The Dodgey Archive for 2018

Now then, where were we ?

Well, Woolacombe for start. This was the first weekend in January, as we returned to Narracott Apartments,

joined by Tom and Fliss Harper

Another lovely and recently restored apartment.

Tom and Denise hard at work on Saturday’s breakfast.

Despite being on the ground floor, there was a fine view from the terrace…..

Aerial view of Woolacombe……

….and of the fabulous beach !

The sun sets beside Hartland Point

Late January saw our fifth visit to our (rented) bolthole on Tenerife

… if, that is, you can be bothered to get out of bed !

“Oh alright, if you insist !“

Once again we were joined by Tom and Fliss, this time for the first week.

‘Coastal Sea breezes’ can take some getting used to !

Here the regular ferries are joined by a rather large interloper

“Here’s to dieting !”

“I'll drink to that !”

Nice to see that despite advancing years, his sense of sartorial elegance remains undiminished !

Fish tonight, then…….

This year we took the cable car to the top of Mount Teide.

This is the view across to Gran Canaria

Denise and Chris, with Teide in the background

An opportunistic shot, taken from a moving coach….

… as was this one, showing La Palma in the distance

'Benchi Express' passes the setting sun

Denise gives one of the Ale-Hop cows a cuddle

Actually it's pronopunced 'Ally-op', and it's nothing to do with beer, or indeed hops.  It's actually a gift shop.  With cows....

....who get moooved into their cowshed, sorry, shop, overnight.

 Its www.ale-hop.net just in case you're interested

Cocktails on Tom and Fliss's last evening

Someone's been playing on the beach again !

Mount Teide is 40% of the height of everest, and is the highest volcano in Europe.

And yet, you can get a photo like this from the 6th floor of the Santa Maria Aparthotel, provided you're up in time !

These shots were taken just before 8.00 a.m., just as the sun was rising.

Moments later the cloud rolled in from the right, and Teide disappeared for the rest of the day.

You may remember this from last year.....

So it was a no-brainer as the dress-code for Chris's birthday lunch this year.

Bus-pass, State Pension, Winter fuel payment, he's a full-on O.A.P. now !

Denise's sister Diana joined us for the weekend this year.

2018 saw a second appearance of Carla and Ollie's pizza ovens.

Sally Cunliffe prepares to bake hers, as husband Mel and Chris look on.

Sarah Kaines, and Judith Hutchinson

The weather improved later....

...but in the end, it all got a bit much for the old boy !

A week later we enjoyed an impromptu trip to Dartmoor, in absolutely perfect Spring weather.

This is the view from Haytor, looking towards Teignmouth and Lyme Bay

Given that Haytor is frequently lost in cloud, conditions such as this are truly exceptional

Paws for refreshments !

Once again looking east

The church at Widdecombe-In-The-Moor

Having eaten at Widdecombe, it was then back to Haytor for a perfect sunset.

This is Clevedon Bowls Club, and it's right opposite where Tom and Fliss live.

We were there for a sleepover on the night of the 28th/29th,

So, it just had to be done.  Chris was taught by his Dad as a teenager, as in

Looking the part, but, truth be told, it could have gone just about anywhere !

Mayday Bank Holiday weekend, glorious sunshine, and time to go boating aboard Lucy Ginger

This is the first evening, spent at Barlaston in Staffordshire

One of our favourite moorings: Ramsdell Hall, with a fine view of the Cheshire Plain

Alice Jay and Emma Cooksley joined us for a couple of days

May also means Eurovision, and once again we hosted a Steve Rendall extravaganza

All serious stuff !

This isn't a tug-of-war, it's Steve presenting Fliss with her prize for winning the prediction competition !

All aboard !  No, we haven't won the Lottery - this was a visit to Crick Boat Show with Diana and her son Harris.

21st June, and a sudden improvement in the weather sent Chris scurrying off to Tog Hill to photograph the sunset......

We didn't know it at the time, but this was the beginning of a month of fabulous weather !

A couple of days later, there was a joint family celebration for Chris's Mum Margaret's 95th birthday, and Cousin Dennis's 80th.

Stanton Drew Village Hall, ready to receive guests

Mrs Dodge Senior directs proceedings....

...and later cuts her cake, as grandson Ed and cousin Dennis look on

Dennis and Margaret

The following day Andy and Wendy Tandy, Tom and Fliss, and Steve Rendall joined us for Sunday Lunch.......

With Steve and Fliss trying some dance moves on the lawn afterwards

Okay, time for France, and a boat that was immaculately tidy until about 15 minutes earlier !

This year we drove to Migennes, which made it easy for Muttley to make her first overseas trip.

Here she's scanning Auxerre for something to bark at !

Auxerre at dusk

Our 'Corvette' is the boat nearest the centre of this shot

Morning excercise for Muttley, before the heat of the day really set in

Aerial view of Marigny-sur-Yonne

One of our all-time favourite moorings - The Étang de Baye

We had two nights here, and astonishingly had the place all to ourselves for the first one

The remains of the Ancient Locks at Rogny. Unbelieveably these were built in the 1630s.

Allez Les Bleus !  The moment that France won the World Cup.

Subsequent celebrations in Rogny were surprisingly muted.

