Premier Inn Northampton - Bedford Rd/A428

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

... now in Northampton, tomorrow we leave for Dover, and on Friday morning we board the ferry for France. Hurrah! If all goes according to plan :-) We'll let you know how we get on of course.

Having got our hands back on everything we own, we're now able to upload some pictures we took of our time in Norfolk, in case anyone fancies a look. They're below.

Hopefully the next entry will come from France, please cross fingers for us.

... made famous in the final season of sex and the city where Big tells Carrie that he loves her. The bridge also has many locks on it,all engraved with peoples names - i guess they throw the keys to their hearts into the Seine river!

*the Mona Lisa was stolen for two years in the early 20th century. A museum worker pinched it, with the aim of returning it to Italy. Two years later he got around to it and was promptly sprung. Everyone was accused of ...

... I was in need of cough medicine, and we needed another suitcase for all our stuff! Of course we managed to buy other stuff, but not surprising. Milton Keynes is similar to Chaddy or Chermside in terms of size - you can buy everything from there!

Yummy tapas for lunch, then we headed home for a bit of r&r before heading out for the night with Aunty Sue and ...

... at home! Stocked up on some souvieniers - Josh got a Heineken bottle with his own name on it!

So that ate up a couple of hours, so we just wandered around the shopping district for a little while, grabbed some postcards, beanie hats and a pair of fetching yellow clog shaped slippers for me! Back to the hotel for the bag, then up to Central station for the train back to Schipol - truly getting to and from the airport is just so easy!

Lower Shelton, England, United Kingdom bronandjosh09

... us to his house where he lives with Aunty Cath and my cousin Jack. Before long our eyes were falling and we were off to bed for a 4 hour nap! Once we were up we went and bvisited mum's other brother Danny, his wife Margaret and my cousin Frank. Back home and my cousin Natalie and her little one Archie had arrived. Frank swung past with my other cousin Danny (who tried to persuade us to a halloween do at the rugby club!) but to no avail ...

... We’re now planning to spend November in France where we can speak a little of the language. A couple of great opportunities have come up there that look very exciting. Providing that there are sufficient volunteers, one of the hopes is to erect an eco building in a woodland using local resources. So we won’t be gaining a winter suntan immediately, and the woollen socks will be important!
Alex

... Oxford is larger, less green, more commercialized with a river running around it. Both universities are spellbinding in their own unique way, bursting with stunning architecture, but all in all we found Cambridge the more enchanting of the two. The Nene Valley Railway boasts "Wansford Station ...

... but instead froze even with 2 sleeping bags and several thermal layers! The next day I discovered that cycling 65km in walking boots is not a good idea as it takes twice as much pedalling power to cope with the weight of the walking boots. Thankfully we had a few icecream stops en-route and the stunning mountain scenery made up for it. I had my first taste of using crampons when walking on the Fox Glacier ...

... a brilliant walking tour, which took in many sights including two of the colleges. For the Harry Potter fans out there, there has been much filming of the movies in Oxford, including Christ Church dining hall and the Bodleain Library. After spending Friday afternoon to Saturday morning there, on Saturday afternoon I headed for Bath. Along the way I stopped at a few of the Cotswold villages, including Stow-on-the-Wold, the Slaughters, and Bourton-on-the-Water.