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As we feared, it’s a wet day today. Nevertheless we caught a bus a few stops along the lake. We’re here to see Chateau de Chillon. It’s Switzerland’s most popular historic attraction. A few photos.

It’s a really impressive castle dating back to the 11th century. It was so well fortified that it was never taken by force until the invention of heavy cannons in the 16th century, when soldiers from Bern managed to eject the Counts of Savoy.

Another bus ride takes us to the nearby town of Vevey. It’s a really nice place, with lots of attractive cobbled streets.

By the lake we found a series of sculptures of a girl riding a seahorse.

The lovely old paddle steamer ‘La Suisse’ approaches the quay.

We had lunch and caught the bus back to Montreux. The rain got a lot heavier, so we retreated to our hotel. Wengen tomorrow.

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Today we are bound for Switzerland. Our first stop is the town of Montreux on the shore of lake Geneva. It’s a lovely afternoon.

The lake is quite choppy.

The famous statue of Freddie Mercury.

Lovely old market hall.

Like most Swiss resort towns, Montreux has a casino. You can wander in and watch the gamblers playing roulette and blackjack.

We’re not here for gambling however. British rock band Queen did a lot of their recording here, and there’s a Queen Experience exhibition in the casino.

There’s lots of memorabilia, and a tiny theatre where you can watch a film about the band.

You can even have a go at mixing a Queen track yourself. Here’s Val in the studio.

After all that excitement we were hungry and thirsty, and we found a splendid pub for dinner.

Tomorrow is looking like a wet day, but we’ll try to get out and about nonetheless.

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We’re off to visit Emily as we haven’t seen her since April. First stop is Brockham in Surrey to collect Colin. We stayed at a super little b&b overlooking the village green.

We had a lovely dinner at one of the village pubs.

And a few beers at the Tap House.

The next morning the three of us set off for Fareham in Hampshire. We met Emily and caught a bus to nearby Gosport, where we caught a ferry.

The boat takes us across the water to Portsmouth.

From Portsmouth we walked around the coast to Southsea. There’s a really good museum here which tells the story of the allied landings in Normandy in 1944. This landing craft took part in the invasion. It still carries its Swiss made anti aircraft guns, visible pointing skywards at the far end of the vessel.

A long beach leads towards Southsea pier. I was surprised at how few people were around on such a nice day.

We had ice creams on the pier and headed back to Fareham by taxi. We enjoyed a night out with a Chinese buffet and a few beers. A very nice couple of days.

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In a part of Sitges called Port Allegré is a curious looking building with a castellated tower.

I’ve no idea what this building is, but it’s in very good condition, so it’s either contemporary (and therefore fake) or it’s been extensively renovated. There’s no access to the public that I could find.

It’s possible to walk all around the building but the tower remains inaccessible, which seems a shame, as the views from the top towards the sea must be wonderful.

We’re almost at the end of our holiday on the Spanish costas, and we’ve had a great time. Back to Shropshire tomorrow.

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We’ve eaten at some very good restaurants this week, but it’s hard to beat the simple tapas bars that seem to be on every corner. Tapas dishes are small and inexpensive, so we order a selection of meat, fish and vegetable choices. They arrive a few minutes apart, which is ideal as it prolongs the dining experience leaving plenty of time to enjoy a cold beer and some conversation. Here’s Val with some squid and spicy potatoes.

Supermoon from our balcony when we got back to the hotel

This morning we had our usual walk before it got too hot. This is the old village.

A very grand cemetery, for the good and the great of the area.

It’s almost time for more tapas.

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After all yesterday’s excitement we were ready for a quieter day today. We had a very late breakfast and strolled down to the southern end of the village where there are a couple of huge hotels. After ice creams we headed up to the rooftop bar at our hotel. The kids from the local sailing club have lessons after school, and it’s nice to watch.

The village is much quieter now that the weekend is over, so we shouldn’t have any trouble finding a nice restaurant for dinner tonight.

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Today our dear friend Montserrat and her family paid us a visit from their home in nearby Barcelona. We had a lovely lunch to celebrate Val’s birthday, which somehow lasted all afternoon.

Ferran came on his bike. It’s a lot faster than the train, but nobody accepted his offer of a lift back home.

We had time for a wander around the village with Giovanni and Montserrat before it was time for them to head back to the city.

A very nice afternoon, spent reminiscing about when we were all a lot younger. Happy 60th Val!