Harvey the dog!

So when we left you in yesterday's post, we were attempting to sleep in the Manchester airport. We've tried this before on some oddball connecting flights or like yesterday when we had an early morning train connection. It never seems to go well, and this time was no exception!

So you pretty much resign yourself to a sleepless night. I had actually asked at the info desk where they thought might be a good place to spend the night, and the guy laughed, but then he was very helpful and directed us to the Jet2.com check-in desk because all the flights had left for the day and there would be nobody around. They were totally correct, and the seating was decent without any armrests so that you could lie down.

However, the first flight out in the morning was around 6:00am. Why would people start arriving at 2:30am for a 6:00am flight ?? I don't know why, but apparently they do! They didn't even open the check in desk until well after 4:00am, so these people were well ahead of schedule. Anyhow, they were pretty noisy so I went off looking for another more peaceful spot. We moved, but it was no better. Ruth got a bit more sleep, but I ended up using my free half hour of internet access, and then just doing some work on the computer.

6:00am came around and we decided to move over to the train station and wait for our 7:11am train.

Waiting at the Manchester airport train station.

Our train left right on time at 7:11am. Saturday morning, and there was hardly anybody on the train. It was about a 45 minute ride to the town of Crewe, where we had a 15 minute wait for our connecting train to Hereford.

A guy on the first train had spoken to us, and through the conversation he said that the train ride to Hereford was quite scenic, but it was so foggy we couldn't see a thing! Oh well, I grabbed a few minutes sleep to pass the time.

We arrived in Hereford at about 9:45, and our hosts Rick and Helen were there to greet us.

Helen had contacted us back at the end of June through our profile at www.mindmyhouse.com to see if we were interested in house and dog sitting for them while they go on vacation to British Columbia for three weeks in September. A few emails back and forth and we came to an agreement. That's why we're here!

It was only a 20 minute drive to the village of Ewyas Harold where they live with their twelve year old twin daughters Annabel and Emily in a 17th century cottage called "The Glebe".

Where we are living for the next three weeks.

Oh, and Harvey the dog! Harvey is nine or ten years old, and they only adopted him last year. He's a big friendly guy and we're going to enjoy looking after him for the next three weeks.

Harvey.

Kevin and Harvey.

Harvey, Helen, and Ruth.

So we got well acquainted with the family and in the evening, Rick did up some burgers on the grill. They don't leave until Tuesday, so we've got some time to get to know things around here before they go. Slept like a log last night! It's a beautiful morning, so maybe we'll go out exploring a little bit.

(A) The village of Ewyas Harold.

We are only about 5 miles from the border of Wales, and the huge Brecon Beacons National Park so we're looking forward to doing some more hiking there.