❤️Love At First Sight…Village: 18 Years On!!! ❤️

From ‘Sight Village’ To ‘Supercars’, what a journey…So Far!! 💪🏼 😀

 This weekend we’re celebrating a brobdingnagian 18 years since the ‘Blind Sightseers’ first met at Sight Village, Birmingham, UK. We’ve been simply stunned how God has joined us together with the incredible love we thought we’d never find, taken us to places we thought we could never go…And He always gives beyond anything we can imagine…And it’s not over yet??!!! 😲 🙏 

Our Journey in Photos…😀 

2004; Two Souls Entwine…

2005: Weymouth, UK…

2006: Heacham, Norfolk, UK…

2007 – The Big Day!

2008: Old Hunstanton, Norfolk UK…

2009: VIP Hot Air Balloon Flight…

2010:..3rd Wedding Anniversary…

2011: Friday Street, Surrey, UK…

2012: Castle Rising Castle, Norfolk, UK…

Me & Sarah Worshiping with music to the Lord

2013: 6th Wedding Anniversary…

2014: Florence, Italy…

2015: Saint Kitts, Caribbean…

2016: Caribbean Cruise…

2017: Greek Islands…

2022

2018: Tough Mudder & Barbados…

2019

2019: The Unimog, Bonaire & Barbados…

2020: Trail Snow & Ultra Step Challenge…

2021: Doughnuts & Football…

2022: Lamborghini & Ferrari Drive…

Sarah in the Lamborghini Gallardo 5.0L V10 in 2022 😀 
Steve (me) in the Ferrari F430 Spider 4.3L V8 in 2022 😀

To Be Continued…🤔

iReminisce: Palma By Plane

Yay, the plane…

I was excited to be travelling on an airplane again, and was totally surprised i managed to capture a piece of Palma upon take off! 😲  

Palma from Thomson Dreamliner

iReminisce: Warrior Princess

Sarah stood directly behind a warriour throwing a spear pretending to throw it too

This has to be one of my favorite photos!! I’m glad to see Sarah(The Greatest Warrior” parting some of her knowledge and instruction to an inferior ranked warrior on how to correctly throw a spear! 💪🏼

View our full day in Alicante

iReminisce: The Coffee Port

My fave place “The Coffee Port” on the Thomson Dream cruise ship (now Marella Dream) for a birthday Cappuccino with a stunning view! 😲  

A Cappuccino on a window seat looking out over a beautiful blue seaat sea

⇧ My fave seat in the Coffee Port ⇧

iReminisce: The Unimog

The 1961 Yellow Unimog…

Awww friends….Let me introduce you to this Yellow, 1961 Unimog…..have you seen the tires, lol! It threw us around like crazy and i still can’t believe that he didn’t slow down for anything. There is no way a vehicle can hit rocks, huge pot holes, climb cracked hills and go around tight bends whilst travelling at break neck speed, it would have destroyed anything else and left them in a pile of spare parts, lol. I’m not sure they issued these with brake pedals! 😎

Sarah & i infront of the yellow 1961 Uniog

View our full day (Sarah’s Birthday) at Bonaire

iReminisce: Surf & Smile

Back at the dock…🛳 

After a short boat ride back to the ship, we had enough time to get changed, leave our bags and have a well needed iced-coffee before heading out to explore as much as we can without getting lost before the ship leaves.

We walked up one street and turned right before Sarah stopped and said “Wow, she’s having her photo taken in front of that cool wall art/sign. Quick get one of me” “Ok my lovely, you’re wearing your new yellow Michael Kors t-shirt too, i hope i get everything in”. Sarah had bought this t-shirt for our holidays and couldn’t wait to put on the lovely bright colours and flowers.

Sarah stood on a surf board in her new yellow Michael Kors t-shirt.

 This is one of my fave photos as it shows Sarah’s smile is as bright as her t-shirt. 

View our full day at Aruba

iReminisce: The Coconut Cake

Speightstown, Barbados…

And speaking of lovely architecture and colonial towns, your first stop is at Speightstown. Here you’ll enjoy seeing historic buildings and beautiful tropical beaches.

The tour guide kept talking about the PRC Bakery at our first stop, and said she was going in to get something for the trip. “OOohhhh maybe we could get a small cake for your birthday” “Yes let’s follow her and see what goodies they have?” As we walked in to the little bakery the guide said “Oh yes a lead pipe” as she picked one up and went to pay for it. “What’s a lead pipe?” i said to the guide “It’s a local cake but it can be used as a weapon too as it’s very heavy”. Sarah then passed me a bag with a cake in and said hold this “Wow this weighs about the same as a 16lb bowling ball” “everything is so heavy in here, nothing has fluffy cream like in England as it would melt instantly, lol”.

Sarah told the baker that we loved coconut and did e have anything with coconut in them? We only got 1 coconut slice as we didn’t know how sweet it was or even if we liked it?! 😋   

Me stood outsede the shop holding the coconut slice with my thumb sticking up and a big grin on my face!

