Edwin's Saga Begins!

Hi Guys,

I know we should have contacted you but its seems that I haven't really been sending emails to anyone at the moment.

So I met mum and dad in London after my second last day of work. Well it was a quick catch up and a dinner before the both of them fell asleep, so i escorted them back to their hotel and let them have a nice sleep. The next day was teh last at school and also a party so I was a bit late in meeting up with mum and dad and marcus and cherry and hazel and fionia for dinner. But not to worry, they were all accepting of my badness so that was it. They enjoyed a nice dinner befoere dad fell asleep at eh table! Geeze, i didn't think that the jetlag would affect them that much.

On wednesday dad, mum and I set off on a site seeing trip around London, in which we took in the sites of Oxford street, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, St James Park, Green Park, the Houses of parliment, Big ben, Westminster abbey, The london Eye and that is wher I left them. They went to see Tralfagar square while I went and picked up the last few things from the school, only about 9 bottles of wine from the kids, so i coulden't leave them behind.

The next day we picked up a nice new hire car, a 207 which was fantastic, and set off towards Sailsbury and Stonehenge. We spent about 2 hours at stinehenge and it was great. Mum and i had a look around and finished our tour before dada even got past the 3rd stage on teh voice tour. So we just ast in teh grass and drank in the ocassional sunshine. Mum played around with her new camera and we just chatted. I think that she was a bit concerned that I had changed a bit to much but was relieved to find me the normal Edwin, you know confident, good looking, tall masculine figure tha we have all come to know... Anyway, from Stonehenge we ended up heading straight for cardiff and a meeting up with Sarah and her mum for a lovely risotto dinner that she cooked for all of us. It was great. On friday we headed off to Cardiff castle and a site seeing tour of there as well as a tour of the cardiff Bay and a walk around town. this was quite a full day so I took them back for a bit of a rest and a sit down chat telling them that the can't possibly see everything so they need to slow down ro they will miss stuff because they are asleep. Friday night was dinner at sarah's dad's place, a fish pie, and then saturday we said goodbye to Sarah as she was off to Portugal. Bad timing, i know.

From Cardiff we set off to Brnstable to catch up with some relos there, _Anthony I think as well as Nancy. It was great. Anthony needed a break from the young kids so he took me off to the local surf beach, the first that I have see in my time thi the UK. It was amazing, almost as good a s somewhere from Australia. The sun was shining and it looked beautiful. To bad there were so many people about. After a day in Barnstable we set off early to Cardiiff airportfor a flight to Edinburgh, and then to meet up with Hanice and Alisdair. It was at this point when I left my phone inthe ire car, and as yet unable to retrieve it. hmmm, it made things difficult but I have managed to be OK without it.

Back on track and we picked up a car, and then promptly headed off in the wrong direction for about half an hour before turning around and heading off to inverness. The drive through the country side was amazing. Hills nature, landmarked buildings, not so many dry stone walls but really beaoutiful. And apart form the road there was not that many people around. It was amazing, but then again it was in a different country, no longer in England. We shared the driving and teh snoozing on teh way up to inverness where dad picked up a phone card and got in contact with Janice. Then again we headed off, along the shore of Loch Ness, and no moonsters, to the tiny village of Tomich where JHanice and Alisdair were waiting. They live in the last house in the village and west from their house there is only wilderness to the west coast of scotland. Pristine lochs and forest. Alisdair was pretty pleased that there was another young bloke around to do some of the adventure sports that he love so much, and as I hadn't realipsed that the sun stayed up till 1000 at night I was a bit puzzled as to why he kept wanting me to do somethinglike canoeing down a river at nine at night. It was OK as we were all tired.

The next day we were recruited into helping Alisdair pull off the roof of his new house. It was just some corrugated iron, but it was stubborn and the structure was a bit dodgy. As it was I was the only person to fall off the roof, though landing soflty like a cat. Near teh end of the day we finally got all of the iron off and ever so cleverly we pushed and rocked this over 100 year old roof trusses back and forward till they crashed down. Unfortunately no cameras to record our triumph, only a pile of bronken wood filled with wood worm. This was rthe end of the work day for the workers, so we all headed back for some amazing grub that janice had cooked up wiht mum.

