we started with the cream teas in advance.

Day 2

Lovely. 

Bought online from The Cornwall Company. Superb stuff.

The box came with four scones, jars of jam, teas but only one clotted cream...

Awaycation Autumn 2024 - Northwards?

I sent this to Blogger by email and it was refused for some reason. 

It worked okay on Travellerspoint,  and so rather than type it all out again I have simply linked it....

HERE

North of the Somport Tunnel

Molly new seat covers!

New seat covers. They were a very tight fit. Cheap at £39.95 but difficult to fit over the driver and front passenger seats.

Tight and baggy!! How?

They'll have to do.

Recommend? No.

Southeastern Railways to Ebbsfleet - Delay/Repay

I forgot all about doing the delay/repay claim until nearly a week had passed. The online system allows you to claim within 28  days so was okay.

I filled it all in and they can easily link to my Key smart ticket card. I was amazed that within 3 hours they had refunded the full fare.  Now I just have to wait for it to appear in my bank account!

Awaycation Autumn 2024 - Rough Route South

So after a bit more work with apps and the map books, I have two now, I have a kind of route planned for the journey from the ferry port at Calais to the apartment in Alcoceber.

In total four overnight stops on the way down. The first has been booked for months as it is a small Camping-Car Park Aire (CCP) with only 6 pitches and it does get full quite early.  Hence we booked an earlier ferry so that we can arrive in daylight (!) and maybe choose the pitch rather than being the last in and having what's left! That's at Formerie.

For the second overnight I was looking at a place on the Loire at either Bonny or Beaulieu sur Loire.  They aren't too far apart but it looks as though all the rain in France has caused flooding and both the sites I fancied seem to be closed "temporarily".  One is a municipal aire and the one at Beaulieu is a CCP aire. 

This meant a rethink. Not that far away and still showing as open is the aire at the marina in Châtillon-sur-Loire. I dropped them an email today to see that everything is okay.  The aire looks really nice. The overnight price on the website looks very competitive.

Using the ruler and counting the page "squares" on the map on the inside cover of the map book, I have calculated that with a lot of toll-free motorways on the A77/N7/A75 we could cover more ground on day 3. So once again I was looking on Search4sites and the CCP website. I have found what looks like a very nice aire at La Canourgue to the north of Millau and the famous bridge. I've not booked it as it's easy enough to check out the pitch availability on the app when on the way. 

I have some credit left on my CCP account as we topped it up in May/June and didn't use it all plus I found an error in my calculations meant I was £38 in credit on the Halifax Clarity card we use in Europe.  So I used €40 of that and topped up a bit more onto the CCP card.  It makes booking aires in advance easier and also, when tapping in and out it takes it off the card and not off the bank card.

From there we will have an exciting €16 journey over the Viaduc de Millau. It's one of the few tolls we should encounter along the route.  Apart from the A16 from Boulogne to Abbeville, and the A9 to get to the Spanish border that is!

The fourth and last stop I am planning is at Saint-Cyprien Plage Marina aire.  We stayed there in November 2022 and it was perfect for what we needed for a single overnight. Hopefully it won't be full, but there are alternatives not too far away on the CCP app.  

One of the reviews gives it low marks because it's "basically a tarmac parking area" - that's what aires are unless they are former campsites!

This time next week we should be on our pitch at the Marina at Châtillon-sur-Loire.  😁

Kilometerfresser 2025

This years competition started on August 1st. The day I had my MoT.

Since then I have done very little mileage with the terrible weather and a few weekends away in the motorhome.

So today I filed the end of September odometer readings.

Vera Strom 

Kettle 

That will be all for a while. Holidays coming up. 

Current standings: https://www.kilometerfresser.eu/kf/kilometerfresserrangliste.htm

Out with Vera - Jo's Café

 Today was supposed to be raining. Then yesterday the forecast changed to sunny intervals but dry.

As I missed going on the bike to Ebbsfleet yesterday, I decided to give Vera a run out.

Only to Jo's Café at Brooklands to give her a run out. It's probably the last chance for a while as we are away for three weeks in the Moho next weekend.

As usual Vera started on the button. As far as New Romney the speed limits are either 30 or 40mph. This doesn't stop Willy Wanker with his loud exhaust pipe from riding like a cretin in the villages. 

