Blogfromthebarn

Sun Sea, Sand, Surf .... The Stuffys sample Sugar Hill

Mr and Mrs Stuffy and ChaCha (now a fully fledged member of the Jetski appreciation society) are back from an internet-free but joyful week in sunny Barbados, staying with exceedingly hospitable friends, (many, many thanks to Sally and Martin) and enjoying some lovely beaches, great diving and superb food both from our delightful hosts and a couple of very impressive restaurants.


Lone Star, languorous dining in a beach-side setting, great food, relaxed service and a meal which went on well past nightfall.
Click on the picture for some nice holiday shots.





The Cliff is reputedly the best restaurant on the island, fine food in a dramatic and stunning location, fine wines and a dramatic and stunning bill, an experience to savour, (possibly once).


I enjoyed some really great diving over a couple of days, courtesy of West Side Scuba, I'd heartily recommend Peter, Gee and Captain Dave to anyone looking for a really good dive operation, they were great fun, delivered lots of laughs and initiated me into the the perils and pleasures of wreck penetration, diving through a torpedo hole, experiencing air pockets many metres down on classic dives in Carlyle Bay and the Stavronikitas, exploring an engine room encrusted in coral, negotiating spiral staircases and never, never ever, not for a moment, forgetting the massive moray from The Deep.

Click on the portly neoprene clad chap above for a few photos from the diving.

We're back now, we've had a great break, had a superb time, met some lovely people (and experienced the terrible consequences of failing to advise Lloyds Bank of our travel plans). We're relaxed, refreshed, invigorated and enjoying the real world with a spring in our steps and a song on our lips and, gentle reader, we've missed you.

posted by Stuffy @ 7:00 pm 0 comments

A record of high achievement



Craggy Island is a company running a couple of indoor climbing centres, Charlie and I have been climbing at the Guildford one for a year or two, well, because of the multi-kilo difference in our weights and her relative inexperience, she has been climbing and I've been the heavy thing belaying at the other end of the rope preventing her falling to the floor with a sickening thud. So, her skill and fitness has increased whilst my (already meagre) scaling skills have stagnated.

That's all going to change now, at 14 years of age she became eligible to be tested for technical competency, if successful she'd be allowed to climb and belay unsupervised, (albeit tethered to a very large sandbag when trying to keep her portly papa from plummeting to the pavement.

I'm delighted to report that she passed the hour-long exam with flying colours and I'll just point out that included restraining 95 kilos of father repeatedly throwing himself bodily off a 30 foot drop with all the suicidal passion of a lemming on a bungee, a true test of parental trust.

Well done ChaCha

posted by Stuffy @ 6:00 pm 1 comments