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Home is where the heart is.

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on September 9th 2022. It’s just over five years since we sold our cottage, bought Olivia Rose and left our much-loved Welsh hills to cruise through Europe. Although we might have left the UK in body, we hadn’t truly left it in ourContinue reading “Home is where the heart is.”

A trip to the Netherlands

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on August 30th 2022. We’ve left the boat for a week and headed north, traveling to pastures new. How do I begin to describe the Netherlands? It’s a wonderful thing when a country takes you so completely by surprise. We’ve travelled much ofContinue reading “A trip to the Netherlands”

The end of the season

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on August 19th 2022. At the end of the last blog we were wondering whether we had time to carry on down the Somme. The route runs for another sixty kilometres or so to the coast, ending at the charming town of StContinue reading “The end of the season”

The Canal de la Somme

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on August 14th 2022. This week we joined the Canal de la Somme and a very beautiful stretch of water it is too. Beautiful but weedy. The word ‘weedy’ doesn’t adequately describe it. Weeds are often spindly, insubstantial and if we apply theContinue reading “The Canal de la Somme”

Hidden away

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on August 5th 2022. With the van safely retrieved after our bike journey last week, it was time to move on again in Olivia Rose. The van could stay put for a week or so and then it would be a muchContinue reading “Hidden away”

Four rivers

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on July 29th 2022. This week we have covered 200 kilometres and crossed four rivers – but not by boat. This journey was made on our bikes. There comes a point each year where we reach a good position for going backContinue reading “Four rivers”

Testing times

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on July 22nd 2022. The last two weeks have been a testing time for us here on Olivia Rose, in stark contrast to the euphoria of our trip to Paris. Succumbing to Covid whilst living a nomadic life brings its own particularContinue reading “Testing times”

Paris – Part two

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on July 14th 2022. Apologies for the delay in posting this blog but things have gone slightly awry. Two days after we left Paris we both came down with Covid. It has completely wiped us out. Thankfully we managed to get intoContinue reading “Paris – Part two”

Paris – part one

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from the Olivia Rose Diaries on July 6th 2022. With five years of cruising under our belts we have learnt that arriving in a city by water, rather than by car or train, gives a different perspective. After a rather noisy night on the quay at Melun weContinue reading “Paris – part one”

Paris here we come

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from the Olivia Rose Diaries on July 1st 2022. We’ve spent most of the last week on the River Yonne, heading for the point where it joins the River Seine at Montereau. It is a beautiful, peaceful river and we enjoyed it all the more intensely because weContinue reading “Paris here we come”