ManVanNoPlan’s Spring & Summer 2024
ManVanNoPlan’s Spring & Summer 2024
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This blog post is longer than usual as it brings you up to date with ManVanNoPlan’s Spring & Summer 2024 Scottish travels in our new Auto-Trail F68 and details a fairly serious health scare for the Navigator.
I left the last blog post on my way from Dubai and heading for Manila on the Philippines equivalent of Ryanair, Cebu Pacific. Don’t get me wrong Cebu Pacific are great at short haul within the Philippine islands but I would never use them again for a long haul flight. I was booked into the 88 Courtyard Hotel, not far from the airport and it was well located within a mile of the Mall of Asia, Manila and the Philippines biggest Mall, which now includes the largest Ikea in the world.
88 Courtyard is a fairly decent hotel with a good swimming pool and if you book breakfast you have to go next door to the Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant where thankfully Kenny’s music is not on loop. I ate there on the first night and the food was ok, if bland, but not what I had travelled half way around the world for and breakfast was an odd combination as well with spam, fried eggs and rice – you get rice with almost ever meal in the Philippines.
I stayed there for two days getting over the jet lag and ventured out one night to see the street food vendors plying their trade but passed on trying anything on this occasion.
On my second night I went to a nearby Chinese/Philippine restaurant called Kuya J where I had a much better and authentic meal, although the scallops were obviously not from Scottish waters, but were delicious none the less.
I then moved to an Airbnb on the 42nd floor of a tower block overlooking the Pasay river and this is where things began to go pear shaped for me. The views over towards Makati were spectacular, especially at night but I think I picked up a chest infection which more or less confined me to the flat for three days, a disappointment as I had wanted to explore this part of Manila.
When I visited the Philippines last year I had three objectives. To visit Tagaytay and on to the island of Mindoro, to visit former work colleague Kevin and his wife Emma on the island of Negros and visit Hong Kong, a long held bucket list item for me. I made it to Tagaytay but not Mindoro, because of a storm, had a great few days and enjoyed the hospitality of Kevin and Emma but then could not visit Hong Kong as it was still restricting visitors due to covid.
I took the bus back to Tagaytay for one night, an experience in itself then onwards in a minibus to the port of Batangas to catch the ferry to Mindoro. As you can see in the following picture the rain was lashing down in Tagaytay but my Airbnb was good as was the meal I had just a short trike ride away.
There is a huge new ferry terminal at Batangas which was thankfully not that busy so I was able to negotiate the bureaucracy of buying tickets both to be in the terminal then the ferry ticket itself. The catamaran ferry took an hour and there were no storms this time but it was baking hot which was not doing my chest infection any good and I was finding it difficult to breath.
The ferry takes you to Puerto Galera and from there it was a trike ride to the resort of Sabang, billed as the dive resort of the Philippines, although the last thing on my mind was paddling far less diving.
There were two hotels with great reviews in Sabang so I decided to have three nights in each, the first being the Jack Daniel Apartments which was excellent and my room overlooked the pool and you can see my balcony behind the white sign in the middle of the picture.
The resort has a good reputation for food and on my first night I had spare ribs smothered in Jack Daniel sauce and they were incredible but the chips were served in a wire basket – a pet hate of mine. After a long lie in, brunch was beans on toast with fried eggs with side portions of marmalade and butter and what you were meant to do with them I had no idea!
I spent most of my three days relaxing on a very hard uncomfortable seat on my shady veranda or in the pool to keep cool. On my final morning I ordered french toast which was not what I was expecting, more like an omelette on toast but with the obligatory marmalade and butter.
Jack Daniel was incredibly cheap at under £ 30 a night and the staff were superb but the next place was even better, the aptly named Steps Garden Resort. Knowing full well how to get there I still phoned them up asking for directions and thankfully they sent a porter to carry my case over his shoulder and I was so breathless trying to keep up with him. The Steps Garden Hotel was up a very steep hill and it was a climb of fifty steps to the reception. I was in a right state when I got there about five minutes after the porter and the manager made made me sit down on a sofa with a tea to get my breath back.
Because I had booked the cheapest room it was up another fifty steps which the manager said I could not manage so he very kindly upgraded me to a cabin with great views only a few steps further up from reception. The resort was amazing at at only £ 25 a night for the room it was a superb deal.
The hotel owned the restaurant on the esplanade at the bottom of the steps and as it was slightly cooler in the evening I managed down to eat there on the first two nights and walked along the esplanade for an odd Korean meal on the third night.
