OurTour 2023 Round Up
As we’re about to say goodbye to 2023, we’ve been having a look back on what we’ve been up to this year. As we need to be at home a bit more these days to support our parents and haven’t really been able to plan things in advance, we both thought we hadn’t done much. It’s only when you stop and think about it that you realise what a great year it’s been.
January was a tough month as my Mum’s dementia needs meant she needed to move into a care home. As well as the heartache of arranging that, we were sorting out Jay’s Dad’s bungalow which got flooded just before Christmas. It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to get stuff done, especially when you are dealing with trades, it was like herding cats. By February we were emotionally wrung out, so while we were all waiting for the bungalow to dry out (yes it took over a month just to get the drying kit in there!) we flew over to our happy place and spent two weeks in Nerja.
March and April were mainly taken up with running for Jay, as he trained for the London Marathon. He ran it in the amazing time of just over 3 hours, and several folks spotted him cross the finish line in a slow-motion montage on the BBC coverage.
Less than a week after that Jay’s Dad was finally able to move back into his bungalow, and we packed up Zagan and headed over to Ireland. We had planned to tour the whole of the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’, but it soon became very clear to us that this wasn’t something we wanted to rush.
The epic scenery, fascinating history, welcoming locals and great motorhoming infrastructure meant that instead we spent a month, doing just a tiny part of it – basically the bottom left corner of the island. We took in a few Parkruns while there and a Hurling match, but we’ve made sure we’ve saved loads for another time. If you’re thinking of heading over there yourself, we’d thoroughly recommend it, and wrote this post about lessons we learned while motorhoming in Ireland which may help you.
In June we both ran the Derby Half marathon. It was the first time I’d run it and didn’t have a clue where I was most of the time, which is mentally a good thing for me when running. June was also the first of a few live music events for us as we went to see Elton John in concert. He may not be able to get around as well as he used to (his piano moved across the stage instead) but he can still belt out a tune. We later watched his set at Glastonbury on the TV and while we love his music, we’re not lifelong devoted fans, so the Glastonbury set was much more our thing with all this hits.
At the start of July we spent a week in Whitby with Jay’s Dad and sister. We’ve spent a few weeks there over the past few years, so it was great being able to show them another of our happy places. We also took the opportunity while ‘up north’ to pop and see our friends Richard and Jenny. We met up halfway between their home and Whitby, which happened to be Scarborough and had a lovely day sightseeing there and eating the biggest ice cream sundae ever!
The end of July we had a session learning how to glass-blow in the Peak District, before heading away in Zagan the motorhome to Anglesey for a few weeks (the first of the posts we wrote there is here). We’d stopped there for a couple of nights when we got the ferry back from Ireland and remembered how beautiful it was, so we went back and had a thoroughly good explore.
Being such a small island, it was easy to nip about the place and we went full on tourist in some places, as well as taking full advantage of being in a motorhome to experience places after everyone else had left for the day. As well as aeroplane spotting at RAF Valley, and red squirrel spotting after a parkrun at Nant-y-Pandy, we explored miles of the coastal path, a strangely beautiful disused brickworks and Parys mountain, which was an open cast tin mine and now is a gloriously coluorful landscape.
In September we had a great day at Radio 2 In the Park, seeing the likes of Simply Red, The Pretenders, Rick Astley, Kylie and loads more. We also took part in a few more running races including the Robin Hood Half Marathon, which is our local half. A few days after that we hopped on a flight over to Ibiza for a sunshine fix. However, Jay couldn’t resist leaving the pool and taking part in a local race where he only went and came third in his age category – a massive achievement considering how little running in the heat he has done.
While we were away in Ibiza the shop we rent out reopened. The previous tenant had left in January and it had been sat empty for a while, but now it’s a lovely quirky emporium of all sort of gifts.
Also, just before we left for Ibiza the tenant in our house told us she had found somewhere else to live and would be moving out. When we moved into the small annex at the back of the house (called The Cooler) we’d thought we’d be in there for a couple of years, using it as a base while we mainly toured in our motorhome. Over eight years, a pandemic and Brexit later and our situation has changed quite a bit, so we decided to move back into the house.
