As many may know, our beautiful apartment in Samoens was destroyed by fire last year.
We have decided to buy a small chalet in nearby Verchaix and sell the apartment once it is rebuilt next year.
We hope to move out of our rented apartment in Samoens and into the new chalet in March 2023.
We have been desperately trying to come up with a suitable name for it that would reflect our sailing exploits.
So we have come up with Chalet Bequia to remind us of one of our favourite Caribbean Islands.

As many may know, our beautiful apartment in Samoens was destroyed by fire last year.
We have decided to buy a small chalet in nearby Verchaix and sell the apartment once it is rebuilt next year.
We hope to move out of our rented apartment in Samoens and into the new chalet in March 2023.
We have been desperately trying to come up with a suitable name for it that would reflect our sailing exploits.
So we have come up with Chalet Bequia to remind us of one of our favourite Caribbean Islands.

We had had the first snow of tne season last night.
We could see the snow on the tops of the mountains behind Samoens.

Happy 65th Birthday
You still look 25!
Love Frank

Last week we drove down to Samoens.
We left at 4am and arrived at 6pm.
We have had a great week enjoying walking and the late season sun.
The best news is there is progress with the insurace and apartment rebuild.
We are planning to be here until October.

Today is the anniversary of the fire that destroyed our apartment.
The insurance has still not been agreed.
No work or site clearance has started.
The apartment block has been vandalised as it sits empty.
We continue to pay rent from our savings for a temporary apartment.
We have spent thousands of euros so far.
Things can only get better!.

Back in March for my 65th birthday I traded in my two old vintage Triumphs for a much more modern Norton Commando 961.
I have been tinkering with her ever since:
Upgraded fuel injectors
Upgraded relays
Upgraded engine sensors
Fitted self-cancelling led indicator
Fitted New mirrors
Fitted Handlebar risers
Fitted carbon-fibre, cowl, chain guard, hugger and number plate holder
Replaced cush drive
Bypassed 02 sensors
Bypassed CSV valve

She now runs beautifuly but could do with a pair of new tyres soon.

We bought a very tidy MG Midget last year.
She has a new bodyshell but there was still plenty to do.
Over the past few months:
Fitted electronic ignition, coil and leads
Fully rebuilt carburettors
Fitted new upgraded discs and calipers on front
Rebuild rear brakes
New master cylinder
New steering wheel and gear knob
New headlight upgrade
New horns
Dash board partial rewire
New fuel gauge and voltage stabiliser
New hood cover.

She is running very nicely but still needs some interior tidying.

The weather has been fine and warm, but rain is forecast.
We continue to walk everyday and are hoping to get out on the electric mountain bikes again soon.

Last August our apartment in Samoens was destroyed by fire.
It has been an absolutely horrid and stressful 8 month period fighting with insurance.
As yet there has been No progress with any repairs.
But we are now beginning to see some movement with the insurance.
AND NOW.......We have had vandalism!

Our plan was to live here 1/2 the time.
We have been able to rent an apartment just out of the village for a year whilst the building is repaired.
We are extremely fortunate that our small co-pro are excellent and have been able to get insurance approval for the graffiti.
My hope is that it will all get sorted by this time next year.

Meantime we despite everything we are have a great time here in the mountains in sunny Samoens.

Last August our apartment in Samoens was destroyed by fire.
It has been an absolutely horrid and stressful 8 month period fighting with insurance.
As yet there has been No progress with any repairs.
But we are now beginning to see some movement with the insurance.
AND NOW.......We have had vandalism!

Our plan was to live here 1/2 the time.
We have been able to rent an apartment just out of the village for a year whilst the building is repaired.
We are extremely fortunate that our small co-pro are excellent and have been able to get insurance approval for the graffiti.
My hope is that it will all get sorted by this time next year.

Meantime we despite everything we are have a great time here in the mountains in sunny Samoens.

Yesterday we drove up to Joux Plane which is a fantastic area above Samoens.
There was still plenty of snow up there and we walked high above the lake.
Cracker just gets so excited by snow and rushed about in it spraying it everywhere.
There were thousands of small flowers poking up through where the snow had melted.
It was amazing to see how many frogs had survived in the lake over the winter.
There were also ducks pairing up on the lake whilst enjoying the sun.

In a major effort to get my diabetes under control, Mandy has put me on a strict regime.
No carbohydrates
No sugar
1/2 rations
Lots of walking.

Now I find with a stomach ulcer I also have to give up Alcohol and Caffeine.

