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Published: October 21st 2011
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We departed Adelaide on 5 August 2011. First we flew to Brisbane to spend a few days with Greg, Nicolle and grandson Kai at Nambour. Then we flew from Brisbane to London via Bangkok with Thai Airways which was quite okay and they got us into Heathrow at 7am on Wednesday 10 August. We got our hire car and headed south to inspect a couple of motorhomes and then spent the night in a B&B. Next day we drove up to Thetford, inspecting three motorhomes on the way. Got to Gate Lodge about 7pm feeling pretty knackered. But David and Janice welcomed us warmly, fed us and put us to bed!
Our first few days in the UK were mostly spent on the road but it paid off as we found our motorhome in Lancashire. We drove up on Monday 15 August, bought the van in the afternoon and drove it back Monday night! We also have done lots of charity shops, saver shops, boot sales, accessory shops and supermarkets to kit it out. This will take some time yet to complete.
After a wonderful 10 days at Gate Lodge we headed out for our first foray in Hamish
McHymer on Monday 22 August. We headed for the Midlands stopping at a few towns and a motorhome accessory place along the way. Our first night out was on a Certified Location (CL) in the Peak District near Carsington Water which turned out to be an overgrown field on a gentle slope. These are campsites provided privately under the umbrella of The Caravan Club. They are only permitted to have up to 5 RV’s and are usually on farms. It had lovely views and was quiet but we were lucky to get off in the morning before it rained too much. However day two saw us doing market shopping in Wicksorth early, then antique and charity shopping at Ashbourne (a lovely town) then finishing up with a pleasant walk to Wootton and Ellaston from a delightful CL which we ended up staying 2 nights. Day two at Greenacres CL meant we took a lovely walk up to Wootton, on to Weavers Hill and back down to Ellaston via the Wootton Deer Park. Day 4 included shopping at Leek (traffic problems meant we did not spend any time in the town), visiting the National Trust properties, Biddulph Grange Gardens and Little
Moreton Hall which were both lovely and interesting
Hamish has been pretty well behaved. Brian has had to fix shower pipes and replace the shower head which was cracked and there is a slight problem with water ingress around the lounge window in heavy rain but otherwise we are gradually shaking things out.
We avoided the rush of the bank holiday weekend by spending it with Auntie Jean, Elaine, Hazel and Eleanor up at St Annes. We took them out to show them Geocaching, which Elaine and Eleanor loved. After we enjoyed a couple of lovely walks, one around Whitbarrow in the southern lakes district and the next morning had a pleasant stroll around Arnside and the Arnside Knott with great views of the Kent River estuary and Morecombe Bay. We hid from the rain in Carlisle and also enjoyed a few hours at the Naworth Castle antique fair where the dealers were all very chatty. High Cleugh CL just near Hadrians Wall was next. The following day we did a 15km walk from the site to the wall and back via a scenic valley, a pub lunch and a beer
We have just enjoyed two great
days of walking Hadrian’s Wall. Having spent two nights at High Cleugh CL where Brian got his first haircut with the new clippers – a little too short for his liking but I think it looks good – we headed for another walk on the wall from Steel Rigg to Housesteads fort and back. A quite speccy 10km hike along a well preserved/restored section of the wall. The weather remained quite good despite the forecast of rain and we managed to stay dry for most of it. Housesteads fort is very interesting but British Heritage who run it could learn a lot from the NT (portaloos and no cafe really is missing a trick). Later we shopped in Brampton after learning how to get a parking disc to park for free in the town centre then headed for another CL just past Gilsland.
Clarks Hill farm was very nice if a little slopey but we did not cop too much buffeting from the wind. Unlike the next night where we rocked and rolled at Elf Hills CL near Wallington House. So far the CL’s have been of a pretty good standard and this is no exception however we are
consistently paying 10 quid a night but electricity is normally part of the deal. Elf Hills CL was very pleasant despite the wind and Wallington House and Walled Gardens were lovely. By early afternoon we were heading for Derwent Reservoir and the village of Blanchlands where we parked up in the village car park for our first free camp of this sojourn and only our second ever free camp in England! It proved to be a quiet night, however the door mat was sacrificed to a rather nasty lump of dog poo which K managed to pick up on a clog whilst venturing out in the dark! Fortunately the clog being plastic was easily cleaned but the mat was a different story. Next morning we took a walk up on to the moors but the rain came pelting down when we were at the furthest point of our walk so it was a rather soggy finish but the day held more nasty surprises for us!!
Following a pleasant lunch and a bit of time to dry out we headed out of Blanchland but only got as far as the first small hill over the river bridge when a young
man in a Fiat Punto came haring around the downhill bend in the rain a little too close to our side of the road and of course when he hit the brakes he slid down the side of Hamish requiring Brian to try to take evasive action which just caused him to scrape the other side of Hamish along a dry stone wall. It was all a bit of a mess and took several hours of phone calls and much patience on Brian’s part to get it sorted. It seemed at first that the insurers were not going to come to the party but eventually we got the van recovered and a temporary vehicle delivered to us although the Fiat Bambino was rather on the small side.
Anyway, after more telephone calls we were on the road in the Ford Focus heading for Bradford where Uncle Bernard was awaiting our arrival around 10pm! Only one more hiccup occurred when we stopped to put some fuel in the Focus and it took us a few minutes to work out how to open the fuel cap (the guys in the servo came out to help but we think they were suspicious of us, maybe thinking it was a stolen car!)
Friday was a bit better in that when Brian spoke directly to Allianz, our insurer, instead of the broker, he got a lot more sense and the guy who will do the repairs is down in Luton which will make it easier for us to get to as well. Visited with Auntie Freda who has been in hospital for 8 weeks with an infection and breathing problems following an operation. She was not looking too good but perked up with our visit. Sunday we went to Saltaire which has lovely galleries and shops. Bought an Alessi coffee pot and a few other bits then went to visit Auntie Freda again.
Monday we headed to Beverley to O’Leary’s to get some parts for the van then got to David and Janices’ in time for dinner. Along the way we had a walk around Lincoln which is a pleasant old town.
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