The day before departure, we had to take Bracken to my sisters house for his holidays. Not sure it was a holiday for either Sara, Dave or the other animals! We booked our taxi to the airport which was with a young lad called Georgi who was very friendly and kept us entertained en route, not least with his Bulgarian driving!
This is our plane
We arrived safely but I thought I had been married to a spy. The machine that reads the micro chipped passport decided it didn't like GJ so he was ushered to a human who let him through. He had me worried for a bit. We were met at the airport by our good friend Paul with whom he and his wife Anne, we were spending the night. He cooked a nice steak and ale pie - well he did the base and Anne did the rest...
And poor Anne had had a hard day at work.
When we arrived at P & As we went to look at the car that had been parked in the field on Paul's property. GJ re-connected the battery and tried to start it up with finger crossed. With a few coughs and splutters, like a trooper it finally fired into life. Safely brought around to the driveway, we spent the night boring Paul and Anne with our photos of Bulgaria and our new abode.
Next morning we headed up the motorway to Preston where GJ had ordered lots of DIY stuff from Tool Station. We also called in to a chemist to find some anti indigestion stuff for Sara's neighbour. She gets heartburn and can only take certain medicine with those she is already taking. I'm not surprised because she eats a lot of pickles (see our dinner party with them on previous blog).
Further up the motorway and a quick trip to our old doctors, we then booked into The Newby Bridge Hotel which is not far from the containers.
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| En Suite |
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| Our bed |
The hotel had just been updated and everything smelt nice and new but they still have a few hurdles to overcome. One of which is the bar menu and they had no real ale which GJ was looking forward to. Only four things to chose from so I had a burger......
And GJ had Gammon & Egg
I don't know why establishments think that deep fried roast potatoes are better than chips. Make them skinnier and give us less!
The next night we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and eat in the restaurant. Bad move. Because by this time it had started snowing (they don't know the meaning of the word) the restaurant was busy because other guests had decided not to venture out and they had minimal staff working - in fact one person waiting on and the Receptionist had to come and help out. 30 minutes before we even got a drink.
I had grilled mackerel to start with sea bass for mains (very similar really) and GJ had ham hock terrine and a steak for main. All were not particularly memorable and no photos taken. Again a poor choice on the menu. Oh well that's the Lake District winter for you.
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| View from our hotel window - only a touch of snow compared with Bulgaria |
We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday checking boxes, labeling and writing an inventory for our goods and chattels and on Sunday night decided to go for our last UK curry. We were partial to a restaurant called "India" in Kendal when we lived in Cumbria but found out that it had been severely flooded when Kendal was hit by storm Desmond over Christmas. Very sad driving through Kendal and seeing all the empty houses and furniture in skips. In the event of "India" closure, we decided to go to our second choice of Indian restaurant in Bowness called "Mela Spice". On a cold Sunday night in January, we were the only customers to start with and so got very good attention albeit in a very cold restaurant.
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| Looks Good! |
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| King Prawn Lemon Sath for me |
Chicken Jalfreze, Mushroom Barjee and Tarka Dhal
We were joined by another couple, not quite an atmosphere but an enjoyable meal all the same. On Monday we decided to have a treat for lunch (as if we hadn't had enough treats) and just to make my Sister jealous, had fish and chips from, in my opinion one of the best chippies in the North West, Flounders in Flookburgh..............
Yum Yum - I think they twice fry their chips because they are always crispy just how I like them.
Tuesday arrived and we met the truck that was to take our stuff down to Newark....
....... where it would be loaded onto an artic ready for the trip though Europe to Hotnitsa. We drove the Range Rover back to Paul and Anne's house where a driver took it further down to meet with the artic in Newark. Skinny little Polish guy called Victor whom we were assured could get out of the open front window when the car was parked in the artic. Bet that was fun!
That night we treated P & A to a Chinese takeaway (doing a lot of lasts on this trip)....
Very nice it was too.
After spending the day looking around the local shops and doing a bit of shopping, I decided to make a meal for the family. A Jamie Oliver recipe that I still keep going back to which involves good quality sausages (without skins and turned into mince) made into a ragout and tossed into spaghetti. Served with garlic bread for mopping up the sauce. I completely forgot to take a photo.but there was non left. Paul took us to the airport the next morning at 5 am - don't see that time very much!
Back in Bulgaria and there had been significant snowfall but as ever, it does not stop movement like it does in the UK however there were a few hairy moments on the way back with Georgi and Dave and Sara managed to drive to our house with Bracken (I bet they were chuffed to get rid of him)!! I think he was pleased to see us or was it just frolicking in the snow?
Freezing temperatures means that 6 days later and it still isn't melting but we have no broken/iced up pipes and the central heating still works so we have been very lucky.
After raiding the fridge for left over veg, I managed to knock up a Cauliflower, Broccoli and Potato soup just what you need in this weather...........
Keep warm folks!
Helen, Graham and Bracken.
Sounds like you had a nice trip back to UK...friends, food, & doctors. Hope all your items arrive safely! Quite the contrast in countries...each offering something unique. Enjoyed your update!
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