And so began our epic journey to the UK. We were going for a celebration of a long and happy marriage
We had been invited by Lynne's cousins Rick and Mary Pratt to celebrate their 60th Wedding anniversary in Devon
And, generously, they funded our trip which, after a very hard year for us, was such a joy and a relief and an uplift
We booked on Emirates via Dubai as it is very economical
A change of bank for Lynne has meant that we have lounge access, a very welcome addition
So we celebrated with a glass of Simonsig Cap Classique, one of our favourites
When Lynne booked the flights, she spoke to a very special man on line in Dubai
He looked up our names and saw that we had flown with them before and those flights were on record
He parted the waters and offered us the seats we prefer -
across the aisle from each other, so we don't have to disturb neighbouring passengers and can stretch our legs at night
He looked at our ancient ages and immediately offered us Assistance
After our two recent accidents and Lynne's hip problems, it was very welcome indeed
and, in fact, on some of the plane changeovers we would not have been able to cope with the huge distances....
We landed in Dubai at midnight and had two hours to move from from Terminal 2 to Terminal 6
We just made it, with the help of the varied means of transport: wheelchairs, a golf cart and, finally, a bus
No time for stops at duty free or refreshments
You get through baggage, customs, and security quickly and the people are so helpful and friendly, but there are seven terminals and the distances between them are huge
All we had to do was show our passports; our names were on the assistants' devices and off we went
The assistance had another advantage
Normally, when we arrive at Heathrow, Lynne walks straight through with her Brit passport
John has to stand in a very long queue and wait his turn
This time - both in wheelchairs, passports stamped and through!
Our Boeing 777 which took us to Dubai, where we transferred to a huge Airbus A380 at midnight
We love flying in the A380, the seats are bigger and it is relatively quiet and very stable
One of the things that nearly defeated us was buying train tickets and Oyster Cards before we travelled
The internet is full of information on what you CAN do,
and as rail travel in the UK is so expensive, we needed to get this sorted before we left
If you leave it until arrival, you arrive, you pay premium prices
and you cannot buy "saver" tickets if you do not live permanently in Britain
The problem with all the information, and there are screeds and screeds of it, is that they tell you what you can do
BUT NOT HOW!
And, as Lynne is a member of the Plain English Society, she thinks they seriously need to look at all the verbage
After days on the computer, finding herself in European sites
and even Canadian sites on which she was asked to pay in Dollars, she gave up in frustration
and typed "Can I buy Britrail tickets and Oyster cards in South Africa?"
Magic.... YES. We had paid for them and collected them in Durbanville the next day
But they were not without a problem. If you are arriving on an early flight (5 am) and need to clear your luggage
and get to Exeter by lunch time, you need tickets that will allow you to travel early on the Heathrow Express
and then on British Rail as soon as you can, and stopping to buy tickets will really slow you down
The Britrail Pass allows you to travel on the Heathrow and the Gatwick Expresses at the start of your journey
so you don't have to wait until after 9 am
Lugging suitcases on the tube is a nightmare, as we found on our return to London
The Great Western Railway trains leave from Paddington Station
It's noisy and confusing and you have to sit and wait till the train departure is announced
The trip took approximately 2½ hours and the scenery was lovely. Passing a famous White Horse on the way
We had forgotten the amazing cloudscapes
The Somerset Levels are soaked after a wet summer and are still verdant
Farm land and rivers along the way
It was early autumn and the trees had only just begun to turn in colour
And there they were to meet us - Lynne explaining that John had gone to look for them!
Fit and spry and full of beans, it was so lovely to see them again
Rick and Lynne share the same birthday but are exactly 10 years apart - He's the older one!
Off to their lovely house in Clyst St George
St George appears all over Devon
Villages, pubs and roads all celebrate this famous figure, even though he never visited Britain
Clyst St George (anciently Clyst Champernowne) is a village and civil parish in East Devon, England,
adjoining the River Clyst some 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Exeter and 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Exmouth
Down leafy lanes looking spring-like. We were on an outing to the Jurassic Coast
and onto good motorways
In all the time we were in the United Kingdom and Ireland we did not see one driving infraction or accident
People just drive well, calmly and obey the law - just note: cars driving left, passing right
A very bucolic scene with a famous house in its grounds
It was great to be exploring Hardy's country and reading all the village names made famous in his books
The rolling hills, getting close to Dorset
and high on a tor, a magnificent view of the sea
The picture book village of Abbotsbury in Dorset, where Lynne has stayed with friends, now sadly departed
Another great rural scene, looking down toward Lyme Regis
and looking down the hill at Chessil Bank on the Jurassic coast
Lynne with Ian and Caroline Creer
Caroline is Rick and Mary's daughter and they generously took us on this great drive
Their son Freddie had stayed with us in Sea Point in February
Looking the other way at the Dorset and, in the far distance, the Devon coastline
We needed some refreshment, so stopped at the The George pub in Charmouth
They have a good tapas menu and this family had ordered the lot!