Sabang is a dive resort and does not have a sandy beach so I took a trike to see the famous (in these parts) White Beach which certainly had the advertised white sand but unfortunately no shade whatsoever so I took a few pictures, had lunch and took the trike back to my poolside in Sabang.
On my final night I had a walk along the esplanade and enjoyed watching the sun set.
I retraced my steps onto the ferry and bus from Batangas back to Manila for a couple of nights at a great hotel I stayed in last year, The U Hotel in Makati where I met a YouTube blogger I have followed for some time, Marshal Butters.
I was supposed to have dinner with Marshall to discus our online ventures but as it was the day before Easter Friday, a massive parade was happening in Makati and Marshall had to film it for his YouTube channel so I took myself off to the famous Filling Station to have the same meal I had there last year of spare ribs washed down with mango juice.
On the evening of Easter Friday I flew on a cheap flight (£ 28) to Hong Kong for three nights and I would like to think I will be back again as I only saw a fraction of it, but what I did see was amazing. Here are some of the two hundred or so pictures I took to give you a flavour of this incredible city.
And then it was back to a cold and wet Scotland flying Emirates to Glasgow, changing in Dubai.
We hadn’t used the van this year so decided to head down the Mull of Kintyre to charge the batteries and check it out before hopefully heading overseas in the near future but events were about to overtake us as you are about to find out.
In mid May we headed to one of our favourite wildcamping spots to spend the night on the clifftop looking out to the Inner Hebrides and the coast of Northern Ireland. It had been a good day with a very slight haze and we enjoyed our first barbecue with Otto.
The weather drastically changed in the evening with fog obstructing the view of anything further than fifty yards. After breakfast the next day we set off for the campsite at Peninver with a pitstop in Campbeltown where the fog had abated a bit, but further around the coast at Peninver there was no fog at all. The next two days were perfect for relaxing, barbecues and walks on the beach with a view of a few seals relaxing on the rocks.
Being away also gave us a chance to digest the news The Navigator had last Thursday. Back in April she had an operation in Oban to remove a cyst from under her arm and even with general anesthetic she came through the operation really well and the surgeon was pleased with how it went.
3rd of May 2024 – Friday
So, with a sense of optimism, we decided to get away in Otto for a week or so and head for the Fife coast and as it happened, this was a Monday Bank Holiday, and although today wasn’t a holiday, you would never know. We were heading for the east coast and it seemed half of Scotland was heading for the west coast and the traffic in the opposite direction to us was incredible. Does no-one work on a Friday?
Our destination for tonight was one of our favourite free overnight locations, Kirkcaldy. On the way we stopped in Glasgow at the Asda Govan car park to have lunch then on to Livingston to Knowepark Caravans to look at camping chairs as the ones we kept in Bessie’s garage do not fit in Otto. We looked but didn’t buy as there wasn’t a huge range to choose from, and what there was seemed to be too big and more suited for caravan awnings.
The place we park is known as the Kirkcaldy Lorry Park on the esplanade, although, being a Friday, no lorries were there was only one other motorhome but we’d be joined by a few more later on. From the car park you can see the Raith Rovers stadium which is only a few hundred yards away, and, as it happened, they beat Arbroath 5-0 tonight.
4th of May 2024 – Saturday
It was raining early on which gave way to a damp foggy morning so we headed for our traditional walk along the “Kirkcaldy Mile” which is a measured part of the esplanade where people stroll and walk dogs all day and the more energetic jog, cycle or roller blade.
We walk as far as the harbour then cross over and walk back up the High Street and despair at all the shuttered shops, bars and cafes and if ever a once thriving town centre highlighted the devastating effect the anti-business SNP government has had, this is it! We put some money back into the local economy in a few shops then spent ages in an EE shop switching over from BT to a new plan / sim for both of us before heading back to the van to watch the Arsenal v Bournmouth game, then later, the Leinster v Northampton rugby semi-final.
It remained grey and chilly all day so we were happy enough to spend the afternoon in the van. One of the benefits of parking here is that, in one direction there is a Morrisons and a Lidl, and in the other direction, a chippy and a Chinese takeaway, however since we were here last year a Turkish takeaway has opened even nearer than any of these two, so in the evening we ordered online and walked across the road to collect our meals which were both huge portions and great value.
5th of May – Sunday
There was very heavy rain in the early hours so it was a disturbed nights sleep but otherwise we were warm and cosy. The rain cleared away at daybreak, and yesterday’s fog had gone so we could see the other side of the Forth for the first time since our arrival. We headed out to do our usual Kirkcaldy walk along the esplanade and back via the High Street. For a Bank Holiday weekend it was fairly quiet, both in the car park and with people on the esplanade.
