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.

East India, Darjeeling - April 2026

View from the mountain heading to Darjeeling

 We took a local bus to Siliguri, the nearest city to the border, so that we could regroup.  It was nice to be on decent roads again after so long in Nepal.  We stood in the isle with lots of others until slowly some seats became available.  We stopped on night only but the hotel was good and the chicken curry even better!

The next day we we arrived at the bus station to the chaos that is special to India.  We had booked our seats online with the National bus company.  The guy in the ticket office said he would tell us when our bus was ready for boarding as they all looked just the same.  He kept his word and we followed our driver to a bus that didn't really look fit for purpose.  Hmmm. There was nowhere to store our bags and our seats were in the middle of the back row.  In the isle they went and everyone had to keep climbing over them.  As we headed our of town, into the forest and up the mountain to Darjeeling, it became apparent that this journey was not for the faint hearted.  It was pretty much straight up hill with switch backs galore.  The bus handled it like a champ and the views were to die for - literally!

Lunch stop. We are going up there.

The houses are really pretty.

Darjeeling itself is as pretty as we expected.  We came unstuck on arrival as we realised our sim card couldn't easily be topped up and it was quite a walk to our accommodation - uphill all the way.  We managed it though and were very happy with our homestay.  The guys who ran the kitchen were fantastic.

The view from our homestay

The next day we got out and about to explore the town and remedy the sim card problem.  There's always a work-around in India!

The old lady at the front is carrying 
these tourists luggage

Local square

A typical street

We found our favourite cafe where we enjoyed some of our favourite dishes - samosa chat, chole bature and dosa.

James also tried this full English at one of the more western cafes in town.  He was wildly under impressed.

We found a wonderful street market celebrating the foods and wares of the mountain people, where we also enjoyed some fabulous street food.

Our favourite was this bbq,d pork

Black turmeric!

kookery

Chhurpi, or Yak milk cheese - blurk

Chai stand

Sel roti

Achar - pickles

All manor of meats and fish were available in the town.  Considering we hadn't eaten much meat in the previous three months, we weren't sorry to see it.

We were often surprised at what the locals carried about the town, as everywhere you went involved at least one steep uphill. 

While Clare was recovering from a 'nausea' virus, James took a ride on the famous toy train.

It was really cold while we were here and the mist rolls in and out on a near hourly basis.  This did not detract at all from the enjoyment of our  stay.

We stayed five nights and when it came time to leave we got a lift to the local station and found a jeep to take us to our next destination.