The Last Post :-(

We had a great day yesterday, playing cricket, watching the football and generally having a good old family catch up.

However, it went a little bit pear shaped when my niece, Hayley thought her boyfriend had a spider on him so she decided to throw her mobile phone at it (as you do).  Unfortunately my mother's head got in the way and the phone made a gash on the top of her scalp as it flew across the campsite.  It bled quite heavily and she went into shock so she was patched up and then taken to the local hospital, where they glued up her scalp for her!

Elaine, bro, niece and niece's boyfriend check out the damaged bonce!

My poor niece was so upset at what she had done to her Nan.  Elaine went with them to the hospital - she said the medical staff were most concerned whether it was a malicious act or an accident!  Elaine told me that the doctor was very thorough in wanting to check for any nerve damage and apparently one of his checks was to get Mother to puff her cheeks out and shrug her shoulders ... so it seems they had a bit of fun with that when he left the room ...

She was back again after a couple of hours and all was well again!  We put her to bed with a cup of tea and she was snoring in no time!

In addition to all that excitement a hot air balloon also passed over last night.  The wind had increased a bit and it was flying along quite fast ... it must have been a fun landing ...

This morning it was a slow start before we all had the full English breakfast ...

Then we got together for a group shot ... or two !

Today we also celebrated my nephew, Liam's birthday, so we all got stuck into a mega cake early in the afternoon ...

Also this afternoon my niece, Kimberley gave Bombo a haircut with Elaine assisting.  She normally does horses so doing a stroppy little dog was a piece of cake, although she said it took longer, with all his interruptions !

Most of the other campers left this afternoon, just leaving our little camp.  Tonight Elaine and I will be back on our own for our last night on the road ...  

Before they all left us though my other sister, Kerry arrived with her boyfriend, Jim (and Ruby the dog) and also my other niece, Leigha with her partner, Brad and her little boy, Mason ...

This is Charlie (my brother in law's father!) having a kickabout with Mason ... 

Then, late in the day we were all on our lonesome again ... 

Tomorrow we are heading back to Macclesfield where we will moor up at Poynton for a few days, whilst we clean out the van and get it ready for sale.

So that is it !  The narrowboat/motorhome tour of the UK and mainland Europe is all over.

We always get asked the same question as to which we prefer, the narrowboat or the motorhome? Basically we loved them both.  All I can really say is that the narrowboat always felt like we were living in a parallel universe to normal life albeit at a slow speed.  The motorhome feels like we are constantly on holiday which, believe me, is such a lovely feeling!  The narrowboat was, of course, a holiday as well but with the addition of constant maintenance to keep the boat in a shipshape condition.  With the motorhome you just drive it and clean it occasionally ... it is a very, very easy life, but a love of driving helps. 

Which brings us to the 'last post', as per the title of this blog post!  As our travels have now come to an end it seems a good time to finish the blog.  I will do an ad for the van and put that on the blog plus will put the occasional post up if something exciting happens, but as a day to day blog this will be the last one :-(

I have absolutely loved doing the blog which started out just being something for friends and family to have a look at, then all of a sudden it started to get read by over 10 people!!  

 I think we are now up to about 285,000 page views and it is a very humbling experience that strangers take time to read it and for that I thank you all very much.

I would also like to add that through blogging we have met some fantastic, lifelong friends.

I have nicked a nice little appropriate quote to finish off, I think its rather apt ...

I wanted a perfect ending.  Now I've learned the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning middle and end.  Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.

We love yous all

from

Paul, Elaine, Bombo and Sam

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