 I never (ever) stop talking about this coconut slice as it’s the nicest cake i’ve ever tasted! The bell on the ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ was destroyed as this flew to the top of the cakes list! If i’d have known i would’ve stayed in the bakery and continued to eat every single last one of them! But we only had that one and we’ve never been able to go back since this monumental occasion. Oh yes…This monumental occasion is my lovely wife Sarah’s birthday! 🤣

View our full “Barbados 360 Island Tour

☀️ #66 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #4” 🇧🇧 (2019)

The Blind Sightseers logo

   Hi friends and welcome to Day 66 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

map of the Caribbean islands with the blue GPS marker on Barbados

  My ‘Blind Sightseers’ shirt collection…🤣 

All of my Caribbean shirts in a row in my wardrobe in room 112

 I wanted to take a photo of all of my shirts that i’d collected whilst on my travels, to show everyone (especially Sarah’s dad) that i don’t only wear black, lol! 🤣 

The Gap…

We had a final walk along the gap to say a sad farewell…When Sarah found another way for us to cool down, lol! 🤣  

Sarah and Banks beer truck

 My birthday Bajan towel…🇧🇧 

On my birthday, Sarah also bought me this great colourful towel from the gift shop…I wouldn’t stop talking about it! I said “Hey Sarah can you take a photo of me on the beach holding my towel in the wind? I can hold it out like a flag”. I was failing miserably to hold it against the wind…But just as i was about to give up, George and Cynthia walked past and asked if we’d like them to take some photos?! 💪🏼 😀  

Me Barbados towel

Me and Sarah with Barbados towel

Me and Sarah with Barbados towel

Then as we were finishing…A kind person asked if we’d like a photo all together? Wow another photo we’ll cherish. 😀 

Me, Sarah, Cynthia and George

 We’d had an amazing time here in our fave place on earth…But it was time for a few more farewell photos before we head back home. 

Me in my Barbados birthday t-shirt

Me under palm trees

Sarah on Barbados beach

Sarah on Barbdos beach

Sarah on Barbdos beach

Me chilling on a sun bed

 The final sunset…

Just as we were watching the sun fall away for the last time here in paradise…A kind lady asked if we’d like a photo together? Awww what a lovely surprise on our final evening, more precious memories.😀  

Me, Sarah and the Sunset

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☀️ #65 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #3” 🇧🇧 (2019)

The Blind Sightseers logo

   Hi friends and welcome to Day 65 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

 Good morning friends!  

Room 112 Southern Palms

Palm tree on the left with an empty picture postcard view of the caribbean beach and seaNOPE..I just can’t get bored of the view…Ever! 😀  

Breakfast and bathing…💪🏼  

NOPE…I can’t get bored of this breakfast either, lol! 🤣  

Then it’s time for Sarah to have a swim in the pool whilst i try and not get fried. ☀️   

Sarah in the empty pool enjoying the sun

Me sat in blue Caribbean shirt next to the swimming pool and the beach

 Sarah showed me where to get the lovely ice cold water (with cucumber or lemon) so i could refill while she was in the pool. Once i’ve been shown i’m pretty good at remembering where to go and what to do. The water was on a table underneath a tent like thing…And i could just make out a shape of a palm tree above it but i didn’t know it was glowing! ☀️ 🌴 

Palm tree in the sunshine  with the water tent in view

The beach and Bajan blast…🌊

Photo of the pink hotel taken from the beach with palm trees around

Wow…I don’t think we’ve ever been anywhere that is so accessible for us. It’s so much easier for us to be independent and do everything that we want to without too much hassle or struggle…And everything is so near by and we find it hard to even leave Southern Palms.

Speaking of which…”Steve let’s go on the beach” Sarah said as she blew pas me! I love this time of day and i’ll never get bored of seeing Sarah run, splash and play on this empty Caribbean beach. My only struggle is trying to point the camera towards the happy sounds! 🤣   

Sarah on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah on Dover beach in Barbados

 After another fantastic time on the beach, it’s time to dry off and cool off…And what better way to cool off than a iced coffee at Sharkey’s! 😀  

Sharkey’s Tropical Cafe…

Sharkeys cafe in Barbados

Sharkey s Tropical Cafe Sign

Sarah sat with an iced coffee in the very colourful Sharkey's Tropical Cafe

 Surf and turf…🍔 

 And guess what?? It’s time for  the ‘Southern Burger’ and the ‘Shrimp Cocktail’ again, Sarah says the shrimp are as big as your face and she’s never seen anything like it before! 🤣  

The shrimp cocktail

Southern burger

Sarah’s beautiful new green dress…

Sarah was excited to wear her beautiful new green dress, and as our room was right on the front facing the beach i said i’ll stay on the balcony and get some photos…No pressure, lol! 🤣 I didn’t have my ‘Big Burtha’ (Nikkor 80-400mm lens) or any of my DSLR’s but i did have my iPhone and tested the digital pinch zoom range! 😀  

Sarah and the green dress on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah and the green dress on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah and the green dress on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah and the green dress walking on the beach

Sarah and the green dress

Sarah and the green dress walking on the beach

Sarah and the green dress

Sarah and the green dress on Dover beach in Barbados

 Hey look who’s back…? 😲  

Sarah, Cynthia and George

Just as Sarah was walking back from the beach we heard “Sarah…Hello we’re back” it was George and Cynthia! They’d had a lovely time visiting family in Saint Vincent and you’ll never guess…?

If you remember when we stayed here last year and i had ‘The Coconut Slice’ in Speightstown on Sarah’s birthday island tour…Well obviously i was telling George about it and he said “We have a local one like that can Saint Vincent called ‘Red Belly’ and it sounds the same”. 

