This journey nearly didn't happen, because the bloody van failed its MOT again - for corrosion, again. Grrrr....
Many thanks to Mel who lent me her van - what a star. So with a temporary insurance policy and a few kangeroo jumps I was off to meet Jim, Jane, Wendy and Steve. This was the first time we'd met outside festivals or house gigs and we went to Steve's recommendation of Teversal.
This is a former mining area just South of Hardwick Hall. The campsite was opposite a reclaimed mine area which is now Silverhills Wood. We took two walks around this, thankfully in dry (but cold) weather.
The others cooked meals for us all, and I just took sundries/pudding. We also had a smashing meal at the Lord Caernarvon pub (he of the Tutankhamen expedition).
We finished one of the walks in the visitor's centre which had fantastic commemoration displays for all the closed mines. The title on the display of colliery plaques was 'Closed by Thatcher'. Good cafe and really cheap prices! And was a well-used place by locals too.
