Tours
Tunisia October 2009
15 of us (14 bowlers and 1 non-bowler) decided that we would like a bit of autumn sunshine, so we booked with Personal Touch Holidays at the Riu Bellevue Park Hotel at Port el Kantaoui in Tunisia.
There were teams from Newmarket (2 teams), Weston Bath and some individuals, so we played matches against all of them, in some cases lending them 2 of our players to make up their numbers.
We had arrived in the dark about 10pm to a warm welcome. When we awoke the following morning, we were faced with the first difficult decision of the week - it was so hot, should we wear shorts or traditional bowling whites? As can be seen from the picture, shorts generally won. This was the same throughout the week.
Over the week, we played 4 matches with the following results:
| Date | Opposition | Score> |
| 5th October | Newmarket | Lost 41-53 |
| 6th October | Weston Bath | Lost 28-84 |
| 7th October | Newmarket | Won 59-48 |
| 9th October | Newmarket | Won 50-49 |
The week was not all bowling though. Each afternoon was free and people did what they wanted, mostly lying on the loungers soaking up the sun. 6 of us though, did decide that it would be nice to paraglide. Elizabeth Chambers and Pam Newton started the habit on Thursday, followed by Norman Ford (yours truly) and Len Bignell on Friday. Not to be outdone, Roger Pink and Phil Reynolds flew on Saturday.
Tuesday saw an optional tour to Monastir and Sousse, where we saw the mausoleum of Habib Bourghiba, the first president of Tunisia who led them to independence in 1957 and a souk, where one could buy anything you wanted (but mostly tourist items).
On Thursday, 5 of ous went on an optional trip to Carthage. On the way we visited the Borda Museum, where most of the mosaics and artefacts from Carthage are now stored. They have over 600 mosaics and can't display them all. All that is left of Carthage now is the Roman ruins of the baths.
Overall, the general consensus was that this was a very enjoyable week. If there is one next year, I am sure that most of us will go again. Hopefully, we will be joined by several other people for a good week's holiday.