Tuesday 28th August

This morning we set off early and crossed the San Mateo Bridge with the morning rush hour traffic.

After crossing some dry hills we passed miles and miles of fruit farms, with orange, peach and apple trees, fields of strawberries, vines, walnut and almond trees like these below.

This is our Jeep Patriot SUV which is very comfortable and spacious.

We passed many hills including these with their unusual layering.

Just after passing through Sonora we came past the scenic New Melones Lake.

The scenery changed as we got into gold mining country with many disused mines dotting the landscape.

As we neared tonight's stop in Auburn, we drove over a bridge spanning the American River.



Monday 27th August

We have now arrived safely in San Francisco. On Sunday we enjoyed a very quiet and relaxing journey to London.

This afternoon's flight was one of the smoothest that we have ever had. The route took us over Greenland where we saw many icebergs and dramatic coastal scenery.

After crossing into the USA we saw the extensive Black Mountains in Nevada.



Sunday 29th July

Russell and Christine took us to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. As it was Sunday many of the machines were working.



Saturday 28th July

We drove to Lyme Park where we explored the house and walked to the nearby tower from where the views of Manchester were superb.

Friday 27th July

We visited the SAA Show where we watched some painting demonstrations and attended several workshops. Glenys won an original work of art by Fraser Scarfe.



Thursday 19th July

We drove to Filey this morning and arrived at low tide so we were able to walk out to the furthest point of Filey Brig.



We returned along the beach and up the slipway.

Later in the afternoon we drove to Scarborough and enjoyed walking along the front.

Just past the Spa, the seas were very high.

Sunday 1st July

As Russell was here for the day, we visited Thwaite Mill once again. This time the steam crane was working.



There seemed to be a lot more activity in the mill itself.

The main attraction today was a classic car show.