Sunshine at last!

After weeks of rain and moody dark skies, the sun is finaly out. It makes the world a brighter one in these 'dark days before Christmas' and during the recession. Yesterday afternoon we decided to celebrate the sunshine with a tour through beautiful Friesland. Most people think Friesland is as much as the end of the world, flat and always cold. The people are stubborn, introvert and speak their own language. In other words: too boring and too far away to visit. Some of it may be right (such as it is flat and people speaking their own language) but all other statements are false. This beautiful county is not the end of the world..... actually, it is at the beginning.... all the rest of Holland is further south thus further away... :-) The fact that the countriside is flat without hills, large villages and cities, means that you can see for miles and miles. Sunsets are more beautiful, thunderstorms more impressive and rainbows more colourful and bigger. The gras is greener, the little lakes addept the colour of the sky, the geese more visable and the wind a little stronger. The real Friesian people are of a strong breed, used to fight the elements and to survive for many, many centuries. The dikes, old farmhouses, churches and estates are stil existing witnesses. The Frisian are not stubborn, they might not be very talkative, but they are kind and caring people, always wiling to offer a helping hand when needed. And even without asking. They are proud of their county and its history. For us it is always a pleasure to drive around Friesland any afternoon. Rain or sunshine, it doesn't matter. But celebrating the sunsine yesterday was very nice. We were not the only ones, the woods were crowded, so were the lake shores but the roads were quiet. Clouds in al sorts, sizes and colours followed us and caused spectacular views. A lovely day to remember, siting here at the kitchen table, watching our splendid view from the back garden.

Autumn

Although our promisses to regularly update our blog, life seems often to be too busy to do so.

Our visit to the North Cape is almost 1.5 years ago. We often think about this marvelous journey.
It even inspired us to visit Norway again despite the high petrol prices and the expensive shopping.
But it is a beautiful country. We did not visit the North Cape again, (once was nice) but did visit the Lofoten which we didn't regret.

This Autumn we went to the UK to visit our dear friends and the South.
Tjep's last visit to the South was about 26 years ago, mine in 1975.... We both remebered it as very beautiful and peaceful.
We started our trip in Hull which is not too far from the people we love to see.
From there we travelled south, spending quality time with our friends along the way.
The day before we said goodbye to them, it started to rain........ and rain......
And it kept raining!

We had hopes to do a lot of walking, even maybe cycling but it rained sooo much that parts of the UK (North and South) got flooded. Particularly Wales was very wet.

After 2,5 weeks we decided to leave the South. Not only because of the enormous amount of water falling from the sky and rising from the rivers, but also due to the expensive petrol prices (will never complain again in Holland!!!), extremely busy traffic and the camp grounds either being closed or too expensive. Unfortunately camping in the wild is not allowed and there are no camper sites as in France.

We booked the ferry from Dover to Calais.
The weather in France was as bad but it was nice and quiet an the petrol and shoppings affordable.

Now we are home again, trying to get the garden ready for the winter. Quite a job when it raines and raines, walking around in the muddy clay.
We can't remember when it was so very, vey wet!

At this very moment we sit in our cosy kitchen reading, talking, writing and listening to classical music, dogs curled up.
The dogs don't mind cold weather but they are not fond of rain, especialy Dee dislikes it. She refuses to go outdors, we often have to push her :-)

This afternoon is an excellent day to update our Blog, hoping you are well and like we do, looking forward to a cosy winter!