Yesterday Mandy introduced a new method "Wight Watching by Fear".
On our walk I was forced to cling onto a wire cable round the cliff edge above a revene.
I absolutely hate heights and I must have sweated off another 5kg!

In a major effort to get my diabetes under control, Mandy has put me on a strict regime.
No carbohydrates
No sugar
1/2 rations
Lots of walking.

Now I find with a stomach ulcer I also have to give up Alcohol and Caffeine.

Yesterday Mandy introduced a new method "Wight Watching by Fear".
On our walk I was forced to cling onto a wire cable round the cliff edge above a revene.
I absolutely hate heights and I must have sweated off another 5kg!

In a major effort to get my diabetes under control, Mandy has put me on a strict regime.
No carbohydrates
No sugar
1/2 rations
Lots of walking.

Now I find with a stomach ulcer I also have to give up Alcohol and Caffeine.

Yesterday Mandy introduced a new method "Wight Watching by Fear".
On our walk I was forced to cling onto a wire cable round the cliff edge above a revene.
I absolutely hate heights and I must have sweated off another 5kg!

We are back in Samoens in the French Alps for all of May.
We arrived last Sunday, we left at 05.00 and arrived at our rented apartment at 18.00.
Sunday is definitely the best day to drive in France as most of the trucks are off the road.
At last after nearly 9 months there seems to be some movement from the inurance on repairing our apartment in the village. They have given us an estimated completion date of March 23.
We have Cracker with us an she has very much enjoyed the long walks and chasing behind the bikes.
The exercise has had huge benefits to Frank's blood sugar levels which are the lowest theyhave been for a long time.
So we are definitely enjoying spring in the mountains.

We are back in Samoens in the French Alps for all of May.
We arrived last Sunday, we left at 05.00 and arrived at our rented apartment at 18.00.
Sunday is definitely the best day to drive in France as most of the trucks are off the road.
At last after nearly 9 months there seems to be some movement from the inurance on repairing our apartment in the village. They have given us an estimated completion date of March 23.
We have Cracker with us an she has very much enjoyed the long walks and chasing behind the bikes.
The exercise has had huge benefits to Frank's blood sugar levels which are the lowest theyhave been for a long time.
So we are definitely enjoying spring in the mountains.

We are back in Samoens in the French Alps for all of May.
We arrived last Sunday, we left at 05.00 and arrived at our rented apartment at 18.00.
Sunday is definitely the best day to drive in France as most of the trucks are off the road.
At last after nearly 9 months there seems to be some movement from the inurance on repairing our apartment in the village. They have given us an estimated completion date of March 23.
We have Cracker with us an she has very much enjoyed the long walks and chasing behind the bikes.
The exercise has had huge benefits to Frank's blood sugar levels which are the lowest theyhave been for a long time.
So we are definitely enjoying spring in the mountains.

Mandy has done some great skiing in Grand Massif and Portes du Soleil on and off piste with Jo and Dee.

Cracker the cocker spaniel thinks the snow is wonderful and loves leaping about in it.

We both had colds over Christmas but much better now.

There is however little movement on the insurance.

We are expecting Simon and Sara for supper having driven from the UK.

The photo is a view from our apartment window this evening.

It has been an interesting day.
Fantastic blue skies, deep smow and temperature down to -7c
Mandy took Cracker our cocker spaniel to the vets this morning to get her a French pet passport.
Thanks to Boris & Brexit dog owners going to France now have to pay about £150 per trip to get a vets dog certificate.
However, if you have a French residence you can get a French dog passport for about £40 which lasts several years.
So now we have to teach Cracker French!
Late morning we went for a fabulous walk along the river and through the woods. Cracker thought the snow was fantastic.
As we arrived back at the car a helicopter landed to take an injured skier to hospital.
The Ambulance was then left stuck in the snow.
We pulled it out with our baby 4x4 Fiat Panda and an old saftey line off Infinity B.
The Ambulance crew were very impressed and Mandy was amazed!

We were very lucky to get to France before lock down.
We left at 05.00 on Friday morning arriving at Folkestone at 07.30.
We queued for several hours to get on a Euro Tunnel train.
Everyone was trying to get across before the midnight ban and there were long delays at French customs as they checked post Brexit paperwork etc.
We arrived in France at about midday local time.
There was some fog at the beginning of the journey and a lot of lorries.
We eventually arrived at the apartment at 20.30
There is plant of snow here as you can see from the photo taken from our window.
We plan to be here for 6 weeks so that Mandy can catch up on her skiing and I can introduce Cracker the dog to the snow.