6th of May – Monday – Bank Holiday
We were heading further along the coast today as the leisure batteries were getting low and needed charged with a drive, although it was only going to be about 45 minutes to get to Elie. It was mid morning before we set off with a quick stop at the nearby Lidl for a few things.
The Fife Coast & Countryside Trust have created a number of officially designated car parks where motorhomes can stay overnight and we chose the Ruby Bay car park on the edge of the pretty little town of Elie. Some of the car parks are free, but with no facilities and some, like this one charge £10 however it has a new and very clean toilet block with chemical disposal here as well. The heavy overnight rain of the past few days had created a few large puddles but we managed to get parked overlooking the bay. The Fife coastal path passes through the car park although the section to the north was closed for maintenance but the lighthouse was still accessible.
It must be thirty years or so since we were last in Elie so after lunch we set off for a walk around the town taking in the soggy sandy beach and quiet main street. Elie has been a prosperous place in its day and there are many impressive large homes as well as loads of holiday cottages which must be popular in the summer. One unusual thing caught our eye at the war memorial on the main street and that was the inscription to the local men who fell in WW1. Usually a war memorial lists the name and most often the regiment but this one also listed their occupation before the war. For a coastal town with a harbour, what stood out was the fact that of the thirty or so names listed, there was only one fisherman, but five chauffeurs died which goes to show the prosperity here at the time.
On the way back to the van via the little harbour, we stopped at the Ship Inn for a reviving drink in what must be a very busy beer garden in the summer, although most people were in the warmth of the building. It was still grey and overcast and the sunset did not come to much.
7th of May – Tuesday
It rained during the night but when we were ready to move on in the morning it had stopped. As young children we had both come over the newly opened (1964) Forth Bridge to visit some of the picturesque fishing villages including Burntisland, Elie, St Monance, Pittenweem, Anstruther and Crail. As an aside, as a ten year old I was there on the very foggy day the bridge officially opened and with my trusty Brownie camera managed to snap the Queen and Prince Philip driving past.
Today we were moving further up the coast to visit some of those quaint fishing villages again. After bypassing the less than pretty town of Leven, the first fishing village is St Monance, but it is fairly small and I didn’t think I could get parked so drove on a few miles to Pittenweem where there is another Fife Countryside car park and motorhomes can officially park for the night. You can park free for two hours if you display a ticket and that would be long enough to walk into the village and back again. It was as I remembered it but The Navigator’s memory failed her. Pittenweem is still a busy fishing port but there are improvements being made to the road and pavements so it was not as picturesque as it could be.
Next it was on to the biggest of the coastal villages, Anstruther, and I managed to get parked at the harbour car park. This time The Navigator’s grey cells kicked into life and she remembered being here before. The harbour was busy but the star attraction of old, the North Carr lightship, was not to be seen and is currently berthed in Dundee awaiting funds to be restored.
After a walkabout around the harbour and main street we could not resist a lunchtime special fish supper and I had a proper scampi supper and both were excellent quality and value (£ 5.50 each).
From Anstruther we headed around the coast road in the direction of St Andrews until we came to the pretty little village of Kingsbarns where we turned right down to the car park right on the beach and where we would spend the night for the princely sum of £ 10. The car park is bisected by the Fife Coastal Path and there are modern toilets which were clean and used by the walkers and motorhomers alike.
8th of May – Wednesday
In the morning I had a chat to the warden who lives in his motorhome full time here and also took a few pictures. There are seven pitches for motorhomes and we arrived too late to get one of the four prime spots overlooking the beach and out to sea. However, when one of them departed in the morning I moved across to take some pictures and found out that these four pitches were besieged with large black flies that would have made sitting out or barbecueing impossible. The other thing that was slightly off-putting on these pitches was a dead seal on the sand directly in view, but the warden told me it was worse last year as a dead whale was beached here and as it was too big to remove, it was left to rot!
9th of May – Thursday
We have been away from home for five nights so it was time to head for a campsite to service the van and we chose Craigsmill on the outskirts of St Andrews so we headed there, after a quick pit stop at Aldi for a few things. This is a huge site of mostly static caravans but the tourer section is a mix of motorhomes and caravans. There is a huge bar / lounge with a swimming pool and jacuzzi which are free for residents as well as other facilities. As it was dry and we had the space on the pitch we had a rather delicious barbecue.
