Route 1

Friday we travelled down from Lincoln.  Janice remembered that an old (sorry Steve, not so old) colleague who joined the police cadets with her, lived near Lincoln.  We texted him and low and behold he and his wife Sarah were around on Friday morning for a visit.  I also knew Steve because he worked at Barrow for a couple of years.  It was great to catch up with him and we were made very welcome.  I think it must have been a surprise for him to see Janice and me together but he didn't show it.

We drove down to a CL outside the Norfolk town of Fakenham.  The site is nice and quiet except for the noisy guinea fowl that walk around the site.... actually quite nice.  The evening weather was superb and we sat out to eat our meal.  

The forecast for Saturday was even better and we weren't disappointed.  Breakfast outside and then off on our bikes towards the seaside.  Fakenham was our first visit and looked a nice small town and then through a series of small villages including Great Snoring....by the way I caught Janice snoring last night and she had caught me doing the same!

We cycled through Little Walsingham and Warham where we had a drink at a lovely old pub that had kegs on the bar.

We had followed signs for the National Cycle Route 1 which is the same route as we had cycled in the North East of England and in Edinburgh and up on Orkney.  It obviously goes the full length of the east side of Britain and I think we have done half of it this holiday!  Our destination was Wells-next-the-Sea and had another drink at a pub on a ship and then I went for a swim to cool down.

There was plenty of ugly flesh on the beach and I'm not just talking about mine!

We moved on to Holkham Hall and had an ice cream.  Nice stately home in massive grounds that stretch down to the beach.  We even watched a cricket match in front of the hall.

We cycled back to Fakenham.  The weather has been superb, the hottest day of the year for us.  It's the first time we have used sun tan lotion.

Bombs away.

A warm, dry but cloudy day was good for a bike ride.  Seeing as we are too much of a skin flint to pay to get in the Cathedral and Castle in Lincoln we decided to cycle in the opposite direction and see what's what!

The site owner told us that Boston is a bit run down and full of Poles!  I think that may be a borderline racist comment?  Anyway, he recommended Woodhall Spa as worth a visit.  We took his advice and enjoyed a nice afternoon at this rather interesting place.

Here is a canal lock where Mrs Wright was the lock-keeper for over 30 years till the 1960's.

The canal runs alongside the River Witham from Lincoln to the sea near Boston.

We carried on to Woodhall Spa which became a Spa resort in the Victorian era.  Janice was looking forward to a pamper session so I spared no expense to take her to The Spa and Pump House, see below......

She was a little disappointed...you can't say that I didn't try!

It actually had a nice shopping street of local shops and some nice hotels.  There was a little museum that explained the towns history and the decline of the Spa.  Here we are in the museum...

Richard - That's another fine mess you got me into!  Janice- I'm having a bit of trouble Betty!

What a stern look!  Miss Whiplash!

Seriously, the town was home to an RAF base in the Second World War and was where Squadron 617 flew to do the Dam Busting mission and also sank the German Ship Turpitz in a Norwegian fjord.  Not forgetting the drop of the troops into Arnhem for Operation Market Garden.

What really made the day was the quality (and size) of the Tiffin served at the local bakery...for only £1.10, I'm easily pleased.  It gave us good energy for the bike ride back.

Richard is the HOFF!

No, Richard is not impersonating Michael Hasselhoff, nicknamed the Hoff!  We were listening to the radio and found out there is a new acronym, HOFF, meaning HOt Fit and Fifty+.  Apparently this applies to men over 50, who are trying to hold onto their youth - sounds about right so far but when listening to the detail it seems that HOFFs have a bit of a paunch, wear a trendy scarf and never wear shorts.  I object to the paunch description and I constantly wear shorts (I haven't worn trousers since we set off).  I have previously been a DINKY, not quite a LOMBARD and very starting to feel that I may be a CRAFT!  I wilł let you work out the meanings.

Monday was a bright sunny day...great.  We had a little sit out after breakfast before we left the site around 11am.  We drove out of the gate and turned left into a car park 20 yards away and parked up again......then cycled along the coast to Whitley Bay towards Tynemouth, great beaches and lovely views.

We passed a pitch and putt course and couldn't resist having a go.  Since Janice and I have been together we have never played pitch and putt.....and it showed!  

We constructed our lunch on a bench at Tynemouth listening to a busker.  It's a nice place with some nice shops and plenty of chip shops (they seem to be very popular round here).