We have been in France for about 6 weeks.
It has been a mixed time with trying to sort out the fire damage as well as tying to get fit.
The weather for the most part has been very good with warm days and blue skies.
We have done a number of long hikes but what has been a huge success have been our electric mountain bikes.
We bought a pair of Trek Powerfly 5 bikes about 6 months ago in the UK and brought them out with us. They have been so good that we are going to leave them here.
Yesterday we visited Annesy which is about 1 hours drive away. It is an absolutely fabulous medieval city on the edge of a huge mountain lake. We will certainly go again.
Today is a major meeting of all the insurance companies and our French representative to determine who pays for the fire damage to the apartment. Quite a worrying time!
We are planning to return home this weekend.

We have made a very major step forward since the apartment fire 6 weeks ago.
About a week ago we moved in to a very nice long term rental apartment not very far from our old apartment.
An English couple rented it for 8 years before us and have just returned to the UK.
The timing is perfect.
It was about 3/4 furnished so we have been busy buying some second hand bits to tie us over.
The sofa came from one of firemen that work on the fire at our apartment.
There has been very slow progress on our insurance claim and we hope that they will cover the rental costs.
They have now made the building water tight and we wait to hear the builders report.
We have a few more insurance meetings to attend and hope to be back in the UK in a couple of weeks.

We have had a pretty horrible time since the devastating fire at our apartment on 16th August.
I spent a couple of weeks quite severely depressed and not able to go anywhere and certainly not able to drive across Europe.
Our dear friend and my former business partner GP Hermann was very caring and contacted our current GP surgery who were equally supportive. So now feeling much better.
Other very dear friends Jo and Dee very kindly offered us the use their apartment in Les Carroz which is a 20 minute drive away from ours in Samoens.
We set off at 05.00 on Sunday 5th September hoping a stress free drive to the Alps.
The roads to Eurotunnel at Folkestone were empty and we made great time only to be met with a massive 2 hour queue at customs ... Thank you Boris.
The drive across France was absolutely fine and we arrived just before dark.
We spent a couple of days going through the burnt out remains in Samoens salvaging what we could.
We were horrified to find half a dozen Acro jacks holding up the cracked and damaged concrete floor above our living room..... Not at all good news.
Everything stinks of acrid smoke and is impossible to was off.
We had a constructive meeting with insurance agent and our dear neighbours on Tuesday. It looks like it's going to take a very lonely time to get things resolved.
We met up with Simon and Sarah at their chalet for tea, lunch and beer and we are hoping to go walking with them and their dog Fenn next week
Yesterday we went for a walk around Les Carroz and enjoyed the fresh air.
We we arrived back at Jo and Dee's apartment we met two people on the roof cleaning gutters.
One was Eleonore who happened to be a very brave and charming lady firefighter who put our fire out in Samoens ... An amazing coincidence and now we are friends on Facebook.
So thank you all, our dear and generous friends, neighbours and brave firefighters for help and support.

We let our apartment for August through a local agency.
The Police have now stated the fire was caused by the guests discarding cigarette butts outside our flat.
We had specified to the agency that we did not want smokers in our property.
I feel so guilty and ashamed for the damage done to our truly lovely neighbours by the fucking bastard smokers.
I am absolutely fucking livid.
I don't see how can we possibly ever face our neighbours again.
I feel seriously depressed.

Bad news this morning.
Our beautiful apartment in the French Alps was destroyed last night.
It was the bottom one.
We are hoping to get out shortly to inspect the damage.

We have had a rethink, changed our plans and decided to sell CharlieBird.
We took CharlieBird in part exchange last year.
She is a very tidy and well equipped Parker 235.
She comes with a trailer which has two new axles.
If you know anyone interested please get them to contact us.

A year ago in August 2020 British Airways cancelled my return flight and now refuse to pay a refund.
At the time it was impossible to get through to BA on the telephone.
BA automatically issued a voucher at the end of August 2020 by email.
In March 2021 they issued a new voucher and provided an online option to opt for a cash refund instead, which I did.
I waited 6 months for the cash refund to be processed and heard nothing, so I raised a complaint.
BA is now refusing to pay a refund saying that I initially accepted a voucher and I that should have phoned at the time for a refund.
I neither chose nor accepted the voucher as it was automatically issued by email and getting through on the phone at the time was impossible.
A voucher is of no use to me at all.
I am only seeking the value of the voucher which is considerably lower that the cost of the ticket. I am not seeking any other compensation.
It appears my only way forward is through the courts.

Last week the new project arrived.
She is a Red 1969 Triumph Bonneville T120R partially in bits.
She has been sat untouched for 15 years.
I have been working on her all week and she has scrubbed up superbly.

