I'm back, to be honest I've been back for a week

 Well just over a week but I've been busy washing , sorting, cleaning out the van ready for next time and spinning.

We went on a road trip at the end of August for a few weeks. Started in our favourite seaside town of Bridlington and wandered off into the Scottish borders.

Bridlington was busy with holiday makers, sunny and warm.

The model village reopened this year so we walked down from the campsite and wandered round with our quiz sheets hunting for characters and buildings.

Full of anticipation, we packed up the van and moved north to Gretna, the next day it simply poured with rain. The van turned into a damp hovel with steaming clothes haha. The weather improved a day later so we set off to explore, Ian to the Devils porridge museum about 1st Word War munitions factory and myself into the village.

Next stop was Jedborough, famous for its abbey.  Interesting campsite, long and thin with a track through it to the football pitches, early evenings could be lethal as parents picked up their youngsters from practise and totally ignored the 5mph signs.

Gentle walk into town by the river, small cafes and shops and a hill topped by the old jail.

We usually stay for three nights on each site unless the weather is too bad to travel so it was on to North Berwick next, what did I just say about the weather?

and the fog was to stay with us for a few days.

Finally, it cleared :-)

We both enjoyed being at North Berwick, we even stayed an extra night but that was due to the 55mph winds more than anything else.

Pretty place, friendly people and I did find some fibre type stuff but that's for a separate post.

Then it was off to Berwick on Tweed to visit a favourite book shop.

This was our last prebooked campsite so it was almost sticking a pin in the map for our next stop which turned out to be Bellingham which deserves its own post soon :-)

Back in Yorkshire, a quick stop at Leyburn, no photos as my camera battery failed then back to Bridlington where it all began.

Four weeks, nine campsite, around 900 miles and we are now booking the next one :-)

Boats, bikes and steam

 August bank holiday saw us back at Papplewick Pumping Station for their classic bike weekend. We jumped in the car on the Sunday and popped down for a breakfast cob and a look round the bikes on show. Many of the bikes were also on show last year but there one or two that I quite fancied.

The boats were out and about on the cooling pond.

as were the geese.

Since most of the people were outside, we took the opportunity to head in and again admire the Victorian workmanship.

We have been supporters of this museum for many years, as you may have noticed that we visit 2 or 3 times a year.

speak soon xx

East coast break, windy with a touch of knitting .

 Last week we spent a couple of days over on the east coast (uk) Sutton on Sea to be exact. Whenever we have the van fully serviced we have to take out some of the stuff that usually stays in all year round. Tables, chairs, tool kits etc litter up our front room so that the engineers can get to all the electrics, water , gas and heating pipes to make sure all is safe. 

Every year I go through the mountain of stuff and remove anything that is surplus to requirements, originally I would take out a couple of carrier bags of bits and bobs that seemed like a good idea when we bought them but never get used but this year it was just a couple of cans of furniture polish from the back of a cupboard and a water hosepipe, I've no idea why we carry two when we rarely use one .

Once we get the van back and repack it, we usually grab two or three nights away to make sure everything is back in place, nothing worse than going on a road trip without the oven shelves or pillows ( yep, we have had to return for both of those items in the past)

Anyway, we found ourselves on a very pleasant site about a mile from Sutton for a blustery few days.

Once set up, watered and fed, we went down to the beach which is about a mile from the site. nice and quiet away from the small town and the usual holiday makers. We noted where the nearest cafe was and decided to return the next morning for coffee and breakfast (sausage baguette) the next morning.

I'm not sure whether the cafe used to be the post office but there was a post box outside and when post boxes and knitters/crocheters are found in the same vicinity, this happens..

Once we had sufficient food and drink, we walked along the prom, past the beach huts and into the town.

The sea defence flood gates were open but by the time Ian returned sat the end of the day they had been closed in preparation for an expected high tide.

More knitting greeted us in town

 

This all turned out to be part of a scarecrow trail around the town, We have visited this area ( Mablethorpe, Skegness etc) many times since childhood and regularly passed by a large antique shop on the main street, always vowing to call in sometime. Well after 30 plus years of driving past in cars, on the bike etc we called in. It was one of those places where you would need to visit several times, So much stuff in so little space !!

Ian volunteered to tackle the stairs up to the top floor and took my phone camera just in case.

Possibly a flax wheel, broken flyer.

This one looked more complete but he couldn't see the treadle under the surrounding junk.

Lunch was eaten at the beach cafe, not quite the summer view that the name conjurers up.

We went our separate ways and I walked back by the main road. I wanted to grab a picture of the church with the leaning tower but it doesn't really show the angle in the pictures.

I also wanted to grab a photo of a local street name ( again passed by many times)

Some knitting was achieved back at the van, I managed to finish the blue and white hat ( the white is Ryeland but the blue was out of my oddments bag so no idea on the breed)

The random pot of jam sneaking into the picture is cherry and kirsch which may or may not sneak back into the van for our road trip. 60mph gusts of wind the next morning delayed our departure by a few hours but we made it home safely.