10th of May – Friday
There is an hourly bus service which passes the site and we planned to get the 10.12am bus into St Andrews but as we stood at the entrance a couple who were heading into town in their car gave us a lift, which was kind of them. After we were dropped off we instantly forgot their names but do remember they were from the island of Bute and owned a static caravan on the site. Two out of three details retained to memory is not bad at our age!
St Andrews must be one of the most prosperous towns in Scotland, deriving its wealth from the University and its reputation as the home of golf. As we walked around the town centre, the most common language heard was American. There are many shops selling expensive tartan souvenirs and they all seemed to be doing a roaring trade and later, when we walked down to the Old Course, the shops there were obviously catering for the golfers and everyone seemed to be carrying the brown carrier bags of golfing merchandise.
It was a lovely warm day and we sat for ages on a bench overlooking the 18th green and watched the golfers putt out and complete their round, which, by the way, is £ 320 between mid April and mid October!
We walked back into the town centre, had lunch, then headed along to the east end to see the castle and surprisingly student types having a dip in the sea even though there were signs up warning them not to! The Abbey was not looking at its best as metal barriers had been erected around most of the headstones due to ‘Health and Safety’ concerns.
Around four o’clock, after collecting the two camping chairs we had bought in the morning at Mountain Warehouse, we took a bus back to the campsite and headed straight to the swimming pool which we had to ourselves. The fifteen minutes in the jacuzzi was just what was needed to refresh us after the day walking around St Andrews.
11th of May – Saturday
At £32 a night Craigsmill is, on reflection, worth it as the facilities are excellent and the swimming pool was the icing on the cake, however no matter how good, it was time to move on today. We serviced the van and left just before 11.30am and headed back into St Andrews and a quick stop at Lidl for a few things. It was a warm sunny morning so we needed to top up on supplies to have a barbecue for the next two nights.
Today’s destination was going to be Tayport on the north Fife coast and a relatively new site, Larick Campsite, which I had booked ahead for the next two nights as, with weather this good, people might be out and about for the weekend. It was another site at £33 a night but was not worth that as it did not have the extra facilities of Craigsmill, which is no wonder as it only takes about thirty units.
As Tayport is only eight miles from St Andrews we had to kill an hour or so before we could get on our pitch so I drove on to the harbour to park up and pass the time. In the last hundred years the harbour was busy with ferries crossing backwards and forwards to Broughty Ferry to the east of Dundee. There was also trade with the continent but today it is a fairly busy marina for yachts.
As we waited there people dressed in tartan and Scotland football tops started to congregate in the car park and and it turned out they were paying their respects to a local 42 year old man who had passed away. Just before one o’clock the hearse arrived and when it set off a piper walked in front playing Flower of Scotland.
The Navigator got talking to a woman walking her yappy dog and it turned out she too owned a motorhome and told us the places her and her husband had travelled to, and we were not too sure whether Peebles was the furthest she had ever been in her life, or was meaning the furthest just since they bought their motorhome. The Navigator gave her a guided tour of Otto as she was interested in the layout. It reminded us of the time a few years ago when we visited the island of Islay and were told quite a few of the older residents had never left the island, and those that had only went as far as Ballycastle in Northern Ireland by boat!
Once the funeral had departed and the crowd dispersed, we headed to the campsite and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside and enjoying the sunshine before having another barbecue later on.
11th of May – Sunday
Like the rest of the country we awoke to blue skies and warm temperatures so decided to have a walk to the shoreline after breakfast. The tide was quite far out and there were about a dozen volunteers up to their knees in mud working on a conservation project, which, if I’m honest, I didnt quite understand.
The Navigator was dispatched to find out what was going on and was told they were extending a scheme started a few years ago by planting some sort of plant to protect the sea wall which consisted of large boulders. How a six inch plant was going to protect a five foot high wall of boulders was a puzzle, to me anyway!
Back at the van we sat out in the sunshine and had lunch before I watched Manchester City overcome Fulham. We had a lazyish afternoon in preparation for this evenings marathon Eurovision Song Contest which seems to be more about scoring points for some belief or another rather than entertaining us with a catchy ditty.
12th of May – Sunday
After breakfast we serviced the van in anticipation of another few nights wild camping and headed off for the short drive along the coast to Wormit, which is a small coastal town on the southern bank of the Tay Estuary where the Tay Rail Bridge is situated and with views across to Dundee.