I have reassembled the top end:
Fitted the head
Fitted and tuned new carburettors
Refitted exhausts etc
De-rusted and sealed the inside of the petrol tank and fitted new taps.

I have reassembled the timing side:
Fitted a new Morgo oil pump
Refitted the ignition system and set it up with strobe

I have also added a few other new bits:
New solid state rectifier and some rewiring
New ammeter and rewire headlamp
New handlebars and mirrors
New switch
New choke lever and cables


I have given her a good clean up and polished the casings
She looks fantastic and runs beautifully

Still could do with new silencers and new tyres.
Best of all is that as an historic registered vehicle le she is road tax exempt and the insurance is only £30 per year

Over the weekend Mandy was away supervising a large group of Duke of Edinburgh candidates from Bourne Grammar School.
I had a much more interesting job to do on Warwick’s beautiful 1955 Bristol 404.
I spent a few hours rewiring the ignition circuits and removing some defunct cabling.
The car now runs much better.
Warwick was so pleased with the result that he has invited me to join him at the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) Clubhouse at Silverstone on Saturday!
It’s a real honour and I very much looking forward to it.

We are just back from 10 days in Anglesey in North Wales.
We had a fantastic time walking and seeing friends.
We stayed in our camper at Bill & Kathy's fabulous "small holding" near Talwrn. It was amazing to see the way that they had developed the place since our last visit.
We met up for walks several times with Simon & Sarah who camped across the valley. Both Cracker and Fen enjoyed the freedom of the beaches and long walks especially in Beddgelert.
We also visited Liam (who I went to university with) and his family and two active labs. Liam prepared a vast meal on his newly installed outdoor grill which has inspired me to add one to my project list.
It was a great break and certainly helped make up for not getting to the alps.

We are just back from another short break in The Peak District.
We had fantastic weather and managed to get back home just before the rain storms started.
We had a couple of great walks through Biggin Dale, Wolfscote Dale and Beresford Dale.
We also took the bikes up the Tissington Trail to Sparklow and down through the upper Dove down to Hartington.
We are looking forward to going to Anglesey in North Wales next month and seeing lots of old friends.
Meantime the Triumph Tiger is back together after a clutch rebuild and is now awaiting dry weather for another road test.

We often go to open gardens run by The National Garden Scheme.
It’s also a great excuse to take one of the bikes out.
On Sunday we visited The Old Vicarage at Whissendine and had tea and cakes at The Hall in Ashwell.
Meantime work continues on the old Triumph Tiger after a very oily and smokey ride. Update to follow!

We have completed The Pergola Project
Our thanks to Chris for his help putting the rafters up.
We just need to wait for the newly planted climbers to grow and with all the rain we are having that should be soon.
Our next gardening project will probably be a woven hazel fence around the composting bins.

It's amazing.
We have now had over 58,000 viewings of our blog.
Thank you all for visiting.

We are very fortunate to be able to get out to the Peak District for a few days.
It's our first time out in it this season due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
It's also Cracker's first time ever in the camper, and she seems has taken to it well.
We here for a few more days, but so far we have managed a couple of walks and a bike ride and have only got wet once!
We will be back in time for the weekend to continue with The Pergola Project.

I have been very fortunate, I had my second Pfizer Covid vaccine injection on Thursday.
Very minimal side effects, just a slightly sore arm and a bit of a headache.
Mandy has her Astra Zeneca injection booked for a couple of weeks time.
I am part of the National antibody trial, so it will be very interesting to see how active my COVID antibodies are now.
We are hoping the jabs will enable us to travel to our apartment in The French Alps in mid June, but we are not betting on it.

We have made great progress on The Pergola Project.
We dug 3 holes (90cm deep) for the posts several weeks ago, but we have had to wait for a delivery of timber which arrived on Thursday.
So on Thursday afternoon we concreted the first post in whilst it rained.
Yesterday we concreted the other two posts and fitted the two cross beams.
We will let the concrete fully set for a few days before we fit the cross members.
We have planted a fabulous Madame Alfred Carrier rampant climbing rose, some rampant golden hop and a large Climatis Montana. It should all look fabulous next year.

Tinkering with the Triumph Tiger has started.
I have replaced the horrid indicators with original new vintage Lucas ones and thrown away the horrid non OEM ones.
I have also taken out the forks and fitted gaiters and replaced the cafe racer style headlamp brackets with period ones.
I have also replaced the handle bars and clutch lever and new battery.
One of the main problems with a 47 year old bike is none of my spanner's fit.
All our vehicles including boats for the past few decades have been metric, The Tiger is imperial. Mr Amazon delivered some AF sockets yesterday and I'm waiting on Mr eBay to deliver some AF spanners.
The good news is spare parts are very readily available and very reasonably priced for the Triumph.

