Wednesday 24 - Tuesday 30 December 2025
Christmas this year was a little different as Riona was working on Christmas Day so we adjusted the celebrations. In anticipation Flo (the penguin Riona made me years ago) got into the festive mood.
On Christmas Eve, after working at mine, Caitlin and I hopped over to Roger's, admired the tree, and went up for Pinhoe carols. It was very nippy!
On Christmas Day, Caitlin was keen to have a Christmas dip. The Exmouth swim looked a bit choppy, but we mainly avoided it because of the numbers of swimmers expected - neither of us had patience to get there an hour early to stand on the beach until the 'off'. Instead we headed to Sidmouth. The forecast was poor and the when we got to Jacob's Ladder the waves were the most energetic we'd ever seen so Caitlin, sensibly, just edged in for a paddle up to her shins.
When we got back we found out about the tragedy at Budleigh Salterton, a few km east to us. The sea is always is much more powerful than you think - take care!
Riona finished her shift which, apparently, was full of food and tidying up, and arrived chez Roger's around 2100. Let Christmas begin :-)
Boxing Day began with a tree full of gifts. We had a lot of fun opening them in between eating various delights from the Roger kitchen.
On Saturday (27 Dec) we lazed around and did a jigsaw. Riona and I walked to Sainsbury's for an Argos return which gave us both a much needed leg stretch. We then did craft stuff which apparently was Riona keeping me occupied - at one stage she said to Rog and Caitlin, "I am entertaining your guest here!".
The girls stayed with me on Monday 29 Dec (Overcooked!) and on Tuesday 30 Dec they dropped me at Exeter St Davids where I started my trip to Luxembourg. Despite Eurostar and the Channel Tunnel going belly up that day I managed to get to Stansted, and subsequently Luxembourg, without too much delay.
Wednesday 31 December 2025
The last day of the year and it was very cold. JC and I did a 11 km circuit around Bettembourg and were delighted the coffee shop @9 km was open for coffee and warm up.
That evening we spent, as we usually do, courtesy of JC's cousin, Malou who wined and dined us perfectly.
Friday 02 January 2026
We visited Luxembourg City today as the Christmas market was still running, unlike Exeter where it closes before Christmas. The snow had started which was kind of atmospheric but also very slippy. There is a cut off in age between finding snow cute (under 50) and finding it trepidatious (over 50). I am sadly in the 'if I slip will I break something?' category.
Saturday 03 January 2026
There was snow overnight.
We had originally planned to pop to Germany but figured the roads were dicey so we stuck to the safe option and just did a 11 km walk around Bettembourg. It was pretty snowy - we had two coats on each - but beautiful.
I loved the bird tracks!
Monday 05 January 2026
Home day. Knowing the roads would be more icy than usual, we left at 0730 and crossed the Belgium border in the dark.
The bits of Belgium we saw glistened with snow and ice, and the sunrise turned the clouds pink.
We got to Calais promptly and were put on an earlier ferry. I've never seen it so empty and perhaps we should always head home on a weekday in the future. Roads were all kind to us and by the afternoon we were on the home straight.
Back to work and reality on Tuesday - holiday is over :-(
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