House concerts and Deepdale (again)

My birthday socks from Helen

This month I was 60!!

I went to 2 house concerts at the Garden House, staying on neighbours drive for the concerts, then Deepdale for the few nights in between. First was the Joshua Burnell band who I loved! and then the raucous Smokin' Pilchards, great fun. 

Annoyingly my hip was really playing me up :-(

I went for another lovely day at King's Lynn, and as a souvenir got a Covid booster as a walk-in.

The Hanse House - afternoon tea

A walk along the river/dockside is always rewarding:

Deepdale Festival and Woodhall Spa

After being cancelled last year due to Covid, I met up with Sue, Paul, Jim, Jane, Linda,  Becky and her Mum Sheila, at the lovely Deepdale site for their festival. There were 2 fields, some food stalls and bars, and a great atmosphere.  

 

At Woodhall Spa (my first Caravan and Camping Club site) I was disappointed to find the bus wasn't running, and so I stayed on site the first afternoon, and tried to attach the awning stays. But for some reason the connector on to the awning rails kept falling off, so I gave up. I wasn't feeling up to walking to the pub for tea, so just had some soup and turned in.

The next day I was really suffering from my cold, so left for home a day early. I would like to come back as it seemed a lovely area to explore. 

Pause for repairs

Remember the incident with the Boston telegraph pole? Well I finally tried to organise the repairs. The insurers sent a man down from Teeside to tell me van wasn't a write-off (duh-uh) then told me contact several garages myself and get quotes. (What, you may ask yourself, was the point of the 'expert's' visit?) The insurers recommended a garage in Wakefield, and when I spoke to them, they couldn't handle a van of my height. Same with 2 other local places. 

I finally found a sensible garage who did the respray, replaced the decal and put the new boiler exhaust part in for much less than I was originally told to expect (Mike Wilson Motors). Thus avoiding the insurers altogether. 

It took 3 weeks however, which meant I couldn't camp over at Magpies festival as planned. This was only 2 nights in York thank goodness, so I commuted.

3 stops to To Underneath the Stars

First stop was to Paul and Sue's House concert, at Holbeach Hurn. This time it was Sean Taylor, a talented singer-songwriter with a range of styles, a lovely evening. A nearby landowner let me and Jim/Jane park on their barn forecourt.

On the way up to my next meetup with Angela, I called at the Heckington 8-sail windmill. This still grinds corn and you can climb nearly to the top, on very steep ladders. Very interesting place. I stopped there for lunch and bought some beer at the attached brewery (8 sail brewery).

I also dropped in at the Milestone campsite near Newark, which looks like a great place for future meetups. It overlooks some small lakes and it has a pub next door, which is attached to a brewery (Milestone brewery). I had a couple there, just for quality testing purposes you understand. 

Angela and I were meeting at West Stockwith, which has a canal-side campsite. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, and took a couple of walks along the canal and down to the White Hart pub, which I was surprised to see had an attached BREWERY (Idle Brewery).

Next stop was Bleak House Farm certified site at York, so I could catch a bus in to the city and meet Sue to attend the York Barbican to see American humorist David Sedaris. The Barbican is a terrible venue, and I will avoid in future. We also went out for a meal at The Chopping Block for Sue's birthday, and visited the Merchant Adventurer's hall.

Final call of the week was Cawthorne near Barnsley for the Underneath The Stars festival with Rob. The line up included Kate Rusby, Imelda May and Suzanne Vega headlining. A very good mixed festival, loads of food vans and we managed to stay dry most of the time. 

Beardy festival

 

The first festival of the year, and in Rita, at Hopton Court in Shropshire.

I didn't really make the most of it, being tired and distracted by worrying about Mum who was on her own for the weekend (eek!). But it was nice to see Paul and Sue again. 

Smoke me a kipper! - Isle of Man

On Sunday 15th I took the overnight ferry from Heysham to Douglas, on the Ben- My-Chree. I arrived at 6am and headed over to Peel, where I had a couple of hours sleep parked up on the promenade. Then setup on the Peel Camping Park and set off on foot.

It being a Monday much of Peel was closed, but the House of Manannan museum was open and extensive. (Even documenting the fact that the Romans didn't settle there.)

It overlooked the harbour, and I sat outside in the cafe area and had a Manx crab sandwich for lunch.

I then headed off to Peel Castle, and followed the audio tour around the grounds.

Entrance was covered by my Go Explore card which covered all public transport and the major visitor attractions, a total bargain. I didn't drive the van all week.

Tuesday

Got the first of many buses over to Douglas, about 40mins away. 

The Manx museum and art gallery were interesting, beautiful silver horde jewellery and engraved crosses with Ogham carved in. A good section on the internment camps too. 

Then back in to town and found a great cafe for lunch (halloumi burger at the Alpine Cafe). 

