old gits on tour

old gits on tour follow our travels around the UK and further afield.

Hi Folks, so here we are in Cornwall, awaiting the arrival of the Bride and Groom to be, along with the gorgeous bridesm...
20/08/2025

Hi Folks, so here we are in Cornwall, awaiting the arrival of the Bride and Groom to be, along with the gorgeous bridesmaid. Amazing setting, with the beach on hand to exhaust the mad dog. Roll on Saturday. It’s going to be amazing.

Good evening All,This is my final post for this trip. We're now in Neufchatel en Bray to visit the vets for our trip hom...
27/06/2025

Good evening All,

This is my final post for this trip. We're now in Neufchatel en Bray to visit the vets for our trip home on Sunday. It's been over 20 years since we last visited this site and it is still as lovely as the last time we were here. The sun is shining, the facilities are good and the site is still pristine.
However, the real reason for the last few days is that yesterday we travelled along the Normandy coast to visit the sites of the D Day landings. It was amazing and if you ever get the opportunity to visit, it will be something you will never forget. The work that went into driving the invasion back out of France and getting the troups safely out of Europe is just mind blowing. The engineering, the sacrifice and the pure bravery takes your breath away. This has been an emotional as well as an educational trip. This is definitely what should be taught in schools, so that the next generation can appreciate the sacrifice young men and women made to ensure we could live freely.
I need to thank Pete and Andy for giving me the opportunity to make this trip and it is an experience I will never forget (especially since my picture made it into the papers) whoops.
Here are a few photos of yesterday.

Hi Everyone! Today was the day. It's been an extremely hot and emotional one.It began at 9am this morning when we handed...
24/06/2025

Hi Everyone! Today was the day. It's been an extremely hot and emotional one.

It began at 9am this morning when we handed Missy over to a dog sitter for the day. They collected her from the campsite and drove away and we piled into Andys car and set off on the 30 minute journey to the cemetery in Grand Luce.
When arrived we were greeted by Rose, she was the lady who initially made contact with Pete. She thanked us for attending and introduced us to the attending officers and other ranks, which included a bugler from the Welsh Guards. The Padre introduced herself and told us how she is attached to A Gunners regiment currently so Joseph's rededication was quite significant to her.
We attended all four of the ceremonies carried out today to show our respect to the fallen soldiers and the families involved in doing so met many others that have travelled to be here today.
Andy had a poem included in the order of service and he delivered the reading admirably. At the end of Joseph's ceremony the folded union flag was presented by the nation as a show of thanks for service and sacrifice.
On completion of all the ceremonies, the attending families were hosted to a luncheon by the Mayor, followed by a tour of the Mairie.
It proved to be a poignant day, that we will remember fondly.

Hi All,We hope this post finds you all well and enjoying the beautiful weather back in the UK.It's been a while but this...
22/06/2025

Hi All,
We hope this post finds you all well and enjoying the beautiful weather back in the UK.

It's been a while but this is an impromptu trip over the channel but for a very special reason. I would like to share the reason behind this trip with you if you would be kind enough to indulge me.

Saturday morning we sat in the port of Dover munching our breakfast pastries waiting to board the ferry to take us across the channel to make our journey across to Le Mans, where tomorrow we will be joined by Andy (Pete's brother) to share a very special experience.

It all began back in February when we returned from our winter trip to a letter from The War Graves Commission (it was addressed to Pete but hey, sharing is caring, so I opened it)
They wanted to inform us that they had traced an unknown soldier War grave back to Pete's grandfather's family. This came as a shock to us as Pete was not aware of having a great uncle who had fought in World War two.
With the letter in hand he went to visit his Dad who said yep, he had an Uncle Joseph, it was his Father's youngest sibling who went off to war and didn't return. However this was where his knowledge stopped, as with many families there was a falling out and all contact between siblings was severed and the family was never spoken of again.
Pete contacted his siblings with this news, and then the war commission to arranged for us to attend the re- dedication of the grave so that it now bears Joseph's name as a lasting memory of his sacrifice.
The ceremony is due to take place on Tuesday and we feel honoured that we are able to attend and pay our respects. It has also again, shown that the nomadic life we lead holds many winding turns and allows us the privilege of being able to honour a 19 year old who gave his life so we have the ability to live ours with such freedom.
I will update this status with pictures from the day. I am also aware that there isn't very much background information in this post as to the how and why the actual locations and identification were made, but we have kindly been furnished with all of this information which we will carefully and respectfully retain and share with the future generations of our family as they grow.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and we hope you are able to comprehend all of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to identify the graves and trace families of the unknown soldiers. Xx

Well of all of things I thought I might see walking around on Calais beach, this was definitely not one of them. 🤯 It ev...
11/02/2025

Well of all of things I thought I might see walking around on Calais beach, this was definitely not one of them. 🤯 It even breathes fire.

Well that's all folks!!As we sit in a cold, wet, cloudy Calais, the sun already seems like a long way away. Even worse i...
11/02/2025

Well that's all folks!!

As we sit in a cold, wet, cloudy Calais, the sun already seems like a long way away. Even worse is the thought we've got this weather for a while to come yet...

