Its been a while since I last wrote a blog - our wonderful adventures travelling having been suddenly cut short Lucky for us we had returned from an amazing journey around China just before the Covid outbreak started but since then life for us all has changed dramatically.
I would like to say a big thank you to fellow travel blogger, Alex Waring - your recent inspirational blog made me put pen to paper again and really appreciate what we have on our very own doorstep. My feet had been itching so badly through the months of March, April, May and June with ever tighter travel in so ‘thick and fast and travel limited and then stopped altogether ... ... ... never in my lifetime could I have imagined this happening.
Paul and I do count our blessings every day and have been fortunate, living as we do in the beautiful English countryside, but feel so sorry for those who live in the big cities during these difficult times. We have been able to get outside and enjoy an abundance of wildlife and nature all around
our home in Hampshire, and lucky for us this year has seen some very good weather for a change It makes one realise that you do not have to travel too far to ease your wanderlust - you just have to look at what you have close by and make the most of that.
Like so many others we have had to cancel several trips both home and abroad, initially waiting for some health results to obtain travel insurance for Paul and then of course the arrival of Covid 19. Since then our 2020 travel plans have been thrown right out of the window ... ... ... Early in the year we had planned a visit to Norfolk to see family, the broads, the fens and of course the wildlife; to visit Wales to see family and the puffins on Skomer Island and later in the year to Madagascar to see and photograph some of the 110 currently known species of Lemur. I had spent months planning a long trip with the help of Derek Schuurman of Rainbow Tours and would throughly him if you are planning at some time in the future of
Back to now and the year is galloping on with no sign of Covid disappearing and we are already in August - but at last we have been able to enjoy our first break away of the year - a staycation of course with all the usual British inclement weather over the course of one week. Nevertheless less we have been lucky as we have just returned from a delightful time in Cornwall to celebrate our younger daughters 50th birthday - how did that happen, having two daughters over 50 .
This year has been so very different for everyone in every corner of the world and has changed all our lives forever. Several of our cancelled trips were in the UK where we planned to catch up with family but I am sure we will be able to these for next year. Although sadly one trip we planned was our annual visit to our Aunt, Sister Anne Gabrielle, my fathers sister who lived at St Joesphs Convent, Llantarnam Abbey in Wales and this year was celebrating her
98th birthday. Sadly she died peacefully in her sleep in July at the convent where she had lived and worked since taking her Final Vows in August 1945.
She was one of the first pioneers who set about cleaning and preparing Llantarnam Abbey which had been used by the American Airforce during the war. Just after she arrived at the Abbey the UK was hit by great snowstorms, however nothing would stop Sister Anne Gabrielle and her fellow Sisters trudging across the fields and then into Newport in order to get to the schools where they taught the local children. I can vividly remember my Aunt saying that she struggled knee deep in snow with her habit dragging her down but always made it to her school with a smile. Her determination not to let anyone down was a hallmark of her life and she continued to work with the same drive and enthusiasm until she was well into her nineties, even when she retired from teaching she then took on another role looking after administration and researching the history of the Abbey.