As it was not yet dark Alisdair deceided to oce again rally the troops and take us up the back of the forestry forest to some remote £Loch for a bit of fishing. It was my first time a fly fishing and I think thtat It will take a bit longer to master it. I only ended up catching some heather (the plant not the fish). It was here that I was introduced into the amazing Scottish Midges. Really really really horrible tings that fly all around you and there is nothg that you can do about them. I as glad when at 1000pm alisdair decided that he had had enough so we headed off back to the car and to relative safetly away from the midges. what a day, I would have never thought to hed off and go fishing at 8pm and there still be light at 1000.

The next day was my last so Alisdair got the mountain bikes out for a lilttle ride up the the blueberry patcheswhere we spent lots of time picking blueberrys, till my toungue was blue as well as my fingers. Then an amazing downhill run on the bikes before setting off to Inverness and a bus to Edinburgh. That is where I left mum and Dad and for a couple of days was by myself.

Spent a night in Edinburgh, it was buzzing as the fringe festival was just about to start so there were heaps of people out and about. I once again made themost of the late light and headed up tot the top of what i thought was authors seat, but was infact just a small little hill nex tot hte city. A very early start and off to the airport before flying to Geneva where I would meet alex the next day.

Geneva strated out as a stinker, so i spen most of the day lazing about beside the lake, hirin a bike and going for a ride and just catching up of a couple of zzzzz's. Met alex the next day after a day of searching around for him. we spent the afternoon jsut haveiong alook around, he was tired and worn out, the airplane had temporaryly lost his bags on route form heathrow. all was well and the very next day on Saturday we headed off to the airfiedl, a small paddock next to som cabbage and corn farms, where we caught the club bus up to the top of the mountain for a couple of flights. Alex and I were amazed witht e views an teh flying. It was just really really busy. There were heaps of carazy swiss guys about flying really hectically around the hill, pulling really big wingovers right over launch. But it was a really amazing vibe on the hill as everyone was just haveing a good time. well I thiought this but i could't understand teh frnch wholly. But i didn't here Merde once So that is a good sign. Another day of flying on sunday, which was even better, before the conditions turned really windy on monday. So jusst a day of relaxing beside the lake was in order.

Tuesday and then we were off to Croatia. wow. Amazing. Sun, the sea and plenty of beautiful women to look at. I have never seen so many skinny people wearing hot pants in one place before. we Started off in Split and spent a couple fo days just exploring the city, haggling with the market vendors and swimming in the sea. It was so hot that I think it took a coupleof days for us to get acclimitised to the conditions. After Split we headed off to Dubrovnik where milan and stan caught up with us. Dubrovnik was amazing. once againg it was mainly sight seeing till we got to hot then swimming in the sea, jumping off high rocks and just plain haveiong a lazing about itme.

The Hostel that wew were staiyng at arranged for us a day trip, with other people to go and see Basnia. This was great. We spent the day tasting Oysters fresh out of the sea, Swimming and relaxing in some amazing natural waterfalls, then some really good lamb off the spit for lunch. One of the lambs on the spit still had its tongue. cool. After Lunch we headed off to Mostar for some soubvenir shopping and sight seeing as well as watching a crazy guy jump off 30 metre high bridge. well he wasn't so stupid as he got the tourists to pay first before he jumped. After that it was a bit of lame hore riding, lame because it was just get on these tiny horses and sit there as you get led around. we ended this day trip back in Dubrovnik at about midnight,l a really worthwile trip and an amazing experience.

The next day and we were back in Split just for the night before flying back to Geneva again to pick up our paragliders and strat flying ariound agian. Unfortunately here now as I sit here the weather is not cooperating and it has been raining hard for ages, most ofth time we have been here. So tomorrow Alex and I will hire a car and go and get our gliders and hed off into france in hope that there is better weather there. It is quite hard going from the high 30's back to around 20 degress. It makes you feel real cold. I really prefer the high 30's with swimming than all this rain.

