Last of the Summer Wine Walkers at Cally Palace

Our Walking weekend at Cally Palace Hotel in Gatehouse of Fleet. We all arrived on Friday about lunch time and immediately set out to do a 4 mile walk in the grounds of Cally Estate, while 4 of the gang played a round of Golf. 

The photographer managed to get in this photo as Martin took the photo.

Gaye and Aileen at Threave Gardens on Saturday

Pre Dinner drinks on Friday evening in the Conservatory

Alix and Gaye walking round Threave Gardens

Castle Douglas in the distance on our Saturday morning walk

Tom, John, Niall, David, and Martin on our Saturday 4 mile walk 

There were 10 of us on our Saturday Threave Estate walk of 4 miles. That's the largest number of Last of the Summer Wine Walkers since we all met at Lochmaben pre covid when there were 12 of us and of course that included Peter Bart-Smith who is no longer with us and Elizabeth who was invited but just couldn't face it without Peter. The weekend was dedicated to Peter and he was constantly in our thoughts.

The Cally estate taken very early on a beautiful Sunday morning while on my morning walk

Alix and Gaye enjoying Coffee and Cake at Threave Gardens cafe

The Golfers on Friday afternoon. David and Alix beat Tom and John

The Cally Palace Golf Course. It was a splendid weekend with glorious weather and excellent company. The hotel staff were excellent and really looked after us and the food was superb. 

 

Little and large Aircraft

Fraser and Gaye and I left San Francisco airport within a few hours of each other on Sunday evening and early Monday morning. This is the General Motors Gulfstream which he flew to Detroit on early Monday morning. It has a capacity of 12 and flies regularly between SFO and DTT. If there is less than 5 booked in it they have to go scheduled. As Mountain View is the new IT Centre for GM it is regularly full now.

The inside of the Gulfstream

The A380 similar to the one we flew on from San Francisco to London Heathrow. It seats 480 and we were upstairs near the tail in Business Class. Great luxury and fabulous food, but quite a bit of turbulence on our journey.

Traditional Family Photo of the Graham Clan

Whenever we come to USA to visit Fraser and his family we always take a family photo on the day we depart home. The kids are growing up so fast and we were very sad at leaving them. This has been our quietest ever trip with no trips to Utah or weekends away. We are getting older so a quiet time suited us and weekends are taken up with sporting events with the kids. I walked my trusty Golden Retriever friend Sammy at least twice a day. He is such a loveable rogue, but very good natured. Fraser is enjoying his new job with GM and will be heading off to Detroit for 4 days early tomorrow morning, but with the luxury of flying in GMs Corporate Jet.

A busy day of Soccer

I started the day with a walk with Sammy who seemed to sense it was my last full day with him and he followed me everywhere.

Then the Graham grandchildren got ready for their 3 matches at 3 different places in Silicon Valley. A logistical nightmare but Fraser & Leslie had it covered.

The Graham name well to the fore. Tommy won 4-1, Eleanor won 8-1, and sadly Elliot lost 0-5.

Earlier Elliot and Tommy made us breakfast of pancakes.

Saratoga Gardens

My faithful companion for three weeks.

Just some of the many lovely gardens that Sammy and I pass each morning on our Saratoga walk. They all have sprinklers or drip feed irrigation systems or they just would not grow.

Saratoga High School

We took Eleanor to Saratoga High School tonight for her Soccer Practice. Saratoga is the same size as Dumfries but the sporting facilities at the school are fantastic. An Athletics Stadium, 12 Tennis Courts, and pitches for Soccer, Baseball, and American Football. This is the full size swimming pool.

The Athletics Stadium

Soccer Pitches.

12 Tennis Courts. As Saratoga is one of the wealthiest towns in Silicon Valley these facilities are probably not the same in all High Schools in America but it certainly shows how America spends money on sport.

A BBQ in the Yard

A great BBQ in the yard with Smoked Spare Ribs that Fraser had been preparing since first thing this morning.

The Smoked Spare Ribs disappeared very quickly.

Some of the kids.

A good supply of fancy sweets.

The kids played a board game called “Bang” which looked to be hilarious.

Elliot and Maxine who didn’t play the board game.

A most enjoyable evening.