It was warm but grey and drizzly, so finding a statue of the Bee Gees on the prom was cheering.

Wednesday

Up early to get the bus to Douglas to catch the steam train. This runs down the east and south coasts, and I went to the end of the line at Port Erin.

I climbed up on the coast path but it was a bit treacherous as I only had sandals, so after a bit of view-gazing I came back down.

I found the Foraging Vintners, who make wine from fruits / herbs on the island. 

Rather than wait an hour for the next steam train departure I got the bus to Castletown, the old capital of the island. It is dominated by the well-preserved Castle Rushden, but I gave that a miss - there's always next time.

The town was a little bit dingy but had some great murals. Lunch was a takeaway burrito (a bit yuk) then I picked up the steam train again back to Douglas and the bus home.

Thursday

Finally a clear day, so perfect for the Manx Electric Railway ride to Laxy village at the base of Snaefell, and the Snaefell Mountain Railway (more like a tram) up to the summit.

It was very windy and so I didn't stay long. The horizon was indistinct so we could only see 3 kingdoms (Isle of Man, Heaven, and Manannan's - the sea). The other 4 - Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland being hidden from view. 

Laxy village was interesting in its own right, although its other major attraction of the giant steam waterwheel was shrouded in plastic and scaffolding, and closed for repairs. 

But I went down to see the woollen mill, and a smaller wheel had been restored, the Isabella. There were mining cottages and a good exhibition in the church all about the precious metals extracted there.

I caught the electric train to the end of the line at Ramsey, on the Northern tip of the island. It didn't seem to have much to recommend it - I think I might be a bit early in the season for some of these towns. So a trip to the Co-op and then a bus directly back to the campsite.

Friday

Last day, and after my epic trips of the last two days I determined to have a lie in then do some more exploring in Peel. 

The Cathedral was fascinating and had really well thought-out gardens. 

I also spent some time in the Leece museum, a small, local endeavour.

Finally I had a pint of OKells beer, some queenies and bacon, and ordered some Manx kippers to be sent to the house. Yum!

Saturday

Up at 6am to get the ferry back. I could see they were preparing for the TT races of the coming weeks. I'm leaving as 40,000 others arrive! 

There is so much more to see; I didn't do any walking, visit any of the glens or burial sites, nor the places that were only open at weekends.

By George, it's Boston

I should have been at a House Concert with Paul and Sue on the Friday but couldn't make it so just went down the next day to see them and do a bit of sightseeing in one of my favourite areas. I stayed near Boston the first night at a really quiet, rural CL (The Farm).

On the Sunday I met them at the small town of March in Cambridgeshire for the St George's Day parade. (Mae'n ddrwg gen i). Paul was dancing with the Bourne Borderers. It was a great day out, big market, fair, attractions, beer at the Ship Inn on the banks of the Nene.

I stayed overnight on their drive, and then headed off to RSPB Frampton Marsh after breakfast. This was a large wetlands reserve, and I saw: 

• Greylag geese
• Brent geese
• Barnacle geese
• Shoveler duck
• Moorhen
• Coot
• Avocet
• Lapwing
• Ruff
• Pipit
• Wheatear
• Goldfinch
• Reed bunting
• Lesser redpoll
• Egret
• Grebe
• Gulls

 Also met lots of nice people too, who were all pointing things out to each other.

Then DISASTER! I ignored my own advice about not driving the van to an unknown place, and pranged it trying to get out of the 4th (yes 4th!!!) crappy carpark in the centre of Boston. I was really cross with myself, and just drove back to the site. Sat in the sun with a G&T and a good book instead.

Monmouth - plus pig club

I stayed at Monmouth to catch up with Dyfan and Anita. 

See Wales.

Chatsworth Park

Two nights away with Angela, at the CMC on the Chatsworth House estate. It is a  beautiful park, and we just did a couple of short walks and had lunch, and talked a lot. 

Angela had to leave early for an appointment, so on the last day I just came home. Driving the van is getting easier, but the fuel consumption is pants.

194 miles, £47 = 24p a mile. Maybe no more thrashing it on the motorway.

Practice night in the Kia

I picked the coldest night of the year so far (-3), but all was fine. I took the van down to the CMC at Knaresborough to try everything out (except the hot water, too much faff to drain it again afterwards). It was SOOOO lovely in the morning, getting up and pottering, without having to be a contortionist. The external screens were simple enough in the end, and cooking/loo all fine. My only remaining bugbears are the handbrake (still awaiting the extension) and the reversing camera monitor isn't fixed to the windscreen so slides around.

If the weather had been better I would have stayed another night, but it was forecast snow and ice so I didn't fancy wandering round Knaresborough in that, and no point paying £16 to sit in a van 2 miles from home.