Spanish gold

Last year was our 25th wedding anniversary, I have to be honest and say I was looking forward to it if for no other reason that we were told many years ago that "It'd never last" even though we always knew it would....anyway we often go to Spain for our holidays and last year we(madam) decided that 'we' would ferry over and drive down through Spain.

I've driven abroad before so it bothered me not and generally I am a good 'sailor' however our crossing from Portsmouth to Bilbao was foul! to be honest it was fine until we entered the Bay of Biscay when things got lets say a little rough, this was not helped by the fact that the good lady had booked a luxury cabin at the front of the ship at deck level ...a nice thought but we felt every single movement of the ship and there were plenty of them!

The crossing was roughly a day long and we saw plenty of dolphins and I am sure at least one beaked whale however I'd forgotten a pair of binoculars (I have around 40 pairs!), madam said " don't worry I am sure you'll get some at the car boot" (where we stop there is a very good car boot).

We arrived in Bilbao (Santurzi) around 5 ish and drove to Burgos( an hour away) for our first overnight at a nice little family hotel/B&B (the Las Vegas  http://hotelasvegas.es/index.en.html  ), it was bizarrely on the edge of a industrial estate but was quiet and very good value, very clean and comfortable and the locals were friendly in the extreme.
we went into the town next day and found Burgos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgos 
to be a nice little city worth a visit with connections to El Cid I believe?

After a decent lunch in Burgos we set off  down to Toledo, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Spain 
 we arrived there about 5 hours later so again around 5pm ish.....now imagine York with sunshine on a grander scale and you won't be far out....Toledo was stunning!
and our hotel The Abaceria http://www.hotelabaceria.es/en
was fantastic with wonderful views over the old city, as we stepped out of the car at the hotel we all but melted as it was 40 degrees centigrade in the car it was almost arctic.

After a great evening meal and an even better nights sleep as I was knackered from the crossing and drive down we went for a few hours looking around Toledo and loved it, we should have stayed longer and will be visiting there again later this year at the same hotel in the same room overlooking the pool! around 2 we set off for our final destination of Nerja http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerja
a quaint seaside town on the south coast but nothing like Benidorm et al.

We arrived around 7pm and parked up at our rented villa and nipped out for a quick meal then returned back to the villa for another good sleep, nothing much to say about the villa apart from it's one we often use, it suits us, is bright, clean big enough for six has off road parking it's own pool and is very close to the town centre, sadly they only really rent it out to people they know.

The next morning (a Sunday) we wandered up to the car boot, already it was around 34c so sun cream, hat and sunglasses were in fact PPE and required....I've had some really good stuff off the car boot there over the years and on the first stall I bagged a pair of Sendra 'cowboy boots for ten euro I'll post those later on a cowboy boot post!
Further round the good lady wife spooted a pair of binoculars on a stall but at 20 euro and being a pair of 'Boots' I passed as they are only average, three stalls down I saw these German made Hensoldt Wetzlar 12x 20 Stereor's and snapped them up at just 10 euro, internally they are bright and too clean to even bother stripping out and cleaning the internals, the case needs a bit of work but the binoculars are great and I used them often whilst there up in the foothills of the Pyrenees and more importantly on our way back up in the hills near Bilbao on our last stop over three weeks later and then again on the ferry back to watch dolphins, sadly I didn't see any beaked whales this time!

 

optically almost perfect if a little dim in dull conditions due to small objective lenses, these Hensoldt Wetzlar Stereor 12x 20's with inlaid wire markings are a joy to use,

Car Boot Finds

A quick blitz around our local and recently moved car boot brought slim pickings, I almost walked away in disgust at the lack of "owt good" but my good lady spotted a Stratton dress shirt set with some extra bits and pieces;

 

and it's contents

 

and the dress set less just one collar stud which hopefully I can replace? having said that I'don't wear seperate collars so it'll be fine as it is for my Tuxedo nights!

 

I spotted this 1940's? British made Ronson lighter in pretty good condition, It needs some work and a overhaul but should work fine when finished....I don't smoke but still it'll be nice to gert it working.

 

 

 

the two screws in the bottom are useless as one is bent and the other has been replaced with what looks like a BIC pen sealing cap?

 

dismantled ready for cleaning

 

I'll post an update when I've overhauled it and re-applied the leather? covering.

