We returned to Alp d’Huez for a VERY special repeat experience! This time around we didn’t arrive during a snowstorm, and we got to see the view the whole way up. While the rest of Europe seemed to be under grey clouds, we were very much above the clouds, and had the very blue sky and very strong sun!
The girls’ favourite thing may or may not be the open bar where they can go and order anything they like to drink, any time they like. They had SO many LLB’s & non-al Mojitos. Mum most liked that she didn’t have to think about food – it was just there. It just appeared. Three times a day plus pretty decent morning/afternoon teas.
Oh we love our church! We so enjoyed being with so many great people. Mario & Mitsi, The Marienfels, Katia & Sophia, the Distel family, Marcia, Susan, Esther, Inga, Eva, the Zehrs, the Das family and more.
Sophia drew an amazing portrait and Emily added ‘hair’ of Autumn leaves.
Games, walks, talks, food, and plenty of fun for adults & kiddos alike.
We’re having a really lovely, long Autumn and so decided to come to Eifel-Camp by the Freilinger See in Blankenheim. It sits within the Eifel region- a low mountain range covering Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. The campsite offers a limited number of kitchen-and-ensuite options, which we are glad for. Small cabins with a tiny but comprehensive kitchen and a really good-sized bathroom — both of which are heated. There is a lovely little wood at the edge of the site, and its just perfect for nature-loving ladies to sit in for some quite time in the mornings while her family is asleep.
There is a Cafe at the lake which we refer to as “The Cafe with Mekken Chips” (because we once asked the cafe owner what the secret to them was and he kept saying “mekken” and seemed frustrated we didn’t understand. Eventually, he brought out the packet: frozen “McCain” fries).
We like to go into Blankenheim town to walk around the small lake there and the girls love the great play area there. And no trip is complete without a visit to Cafe Schlossblick for waffles with cherry sauce, ice cream and cream.
Walking around the Dreimühlen Waterfall in the Apache Valley was beautiful, we and enjoyed some sustenance at the Nohne Mill Cafe there afterwards (and picked up some lovely hand-knitted throw blankets made by ladies in the village!). We sat inside to start with but the girls weren’t so comfortable around the decorative dolls, which apparently are creepy.
For something extra novel, we had a lovely explore and walk around “Kartsteinfelsen mit Kakushöhle” – the Kakus cave in Mechernich in the Feytal valley and one of the most important prehistoric sites in Europe. Hunter-gatherer Neanderthals of the Middle Paleolithic period left behind animal bones and tools, indicating they lived here around 80,000 B.C. Amazing.
Sort of. By the time we got to Cambridge we had pretty much nothing left. We saw very little and we cared even less. We were that tired. As much as we loved our GB whirlwind trip, we were all very glad to head home to our own (full length!) beds. Hooray for another wonderful lot of memories in beautiful places.
We pressed on after Edinburgh, down to York. There, we had Jemima’s “family date” birthday breakfast at Betty’s, a famous tea house. We had to get there powerfully early to get a table, but it paid off. We walked around York (a lot!) and the girls loved the Diagon-Alley-esque The Shambles. That evening, we had a great British BBQ, aptly cooked in the rain.
After hanging out at the Cliff’s place, we toured around on a bus and put our legs to good use too. We were under strict instructions not to let Mackenzie fall asleep. Whoops. Sorry Mandi. Hopefully she was tuckered out enough to sleep well anyway!
What absolute joy celebrating this beautiful girl, not just with our family, but with people who feel like family too — The Reutschle, Butt & Cliff families — all of us having met and done life together in Manila, and now, by wonderful providence, all of us together in Edinburgh! What are the chances?! There were lots of hugs all around!!! Jemima loved the ‘horse poo’ cake that Lola Caroline made, and the gifts she received from us and all the special families gathered at Mandi & Mike’s.
Note: a good many of these photos were probably taken by Michelle!!
The next day, Jonathon “got owt” in the form of a fish that was THIS BIG! We farewelled the cows that often blocked the road to the campsite, and enjoyed some beautiful Loch views and mountain lookouts on our journey North and drove around a good bit of Loch Ness (oh, the traffic!). We stayed on the outskirts of Inverness and loved our campsite alongside some good-natured sheep. Jonathon highlighted on a map the trip we have completed so far.
We drove on, past beautiful Lochs (and a view over the Irish sea of Northern Ireland) to Fort Williams, where we were spoilt by lovely scenery, a successful fishing trip, and yet another delicious pub meal at the end of a nice walk.
A man “from the North” (of England) walked past us while Jonathon was fishing and said what sounded like, “y’ goh’ orr’d?” and we thought he was speaking another language. Turns out he was asking (in English) if we’d caught anything. He was a very good sport repeating himself a few times until we figured it out 🙂
Jemilani 