This is another Fife Countryside car park with just two designated motorhome overnight parking bays right beside a pebble beach and a view of the rail bridge. There were only a couple of cars there when we arrived, and as it was overcast and chillier than yesterday, it remained quiet all day. This is also the site of the memorial to those who perished in the disaster of 1879 when fifty nine people died as the bridge collapsed in a storm.
Before lunch we set off for a walk on the coastal path to a headland which gave better views of the Tay and the rail bridge. We had a relaxing afternoon after lunch and watched the tide slowly come in to cover the mud flats and shingle beach.
One of the dog walkers who passed us said that if we had come here yesterday we would not have been able to get parked as the car park was “rammed” as the warm sunny weather brought people here to sit on the beach and have barbecues and picnics.
As it was getting dark a works van turned up and proceeded to blast out loud music but thankfully he moved on within half an hour. In these circumstances the loud music is always more annoying when it is not to your taste, but the chances of someone blasting out Tamla Motown tracks is a forlorn hope nowadays!
13th of May – Monday
We had escaped the worst of the thunderstorms sweeping over the rest of the country yesterday, although we did have a few rain showers during the night. It was a fairly grey morning and as we were in no hurry to move on we had a slow start to the day, the highlight of which was watching two deer in the field next to us.
Our next planned stopover was another Fife Countryside car park at Birnie & Gaddon Loch Car Park which was only twenty minutes away from Wormit. This site is a former quarry and lochs and walkways have been created and it looked an interesting place to park up. There are only two designated motorhome parking bays and we drove into one of them as the other was occupied by a much bigger van that looked to be boxed in by the cars around it. There are no facilities here, and for only £ 5 a night it was still probably worth it, although I decided we had to move on as there was no internet signal whatsoever and I needed to do some fairly important updates to Fyne Editions today.
Plan B was to drive on for another half an hour to Lochore Meadows, where the local council have totally transformed what used to be the site of a coal mine into a massive country park which also had a motorhome Aire for the want of a better word. Once you register at the visitor centre entry to the motorhome bays is via a barrier which is lifted by a fob (£ 20 deposit) and you park in the designated bay. Half of them have no power (£14) but we chose to hook up to power (£ 20) to top up the leisure batteries as we will be wild camping again after leaving here.
I spent the afternoon on the laptop and The Navigator went off to explore our surroundings and made it back before a brief shower. We will probably stay here tomorrow night as well as The Navigator found an area to have a picnic lunch, which hopefully we can manage before the forecasted heavy rain arrives in the early afternoon tomorrow.
14th of May – Tuesday
The forecast was not good for today but The Navigator was determined to have a walk around Loch Ore before the heavy rain started in the afternoon. We set off walking after breakfast hoping for the best as a few drops of rain were falling, but thankfully they came to nothing.
The walk was sold to me on the basis that it was only two miles and wouldn’t take that long as it was a flat surface all the way round, which turned out to be wrong on two counts, it was over four miles and the tarmac was only for the first mile or so, although to be fair it was a good gravel surface the rest of the way.
We were walking anti-clockwise from the visitor centre and the thing that struck us immediately was the number of bench seats beside the path, all with memorial plaques and many with bunches of flowers on, or beside the benches. There were quite a few people walking and the majority were women with either dogs or prams. The first half of the walk is flat and close to the water and then it rises up and along a hillside with fields between the path and the waters edge.
There were far fewer benches on this side of the loch, but we found one and had our picnic. We had passed two women earlier with four dogs between them who were having a great time in the chilly water and they caught up with us we finished the walk in their company. The dogs were not on leashes and were running about having the time of their life’s and at one point they caught the scent of a deer which ran off at great speed never to be seen again. Just as we made it back to the van the heavy rain started and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon cosy and warm thanks to the heating being hooked up to electricity.
15th of May – Wednesday
Today was the end of our Fife adventure as The Navigator received an unexpected call from the senior surgeon at Oban Hospital who wanted to see her tomorrow in Lochgilphead to discuss her recent operation. This didn’t sound too promising and it brought an instant halt to our break in Otto which we had thoroughly enjoyed and will be back to continue exploring the county before too long.
16th of May – Thursday
We caught up with a few tasks at home and preparing for another weekend away as the forecast is looking good, which means, in this part of the world, no rain! The surgeon told us cancer cells had been detected in the lump that was removed and she would have to attend Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow for a further, more detailed scan.
Weeks then went by waiting to go to Glasgow for further scans and appointments with a consultant. Long story short. The consultant said he was going to remove her lymph glands under her arm and it would be a routine bread and butter operation and not to worry about it!!