Frank has been a bad boy .... Again!
I have bought a beautiful 1975 TR7 / T140V Triumph Tiger 750.
Identical to a Bonneville but only a single carburettor.
Because she is over 40 years old she is Road Tax and MOT exempt.
So plenty of triggering to keep me busy.

Our latest project.
We bought an immaculate set of black electric Range Rover seats on eBay from a delightful couple in Melton Mowbray.
We collected them in our trailer, boy they were heavy.
We have fitted the front ones in the camper and wired them up.
They look fantastic and feel very comfortable and much better than the original Mercedes van seats.
We are hoping to go out for a test ride tomorrow.
The down side is I have hurt my neck and shoulder lifting the seats and as a consequence I'm a bit grumpy!
The next project on the list is the Pergola for the grape vine.

Do let us know if you would like our surplus set of rear Range Rover seats

A couple of weeks ago we replaced both axles on CharlieBird’s trailer.
One of the suspension arms had completely rotted through and the wheel had collapsed.
It was impossible to move the boat and trailer any distance and so we unable to get CharlieBird lift her off.
Unfortunately we therefore had to do axle swap whilst she was sitting on the trailer.
Fortunately she is only about 2 tons but we did have to wait for the field to dry enough to give us firm base for the jacks and axle stands.
With Mike from Sestina’s kind help it was a surprising straight forward job.
We did get through quite a number of discs on the angle grinder cutting off the old axles but we had no other issues.
The new axles were delivered from Alko in Germany some months ago and fitted perfectly.
I still have to do the final adjustments on the brakes and try a test run around the field in Suffolk.
And ..... thanks again to Mike.

We have have finished the garage forecourt for the bikes.
It looks great.
Many thanks to Dave and Charlie for their help.
We are now on to next project - The Pergola

We are busy digging up the area in front of the garage.
We are putting in a new surface drain and new block paving.
It will then be much easier to turn the motorbikes around and work on the car.
The skip arrives today and Dave arrives with his mini digger tomorrow.
I foresee much mess to follow!

Cracker in her new comfy bed. She says she is very pleased and may even be nice to the cat.
She also says she is very sad that her friend Poppy the 15 year old Labrador passed away last week.

I think that this will be all the skiing Mandy gets this year.
4 inches of snow in our garden in UK.

Cracker is a 2 year old brown working cocker spaniel.
She is indeed a “Cracker” and has now been with us a week.
She settled in extremely rapidly and gets on well with “Poppy” our 15 year old Labrador.
Our 2 year old Bengal cat “Khaleesi” is slightly less at ease with the newcomer and creeps about quietly keeping well out of the way.
The first few days with Cracker The Chocolate Whirlwind involved full speed hand-brake turns around the house. The new addition of extra grippy underlay for the mats in the hall has helped enormously in the reduction of the chaos.
She has now settled down quite a bit and is generally now obeying the speed limits in the house.
Outside she has been unbelievably obedient and comes back immediately.
She gets ecstatic about retrieving balls and now drops them instantly on the “leave” command.
She is happy to travel in the car with or without her new best friend “Poppy”.
We took for a 6 mile cycle ride without incident, but unfortunately it had little effect on depleting her lithium ion battery pack!
So all is well after our first week!

Today “Cracker” our new Cocker Spaniel joined the pack.
She is 2 and delightful.. I wanted to call he Jo Cocker...but sadly overruled!

It's our 38th Wedding Anniversary today.
We would have normally be out sailing in The Caribbean.
Last year we were in Bequai.
We were hoping to have been in our new apartment in Samoëns in the French Alps this year.
However, because of COVID we have been very busy focusing on the garden instead.
We now have new raised beds, fabulous vegetable plots and a new arch for fruit trees.
We bought ourselves 3 huge garden pots as anniversary presents.
This evening we are eating out at The Exeter Arms in the village.

It will be our first Christmas at home for 7 years.
We have spent the past 6 seasons away sailing on Infinity B in The Caribbean.
We are completely unused to the cold UK winter and we have not had a rear Christmas tree while we have been away.
It has been very exciting going through all the old family decorations and hanging them on the tree.
Unfortunately because of COVID Max and Berry are staying in Edinburgh and we probably won’t see them until spring.
Happy Christmas to all our friends and blog followers.