Hertfordshire 1 - Waltham Cross , a trip to be weighed , Theobalds Park. no sleep no dreams

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Today has been spent with three missions in mind. At least two of them came to fruition. The third sadly did not. It is not the end of the world though. First job get Suzy off the drive which at times is no mean task. The sooner we make a bigger drive the better - in the interests of marital harmony of course. The second to take her for a well deserved fill up of LPG which would last us through this upcoming holiday. Sadly this went pear shaped as the place we had planned to buy it from had either gone bust or the guy had just given up the ghost and stopped trading. We think we can get some on the M1 on the way down to the Chunnel but if not then there is always the last filling station in England. Just before the tunnel. Next stop diesel. A fill of the good stuff to tide her over . £1.06 a litre slightly more expensive than our local supermarket but better quality. She deserves an engine treat now and again. I still got Tesco Clubcard points so it was no big deal. Big Deal thoughts are going back to a programme on the tv about 30 years ago called Big Deal - but I digress. Habit these days I am afraid . The last stop of the morning was to the weighbridge to see just how heavy the old girl is. We sold some lead and got the weight done free rather than be paid for the lead . She came in at 3300 kg which gives us 200 to play with so all is well and the ticket will be kept safe just in case we get stopped. We still have Duvalay bedding to put in and some more comfort food but we should still be well within the weight limits.

So two more sleeps . There is a Korean proverb that says "No Sleep , No dreams" How true that is . In our sleeps we are already dreaming of our last night on these shores at Theobalds Park Caravan and Camping Club site. If all goes well I should leave work at lunchtime on Wednesday and we will get off pretty well straight away. If things go belly up I will not leave so early. My flexi afternoon has gone wrong . Did I put the wrong day in? Was it just a misunderstanding but whatever happens I shall be hitting the M1 with hubby and the sheep by 3pm . So it is to another sleep and hopefully another nice dream of the month to come.



The days have gone by both quickly and at a snails pace. Normally things like Christmas and holidays take a long time to come round. Tuesday was spent at work , some last minute shopping as you always forget something along the way and packing things. We no longer have a list that we check against. That sadly went the way of way of many things a few years ago and now we hope for the best. You can always buy most things if you forget them somewhere along the way. The butterflies are now like a jungle with elephants and rhinos working their way backwards and forwards in our stomachs . It feels like the African bush down there. We set off Wednesday lunchtime after the car tango which involves parking up Maddie the French moody so and so right down the road and out of the way of Suzy. The Grunter the German BMW then is moved into the road and Suzy is moved out ready to go. After this the tango recommences with Maddie taking up Suzys spot on the hard standing and the grunter parks up behind. Once the dance is completed we can set off.

The route this time is slightly different . I arrived home from work and changed into something less workmanlike. I checked the fridge to make sure we didn’t get home to stinky cheeses and Glenn checked and locked all the windows. I left him to do the final door locking so that I could forget about it rather than deliberate all holiday as to whether I had locked the doors. It is an age thing you know. After this we headed down the M1 heading for Theobalds Park rather than stopping at Cambridge or Peterborough on the way. The hedges along the route were white with the nearly opened Blackthorn flowers and the odd Hawthorn thrown in for good measure . We crossed into Nottinghamshire – we are on our way - and then back into Derbyshire . We felt as if we had travelled an hour and got nowhere. Pretty primroses lined the motorway edges. The butter yellow Gorse looked pretty. Spring felt as if it had finally arrived and the further south we travelled the more we noticed it. Oilseed rape was turning yellow in the fields. A smidgin of blue highlighted the bluebells in the woods. When we arrived at our stop for the night even the Bearded Iris were putting in an appearance.

So, Theobalds Park . It is the wrong side of the Dartford Crossing but that is not a problem. It is a lovely site with some nice wardens. However , our request to park up on hardstanding outside the main parking had gone unnoticed as the new wardens pointed us in the direction of plot 2 which was the wrong side of gate which wouldn’t open early enough for us to get off in the morning. No problem they said. Park up and pull the electric cables through the fence ., I did a shimmy which would have won me points in a shimmying competition. The car park might be full. It might be noisy as people come and go but at least you will get off tomorrow in time for your early train they said . And yes it was busy. It seemed some came here to catch the train to the capital . Others were working and parked their cars on the park for the very same reasons as us. Not a bad night overall though. We got TV , we chilled out, we thought of what tomorrow might bring and we froze in our beds. 10 degrees overnight . Am I waiting for Europe ? Silly question.

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Photos

Alfreton
On the way and a reminder of coal mining in the area