An that is basically a quick ound up of the trip so far. I look forward to hearing form all of you and also telling you all about the rest of our trip.

From
Ed.

Been a while...

It has been a while but thats only because i have been busy and getting up to many things. At the moment I am sitting waiting for Alex to turn up, still.

My day started out well with finding out about a free bicycle rental program the the city of geneva runs. Off i went on my new bicycle, part the way round lake geneva till the rian came. Afther that I decided to hed off the the airport to try and meet alex somewhere. Things didn't go to planned bioth for alex and myself. Alex lost his bags, whileI ended up spending the time wondering around waiting for Alex to come out of the arrivals gate. Anyway we amnaged to contact each other and that brings me to where I am now, waiting for Alex, and at the same time spending it constructively, writing on my blog.

As fo rthe rest of my time since my last post well, that has partially gone into getting used to travelling around with a really heavy bag on my back. Since the 24th of July I spent a week traveling around with mum and dad. we saw quite a bit, with London, Stonehenge, Cardiff, Loc Ness and Janice and Alisdair crossed of the list. Mostly site seeing but more importantly catchup time.

Moving on up, moving on out...

Well half of my stuff is now residing in Cardiff.

I spent Saturday taking a really heavy bag to the bus stop then unloading it in
Cardiff. Both Sarah and myself are feeling a bit weird about the situation as I think we will both need a bit of adjusting to the new situation. We spent Saturday moving furniture about and building ikea furniture well into the evening. By the end of the day I had had enough of the whole moving buisness and was really tired. Good thing that Sarah has a bit more comfortable bed then mine so we both got a good nights sleep.

So Sunday now and looking forward to seeing mum and dad tomorrow as they will arrive in London from their trip from Australia. Fingers crossed that they will be able to follow all the signs to navigate their way around London and arrive in their hotel safetly.

Well only 3 more days to organise all my stuff in London and try to tie up all or any loose ends before I get my bags packed and hed off with mum and dad to Cardiff via a bit of site seeing along the way.

Training Dash... that went awry...

It was teh end of the school week and a bit of relaxing time was had before I decided to hed off to Cardiff to suprise Sarah. Well, due to some delays I ended up missing my train and with a ticket that was only useful for that service, so I decide that First Great Western were totally fucked, especially in their current services, and a bunch of total dick heads so I decided to get on the next train anyway. I jumped on the train and decided to go for the 'hiding in the toilet option'. This worked only until sombody kept knocking on the door needing to actually use the loo. Oh well. So next I just decide to play the falling asleep option. So for the next three and a haf hours I partially slept and actually slept the jounry away.

I got to Cardiff and Sarah was pleased to see me, especially as it was such a great suprise for her. We spent Saturday morning hanging around before heading off to the movies to watch 'Kung Fu Panda'. True to form Sarah turned to me half way through, completly bored by the film. I however enjoyed to film and there were some funny moments. Overall it was a good film.

I had to catch a train back on Saturday night to meet the landlord for my final inspection. This trip didn't go so well as well. I had to change at Bristol Temple Meades and then wait for an hour for my next connectoin, getting onto Paddington at around 12:45, too late for the Underground so therefore I would have to catch a combination of night buses to get home. I eneded up getting in around 2:30 in the morning, not so bad for a night out, but when you want to get home its a bit late. This is especially true when Sarah phoned me after her night out when I was still at paddington. Yay.

O2 Wireless

What a great Sunday. It started off pretty wet and horrible and not really looking like my time at the O2 festival would not be that great. But true to UK british weather form, the rain came down and it looked like it was going to be a wet day. Sarah and myself headed off to Hyde Park around lunchtime and it always looked like it was going to be a wet one.