Then…🤔  

George said “Put out your hand” and continued to place a ‘Red Belly’ coconut slice into my hand! I couldn’t believe it…His kindness was ineffable. He continued I went to the bakery on the island and they only had 2 left and were not making any more, i got one for you and one for me”. 😀 I don’t have the hyperbole to describe the coconut slice, and sorry i don’t have a photo as it disappeared so quickly…Not sure where it went, lol! 😋 🤣 

The Bajan sunset…

me stood in front of the amazing sunset

 Wow what a relaxing day on this incredible holiday. Thankfully we have 1 more full day at this beautifully colourful place before we head back to Gatwick and the cold, wet and grey London hue!

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #64 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #2” 🇧🇧 (2019)

The Blind Sightseers logo

   Hi friends and welcome to Day 64 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

 Good morning friends! 

Breakfast and braides…🥓🍌🍉🍍🍊

After the consistently delicious, fresh and tasty breakfast we headed off to the salon. It was the same lady from last year, so she knew exactly how we liked our hair and we had a good catch up too! 😀   

My braides and Caribbean shirt

Me and Sarah's braides

Our new friends George and Cynthia…

Me Cynthia Sarah and George

If you remember the 1st day of our cruise in Aruba, we met George and Cynthia at the evening meal when we’d shared a table. We had no idea that they were also staying at Southern Palms for a week too. They had stay here 20 years ago and wondered if it had changed and to get a photo at the same spot they’d had a photo back then. George and Cynthia were going to Saint Vincent to visit family for a few days and we’d meet back up with them for the last couple of days. 

But before they left (as they are so loving and kind)for Saint Vincent they knew it was our birthdays and as a complete surprise present they bought us a top each with Barbados written on them. Yes mine is the stupendous blue Carribbean shirt i’m wearing! 😀   

Me and Sarah with our birthday tops

 Right now we don’t have to fight against the wind all holiday…Let’s see what we’ll be doing on this cool excursion. 

Harrison’s Cave…

Go deeper underground with a visit to Harrison’s Cave. All limestone stalactites, caverns and grottoes, it’s like taking a trip to the moon. Add rock pools, streams and some red and orange mood-lighting, and it takes on a volcano-like edge. It’s easy to see why the locals call it one of the seven wonders of the island. Boarding a little electric tram, you’ll take a mile-long tour through the chambers, passing pillars formed by stalagmites and stalactites that have met in the middle. At the bottom, you’ll see the star of the show – a mighty waterfall below the ground.

The hard hat…

First off, take a comedy picture once you’ve put on your hard hat…Check! 🤣   

Me with Harrison's Cave hard hat

 We’d just listened to about 15 minutes of history inside a mini cinema type place before boarding this cool little tram, then it was into the darkness to find some light. 😀  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tEmSnb3H9k

Harrison's cave in the dark with the lighting and running water

Harrison's cave in the dark with the lighting and running water

Harrison's cave in the dark with the lighting and running water

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jbqR1XN0lg

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Is_dUBJCYk

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

view of Harrison's cave in the dark with mood lighting

 Wow what a ride! We had a fantastic trip and were very thankful that we’d not had to walk as it would’ve been impossible. But sitting back and relaxing in the tram was fantastic and the guide was knowledgable and we learned lots! 😀  

Bac at room 112…

Wow i could stay here for the next 40 years, lol! 🤣  

Sarah stood at room 112

Sarah sat at room 112

Me stood in room 112

Me and Sarah sat at 112

Me and Sarah gugging at room 112

 The sea and the sunset…

“Quick Steve there’s still time to play in the sea before the evening meal and sunset” Sarah said as she blasted past me and ran for the sea, lol! 🤣  ☀️  

Sarah on Dover beach

Palm trees sunset

 Wow what a sunset on another blessed day! Thanks so much for taking the Barbados underground with us on this monumental adventure. 😀

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀 

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☀️ #63 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #1” 🇧🇧 (2019)

The Blind Sightseers logo

   Hi friends and welcome to Day 63 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

 Good morning friends!

Welcome to 🌴 Southern Palms 🌴…!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms6f0NgnzMI

Yay, it’s also my birthday today! We’d managed to book this cruise and stay which covered both of our birthdays, and after Sarah’s ‘Unimog Birthday Blitz” i knew this would be a little more relaxed! After our amazing time here last year…We’d said if ever we had the chance to come back here we’d try and book room 112. Last year we had a side room which had no window at all but 112 faced directly south and looked out over the stupendous beach, palm trees and sea. I’d messaged Southern Palms to ask if they could hold the room for us…And they did! 😀 ☀️ 🌴

Walking into the room was simply breathtaking and we couldn’t believe the view from our room…And also from our balcony…😲  

Room 112 Southern Palms

Room 112 Southern Palms view from the door to the balcony with the beach and palm trees as the landscape

 Wow we have a week of this view, i think i’m going to have a hard time leaving the room, lol! 😀  

It didn’t take long for us to unpack and make this our new home, then we quickly walked up to the reception to see if we could book ourselves to get birthday braides. The staff were incredibly friendly and knew we’d be back! The on site salon didn’t open until the next day so we didn’t have long to cope with fluffy hair, lol. As we are the ‘Blind Sightseers’ we also booked an excursion to ‘Harrison’s Cave’ tomorrow as we missed doing it last year. 😀  