We decided that rather than sit at home waiting for a letter we would have another week away in Otto. When we set off to circumnavigate the Fife coast the original plan was to carry on up the coast of Tayside, Angus, Grampian, Moray and finish off in Inverness before returning home but that phone call to attend Lochgilphead Hospital the next day to get the news of the investigation put paid to that plan.
So, we dusted off the original plan and headed for Tayside with a stopover on the way in Alva at what used to be regular wildcamping spot when visiting The Navigator’s mother in her nursing home.
Next stop was Arbroath, home of the famous Arbroath Smokies which The Navigator loves but are too smokie for my taste. The local council have provided a spot on the seafront next to the harbour for up to 6 motorhomes to park up for the night with no facilities. There must have been twenty odd vans there each night on the two nights we were there!
After Arbroath and our two free nights we headed on to Montrose for two nights in a council run campsite which was okay to be fair. We hadn’t been to Montrose in years as you by-pass it now on your way north to Aberdeen and all points north east.
From Montrose we headed the few miles inland to Forfar and the Caravan and Motorhome Club site which was, as ever they are, overpriced, but in perfect condition. Forfar is another town that is by-passed as well now, but of these three Scottish lower league football towns it seems to be thriving more than the other two. Those Scots reading this will know what a bridie is but for readers from further afield, a Forfar Bridie is a horseshoe-shaped meat product. It has a shortcrust cover and the filling consists of beef, onions and seasoning and they originated in the early part of the 19th century.
One story of their origin is that they were made for wedding meals (the Brides’ meal) hence the horseshoe shape (for luck). Another story is that they were made by Margaret Bridie from Glamis, who sold them at the Buttermarket in Forfar. Forfar is the spiritual home of the bridie and James McLaren and Son have been making Forfar Bridies since 1893 and we indulged ourselves and had lunch in their bakery.
These three towns have seen better days it must be said but it was good to visit them again after all these years. There is one common factor that bonds them together, apart from football rivalry and believe it or not they all have at least five Turkish barbers each in their town centres! It makes you wonder how this tiny corner of Scotland ended up with fifteen Turkish barbers…
That concluded our six night tour of Tayside but we had one final night in Crieff at a Caravan and Motorhome Club CL on a farm withing walking distance of the town centre, another town that has seen better days. And with that we made our way homeward as The Navigator had a shift to put in at Inveraray the next day.
We then had to go back to Glasgow in early August for another scan and to see a different consultant. At this meeting on the 7th of August, as well as a scan, a biopsy was taken and we were given a timeframe of up to a month for yet another consultant to perform the operation. It was an anxious time for The Navigator, as you may imagine, and we really couldn’t stray far as we were waiting for a letter or phone call to confirm the date of the operation.
However, we both had milestone 70th birthdays this year and our daughters had arranged a surprise long weekend away for all of us to be together and that took place from the 9th to the 12th of August in Dumfries and Galloway at a castle called the Old Place of Monreith and the weather was superb and we had a great time together.
It took quite a few attempts to get everyone looking at the camera and for me to get in position and looking nonchalant after setting the camera timer but even the children managed to look at the camera, for a nano second anyway, unlike the next attempt at a group shot at Port William.
On the Monday we all drove up to our house to spend the rest of the week together and the plan was to sit them all down before they left and tell them about this cancer scare and impending operation as we had not wanted to unnecessarily worry them until we knew how things would pan out.
Then the day after we arrived back home, and before we could tell everyone what was happening, the consultant we saw last week rang The Navigator with the incredible news that the biopsy and lymph node scan was actually clear and there was no need for an operation so we could get on with our life and plan to take Otto to foreign shores for the first time. Oh, and the family were presented with the positive good news before they headed home, rather than any uncertainty so all is well that ends well.
We actually then had only a week to get organised and set off as we had to take Otto for a long standing warranty and habitation check-up at Brownhills in Newark before heading on to Harwich for a very long overdue foreign adventure to pastures new…
This has been a long catch up but you will be glad to know that the next blog will be in a couple of weeks time and you won’t want to miss the coming series as we have been to some amazing places and here is a spoiler to whet your appetite…
COMING SOON ON THE NEXT BLOG…
The next blog will be the first of a series detailing Otto’s first European adventure to a part of the continent we’ve never been to before which should be interesting!
PS. Spoiler alert. It is…
Stay tuned, and if you are not already SUBSCRIBED sign up to be notified of the new blogs when they go online.
