Out into the dull, damp day and down to the station, plenty of eating places so called into the Renegade cafe for a breakfast. Most excellent choice,

Neen had scrambled egg on toast and splashed out an extra couple of dollars for some smoked salmon to go with it. I went with the creamed mushrooms on toast with bacon and eggs. Coffee’s for both. Coffee very good, but the breakies were fantastic and huge portions. Can highly recommend this place. (Sorry forgot to take pics of the food, rookie mistake).
Next a train ride into the Quay

ticket purchased for the city bus tour. Rain still on and off. Got to the bus all downstairs(dry) was full, so decided to take a chance and take a seat in the empty open top seats.

Luckily the rain stayed off whilst we did the first half. Sydney is one huge building site, high rise towers going up everywhere.

Swapped buses at Central station for the tour to the famous Bondi beach. I had always imagined that it was a massive beach going on for miles, its tiny, nice, but tiny. A few surfers were enjoying the waves. We got off for a short walk, 5 minutes end to end then popped in a cafe for a coffee and back on the bus

. The trip back to Central station was just like a bus route anywhere, not very exiting. Back onto the main tour back to the Quay via Darling bay and under the little bridge.

Time was getting on so we decided to head back to the hotel for a wash and brush up get changed then back out for our night at the opera. Had diner at an Italian restaurant on the Quay

then off to the famous Sydney opera house to see Madam Butterfly. It is a most iconic building well worth a visit. Enjoyed a drink at the bar then settled into our seats for the performance.

Now I’m not a massive opera fan, I’ve been to a couple before and quite enjoyed it. Oh my God, Madam Butterfly was SHITE!!!!!! I actually nodded off in parts, no good belting tunes like , Just one cornetto (got to be the right age for that one) it really did drone on.
Story, American sailor visits Japan, gets given a house so long as he marries a Japanese girl( does it for a laugh), gets her pregnant then knobs off back to the US. Girls waits three years for him to come back, when he does he brings his new wife so he can take his son back, bit of an argument old wife kills herself ( not a proper opera as that bit was over in 10 seconds) arsehole of husband has a bit of a whinge The End.
That was two and a half hours of my life lost, it was two hours twenty eight minutes to long. Walking back to the station a mother and six year old son(who was wearing a dinner jacket) walked past us, Mother “Oh darling wasn’t that so fantastic”. I bit my tongue.
At least that’s the worst of it over……..
Half the station shut so had to get a different train back changing at two stations…….
Emerge fro our station, heaven opened and it p$%##@d down. Arrived back at the hotel……..bar shut.
And it’s all bleedin Madame Butterflies fault.

Arrived in Sidney at 8.30am – fairly straightforward getting through customs and immigration – it’s all this new smart system – no customs officers anymore – it’s all computerised
We are staying at the airport travelodge for the next 2 nights so hosted hopped in the hotel shuttle bus and we were there in 10 mins. We spoke to a group of Australians on the shuttle who had also just come back from Vietnam but they’d been there for 2 weeks – they said they never came to terms with the mad traffic and unless they were taken out by their tour guide they stayed in the hotel – too scared to venture out! Seems a shame really – even though we were terrified we still had a go 🤪

After a wash and brush up we walked to the nearby Mascot train station. The transistor system here is fantastic – big, wide double decker trains running every 2 minutes! No need to worry about timetables here!.

We got off at Circular Quay, which is right on the Sydney Harbour front. Awesome views of the harbour bridge and the opera house. The front was a hustle and bustle of cafes , shops and tour operators. We walked round to the Opera House – a stunning piece of architecture!

Then time for lunch so we wandered back round the harbour and found a quaint little brewery tap. Chicken wings and chips and beverages, of course – that’ll do nicely!😜

The afternoon was spent round another harbour – Darling harbour. A fabulous area of shops, cafes, ferries and street entertainers.

We caught the ferry back the Circular Quay – going underneath Sydney Harbour bridge, by now all lit up as it was going dark – awesome!! Then got train back to the hotel.

