Sunny Suffolk - May 2026

Horses in the fields

 Next, we were off to our friend, Jenny's, in Leiston to stay with the gorgeous Gail whilst Jenny enjoyed a week in Norway with friends.  We have been house sitting for Jenny for the last 11 years and Gail is her third of her Border Collies that we have looked after for her.

Walking Gail in the fields and forests is always a pleasure.  She is such an obedient and social girl when out and about.

Resting on our walk

Around the home she is slightly more quirky, it's a Collie thing.  She doesn't enjoy cuddles, even from Jenny and takes herself upstairs until she deems it time to either eat or play. But she will get up on the bed for a good morning pet.

She enjoys the beach as well, especially chasing seagulls.  And she can spot the difference between seagulls and any other varietal of bird from miles off.

James likes the beach too!

On our meaderings around the area we encountered a variety of wild creatures.

We walked the Minsmere trail a couple of times.  It is one of our favourites.

Leiston itself is currently suffering from the activity of  the creation of the Sizewell C Nuclear power station, the third in the area. Most locals are really upset about it. Admittedly, even as a visitor the impact on the community is felt.

More walking fun times .....

Back to the Blighty - Norfolk, Apr 2026

 

Blakeney Point

We decompressed at Clare's niece's place in London.  We were admittedly pleased to be back in 'civilisation'!  After a couple of days we got on a train and arrived at our first housesit in a while.

We were welcomed by the lovely homeowners and our special new boss, Murphy the Otterhound.

Murphy was the perfect gentleman as a host.  Both at the house .......

Chatting with 'Dad' in the sun room

Morning snuggles on the bed

A favourite pose

Keeping an eye on the neighbours

We had to be available to wipe this guys chops after every drink.  It was always a messy affair!

And on our daily walks with him just outside the back door and into the woods.

Although there were no otters in the area that we know of, Murphy was best kept on his lead as he wasn't really keen on other dogs.  This was no problem at all as he walked so beautifully on lead.

We had the use of the family van so that we could explore further afield.  

One day we went to Blakeney Point on the coast.  It was a really busy and hot bank holiday.

It was so hot that we had to call into the local cafe for a drink and a rest in the shade.

We also trotted out to Thetford Forest on a couple of occasions.  The second time because Clare had lost here glasses out of the van.  Fortunately some kind soul had popped them safely on a dog poop bin where we found them the next day.

This boy does some massive doodies

We enjoyed some great British food.

Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings!

And Clare got her 'sourdough' back on.

The house we were sitting was on the market and we agreed to host a showing on the Saturday.

This was such a lovely sit to relax us back into our housesitting lifestyle.  We had a wonderful time with Murphy and feel like we made lifelong friends with the homeowners.

India, It's a wrap! - April 2026

 

Teesta River

We left Darjeeling by jeep from the central station.  The journey followed the river for quite some time before plunging quite steeply downhill.  The roads all have metal grips built into them to stop slippage.

We got off the jeep in a wee village called Teesta Bazaar where we were intending to fish for a few days.  Our homestay was just the ticket!  We had been upgraded to a self contained flat with a balcony onto the river.  

As there was a shortage of gas due to the war in Iran we were unable to use the cooker but it was great to be able to do some washing.

We enjoyed watching the rafters from our balcony

The next day we took a walk around the village and sussed out where we would go fishing.  The track to the fishing spot had fallen into the river but we were pleased to note that it wasn't too deep to skirt around that part to the other side.  We decided we would come more appropriately dressed the next day.

And that was the end of that! James woke up sick the next day and spent the next four days in bed.  Fortunately we had some slack built into our schedule to fly to Delhi and extended our stay here to five nights.  There seemed no better place to rest and recouperate.

Cheeky monkey

Looking back toward the village.  This bridge goes
to Kalimpong.  We never made it there.

Again it came time to leave and our homestay host arranged another jeep to take us to Siliguri where we stopped for a bite to eat before ordering on an electric tuktuk, using the online Rapido app, to take us to our final Indian destination of Bagdogra.  From here, we would fly to Delhi the following day.

Urban bovine problem.  They are sacred
and unable to be managed appropriately.

Flying into Delhi

When we arrived in Delhi, we thought we knew what we were doing as we had arrived here earlier in the year.  Umm, NO!  We arrived at a different terminal and got a wee bit lost finding our hotel this time.  It all came to pass, as it always does in India, with a bit of resistance, and then a bit of help, from the locals.  It didn't help that the temperature was 40C during the middle of the day!

We spent three days just gathering our thoughts.

These melons were delicious

Never before seen Snake cucumber

After six months travelling, mostly overland by bus and train, through eight countries - Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Qatar, India & Nepal - we were on the brink of heading back to the UK.  We sure had an amazing time and discovered some truly surprising places. Armenia and Lebanon would be the standouts for us as places we would like to explore further.  It's just a shame about the war.  As much as we had enjoyed our travels we weren't sorry to be returning to a modicum of familiarity where we would be able to fully understand what the heck is going on!

We flew Fin Air.  We were originally booked with Emirates via Dubai but the war scuppered those plans.  We had already committed to a couple of sits in the UK and really needed a reliable way back.  At least Finland was far away from the troubles.