Things didn’t go quite to plan with our tenant’s move, so November saw us in a bit of limbo waiting for her to go (in the nicest possible way). In that time we cheered ourselves up with a Russel Howard gig, I went to see 90’s band Space with my friend, we popped back up north to see our friends Richard and Jenny at their home in Bridlington and a mini-bus load of us from our running club made the pilgrimage to Bushy Park, where Parkrun began. We also, finally, published our latest book – Motorhome Europe. I say finally because we started writing it about two years ago – you can’t rush these things!
At the end of November my Mum had a bit of a health scare and I got one of those phone calls that I dread. We were all very worried and even got my brother to fly back from Spain. She’s OK now, but it certainly was a reminder of how precious the time we have with our parents is.
Once we got the keys back to the house at the start of December, it was full steam ahead redecorating as much of it as we could before we moved in for Christmas. As we’d got rid of most of our furniture when we moved into The Cooler, I hit Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and freecycle and with a bit of planning and a day of van hire it was fully furnished for just under £1000. Needless to say, our mini was very happy to park in the carport when it snowed not long after we moved in.
As a Christmas treat to ourselves we went to see Tom Jones in concert, and while I zoned out when Elton sang songs I didn’t know. Tom’s voice could sing the phone book and have me captivated – it was brilliant.
It was a lovely end to the year, being able to host our Dads for Christmas dinner, before visiting my Mum in her care home. Then we collapsed onto the sofa for some telly and to eat our body weight in cheese and biscuits.
What will 2024 bring? We really don’t know. Jay is running the London Marathon again in April, we’re planning to start renting out The Cooler as an AirBnB (although we might have to change its name). We’d like to spend summer in the Alps maybe seeing a bit of the Tour de France. However at the moment, we don’t feel that we can plan too far in advance, but that hasn’t stopped us from having a cracking 2023.
We hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas, wherever you were, and that 2024 brings exciting plans.
Ju x
Wishing you both a Very Happy New Year
Have followed your blog for years and have found it inspiring.
Look forward to reading more of travels this year
Wishing you both a Very Happy New Year
Have followed your blog for years and have found it inspiring.
Happy New Year Guys, yeah you were busy in 2023, even though you didn’t maybe realise it.
Good to see a blog from you again – Happy New Year – hope 2024 goes well!
Good to catch up with you again and well done on the adjustments you have made. Bonne Chance
Glad to hear you are still having adventures! Just about to buy a copy of your first book as think we’ve decided on a motorhome to spend the winter in the french alps!
And a very Happy New Year to you both. It was lovely to catch up on what you’ve been up to. We’re in the same boat regards planning ahead as Val’s mum needs a lot more support now but that’s life!
Hi guys, first of all is to wish you a cracking 2024 and congratulations on all the adventures you managed to fit in and enjoy during 2023, as well as looking after your parents. Well done both.
Jen and I are planning a trip to Morocco in Jinksy via Algeciras/Tangier, shortish this time, c six weeks or so. We have your 2nd Motorhome Morocco book and have been reading up, but just wondering whether you perhaps have any pals who have done this trip more recently and may know of any changes in the paperwork to enter Morocco with a motorhome? Big shot, I know, but any relevant info would be of help – together, of course, with the Moroccan Government website.
Take care both, safe travels, and enjoy 2024.
All the best,
Conor
Hi Conor
Thanks for your kind words. Yes, there are quite a few folks heading over to Morocco these days as part of their ‘Schengen Shuffle’. Myles and Karen from Motoroaming.com are there at the moment and publish loads of helpful information. They also have a chat room on Facebook where loads of people ask and answer questions, which might be of use to you too – try searching for motoroamers on Facebook. The Roaming Radfords were there last year and published loads of videos on YouTube – not sure about the level of detail for paperwork etc, but still good to get an idea of the place and seek out places to visit.
Have a fantastic adventure in Morocco, be warned though, you may get hooked and want to stay longer ;)
Cheers, Julie
Have a brilliant 2024 – look forward to reading all about your adventures
That hideaway looks fab. Well done.
We ran a B&B and Campsite for 14 years, you’ll get into a routine for changeovers… it’ll become easy!!