John & Laura looking stunning

Thursday 29th September

Staying on John & Laura’s driveway. Kev and the boys went on John Billet’s stag night. No arrests were made and they all made it home in one piece. A good night was had by all with John having to do some forfeits including standing on his head after 7 pints of cider and numerous rum & cokes. The only casualty the next day was John. Mission accomplished.

After  2 nights on the driveway we moved on to Chatsworth. If you have not yet been to Chatsworth House it is well worth a visit, it took about 2 hours for the house tour and at least another 2 hours round the gardens.

Tootled around the Peak District for a few days then back to Donington Park for the wedding. The Bride & Groom looked fantastic in period dress in keeping with the style of the ceremony venue, Keddleston Hall. The Reception was a really good night. We made a lot of new friends whilst staying at John & Laura’s which we hope to meet up with on our travels.

Moved on to Wales and stayed at Chirk. Cycled along the canal tow path from Chirk to Llangollen passing though a 421 metre tunnel in pitch darkness and going across an aqueduct , a 17 mile round trip.   I managed the trip without the aid of extra oxygen. We also walked to nearby Chirk Castle which is also well worth a look.  We are now at Coed-y-Llwyn and are going to Portmeirion Gardens today.

                    This is us ready to go with Mr Beans Bear up front wearing his sombrero.

Week 1

We've done the car boot sales, sold the cars and motorbikes, handed in our resignations, had a great Bon Voyage party and now are ready to start our adventure across Europe. We would like to thank all of you who turned up on the 9th and thanx for the cards and pressies we received. We also had a leaving committee to send us on our way on the 11th, thanx to all who turned up and they were probably really surprised that we were actually ready to depart at 12.00, although we did not get away until 12.30 after saying all our goodbyes.

Now all of you who know us well know that we are the Griswalds and in true Griswald fashion we left Aberdeen and drove staight into the tail end of hurricane Katia. We holed up in Grangemouth for two days with my brother and sister in law, Ian & Ann, and then headed south on Tuesday and stayed at Keilder Forest. Only problem was when we got to the campsite the road was blocked with fallen trees, luckily there was a detour. We headed south again on Wednesday and stopped off in York for two days, not enough time in such a beautiful city. On Friday we stayed in Belper, Derbyshire and visited the only six sail tower windmill in Britain. Saturday, we have arrived at Kegworth and are parked in our friend John's back garden. Kev is out tonight on John's Stag night, watch this space for an update!