Blog
2 18.6.17
We
spent this morning at the “Harewood” House Country Fair. This was held just a
short distance south of Harrogate in Yorkshire where we have been staying for a
week with Marg’s brother. The fare was remarkable, as there seemed to more
activities for dogs that there was for children.
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| British Stickmakers' Guild |
There was a whole row of exhibitors
that were focused on the needs of dogs and across from them there were various
doggie challenge courses. An interesting exhibition was of riding outfits
through the last few hundred years focusing on clothing needed for fox hunting.
In the main ring there was a man who managed to get a peregrine falcon to fly
through the legs of the horse he was riding.
Our
last blog finished when we were still in Corfu. We continued to explore the old
town and swim every day and were lucky enough still be in the town when there
was a celebration. We think it was a celebration of the Trinity.
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| The Band!! |
On the Sunday
evening everyone was dressed in their best and were out walking the streets.
There were marching bands, open air church services and entertainment.
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| Prop Power @Athens Airport From Kerkrya to Dubrovnik! |
Dubrovnik
was more than we expected. Some of you will know the story of our trip to the
then Yugoslavia in 1977 and how our car broke an engine mount on a bridge near
Skopje that had not been repaired after an earthquake.
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| Dubrovnik Apartmnt Sunset |
Not wanting to attempt
to get it fixed in what was then a communist country we nursed the car up the Dalmatian
coast. In those days the road down to Dubrovnik from the coastal highway was
quite steep so we decided not to attempt it with an unreliable car.
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| Dubrovnik Aprtmtnt |
This was
our first trip back to this area since then and we were blown away by how
different it looks. The place looked rebuilt with hardly any of the communist
era houses still standing apart from the old town.
Our
air bnb hosts met us at the airport and showed us where the beach, supermarket,
way to walk to the old town all were. The apartment was up the equivalent of 5
flights but was really nice once we were up there. We had a sea view from the
deck. All the 5 days we were there the weather was in the high 20 degrees or
warmer so swims were again a big part of our stay with the beach at the bottom
of cliffs another 5 stories down. Lovely clear warm water.
The
old town did not disappoint.
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| Walk into old Dubrovnik |
It has been reconstructed after the damage during
the homeland war of the 1990s. We walked the fascinating streets and walls that
are only 2 kilometres long.
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| Marg @ Old fountain - built in 1438 |
The old town is quite small. On every rocky outcrop
there seems to be a café or bar. People were diving off the rocks just outside
the walls to swim. There is a gondola ride above the old town and this gave us
great views of the coast around the old town.
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| Strada or Placa via Pile and Ploče. |
The only drawback was the number
of tourists and this in not high season. There were 3 cruise ships in on the
days we were in the old town.
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Old city
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Quick apartment exit!!
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| 2Km of Old city wall walk |
On
one of the days we escaped all this and went on a day trip by boat to visit the
3 Elafiti Islands the first of which is only half an hour from the new port.
There were about 30 of us on the boat and we swam and walked on the first
island, Lopud. The beach was sandy unlike the pebbles back on the mainland. Visited
the captain’s house for a 5 course lunch on the second island, Sipan. The food
was freshly caught mussels and mullet. It was a real family affair topped of
with the captain singing and playing his piano accordion! We then went to the
third island, Kolocep where we swam again and had the option of exploring a
cave. As the entrance was underwater no one chose to do this.
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| Cable car from old city |
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Towards the city
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Towards the city
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Our cruise boat, others!
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Olds and selfies!!
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Lupod Island
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We
have been in the UK for a week now and it is really great being with family and
catching up with all their news. Our niece and her husband have moved to
Harrogate since we were last here and we have been to see their new home.
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Ehh Ooop its Yorkshire "the Strid"
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It
has been a week of setting up stuff for our stay and travels but apart from
that we have been out for some great walks. Apart from the first couple of days
the weather has been warm and dry.
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| Marg, Isobel, Helen, Colin |
We walked in the Yorkshire Dales National
Park near Bolton Priory along the river Wharfe. We visited Nostell Priory and gardens south of Leeds where
we had a good look at the old house and a walk around the grounds.
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Doug searching for the correct time!
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| Marga & Doug @ Nostell Priorory |
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| Us amateur Beekeepers @ HarloweCarr gardens |
The house is
unusual as it has much of the original furniture in it. There was also an exhibition
of clocks. We have never seen so many clocks together.
One
of Marg’s brother’s friends is a bee-keeper and he was giving a demonstration
at the local Royal Horticultural garden, Harlow Carr.
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| A bee not in their bonnets |
We all donned protective
bee gear and watched as he took the hive apart and showed us where the baby
queen bees were hatching.
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| Birds, bees and flowers |
We watched while a couple of guard bees killed an
intruder. Dramatic stuff. We then enjoyed the gardens and some amazing ice-creams
from Harrogate’s iconic shop Betty’s.
