Wednesday 23rd September
Monday and Tuesday were pretty quiet. The weather has been wet and cold and as a result we haven’t done much. Today we take the tandem out for our first proper ride in over 9 months.
We cycle to Osborne St George along the disused railway and then back to Marlborough along the road. It’s just over 9 miles in total and whilst we didn’t really enjoy the muddy bridleway, we were fine on the road.
Thursday 24th September
Today we’re off to see Everest at the cinema. It’s a brilliant film and it’s followed by a visit to the Defence Academy, Shrivenham to see Brett.
It’s great to see him. He’s been working really hard since his commissioning at the beginning of 2015 but he’s still loving it. Unfortunately he’s off to Canada on Medicine Man on Sunday for 8 weeks so we don’t think we’ll see him again. What a shame, but a lovely evening none the less
Friday 25th September
Today I have my seventh lesson with Jean, my French tutor on Skype, not including my one trial lesson. Each lesson is about 30minutes. Well they’re supposed to be 30mins but Jean often overruns. In addition to the lessons, I’m doing a couple (if not more) hours of French homework most days. Hopefully if I can become competent in French, I’ll find learning Spanish easier.
Saturday and Sunday
This weekend Vikki’s parents come to stay. Paul and Julie from the Isle of Wight where they have a beef farm. On Saturday afternoon the boys all go off to football (Swindon v Colchester)
whilst the girls go to 100 Chai Street for a late lunch and then up the church tower where we can look over the local area. It’s fabulous and our guide, a little old chap in a boater is extremely knowledgeable. But it’s been a challenge. Neither Vikki or I like the narrow, claustrophobic tower steps whilst Julie, who doesn’t like heights, is extremely uncomfortable at the top of the tower.

After the tower trip go to the Marlborough for a passionfruit cocktail and the boys meet us. We return home for a lovely dinner of homemade beefburgers and then there’s the Rugby. This evening – England v Wales – a tense atmosphere with Gav, Daz and Paul supporting England and me the only Wales supporter. But England manage to throw away their lead and lose the match. What a shocker – almost half of the Welsh team were stretchered off in the last 20 minutes but still we just manage to win. Result!!!
Sunday 27th September
Today we show Paul and Julie our bike and Paul has a go with Daz, which is tremendous. He’s a really good sport.
Later we go off to East Kennet to do some geocaches. It’s a nice little walk with about 7 caches and there are many walkers about because we’re near Long Barrow but the caches are a little disappointing – mainly just Tupperware boxes. Then it’s home for a lovely roast dinner – thanks Vik and Gav.
Monday 28th September.
Depressed! My operation date has come through. I saw the specialist on 17 Sept and she said it was urgent and would be done on the NHS in the next couple of weeks. So I was expecting the date to be 2nd October instead it’s 16th October. I’m so annoyed. I wish she’d managed my expectations better. I’m so annoyed and I remember her saying if I was going private she could have done it the following week. So I ring her private secretary to find out cost and date of going private. It’s £3000 and 21st October. So that’s that then. We take the tandem out. We cycle to East Kennet. As we’re leaving Marlborough we notice a bit of a wobble and then realise we’ve got a puncture in the rear tyre.
We try pumping it but the air leaves as quickly as we put it in. So we have to fix it. Daz gets the rear wheel off and this is when we discover that our tyre levers are too flexible and not rigid enough to lever the tyre off. Then we discover our spare tube has the wrong valve fitting so that’s no good either. So instead we fix the puncture. To be fair it’s been a godsend – an ideal time to find out these things. It’s fixed relatively quickly and we carry on our bike ride. Mileage today approximately 14.5 miles.
Tuesday 29th September.
Today we say goodbye to Paul and Julie and they’ve recommended a couple of places that I’d like to visit if we have a chance. One is the hangman’s gibbet at Coombe Gibbet and the other is the area behind Fawley Power station. Then we’re off on our bike again. Today I want to show Daz Avebury Ring which isn’t much further than East Kennet. Today we do 19miles (30.5km).
New problem today – Daz notices a bulge in the front tyre where there’s a cut in the tyre wall. I’m relieved that this didn’t blow out on a fast downhill but since the erratic steering of the bike yesterday when we had a rear puncture, I’ve started imagining a rear puncture at high speed. Not conducive to happy cycling!!! So shopping list now includes one new tyre, correct inner tubes and decent tyre levers. Perhaps this extended UK stay is proving to be a godsend.
Wednesday 30th September
Today we’re off to Andover to get some more drugs to tide me over before my operation and to pick up our flag. Then we’re off to Amesbury to do a walk with Deborah and John. It’s a 6 mile circuit and it’s a lovely walk and we’re blessed with lovely weather, views and there seems to be a lot of air activity out of Boscombe Down, which is MOD tri service experimental aircraft testing centre. We also see Sting’s house. Fabulous.
