Goodwood Festival of Speed 2026: PJs, Porsches and a Very Early Start

In time, I will fill in little details about “the missing years”. But if I wait to do that, I won’t keep up with current events, and that would be a shame.

One such event was the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS from here on ;) ), this past weekend. We decided last year that we would treat ourselves to a day at the FOS. Neither of us had ever been, but I’m a huge F1 fan and have watched motorsport for many years.

In fact, I have the vaguest memory of Mum and Dad taking me to Brands Hatch as a toddler. Who knows if that’s a real memory, although I think it probably is.

Anyway. It is a real treat of a day out — it’s definitely not a budget outing!

Because it was a bit special, and MrNoo knew people who had been before, the suggestion was that we get Grandstand tickets as they would make the day much more enjoyable. So, for the two of us, the investment was not a lot shy of £500. Given that we were also likely to need to eat on the day, that was kind of our final budget figure.

I spent the preceding week in a bit of wardrobe turmoil, as we are in the middle of a heatwave (anyone noticed that in the UK?) and I don’t suffer the heat well. But the tickets were bought and had cost enough to be noticeable, so I knew I needed to do the best I could to enjoy the day.

A ransack of my wardrobe yielded a pair of Uniqlo linen-viscose trousers and an old olive-green Ghost cami, which I’ve had for decades and is still one of my favourite tops. So that was a starting point.

I had anticipated wearing a white double-gauze shirt, but when I tried it on I realised it was actually a bit too warm. I knew I would need something over my shoulders and arms to stop me getting sunburnt, so I mooched over to Sainsbury’s to see if they had anything better in their Tu clothing section. I was happy to be flexible with the whole outfit, knowing I had a starting point if needed.

Nothing much doing in there, to be honest, until I stumbled across the sale section and saw a pair of pure cotton PJs. It seemed ridiculous, but the more I looked, the more the top appeared to be exactly the overshirt I was looking for: not too long, a beautiful neutral linen shade with a slightly darker vertical stripe.

They were 70% off, so I nabbed them. If MrNoo just laughed at my idea of going to Goodwood House in a pair of PJs, I would at least own some new PJs ;)

Anyway, to cut a longer-than-that story short, the jacket got the thumbs up. I ordered five sunhats from Amazon in the hope that between us we would find two that fitted and were comfortable. (We did!) And that was the wardrobe dilemma sorted.

I had spent some time Googling the FOS — which now comes with significant AI input — and the overriding suggestion was that we try to get there for 6.30–7am, when the car parks and gates opened.

I’m not naturally a morning person, although this is a significantly easier option in the middle of summer and a heatwave. So, alarms set for 5.30am, and we were on the road well before six.

What a good move that was! No traffic, barely any queue to get into the car park, and we were parked pretty close to the entrance, which was a bonus later.

Straight in through the gate, and the toilets were still pristine ;). Happy days.

Our entrance was close to the F1 pit lane and cars, so our first coffee was spent wandering up and down, enjoying the sparkling cars and being able to get close enough to appreciate their size.

They are really very small!

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The photos are quite tightly cropped because I had to avoid taking pictures of people hoovering the carpets. Everything looking its best.

From there, we crossed the Hill Climb track and spent an hour or so looking around the manufacturers’ cars. It was actually really nice to see all the different makes together — what is available now and what has come before.

I chose my next car ;)

Isn’t she a beaut? She has a matching interior.

Adds a quiet “in my dreams!”

We watched the first wave of climbs from a grandstand near the start. It was definitely the right move to have invested in the Grandstand tickets. It was shaded, and being just a little above the crowd meant you could feel the breeze better.

The rest of the day was basically spent wandering from grandstand to grandstand, looking at cars, hiding from the sun and enjoying watching grown men get very excited by the sight of heroes and wheel spins. 

I had two favourite moments (well I had many, i loved the day, but two that i can still see in my minds eye). One was Damon Hill driving his 1996 Williams up the hill 30 years after winning the championship in it. (slightly missed that on the photo as I was looking at the car and not the camera) . And the other was that if you parked your Porsche in the Porsche car park, they parked you by colour, which looked absolutely incredible (although by the afternoon these beautiful cars were covered in dust which would be a bit heartbreaking for the owners)

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(a very small selection!)

We left at around 1.30pm. We’d seen enough, and it was beginning to get uncomfortably hot. Always best to leave wanting more.

We stopped at a pub we know on the way home — The Cricketers in Duncton — and settled under the trees with a good late lunch, chatting about the day.

I don’t think it’s something we would do every year. It was amazing, and I loved it. When we got home, it was still on TV — the full day was being televised by Sky F1 (yay) — and we realised there was enough that we hadn’t seen to warrant a return, perhaps in a couple of years.