Before we had a walk along the gap to see if our favourite cafe was still there, it was time tfor Sarah to put her feet on the sand and have a paddle in the sea. As you could tell from the photos of our room (above) it wouldn’t take long! 🤣   

Sarah and the Bajan blast…🌊

Sarah running on Barbados beach

Sarah playing Bajan blast

Sarah playing Bajan blast

Sarah playing Bajan blast

Sarah playing Bajan blast

Sarah playing Bajan blast

My birthday treat…❤️

I know it looks like Sarah is having all of the fun, but for me to watch (well listen) to Sarah laughing, playing and totally enjoying herself without having her insulin pump attached is one of my best feelings, and it’s certainly a birthday treat for me…Well one of them as i’m hoping they still do the ‘Southern Burger’ tonight. 😀  

Palm tree taken from our balcony

Southern Palms with me stood on our balcony on the bottom right of the hotel

The Gap…

Right…All of that standing still and taking photos of my lovely wife Sarah whilst being burnt to a crisp is really thirsty work, so let’s go and see if the ‘Sharkey’s Tropical Cafe’ is still there.  

Sharkeys cafe in Barbados

Sharkey s Tropical Cafe Sign

Sarah sat with an iced coffee in the very colourful Sharkey's Tropical Cafe

 Southern Palms…

IMG 1851

After a couple of hours on the gap it wasn’t long before the sunset would be blessing us with it’s slow descent, then it’d be time for the evening meal until we could sit on our balcony to watch the sun completely disappear! We did this every night and it was stunning every time! 😀  

 Evening meal…

DING…DING…DING…BOOM…💥

Although it was my birthday Sarah’s ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ bell exploded…It was for the best ‘Shrimp Cocktail’ she’d ever tasted, anywhere! 😀  

The shrimp cocktail

 And guess what?? They still did the ‘Southern Burger’ and it was consistently stupendous for the whole week. As you know this burger hit the top of my leaderboard last year so no bell this year for me…Just the amazing taste! 🍔  😀 Oh and it’s my birthday too…What a time to have the ‘Magnum Opus’ of the southern palms.! 😀  

Southern burger

Fruit

 Sunset and the rocks…

Now it was time for us to walk off some of that delicious food, and take a lovely slow walk along the Barbados beach until we reach the rocks for the sunset. We needed to get back to our room before the sun set totally as it would be too dark and our eyes really don’t work in the dark! We had just enough time for Sarah to say hello to you guys!  

Sarah sunset

sunset behind lots of palm trees

 The balcony of 112…

☢️ HEALTH WARNING…😲  

I asked Sarah if she could take a monumental birthday panorama for me from the balcony… 

Room 112 balcony view

 After i thanked her and we were sitting down enjoying the sunset, saying hello to the other guests as they walked by Sarah said “Wait a minute…I’ve never seen that before?!” She stood up looking to the right and then to the left. “Steve, the moon is shining over there on the left, and the sun is shining over there on the right, let me try and get them both in a panorama”. 

Panorama with a sunet in the far right and the moon on the far left

 Wow…I have never seen anything like this before! Have you? 🤔

Thanks for joining us today, and What a way to end my birthday and begin our Bajan blessing.

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀 

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☀️ #56 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #4” 🇧🇧 (2018)

The Blind Sightseers logo

  Hi friends and welcome to Day 56 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

 Good morning friends!

This is our last full day before we have to fly home. 😭 We’re going to miss this view!  

Dover beach with a palm tree on the far right

Breakfast…😋  

Me and Sarah at breakfast in Barbados

 We had our penultimate breakfast (yes sausages…I mean fruit) and i was wearing my new ‘Birthday’ t-shirt. Sarah had seen it in the little gift shop (on site) and knew she just had to get it for me. It says “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and has a surf board with a large bite mark out of the side, it also has Barbados written on it…Fantastic! Sarah was wearing her ‘World Cancer Research Fund’ t-shirt which is the charity she works for, and it’s the reason for my impending doom…Let me explain…

The Blindman Tough Mudder! 🤔  

People who know me?! know that I’ve been struggling and fighting all kinds of obstacles for the past 18 years since being registered blind…..BUT I‘ve never faced obstacles such as these.

I was recently challenged (strong-armed) to do the Tough Mudder 5K by Sarah’s nail tech/artist Ashley, who works at Ooh La La Hair & Beauty Salon. I chose the team name ‘HARD AS NAILS’ and I’ll be competing and raising funds for one of my favourite charities  -World Cancer Research Fund

My lovely wife Sarah works for World Cancer Research Fund and I was stopped in my tracks by one of the statistics she showed me – That 40% of cancer cases are preventable ….that’s around 147,000 cases each year in the UK alone. And that after not smoking eating a healthy diet, being more active and maintaining a healthy weight are the most important things you can do to reduce your cancer risk. This totally blew my mind!

“What??? There are cancers that I can prevent? I thought cancer was something that you just got!” 😱 

The light switched on for me and I thought “Why didn’t I know this? 

I want to share this good news with everyone so we can all be aware and empowered to start fighting the cancers we can prevent.” 💪🏼  

Since then I’ve been following World Cancer Research Funds recommendations and have never felt more healthy and energised (even though I’m on beta-blockers). Most of all I know I’m helping to not dig my own grave with my own knife and fork!

Can a blindman do a ‘Tough Mudder’…? (post coming tomorrow!)