Once away from the towns and built-up areas in Kent, there are few cameras and fewer chances of meeting a police officer. Yet these dicks still seem to be unable to find a higher gear than 3rd or keep to the limit.

Jo's parking was pretty much packed when I arrived. The adjacent model car race track was open and the majority were in there. The newly concreted bike park was chokka too. I found a space.

Inside there were a few tables and I had bacon sandwich and coffee. 

Once done I set off towards Rye and back via Appledore. Passing the bikerpics.com photographer on the A259 on the way. Let's see what he got of me .. 

Back home before midday.

Oldham Athletic at Ebbsfleet United - September 28th 2024

After the hassles of the train journey and the fast walk to the ground I needed a pee and then got lunch. 

Okay tea as we call it in the south. Dinner to northerners. Very good it was too.

The Oldham fans standing had only about a third of the open end behind the goal. It was pretty packed and so I went into the seats. 

In total there were maybe seats for 100 and there were never more than 8 of us. The man I see at lots of games and his little dog were there again.

The game was far better than the last time in February. Latics on the front foot from the off, but neither goalkeeper had much to do to save any goals. Lots of huff and puff.

Ebbsfleet weren't very good in the first half and Latics had a few chances.

The second half and the blues were out nice and early and were made to wait longer before Ebbsfleet bothered to come out. Maybe they thought the could "check out" early like one of the online betting companies offers gamblers.

Latics went ahead from a corner on 48 mins. That seemed to wake up Ebbs and they improved. It wasn't until the 81st minute before they got a soft penalty.

There's always loads of holding and pushing at corners. This one no different to all the others, but the ref gave it. 1-1.

Latics of old might have crumbled. But instead fought harder for Khan to score the winner.

Phew. A fourth win on the bounce. The second in three weeks for me on the road in the south.

The trip home was better. A swift walk back to Ebbsfleet International and the 1959 back to Ashford International - one stop - and then the slow train back to Folkestone West.

Next time.  Depending on the time of year. Take the bike!!

Southeastern Railways to Ebbsfleet!!

Whose great idea was the train? 

I arrived at Folkestone West in good time only to find all the trains were delayed due to trespassers on the tracks near Dover.

The information boards seemed up to date with slow trains, but not for the High Speed service I needed. "Delayed" isn't helpful.

When the boards did update, the 1601 High Speed service would not arrive until at least 1629. So I got the delayed by 20 minutes 1540 slow train to Ashford International. It crawled along.

It would be a tight squeeze to get from Ashford Platform 1 and across the Platform 5 for the 1640 HS, that had come via Canterbury and not Dover. On a good day I should have been stepping off the train at Ebbsfleet International...

In the end it was fast walk between platforms as we had been sitting alongside the rail works admiring the new German built equipment for cleaning the rails and removing the slippery leaves and ice, for ten minutes.

Platform 5 was packed. The announcements confused the late running 1616 (the one I should be on) and the on time 1640.

People got off and back on. One announcement was this train would run fast to London. But they meant the 1616! I asked one of the platform staff and jumped on as the doors were starting to close!!!

I finally got off the train at Ebbsfleet at 1659. Had I stayed at Folkestone and got the 1601, I would have still been at Ashford!!

Kick off 1730!

I walked as fast as my old legs would carry me and got in the ground at 1716. Time for a loo visit and buy a hotdog.

I will log a delay/repay claim for the original 1601 train!

Oldham Athletic at Ebbsfleet United - September 28th 2024

I decided that with the terrible weather we are having that maybe it would be better to go on the train rather than the bike to the ground.  So ticket for the train bought.  

Luckily, as I don't trust e-tickets on my phone, I printed the match ticket and the QR code earlier today.  Luckily, as I say as I saw kick off is 1730 and not 1500 as normal for a league game.

The reason? It's on TNT Sports on the TV!

After three wins on the bounce it would be nice to see a 4th!  Ebbsfleet were in the bottom three the last time we were here in February, and it was a terribly dull game and 0-0 draw!

Ebbsfleet are bottom of the league this time, 24th from 24. Hopefully a rejuvenated Latics can batter them!  

Oldham Athletic Official Website