There’s no denying it’s an expensive day, and we were so lucky with the weather. It was very hot, but there was enough breeze to stop it becoming stifling — at least while we were there. It might have become uncomfortable later.

Getting there early was absolutely the right call. Leaving when we did was right on the day too, although if it had been cooler we might have stayed longer.

We said afterwards that it would have been good to find a tree, have a little nap underneath it and then start again!

But for our first visit, it was pretty awesome.

Tips for the FOS: 

• Wear long trousers and sleeves, both for sun and dust. Linen was a good shout in a heatwave
•  And a hat!  Definitely wear a hat!
• Get there as early as you can, gates open at 6:30 so before 7 is ideal.
• Leave just before you have had enough as the walk back to the car just tips it over a bit
• Take water bottles
• If you have a grandstand ticket try a few out, they all offer something different.

’Til soon ❤️

I can't begin to fill in the gaps

So as you may well have noticed, before my little Crete "journal" there was a not insignificant gap of about 8 years! (It actually really doesn't feel that long, but that's life as we know it) 

 Can I fill in all that time with you?

 Not really. But I can begin to tell you about a few journeys that seem to have happened almost without me knowing.  

It's quite strange to realise that it is only 4 posts back that i shared my poem to Mum that i had written for her funeral.  That makes it feel more recent than it is.  It will be 10 years this November.  But although she no longer inhabits this same time and space continuum that I do, it often feels like she has had a hand in things that have happened in the intervening years.

For example:  Only 6 months after i returned to my little cottage in Guildford, my lovely neighbour passed away.  I was quite devastated as I had been away in the last years of her life and although she had plenty of people to help, we had often gone to do the grocery shopping together and such like.  

The knock on of that, was that someone wanted to buy her house and really wanted mine as well, to be able to rent them out together.  As much as I had always loved that house, it was on a particularly noisy junction, and returning from the Sussex countryside after living with Mum and Dad for those 2 years, it had become apparent that I had lost a great deal of patience for noise and cars and traffic jams outside my front door.  So, in some ways the timing was good.  But it was still soon, and i was still bruised and tired and Dad was still in the care home in Guildford so i knew i didn't want to be moving away anywhere.  

One conversation led to another which led to another, and to cut out all the middle bit, I ended up buying my sister's bungalow as they were ready to find a different family home as the boys headed towards their secondary school years.  

And the point? Well the point was that despite the neighbours death being in March, and probate and all that had to be sorted, and negotiations and conversations....... our completion date for me to move to sis's bungalow and she to move on up the road (just a mile, we can still send smoke signals)........ our completion date was 2 days before the first anniversary of Mum's death in November.  It kept us busy enough, it gave Dad a focus and some fun in planning our DIY projects, but we were in and done by the day itself, to be calm but distracted just enough.  It took the sting out of that first year.  And in turn made the date a happy time, new beginnings. New Challenges (plenty of those to come!) 

I thought at the time I was buying a short term home, somewhere Mum knew and had been to in the years sis lived here, which felt nice for me. I wasn't ready to be somewhere she didn't know.  But it turned out not to be just moving house; it turned into a whole new chapter....... well several if we are honest ;)

'Til soon ❤️

Crete – Agios Nikolaos Journal Days 5–9 | Villages, Beaches and Bus Adventures

Having settled into the rhythm of Agios Nikolaos, it was time to venture a little further afield.

Day 5 – A Day on Dry Land

After the sea ventures yesterday, today was firmly land-oriented.

It was a cloudy and slightly muggy day, so we set off in the opposite direction from the hotel, away from the town. We walked past the little sandy beach where we had enjoyed our first swim of the holiday and continued along the road beyond.

Much like our walk a couple of days earlier, it gradually began to feel as though the road was leading us towards not-a-lot in particular. Before committing ourselves to another lengthy march into the unknown, we made the sensible decision to stop at a coffee bar for a sit down and a drink.

Refreshed, we retraced our steps towards the hotel and then continued on into town.

This time we ventured around the back of Lake Voulismeni. What looked perfectly manageable from below turned out to involve a rather steep climb. Having completed it, I'm not in any hurry to repeat the experience.

Near the top we rewarded ourselves with a coffee and a view. The view was excellent. The coffee was somewhat less memorable and perhaps a little overrated.

With the weather remaining warm, humid and slightly heavy, it felt like a day for taking things gently rather than trying to pack too much in. Sometimes holidays need days like that.

Day 6 – Bus to Plaka

I had started reading The Island, which is set in Plaka, the nearest point on the mainland to the former leper colony of Spinalonga.