Now it’s time to spend our last full day on the immensely packed beach! 🤣  ☀️  

Sarah stood on the beach in arbados

Sarah stood on Dover beach in Barbados

Sarah cooling her feet in the sea at dover beach

 After our 1st wave (see what i did there, lol) of beach fun it was time for a cool down, but first i had to try and get Sarah off the beach. 🤣  

Sarah looking out to sea on dover beach

 Just as i’d gotten comfortable in the shade…”Steve let’s play some crazy golf! I bet you can’t beat me, lol!” Not another challenge! 💪🏼   

Me lay back on a sun bed chilling in the shade

 Putting (pun intended) the ‘crazy’ into crazy golf…

This hotel and beach club was just fantastic for us as there were no steps to trip us up. Walking out of our room…The main swimming pool was about 10 meters away, the restaurant/bar was about 20-30 meters away, and the crazy golf course was about 30 meters and just around the back of the hotel in the beautiful grounds. 😀  

Sarah taking a shot on a lighhouse crazy golf course at Southern palms in Barbados

 We were happy straight away as the course had a lighthouse obstacle…Sarah loves lighthouses and we stayed in the ‘Old Hunstanton Lighthouse’ for our honeymoon and then for the following 5 anniversaries! 😀 ❤️ 

We didn’t have the course to ourselves as there were also some children playing, this really helped us out when Sarah did her ‘Happy Gilmore’ impression and smashed the ball off the course and into a load of bushes! The children (who were a lot smaller kindly returned Sarah’s ball as they could fit under the bushes! 🤣  

Sarah crazy golf

Me looking towards the camera whilst taking a shot on the lighthouse crazy golf course at southern palm Barbados

We had no idea who’d won the game as we were having too much fun! 😀  

 Back to the beach…

As the hotel is great and accessible for us…The empty beach was fantastic. When you’re registered blind you hardly ever get to walk freely without millions of obstacles coming at you from every angle. So once Sarah plonked me by the sea and said it’s safe to just walk up and down and follow the edge of the sea, i got moving. It’s a freedom i never ever thought about when i was fully sighted but now i love these brief moments!

me walking along the beach with my feet in the shllow water

Me on the beach

Sarah volly ball

Sarah beach running

 After spending lots of time playing in the shallow water and being splashed (blasted) by the waves, we walked as far as we could along the bay (east), then we walked all the way back to Sarah’s favourite place…The rocks (west). You may recognise this place as the sunset location, as this is the place we always come to every night to capture a sunset. 😀  

Sarah on the rocks

Sarah on the rocks

Sarah on the rocks

 It was a beautiful place to stop and listen to the sound of the waves crashing and to sit  (or stand) in reverie. 

Well now that’s out of the way it’s time to try and catch up with Sarah. I really need to take more video clips as the auto focus isn’t fast enough to keep up with Sarah, lol! 

Sarah on the beach

Sarah running on the beach directly towards us

 Goodbye Sharkey’s…

After our scorching day on the beach we headed off to our local for an iced coffee! 😀   

Sharkey s Tropical Cafe Sign

  Farewell Barbados… 🇧🇧  

 We’ve had such an amazing time staying at the Southern Palms Beach Club, playing on Dover beach and enjoying Barbados! So i thought there would be no better way to leave this place as to let the beautiful Bajan sun set on our holiday. 😀 

Bajan Sunset

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀

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☀️ #55 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #3” 🇧🇧 (2018)

The Blind Sightseers logo

  Hi friends and welcome to Day 55 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….

Barbados logo

Good morning friends! Yay we’re still at the 🌴 Southern Palms 🌴 

Photo of the pink hotel taken from the beach with palm trees around

 Southern palms breakfast…😋  

“Wow, how nice are these bananas with a little fresh orange juice drizzled over them!” i said as Sarah puts some fresh water melon next to me. “What a way to start the day, they taste so much fruitier and juicier than back home”. Sarah loved going over to the numerous tables and getting fresh fruit, nuts and best of all…The coconut bread! We then walked over to the cooked food table where we ordered our fresh omelettes.🍌🍊🍉🌰🥥

But then…

DING…DING…DING…😋 

Yay…That’s the sound of my (not Sarah’s) ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ bell again. This time it was for the nicest sausages i’ve ever tasted. I have no idea what herbs and spices they used but it’s right up at number 1 for sausages! 😀  

After being dragged (kicking and screaming) away from the sausages, we had a monumental walk back to our room (about 30 meters) as Sarah wanted to go for a swim. The pool was fantastic and not very busy! 😀   

Sarah in the empty pool enjoying the sun

 There was always a cold fresh jug of water (with cucumber or lemon) available under an umbrella for guests to drink. It was a life saver for me who just boils to death the second i leave the air conditioned room. Being sat under an umbrella next to the pool, hearing Sarah splashing around and having fun with the view over the beach (see image below)…It wasn’t the worst place to be, lol! 🤣 ☀️   

view taken from my seat next to the swimming pool looking out onto the beach

Sitting still is not the usual Blind Sightseers way of doing things but suddenly  i heard an airplane pretty close to us. I just pointed my phone towards the noise and i didn’t expect to capture anything, but to my surprise i managed to get the plane. My ears must be well calibrated! 🤣  

photo of a airplane flying through a fluffy white cloud in the blue sky

 Sharkey’s Tropical Cafe…☕  

 You may remember from my ‘Barbados #1‘ post that we’d had a walk up the ‘Gap’ from our hotel to explore. We walked past Sharkey’s and thought we’d try it another day…Well now we are here! 😀 We absolutely loved the incredibly bold and vivid colour scheme and it wasn’t long before we’d sat down and had our iced coffees. We chatted with the man (making the coffees) and when he found out Sarah was diabetic he said “Hey, i can make a special one for you! It’s good that you told me as nobody dies on my watch, lol! 🤣  

Just when i thought this place couldn’t get any brighter…Sarah hits me with that amazing smile!  

