The Boyzz do the Asturias and the Somme

We leave Moraira and have an overnight stop at Buen Amor Castle hotel. A bit poncy, but very comfortable


See what we mean by poncy. Our room had a high vaulted ..	ceiling, going up and up and up	This is the internal courtyard where we took the madre for a walk	There were storks nesting in the trees, Somerville says a stork brought the boyzz to Moraira, but Pembroke says it was Correos

Dinner outside on a bastion, overlooking the moat . Pleasant ...	..place for a meal and a glass of wine.	Next morning after a good night's sleep, we enjoyed a full ..	.. breakfast. With a buffet we can always stuff ourselves

After breakfast we headed north to the Spanish Course in the Asturias.. We are not sure why we need to learn Spanish, it is not as if we live in Spain. They all speak English in Moraira


Anyway, that is where we stay in La Peral	Happily the food is always good here	We have our eyes on a few extra slices of biscocho	The padres think this is great walking country ...

...but we avoid walks when we can. We ask you, who in their right mind would go for a walk down that lot	And up in the mountains they have these mastins to protect the farm animals	We understand that mastins have teddy bears for between meal snacks	Another example of why we avoid walks. We really would not have liked to come down that hill

Still we did go on a couple of walks. This one was to see the view over La Peral	Our lunch stop was designed to enable us to enjoy the view ...	.. whilst we also enjoyed the food	On the way back we had to avoid a bull guarding these cows. Bulls are as dangerous a mastins

This is the sort of walk that we would sign up for. A gentle ..	..amble to a pub, a glass of cold beer in the sunshine ...	..and see if we can get more than olives out of the madre	Then a stop for lunch on the way back home

We had daily visits to the pub in La Peral. It was sunny most days	...and we looked very hard unfortunately did not see any bears.	Still the glass of wine was very pleasant, though the padres seemed think we were drinking too much	Makes you tired just watching them at work in the fields

We did sign up for the trip to Oviedo	Interesting two photos here. First of us and a "famous" building ..	.. then the inside track on how the paparazzi get these sort of shots of us. We are so famous that they have to sneak up to get a photo	Just time for a glass of wine before setting off for ...

lunch at a poncy restaurant. Sort of place where there is always ..	..a flunky at hand to refill your glass	Please note they put us on water here	This odd building (a horreos) are to keep rats away from stored food. But they don't keep bears out

Alfredo had a new toy, an electric car. All those boxes were just to install a recharging point in the house	Daft onboard computer told him he had a puncture when he did not	And a relaxing way to spend a sunny afternoon	"I hope you remembered to put the sun cream on, Pembroke"


Not what you would call poncy, but very friendly	We think this tank was one the Germans left behind	We needed our sunglasses on in the bedroom	The creme caramel was very moreish

This is Julie who looked after us	And her husband David who helped look after us	Not sure who this fella is, but that is the madre	The B&B had a great collection of toys, but far too valuable for us to be allowed to play with them

A big memorial for soldiers with no known graves	Out side the Ulster Tower "Remember 1690"	And round the back is an Orange Lodge memorial	. and among others a Campbell College plaque

We had a chat to this nice young lady at the Newfoundland Memorial.	..where we could see the outline of the original trenches.	We got down into a trench, but could not see over the top. So we probably would not have been too good as soldiers	Another memorial to a highlander

The moose is the Newfoundland symbol	The boyzz decided to obey the notice and not go into the field, which oddly was full of sheep living a charmed life	Then we visited Kipling's Grave. Who is Kipling you might ask	And the answer is Rudyard Kipling's son. However we were not sure who Rudyard Kipling was either

Good Irish Catholic stuff this. The last absolution of the Munsters before a major battle by the Catholic padre	An evocative painting, even though the site is a cole heap today	Any idea why they call this Caterpillar Valley ..	..could be because of hundreds of these little fellows perhaps

Very famous in WW1, because the top bit half fell, but hung on for years	And they have war graves all over the world	The exhibition was well set out, so we know a lot more about their work now	Then we went to the Australian Memorial which did impress us

..as did the lunch that we had in their cafe	And last up was something really up our street, a Train	These were WW1 narrow gauge trains ...	.. riding in the goods wagons was very uncomfortable

This little car thing was really us, but unfortunately our paws did not reach the pedals. And we never got anywhere on it	Then we caught the train from the station	It was small and open sided	we chugged out one way through the countryside

The madre made sure we did not fall out	The driver had to get off to change the points. We offered to help, but for reasons we are not clear of, they turned down our offer	This was the engine changing ends to return	And the padre looked after us on the way back

We had (another) long drive from the Somme to the Dordogne to see Uncle Victor & Auntie Gaynor. We always look forward to playing with Uncle Victor's toys, and eating his food.

Back in Moraira it was nice to see Leo again - and he was really pleased to see us. Specially as we had bought a case of wine in Rioja


Looks suitably grand for us, though the is not a man on the gate	They make wine here. Pembroke ordered a bottle	And the madre helped us drink it	We enjoyed the all we could eat breakfast

.. though the madre did keep a stern eye on the amount we ate.	Nice dining room for young bear gentlemen	Then we found this toy outside the chateau. We have no idea what it was for nor who used it	"You push Pembroke and I will pull"


We get installed with a glass of wine before dinner	..and then supervise the serving of dinner	This is Uncle Victor's little tractor ..	..but it is just our size

See if you can spot Somerville in among the flowers	Down to their lake, where we supervise the madre having a swim	..looks far too cold for us, but the old girl seemed to enjoy it	Enjoying breakfast here. We are eating too much


We got installed in our modern room .	..checked out the food and ..	..chose a bottle of wine	which we then started tu drink on the lawn outside

We are quite the connoisseurs (big word that), and this was very acceptable	Funny hotel building, a bit like a disguised warship	We walked round the vineyard, and admired it from afar	And a well sited table for breakfast

The Boyzz do the Asturias and the Somme - July 2024