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.