Sarah sat with an iced coffee in the very colourful Sharkey's Tropical Cafe

 The Birthday Bajan Braides…

As we were on a ‘Full Day Island Tour’ yesterday, we didn’t have time to book Sarah into the on site hairdressers to get her birthday  braides. As you may know the wind here is quite strong (and cooling) so i already had my hair in braides, as it’s my birthday 4 days after Sarah’s. It was the same lady who’d done my braides and Sarah looked fantastic! 😀 ❤️ 

photo of Sarah and her new braides with her smiling in the mirror

Me on the left getting a kiss on the cheek from Sarah

 The evening…

Southern palms by night

We’d already had another lovely day but it was time for the evening meal. The hotel had a different band playing every few nights, and sitting in the restaurant next to the perfect postcard beach was stunning.  

Southern palms house band

 DING…DING…DING…DING…😋  

Yes you know what this means…It’s my ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ and something has just smashed it’s way to the top, i wonder what it could be??

This one isn’t for the faint hearted but i don’t have enough hyperbole to do this justice! So i’ll just introduce you to my favourite burger of all time…The ‘Southern Burger’ This is hard to write about without drooling. 😀 I must confess that i ordered this on the first night and then for all 7 nights! Once you’ve hit the top there’s nowhere else to go! 😀 🍔   

The Southern Burger

 The sunset…

Thankfully we walked along the beach for the sunset before we had the evening meal. We always knew exactly what time to leave for our daily beach sunset walk as the ‘Bajan Whistling Frog’ would start singing at the same time every night! 😀 

🌴 The ’Southern Palms’ and Barbados was already our fave place and island and we’d not even been here a week. As the sun set on another fantastic day i wanted to leave you with this stunning view.  

me stood in front of the amazing sunset

 I’d like to say that i’d set up a tripod, set the self-timer and walked into position, But (you guessed it) Sarah ‘Top Trumped’ me again with this beautiful photo! 😀  

Thank you so much for taking time to join us in Barbados, but it’s still not over yet! 😀  

Have you ever been to Barbados? I’d love to hear about it! 

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀 

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☀️ #54 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #2” 🇧🇧 (2018)

The Blind Sightseers logo

  Hi friends and welcome to Day 54 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

Good morning friends! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!! 😀  

Wow what a view to start your Bajan Birthday whilst eating an amazing fresh and juicy breakfast. 🍍 🍌 🍉 🍊 🍇 🥓 We could’ve stayed here forever…But we have a fantastic birthday trip starting in a moment! 😀  

Palm tree on the left with an empty picture postcard view of the caribbean beach and sea

 The Barbados 360 Island Tour…😲  

 The Barbados 360 Island Tour is a great way to see BarbadosYour incredible experience begins with pick-up at your hotel by a friendly local guide/driver.

Southern Palms…🌴

We didn’t even have to leave the hotel as the coach pulled right up to the entrance. We were one of the first on the coach and it was nice to get the chance to see the other hotels as the driver stopped to pick the other people up.

Bridgetown…

You’ll be driven through our bustling capital city of Bridgetown which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here the architecture and charm of a bygone era merges with the beauty of a modern city.

The tour guide told us lots of history as we drove through Bridgetown. It looked (and sounded) fantastic and it’s a definite place for us to go and explore at a later date! 😀 

Speightstown…

And speaking of lovely architecture and colonial towns, your first stop is at Speightstown. Here you’ll enjoy seeing historic buildings and beautiful tropical beaches.

The tour guide kept talking about the PRC Bakery at our first stop, and said she was going in to get something for the trip. “OOohhhh maybe we could get a small cake for your birthday” “Yes let’s follow her and see what goodies they have?” As we walked in to the little bakery the guide said “Oh yes a lead pipe” as she picked one up and went to pay for it. “What’s a lead pipe?” i said to the guide “It’s a local cake but it can be used as a weapon too as it’s very heavy”. Sarah then passed me a bag with a cake in and said hold this “Wow this weighs about the same as a 16lb bowling ball” “everything is so heavy in here, nothing has fluffy cream like in England as it would melt instantly, lol”.

Sarah told the baker that we loved coconut and did e have anything with coconut in them? We only got 1 coconut slice as we didn’t know how sweet it was or even if we liked it?! 😀 

Me stood outsede the shop holding the coconut slice with my thumb sticking up and a big grin on my face!

