Hey Hey Hey Everyone!

Thanks for all your messages on the message board!! Nope no swine flu, and have not fallen of the face of the earth lol. We are back in London now after 2 weeks of camping around the UK - with a good ten days of that being spent in Scoooootland!

WOW! What an amazing time we have had - but first of all we did a bit of looking around london before we headed off on UK adventures. We spent a good few days heading into London central to have a look around the sights. Sarah took us in and showed us around some of the main areas and had a really nice day. We packed a picnic lunch and headed for a beautiful park next to Bukingham Palace. Was an amazingly hot day and the park had these beach chairs that you could hire for like a pound or so. There were hundreds of them everywhere filled with locals on their lunch breaks soacking up the sun that is usually non exsistant lol. The weather has been unusually warm and sunny in the UK recently so I have been told - so looks like we timed our trip well. We went to Madame Tussauds and Ripley's Believe it or not and we also went to the Tower of London which was a personal favourite tourist attraction - the others were ok but would not nessesarily reccomend them. But yeah, we did the London thing for our first few days we were here.

We then hired a car and went around the lower west of England camping for 4 days and went right down to Lands End. The weather again was amazing - and again- was very unusual so AGAIN! - we were very lucky. We first camped at in a beautiful little village called Chedder. This area was famous for growing the Strawberries so we manged to pick some up before we arived in Chedder and had them for desert in the sun. That night we realised just how late it got before it even thought about getting dark. We hoped into our sleeping bags in the tent and it was very light still - the time - 11:30!!!! very odd feeling trying to go to sleep when it is stil light! lol.

We made it right down to Land End the next day. On the way there we stopped at a reccomended little fishing village called Lynmouth and had the most awesome fish and chips ever man! they were seriously good! Very touristy indeed - so much so that they charge you have a photo with the sign that says 'Lands End'. So we opted out and just took a photo from a distance lol. We also visited the 'Minack Theatre' - WOW very cool and if any of you get that chnce to go and have a squiz then do - lovely story behind it and the place is very cool! We stayed not far from the theatre that night in a cute little camp ground and pitched our tent for the night and cooked ourselves a very awesome stirfry for dinner using our little cooker - yum yum. We spent our third night just outside of Exeter on our way home. Around this area we found this random village up in the hills and the only reason we went there was becasue from the main road it had a sign saying that there was a castle up the road a few miles so we went up to have a look. MAN the coolest village ever - was very very VERY Gothic and absolutely amazing! And of all things to find when your on holiday in another country - we found a NZ shop! LOL! But yes we had an amazing time away for four days travelling round the south-west - we covered a lot of ground - too much to sit here and write it all. We arrived back in London to leave to the following day for our Grand tour of Scooootland for tens days and the world cup Downhill mountain biking champs in Fort William.

We headed north towards Fort William while spending a night each at Loch Lomand and Windermere on the way. VERY COLD! snow on the mountains and DEAR GOD!! the midges were sooooo bad we got totally eaten - and they attacked my (Mons) face sooo bad lol. At our first stop ,Loch Lomand, they were sooo bad that we were stuck in our tents for most of the evening, we had to cook and eat our dinner while walking around, and packing the car was a nightmare in the morning. We had to pack the boot in stages becasue they follow you round - so you had to walk away for a while so they would clear the car area! lol ha ha! oh man waht an experience - there were millions of them! lol. So we eventually got the car packed, jumped in and put the gass on to get the hell out of that place! lol. Only to find that an army of them had assumed position inside the car!! lol. so we are driving down the road swiping and cursing and crushing the man eating midgies where ever we could while driving with the windows down to suck the suckers out! lol.

Fort William was the next port for the mountain biking world cup - were there for 4 days and had an amazing time. The event was so huge! thousands of people so was really cool. A NZ guy that dave knows (who i might add is from WANGANUI!!! yeah yeah) came third so that was very exciting. We had a massive NZ flag on a hugely long stick all day which attracted a bit of attention - so it did its job :) On the last day at Fort William - we climbed the Ben Nevis which is the highest mountain in all UK. The views were amazing and there was 1 metre of snow of the top. We made a snow man while we were up there lol. But the whole journey took 8.5 hours, so needless to say we deserved every beer we had in the pub back at the bottom back of the mountain lol. Oh yes - and the midgies were there again also - totally mowed my (Mons) face..... AGAIN! grrr - and again freezing cold - we are all living in our Down Jackets and wooly socks. Who knew that it was the middles of summer in Scotland!

There really is so much to write as it has been a while since the last blog. But we went to Dornoch next then onto John'o'Groats which is the very northern part of scotland. On our journey between the two, the scenery was amazing, very coastal drive with a few castles on the cliff-fronts, one of which we stopped for some morning tea and a look around. We also found a tiny farm that made its own cheese. We sampled so many flavours and ended up choosing one each - such gooood cheese. John'o;Groats was very similar to Lands End - very touristy so was only a quick stop before heading to our next camp to pitch for the night. We ended up staying at Durness, which is also right at the top on the western side of scotland. Beautiful location right on the cliff-fronts looking down on a very nice beach. We did a big drive the next day to Edinbourgh where we treated ourselves to a night in a hostel right in the centre of the city. On the way to Edinnburgh, in the middle of no where (gorgeous landscape though) we picked up and 86 year old hitch hiker! Yes thats right - 86! His name was Harry and and was a real delight. Edinburgh was amazing - especially at night (even better we think). We had the most amazing Italian dinner at a local restaurant, wine the works. was a really nice evening - had the best pasta! Still cold with down jackets etc - but no midgies thank goodness.

We headed to Cambridge next with a night Broughbridge on the way (more dam midgies there though too!!!) - which was where I spent my year as a classroom assistant. The school I worked at was having the anual fair on the saturday so worked well to pop in and have a catch up with the people who gave me an amazing opportunity. Was very cool to see them all again after 7 years - we all could not believe that it had been that long. We headed into the city of cambridge after the catch-up for a look around. Things had not changed much at all - even the shops were the same lol. But we walked down to the water front, paid a few bob and went punting on the river cam. The river was so crammed that day and boats kept colliding into each other etc. lol was pretty funny and heaps of fun. Rob did all the hard yards while other 3 of us sat back and enjoyed the relaxing ride. THANKS ROB! :D lol. We headed back to London that night - was nice to be home, but what an awesome adventure we had and had such a fantastic time. Pretty tired though.

We have just enjoyed a yummy BBQ in the back yard tonight here in London and head to Rome in the morning for 4 days which we are toatlly looking forward to! And its very hot there at the mo - NICE! We have a quick stop in Switzerland on the way too so hopefully might be able to pick up some nice choccies! yum yum! We are hopeing to be able to write again from there - will be a bit more relaxed time wise so hopefully can fit one in - thats the plan anyway.

Well time to head off untill next time.....

Lots Of Love.....
Dave and Mon