Our Few Days in Alnwick

Our Few Days in Alnwick

28th March 2015

Not much to report today, we just had a safe journey from Gilsland over to Alnwick and we are now settled in on a little farm called East Cawledge.  Our immediate neighbours are 3 horses in the field which is about 2 metres from our front windscreen - they very often wander over to have a nosey at what we're doing.  The weather's not very good - more wind and rain, so we're going to put the heating on, put our feet up and have a lazy afternoon.

29th March 2015

The heavy rain had continued overnight and occasionally disturbed our sleep, however, when we got up the sun was glimmering through the clouds so we decided to head into Alnwick.  John had discovered, via the internet, Alnwick Gardens which looked as if it would have plenty to entertain us, so we made this our first port of call.   This attraction is owned by The Duchess of Northumberland, and although very little was in flower, the only way to describe it is, as spectacular, and for those interested we have included this link  alnwickgarden.com.



The is the cascade that meets you as you walk through the entrance - it's quite breathtaking in it's splendour, and we could only imagine the beauty of what will come later in the year, thus we definitely plan to come back.  We set off on our exploration though the many domains, which included the serpent garden where there are lots fountains, the poison garden where they grow cannabis and mandrake (see Harry Potter),   and the ornamental garden to name but a few.  John took loads of photos, a few of which are below.

'Enterprise, one to beam up!'

'Where's me Autotrail brolly!!'

Can you see the sky?

Around lunch time the heavens opened and added massively to the water features, so as the timing was good, we made a dash to the cafe for refreshments.  The storm was quite spectacular so we just sat and watched for a while.  Once the rain had cleared we wondered into Alnwick town, but as it was Sunday nearly everything was closed, and as the rain continued to threaten we strolled back to the Tardis  via Sainsbury's for more refreshments!!


30th March 2015

Today was another cycling day.  We set off to use the cycle path at the side of The Aln Valley Railway, which according to their web site, runs from Alnwick to Alnmouth.  However, after negotiating a very muddy dirt track down to the supposed route there was no cycle track and no rail track either! (have they run out of money?).

Oh well, plan B and back to the road!  We tootled across country to Alnmouth, and once in the town it brought back memories of our time with Sharon and Paul when we rode The Coast and Castle's route.  We paused for a coffee break at the bench we had previously used, and sat for a while in the sunshine and reminisced. From there we carried on following Sustran's route 1 towards Craster where we planned to have fish and chips for lunch. At Boulmer there is an option to follow the road, or as we did, follow the coastal path (off road route).  

 





We arrived in Craster, but alas, no chippy!  So instead we had to settle for smoked chowder for John and Spicy salmon wrap for me - both excellent (Yum).  We were contemplating adding cake, but suddenly the cafe became very busy so we decided to head towards Dunstanburgh Castle and sat on the sea shore (as we did before), and ate own cake washed down with hot choc.  

By this time the hours were passing, the clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up, so we decided to head for home and a nice cup of tea!  We had about 7 miles to go and all of it was against a strong head wind, so by the time we got back we were quite exhausted. Therefore, along with the tea we had quadruple choc biscuits!  Very well deserved.

Tomorrow we plan to head for the coast at Seahouses, and if our luck is in, maybe our first spot of wild camping.  We'll let you know how we go on.


Our Camping Spots in Great Britain

Our time in Gilsland

Our Time in Gilsland

25th March 2015

We arrived in Gilsland to lovely warm sunshine, so to take advantage, we had a quick lunch and then pottered out to explore the village and some more of the Wall.  We visited Poltross Burn Milecastle.  This is known locally as The King's Stables, and is one of the best preserved milecastles on the entire length of Hadrian's Wall.  A milecastle is a small rectangular fort built during the period of the Roman Empire.  They were placed at intervals of one Roman mile along the length of the Wall, and in total, 80 of these structures were built.  Usually, their purpose was to  guard a gateway through the Wall and each had a garrison of between 20 and 30 soldiers.

Poltross Burn Milecastle

Different View!

26th March 2015

Heavy rain and wind kept us in until after lunch time, but then we decided to brave the elements and ventured out towards The National Park. First stop was the 12th Century Thirlwall Castle which was abandoned by the last of the Thirlwall family in the 1700s, and thereafter, became a neglected ruin until 1999 when Northumberland National Park Authority took over the management to protect it from further dereliction. Within  it's walls it was quite easy to let your imagination run wild and evoke the noises, scenes  and smells (phew) of how it might have been in times gone bye and the information boards reinforced this.  It was also easy to sense the danger that the risk of falling masonry posed, especially in the strong winds, so after a quick look round we legged it to safer ground.

