The Grand Tour

'So where have you been?' I hear you say! I have been gallivanting hither and thither....... amid fields in England which are wheat and poppy filled... and verges which are overgrown with dog roses.



I missed the Blaydon Race- 'twas on the 9th of June.....'

I went to Sicily via D2&M's in London. Sicily had a heatwave while we were there; it is an island with culture fusion- strategically placed in mid Med so everyone wants it.... taking it from the 2 indigenous tribes were....Greeks ,Romans, Carthaginians, Arabs, Byzantines, Spanish, Normans.... and it wasn't till the Unity of Italy in the late? 1800s that it was brought into Italy. The building styles reflect all the occupiers. The Valley of the Temples near Agrigento had survived from 500BC; Pizza Armerina??? (oops- it was too hot to remember the name properly ) has the biggest area of mosaics in the world; the Roman tessellations eg of hunting scenes and bikini-clad concubines were magnificent but spoiled by a lack of tourist infrastructure and Italian mayhem. Monreale cathedral was beautiful with fewer dusty madonnas than usual and SO much gold sandwiched between glass in order to create wall mosaics like you have never seen- adorned further with magnificent white flower arrangements for a wedding.... From Naxos (wherein we spent much time in a seafront bar) we visited Taormina (wherein we spent much time in a bar!)-rather touristy but being geet culture-vultures we went to visit the roman amphitheatre. Mount Etna towered above the island but we decided not to climb another volcano.Syracuse provided us with a fun,eating & dancing boat trip. Guides Susan,Luigi, and Marie Louise were excellent and our group really bonded & were very caring of each other.





We came back through Gatwick and via a 'Could you just pop into my ex-house in West London and pick up a few things I left there please?'!!trip right round the M25; thus midnight saw us still on the A1 northbound.



Morning saw us southbound on the A1 to Brimham Rocks to see J&J.

Church Gate Farm is the best B&B I have ever stayed in; wonderful hostess, breakfast, bedroom.... I could just go on and on..... We did a tour of 'life below stairs' in Beningborough Hall (National Trust); We called in at Nun Monkton village with village green,duck pond and maypole (huge!)and the pub 'The Alice Hawthorne ' provided us with delicious food.


The following day we visited Ripley for fudge, icecream and a tour of Ripley Castle.

The washing machine is working overtime again but being knickerless is worth all the time away.

We have been back down to London in the company of shrieking S. African vuzuvulas (is that what they are called?)and the commentary on the appalling play of the English World Cup team; inspite of the hollering of commentators over the top of said noise, we had a lovely weekend all together.

Oh no! Today is the longest day when the sun is at its maximum up north- tomorrow the days begin to shorten towards winter... aaaaagh! no! We are still having sun , sun and more sun; fingers crossed it stays this way this week as forecast.