time in the south-south west

artistic shot of the coast line!

upon leaving Bristol we made the journey down to Cornwall where we spent a week with my sister, her family and my mum and dad (Tim's side of the family). it was slightly strange stepping from our roles as both mum and dad or Noni and Granddad one week to brother and sister-in-law or even son and daughter-in-law the next. that said we have an amazing relationship with both our parents and siblings (and sibling in laws!) so we really enjoyed the week as good friends. this is a real testimony to having grown up in a loving family who's support still continues as we seek the next steps of our live, thanks guys! 

my sister on her birthday in the sun.

however it wouldn't be right to let things lay and its always fun to play big brother to my little sister so there was plenty of laughter much of the time as we enjoyed playing boule (a french bowls style game) which she was actually much better at than we had remembered, as well as playing some competitive table football, which of course Tim was quite good at!

part of the reason for making the trip down was to enable us to celebrate my sisters birthday which took place on the Sunday where Cornwall did its self proud providing us with some wonderful sunny weather and so fine produce from the ocean that dramatically crashes into its shores on the northern coast where we were staying. 

tim's lunch.....

we ate at 'the boathouse' where Maz enjoyed a bowl full of crabs claws which she cracked her way through and I had the challenge of making my way through a whole Spider crab which was cooked fresh after being plucked from the sea water tank it was sharing with its friends earlier in the day!

the weather was incredibly kind to us and its true to say that we can't remember the seas looking quite so blue and clear or the sand on the beaches as clean as we found them, it's funny how being away from home for a while makes you appreciate the place a little more when you return with new eyes.

you can't buy fresh fish here!

most of our days were spent chilling on the beach, no not literally, as we said the weather was quite warm for England!, my sister and husband have been ticking off the miles of the South West Coast Path over the last few years and undeterred by the opportunity to spend some valuable family time with us they ventured off each morning with either their daughter or my dad in tow, as well as my sisters father in law who has been walking the path with them on and off over the last few years*

dad on the coastal path

my nephew and his girlfriend were also down for a few days and we spent some lovely uncle and auntie time with them, he thinks of himself as a bit of a surfer dude but on his second day in the water he came off his board and ended up in the accident and emergency ward in Truro, we think it was a bit of attention seeking as his girlfriend is a model and therefore he has a bit of catching up to do!

auntie time

one afternoon we went down at the harbour trying to seek out the best place to purchase some locally caught fish for the BBQ (braai) that we'd planned for later in the day, unfortunately it would seem that English fishermen are unable to sell directly to the public from the harbour wall, as was the tradition for hundreds of years (does the European union have something to do with this?) and even the local supermarkets didn't have a fresh fish counter, come on this is Newquay for petes sake where else could we expect to get some fresh fish.

surfer dude

the BBQ did turn out fine and was slightly cheaper than our trip to the world famous chef, Rick Stein, fish and chip shop, which is located in the nearby town of Padstow, to be honest we've had better fish and definitely better chips from the local chippy in Aylesbury, we were a bit disappointed and our bank balance took a bit of a hit too.

our weekend cottage

Unfortunately the week flew by but we did have one or two highlights to look forward over the weekend to before we jetted off to Northern Ireland on Monday. on Friday we drove the long coast hugging roads from Newquay to Brighton, very picturesque but also very slow!, then on up to Horsham where we were joined by Emma Podmore (a Village of Hope volunteer) who was staying with us in an amazing country home for a couple of nights. 

the happy couple

We had all made the long trip, either up from Newquay or Cape Town to celebrate the wedding of an ex-volunteer from our time in South Africa. Shana had spent six months with us at the end of 2013 and was getting married to her fiancee Chris. The wedding was awesome and it was such a blessing to be able to see Shana looking so happy as her dream had come true.

On Sunday we visited Josh, our middle son and his girlfriend, at her family home in Kent, the day was beautiful and it was really cool to spend time with him just chilling out, chatting, watching the dire England v Ireland football match and the somewhat tedious Formula One grand prix from Canada, a race which usually brings some great entertainment, well at least Lewis Hamilton picked up a much needed win. 

crazy people

So we're now sitting in Ireland and will update the blog later on in the month once we have refueled on this next phase of our adventure.

*please note my sister and husband live in the middle of England and have been walking the coastal paths on and off during their holidays, they don't do this full time, if that was so they would be very slow walkers, which they aren't!