It seems like ages since we ended our summer trip and I suppose that it is now that four months have passed by. The first month back on dry land was spent carrying out various jobs on the boat while the weather held up and we were in the marina. Eventually though it just became too cold and wet to get much done. Fortunately all of the main work was complete so there should be very little that needs to be done before we embark on our summer 2018 tour.

It had always been our intention to escape the winter weather by seeking refuge in the Canary Islands so in early December we flew to Lanzarote and had a couple of weeks at the Rubicon Palace Hotel.

Dolphins fly through the hotel reception area.

We wouldn’t normally choose a hotel holiday but this last minute, half board offer from Jet2 was too good to pass up. We had a great time, the staff are superb, the hotel is lovely, the food was excellent and to top it all, we were given a free room upgrade on arrival so spent the two weeks in a spacious suite. We were equally fortunate with the weather, having flown out just two days before Britain was hit by freezing temperatures with snow and ice causing severe travel disruption. By the time we returned, just a few days before Christmas, the UK temperature had risen and it was as mild as the day that we had left. The only sign that winter had visited was a giant mound of snow that had been ploughed to the side of Birmingham Airport.

We had a quiet Christmas at home followed by a trip north to see in the New Year with my parents. We travelled back on January 2nd and that left us just three days to prepare for our next trip and our “proper” winter break.

More of that in the next post.