By this time tomorrow we will be back on British soil and wending our way back towards home, with a few stops on the way.

We have a busy year ahead with family occasions and big celebrations to plan for and enjoy so bring on the good times. As well as this we have next winters trip to plan (always good to have something to keep the cold at bay).

So for now we will say goodbye and thank you all for following our adventures and we hope they have kept you entertained and even maybe given you some inspiration for your own adventures.

Speak again when we next hit the road, take care. Xx

Here are a few pictures from our trip through France. Xx

Well people today has been a day of firsts for us.We spent last night on a carpark in Zaragoza, it turned out that it wa...
07/02/2025

Well people today has been a day of firsts for us.
We spent last night on a carpark in Zaragoza, it turned out that it was a nice town with a very large Catherdral. Known as the Basillica of the lady of the pillar, it is sat on the banks of the river Ebro, and has lovely walks along side it.

We set off this morning for the French border via the Pyrenees, it was lovely to see all of the snowcapped mountains but not so great as we watched the temperature drop and the rain set in, but it was to be expected.
We were driving quite merrily along when the road is blocked diverting traffic into a siding, where the police are carrying out vehicle checks and breath alcohol tests. We stopped in front of a rather grumpy policeman who was not impressed that we had so little Spanish and that we also had a dog, I had to take Missy to the back of the van, whilst he talked Pete through the breathalyser process, then grumpily said 'zero you can go now'. Got to say not something I was expecting but there you go, the things you have to do to get good scenery 😂🏔️. we then went through the longest tunnel I've ever been in, that one would deffo keep the kids quiet with the hold your breath till the end game 😂😂🫁. In the middle of this massive tunnel was a flag indicating the border, crazy business.
We are now settled for the night in Dax and will be moving on towards Poitiers tomorrow morning. So making good progress.
Have a lovely afternoon and evening and I will speak with you all soon. X

Well this is it folks, our last day in the warm sunshine, in the morning we head back towards home. Our ferry leaves Cal...
05/02/2025

Well this is it folks, our last day in the warm sunshine, in the morning we head back towards home. Our ferry leaves Calais next Wednesday morning to bring us back to the UK.

We were hoping to spend our last 2 nights in Spain in the hustle and bustle of Benidorm, but unfortunately or fortunately dependent on how you view it Benidorm was full, and when I say full even the side roads were stuffed, so we decided to carry on along the coast and after 8 hours on the road we ended up in Denia, on a carpark next to the Marina and directly onto the beach. We had a lovely night and will definitely return to spend a day exploring the town next year. The next morning we moved on to Gandia, as this put us in a prime position to head through the Pyrenees back in to France. Gandia has a stunning coastline and we spent yesterday and today walking along the expanse of beach and along the harbour wall out in to sea, the weather has been sunny and warm and has made our last 2 days a pleasure.
As I say tomorrow we head to the Pyrenees where we will stop by Zaragoza, we will be doing multiple 1 night stops as we head towards Neufchatel-en-bray to visit the vets to get Missy wormed before the ferry back to Dover.
We hope you have enjoyed our travels this time and we look forward to catching up with family on our return. I have to say we have had an amazing time, it is difficult to put all of our adventures and enjoyable moments in a post as you would all be bored stiff reading it, but suffice to say the planning for next winter has already begun. We have got a busy year ahead of us with family occasions that we are really looking forward to but rest assured as in the immortal words or Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'I'll be back'. Take care of yourselves and enjoy your own personal adventures...

Hi All, so what can I tell you about the last few days...As you know we were heading for Almerimar and the Marina, but w...
02/02/2025

Hi All, so what can I tell you about the last few days...

As you know we were heading for Almerimar and the Marina, but when we arrived, there was no room at the inn, so Pete took to the Internet and looked for another place close by. Nope no luck, repeat this process twice more and still no joy. Oh dear looks like a bit of a, let's see where we end up kind of a day. Pete plumbed for a shot in the dark and we drove for another 45 minutes to see what it had to offer. There it was El Rancho camper park, the middle of nowhere but good for 1 night if we could get a space. So we pulled over, Pete went in and they had 1 space free, phew we can stop now fantastic. Then we discovered thanks to the Italian lady in reception, that less than a 2 km walk away was a town ( more of a village size town) with a beach and sea views, could this be a longer stop? Who knows. We went for a walk and yep 3 nights later with 1 more to go we are still here, and it's lovely. We have spent some time with another Brit on tour (all be it incognito, working from home), as some of us know home is where you park it, who we spend some lovely chatty times with.

The town offers good food, beer and sea views. In this instance I go back to a previous statement about how things pan out for the best.