We have been having a discussion about 'what's what' recently, thinking that we have been travelling too much distance and not staying anywhere for any length of time.  Perhaps we should stay longer in an area.  

Having had this discussion we are actually booked into a site in Norfolk at the bank holiday weekend.  I thought we should try and book somewhere in advance of this busy weekend or we could struggle getting in somewhere.  I did struggle to book the site because it took me over an hour on the phone to find this site with a vacancy.  So, we are still covering quite a bit of distance but maybe when we are in East Anglia we might stay in that vicinity?

After Tynemouth we intended on wild camping for the night but aimed for North Yorkshire, stopping in Northallerton for an afternoon coffee and scone and then onto Thirsk for our teatime meal whilst parked in a sunny car park.

Thirsk town square at dusk.

In the impending darkness we found a little pull in on a country lane on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors near to Felixkirk....but it could be anywhere, we aren't too sure!

Tuesday rained all day!  We drove south through a grotty town called Gainsborough (no nice paintings at all)!  We stopped overnight at a picnic spot outside Market Rasen.

Wednesday we went to a CL outside Lincoln and actually had some nice warm sunshine.  We cycled into the city.  The Cathedral looks good but we refuse to pay the £8 entry fee.

Janice looking for Wookie!

Back into England.

We returned to England this morning.  

We have thoroughly enjoyed our travels in Scotland.  We have been impressed by the free parking and public conveniences (you notice these things when you carry your own toilet facilities with you)!  It's never been really warm but we avoided any serious weather and never got drenched and no midgy bites, so I think that is a successful trip.  The scenery is great and it's nice to feel there is plenty of space.  Certainly, many of the Scottish new build houses seemed to be large with plenty of garden, especially when compared with English new houses.

We drove to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) and parked up before the causeway. We cycled from there onto the Island which was gloriously sunny and fairly busy with other tourists.  I asked Janice if she would 'meet me on the corner' and she thought we should 'run for home'.

Three lovely photos of the island, priory and castle.  We had a picnic on the island and then drove on toward our destination - a proper Caravan Club site near Whitley Bay but we couldn't see the 'fog on the Tyne'.   We can use a proper washing machine etc yippee!

The site has a great view over the sea to a lighthouse and good coastal cycle routes.

Langholm is the best!

The title of this blog entry is purely to placate Janice's sister in law Joan and family who live at Langholm.

Well we stayed wild camping on the car park by the river and awoke to blue skies.  Our morning activity involved some pre breakfast exercise and then a trip to the butchers to get the best haggis in Scotland.....this is official because Joan says so!  We agree because we have had several Langholm haggis and can vouch for this ourselves.

The Thomas Telford bridge is is the distance at Langholm.

Then we called in on Joan and husband Andy for 'second breakfast'. It's a bit similar to the Munich second breakfast but without the beer and pretzels.  We actually had bacon and sausage buns with a cup of tea, couldn't be better.  Joan's daughter, Allison called in to see us too, it was lovely to see them.

Not many people know that Thomas Telford, the famous engineer and bridge builder came from just outside Langholm and also astronaut Neil Armstrong came here to receive the freedom of the town because his ancestors come from here!  You learn something every day.

We went back to the van and set off through Hawick and onward to the east coast at St Abbs Head, north of Berwick.  Janice has invented a new way of navigating....she thinks that left = North and right = South.  She seems to have forgotten that East and west exist!  Anyway, despite the directions we got there!

St Abbs Head harbour.

It's a nice little little place but we cycled over to Eyemouth with the intention to have some fish and chips.  We haven't had them from a chip shop for such a long time and I thought this could be the place to eat them by the fishing harbour.

Guess who had the big portion?

I had an ice cream to follow but Janice thought it was one too many!!

Not sure how I will manage to ride my bike back to the site?

Janice has got me by the Trossachs!

Today (Thursday 13th August, I need to remind myself sometimes) was the sunniest day of the holiday so far.  It actually got above 20 degrees for the first time.

We drove down to Stirling with a brief coffee stop at Pitlochry.  We visited the Castle which was really very good.  The highlight was the Royal Palace with its grand but aged exterior and its recreated interior.   Here are some pictures...

This bridge is at the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, where William Wallace allowed half of an English Army across before he attached and defeated them.....good tactics.