DING…DING…DING…😋   

I never (ever) stop talking about this coconut slice as it’s the nicest cake i’ve ever tasted! The bell on the ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ was destroyed as this flew to the top of the cakes list! If i’d have known i would’ve stayed in the bakery and continued to eat every single last one of them! But we only had that one and we’ve never been able to go back since this monumental occasion. Oh yes…This monumental occasion is my lovely wife Sarah’s birthday! 🤣 

me stood unwrapping the coconut slice in front of the sea and a wall

 “If i can just break this cake in to small pieces then i could hide it in my pockets. I’m sure this cake is too sweet for Sarah and she just won’t like it!” 🤣  

e stood looking towards the camera in front of the sea

“Nothing to see here, i hope i havn’t got crumbs all over me!” 🤣  

Me and Sarah cuddling with the sea behind us

A kind person from our group asked if we’d like a birthday photo together? I’m sure she must have noticed us fighting over the coconut slice, and thought she’d better break us up, lol! 🤣  

sea view over a sea wall

Oh yes, this beautiful place wasn’t just about the coconut slice…Who am i kidding? Yes it was! 🤣  

But it’s not my birthday and it was time for us to get back on the coach.

view of the town from the bus

Morgan Lewis Windmill…

Get your cameras ready for the stop at Cherry Tree Hill, our favourite look-out spot on the island! Sugar cane fields and the lush countryside lead down to a beautiful coastline.

Sarah with a beautiful smile

Me and Windmill

Me and Windmill

Sarah stood in front of the windmill moving her arms to the sails of the windmill

☢️ HEALTH WARNING…😲   

Oh wow, it’s not my birthday but Sarah treated us all to a stunning stupendous panorama! 😲 

A beautiufl view of the bay with me on far left

Palm trees 

North point and Saint Lucy…

After a short drive we ended up at North Point, the most northern part of Barbados. Instead of flat sandy beaches this place had cliffs and big waves. But first Sarah had to have her photo taken with Saint Lucy. 😀   

Sarah and saint lucy

Sarah north point

Waves crashing on the cliffs at north point

 We walked inside the cafe/bar area as we had enough time for a cold drink, and then lots of noise and singing…It was the tour guide and a few of the staff singing Happy Birthday (stevie wonder style) bouncing and dancing around whilst carrying a bowl of flying fish with a sparkler sticking out of the top! It was a special moment for Sarah and we’ve never had anything like this before, a lovely thing for them to do. 😀  

It was an amazing place and totally different to the postcard beaches we’re used to at our hotel. ☀️

Bathsheba & the soup bowl… 

Next you travel along that coastline to the seaside village at Bathsheba, to see fascinating rock formations standing strong against the battering waves. You might also see surfers enjoying the white surf of the world famous “Soup Bowl”.

 Leaving the coach we realised why this was great for surfers…The wind was really strong and we had to be really careful not to get blown away!  

The soup bowl

The soup bowl

The soup bowl

The soup bowl

☢️ HEALTH WARNING… 😲  

Hey Sarah has tried to sneak another monumental panorama! 😀 

The soup bowl

Sarah at the soup bowl

Sarah at the soup bowl

 This place was beautiful and wild and also very different from the normal beaches. Just before we arrived at the next location our driver treated us by singing (with a great voice) “All of me” by John Legend. Every time we hear this song playing it takes us back to this stunning place! 😀  ☀️  

 Sunbury Plantation House… 

By now you might be feeling a bit hungry, so it’s off to Sunbury Plantation House, for a delicious local buffet lunch and a tour of this beautifully restored historic home.

Wow what a place packed with so much history. We had a short walk around looking at the antiques then sat down for a stunning buffet birthday lunch. We tried an omnifarious amount of local foods and it was so tasty! 😀  

View from the restaurant

 This was the view from the table…Stunning! 😀 

View from the restaurant

 We were sad to leave this place but the ‘Bajan Birthday Tour’ hasn’t ended yet. 

St. Johns Church…

After enjoying the beauty of nature it’s time to visit St. Johns Church, a gothic Church that boasts amazing views from its hilltop location. 

 This was the last stop on our epic tour of the island and it was beautiful.  

Church

Inside the church

Inside the church

 The day ends as you are safely returned to your hotel…

After a long day filled with excitement, surprises and beautiful scenery, the coach pulled up outside our hotel. We said our goodbyes and headed back to our room.

And then…🙌  

As we opened the door to our room we were greeted with this lovely surprise for Sarah’s birthday from the hotel staff.😀   

Champagne in a bucket for Sarah's birthday

 But the birthday isn’t over yet. Sarah then dragged me out on to the beach for a lovely walk before it gets too dark. 

Sarah with arms in the air on Dover beah Barbados

Palm tree on dover beach

Southern palms hotel from the beach with palm trees and me in the front

Sarah leaning on a palm tree

 Wait a minute…Is Sarah getting tired…Impossible! 🤣  

 Today was a perfect day and Sarah really enjoyed her bajan birthday. It’s been great having you guys with us to celebrate too. Have you enjoyed Barbados?

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀 

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☀️ #53 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Barbados #1” 🇧🇧 (2018)

The Blind Sightseers logo

  Hi friends and welcome to Day 53 of this monumental, inconceivable and definly memorable blind sightseers tour….!

