Trip to Yorkshire on the Train.

We had a great weekend in the north, visiting Anna's brother and his family in Pontefract, Yorkshire for a couple of days. Uncle Dan, Auntie Rachel, Oscar, Jimmy and Sophie (15 / 10 / 6 respectively). We love staying with the Barringtons, partly because Sophie takes complete care of Sam while we are there, allowing Anna and I to relax.

I had some work to do in Doncaster, but we also got a free day to go to the beautiful old city of York, walk around the city walls, ramble up the Shambles, and see the minster. My favourite thing about York is that the Roman Emporer Constantine was actually crowned Emporer there in about AD 300 and something (They do crown emporers I assume?), as he happened to be there with the Roman Garrison when the last one died. They were usually poisoned by their wives weren't they, it would never catch on in this day and age! Constantine was a very significant Emporer as he was the one who was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and therefore the whole of the western world.

Turns out it was in 306BC, link to Wikipedia here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_(emperor)

So York is a great old place, and still boasts a fine set of city walls, which are great for a 1 hour walk round the city. Incidentally while on a roll so as to speak, I think the walls were mainly built to keep the scots out, but played an important part in the English Civil war, when Royalist York was beseiged by an army of Parliamentarians and the Scots. I've heard that a bylaw still exists in York making it legal to shoot a Scotsman within the City walls, using a Bow and Arrow.

Anyway the best thing about the trip was that we went up and back on the (Choo Choo) train, much to Sam's delight. He was also given a model of Thomas the Tank Engine by Dan and Rachel for an early Christmas present, which he now keeps with him at all times, including sleeping and at Breakast. Pictures to follow.

Anna's first Post: I thought I should contribute to this blog seeing as Pete has done it all so far. Since getting back from the Med we have been nomads in the UK, mainly based in Cornwall either at my folks place or staying at a friends holiday home on the north coast. Both lovely spots, one has a beach 2 minutes away and the other you can see the sea from.

We have been indulging in all the good english cultural things, cream teas, cup after cup of tea, warm beer (yum), cornish pasties and witnessing the unbelievable amount of hype that is going on for xmas here and it is still only november. A great experience for Sam and I am getting pretty excited about it as well! Even the smallest shops have the full on xmas lights, the nodding santa, the realistic breathing and tail wagging reindeer (quite freaky). Has to be seen to be believed. The local garden centre even had 2 real reindeer and a shetland pony imported for the kick off of santas visits.

It has been surprisingly warm here up to the last couple of days when the cold has kicked in. Susie (my sis) likes to keep me informed about how warm it is in Auckland, thanks for that!
Here are a couple of pictures of us on a walk on the north coast, fabulous scenery and there were some lovely sand beaches (that one is for EJ...!). We met some tiny ponies much to Sam's delight but had to depart when one of the ponies took a fancy to the buggy.

Sam is enjoying being a country boy, helps walk the dog, feed the horse and gets very muddy in the meantime.

I did a dingy race whilst Pete was on a stag weekend (thanks to the lovely baby sitting grandparents) which was a seriously good adrenalin buzz. First time I have raced a dingy and now seriously considering buying one (when the weather gets warmer). We did two races but only one boat finished the second race as the wind really kicked in, we were lying in second place until a slight unanticipated gust (should have been reading the wind better) capsized us. Bit of a shock to my system as I had a wet suit on (everyone has very flash drysuits) and had to go under the boat to sort the centre board out the help turn it back over. I think Pete and I might check out the catarmarans as well and see which is the more exciting before we invest in one.

We are now heading up to London for 3 weeks house sitting for some friends and then back to Cornwall were we will be house sitting for my folks whilst they are in NZ. We are still in the process of setting up the computer business which Pete has been working really hard on.

OK here's the news, but first just a word of warning.

On this site you are likely to find gratuitous over-use of pictures of Sam, as the site is being run by proud parents for that very reason. If you find it offensive when parents bore others with pictures of their offspring, please surf away now.