After the walk we’re off to Tidworth. Jac and Tracy have invited us to dinner and we get a chance to catch up with them. They absolutely love their new house (and who can blame them – it’s fabulous) and whilst Jac is have a great time at work – the work she and little Paul have implemented is making huge steps in saving millions of pounds for the MOD and they’ve had commendations. As far as her bosses are concerned Jac walks on water – a fantastic development considering some of the shit she’s had to put up with over the last couple of years. Meanwhile Tracy is looking after Marion and childsitting for Scarlett and also busy finishing courses in child minding and child physchcology. They both seem really content in their new home which is great.
Thursday 1st October
Today we’re off to Coombe Gibbet where there are, in addition to the hangman’s Gibbet, amazing views over Wiltshire. After Coombe Gibbet we visit Hungerford. We have been before, but only in the evening, and it’s a busy, quaint town and we sit by the canal eating our fish and chips.
Today we also register with ‘trusted housesitters’. Jane told us about this site but we didn’t intend to join as a year’s registration fee is nearly £90. But we decide to go for it and then look at jobs in France. We email 4 jobs in France and within a couple of hours 3 out of the 4 have answered and want us to work for them. We can’t believe the response. So we have a couple of house/pet sits arranged for December in the south of France. Incredible. We’re very excited.
Friday 2nd October
Today we meet Katie in Marlborough for a ‘catch-up’. It’s so sad – she’s broken up with Marius and sold their house in Amesbury. At the moment she’s living with her mum but she’s already agreed a purchase of a new house on the same estate in Amesbury and that should be ready at the end of November. She’s also changed jobs but it seems that Army HQ is undergoing another restructuring and all the headquarter elements that were originally moved from Netheravon, Upavon, Pewsey etc to be under one roof in Andover are now steadily being disaggregated again. All very strange – so I struggle to recognise her original position let alone the new one – she did a swap with Peter Williams but it seems to have backfired somewhat. But it’s great to see her and hopefully we’ll see her again before we leave.
Saturday 3rd October
Today we’re off to London to see Kate. Gav is at work again but Vikki has taken Saturday off and very kindly drives us to the train station. We get to London, Streatham Hill around 1400hrs. We take Kate out for some geocaching around Clapham Common and then we stop for a couple of pints. Then it’s home to watch the England v Australia match. Disappointing – England lose convincingly and since Wales beat Fiji it looks as if it’s Australia and Wales that will go through.
Sunday 4th October
Daz and I walk through Brockwell park and do some geocaching whilst Kate goes to the gym. There are so many people out in the park, walking their dogs, cycling, just enjoying the sunshine – there is even a load of horses, Ebony Riding Club, out riding with local kids.
The caches are good and it’s a draw – 3 finds each. Then we meet Kate for breakfast at a very nice cafe on Streatham High Street, Boyce Roco. In the evening we all go to the cinema to watch Martian. We go to the Odeon on Streatham High Street. Brett refuses to go to this cinema because it’s too provincial but we decide to go and whilst the screen is pretty good there isn’t much leg room for poor Daz. Good movie though!
Monday / Tuesday/Wednesday
We had a walk planned for Monday but the weather isn’t that good so we go into town and walk from Victoria to Westminster Abbey and along Whitehall, looking at Downing Street and Horse Guard Parade and then to Trafalgar square to Piccadilly.
We go to Fortnum and Mason’s for tea and cake and then wander through Burlington Mall which is so exclusive it has its own ‘minders’ dressed in black and gold.
We end up in Soho where I insist Daz has a back massage because he seems to be suffering from a bad neck and back. His mood is much improved after his massage – I wonder why????? After a leisurely stroll we meet Kate by London Bridge for an Escape Room experience.
It’s more disjointed than the Salisbury experience and it’s really too difficult. Most of the work is done by Daz and Kate. Afterwards we go to a tapas restaurant in Borough Market where the waiter is extremely charming with the cutest Spanish accent ever, Kate and I spend the evening looking at him dreamily!! Tuesday Daz and I stroll round Leadenhall Market, go up the 311 steps of the Monument and walk around the museum at the Bank of England and the banking area.
We then enjoy a drink in Borough Market before coming home. Wednesday, due to more foul weather we decide to take it easy. Our only plan is to buy a new phone for Daz. His blackberry which we use for geocaching and mapping and lots of other things seems to only hold its charge for a couple of hours. We did buy a new battery for it in Edinburgh but if anything it’s got worse. Sometimes even on charge all night, it’ll still be dead in the morning. So it’s a new Xperia X5. It’s the newest model. Very exciting and very expensive. But definitely worth it.