Battling against the wind we climbed up on to the top of Walltown were there is a very well preserved section of the Wall along with 2 turrets.  At this stage John climbed up to see if he could see any 'invaders from the North' but he very nearly came to grief when a sudden strong gust of wind picked him up and chucked him over the edge!!! (slight exaggeration)

Our walk continued up and down the very steep hills with far reaching views on both sides, but after a while the wind took its toll and we decided to wend our way back using the lower track.  We thought this would offer us some shelter but we were very much mistaken, and the battle into the strong headwind continued until we finally reached the comfort of the Tardis.

Our trusty steeds. 

27th March 2015

For our final day in Gilsland we decided to cycle.  We set out late morning after allowing time for the sun to wake up, and headed off following Sustran's route 72, which more or less follows the line of Hadrian's Wall . First point of interest should have been Birdoswald Roman Fort but like many other visitor attractions along the way, it was closed. Undeterred, we continued on towards Lanercost Priory stopping occasionally to view more relics and to soak up more of the history.

The Priory was built sometime between 1165 and 1174 and dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, and to this present day, the chapel is still in use for regular services.  To the rear of the chapel the Priory is mainly a ruin but there is evidence in the form of Roman inscriptions that stones from Hadrian's Wall were used for it's construction.  The graveyard also had an eerie atmosphere, with many of the very old stones having their inscriptions completely obliterated by the weather and creeping lichens.  The Site is presently managed by English Heritage who have turned some of the old buildings into holiday lets and other commercial enterprises.




We continued on our way through Brampton and onto Talkin Tarn country park which provided a very pleasant lunch stop.

Soup and sandwiches again made all the more delicious by the odd ray of sunshine which managed to peek out now and then.




Lunch over and starting to feel a bit cold, we decided to burn a few more calories, and generate some heat by peddling quickly on our continuing journey which took us up more undulating hills. We travelled through the hamlets of Talkin (but no reply), Farlam, Hallbankgate and into Naworth Park and then back to Lanercost. At this point we needed to cross the River Irthing, and a choice of two bridges was available. The first being of modern day construction and the other a disused pack horse bridge that was constructed in 1724 costing the grand sum of £493. This bridge was only relieved of vehicular traffic in 1962, and it is still open to pedestrians now, so they really got there monies worth!

The next little village we passed through was called Low Row, but unlike it's name, it was stuck at the top of two very steep hills - we even had to get off and push up the last bit of one of them.  Luckily, at the top we were forced to rest while a farmer herded his sheep and lambs across the road and it was a lovely site seeing them skipping and jumping, and shouting 'mint sauce' didn't seem to worry them at all!

From here we continued on our way back towards home hoping we could sit out in the last of the evening sunshine, but this wasn't to be.  By the time we arrived it was cold and blowing a gale again so we retired to the warmth and comfort of the Tardis and had roast lamb for dinner. (carnivores through and through)

It's moving day again tomorrow and we are heading towards Alnwick so we will continue our story form there shortly.

Our Camping Spots in Great Britain

In the Begining

In The Beginning!

Hello and welcome to our brand new site. As you can probably see, we are still in the process of building and developing this blog, so in the near future you will hopefully see improvements and developments as we learn how it all works.

As a pre-amble we would like to share with you the back ground of why we have chosen this new motor-home life style. When our children were young we often took them camping in what they may now call 'god forsaken locations', and in all sorts of weather! We often had adventures of exploration which were sometimes verging on endurance, and we called these 'Holidays'. Since they have flown the nest we have continued in this vane, developing our love of hiking and cycling. These expeditions included some long distance cycle routes including C2C, Way of the Roses, Coast and Castles, The Isle of Mann and back home, a coastal tour of Cornwall and a few Cols in the Pyrenees. On these journeys we have sometimes camped or stayed in B&B, either as a couple or with our dear friends Sharon and Paul.  

However, since the grey hair and aches and pains have taken over, we now need a more comfortable place to rest our weary bones after our adventures, hence the advent of 'The Tardis', (this is what we are calling our new motorhome). Why The Tardis? Well, our little space houses a full kitchen, a fully functional bathroom, a mostly sunny dining room, a very spacious lounge and a huge comfortable bed, and additionally, it has swallowed all our possessions with the greatest of ease.

Our ultimate goal is to sell our house and live in the motorhome full time, but for now, we are busy sorting and selling our possessions while I work my notice prior to my retirement so that we can join " The Grey Nomads ".

