Canal boat racing!

It was Sharon's 30th last week and to celebrate Paul and Sharon organised a fun weekend in Wales on two canal boats. We had hesitated about going because of funds but we decided to go in the end and SO happy we did! It was such a blast! The boats were 70foot long and tricky (but fun) to manoeuvre along the canals. We spent the whole weekend cruising, drag racing (not so successful as the boats are painfully slow and hard to steer) eating and drinking. Grey skies but no rain. It was a great way to finish up our time here in the UK. We fly home in two days! Lots of packing, re-packing and rearranging of bags, bike selling, goodbyes and good riddance! We can hardly wait to get home and see our families and friends again, live a more permanent life, save up some money, buy a house (in the next few years) and soak up some much missed sun rays. Pulling out of the marina at Chirk, Wales
70ft boats

Cruising along the canals, about to head into a long dark tunnel
Going over a aqueduct. Pretty cool! This one was over 70ft high.

Lachie making sure he doesn't fall off the edge of the aqueduct
Dad having a blast!
At night we'd light a big fire on the side of the canal. Happy 30th birthday to Sharon!
Fun times and tons of laughs
The water...

Yay!
Looking out at the rapids, misty hills and pretty flowers in Llangollen, Wales
Cruising over another aqueduct looking at greeeeeen rolling hills and sheep
Pauly coming through a bridge
coming out of a loch, a very slow but interesting process, letting water out to get to the next level of the canal.

Fun times!

Sensory overload

Ahh Marrakesh! We LOVE this place! It was a total blast to bring Mum and Dad along. From the moment we stepped off the Easyjet flight to the moment we stepped back on it three days later our senses were in total overload. The smells - spices, meat, leather, wool, tajines. The sounds - call to prayer, horns, yelling, haggling, arabic music, drums, laughing, kids running through the narrow streets. The visual - rainbows of slippers, rugs, blankets, beads, painted walls, burkas, skies, tiles, people walking, riding, running past, horses, asses. The taste buds - Chicken and lemon tajine, beef and pear tajine, mint tea, fresh orange juice, nuts.
Amazing! The first two days we spent wandering around in a bit of a daze, shopping, site seeing and the last day we hired a guide (Rashid) to drive us into the Atlas mountains for a bit of country life site seeing. It was a very chilled out (and chilly) good way to see a bit more of Morocco. We had mint tea with a Burba in his village, lunch in the mountains and a flat tyre.

Mum and Dad thoroughly enjoyed themselves as did we! I hope we'll be back again one day! In the souq's...
The wool production area is fascinating
Dad getting swallowed up in the souq crowds
Lachie chilling out on the roof terrace of our Riad
The riad dog, watching the world go by...
Inside an old Arabic school
Mum in a doorway of the school

Having a crazy fun dinner in the main square
Getting in on the action
Visiting a woman's refuge where they produce oil
With Mum and Dad in a little village heading into the mountains
A local style sauna

How many men to change a tyre?
A pool in Richard Bronson's Kasbah (the most amazing hotel!)
A view down the mountains
In the Palm grove back on the edge of Marrakesh
Looking over the roof tops of Marrakesh at sunset...

Till next time...

Last days...

You think it's hard to keep up with our travels? So do we!

After Edam we stayed a night in Delft and cruised around on our bikes. Then another night spent on the coast of The Hague, Netherlands. It was the last warm day we had and we spent it lying on the beach and daring each other to go for dips in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean. After the Netherlands we headed to Belgium for a week. The weather, as usual, wasn't amazing but in between the thunderstorms and huge down pours a few patches of sunshine and blue sky came out. We lay low in Antwerp for 5 days visiting beautiful Ghent one day and spent the rest, organising the van, building up our beer stamina and chilling in Antwerp. Then off to Brussels for our last hurrah with all our mates at the Belgium Beer Festival. It rained on and off the whole weekend but we pushed through. It was so fun to see friends, familiar faces and English speaking people! Early Sunday morning we drove to the Dunkirk ferry and headed back into London where we unpacked The Van and sold it! Within 4 hours! and attempted to sleep for a few hours before flying off to Marrakesh...We drove 17541kms!!

The end was always a few months away, a few weeks, a few days and now it's OVER! We really had the most incredible time of our lives and so grateful that everything worked out and we are back in London in one piece. Yay! Thanks for sharing our adventure with us!

The square in Delft

The world heritage windmills of Kinderdijk in the Netherlands. There are about 18 of them in one area. The day we were there they were all in action. They only turn them on a few days a year so it was pretty special to see!

Beautiful Ghent in Belgium

Graffiti in Brussels

The Belgium Beer festival

Lachie and Ollie at the festival