So, no update for a while! We were busy. Last days of holiday and all.<\/p>\n
Sunday night we headed out for a restaurant that was recommended by Lonely Planet, El Machichaco – turns out it was very good. Organic, local, slow food. We got mains and pudding this time – homemade ice cream!\u00a0 Then back to the hotel to sleep.<\/p>\n
Next day we head out for coffee and a last look around. No Santander badges! Then sat on the front and watched the boats until we saw our ferry coming in; off to the ferry office to check in and then out for brunch. Ended up back at El Machichaco for egg and chips (mine came with ham and carmilised onion, Joe got chorizo). Then hotel to get our bags and join the queue to board the ferry at 2pm. And wait. wait a bit more. Until about 20 past 2 we got an announcement that no one could understand, but it turned out that the ferry had engine problems (a piston in one of the engines, I think) and so it would be delayed. Boarding would be at 17.00 and the ferry would leave at 21.00. Oh and we wouldn’t be going to Portsmouth, but to Plymouth and a couple of hours later than we would have been in Portsmouth.<\/p>\n
Not much we could do about it, so we sat in the ferry terminal and waited until 5pm boarding. Got on board, dumped the bags, made reservations for dinner, and then walked the ship.\u00a0 Stood on deck for the departure and watched Santander and then Spain disappear off the stern; then into the restaurant for dinner. Not a bad dinner and slept well.<\/p>\n
Spent most of Tuesday watching the sea and reading. Got into Plymouth around 4pm and after grabbing a taxi got to the station in time to get the just before 5pm train to London – waved to Glastonbury as we stopped at Castle Cary! Finally in London a bit before 9pm and home just after 10pm and settled with dinner at half past 10. We should have been in Portsmouth at 2pm and that’s a 2 hour train journey home! Oh well.<\/p>\n
So today work from home rather than try to get up and off to the office. Also meant laundry could get done and things started to be put away – the very definition of the end of the holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, no update for a while! We were busy. Last days of holiday and all. Sunday night we headed out for a restaurant that was recommended by Lonely Planet, El Machichaco – turns out it was very good. Organic, local, slow food. We got mains and pudding this time – homemade ice cream!\u00a0 Then back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[14,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T97-t7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4257,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/and-back-to-doing-as-little-as-possible-with-some-travel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805,"position":0},"title":"And back to doing as little as possible (with some travel)","date":"Friday, 15 December 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday started well, got up early, had breakfast, and down to the harbour to go whale watching. Were far too early, as is normal, so found a bench and watched the boats. Saw the ferry come in and so checked the timings and realised we can get the ferry back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4220,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2023\/12\/01\/searching-for-sunshine\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805,"position":1},"title":"Searching for sunshine!","date":"Friday, 1 December 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When we left home the weather forecast was for colder weather with possible frost and that four letter word (snow). So we've headed south. Flying out of Gatwick (and I did try to get us an overland route but the one I wanted was our full holiday budget for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4134,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/08\/doing-manly-stuff\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805,"position":2},"title":"Doing Manly Stuff","date":"Sunday, 8 December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Going to Manly Beach - there be dragons! So Sunday we went over to Manly via the ferry, to save walking we got the train up to Circular Quay, where the ferries leave from. So we'll get a coffee while we wait for the train - no, there\u2019s one in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3990,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/02\/happy-birthday-canada\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805,"position":3},"title":"Happy Birthday Canada!","date":"Sunday, 2 July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"So 150 years!\u00a0 We woke up far too early. And are tired far too early. Jet lag. Ugh. So awake, so got up and got sorted. Had some coffee. Checked out the hotel breakfast which wasn't much - cereal or toast. So we had more coffee and OJ and did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":514,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/08\/sunshine-and-rain\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805,"position":4},"title":"Sunshine and rain","date":"Sunday, 8 July 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We planned for a later train to Esbjerg - 12.25. So up and coffee at the hotel then checked out and headed out to the station. Got there in plenty of time to have a danish while waiting for the train. Then found the proper spot on the platform to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4185,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/27\/the-professionals-part-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805,"position":5},"title":"The Professionals Part Two","date":"Friday, 27 December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Early start as we had to pack up and check out of the hotel before we did our boat trip. We also had a drive up to Emu Bay to get on the boat! 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