As Day 6 was a Saturday, the idea of staying in town didn't much appeal. We had realised while wandering around the lake on Friday that weekends were likely to be busier. Not our vibe!!

So after a conversation with AI (useful as it turns out), we decided to get the bus to Plaka. We knew there was a bus late in the morning, and that the only return service was at 5:30pm, leaving us with a full afternoon to spend in the village.

The bus station was easy to navigate. I'm thinking we were not the first people to look slightly nervous while trying to pronounce "Plaka" respectfully and, as is always the way, holding up two fingers whilst requesting "THEE-oh Retorno".

As it happened, it was all very straightforward. The buses were clearly numbered and air conditioned. Score.

The journey took around half an hour, passing through Elounda on the way. Elounda looked bigger than Plaka and rather nice too – a possible contender for a future trip.

We needn't have worried about finding the bus stop at the other end. The bus simply stopped in the middle of the road in the middle of the village. Job done.

We mooched around and got our bearings, which didn't take very long. Plaka is not a large place. Having established the layout, we decided it was time for a leisurely lunch.

Unfortunately the restaurant we'd read the most recommendations for was completely full. Judging by the queue, those recommendations were probably well deserved. Instead, we ambled back along the coast and found a restaurant with a lovely view and a friendly maître d'.

In terms of food, the view and the maître d' were probably the best things about the restaurant. Still, the ambience was good, and not everything you do on holiday has to be a roaring success. C'est la vie. Or whatever the Greek equivalent might be.

After lunch we found a small beach and spent an hour sitting and people-watching.

Then – shock news – we had a coffee.

The bus journey back was gentle and enjoyable, and from the station it was a quiet twenty-minute walk through town to the hotel.

Day 7 – The Day of the Massage

We had booked each of us in for a massage in the hotel spa for Sunday. Again, walking around town all day at the weekend didn't seem a necessity for us, so the spa seemed a good bet.

R had a back, shoulder and neck massage – 45 minutes. While he was being worked on, I wandered down to the beach to enjoy some reading and the sound of the waves for a little while.

When I returned for my turn, the masseuse, George, was explaining to R all about his particularly tight fascia. This is, apparently, my permanent message, so it was nice to be somewhat vindicated.

My appointment, as a birthday present, was a longer 90-minute session of full body massage and facial.

It turns out George was a bit of a miracle worker. Having thoroughly pummelled every part of my calves and thighs, he then informed me that my back and shoulders were "in harmony". Naturally, this immediately made him one of my favourite people.

Oh my, did I feel good afterwards.

In fact, the feeling was so positive that R promptly booked another massage for the Tuesday before we headed home.

It's a shame Crete is quite a long way away really, because I could very easily get used to a monthly detox massage.

By the time the massages were finished and we had brought ourselves back to the world of the living, we wandered slowly into town and eventually settled on a very late Sunday lunch at an Italian restaurant.

It was just lovely to sit and watch families out together, enjoying vibrant discussions, leisurely food and each other's company. There was something wonderfully Mediterranean about it all.

Such a joy.

Day 8 – Kritsa

We decided to let loose on the buses again and take a journey inland to the little village of Kritsa.

It was only about a twenty-minute journey and we arrived at the one and only bus stop in the town square.

Kritsa was everything you might hope for from a traditional Cretan village. Linen shops, olive wood shops, and all manner of souvenirs and trinkets, generally at much more reasonable prices than Agios Nikolaos.

We stopped at a lovely pavement café for a drink. A fruit juice cocktail for me, which was delicious, and unsurprisingly a coffee for he.

We had already decided that we wanted to explore Kritsa Gorge, so after hydrating we made our way through the village. Before long we began spotting handwritten signs for the Gorge, accompanied by reassuring yellow painted dots.

It was a good twenty-minute walk beyond the village before the landscape began to change. The path became rougher, stones became boulders, the route started to climb gently, and vultures began circling overhead. Slightly unnerving, if I'm honest.

We spent around an hour walking into the gorge itself. For the most part it was a moderate hike, although every now and then there would be a five-foot scramble, a rope to help with a climb, or a strategically placed metal rod to stand on while negotiating larger boulders.

Eventually we stopped to consult the map. Neither of us was entirely certain how far along the gorge we had reached, and after some discussion we decided the sensible option was to turn around and retrace our steps, knowing exactly how far and how difficult the return journey would be.

Descending proved quicker than climbing, although it also produced a few moments that were arguably more exciting than strictly necessary.

Finally, a little tired but entirely pleased with ourselves, we arrived back in Kritsa. We had enjoyed our drinks stop so much earlier in the day that we returned to the same café for a late lunch.

