Snow in Luton

One of the bonuses of our stay in Luton is that we enjoyed some snow.  When you live in Cornwall and very rarely see the white stuff it’s amazing how exciting it is to have it falling and laying!  Hamish loved it and went sniffing about to see who else had been out walking on ‘his patch’.

Simon came up to visit his dad on the Sunday after his op and by the end of the day the snow was falling and beginning to lay.  He left early just in case he had a bad drive home but he said it disappeared the further down the M1 that he went.

Jamie and Phill had been out for the day at Grace’s first birthday party and by the time they got home it was really laying.  Phill put the lights on in their front garden so we could take  photos – very pretty!

By the following morning it was beautiful.  Photos from our bedroom window - spot the white dog in the snow …

It lasted a few days and I took these pix of the boys in the garden …

Getting Home

After a night of several rainstorms I expected to wake up, look out and see that the snow had disappeared or at least been reduced to some slush. But no - it was still just as it had been the day before except for the ducks trying to cadge some breakfast off me ...

After listening to the morning news and weather we agreed that the right decision had been made and we'd attempt to get home today. We left the site looking really pretty by the river ...

and after filling with fuel in Addlestone we made our way to the M25. The roads were very wet but the traffic was moving quite well and there were no problems with the M25 or the M3.

Once on the A303 I began to relax a bit and took a few photos as we drove past pigs ...

and very white fields ...

The further west we got the greener the scenery became and as we looked out all that was white were the Tors on Dartmoor ...

By the time we crossed Bodmin Moor there was no evidence of snow at all ...

Home at last - thank goodness ...

It has been a very eventful week which I wouldn't have missed for anything but I was so pleased to get home safely.

Luton to Chertsey

We woke again to clear skies and while the RV was packed up the dogs had a good sniff in the front garden ...

We wanted to get away quite promptly as we had no idea what the roads and traffic would be like and so at ten o'clock Mike gingerly moved the RV out on to the still icy road and headed off towards the M1 ...

We needn't have worried as we had a stress-free journey and arrived quite safely at the Camping and Caravanning Club Site at Chertsey. Here we were shown our pitch which we'd originally booked for two nights ...

The sun was shining and it was a lovely spot ...

As the afternoon progressed and the weather forecasts started predicting more snow for Friday we decided to move on home a day earlier than planned - just in case! Simon came over to see us in the evening and we all went out for a meal at The Boathouse by Chertsey Bridge.

By the time Simon left us it was just beginning to snow!

Strictly at Wembley

We woke this morning to blue skies and sunshine ...

Phill managed to move his car and so we made it into Luton for a shopping expedition. One item that we bought was a new fire for the RV!

After coffee ...

we went home for lunch and to check if the roads were clear into London because tonight was Strictly night! The boys had given me tickets to see Strictly Come Dancing The Live Tour at Wembley Arena - hence our venture up-country when snow was forecast. If it hadn't been for Strictly then there was no way we'd have left the safety of our home in Cornwall when bad weather was expected. Nothing was going to keep me from getting to the Show!

As it happened the roads were fine and we all set off late afternoon heading for Ikea - where else??!!

Our nearest Ikea is in Bristol so any opportunity to have a wander around and find a few bargains and I'm there! We had something to eat in the restaurant and then finished our tour of the shop before driving on to the Wembley car park (£18!!!! - daylight robbery) and making our way to the Arena getting this view of the main Stadium as we passed by ...

First stop was of course the Merchandise Stand! I got a programme ...

which had a set of numbers with it - the most popular being the number 'Sev-errrrn'

I also got a keyring as a memento. We made our way to our seats and it was all very exciting. We were allowed cameras so long as the flash was turned off and so I just used my phone to take some pics. They weren't brilliant but you get the feel of the evening ...

The Show was run on the same lines as the TV programme but the votes cast by the judges didn't count towards the winners for tonight. We could all text our vote once the first set of Ballroom dances had been completed and lines closed at the end of the Latin dances. There were eight couples: Tom and Camilla, Cherie and James, Jodie and Ian, Kenny and Ola, Gethin and Flavia, Rachel and Vincent, Julian and Lilia, Jill and Darren. Matthew Cutler and Kristina Rihanoff paired up to do a professional Show Dance, the professionals did a group dance and at the end there was a group dance with everyone in it including Bruno! When it came to the results at the end they were down to three couples - Jill Halfpenny and Darren, Rachel Stevens and Vincent and Julian Clary and Lilia - and everyone was thinking Julian might sneak it as he'd been so entertaining all evening. Jill was knocked out next and there were lots of oohs and aahs in the audience! But the right pairing won - Rachel and Vincent!

It was a fantastic Show and we had an amazing time. Thank you so much Jamie, Phill and Simon x

The Snow Arrives!

We spent a very cold night huddled up in the RV and even Hamish was shivering! The gas fire flatly refused to work no matter how many times we tried and yes - the gas was turned on! Luckily we had a small electric fire which has always been quite adequate on spring or autumn evenings but it just wasn't man enough for the freezing temperature that we experienced last night.

We were receiving texts to say that the snow had arrived in Luton and the TV was full of the weather and road problems between us and a nice warm house. We had woken to a light dusting of snow on the campsite ...

and decided that the best thing we could do was to set off and head for the Motorway in the hopes that it was being kept open. We joined the M4 at junction 17 and began the long drive eastwards.

We needed a break and so left the Motorway at Membury Services where we stopped in the lorry park for a few minutes ...

The snow was falling quite heavily here and after finding our way out we made it back to the road where we kept seeing signs like this saying 'Snow Slow Down'

Needless to say many drivers ignored the instructions which was madness.

The fields were covered ...

and the trees looked really pretty ...

All seemed to be going quite well and there were no problems on the M25 or the M1. The worst part of the journey was turning off the gritted road and on to Jamie and Phill's road which was quite scary. We parked up ...

and went inside to have a very welcome cuppa and to admire the garden which looked lovely ...

Hamish wasn't sure at first but then he went for a play in the snow ...