The ancient locks at dusk

And as seen from the drone the following morning

Diana joined us for the last six days of the trip

Once on the Seine, you get to play with the big boys !

La Liberté displaces 2142 tonnes !  That's about a hundred Corvettes !

Once up to speed, the blunt-bowed peniches produce an impressive bow-wave

Now that's what you really do call "loaded to the gunwhales" !

A mere light-middleweight at 645 tonnes, 'Jo Mi' slipped effortlessly alongside us after we tied up.

This is the lock at Varennes, which can handle anything up to 195 metres in length

Best to let the big boys and girls go first.....

....and let them sort themselves out !

'Amiral' makes a tight turn from the Haute Seine onto the Yonne.

It's best to tie up firmly to wait as 1800 tonnes of 'Custos'emerges from a lock......

...as the guys on the 'Magnifique' who were also waiting found out the hard way !

What we did on our holidays.....

Dinner at Moret-sur-Loing

Back at Migennes after three fabulous weeks, boatyard manager Dominic Fourre joins us for drinks (Photo by Diana)

This, from the Dodge family album of 1957, shows Chris getting into bad habits at a very early age !

Perfectly normal at the time, seen with modern eyes this looks wrong on just about every conceivable level !

In early August, a rendezvous at Kingswood Junction with Colin Smith, and demonstrating that you should always be prepared for a picnicing opportunity

Mr and Mrs D, photographed by Colin

Bridge 31 of the Northern Stratford Canal, in early evening sunlight

Regular readers of these pages will recognise that we've now arrived at August, and The Flying Proms

Informal attire for soloist Annette Wardell and The National Symphony Orchestra during an afternoon rehearsal.

Photography this year was concentrated on the Extra 300s displaying with pyros during the interval

As ever, a rousing end to proceedings

'Daisy' was our floating home for a week during September

Lynn Haddrell looking both confident and competant on the tiller

The moorings opposite Perdiswell Playing Fields, on the edge of Worcester

A former wharehouse, converted into luxury flats, near Diglis Basin, Worcester

Our gaze was drawn to the penthouse apartment....

...and an owl installed to scare off the pigeons.

Complete with swivelling head, it looked quite realistic from a distance

Mel and Sally Cunliffe joined us once again, for a day trip from Holt Fleet to Stourport and back

Alice Jay and her mum Nic also joined us for a day

One of Muttley's besties, Ruby Jay, taking a keen interest in proceedings

The end of September saw a welcome return to Westfield House at Instow.

This weekend was originally booked for the first weekend in March, but 'Storm Emma' put paid to that.....

Instead we just had to make do with what we were offered, in this case a glorious late-summer weekend as September turned into October.

Steve and Rachel Wells, Andy and Wendy Tandy, and Roger Beazer were with us for this weekend.

Sunset as seen from our bedroom window....

....was our cue to head down to the beach for a media feeding frenzy !

Rachel blows out an unspecified number of candles on her birthday cake

Panoramic shot of Woolacombe beach

Dinner at The Quay on the Saturday night

On the Sunday, Roger and Chris headed for a surprisingly cold Woody Bay.....

...to see two reproduction Lynton & Barnstaple 2-6-2 tank engines working together for the very first time

....and their driving cabs turn out to be surprisingly complicated !

Only joking - this is actually the cockpit of Vulcan XM655

655 is the one that lives at Wellesbourne Mountford, and still does high-speed taxy-runs

Mel emerges from our tour of the somewhat cramped interior,

shortly followed by Chris

For our final weekend of the year we returned to Ilfracombe.....

....renting an apartment in Admiral's House.  To be precise, a duplex which included the windows to the left of the front door, on the ground and first floors.

It certainly has kerb-appeal....

....not to mention a decent view overlooking the harbour.  Shame about the weather though.

As ever on these occasions, the catering was first-rate

Pizza tonight !

Out for a stroll on a gloomy December afternoon

Cheers !

And finally......

Regular readers may remember this, from 2015:

The Dodge family bomb.

Originally delivered to Bristol by the Luftwaffe in 1940, it's been in the family

ever since Chris's maternal grandfather brought it home having found it whilst walking home from his

work as a Air Raid Warden, and thus elevating the concept of 'bringing your work home with you' to a whole new level.

It's been residing in various garages ever since Chris's Gran uttered those immortal words "You're not bringing that thing into the house !"

It also moved house with the rest of the family on at least two occasions, and residing in the garage beneath what was Chris's bedroom for 14 years !

Proper disposal of it is on Chris's personal 'to-do' list, but not quite at the top yet !

Well, it finally clawed it's way to the top of the list

Chris dialled 101, and was asked for photos showing it's dimensions

The powers that be decided that the Bomb Disposal guys would attend.....

....along with a WPC, and a council lorry loaded with sandbags, though deployment of the latter was not deemed to be necessary.

Here we await the verdict.  One of the Bomb Disposal guys has taken it into the truck, and shut himself in - we suspect he was x-raying it.

After five minutes it was deemed fit to travel, and the whole cavalcade departed, much to the bemusement of some of the locals.

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year !

Chris & Denise

P.S: If by any chance you feel the urge to look at previous years, here are the links:

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