This Week, from Lviv to Barry’s, then Spain

Tuesday arrived at Lviv airport. Nice place. Not too big, and well organized.
Arrived in plenty of time. Should have used the time to put my toe-nail clippers into the suitcase. They were confiscated 🙁 Bought them only last year in Heidelberg. German-made, so German quality, but also German-pricing. 31euros. Ouch. And they were REALLY nice. Stainless steel. Sharp. Accurate. And easy to use.
Ah well.
Wonder what’s next to go? Everything happens in threes.

Air Austria was OK. Think LOT had better planes.
Vienna airport was poorly organized for transit. Had to guess which door to use. Then go through security again.

Landed in London, Heathrow.
Baggage was a few minutes wait.
Passport and customs a breeze.
Exit so quick that I nearly caught the early bus! Nearly.
Once on the “proper” bus an easy ride to Winchester, where Barry was waiting in a pub.
A pint.
A chat.
Then back to Barry’s.

Wednesday morning up at 9am.
Pack.
Head to Devon.
Miracle! No traffic! Or rather, so little traffic, that the drive was relaxing.
Sun was shining and the sky blue. Another miracle. It is in Devon!

Brunch was a bacon bap in Honiton.

Arrived at the hotel near Tavistock.
Barry had a nap.
I sat in the comfy lounge with the wood fire, and had a cider. Read Country Life. Apparently when Rachel, Lynn and I had breakfast, we should have gone to Rachel’s old restaurant. haha

Barry awoke me. Yup. The sofa was really comfy 🙂
We went for a pie and a pint. Proper home-made pie and a cider.

Back to the hotel for a cuppa and a scone. As a night-cap.

Up before 7am on a dark Thursday morning.
Breakfast.
Then we sat in the lounge and chatted.

Around 1pm we popped into Tavistock.
The B&B that I stayed at is up for sale. They did talk about moving. Guess they were serious.
Checked a couple of outdoor shops looking for a replacement Swiss Army knife. Those tiny ones are really useful. And some people think bigger is better 😉
Then I did some shopping whilst Barry sat in the sun.
Replaced my clippers with a pair from China at a third of the price. Will see how they work.
Ate a pasty.
Drank a cuppa.

Then met up with Barry at the Tavy Club. He’d been at the dentist. Yup. Barry drives to a dentist in Tavistock, a 3hr trip each way. Also gives him a chance to wander around the area he used to live in. And buy cheap sausages 🙂 Good sausages.

We went for a nice curry. Though the meat dishes were sweet.

And back to the hotel for a nightcap.

Friday saw us up and breakfast. I had a kipper this morning 🙂
We ran into Bishop’s Waltham easily, as the traffic was light again.
Unpacked.
Chinese supper and  some red wine.
Early night for me.

Saturday up early.
TLC and first parade for the bike. Took two goes to start. Chain still looks rusty. But has been lub’d after standing for 3 very damp weeks.

Ran to the Copnor laundrette to find the chocolatier has moved. Boo! Hoo! Consoled myself with an egg-banjo. Whilst doing laundry.
Picked up some steaks, ham and faggots.
Back to Barry’s.
Lub’d the chain again.

Barry insisted we pop out for a pint, so I had 8 small ciders 🙂
It was a great afternoon. Beaters arrived just after us. Filled the pub. Great chat.
They confirmed something I’d read about, that there is a surplus of game birds. Now that is a surprise.

Back to Barry’s for a shower. I’d had a trim whilst doing laundry. So needed to shower and change.

Barry cooked the steaks, with chips,  greens and brocolli.
Toni enjoyed hers. The trick being that I’d asked for the rib-eye to be cut to the thickness of 2 inches, instead of the usual thin steaks.
And in reseaching steak cooking techniques, one should never put on salt before cooking. Draws out the moisture, so you end up steaming the meat.
Nice evening.
Ending with lots of cheese 🙂

Sunday morning packing started in earnest.
Barry off to Toni’s, so I pulled the bike into the garage. And started the loading process.

Popped over to Toni’s as Barry had a computer question. Easily answered.

Then into Portsmouth to buy a warning triangle. Just in case. Had to use it once for real.
Lunch was a surprisingly nice Chinese duck soup in Portsmouth city-centre.

Then off to meet Robert, and pickup Eilene’s Christmas cake 🙂 We had a mini pub-crawl, (following the roast), with me having “saudi cocktails”.

Then early to the boat. Figured it was time. Rather than sliding in an hour ahead of the sailing time. Not sure if I will do this early arrival again.
Good news. Got me a long chat with two other bikers heading to Spain.
Bad news. We were parked at the bottom of the boat. So I guess we will be last off the boat.

Unpacked. Whilst munching on Eilene’s EXCELLENT Christmas cake.
Then out for a stroll, and found a salad.
Back to the room for more cake and green tea.
An early night.

Awoke on Monday morning. Had the rest of the tea and Christmas cake 🙂
Back to sleep.
Slept/dozed through most of the day. I love boats. The gentle rocking motion is SOooOoo relaxing. Guess I needed the rest.

Up for supper.
Met the other two bikers. They were at supper. My reservation turned out to be a bit later, at 8pm.
With my spare time, I stocked up on Toblerone and had a seat in the bar awaiting supper.  Supper was:

• Bean soup, with duck prosciutto on a piece of long crouton. Crouton was rather damp, from some iffy cream-cheese, though the rest was good.
• Duck breast with some ugly croutons and uglier sauce.
• Excellent souffle, with a dash of Grand Marnier.

Off to bed. Early.

Tuesday morning up before the alarm, and the announcement that it was time to wake up. My alarm was set for 5:25am. Hence going to bed early last night.

Dressed. Packed.
Espresso with a Geordie couple and another biker who had his Harley mounted on his custom motorhome.

An easy run into Logrono. Tasks were:

• replace my Swiss Army knife. DONE at an EXCELLENT shop in Logrono, called Ribes, on Calle de la Victoria 40, 26016, (no link as it crashes my browsers, I kid you not). Price was the best found so far 🙂 The store has neat kitchen items, umbrellas and more
• book accommodation. DONE for two nights, for now
• European-to-NorthAmerican plug adapter. DONE by asking at a nearby electrical store, who directed me to a lighting store, that had all-sorts of adapters 🙂
• vino tinto and tapas. DONE some 80m from the hotel 🙂

And for my Canadian friends…….

Yes. Snow in Spain.
But it is off the road. The sun is shining. And the sky is blue.
Plus, as I write this at 7pm, the temperature is 12degC.