So landed in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City at 5.30am. Couldn’t see much on landing as it was very overcast with low cloud( didn’t help that it was only just starting to get light. Tried to watch the plane taxiing to the terminal but the window steamed up, somewhat humid.
Not a massive airport so quite quick to our parking spot. Off the plane really quickly, good choice this premier economy, we are let off first. Short walk through the terminal to immigration ( nows the time to see if our research on visas is correct). Low and behold straight through, no Visa required.
Hook up to the free wi-fi Ibis hotel 8 minute walk. Always game for a laugh so off we go. 2 minutes then we’re out of the airport and onto the roads…… Kin chaos, we can see the hotel across the huge expanse of tarmac, even with a version of a zebra crossing. It looked a tad dramatic, we found out later there are 9 million scooters in the city and they all appeared to be on this one street. There is no gaps you just have to step out and walk at a slow steady pace. Neen shut her eyes, I stopped trying to see if we were about to be smeared across the road, and carried on with a stiff upper lip (also trembling upper lip and an imminent possibility of some very damaged underwear). After 30 to 40 minutes of terror, probably more in the region 30 seconds we stepped on to the opposite kerb. Looking behind us and looking once again across the sea of bikes and cars, SHIT, did we just get across that in one piece. It looked like a simple walk the rest of the way, maybe 200 yards until we looked properly, 50 yards of pavement and 150 yards of seething death. We fell into the lobby of the hotel, both clinging to the doors till the tremors diminished.

We had a day room booked but couldn’t get in till 12noon, so we left our bags and had a coffee, couldn’t get anything stronger……
We had a food tour booked for 10.00am which was quiet a way off, about 40 minutes in a taxi, time now 06.15am, bollocks too bleeding early, so we hung around for a bit, change into shorts to try and get some air circulating, then a taxi into armageddon. It is somewhat worse to be constantly surrounded by buzzing scooters of all shapes and sizes all trying to fit into a 3 ½ inch gap plus a whole host of cars and buses, I thought Sri Lanka was bad, but this is worse. I still can’t believe what can be carried on a little 39cc scooter, from whole families to the entire contents of you house or farm.

We eventually made it to Chợ Bến Thành market in
District 1, shaken and stirred. 2 ½ hours early so let’s go and explore some local culture. As we are ambling around it soon became obvious that we were they only westerners there, surprisingly not hassled too much, then we decided to actually stop at a stall to look at something, then they pounced, they were all still smiling but you could see the determination in their eyes ( we will part you from your money). We did buy a couple of things, but no matter how good or clever you think you have been, as your walking away you know you have lost. Eventually 10.00am arrived along with our tour guide Susan(obviously not her real name, just something for us aliens to understand and be comfortable with). She was very nice and started us off with a bowl of a spicy soup and a variety of different lumps of rice, corn, tapioca dough balls and a flat sausage, the soup was nice but some very strange textures, washed down with a sugar cane cold drink. Then off on a 15 minute walk through the valley of death to another eatery, this is supposed to be a very well known street food place, we got a baguette with pork and a sort of salad in a bag, across the road to a very small cafe for some Vietnamese coffee and tea. Coffee is strong I did try the tea, Neen said it okay, but I think all tea once brewed should be immediately poured straight down the drain. So a couple of mouthfuls into the baguette, bit down on something very crunchy, hmm a bit a crackling, no my filling has fallen out again!!!!
Onwards across varying roads of mass destruction to a stall, basically on a bike on the pavement where we tried another soup type dish with papaya, sliced radish beef jerky and a chilli sauce, rather nice. Another wander across seas of scooter doom to a cool looking street cafe serving a type of prawn omelette cooked over open charcoal fires. It came with a variety of lettuce, basil and a few other leaves which you wrapped bits of the omelette in then dipped in a sauce which you seasoned to your own taste with chilli. All washed down with a couple of local beers. All very tasty. Then to the final stop to a very local market( a bit Royston Vasey) to try to local dessert, corn paste, tapioca and a bean paste with sweetened coconut milk poured over. This one not to my liking textures all wrong an too sweet for me. But you have to try these things, can’t see the point of travelling to far flung exotic places to eat in a pizza hut or mc bloody Donald’s.

