so that was summer...and we're still nomadic

time with Arry and Camille

So much has happened since we last updated our blog, so it's going to be hard to capture everything in this blog so what we'll do for now is list our a few of the highlights as we've spent time in England over the summer. 

Before we do that we'd just like to say that we've really enjoyed our time back with family and friends, it's been lovely to enjoy the English summer and although the time has flown by it has enabled us to sort out a lot of items (some of which are still up in the air), downsize even further and continue to dream about what our nomadic lifestyle might look like in the future. 

Sorting, sorting, and downsizing again

We have also updated our reading list to the right of this post, much of our time has been take up with listening to podcasts or info gathered online so our reading has been a little sporadic, that said I (Tim) have really enjoyed reading the travel books written by Levison Wood who is not only a good writer but also an adventurer which I am obviously interested in!

Highlights of Summer 2019:-

Time staying with friends

- Our daughter in law has found a new job which meant that she and Chris, and our grandchildren, have had to move out of the house that they'd been renting from us in Bristol and move to one nearer her new school. This obviously makes sense but in all our ponderings as to our future we decided to sell the house (and found a buyer). As you can imagine all this is quite stressful but we hope everything will be sorted before we fly off on our next adventure at the end of September.

on top of the world, well England anyways!

- I've (Tim) completing the 'Three peaks challenge', walking up, and down, the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in under 24 hours. I did this with six of my good friends with my friends wife providing her driving skills as well as encouragement in between the peaks. 

visiting Derbyshire

- We spent a wonderful few days away in the Derbyshire dales, we were blessed to visit our friends Mike and Caroline who we knew from our time in Buckinghamshire. They have bought a B&B, with bunkhouse, we very much enjoyed our time in that stunning part of the country with walks, runs and chilled time at the fore.

-Maz has been busy supporting her sister, Viv, with all things around her aging father, the girls seem to have had some fun times together during the last few months.

At the World Cup cricket in Southampton

- I attended a World Cup cricket match with my good friend Tref and his son, venturing down to Southampton to see Bangladesh defeat Afghanistan, which put some pressure on England at the time in the group stages. We also watched the final with Josh and Haddy with their friends as we celebrated Josh's 30th Birthday.

30th birthday celebrations

- As mentioned above we joined Josh on his 30th birthday, watching the final of the cricket world cup, it was a busy day, not only for Josh but on the sporting front and at one time we had the F1 Grand Prix from Silverstone on one device, the final of the tennis from Wimbledon on another and the final of the cricket, where England went on to defeat the plucky New Zealanders, from Lords on the main TV..what a day!

we've escaped!

- We had a exciting  afternoon with Josh and Haddy at an 'escape room' in London, this was a test of our mental, physical and team working abilities, all good fun and we managed to get out, just in time!

chilling with family in Northampton (after the ballet)

- We've spent some time with my (Tim's) sister and brother in law at their home in Northampton, where Maz enjoyed an afternoon at the ballet. We also spent a week away on the stunning and slightly sleepy island of Jersey, where we were hosted by some other friends (it's good to have friends!) and caught up with Franny and Spencer as well as Rebecca and Lisa who took us out to a great pizza restaurant right on the beach.

We made it!

- During our time on Jersey Tim and Chris completed the 'Round the Rock' Ultra marathon, after Tim's first completion of a standard 42km, 26 mile, marathon in South Africa last year, he raised the bar, completing the 75km, around 45 miles in just under 11 hours. The course followed the coastal paths, beaches and roads around the island, which as you can imagine was very undulating, but provided spectacular views across to the other Channel Islands, as well as France, with over 1,500 meters of assent it certainly tested our resolve. Maz and Vik followed us round in our little Fiat 500 hire car, cheering us on all the way to the finish which was so welcome.

Birthday celebrations (52 years young)

- Our youngest son, and his girlfriend, surprised me (Tim) for my birthday, flying over from Malta for a week or so, where they joined us to 'house' sit for a friend at their awesome home in Oxfordshire. It was great to spend some extra time with Arron, who also got to see Josh and Haddy as well as Chris and his family in their new home.

- We've enjoyed time in Aylesbury with my Mum and Dad, where we've walked, run, played the Chase (TV Quiz show) everyday, helped in their very small garden and had a few laughs in between. 

Walks with dad

- Towards the end of the summer we ventured further east to Suffolk and Essex where stayed with a two sets of friends, Sandy and Ali who we knew from our time in South Africa and Ross and Aly who we've met around the world watching the England cricket team.

- We've also enjoyed pottering around Bristol, exploring the city as well as some of the outlying towns such as Portishead and Clevedon. We even went to watch the mighty Queens Park Rangers play away at Ashton Gate with our eldest and youngest sons, grandsons and Arron's girlfriend, the home of Bristol City, unfortunately we lost but it was a short journey home! 

Come on U'R's with Grandchildren at Ashton Gate

We hope that provides a quick update and between now and the end of September we will move our caravan up towards Aylesbury and then we are heading off on a trip where we will be sharing the Leadership for Life programme with some new people and nations which we are excited about.

That trip will take us further east than Suffolk, in fact we're off to South Korea, which will be the first time we've been to the far east, sharing the programme over three weeks in three different cities. From there we will be in South Africa but not the Cape which is where we normally reside, this time we will be in Pietermaritzburg sharing with about 50 pastors from all over sub-saharan Africa.

From South Africa we will fly out to Mauritius, also sharing the leadership programme with people who work in some of the more challenging areas of what we are led to believe is a beautiful island. Towards the end of the trip we will be in Cape Town where we hope to attend the graduation of one of the sports mentors who we worked with during our time with the Village of Hope.

We'll be home for Christmas but promise to provide a blog update from the various nations in the mean time.