A pork gyros arrived at exactly the right moment and hit the spot beautifully.

We caught the bus back from the town square and managed to get off a little closer to the hotel than planned when R recognised a side road after someone else had pressed the stop button. A small victory, but by that point our legs were grateful for it.

As it happened, we found ourselves almost directly opposite our favourite coffee bar.

It seemed rude not to stop and round off the day properly.

Day 9 – Istron / Voulisma Beach – Final Full Day

Our final full day in Crete arrived rather sooner than seemed reasonable.

After R's massage at 11am, we headed for the bus station once again and caught the bus to Istron and Voulisma Beach.

When we arrived it seemed a little strange to find no sunbeds or umbrellas available. Whether we were too early, too late, or simply looking in the wrong place, we never quite established. Rather than baking immediately in the midday sun, we decided that lunch was the sensible first move.

Suitably fed and watered, we headed down to the left-hand cove, which seemed a little quieter than the main stretch of beach.

And there we stayed.

For around two and a half glorious hours there was very little agenda beyond enjoying being there.

Some swimming.

Some people watching.

Some fish watching.

A little reading — still making my way through The Island which is feeling very much like i'm in the sotry with all the local place names.

Eventually we caught the 5pm bus back to Agios Nikolaos and made our way towards the hotel.

Via a coffee, of course.

Back at the room there was the slightly melancholy task of mostly packing for the journey home.

The holiday wasn't quite over yet, but it was beginning to feel that way.

Day 10 – Heading Home

Our flight home wasn't until late evening, with the hotel pickup scheduled for 8:30pm, so there was no need to rush.

After the inevitable final packing session and a leisurely breakfast, our suitcases were magically transported down to reception and we set off for one last wander into town.

We had a plan for the day: to eat and drink our way around all our favourite discoveries from the holiday.

It seemed only right to begin with a morning coffee.

From there we wandered through town to Achi Nos, where we shared calamari and chicken kebabs for lunch. Everything felt wonderfully laid back and unhurried.

As if that wasn't enough, a chocolate dessert appeared at the end of the meal as a thank you from the restaurant.

Awesome.

Unfortunately this created something of a dilemma, because there had also been promises made regarding the ice cream shop. By this point we were almost as familiar there as we were at our favourite coffee bar.

Of course we still went.

We simply walked there a little faster in an entirely scientific attempt to burn off the calories.

The afternoon drifted by gently. We wandered around the town, up and down the little lanes, and spent a fair amount of time talking ourselves out of buying souvenirs.

There was one final Freddo Cappuccino.

After a sit, a chat and a little more mooching, there was also a farewell dinner at Almyriki, where we had enjoyed such a good meal earlier in the holiday.

Eventually the time came to return to the hotel and begin the journey home.

The coach transfer to the airport felt rather long and, if anything, seemed to stretch out the inevitable more than was really necessary.

There was one unexpected benefit though. As we had been picked up first, we spent the journey calling at various other resorts around the area.

Seeing them confirmed something we'd suspected all week: we had been exceptionally lucky with our choice of location.

Many of the other resorts felt far more tourist-focused and far less like the sort of place we would naturally gravitate towards. Agios Nikolaos had suited us perfectly.

It had been a really lovely holiday.

Nine days is a long holiday for us. Neither of us gets a huge amount of pleasure from spending all day on a beach, although I can happily pass the time with a good book. Finding somewhere that offered a balance of walking, exploring, good food, bus adventures, little villages, beaches, history and excellent coffee felt like quite a coup.

Crete, and particularly Agios Nikolaos, turned out to be exactly the right fit.

← Days 1–4 of this Crete journal

Agios Nikolaos Crete Travel Journal – Days 1–4 (Spinalonga Cruise & Coastal Walks)

I do appreciate there is an 8 year gap here! I can't begin to fill it in really but as time goes on maybe I will.

The three month gym membership mentioned in my last post has now become a career as a fitness instructor. Teaching various Les Mills programmes, yoga and Reformer Fitcore™. But all that is for more time.

This post is really because we had a lovely holiday and I wanted to journal it, and this seemed a good place.

Crete – Agios Nikolaos Travel Journal

Hotel: Hotel Ariadne Beach, Agios Nikolaos (booked via EasyJet Holidays)

(Booked via EasyJet)

Day 1 – Arrival in the Dark

We landed late in the evening after the flight from Gatwick, leaving around 4pm. With the flight itself and the two-hour time difference, it was properly dark by the time we made the journey from the airport to Agios Nikolaos.

There’s something quite disorientating about arriving somewhere beautiful when you can’t actually see it yet — just the outlines of hills, occasional lights, and the sense that the sea is somewhere just beyond the road.

