I took so many pictures this week and want to post so many that I think I’d better do it in sections.

First the scaly and amphibious beasties.

( “Herps!” )

A last few of Rob’s shots from our holiday.

( “Oh )

I’ve finally got around to pinching some of Rob’s photos of our holiday, so here is part one, which is, you may think, sadly deficient in puffins. fear not, for they will be all over the place in part two :)

( “No )

Rob booked Friday off and we toodled off to Coalbrookdale where they built the first iron bridge ever.

We parked at the Shakespeare Inn in Coalport where we were booked to stay for the night and donned our walking boots and waterproof coats to follow the riverside path into Ironbridge. It was a much nicer day than the preceding week would have led us to expect - sunny and dry if not hugely warm. About the best you could ask for in February really.

( Pictures below )

I heard the song "Spanish Eyes" on the radio today.

It reminded me, as it always does, of a holiday my parents took us on once. I can't remember where it was, but it was a holiday camp and the clubhouse had two records - "Spanish Eyes" and "Y Viva Espana". We never went to the clubhouse, but we knew they had those records and only those records because they played them, every night, alternately and continuously, at what must have been earsplitting volume inside the building, such that we could hear them clearly in our chalet, several hundred yards away.

I'm not sure what sort of genius thought that was a good idea. and I feel sorry for the people who worked there - we only had to put up with it for a week, but they presumably had to cope with it for the whole season, poor blighters.

I don't remember much else about that holiday, but I'm pretty sure we went somewhere else the following year....

It's holiday photo time! ( Many many pictures lurking under here! )

The holiday wasn't completely over when we got home - Rob had Monday and Tuesday off too. Monday was a cycling day and on Tuesday we pootled off to the zoo together.

It was raining a fair bit, so not quite so many photos as usual, but still a few :)

( May contain baby goats )

Right, I promised you photies of Wales and here are some to be going on with. We were staying at the Cable Hut at Aber Mawr a few steps away from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.

( This way for the wild garlic )

More pictures in the next post :)

This week was Rob's second leg of his tour around the coast.

The plan was that we would drive down to Weymouth (where he finished last time), spend the afternoon there, staying at a B&B, then he would set off on his ride on Sunday. This then gave me the opportunity to drive over to visit my mother, who lives about an hour's drive from Weymouth, stay there overnight and drive home today (with a stop at bath on the way to see the Roman Baths) and we'd decide on a place for me to collect Rob next weekend.

The first part of this plan went admirably - if you're ever in need of a B&B in Weymouth (and can cope with stairs) I can heartily recommend The Pink House, which has to be one of the nicest B&Bs I've ever been pleased to stay in.

We spent a pleasant afternoon at the Sea Life Adventure Park (pictures will bombard you later :)), watching the otters getting fed and suchlike and had a very nice dinner at Moby Dick's.

Sunday also went to plan, and Rob called me in the early evening to tell me he'd done 86 hilly miles and reached his planned camp site at Starcross, a short distance from Dawlish.

This morning though, I was just about to pop my bag in the van and set off home when he called again. Some of you may remember the incident in the Netherlands when one of his steering handles detached itself from the main body of the machine and hi-jinks ensued. A short distance from the campsite, he hit a comparatively insignificant bump and the same thing happened to the other one….

So instead of a trundle off to see the Roman Baths, it was a scoot down to the seaside again to collect Rob and the stricken Kate and drive all three of us home. Bah, bother and drat.

Still, at least I was within call range when it happened and it didn't happen on one of the evil hills of the previous day.

Rob's just booked our May holiday for next year. This time we're going for a change of location and staying at a cottage in Abermawr on the Welsh coast. We've never been to Wales for a holiday before, so it should be fun exploring a new area.

Hopefully we'll manage a trip to Skomer to get our annual puffin fix, althoughg8bur   tells me the puffins there aren't quite as blase about humans as the ones on Lunga :)