#ThrowbackThursday - where we were on this day in Marchs past

My twelfth #ThrowbackThursday post already and these trips down memory lane are some of my favourite posts to put together. I love remembering everything we have seen, heard and done since I began blogging in 2012!

March 2013 was a life-changing month for both myself and for Dave although we didn't realise its full implications at the time. I blogged a particularly apt Soren Kirkegaard walking quote on the 27th of the month as we were walking daily around Austin, Texas, at the time and had previously had a week in wonderful New Orleans. I thought of this trip as 'holiday' and wasn't blogging my travels as I do now so there aren't any Austin photos. (The image instead is Dave's competition winning shot of the Brecon Beacons.) Our house was so bitterly cold on our return from America that we decided we never wanted to winter in the UK again. As it turned out, this was the seed of our caravan adventure and we haven't!

Bilbao harbour through
the ferry window 

A year later we had just returned from our first touring winter and were pitched up in Bailey at a nice Horam campsite while we got our Polegate house sorted out and habitable again. I remember feeling overwhelmed by how much accumulated stuff I had and Bailey felt much more like home than our house did. Although we were only away about five months I now had a remarkably different perspective on how I wanted to live and what was important to my day-to-day happiness. I had taken a sabbatical from my job which then wasn't honoured by the company concerned so a bout of eBaying decluttering provided the dual benefits of a income until I found alternative employment and the therapeutic effects of a good decluttering. We also began thinking about whether Polegate was a actually where we wanted to continue living or if a complete change of scene would be beneficial.

Walking man in Limoges 

March 2015 saw us visiting Limoges in France and I still love this metal walking man we saw attached to a wall there. Limoges  has a very pretty medieval old town. The art deco railway station is definitely worth a look too. I had forgotten how grey the French weather was until I saw the foreboding clouds over the station in my photograph!
We were about seven months into what would become twenty months of wonderful caravan living having sold our house the previous September. We had wintered mostly in Spain and were now making our way northwards for an exciting spring and summer touring the UK.

Spring colour in the Perigord 

We were in the beautiful Perigord region of France in March 2016, again heading back northwards after a sunny winter split between French and Spanish campsites. Spring flowers were everywhere and our Bois du Coderc campsite was surprisingly quiet despite being in the ACSI book. We think it is just far enough off the main European migration routes to avoid the majority of caravanners and motorhomers. Great for us as we could enjoy a tranquil week there - perhaps not so good for the campsite's profits!
Lifewise we had decided we wanted to buy a lock-up-and-leave flat somewhere and Dave thought that the south west of England would suit us best. We planned pretty intensive flat-hunting on our return and were already spending hours on RightMove. We just needed to spot that perfect place ... !

And now we're heading up through France again with our heads full of plans for 2017!