As it turned out, after we arrived and saw a couple of bands the weather dried up a bit. The rain stopped, which was fortunate that I had lost our umbrella, but not so fortunate as I had broken my sunglasses.

The bands got on stage and the music flowed and it was a good day. Out of the day there weer a few standouts for myself. These were Powderfinger, The Counting Crows, Ben Harper and the Goo Goo Dolls. The music was great, the sun came out for short periods but the company was the best by far, Sarah, Sophie, Hannah, Liz, Bec and Julia.

Very Nice in Nice

What a great weekend. Catching up with SJ and Chris, spending time in the sun, relaxing and also getting to the beach for a swim and a relax.


Setting off at 3:30 in the morning to get the night bus to get to Stanstead, sounded like a great idea, but not quite. Caught the night bus with Sarah and got to the Airport with only a mild panic from myself when I saw the que to the check-in counters. But no problems at all. Got to Nice after sleeping most of the way and as we arrived it looked like the weather would not really cooperate. Clouds greeted us as we flew in over the mountains, but as soon as we got off the plane the sun had burned them off and it was looking like a good day. This would be the routine for most of the weekend, clouds in the morning but they would burn off by lunch.

SJ and Chris met us straight away as we walked out of the gate and then off to the Avis store before leaving in the fantastic spaceship of a car for Fayence, where SJ and Chris had booked into their place. We went straight to the airfield, had lunch then said goodbye to Chris as he left for his afternoon flight into the mountains. The conditions apparently had come good and on Chris' return his joyous face told the story of his amazing flight. The stories of ridge soaring following fantastic final glides enchanted me and at the same time made me feel like I should get involved in the high performance sport.

An afternoon of lazing about in the sun was just what the doctor ordered. The peaceful and for a change form London, quiet surroundings of the B&B garden were fantastic. We went off to find, or as it turned out, to discover where Sarah and myself were going to be staying for the next couple of nights. It was in the next village over and was just as idyllic and peaceful as the other one, except that our one had a pool. We only off loaded our stuff before we went back to SJ’s and Chris’s place for dinner on the way then football. It was a nice afternoon. I think that SJ’s hectic rate of travelling around was showing on Chris.

Saturday dawned a nice and clear day, Sarah and I got to try out the pool in the morning, then off to Fayence for their markets, which were interesting but at the same time just a small town market. Not too big, but a little too small for my liking. After woods we went off to check out his Flower Festival. It turned out to be a lot of displays set up in this small village on the hill. All the plants remained in their pots to ensure that they didn’t dry out, a bit boring again but worth checking out. I was a little more interested in the tiny village village, which had very narrow lanes and very few actual roads to speak of. More like a village that you could drive to but not amongst. Saturday afternoon was more of the relaxing and lazing about in the sunshine, soaking up the rays. Football of the European Championship followed, The Dutch winning a fantastic match that ended up beating the French thoroughly.

Sunday was check out day and we all decided to head off to Antibes for a bit of swimming in the Med as well as lazing about and also a bit of sight seeing. I really enjoyed my time in the city. Sarah and I lazed on the beach till we started to burn. A distinct lack of planning led us to this lack of sun cream and towels, but we managed to overcome the towels by sitting on the rocks till we were dry then sitting on our clothes. Sarah was strangely excited when I used her dress as a towel to change my shorts; a quick swim had her brought over to my reckoning, as the water was much to my liking.

We spent the afternoon sitting in a bar having a couple of beers and listening to the funky sounds that eh dj delivered. After that It was a drive down the coast to the Airport where Sarah and Myself too our leave and caught our plane back to the harsh reality of jobs and city life in the UK. As for me I much prefer the climate that we saw in the French Provence region.

A flat feeling

So, I am ready to go riding off to work on my fantastic new bike, but when I get down stairs to the bike I discover that the back tyre has gone flat over night. Oh well, all that effort and when I really need the bike it has a flat tyre.

Next stop the bike store for some tyre levers and a puncture repair kit. Seems to be a bit of a curse.. well not really.