 

Total spend was £4 so on reflection not a bad trip after all......I had a very brief moment of high excitment when I spied a beautiful gents brown 'Balmoral' boot in a box, it was in very good condition indeed for a 1930's boot but sadly there was only one and it was in my size too!

 

 

Itchy & Scratchy, Smooth & Shiney

Strange title it may be but it's a pretty good description of two of my favourite materials (the other is velvet but that as they say is another story!)

I've long hated wool as reminders of itchy childhood jumpers, shirts and dressing gowns put me off it for years!
As I've got older my hatred of it has wained probably as I don't seem to be as affected by it's inherent itchyness anymore -unless it's hot in which case I wouldn't be wearing it anyway!
Now I can enjoy it for all it's virtues, I love to see all the different weaves and patterns that are available and tweeds especially give me a buzz, even the slightly funny smell wool gives off now brings me a comfortable feeling inside.

Now silk has always been a favourite of mine, I love it's sheen and it's differing textures, the way it slips through your fingers and it's softness and lightness next to the skin, the downside can be ties and cravats often come loose due to the materials inherent slippyness but hey it's silk so I can live with that!

As an example of both here's a few silk pocket squares I bagged as a lot recently and a nice Munrospun wool tie;

William Lennon boots

A few years ago I needed a new pair of traditional leather cycling shoes as modern ones often won't fit with 'old fashioned' clips and straps that many of my old bicycles are fitted with.
I looked around but could'nt find anywhere that made or sold them.
A few weeks later a friend told me of William Lennon's in Stoney Middleton in Derbyshire but by that time I'd managed to find a pair through a member of The Veteran Cycle Club .

A few years passed and again I 'needed' new footwear and again the name of William Lennon came up, this time I needed a pair of 'work' boots, I searched the net and this time found their website which I quickly perused.
I decided on a pair of 78tc boots in brown, I phoned to make an appoinment to view and try on a few pairs as most are made to order.
 A week or so later I visited the shop in Stoney Middleton and was immediately transported back around 100 years, the factory had many old and still working machines and these coupled with highly skilled staff and traditional building methods make boots to rival anything else on offer!
I ordered my pair and was able to change the leather for a 'zug' style grained leather, waiting time was around 6 or so weeks.

I was phoned by them roughly 7 weeks later and collected my spanking new boots shortly afterwards.
I was extremely pleased with the boots, at first they were pleasantly firm but soon 'broke in' to a very comfortable pair of boots easily comparable with my Loake Bedales.

I've had them now for around a year and they've been used at least once a week occassionaly twice for a 5 or so hours a time in all weathers over all types of terrain, they've not leaked or split, no seams or stitching has come loose...in effect they do exactly what it says on the tin only with real presence.

I polish them with Kiwi every other time I use them and they've developed a nice patina, would I buy any more boots from Lennons? well I was impressed by their service, their friendly staff, their old world workshop but most of all by the quality of their products in short you betcha I would...i fact I am already planning my next pair, here's few shots a year down the line;

 

Here's a couple of shots when I recieved them;

 

Here's a link to the site and the boots I chose 

http://www.williamlennon.co.uk/footwear/78tc-traditional-work-boot.html

 

Chance Discoveries

Luckily my job enables me to travel all over the shire, to this end I have a full list of all the charity shops  in my area to visit and when I am passing I often spend my lunch break perusing their wares.

Often there's little or nothing to be had but on occassion you can strike textile gold(or leather in the form of gloves, shoes and belts NOT cat suits, body harness and other dodgy stuff as that'd be wrong)!

On the subject of belts, good men's belts certainly in my experience are very hard to find, I don't think I've bought more than five in the last three years or so...you just don't see them out there, perhaps men hang on  to their belts seeing them as a 'good piece of kit' who knows?

Anyway I digress here's a couple of wool ties I bought last week, both are made from wool one knitted and one woven, first up is a woven Tootal 'green quality' from the mid 50's-ish;

 

Above is the Italian knitted one made for Cyril Castle of London, it has some minor issues in that both ends have some moth? holing however I should be able to shorten it by about an inch which would make it all good again.....hopefully!

 

.....and here it is after I cut and restored it back to useable condition;

 

Can you spot the repaired section?