By the time we reached the hotel it was fully night-time. We checked in, went straight up to the room, and stepped out onto the balcony.

The first real moment of the holiday arrived quietly: a full moon hanging over the sea, reflecting across the water. No fanfare, just that silver light and the sound of the town settling down for the night. It immediately set the tone for everything that followed.

We slept well — surprisingly so, considering the travel and time shift — and even managed to get up in time for breakfast the next morning, which always feels like a small victory on day one.

Day 2 – Finding Our Feet in Agios Nikolaos

The first full day was all about orientation. No plans, no agenda — just walking and seeing what the town would reveal.

We wandered down into Agios Nikolaos and started to piece it together: streets that looped back on themselves, glimpses of the harbour, and that constant presence of the lake sitting right in the middle of everything like a hidden centre of gravity.

Coffee came early, as it should on a first proper holiday morning, and we followed it with a simple Greek salad for lunch — fresh, salty, exactly what you want when you’re still slightly in travel mode and not quite ready for anything too heavy.

The afternoon was more wandering. We found the lake properly, following paths around its edge and getting a feel for how the town wraps around it. We found an ice cream shop too — one of those unplanned discoveries that somehow becomes a reference point for the rest of the holiday.

Later in the day we extended the walk back to the hotel, taking a longer route that brought us past the harbour and the statue of Europe. It was one of those slightly unplanned detours that ends up being the best part of the day — the light changing, boats shifting in the water, everything still feeling new.

By the time we got back, the town already felt a little more familiar than it had that morning.

Not fully known yet — but no longer unfamiliar either.

Day 3 – The Long Walk

Today we walked out of town in the opposite direction, heading beyond the harbour on the far side to see what lay further along the coast.

It started simply enough — a steady wander, following the shoreline and seeing how far Agios Nikolaos would stretch before it stopped feeling like Agios Nikolaos.

Not far along the route we stopped at a small beach bar tucked into the edge of the walk. It was exactly the right moment to pause: a drink, some shade, and a chance to reset before carrying on.

After the break we continued for another kilometre or so. The town gradually loosened its grip on the landscape. We passed a place called the “ZEUS Hotel” — our own slightly amusing moment of recognition — and then an olive farm sitting quietly by the roadside.

After that, the feeling shifted. The buildings thinned out, the edges of town faded, and we found ourselves in that slightly ambiguous in-between space where it’s not quite settlement, not quite countryside. A bit open. A bit barren. The kind of place where you start to wonder whether you’re still on the right path or just wandering for the sake of it.

So we made the entirely sensible executive decision to turn around.

And it turned out to be a very good call.

We headed back to the beach bar and stopped properly for a late lunch. Calamari was ordered and, by all accounts, it absolutely delivered. One of those meals that feels earned rather than chosen.

The walk back through town took most of the afternoon. It had that gentle drift to it — no rush, no urgency, just retracing steps through familiarising streets. There may have been another coffee stop. Possibly ice cream as well. Details are respectfully left unconfirmed.

Later, we headed just a few hundred metres beyond the hotel to a sandy beach on the other side. The afternoon light was softening by then, and the sea had that calm, slightly reflective feel to it.

We swam, properly this time — the kind of swim that resets everything. Swallows skimmed over the reed beds nearby, low and fast against the water. For a while there was nothing else to think about except breathing, floating, and remembering that you’re actually on holiday.

And that was enough.

Day 4 – Spinalonga

Today was the Spinalonga day — a half-day cruise from the harbour that we had booked in advance.

The morning started gently with a relaxed breakfast before walking into town. There’s something nice about not rushing on a day like this, especially knowing you’ve got a set departure time but nothing else demanding attention yet.

We stopped at the pharmacy on the way to pick up travel sickness tablets and bite cream, then immediately had to pause again for a coffee in order to take them. The Freddo Cappuccino is firmly establishing itself as a holiday staple at this point — one of those discoveries that feels like it might follow us home.

The cruise departed at 12:30, but we arrived early and made a very good decision to board straight away and secure shaded seats. That small bit of planning paid off for the rest of the trip.

Once underway, the boat hugged the coastline as we left Agios Nikolaos behind, with the guide pointing out local areas and giving context as we went. It was a calm, easy start — just sitting back and watching the coast slide past.

After about an hour we stopped for a swim break. We decided not to join in, mostly because we didn’t have anything properly dry to change into afterwards. Watching everyone else though, there was a slight sense that we might have missed out — the water looked incredibly clear, and everything we heard suggested it was warm and inviting.

From there we continued on to Spinalonga itself.

