Sailing Tiny Nical
  • Home
  • The Crew
  • Blog
  • You tube
  • Camera Gear
  • Contact
  • Join the fun
Join us on our worldwide sailing adventure.
​

Read here what Sailing Tiny Nical is up to...

A holiday from the holidays, part 2

19/3/2017

1 Comment

 
Portland – Weymouth
We had a wonderful time in Portland, visiting Alistair’s family.
Thank you for letting us stay Auntie Ann!
Portland is just beautiful with terrific coastline and beaches as well as a new marina that was built for the Olympics in 2012. Getting to Portland we had to go through Weymouth – with yet another marina situated right in the city. We can’t escape the sea and the marinas, even if we are traveling by car and not by yacht!
We had lovely walks, scrumptious food and great fun visiting the family. I realised that I am not a great ‘people photographer’ and all the pictures I got of the family reunions was an artsy picture of Alistair’s Aunt and the dogs of one of his cousins…. But don’t worry guys, we remember you, it’s been a great time!

Cornwall
Oh my! Everybody said that Cornwall is beautiful – they weren’t wrong! We stayed at Tregenna Castle in St Ives for a few days and took this as our base for day trips around the countryside. Of course, I just got a very bad cold and I wasn’t really up to much. I remember our beautiful walks around St Ives, the colours, the little roads, the beach, the Cornish Pasties, the seagulls stealing the Cornish Pasties, the little shop, the full English breakfast that was included in the room price… Imust have put on a few kilos in our two weeks in England just because of the breakfasts
Over the next few days, we visited, Hayle, St Kevern, Camborne, Portreath and the Godrevy-Portreath Heritage Coast, Marazion and St Michael’s Mount. With me being sick and the weather being cold, it was mostly just a quick stop, a wee walk around, a couple of pictures and then back to the car. I hope I’ll get back here someday to give Cornwall the time it deserves!

Manchester / Darlington
Quick trip up to Manchester – 6.5 hour drive! – on our way up to Darlington. We met up with an old school friend and had Chinese for dinner! Chinese is no something that you come by that easily in Italy so we enjoyed it very much! We didn’t see anything of Manchester as we left the next morning. In Darlington we found a nice Hotel – The Blackwell Grange Hotel. We didn’t book breakfast with the room and instead wandered off to McDonalds for brunch before meeting up with Alistair’s Mum. We visited The Bowes Museum about 40km away from Darlington. It was a lovely day – inside the museum, as it was again very cold. Clouds started rolling in too, and our walk around the park was cancelled the following day so we stayed inside and nostalgically looked through old and new photos. Unfortunately, we didn’t have more time to spend with Alistair’s Mum, it was lovely meeting her.

Weymouth Marina 1
Weymouth Marina 2
Artsy pic
River through Weymouth
Cactus glass - because, why not?
Shepherd's Pie
Unicorn
The Black Dog
Nicola
Pretty houses
Brewer's Quay
Sweet dog
Husky
View over Chesil Beach
Getting a good shot
Portland Marina
Fun in the Olympics
Sunny and cold
Artsy Olympic rings
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
Red door
Clouds rolling in
Portland Marina
Tommy Torpedo
Portland Marina office
The Boat that Rocks
Apache helicopter
These aren't the droids you're looking for
Fog in Weymouth 1
Fog in Weymouth 2
View from Tregenna Castle 1
View from Tregenna Castle 2
View from Tregenna Castle 3
View from Tregenna Castle 4
View from Tregenna Castle 5
St.Ives 1
St.Ives 2
Who lives in a mushroom under a tree?
Colourful doors
Silhouettes on the beach
Narrow streets in St.Ives
Wharf Road
Cornish Pasty Shop
Yummie Cornish Pasty
The guy who stole the Cornish Pasty
His friend
Cornish Flag
Yellow and blue doors
Spinich Soup
Telephone Booth
Letterbox
Spring is in the air
Chip Buttie
Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore' 2
St Michael's Mount 1
St Michael's Mount 2
Thank you England
Old school mates
Beautiful ice formation on our car 1
Beautiful ice formation on our car 2
Beautiful ice formation on our car 3
Really cold morning in Manchester
Ice mountains
On our way to Darlington
One minute we had thick fog...
next minute is was clear and sunny
Wood woodpecker
Hungry squirrel
Family
Bowes Museum
Museum grounds
Symmetry
Your finger does what?
Proud dog
Cat and ship
Cuddly toys
Sleeping babies (it seems to be lucky to touch the baby's bum)
Sad dog
During a domestic fight (flying cutlery)
Cleaning pictures 1
Cleaning pictures 2
Artsy art gallery
Alistair is very excited
Same art - no Alistair
Art connoisseurs
My cabbages!
Happy Buddha
Yellow Cats
Wave goodbye
Mirror mirror on the wall
Shell out
1 Comment

A holiday from the 'holidays', part 1

22/2/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
We arrived in the marina in Licata in October. It was hot and sunny and we spent our days working on the yacht (installing solar panels, cleaning the teak, fixing leaks etc) and the nights socialising with our fellow cruisers who were wintering in the marina.
But then winter came and it got cold, windy and wet and we were quite often trapped inside the boat because we didn’t leave the boat if it wasn’t really necessary.
So, when the weather turned bad after New Year’s and most of our jobs were done on the boat, we decided to head north and escape the Sicilian winter and instead spend a few weeks in England and Germany. I never thought I would actually say that.
We wanted to visit family in England and Germany – quite simple, really. But when you throw a dog into the equation things are not so straight forward.
We couldn’t take Tiny into the UK, so we had to fly from Catania to Hannover to drop Tiny off at my parents, then continue on to London the next day. Find flights back to Hannover and then head home o where our yacht is – with Tiny. Not many (affordable) airlines take dogs in the cabin. We found 2 airlines to choose from – Air Berlin and Eurowings – and chose the latter even though the fare was slightly higher, but our stop was in Stuttgart, rather than Vienna.
Tiny handled the flights quite well, after a time she relaxed in her bag and lay down. Every time we landed she started crying a bit but she does the same thing when driving in a car.
 