Right, here's a little about our sailing trip. Karl, Sarah and Summer Jeffrey kindly allowed us to sail with them on theit 34 ft Elan yacht in the Mediterranean. They had been out there for so long that they had cruised most of the Ionian and Adriatic sea, and were keen to have another small child on board to keep Summer company. Luckily Anna and I were allowed to accompany Sam! Here's a couple of pictures of the trip, and of course - Summer and Sam.

Picture 1 - Tangaroa moored stern-to at Vis (Croatia)
Picture 2 - Sam and Summer, spot the newbie!


The Trip started at Trogir, near Split in Croatia. We just flew in on easyjet and got a cab to the village, looked for a yacht and there she was. The first week we cruised mainly south west along the dalmatian coast of Croatia, heading broadly towards Dubrovnik. We stopped on Vis, Hvar, and various other islands for one night each, and then sailed another 10-20 miles to the next one. Winds were light but each afternoon there was a light Nor-westerly breeze, so we popped the spinnaker up and sailed in the sun at 3-5 knots, or motored of the wind dropped altogether. When it got too hot you just dropped the swim ladder, jumped off the bow, and grabbed the stern as it went past. It turns out you can swim at about 3 knots, but much more is difficult unless you're Thorpedo of course.

This picture shows Carl and myself extracting the spinnaker from the starboard spreader, after it trapped in the shrouds and tore on the way down. The spinnaker was a 40 year old number from Carl and Sarah's Stuart 34 (yacht - recently purchased in Auckland). Looks like 40 is too old for a spinnaker.

Picture: Sam and Summer find a new game to play - in Korcula, another spectacular ancient Croatian walled town.


We made it to Dubrovnik - a trip which was very important to me in Particular, as a result of my Grandparents (now deceased) great enthusiasm for the place. They used to cruise the med every year, or so it seemed, but always reserved their most extreme adulation for Dubrovnik. So I had to go.

The beautiful old city did not let us down, with thousands of years of history as an independent republic, standing against the power of Venice in the Adriatic, and becoming a beacon of arts and culture for the whole area. We cruised around the walled town on the first day, and on the second we sailed past the port on our way south towards Greece.


The QE2 was in town, and we were able to sail right past the old lady on our way south. Here's a shot of the dame herself, with the city of Dubrovnik in its cradle of hills in the background.
The sail past Albania took two days and a night of glassy wind-free conditions. The auto-pilot knew the way, and with four adults the night watches were short. The ships plying the Adriatic crossed our path, or overtook us at high speed, and Anna's watch (4-6am) featured a spectacular sunrise, and our being joined by a huge pod of dolphins, who to Summer and Sam's continued fascination, came and went for several hours.

At last we arrived in Greek waters, and stopped for our first night at the island or Erikoussa. Corfu was spectacular, particularly as the marina in the centre of Corfu town was actually in the castle, and you went through the castle to get to the town. Cofru town features a maze of winding streets, cafe's, cobbled stones, and old greek taverna's, and though touristy had a real charm about the place. The history was also amazing, having been under the thrall of Rome, Venice, Britain, and independent Greece at one time or another.

The Camera didn't come out much in Greece, but we cruised round another selection of beautiful islands and anchorages for another week, until it was time to come home. But that is the subject for another posting. We'd just like to thank Carl, Sarah and Summer for a spectacular trip, and hope they're having a great summer back home in Auckland.

Our first blog. We're starting this blog - partly to experience what all the blogging hype is about, but also to let our friends see what we are doing with ourselves.

This is required because of our bizarre double life, where half our mates and most of our family are in the UK, and half our mates and Anna's sister Susie (plus Tegen and Jenna) in New Zealand. We've currently come back to the UK because we missed the UK half, but now of course we miss our NZ mates - so for now this site is primarily for you!

To Summarise, we are Peter Graves (40), Anna Barrington (somewhat younger), and Sam Graves (nearly 2). We have a half-baked website called www.gravesie.co.uk where there are more pictures of Sam, and a business web site called www.channelcomputing.co.uk for our new business venture in the UK. Then there's www.superbikeracing.co.uk, a throw-back to Pete's previous life, constructed by brother and web guru Anthony Graves (www.thatsfantastic.co.uk).
Next time we'll try some real news.