So, what can I tell you about here. We are still in Adulucia, close to Almeria in a place called Carbonera, it has its own castle, windmill and Island, as well as fantastic scenery. The landscape is made up of arid semi desert volcanic geology. Which resembles being on the moon. It is set within the cabo de gata national Park and is of significant biodiversity interest. It is a fishing port, which in modern times produces sea bream, sea bass and tuna.
It boasts one of the oldest windmills in Spain, which is listed as a site of national interest and is the only windmill left in the eastern part of Almeria.
Lawrence of Arabia was filmed here in 1962, using a purpose built set to resemble Morroco, also using many extras from the surrounding areas with the expanse of beach as the backdrop. An episode of Game of Thrones was also filmed here ( I don't know which one though). Not bad for a last ditch attempt for somewhere to stay eh.
On top of all of that just off the coast is the isla de St Andres. A small rocky Whale shapes Island, it has a small volcanic crater as well as cracks and caves that house important marine fauna. It is an important feeding and nesting ground for many groups of birds as well as a breeding ground for many different varieties of fish, it was declared a national monument in September of 2003, due to its importance to the preservation of fish and foul.

Who knew a lucky find could be so interesting. Life is definitely for living and finding these little treasures along the way is just an added bonus.
There is so much more to share about this area of Spain but I will leave that for you to come and discover for yourselves if or when you are able. Here are a few pictures to enjoy. Sending lots of love back. X

Good morning everyone. We hope that things are all good back home and that you are all keeping warm and well. We are on ...
30/01/2025

Good morning everyone. We hope that things are all good back home and that you are all keeping warm and well.

We are on the move again this morning, back off to revisit Almerimar, and another stay on the Marina there.

We have just waved goodbye to Malaga for this year, so what can I tell you? The weather wasn't amazing during our stay we had some showers, some clouds, some sun and lower temperatures, but having said all of that we also had a lovely time. We stayed on a motor home stop in the hills that is relatively new and still being developed, but maybe because of that it was very relaxed and comfortable. The only issue I had was that it was as I said in the hills which meant a 2 1/2 mile walk down into Malaga Town, which obviously meant a 2 1/2 mile walk back up the hill after seeing the sights. But you know it all adds to the experience and we all (especially Missy) enjoyed the challenge (even if I did moan everytime)😂🤪.
We revisited the restaurant we ate at 6 years ago when we came for my birthday, and it was just as tasty. We also walked along the marina in the sunshine and the boats there were as impressive as ever. And got to look at the cruise ships that were visiting for the day. Also parked in the sea just outside of the harbour was a brand new Virgin cruise ship that was undergoing its pre launch checks (or as Pete tells me, it's shake down and commissioning checks) , it is due to set sail with its first paying customers in May. Of an evening because we had a ring side view from the camper, we watched all of it's lights come on and it being displayed in all of its nighttime glory. It was very pretty. But I didn't it seems take any photos of it. Whoops.

Some Malaga facts:

Malaga is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 8th century bc, it is famous for having an asymmetrical cathedral, the Alcazaba one of the largest Arab fortresses in andulucia, and it also boasts being the birthplace of Pablo Picasso (October 1882) and Antonio Banderas (August 1960). Who knew, well not me. 😂🤯
I didn't take many photos but here are some. We hope you enjoy them.

Hello everyone.I hope that the weather has been kinder to you all today, if it makes you feel better it has been dull an...
25/01/2025

Hello everyone.
I hope that the weather has been kinder to you all today, if it makes you feel better it has been dull and showery here today, which makes it a good day to update you on our travels, and give Missy a shower.
So what can I say about this stop...

Those of you that were following us on our winter trip last year will have read the post I did about La Linea, so I won't bore you with that again . But this year I can actually talk to you about Gibraltar as we visited the rock yesterday.
It all just seems a little crazy to me🤯, we are parked in a marina, where across the water we can see Morocco (Africa), whilst sat in Spain (Europe), next to Gibraltar (UK). So to get onto Gibraltar you walk along the main road from the marina, through a carpark, into a small building that is border control, the Spanish border force check and stamp your passport to show you are leaving Europe, the the UK border force glimpse at you passport photo as you enter the UK. Then you walk to the edge of the runway of Gibraltar Airport and wait because a plane is taking off right in front of you, the gates are then lifted and you walk straight into the bustle of the island. Where you are back to spending £'s and pence. Now tell me that isn't crazy business. 🤪🤪

Here are a few facts for you.
Gibraltar is one of the most densely populated territories in the world with, approximately 5000 people per square kilometer/13000 people per square mile ( for us oldies).

Gibraltarians often converse in Llanito a mixture of Andalucian Spanish, British, Maltese, Portuguese, Italian and Haketia ( a judaeo Spanish dialect). Needless to say I couldn't understand a word. However the official language of Gibraltar is English and they do all speak that too.

The border between Spain and Gibraltar was closed between 1969 and 1985 due to a row between the two countries about it's sovereignty, when 96 percent of Gibraltar residence voted to remain under British rule.

The rock itself is 426 meters high and is made up of Limestone, the rock was first inhabited in the middle ages by the Moors and then later ruled by Spain. It was then ceded to the UK in 1713, it boasts a 14th century Moorish castle and 18th century Great siege tunnels that were expanded in the 2nd world war.

So enough with my spiel, here a few photos to be getting on with, and just to let you know tomorrow is moving day and we are off to Malaga. Xx

Our view for the next 3 days. Xx
23/01/2025

Our view for the next 3 days. Xx

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