The Royal Palace built by King James V but he never lived long enough to live in it.

This is the Great Hall built by King James IV.  The van was built by Henry Ford the first!

The Castle has a very interesting history and was the strategic linchpin of Scotland as the town and the bridge over the River Forth controlled the main routes to the Highlands.  Of course the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 took place on the outskirts of Stirling, where Robert the Bruce defeated the army of English King Edward II.

We went to find our CL site near Aberfoyle which is the place where my Great Grandad Vernon lived briefly.  The site was on a farm, in a sloping field.  I couldn't get the van close to level but I didn't mind because we had the field to ourselves, a lovely view of the sunset over the Trossachs and lots of peace and quiet.

On Friday we had a slow start, had a look at Aberfoyle and then went to the Bannockburn Battlefield Visitor Centre but when we arrived they said they were booked up for 'performances' till after 3pm.  I wasn't sure what the performances were, probably some video reenactment?  I think they didn't like the look of me because I was English and thought I might give them a bit of trouble in a battle reenactment, so they discriminated against me!  Janice didn't play her Scottish card!  Anyway, we enjoyed a look at the Robert the Bruce statue and the Memorial.

The next destination was Dumfries, which was rather run down with several closed shops in the centre.  The photo below is the only nice picture opportunity we could get.

 We had tea overlooking the Solway Firth at Powfoot, near Annan and we stayed overnight at the Muckle Toon, properly known as Langholm.  As many of you will know, Muckle means 'little' and many a Mickle makes a Muckle!  We wild camped....very naughtily on a car park by the River Esk where it prohibited sleeping overnight.  If anyone asks, we will say we were wide awake all the time!

So near, so Farr.

I have a couple of days to report upon.  Our last night at Duncansby Head blew a hoolie.  We were in probably one of the most exposed places in the country so we shouldn't have been too surprised.  There was thunder and very high winds which kept us awake through the night.  It had calmed down to normal bluster in the morning.

We were a little unsure about where we were aiming for but eventually plumped for a certified location on the eastern side of Loch Ness.  Our journey was fairly uneventful with no stops of interest.  The site was adjacent to a small hotel....nice and handy.  The hotel is near Farr, Farr being a small village nearby, so Farr so good.  If we went further we would have been nearer Farr but he who goes further may not get too far!!  I didn't intend to milk this location, Farr from it!

Anyway, it is very pretty here with clear views in all directions, so we decided to stay a second night.

We went for a little drink at the hotel in the evening.  Nice comfy settees in the bar and wifi, excellent and we had a nice chat with some other guests.  I managed to check my emails.  In an email from my elder brother, David, he told me that our Great Grandad actually lived in Aberfoyle for a number of years which is something that I never knew.

After a good sleep (making up for the night before), we cycled 13 miles into Inverness.  

We met this dodgy clansman!  By the look of him he could have been related to my Great Grandfather too?

We heard on the local radio that a man called Mark Beaumont had completed the North Highlands 500 mile Cycle Challenge in 38 hours, breaking the previous record by 10 hours.  He has been an inspiration to me for his long distance cycling exploits.  He cycled around the world and did a great TV programme of him cycling the Americas (from Alaska to Chile, climbing a couple of the biggest mountains as well).  He actually started and finished this challenge from Inverness Castle and sadly we missed him by a day.

Here is Inverness Castle with a statue of Flora MacDonald outside it.  Janice is trying to do her impersonation of Flora.  I have to humour her sometimes!

We checked out the City Museum and called into Boots the Chemist where Janice squirted me with a sample bottle of David Beckham aftershave.  I have strong views about how David Beckham has achieved so much wealth and celebrity by virtue of having one talented foot, so you will understand that I was taken aback.  Contrary to my views, Janice likes David Beckham and used to have a picture of him in her work drawer (I'm probably giving too much private information)!  I did forgive her when she started calling herself 'Posh' and uncontrollably draped herself over me whilst still in the shop!  When we left the store it was like a scene of the Benny Hill Show with a line of women following after me......in my dreams!!

We popped into the M&S cafe and had coffee and a cheesy scone....very nice.  Then had a little walk along the River Ness which included the Cathedral.

Back on our bikes for the uphill struggle back to the site.  The day had actually brightened up.  It is another day in Scotland where we have managed to stay dry....we class that as a success.  So I finished the day with something wet....

I never had a 'sheepshagger' before!