Lucy Love

I’m very much cast in the role of supporting actor on this trip. Lucy (the van) is clearly the star. For example as I sat in the van on Sunday evening eating my tea almost everyone in the Sierra Nevada mountain village that passed us by stopped to admire Lucy’s lovely lines and paint work. A German woman stopped to tell me how much she loved the van and then when passing half an hour later came up, arms outstretched, and gave Lucy a hug.

A group of young Spanish students shouted ‘we love your van’.

Wherever we go we’re ‘honked’ at and receive waves and smiles on the quieter country roads. There’s something very special about old VW vans which spread joy and love.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A note from Lord Beeforth's secretary.....

On a day when Moroccan families have ritually slaughtered a sheep each and community barbecues have sprung up all over the medina, our fearless adventurer is in bed with a woollen hat and long johns on. It appears that no matter how warm the winter, colds and lurgy are still abundant. He has African Man Flu. So, today he's asked me to update you all instead. It certainly gives me break from the roof terrace and trying to protect my off blue scottish pelt from becoming lobster red! After many, many, many international phone calls, quite a large dollop of stress, multiple visits to the garage and an anxious wait outside the DHL office in Marrakesh, Lucy's spare parts have arrived – Hoorah! Aziz, the only person who's made any sense in this whole thing drove the van here himself, greeting 'Mr Andrew' with a parcel as everyone was trying to pack up for the Moroccan equivalent of Christmas. A huge thanks to everyone who's been checking on progress here, and i...
Read more

The Rivers Ride - Training Diary - Chapter 1

Barry ‘the coach’ meets the three intrepid Rivers Riders This is the story of two middle aged men preparing to take part in Cumbria’s newest cycle challenge – the Cumbria Rivers Ride. Both of us are the wrong side of 40, both enjoy good food and neither could be described as athletes! I run the Cumbria Community Foundation, Cumbria’s special grant making charity and Gary McKeating is Head of socio-economics with NMP. Gary and I will report regularly on our efforts to prepare for the Ride which will take place on 18th September starting and finishing in Fitz Park, Keswick. We’ll be joined by our colleague Iona Frost Pennington, owner of Muncaster Castle and current High Sheriff of Cumbria. We’re very fortunate to have secured the help of Barry Johnson who is a highly skilled fitness coach. We met Barry at Dovenby Hall one morning for a ‘fitness assessment’. There was a real sense of apprehension and nervous energy in the air. Barry trains champions and is an elite athlete h...
Read more

Zagora and the Sahara

Image
Zagora is a bit of an arm pit of a town. It is a centre for tourists launching themselves into the desert, the millitary that guard the contested border with Algeria and the market town for the surrounding area. I experienced the worst hassle since crossing the border here. Tourists seem to be preyed upon like carrion, charmless pressure sales techniques, men hollering at you from all sides and people simply expecting you to put money in their outstretched hands. Despite this hassle I found a very nice campsite which had a range of mini suites and sleeping cabins around a small garden on the edge of the palm grove. It was here that I arranged a two day trip into the desert. Morocco's portion of the Sahara is predominantly rock and stone fringed by mountains to the north rather than the classic golden sands of popular imagination. However it does have two large dune systems, the largest, Erg Chigaga, is situated just north of the Algerian border about 100km south of Zagora an...
Read more