Waved goodbye to our guide then back to the hotel by taxi. You know I’m getting used to this traffic its quiet mesmerising in a macabre way. Hotel room shower bed zzzzzzzzz knackered.
Up again at 5.30pm after a couple of hours kip for me, unfortunately Neen didn’t sleep at all (might get a bit of shut eye on the plane, overnighter to Sydney)
Offered a free hotel shuttle bus back to the airport, gratefully accepted as its raining. 5 minutes later heading back through immigration and security, a wander through duty free (not cheap anymore) a stop for beer and a coffee and down to the departure lounge. Again priority boarding, all seated and settled to feel smug as the economy class all walked through to their seats at the back, we could get used to this.
Supper arrives, we both go for the beef and rice, oh look there’s a sachet of chilli sauce to go with it, open the sachet, then I appear to be wearing most of it , the sodding thing split down the whole length

At least Neen turned away before i saw her shoulders shacking and a gaffaw escape from her lips… Bugger…
Cleaned up as best i could , settled down for a few films, Neen curls up on the seat. As i write this no one is sleeping except the bloke next to Neen who is snoring his head off. Me thinks he may be trying to breath through a pair of my socks shortly, which will be stuffed into his mouth.

After a reasonable nights sleep we went down for breakfast – again excellent service and good food.
After checking out we wheeled our own personal trolley down the long corridor to departures😜. There was no queue at the check-in desk and we soon had our boarding passes and seats together! (Phew!).The 1st flight to Ho Chi Minh City was on a Dreamliner plane. I have it on good authority from one of my old school friends who became an air traffic controller and plane enthusiast ( now retired and an author of science fiction!) that Dreamliners are the quietest planes with properly humidified cabins and big windows.We flew Vietnam Air mainly because we wanted the chance to explore Vietnam a bit ( all be it only 18 hours) but also because it is slightly cheaper than the big airlines which meant we could afford to fly premium economy. That turned out to be a really good decision- the seats were massive, with loads of legroom and soooooo comfy! Its without doubt the most comfortable flight we’ve ever had. Plus we got priority check-in and boarding and better food 🙂The flight was 12 hours 15mins. It actually passed quickly. The food was great – pork stir fry for dinner and prawn stir fry for breakfast.We did, of course, get the choice of a more traditional breakfast of eggs and sausage but ‘when in Rome’ and all that😉. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh around 5.30am.

Our lovely friends Sarah and Colin arrived at lunchtime today. They will be looking after our dogs and taking the boat out while we’re living it up in Australia.

We had managed finally to get all packed up just before they arrived but we still had to check-in online with Vietnam Air – as there was no seat selection in the booking process we had to wait until check-in to pick our seats and obviously we wanted to make sure we sat together. However, when we tried to check-in it said they had no record of our booking!!! Panic!!😲 Poor Sarah and Colin, they were left to their own devices while we tried to sort it out. Several phone calls later and it least we knew we had a confirmed booking – but still no seat selection- we would have to wait until we got to the airport.

Sarah and Colin dropped us off at Kidsgrove station and another adventure had begun😎.

On the first train we were all packed in like sardines – it was standing room only – and not a lot of room either! Luckily we only had to go 2 stations. We got off at Stoke only to discover that our train to London, for which we had pre-booked tickets, was non existent! After some discussions with the ticket office it appears that the timetable had changed since we bought our tickets ( which wasn’t that long ago) but our tickets would be valid on a later train – so in the end all was good😊. While waiting we were watching other trains pull in at the station – all were packed! And we looked at the amount of people waiting on the platform for the London train – it was not looking good! Sure enough when the train came in we had trouble even getting past the people standing in the doorways to get on in the first place! I didn’t relish the thought of standing all the way to London with our luggage – there was nowhere to put it as all the luggage racks were full to overflowing! Still the train manager announced that there were a few seats available at the back of the train..we were at the front, of course😜. So we psyched ourselves up and went for it.. bumping into everyone and everything with our luggage 😜. Eventually found 2 seats – not together, but in the same carriage at least. We had to sit with luggage under us and luggage on our knees but at least we were sat down😊. The rest of the journey passed off ok and we arrived at Euston station in one piece.

We jumped in a taxi to Paddington and then hopped on the Heathrow Express – very nice! Quite plush in fact..but we are down South now – a lot more money is spent on the transport system here!

Our hotel for the night, Premier Inn, was only a five minute walk away from the departures lounge – we were even able to take our airport luggage trolley with us to the hotel – and even into our room!! Very impressed!

Things are looking up now – our room was perfectly adequate. The evening meal, which we’d prepaid for, was excellent and all the staff were extremely helpful – nothing was too much trouble! All had a ready smile..and a sense of humour ( which is needed when Gregg is around!). I honestly can’t fault the Premier Inn at Heathrow terminal 4 it was just what we needed after our long day.

Up early in the morning to walk the dogs, the just a short 3 hour cruise back home.

Looks like the grass needs mowing!!!