The island was genuinely fascinating. It’s easy to forget how recent its history is — it only stopped being a leper colony in 1957, which brings it uncomfortably close in time. That proximity made it feel more real somehow. Our guide struck exactly the right tone: respectful, measured, emotional without ever overdoing it.

After the introduction, we were left to explore the island independently. It doesn’t take long to walk around — maybe half an hour — but it’s the kind of place where you slow down anyway. We wandered from the small high street, around the old buildings, past the church, and finally out to the graveyard.

There’s a quietness to the place that stays with you even after you leave.

We were back on the boat by around 4pm and headed back to the mainland on a slightly quicker return journey, docking at about 5.

Conveniently, the ice cream shop sits right by the harbour, so that was the first stop ashore. After that, another coffee inevitably followed on the walk back — it almost felt like a required part of the routine by this point.

Dinner was back at the hotel, and later in the evening we went down to the beach for a quiet sit in the dark. The pebbles made that particular sound they do when the waves pull back — a kind of soft, constant shingle rhythm that’s oddly hypnotic.

Back in the room, I downloaded a Kindle book: The Island by Victoria Hislop — a fictional story set around Spinalonga. It felt like the right thing to do, almost like continuing the day in a different form.

---

That’s the start of the story — a few early days settling into Agios Nikolaos and finding our rhythm.

More days from this Crete travel journal will follow in the next post.

September 2017

I have got so bad at blogging, but i do love having somewhere to come for my memories.  So here in no particular order, was September!

We cooked on fire!  (for a change)  

We sun-setted at the beach

We went to a festival in Wales. (Good Life Experience - and it was!) 

and we stayed in our tent! 

There was the last of the harvested veg with sunshine colours. 

We visited Stockbridge and watched the trout in the river Test.

I got a cuddle with my boy

and we made footprints in the sand together.

Tah-Daaah

This has been finished a couple of weeks now, but it took me a while to find space enough to photograph it! Even now it is bordered by a tea urn! Ah well, a bigger house beckons :D

More blogging soon, i'm out of the habit!

T'il soon ❤️

Cape Verde - A week in the sun! (and an ethical dilemma!)

Hi honies, we're home!

As I hinted to in my last post - beach wear has been required. We had ourselves a little week in an all-inclusive resort in Cape Verde on the island of Boa Vista:

A lot of people have asked for my opinion on the island as a holiday destination since hearing i was going, so I thought i'd take some time to write, both as a bit of diary of the holiday and also for anyone thinking of going there.

As you can see from the above screenshot of the map - there's not a lot there! Boa Vista is a small island around 620km² ..... That's basically 618km²  of nothing and a couple of hotels.

When we arrived the airport kinda gave away the idea that the island is still very much in it's pre-tourist era. Reminiscent of spanish airports in the early 1970's, it was a hut and a short runway, which you walked across (on the pedestrian marked crossings of course!) to get to the aforementioned "hut". In through a door, straight on the back of the queue for passport control, and behind that the two baggage carousels. This isn't a complaint by any stretch, it was efficient and clean and there (at the moment) is no need for anything more. It was beautifully simplistic after Gatwick's cattle market. (I truly felt there like the ball bearing in a game of bagatelle - put in one end and manoeuvred across acres of corridor til i fell out the other side on a plane!). Anyway as we landed i could hear many people in the plane who could see the sister hotel to ours out of the window and who had clearly been before "there she is/won't be long/beach still looks perfect" (it does seem that a good proportion of visitors were repeating the experience - i heard many over the weekend say that they'd been before)  That hotel was seemingly very close to the airport (it wouldn't have mattered noise wise, there are only 10 odd flights a day at the moment).  Ours was a little further, around half an hour - as you can see by the map above - we had a road....... most of the way ;)

The hotel stands out like a village, in fact it felt as big as the capital city that we went to later in the week. Obviously it's not .... well not quite. As we approached it appeared like an oasis. 

That is a tiny corner of it!

Keen to explore we checked in and dumped our bags and headed out to get our bearings. Our room was at one far end of the complex, at the furthest end from us was an infinity pool, and stairway to the beach, the exercise area (didn't visit that again!) a bar, and the spa area.  Coming back toward the middle was a massive pool area surrounded by sun loungers and umbrellas, a big buffet snack restaurant (which doubled as the African themed restaurant in the evenings) A pool bar and another stairway to the beach where as well as loungers etc there were also volley ball nets and football nets, and the water sports centre. Also in this middle area - but behind was the main square where there was a stage for evening entertainment, the big main restaurant, bars, themed restaurants, a couple of shops and a doctors! (handy but luckily unecessary!). Back at our own end there was an area for adults only (which we didn't have access to but apparently included another pool and another stairway to the beach) I understood from listening around that the hotel has been extended and it was massive! Someone said around 2000 rooms, but the information says 800 (to be honest 2000 seems more likely given the size but who knows!)