London / Chertsey
We hired a car in London but stayed the first night in Stansted as we arrived quite late. The next day we drove south around London on the M25 and past Windsor before heading on to Chertsey. We couldn’t believe how packed Windsor was and there was not a single parking space to find to go and actually have a look at Windsor Castle. I only managed two blurry pictures from the moving car. A bit further away we found a spot to pull in and I could play with the ducks and swans of the river Thames. In Chertsey, Alistair showed me around his old stomping grounds (twice) and we were done by lunchtime. Alistair couldn’t believe how small the town was – his house, his friends’ places, the school, downtown, train station – everything was within 1 minute driving distance. It was great to see the place and it brought back so many memories for Alistair.
Stonehenge
As it was still quite early we decided to take the scenic route towards the west and go and see Stonehenge! Oooh, how excited was I?! Coming on the A303 you go right past it and I had my camera at the ready and I managed to snap some pics. Alistair then spoiled my fun when he said that the parking probably costs a few pounds but I wanted to check it out anyway. And would you believe it? The parking was free! Yay! So we got out of the car, got our camera gear etc and headed off to the entrance / visitor centre and then we saw it….. £18.50 per person. To go look at some rocks? From quite a distance (as it’s fenced off)? We think not! Little me was very disappointed and even the gift shop couldn’t really cheer me up. And I do love my gift shops! We wandered aimlessly about and then went back to the car to organise a hotel for the night. Bookings.com was becoming our new best friend!
 
The Fontmell / Fontmell Magna
We found a place for the night which also included a full English breakfast in the room fee. We were sold! From Stonehenge it took us about 1 hour to get from Stonehenge to The Fontmell. At some stage I thought we got lost; we had to turn off the main road and ended up on a very narrow dirt road, following a tractor. But that is just the English countryside for you. I loved the drive, loved the narrow roads, the fields, the villages,  the old stone walls…
Fontmell Magna is no difference. We loved the place and especially The Fontmell, where we stayed the night. We usually give recommendations for marinas we come by and not hotels but I will make an exception. When we walked into  the reception (which is also the pub), I felt instantly at home and when we went up to our room, we were really impressed. The room had just been refurbished (other rooms were in the process of being done up): it had a huge bed, great decor and our shower had two shower heads (I mean, whaaat?). Obviously, any place where you don't need to pump the water manually out of the shower is good for us. But this was pure luxury! We spent the evening in the pub and dining area - excellent food (and wine - but we stuck with local cider and gin tonic),  personable friendly staff and great ambience. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend this place to anyone! 10/10 would go there again!

Picture
Crossing the Alps
Picture
Flying into Stuttgart II
Picture
Windsor swan
Picture
Chertsey Playground
Picture
Stonehenge from the distance
Picture
Stonehenge - as close as we got
Picture
... admission prices. No thank you!
Picture
Picture
The Hound of the Baskervilles - great read
Picture
Heaps of prawns!
Picture
Full English Breakfast - Awwww yeaaahh!
Picture
Picture
Alistair all happy
Picture
Cocktails of the month
Picture
Collyer's Brook
Picture
Beautiful view
Picture
St Mary's Church - maybe?
Picture
So cold...but happy
Picture
Flying into Stuttgart I - omg, snow!
Picture
Tiny is waiting for the connecting flight in Stuttgart. She's been so good the whole trip
Picture
More swans - one of my favourite animals
Picture
How rude!
Picture
Stonehenge a little closer
Picture
Picture
Welcome to the Fontmell
Picture
Great decor in our room - Always look at the bright side of life
Picture
Dining room
Picture
Supersized burger
Picture
Dining area looking all spiffy
Picture
Pre-breakfast selfie
Picture
Dining with a huge mirror - you are never alone
Picture
A wee highland dance from the owner
Picture
Wildlife you would see if it wasn't winter
Picture
Artsy picture of Alistair
Picture
Nicola looking like the Michelin Man
Picture
Farewell Fontmell. It was our pleasure!
1 Comment

    Authors

    Follow Alistair and Nicola as they share their experience of traveling around the world.

    Categories

    All
    April 2017
    Bavaria 47 Cruiser
    Christmas
    Cruising Family
    December 2015
    December 2016
    Dentist
    Dog
    Elba
    England
    Formalities
    Germany
    Goslar
    Gouvia
    Greece
    Hannover
    Health
    Italy
    January 2016
    Kalami Bay
    Keeping The Ocean Clean
    Lists
    Liveaboards
    March 2017
    Marina
    Marina Di Cala Del Sole
    Marina Di Cefalu
    Marina Di Ragusa
    Mediterranean
    New Year
    October 2016
    Our Experience
    Photos
    Planning
    Portoferraio
    Punta Ala
    Raymarine
    Riva Di Traiano
    Sailing
    September 2016
    Sicily
    Sightseeing
    Thank You
    Tiny
    Tiny's Treats
    Travel
    Winter
    Winter Growth

Copyright 2016 - Sailing Tiny Nical - All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • The Crew
  • Blog
  • You tube
  • Camera Gear
  • Contact
  • Join the fun