A brace of Fez

Well, this one final entry and that'll be it!
After a wild and windy walk in the Scottish hills and a daring coastal traverse on chains above a wild sea we bade farewell to Sarahs bro and his young family. Then, following a smelly train ride from Edinburgh to Manchester, we found ourselves hooked into the huge British package holiday industry, where the masses franticly clamour to get away to some warm sea and sunshine. It was quite a smooth cattle herding experience that was actually very efficient.
SW Turkey was good and we enjoyed the scenery and local people but especially a trip to Ephasus with its remains of a huge Roman city. The local area was also the site of 2 of the original 7 Wonders of the World which have sadly been reduced to ruble. Oddly there seemed to be a lack of kebab and falafel shops (and Cranberry sauce for the Turkey!) but I was thrilled to finally purchase a fez each for my brother and I ....which we proudly wore while supermarket shopping back in his home town in the UK.So, so funny!
Some very good quality time was spent back in the UK working our way south staying with relatives and friends. We even got to pick some of the apples from the tree in our old garden. Very nice.
A final goodbye to my brother and family, and to my step mother, saw us spend the last few days with Katie & Shay at their new flat in London, where they are well established with good jobs and living in a pleasant location. Sarah and Simon had organised the placing of their parents' headstone, and so we all made a visit to the old home in Exmouth which helped give some closure to that chapter of life.
After spending so much time with them it seemed particularly sad to leave all our folk back in the UK, but we now know what they're up to and can imagine what they might be doing on a daily basis which provides some comfort.
The final flights went quickly and it felt great to get home - the house had been left in imaculate condition after our French tenants had moved out and it seemed much nicer than we remembered, and, oh my goodness, Nelson is such a wonderful place to live! It was just excellent to see our great bunch of friends - 18 of whom turned out at our place the next night to eat takeaways and watch the fireworks over the harbour that was put on for our return, (Actually it was the fishing fleet having a celebration, but very timely!)
So what have we made of it all?
Gains:
3 or 4 extra kilos of flab - per person!
An improved appreciation of the important things in life
2800 photos
More knowledge and understanding of a variey of cultures
A basic grasp of Spanish
A strikingly improved confidence to give things a go - esp. Sarah who is starting all sorts of new challenges
Verification that material assets dont matter that much
Basic mule handling skills (Sarah)
The awesome experience of sleeping in 70 different beds

Losses:
One cellphone, a sock, a T-shirt and some undies (not bad for 6 months)
A large amount of physical fitness
2 pieces of tooth (Mark)
2 X 6 months wages - ie the money for a new car or kitchen?
Missing the best snow and skiing conditions around Nelson for years
A toenail (Sarah)

And what next? - well, settle in here, get fit and enjoy life while other adventure travel ideas hatch slowly. Perhaps we'll even look at moving house locally...and yes, we still have plenty of unfinished business in South America and would love to go back again.
Fabulous!

A wander through the Motherland

Pretty villages, busy roads, strong accents, occasional rain, green countryside, warm beer & wasps - yes, we're in England!
After a few days in the south of England spending some good quality time with my brother's family we worked our way through the midlands visting old friends and relatives and based ourselves in the Yorkshire Dales to stay with my cousin's family near Kirby Lonsdale.
Sunday was a big day which I had been nervously anticipating for quite some time - the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race, reputed to be the worlds toughest! 61km with over 1500m of ascent over rugged hills that definitely do not lend themselves to cycling. I feel hugely indebted to my 2 cousins who set me up with all the required gear (even the bike!), so together with my brother riding, it was a real family affair. Was it tough? ...you bet ya! No suspension and drop handlebars shakes the body almost to submission but I was delighted to come out unscathed and with no brake-downs. Sarah joined other friends and relies to man the check points in order to provide vital support of water and food in the morning rain which soon turned into delicate sunshine which illuminated the lovely dales into the afternoon.
Following a visit to my home village of Silverdale and my old Aunt we moved north up into Scotland and to Cupar north of Edinburgh to stay with Sarahs brother and his young family. We enjoyed a late heatwave intitially which was nice, and a cheeky surprise visit from Katie for the weekend was great (she just happened to organise some work nearby in Edinbugh).
On Wednesday we have a change of plan....rather than visiting some of the cities in Eastern Europe we have decided to wind down our independent travel and have booked a cheap package holiday to Turkey!
Months of independant travel does take it out of you (greying hair, wrinkled skin and broken teeth) and we certainly feel like it is time to get home to wonderful Nelson and to once more try to engage our spongy brains while there is still a little of something there to spark into life!
We have moved forward our return date a couple of weeks to the end of October and look forward to catching up with you all sometime soon afterwards.
So Turkey, friends in the midlands and Katie and Shay in London and thats about it
Yippee!