Our first evening buffet was interesting. Never having been on an all-inclusive holiday before, we weren't used to the melee that surrounds mealtimes. To get to the food felt at times like trying to cross the M25, but we soon got the measure of it and i'm sure by the end of the week looked like pro's (or maybe still looked like rabbits in headlights but just felt a bit more comfortable). The food choice was amazing and I amazed myself at the combinations i managed to create. Why is it that given a large buffet to choose from you find yourself incapable of putting together a normal meal, but instead grab whatever you fancy - vegetable lasagne and pork chops anyone? Nice!! For this reason (mostly) by the end of the week i was bored to tears with the food on offer.  It was still great food and a very large variety, but every night had been that same variety. And as I hadn't managed to gain the ability to choose a theme at any stage during the week, I'd eaten the best bits (most nights) and still didn't fancy the rest.  We did eat in the other restaurants - there was no restriction on how many nights you used the others, just that you had to book. But we soon realised that really they were also just offering the same food for the most part, but in a more sedate setting (which was welcome!) 

At 9pm there was an hours entertainment, which generally was of a very acceptable and watchable standard. There was only one night where i chose to withdraw, and that was more about my likes than the performance. I don't much care for the original Justin Bieber or Katy Perry, so someone else doing their songs isn't likely to float my boat!  However the Abba night, the Rock Gods night, and the various dance nights were all very watchable and good fun.

So what followed were essentially 7 days of moving from pool to beach (beach mostly), listening to iTunes, and reading. We did two excursions - whale watching, which was rubbish - not because there weren't any whales but because it was bloody freezing, rough as heck, windy, cloudy, windy and did I mention COLD! (and I was sick as a dog despite taking pills, which peeved me more than a little)  Most of the people on the trip felt it should have been cancelled given the weather, or at least we should have been offered the chance to rebook. No one had clothing appropriate for the conditions.  And we didn't see any whales! Not that that is a problem - on a sunny or calm-ish day the boat trip would still have been a pleasure. But this really wasn't.

The second was a trip to the capital city, up beyond the airport. 

 

(Where we saw the only colour other than green that we had seen all week!) The guide was local, and hugely informative. His English was excellent and the trip was well thought out and flowed from one part of the town to another. There were two stops for local food tastes, and an opportunity to buy souvenirs from a fixed price vendor if you didn't fancy running the gauntlet with the market (i say market, it was 4 stalls! but they tried bless them) A look at the local fish market, and the area where the island inhabitants get their drinking water. The laundry, the harbour,

 the school (the only high school on the island, and not accessible really to anyone living outside the capital city) and a church.

And it was this trip that got the old grey matter working......
An island with 15000 odd inhabitants. That grows no produce, has no livestock save a few cows and quite a lot of free-roaming goats, has one city and two shanty towns (around half the population live in the capital, the rest are split between the two villages). Where the village dwellers still have to walk 2.5km to fetch their drinking water which they carry back in 25litre containers on their heads, or if they can afford to get them taken back in the wagon. Where there is no public transport at all, and if you want to go to high school from either of the villages, it's around 10 Euros a day in transport costs, which is unattainable to most. 

A stunningly beautiful empty island:

Where you know that tourism gives the population a chance of employment and earning something, but you also know in your heart that they are probably being taken the mickey out of. Without employment they have no chance of sending their children to school, or getting any more built. With tourism may come a public transport system of some sort that could get children to school and food and water to the villages. That will more than likely bring the possibility of electricity to the villages. But already the cost is that 90% of the coast line is sold and in 15-20 years I would say this island and the others in Cape Verde will be unrecognisable. Already there is a huge landfill site off the main road that you can just about see where the garbage from our wasteful tourist existence goes. That the workers in the hotel are mostly resident in the shanty towns, and despite these massive hotels having been there a few years now, there has not been a big improvement in those living situations. That the food and everything for the hotels is imported for those hotels, and therefore is not helping the nutritional standards for the villages in any way. But that the island could not in any way support these hotels even with massive investment. The land is desolate and barren. Even the goats had trouble scratching a living! (You could almost see them gathering around waiting for a green shoot to appear) - although it made for great merriment when they got in the hotel grounds....... instant decimation!) It was a real dichotomy of feelings.

