Well! It's a very long time since I've jotted any ramblings about what we've been up to - it's been at least a year and a half! So, because we've been to so many lovely places (and some that weren't quiet so lovely) I want to make a brief resume so that when we're in our dotage😫 we'll have something to remind ourselves of our travelling years. However, this story is just going to be a composition of dates and times with a few pics if I can find them!
Then hopefully going forward I can make an effort to keep our travels up to date up to date!
So, to start the tale of this part of our lives we finished our full time roving on 8th August 2022 and moved into our snug little flat in Allestree which will hopefully be our full time home until we finally turn our toes up! Then through the rest of August and the first part of September we were kept busy with renovations, decorating and waiting in for furniture deliveries (after 7 years of living in our various touring vehicles we had no household gubbins at all). And we had another problem , and that was were to store our caravan because there was no room for it at our new abode. Looking for that was a bit like searching for hen's teeth but we eventually secured a fairly unfavourable spot on a farm - we really weren't happy😫! Access was very poor and we were quite worried about vermin invasion. Therefore, we thought our idea of selling the van and replacing it with a trailer tent would be a good one - how wrong can you be.
We did the above swap on 23rd September 2022 but as soon as we got it home we knew we'd got a problem. Our new flat had come with a garage and that was were the trailer was going to live but although we'd measured carefully we quickly realised we needed a shoe horn to get it in and if we weren't inch perfect we risked damaging it! But hey-ho, we'd spent our money and needed to make the best of it - which lasted all of 7 months and just 2 holidays
The first one was 5th - 24th October 2022 when we stayed at Corfe Castle and then Cheddar Gorge but although we had a great time we found we were often cold 🥶 under canvas and on the last day as we packed away the heavens opened and we ended up going home with a wet tent ⛺️.
The trailer was then mothballed over winter and we didn't go away again until we booked an underground apartment in Whitby for 5th - 9th December 2022. I say underground 🚇 because,although it was very nice it looked almost like someone's converted cellar😂.
For Christmas 🎄 we managed to catch COVID and then very sadly John lost his wonderful Mum on 31st December 2022 ✝️.
Our next break came in February 19th - 23rd in a lovely little apartment in Settle (Yorkshire)
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| Ribblehead Viaduct |
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Catrigg Force
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Stainforth Falls
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Then on March 21st - 24th 2023 we stayed in a Premier Inn in Birkenhead. Our plan was to catch a 'Ferry Cross the Mersey' to visit Liverpool but that was scuppered because the ferries were being renovated over winter so we went under the water instead 🚇.
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Lin with ''The Boys''
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Billy Fury
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Outside the Beatles Museum
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John with Cilla
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In April (17th - 23rd 2023) we resurrected the trailer tent and went to Anderby Creek near Skeggy and it was there that we decided that camping under canvas was just to much like hard work and not for us👎. Therefore as soon as we got home we made arrangements to sell the trailer (at a bit of a loss) and instead we brought our present lovely little home from home which we've spent most of our long holidays in since.
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Same car new Van
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We picked it up 2nd May 2023 and headed of from the dealership to Windermere (2nd - 12th 2023)
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On a bridge over the River Esk in the Hardknott Pass
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Lunch at the Lakeview pub in Bowness
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National Trust Steam Boat on Coniston
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Then onto Bellingham near Kilder water (12th - 20th May2023) where we had the pleasure of spending time with our good friends Keith and Jackie.
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A walk along Hadrian's Wall
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A view across Keilder Water
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We carried on from there to St Helen's in the Park (20th - 27th 2023) where we met up with John's sister Val and Bob the 🐕.
Next came our Wales tour which lasted 6 weeks!😃
June 5th - 12th (7nts) Talybont on Usk Farm from where we walked up Pen y Fan and saw the mountain rescue and helicopter in action.
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| Talybont Reservoir |
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Pen Y Fan
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June 12th - 16th (4nts) Pitton Cross Camp site on the Gower Peninsula from where we visited a couple of our favourite places - Rhossili and the famous sea rocks that are called Worms Head.
June 16th - 23rd (7nts) Lleithyr Farm near St David's where we did a lot of Coastal Path walks.
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| St Justinian's on coastal path. |
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| Overlooking Port Enyon on Gower peninsular. |
June 23rd - 30th (7nts) Cardigan Bay near New Quay from where we visited Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge.
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| South Stack Lighthouse |
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| Lunch on the Welsh coast. |
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New Quay Harbour lifeboat festival.
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June 30th - 9th July (9 nts) Criccieth we stayed at the Llanystumdwy CCC site and had the pleasure of putting our van up on stilts. We explored much of the area and dined at the Pub on the Beach -The Ty Coch Inn at Porth Dinllaen where they gave us such huge portions on our ploughman's that we had to take half the cheese home!