Great Dorset Ale
So we had three tapas to share - good paté, chicken bites and peri peri prawns with a salad
Caroline and Ian had cheese and ham sandwiches with good chips and salad
The famous cliffs where the dinosaur fossils were first discovered by Mary Anning
She was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector born in 1799
This visit was high on Lynne's bucket list as she has studied gemmology and is fascinated by fossils
You are not allowed to dig on the cliffs but anything found on the beach is fair game
We did not join the hordes, but explored the beach nearest the car park
We didn't find any trilobites (extremely rare) but came home with at least 5 fossils
The famous cliffs, which are constantly on the move, revealing new things regularly
Wine people tend to know that the white cliffs of Dover and the soils of Champagne and Chablis are Kimmeridge clay The name comes from the village of Kimmeridge which is just round the coast from these cliffs
If beachcombing is your regular habit, as it is Lynne's, this is just the thing for you
So many stones to examine
I think I have spotted something...
It is also a good beach for walking the dog or for swimming in summer
That evening, we all went out to the White Hart, the family's favourite local Pub for dinner
It is run by a South African, Shantell Brookes (from Ermelo) and her husband Tim
and we discovered Doom Bar bitter, which soon became a favourite
If you are wondering where you have seen the name before, it's on the back of several rugby teams' shorts!
Fishcakes and chips and salad
Baked fish in a cream sauce with chips and salads
Lynne had the Sea Bass fillet, her first and definitely not her last,
it's a really good fish and was cooked to perfection, moist on one side and crisp on the other
John had one of this favourites, a good hamburger
Mary and Lynne are the same age and always have lots to chat about
Lots of squirrels about, especially on the back fence; this one seems to be a hybrid of a red and a grey squirrel
We discovered that behind the house there was a lane leading to a winery and you can't keep us away from wineries
Past the local Clyst St George church with its lych gate
and after a precipitous journey through fords and muddy banks, we arrived at the Pebblebed vineyards
They had finished harvesting just a few weeks before
We were not warmly welcomed but asked permission to take a photo of what they were doing
which was bottling their bubbly, here in the barrels and riddling racks
A small corking machine
and just-bottled stock for selling
We offered them a story but, sadly, were not permitted inside, nor were we offered a taste of anything
South African wine-making is so approachable and friendly, for which we are very thankful
Their van. The region is full of pebbles which must make the vines struggle
The damp climate is also a challenge
and they told us that their first criterion in choosing varietals to plant is their resistance to mildew
None of the varietals they named to us are familiar names
They have planted Pinot noir, but told us that it is not very successful
The van and their house. No one local had any memory of tasting the wine
but, apparently, they had only recently (in the last couple of years) moved there, so perhaps things might change
The Werf! Perhaps that building at the end might become a tasting room in future?
and the vines
Treading carefully down the muddy path
Blackberries, much past their sell by date!
Sumptious red seeds:
"Iris foetidissima is the perfect iris for a shady spot, particularly beneath trees, where other plants struggle
It has architectural evergreen foliage and dull purple flowers, but it comes into its own in autumn
when its large seedpods split open to reveal rows of orange-red seeds that remain well into winter" - Gardeners World
and there are wild cyclamens in the hedgerows. If you have never been to Devon you need to go in spring,
the hedgerows are full of the most beautiful wild Spring flowers: Primroses, violets, daffodils and much more
And then it was time for the celebration.....A huge cake to celebrate the actual day of the anniversary with close family
and the following night we travelled into Exeter to the Devon Hotel's Function rooms
60 years together is a fine achievement, and may they have many more
We had a superb evening with great company, marvellous food and wine, it was a really great celebration
All our stories can be seen in the Blog Archive near the top of the column on the right
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