Barbados logo

 Good morning friends! Yay we’re in Barbados! 😀  ☀️ 🇧🇧  

After our relaxing breakfast (no excursion today) we had a couple of hours on the ship. We were excited not to be flying home as usual but to be staying a week on Barbados. We’ve never done a cruise and stay before so had no idea what to expect. But while we are waiting…How about a game of blind crazy golf? 🤣     

Sarah playing crazy golf on the top deck of the ship

 We made sure there wasn’t many people playing as i take too long on a shot. I can’t see my feet never mind a golf ball, lol! To take a shot i bend down and place the ball on the floor while holding the club against it. Then slowly rise up whilst at the same time trying not to move the club or the ball at all. Hopefully the wind hasn’t blown my ball away from the club (happened a few times as i swung and just hit air) then i swing. If i make contact with the ball it’s a bonus, but sometimes i just fluke a hole in one! 😀 💪🏼  

Me playing crazy golf on the top deck of the ship

IMG 0423

 After a very hot round of crazy golf (i think Sarah won) and a farewell iced coffee it was time for us to leave this lovely ship. 

me stood on the dock next to the massive marella dicovery

 🌴 Southern Palms 🌴…

 After a short ride in a minibus with the driver telling us some great places to visit if we get the chance, we pulled up a the hotel. We were welcomed by a steel drum band and Sarah just had to get a video of this place! 😲    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms6f0NgnzMI

Once we’d been shown around our room with lovely air conditioning, we unpacked our case and went for a little walk round which included the beach. ☀️ 😀 

Welcome to our perfect Caribbean postcard beach…

Palm tree on the left with an empty picture postcard view of the caribbean beach and sea

Me stood on the beach with my thumb up in Barbados

 We couldn’t believe how empty the beach was and had a walk up and down up to the limits of our hotel (the hotel was wider than we’d thought) and there were not many people on the beach at all. We walked around the whole bay (which wasn’t very big) and there were more people on the beach in front of the next hotel down, but hardly any in front of our hotel..Excellent. 😀  

Sarah shadow across the beach looking over the whole bay of Barbados

IMG 0451

The sunset photo…

As the Southern Palms faced directly south we headed right along the beach so i could find a lovely sunset photo, i knew the sunsets must be amazing here so wondered where we could stand to get one?! Wow i think this looks like the place! We couldn’t believe it as this place was about 50 meters from our hotel, and it was the end of the bay so we couldn’t walk any further anyway. Sarah quickly found her new ‘Happy Place’ on the top of the rocks. 😲

Sarah sat on rock in front of a beautiful Barbados sunset

Sarah sat on the rocks in front of the beautiful Bajan sunset

 It was beautiful and we stayed as long as we could before it got too dark for us. It had rocks, coastline and trees for composition and we were happy to come here for the next 7 days!  

The beautiful bajan sunset

 We knew instantly that this place was something special and we’d love it…And i havn’t even mentioned the evening meals yet!! Oh the ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ is going to get busy! More about that on a later date.  

The following day…

We had breakfast and evening meal included at the hotel, and wow what a breakfast (tell you later!) So when we’d filled our tanks we headed out of the hotel for a short walk. As the hotel was located on St Lawrence Gap we thought even if we get lost, someone would always know about the gap and take us home, good plan. 

St Lawrence Gap…☀️  

It was scorching hot (and then some) but there was a sprinkling of stalls, shops and cafe/bars along the gap, so i could stand underneath in the boiling hot shade, lol! Then walking further along the gap we found (which is now) our favourite and most colourful cafe…‘Sharkey’s Tropical Cafe”. 

Sharkeys cafe in Barbados

 We didn’t have time to stop at the moment as we were on exploration mode. The gap then turned 90˚ to the right until we hit the main road. We knew we could just turn back and get back the way we came, but we’d read about the legendary public buses and wanted to try one! 

The bus…🚌  

Wow, let me tell you a little about the bus! Remember how i was telling you about my favourite cars of all time back in Corsica, yes the insanely fast ‘Group B’ rally cars…Well when we’d walked along the main road a little, on some tiny paths that took some navigating…One of these blasted past (i enjoyed the breeze,lol). “Wow that was close” i said whilst trying to sort my shirt out as it had been blown violently around. Climbing on board one of these missiles (it was heading the way of another coffee shop i’d found on Facebook) the first thing that we noticed was the noise! It had a hugely loud raspy exhaust (like Group B cars) and it only accelerated hard and fast. There were no cruising and just hard braking for anyone else brave enough to get on. It took us about 7 seconds (maybe 10 minutes) before we could breathe again and the g-force came down to normal and we could step off.

It stopped right outside the ‘Victoria Coffee Shop’ and we were greeted with this fantastic sign as we walked in…I can’t remember what it said though, lol…Maybe a super kind reader could enter the text in the comment section below?! 😀 

Victoria coffee shop sign

 The coffee shop was beautiful and we had a lovely strong coffee with some local banana bread, Mmmmm.  😀  

Me stood outside the coffee shop with my thumb up

 After another dizzying blast on the rocket fuelled bus we managed to get back to the hotel after a good time exploring. Sarah said (i think she’d seen my hair after the bus ride) “Shall we book you in to get your hair braided as the hotel has it’s own hair salon?” My hair did look like a cross between ‘Aslan’ and ‘Worzel Gummidge’ so i was happy to get it out of the way for a whole week! 😀    

photo of my long hair taken by the lad who is about to braide them

photo of my braides from the back taken by the lady who did them

 The lady did a fantastic job and we had a great time chatting to her and learning more about Barbados.

Sarah’s Birthday in Barbados…

Tomorrow will be Sarah’s birthday and we’ve booked an excursion that will take us all around the island, showing us the different coastlines of this beautiful place. We’re really looking forward to it and can’t wait to share Sarah’s birthday with you in Barbados. 🇧🇧 😀    

We’ll meet tomorrow…Same time…Same place for another adventure! 😀 

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