Morris with a difference, Black Pig Border Morris

 On Saturday I headed down t the Pagan market to see Black Pig Border Morris.

Definitely noisier than the traditional Morris dancing usually seen locally :-)

Great energy bouncing off them :-)

September tour - the fibre version part 2/4

 Onwards to North Berwick, this was one of my favourite places on the trip and co-incidentally one where we spent the most nights although that was more down to the weather than anything else, 55 mph wind gusts aren't fun when you are over 10 foot high and shaped like a brick !!

Anyway, I met a lovely group of spinners, members of the Haddington spinners and weavers group, no photos but they gave me an invite to go to one of their meeting which I hope to do in the near future.

Yarn bombing was very much in evidence down by the harbour,

You can find out more about the group responsible 'yarn cafe' here

I would also recommend the local knitting shop Chandlers, I treated myself to a ball of Jamieson  and Smith cobweb yarn ready for some fine lace knitting.

September tour - the fibre version part 1/4

 Now that I've pretty much recovered from the covid symptoms ( I never seem to teste positive but isolate anyway) I'm adding in a few details re textiles and fibres spotted on our last break.

First stop for thread related finds was Jedburgh, in the Jail to be more precise.

Where I found examples of Fine Cell Work on display and for sale. I remember this project being set up 25 years ago and I'm pleased to see that it is still continuing,

More details about Fine Cell Work can be found here,

The local knitting shop was closed due to holiday but I did spy some Fish in the window :-)

Later in the day I took my Nano into the Edinburgh Woollen Mill cafe across the road from the campsite and up to the town to a locals cafe and had some very enjoyable conversations with a party of visitors who used to work in the local mills and some ladies from Northumbria who were fascinated by the spinning.

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