Four Seasons Bed and Breakfast Castleton

Went to see 'Aladdin' at the 'Opera House' in Manchester this evening. Borrowing 2 unsuspecting children for cover, we went to see a typical Panto. With bright and elaborate costumes, corny jokes that appeal to kids and adults it was an absolute scream. Best ...

... most days after riding in to school. It is easy to find a lot of bargains in the large supermarkets. ASDA is our friend and also 2 for 1 deals in local pubs. We have become fans of Indian food at the ‘Great Kathmandu’ just down the road. We are yet to venture into ‘The Curry Mile’ or what Geoff calls ‘Curry Vegas’.

Other

The Christmas Markets (German style) are a great attraction starting ...

Woke up this morning. Had that 'Red Letter Day' feeling. Steve obviously felt the same as we bumbled through the usual morning rituals, all the while thinking that today was not just another ordinary day.

Having said goodbye to my esteemed host of the past week I set to getting things ready to leave (and having a final idle surf on the internet). I had initially said I wanted to be out of the ...

Wow - only one week to the day before we make our way down south to London town to stay in the very affordable 'heathrow' travel lodge.

Liz in in Manc saying goodbye to friends and family and i'm sorting the last bits out for the fresh box before we go.

Just wanted to say thank you to Ron and Sue for ...

How could anything be worse than the Ball Breaker? How? And yet it was. Damn the kilometres of bog, damn the no bacon butty truck on the highway, damn the twisty part where you go around curve after curve after curve and don’t see anything ahead of you but CURVE. Then damn the “ ...

... back for me while I got something out of my pack, he didn’t, and the sheep almost got me.

See that Campsite?

After almost finishing the part of the Pennine that I call “The Ball Breaker” Ryan points down the mountain to a little campsite in the distance. It was far away but hope sprang back into my heart until he said, “See that campsite? Our campsite is only 2km from there.” YEARGH!!!

Today, for the first time, I saw what it will all look like on the road - and now you can too. The pictures attached show everything that is to be taken (excluding what is kept on my person) in a loaded state.

As you can see I have eventually opted for panniers to drop the weight and it improves handling dramatically ...

... in Cologne Hostel
CityNightLine Sleeper train from Cologne to Copenhagen
3 Nights in Copenhagen Hotel
Mum and Brother return to Manchester via Easyjet

It's taken me 4 weeks to get the timing and money right, but today I've booked the majority of the tickets, and I have a shortlist of accommodation.

It's weird how it's all coming together now, it still feels like booking a holiday....but it's slowly starting to sink in that this is a 1000 mile house move ...

... area and 'places' inbetween. I left Hefei somewhat bitter at having wasted much of the 5 months I was there for. Suzhou was hao duo le (much better) in every way. Looking back, I was incredibly lucky to have had a practise-run, as I now view Hefei, at teaching and learning Chinese. I really loved teaching in Suzhou and put to actual use the many skills I developed at that time. My students in ...

... away feast for my arrival. Sophie's parents were amazingly hospitable and ridiculously cool. Not only did they feed me, but her father refused to see me sitting at his table without a beer in front of me and wanted to hear nothing of me drinking my own beer that we'd just bought. We then had more fun than you could ever imagine playing board games with someone's parents before checking out the Rochdale nightlife. The word of the day was 'Chav.' Chavs are basically the ...