A Change of Scenery

You must be wondering why the silence?? Well actually I sneaked away to the UK -  not only to sort out a few things but also to enjoy a few days with friends and family. The Indian summer continued and playing lawn tennis in what must have been at least 25 degrees on a lazy Sunday afternoon with the sound of “leather on willow” (cricket) being played in the next field makes you remember why we love this green and pleasant land. Our apartment in London is located right on the river and to be able to watch the little sailing boats gliding by the window so late in the year is quite amazing.

But, so as not to forget that the bicycle is my new mode of transport I went with my sister on an amazing cycle ride through the Chiltern Hills on what used to be an old railway line now converted to a cycle trail. The end of the line (trail) is Thame a stunning little old market town all quaint houses, shops and pubs, not forgetting the Market Square building with the traditional Town Clock as the centrepiece.

A pub lunch was the order of the day – followed by a mooch around the village shops before cycling back to where we had left the car (with bike rack of course for the drive home - we were in VERY hilly country). Suddenly before us, one of the highlights of the day came into view, we were heading into a take off area for hot air balloons. With the sun just starting to go down we saw 8 of these huge brightly coloured hot air balloons lifting off and gliding up and over the the ridge into the distance. What a sight. I gave chase on my brother-in-law's super duper bike but to no avail, those things move very quickly so I couldn't quite get the photos I wanted – c'est la vie!

I was very busy partying with friends and family in the UK to continue blogging for a few days, but my other excuse is I was planning, a triangular trip via Spain. We bought an apartment on the Costa del Sol some years ago after spending so many cold and dark winters at home,  now we have our own little place in the sun. We love it despite not being able to visit often enough. We had go to Spain to sort out some papers.  What, more papers I hear you say after the recent spate of papers?  Yes, unfortunately I have discovered, All countries love papers and more and more, what happened to that paperless society we were promised with the arrival of the computer!!! It didn't happen so now you know the real reason I left Amsterdam nearly two weeks ago. I just thought as I was travelling anyway, I might just slip in a visit to the “Old Country”before arriving in Spain. K has since joined me, and as I write this I am sitting on our terrace (in the shade) in about 30 degrees looking out across the sea towards the Rif Mountains in Africa. Glorious blue skies, but there is a heat haze at present so you can't see the mountains but sometimes at night you can see lights twinkling in the distance in some little village or other, and I am always amazed standing here in Europe enjoying a little sundowner, that I am actually looking at lights in Africa, another continent, but only about 25 miles across the straits of Gibraltar.

Too much eating and drinking going on at the moment. I cannot resist the great hams and cheeses available here and so inexpensive. We are eating far too much. There is a fantastic little restaurant in Marbella Old Town that we have been frequenting for some time now, in fact since they opened about 4 years ago. The little place is called Skina and we were so happy to hear that this year they have been awarded a Michelin star. The owners are two young men, one the Chef and the other front of the house. They use traditional Andalucian ingredients and recipes with a very modern twist and it is delicious fare ....so if you are in the area book a table it is one of my favourite places. There are only about 8 tables so if you want to eat Al Fresco they just carry a table into the street outside. The old town being typical as in many parts of Spain, extremely narrow tiled streets with tall buildings either side, wrought iron balconies covered with pots of flowers trailing down to the streets below, so picturesque. We went for dinner on Thursday and had food to die for and somewhere down the street there was traditional singing and music playing, obviously some celebration going on. Sitting there in the moonlight at midnight, in a sun dress, it's hard to believe you are only just over 2 hours away from London. As all towns in Spain there is a Central Plaza like the village square where people meet and pass the time of day, Marbella Old Town has Orange Square - which is delightful all year round but particularly beautiful when all the orange trees are covered in huge oranges or when the blossom is out, such a heady scent.

Yesterday we walked along our almost deserted beach to eat Tapas with friends on the Paseo Maritimo in Marbella. It takes about an hour to amble along the beach. After showing off the amazing avenue of Dali bronze statues to our friends and becoming tangled up in what looked like a street party at the fountain we made our way back to the seafront and found a table (barrel) at our favourite tapas place and once again enjoyed too much food and drink!!!! It's impossible not to relax in this place, to the point I have to prize K out of the sun bed to go anywhere – he just loves to chill. I am feeling holier than thou because I have just done 12 lengths in the pool albeit the first time I have used it for 2 years!!

I suspect with the dark nights closing in in Amsterdam I am going to be planning more trips to this little haven.... we do rent it out so if you need a getaway for a few days you can check out www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/6393

The kite surfers seem to have packed up – no doubt because the wind has completely dropped – the sea is as calm as a millpond, so I think on that note at 7.00pm still in glorious sunshine it must be time for that little aperitif I was mentioning earlier..............