Jill’s Travel Adventures

 I arrived at Stamford  Brook at 1:15 on Saturday afternoon, June 29, just 1hr 45 min from Folkstone.  Was so nice to see Cleo as she pulled in to fetch me. Both Jemima and Serena were home for Jemima’s 27th bd celebration so it was perfect.  After lunch and a few glasses of wine, the girls dashed off to a Luke Bryan concert.  For dinner Anto bbqed a marinated lamb shoulder and it was so yummy.  Cleo’s salads are so great as well - us Shaws can make salads that is one thing for sure. The next morning we were all hands on deck preparing for Jemima’s party, photos below.  Let the fun begin. So grateful to have this beautiful human being in my life, and my only first cousin on mom’s side.  She’s very special. The birthday girl Jemima, just before guests arrived. Anto tending to the bar and Cleo having a final look at the table. Josh on the left is Serena’s boyfriend and Jemima in the middle w her boyfriend Tom on the right. Jemima w her little sister...

  Tom was there to pick me up at the train station and whisked me home at about 330 pm.  As Katie and Tom were both working until  6, I walked down to the waterfront for a look about.   Above photo is of the top gelato shop in all of England. Herbert’s - I enjoyed a single peach with waffle cone as I walked along the waterfront and up high street. I headed back up these stairs to Katie and Tom’s and once they finished work at 5, we walked back to the waterfront and out to the end of the pier to the Lighthouse pub.  Here we settled in for happy hour and admired the cliffs of Dover with a gentle breeze.  (Top photo) This coastline I learned was where all the civilian boats were launched during ww2 to rescue of trapped soldiers from Dunkirk, on the coast of France.  Later on, Tom and Katie made a beautiful dinner w corn ribs and pasta.  Their home is beautiful and suits them both to a T- so happy for them both.   In the morning we were ready to ...

  June 24-27 I hopped on a few trains and underground transfers from Stansted and arrived in Winchester at 330 and Shane picked me up at the station.  Was so lovely to spend time with Shane, Melanie and Max’s younger brother, Hugo in their own home and see where Max grew up. Out for a dog walk w Shane on Tuesday night. On wed morning I headed out after a session w Melanie the night before on a circle route walk of the neighborhood.  I said I would like to make dinner wed night so I went to Cobbs Farm Market on my way home.  It was 12.5 km but the hardest part was the last 2.5 km with all the good food and wine in my back pack.  My back pack was a very heavy unit lol.   As I was walking by the Kingsworthy golf academy I stopped in for a latte.  Best coffee so far and highly recommend The Kitchen.  Food looked so good as well. Next stop was Cobbs after putting on an extra 2 km getting onto Farmers Lane.  Note to Jill not all trails through farm...

After all the shenanigans on our first day in Kilarney I woke up and opened “all trails” to see our options for our last day together.  Barb agreed to a moderate hike up to Torc Mountain and off we went.  We took the red tour bus from Kilarney info centre which makes several stops that you can hop off and on during the day.  Our driver was giving us tidbits all the way to the falls parking lot, which was the last stop, and the trail head.  I said to Barb “isn’t this nice we get a bit of a tour without even trying for one”   Below and above is on our way up.  Nice to be out in the green hills again. A 360 video from the top.  Glad we went but we were a bit chilled from the wind.  The hike was 12.5 km and 375 metres in elevation.  After an early night in Kilarney we were in bed early in preparation for the onward travel day.  Barb to Dublin to fly home and I was flying from Kerry to London Stansted and then making my way to Melanie and Sha...