Our journey so far.

19th March 2015

Today was a very exciting day for us because we collected The Tardis (our Brand new Autotrail Imala motorhome) from Brownhills of Newark.  We stopped over on their site for our first night to check out all of the van’s functions and idiosyncrasies, however,  it was too much information and I think we probably forgot more than we remembered, but I suppose that’s why they gave us a stack of manuals!  

The hospitality at the showroom was excellent and their on going after care is fairly generous too. The site is free for our use for up to 20 nights per year and provides electric hook up, hard standing pitches and use of their brand new facilities block, swimming pool, sauna and hot tub all thrown in.  I'm sure we’ll be back !

The van is exactly as we expected and we are both sure that we can live in it, but we are also sure we are going to have to make a fair few modifications to our lifestyle (for the better) to make it the success it has to be now we have made the life changing decision to sell up and go full time on the road for a few years.



20th March 2015

Anyway, after a comfortable first night we set off for home and when we got there we conquered my first fear.  I had been quite worried that we wouldn't be able to get the van onto the frontage of our house.  All along John had told me not to worry and that it would be easy!  Well for once he was right, and as soon as I’d moved my car out of the way he reversed it straight in without any problems - phew - glad that’s sorted.

Now we were home safe and sound it was time to rush round and get ready for going away tomorrow, but progress was slowed by a very welcome stream of visitors who wanted to see our new home.  First came Sarah, Paul and little Thomas along with John’s Mum; then it was Vicky and Jack.  The boys were very excited and as they were playing they decided they wanted to take us on a journey to the moon, but as one of them pointed out, we couldn't go there because we hadn't got any rocket boosters, so we settled for the seaside instead! Finally, Ben and Louise came to view the van and brought with them some good news of their own, but more on that later.

Unfortunately our son Adam couldn't get to the party so he still has that pleasure to look forward to.

21st March 2015.

After the final rush around on Saturday to finish loading The Tardis, we set off on our first adventure.

This is the first of two short breaks we plan to take in order to iron out any snags with the motorhome and acclimatise ourselves to a life on the road before going full time, hopefully in July.

We plan to spend this holiday in Hadrian Wall territory and our first port of call was a small site in Dalston near Carlisle. On arrival we settled in for the night, cooked a nice meal, opened the vino and planed our outings for the next few days.

22nd March 2015

Today was a cycling day. We set off from the site and rode down Cummersdale to the river Caldew which we followed into the centre of Carlisle. From there we picked up Sustran's route 72 which took us out towards the line of Hadrian's Wall which finishes at Bowness-on-Solway. However, along the way at a little place called Drumburgh we found a lovely spot with built in seating over-looking the estuary so we decided to stop for lunch. We tucked into our soup and sandwiches and commented to each other how fast the tide was coming in!! At this point an American couple pointed out that the rising tide was flooding the road over which we needed to return. Oh dear!! we wish we had taken more notice of the warning signs 'This road is liable to flooding'. As we quickly set off back the first section of road was already too deep to cycle through but luckily we managed to clamber round on a bank side. Further on we just went for it and rode through two sections of water that were rapidly rising as we frantically peddled. The rest of this 28 mile ride was uneventful but very enjoyable and we finally arrived 'home' in time for tea.

23rd March 2015

A day spent with a walk into Carlisle, a bit of retail therapy and then lunch out - a Burger and a pint!! Last of the big spenders.

24th March 2015

Today was another day spent cycling (only 30 miles this time). We set off towards Cummersdale again, but this time we went South along the riverside path past Dalston and on to Bridge End. This is where we picked up Sustran's route 10 which took us down the Cumbria Way through the extensive pasture land of Hawksdale Hall. From there on we followed minor roads crossing the River Caldew frequently heading towards Caldbeck. Unfortunately, I ran out of energy so we never made it that far, instead, we stopped on a little village green at Hesket Newmarket, but drat, the pub was closed. At this point the weather turned cold and threatened rain so we high tailed it back as fast as possible to The Tardis, but we did feel compelled to stop at the local Co-op to stock up on a little tipple of cider - pay back for the pub being closed!

25th March 2015

Moving day. We travelled further along Hadrian's Wall (and I drove!!) to our new resting place just outside Gilsland. This turned out to be a tiny field down a tiny drive, and since we arrived the wind has rocked us to sleep each night. It's so windy even the lambs where wearing coats (look carefully).

We're staying here for the next three nights so we will update the blog in a few days time.






Our Camping Spots in Great Britain