Well after our lovely relaxing trip it’s all systems go now for our next adventure

An Aussie road trip!😎

We’ll be flying out next week to Sidney via Vietnam ( and yes, we will have a few hours  to explore Ho Chi Minh City). After 2 nights in Sidney we’ll be flying to Brisbane to pick up our campervan and to meet up with our son, daughter-in-law, and two gorgeous grandchildren.  We’ll all be travelling up to Cairns together and hopefully having lots of adventures on the way!

 

Had a lovely run down to Bosley today. Sun was shining,  canal was quite quiet and all was good with the world😍. Just two swing bridges, one of which somebody else did for us, and the 12 locks of the Bosley flight. We made short work of the flight, most of the locks were set in our favour and so we managed to get down in about an hour and a half. We found a good mooring just at the bottom of the flight and set ourselves up for the evening. Beautiful views of the Bosley Cloud and a very peaceful night.

After a leisurely breakfast we walked the dogs up the old tram line, Buxworth. It was raining, surprise, surprise! but it was a very scenic walk and the sun was trying to come out.

It was around 10.30 by the time we finally left Bugsworth. We were quite sad to leave – will definitely be returning!

We had to reverse out of the basin – that was a laugh! Speckled Hen doesn’t really excel at going backwards in a straight line. It brought the neighbours out anyway🤣. There was a boat already at the water point so we decided not to wait and to fill up at Marple instead.

So off we went….bringing the rain along with us! On the way here I missed most of the sights because I was working inside – so I was determined to stay at the helm this time, regardless of the persistent downpours, so that I could admire the scenery.

We stopped briefly in Marple to fill up with water and then continued towards Bollington. Just before Bollington I hopped off to do a run along the towpath – forgot to mention the Gregg and I are both doing the BBC Couch to 5K😲!! We’re on week 6 of 9..and it’s getting harder now, although I’m quite enjoying it!

We got the last mooring space on the aqueduct at Bollington (phew!)…and what’s more the sun came out!!

After dinner we walked into town with the dogs, did a bit of grocery shopping and then popped into the Vale (micro brewery) for supposedly one drink, however, we met some people we knew there so stayed a bit longer🤪. Anyway, the dogs had settled in, so we felt we had to stay😉😜

On the train at the moment on my way to Liverpool for work so thought I’d just update the blog.

Yesterday was a lovely day …it didn’t rain all morning and for most of the afternoon!😲.

I had some work phone calls to make so I cracked on with that while Gregg cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast. Finally we ate in the cratch with the covers open!!

 

Yes, I know Gregg’s looking a bit pensive – he’s trying to work his phone…it’s always a bit of a challenge for him🤣.

After breakfast we wandered into Whaley Bridge along to towpath ( about 20 mins  – should have been quicker but Flora, our 15 year old greyhound, was on a bit of a go slow today).

We popped into the Bridge Bake house for coffee and cake – highly recommended! The cakes are awesome. Met some lovely dog people there – actually it seems like the whole of Whaley Bridge is dog friendly 🐕

We sussed out the train station for my trip today and then wandered back to the basin.

As the weather was good Gregg did some DIY, sanding and varnishing the cratch steps and putting a fresh coat of paint on the hatch doors while I worked in my floating office again (grrrr!).

We managed to cook kebabs on the bbq outside just before the heavens opened!

And then a quick dash to get under cover to eat our dinner

It rained heavily for the rest of the evening  so we watched a DVD (Imitation Games – again!) and then popped into the Navigation Inn for a swift half before bed.

After a clear night

Another rainy start to the day but no worries may as well get under way as Neen is working in her floating office today.

A slow meander up to Marple junction

and hang a left onto the Peak Forrest Canal(no locks today). But I have to ring the bell a couple of times to get Neen up on deck for a bit of extra duties(swing and lift bridges).

Its not many miles to our destination so can take it nice and steady, and give myself a chance to take in the surroundings.  A couple of heavy showers but nothing lasts for to long. Find a nice spot for lunch just before Furnace Vale. Neen joined me at the helm for a bit after the stop.

Then decisions, right to Whaley Bridge or left to Bugsworth Basin. Left it is, had to dodge a load of kids in canoes ( didn’t hit any) a 1/4mile along the cut and we arrive. Avoided another party of kids in canoes in the upper basin so  decided to moor in the lower basin out of the way. Very quiet only a couple of other boats here. So a peaceful evening.