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| Lin on Saddleworth Moor |
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| Woodhead reservior |
Our next holiday was 9th August 2023 when we went to the Balloon 🎈 Festival at Ashton Court Estate near Bristol. We stayed on the nearby pop up campsite at Cotham Park Rugby Club and one of the memorable events from there was curry night! For a very reasonable price we ordered goat 🐐 curry but what we didn't expect was that it would include skeletal parts - we had to be very careful of our teeth😮. The festival itself should have had 6 flights of about 50 balloons but the weather reduced that to 2. One was very early so we missed that but the only afternoon one was an incredible sight to see as the balloonslifted on mass and drifted over the city. They also did a Nightglow where, after dark, the balloons were tethered to the ground and inflated, then their burners lit to music.
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| Cotham Park Rugby Club Pop up Site |
After that we spent 4 nights at Conkers CCC (13th - 17th) and then moved on to the Camping and Caravan Clubs Tourchlight Festival at Walsby. It's a massive festival that is only open to members and which runs over 3 days. There were loads of great gigs which included numerous bands and acts, with some tributes. The most memorable for us were Dolly Parton, Toyah, East Angles Brass Band and the Sea Shanty Sailors. Then it was home again until...
September 8th 2023 (3nts) when we started our autumn tour by visiting The Tudor Arms campsite at Slimbridge. I'd gone for a shower 🚿 one morning and as I was coming out I literally bumped into an old friend from our touring days in Spain 🇪🇸. Toni and Rolly were on the site to catch up with part of the Tour of England cycling 🚲 race which had passed through the area the day before. We spent a lovely evening with them reminiscing and eating 🥘 paella all washed down with a drop of🍷 🍷.
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| Frampton on Severn |
From there we moved onto Sennen Cove in Cornwall (11th - 25th September). There it was lots more walking and exploring some of our old haunts from when we used to take our kids on holiday.
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| On the coastal path looking down to Sennen Cove |
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| High Tea on St Micheal's mount |
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| Coastal Path near Sennen |
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| Botallack Mine |
After that we moved to Slapton Sands (25th September 2nd October 2023) near Dartmouth. However, we didn't like it much there because whatever way we attempted to escape from the campsite the roads were awful, winding and narrow.
(from here more pictures are waiting to be added but we can't do it at the moment due to poor wifi)
2nd - 9th October 2023 we took our life into our hands and moved us and the van onto Charmouth in Dorset where we met up with John's sisters Val (and Bob the 🐕 ) and Cath and her husband George. So it was lots of family meals and walks which included a visit to Shute's Lane and Hell's Lane Simonsbury which form one of Britain's finest sunken roads with lots of etchings along their ways. And from there we went home for a rest!
On 4th December 2023 we hired a cabin with a hot tub at Withernsea. It was cold and windy but it made a nice restful little break, and then in February we did that again but this time it was a lodge at Clumber Park in Nottingham.
Then we didn't go away again together until March but I'd sneaked away in January to Centre Parks with my Bessie mate Sharon and our daughters Sarah and Eleanor for a bit ot spa time.
March 1st - 4th 2024 saw us change our holiday habits as we booked into a Warner Hotel Cricket-St-Thomas in Somerset. The hotel was a gorgeous old stately home and we were a bit spoiled with lots of lovely food that included a posh afternoon tea and activities that included rifle shooting.
From there we moved on to another static caravan at Combe Martin in Devon were we stayed for 4 more nights.
I sneaked away again with Sharon for a couple of nights in London where we did a whirlwind tour of sights such as The Tower, The Sky Garden and Harrods to name but a few, and we also saw Moulin Rouge, Sister Act (which were both brilliant 👏 ❤️) and The Book of Mormon ( which wasn't quite to my taste!😖).
And finally April saw us visit Kessingland in Norfolk (15th - 25th April 2024). We visited Minsmere RSPB a couple of times and watched the majestic Marsh Harriers, and although we never caught sight of them we heard the Bittens booming.
We also Dunwich Heath, Carlton Marshes and Africa Alive, the latter mostly because we'd ran out of other things to do. However, possibly the most memorable thing about that holiday was probably me flying through the air as we walked the short distance to a Sunday market😱. There I was minding my own business 😌 when all of a sudden I stepped on an uneven bit of camber which caused my ankle to give way resulting in me lying full length on the muddy verge. I was completely winded and unable to answer John when he asked if I was 'all right' but after I'd got over the shock 😲 all I had to show for the event was 2 bloody knees and a very swollen ankle which took quite a while to settle .
And that's it!!! We should be all up to date now and if you want to read more the next blog takes over for our next adventure xxx
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