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

Winter Walk by Lesley Collinson 

I've been less strict than usual about choosing ThrowbackThursday posts from the very nearest date in years past. Otherwise this post could have just been book review roundups and I thought we would all prefer more variety than that!

Back in 2012 I saw a beautiful art exhibition at the Chapter 12 Wine Bar in Hailsham, Sussex. I had thought I would miss seeing Lesley Collinson's work there due to commitments elsewhere, but her paintings were already displayed in the venue when I visited for a gig. The image above, Winter Walk, was my favourite.

The pretty Serro da Bica campsite near Ourique 

In 2013 we were caravanning at the pretty Serro da Bica campsite near Ourique in Portugal and my 27th December blog post was a description of the fabulous meal our Dutch hosts had cooked us all for Christmas Day. Three courses and ridiculous quantities of food for each! We learned a new Dutch word - 'outbouken' - which means to sit back and let your stomach hang out after having eaten too much.

Teepee tiles at El Quinto 

2014 Christmas was spent at Torrevieja in Spain and on Boxing Day we drove to Mojacar in search of good walking country. Mojacar is perfect for hiking as it has a good range of routes and terrains. We had stayed out the other side of the town the year before and this time pitched up on the El Quinto campsite closer to the pueblo than the seaside resort. The campsite and the walking were both great so we ended up staying there for three weeks.

Still Autumn in December 

Last year we Christmassed (is that a word?) in France, at a tranquil campsite in St Jean Pla de Corts which is only about a 10-15 minute drive from where we spent this Christmas! My blog post on the 27th December describes a superb walk we took on Christmas Day in the hills and along a narrow canal above Ceret. We even got to see a waterfall, albeit from a distance as I didn't fancy scrambling over too many rocks to get there.

It feels quite weird to see that we were in different countries for each of the past four Christmases. Perhaps we should have gone somewhere random this year instead of repeating France!