JOHN & SUE'S -  HOLIDAYS

Christmas 2003  -  Lapland

We went from London Waterloo on the Eurostar to Brussels. Then to Hamburg, Cologne and Copenhagen. After that we travelled to Stockholm and took an overnight ferry to Helsinki followed by a 10 hour train journey to Rovaniemi where the temperature was -30 c. We were taken on a horse drawn sleigh on Christmas Eve to an igloo where we had lunch. On Christmas Day we visited Santa's park and Santa's Village. On Boxing day we drove our own snowmobile across a frozen lake 11 miles to a Huskey farm. At this farm we both had a huskey ride; Sue was at the back mushing the six dogs with John sitting in the sledge.

January 2004 - Lock Cottage

We had 4 days away at Lock Cottage in Shropshire exactly a year after we had previously been to the cottage which is owned by the Landmark Trust. We discovered the property some 15 months earlier when we were on a canal boat coming down the Tardebigge flight of 30 locks (the longest set of locks in England). The only way to access the cottage was through a farmer's field. There was no television there, so we just relaxed in the evenings by a roaring fire after some nice walks along the canal bank.

February 2004 - French Alps

 Skiing

We took the direct Eurostar service all the way from London Waterloo to Moutiers and then had a short bus journey to Valmorel for two weeks skiing. It was quite busy this time as it was French half term but we got in some good skiing. We are going back there again in January 2005 although this time we are going to drive.

May 2004  -  Bruges

We took the Eurostar to Lille and then a coach to Bruges for a few days in this lovely Belgium City.

June 2004  -  Canal Boat Cheshire

We had a lovely week in early June on the Cheshire Ring. We passed Old Trafford football ground on the Sunday afternoon and moored up in Manchester. Until then there were no locks but the next day was very busy with locks. We moored overnight and found several nice pubs. The propellor became clogged up with a fisherman's discarded net and that was a challenge to sort out. John operated an automatic road bridge to let the boat through, stopping traffic in the process. However, he seemed unable to get the bridge shut again but did eventually after a lot of traffic had built up!

Jan 2005  -  French Alps

Skiing

We drove through the Channel tunnel on Le Shuttle and covered 670 miles in all to the Valmorel in the French Alps. We had a great 3 weeks skiing. During the middle of our stay it snowed very heavily for 3 days. It took us 3 hours on a Sunday morning to dig the car out! John fell over and sprained his ankle at one point and so had to have 2 days rest but soon recovered after that.

Link to Skiing Page

May 2005 - Great Rail Journey

We went by train from London Waterloo, to Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw and Krakow. During our holiday we visited many interesting places including Auschwitcz and made some good friends.

Link to Great Rail Journey Page

           Aug 2005  -  Paris

We went by Eurostar from London Waterloo to Paris for 4 nights to celebrate our wedding anniversary on Friday 5th August 2005.

Link to Paris Page 

Oct 2005 - Champagne

We went by Eurostar to Reims and the surrounding champagne territory in France where we visited 3 champagne houses and had a meal in a lovely country house. This tour was arranged through Great Rail Journeys    

Link to Champagne Page

    Nov 2004 and Nov 2005

Portmeirion

We stayed at Portmeirion, North Wales followed by Ironbridge in both November 2004 and November 2005.

Link to Portmeirion and Ironbridge Page

Dec 2005 - Switzerland

We went with Ffestiniog Travel to Switzerland for Christmas and New Year and had a wonderful time. We had a huge meringue in Meiringen and there was plenty of snow.

Link to Switzerland page

January 2006 - Lock Cottage

We went back to Lock Cottage 2 years after our last visit. We had some nice walks along the towpaths to different pubs. There was no TV at the cottage and it was remote. We had a nice coal fire on each of the 4 evenings we spent there.

May 2006 - Portmeirion

We made a visit to Grassington in North Yorkshire for the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain North East Region Annual Rally. This was the second year we had had gone and it was great fun. Then we went to stay at Telford's Tower at Portmeirion in North Wales where we had a most enjoyable and relaxing week.

July/August 2006 - Italy

We went to Italy with Great Rail Journeys  visiting Venice, Florence and Rome with some day excursions to lovely places.

Link to Italy 2006 page

July/August 2007 - Portmeirion

We went to Portmeirion in July/August 2007 for Sue's 50th birthday and our wedding anniversary.

September 2007 - Laveyssière

We spent two weeks in the Dordogne at Laveyssière. We had sunshine and blue skies every day. We had the chance to meet cousin Mark who is studying at the University in Bordeaux.

Link to Laveyssiere page 2007

  September 2008 - Laveyssière

We spent another two weeks in the Dordogne at Laveyssière. 

Link to Laveyssiere page 2008

October 2008 - Portmeirion

Back to Portmeirion for another lovely week.

Link to Portmeirion page 2008

    October 2009 - Portmeirion

Back to Portmeirion for another lovely week.

Link to Portmeirion page 2009

January 2010 - Switzerland Skiing

Link to Switzerland Skiing

March 2010 - Yorkshire Dales

We stayed at Castle Bolton in the Yorkshire Dales

Link to Yorkshire Dales

May 2010 - Normandy

We stayed at Mestry and visited many of the Normandy beaches

Link to Normandy

 Dec 2010 to Jan 2011 Switzerland

We spent over 3 weeks in Switzerland staying at Wilderswil, Lausanne and then St-Luc (for skiing)

Link to Switzerland

April/May 2013

A flight from our local airport in Southend to Majorca for an 11 night holiday

Link to Mallorca