The hotel was amazing. The staff were attentive, clean and courteous. The hotel and rooms were beautifully clean (there was a smell of untreated water in the toilets, which was a bit hard to take if you'd drunk too much! but at least they flushed!! :D and the bigger toilets in the public areas didn't seem to suffer the same fate so we tried to use those as much as possible) It was large and spacious and apart from getting the food at the evening buffet, it was calm and unrushed.  The drinks were acceptable - wine was a bit rough, but the spirits were fine, and the food was well cooked and tasty, if a little repetitive.  There was no lack of anything at all. You really could'nt have wished for more.  We were unlucky with the weather in that it was cloudy all week. So even at 28Deg C with the island breeze and a cloud covering, it felt cold.  I spent a fair amount of time with a hoodie on! But we got a tan despite that and at least we could walk up and down the beaches to amuse ourselves for a couple of hours without risk of sunstroke! We watched a few men fishing (and in truth the week would have been better for both of us if someone had taken a fishing rod!!!) and spent hours looking out to sea... because both of us can do that for a good few hours seemingly! (I should add that there was a red flag every day for swimming and apparently that is the case almost all the time)

Would we go again?  I think so if we wanted this kind of holiday. But I'd take more things to do. Definitely a fishing rod for his nibs (preferably a fairly cheap one we could leave there for a local to use when we left). A pack of cards!  I'd probably ditch the company excursions and try to find a local taxi to use to go to a couple of different beaches or the other side of the island (I believe there is a single beach bar round there!!!!) I'd take more cardigans! (in the hope that I wouldn't need them!) And my binoculars! Because on the last day, we did see our whales... from the hotel beach. 3 or 4 humpbacks about halfway to the horizon (so probably a mile and half or so) and easily seen with the naked eye. But Bino's would have been better. (although the amount of sand that got blown around i'd have to think carefully about that i suppose!) Generally though we like a slightly more active holiday, or at least the choice to be more active/get out more/see more. I've been to Gambia and the Azores and both of those holidays had more to offer in terms of things to see. But for sitting on an amazing beach - even if I was freezing some of the time.  Well for just that, this would be hard to beat. 

T'il soon ❤️

Okay - back to my life! Upholstering my chair!

So..... my upholstery course had a little hiatus, due to circumstances beyond my control! But as my chair is only half finished, and knowing that this course is something mummy would wholeheartedly approve of, i booked another term!

At the end of the last upholstery post I believe I had re-foamed the arms as i wanted them with a little more padding than they had. I could feel the wood of the arms if i leant on them, and as i knit in chairs, i decided to take the opportunity to add a little "give".

Then cutting out a rectangle to fit over the arm from down inside the seat up and over and down around and under the outside. It doesn't make sense writing it like that really, but this first photo shows the outside under the arm - that's hard work stapling in there!

 This second photo shows the inside - the fabric is tucked down alongside the seat and stapled under the seat wherever i could.

 The next job was pleating the front. not as easy job - and i needed to remember that i would need to match the second side so the pleats had to be even and a sensible number! - I tried to do it with temporary tacks but they wouldn't hold the pleats so in the end i stapled each pleat as i went

 And then tried to match the second side. its not perfect, but then if i'd wanted a perfect job i'd have paid someone to do it! I want this to be my accomplishment - and it seems even more important just now.

 So this is the end of week 7.

In my last week of last term, i made some piping and put it round the back and down the wings. I cut my velvet on the bias (didn't need to be a full 45deg but a definite slant!)  then wrap it round piping cord and sew it down nice and tight to the cord using a piping foot. It's then attached to the chair with staples as symmetrically as possible (I laughed a little at that!)

 And I stapled a bit of poly wadding on to pad out the wings a little and give a little plumpness under the fabric!

So, today i went back, and had pretty much completely forgotten how to do anything! I had already cut the two wing pieces out so checking my nap comes down the chair, i used a cardboard tape at the top and staples to secure the wing fabric under the piping as tightly as possible. Stopping just before the curved end.

 

With a little poly wadding to give something to pull down over!


















Then pulling that down tight and making a few anchor points a the bottom and back with temp tacks








































i started to fold the last side inside the piping and pin it in:

Lots of slits on the inside hem to allow the fabric to curve, and lots of pulling it down and out! (there's a lot of that in upholstery!)

And finally sewing it in, using ladder stitch (which I call mattress stitch)  and a curved needle (still pricked myself plenty!)

No photo at the end of the day - cos I'm a ditz! but basically the two sides are very nearly complete. Just need to staple them down at the back and bottom.




In other news, my little lady, Spot went to sleep for the last time at the end of October last year. It was just the week before Mum passed away - maybe she was going to help Mum over the bridge - she always did look after her.  There's not much more to say. My best friend, my girl and I miss her.  There are two new kids on the block though! - More about them another time.

T'il soon ❤️