Yorkshire 1 - A wedding and hillsides of heather

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Hundreds, Tens and Units - It is now 8 weeks until we go on what has affectionately been called our “ next big” holiday. This time though we will only be away for 3 weeks rather than 4 so perhaps it should be our second not quite so long holiday. The fact that it is only 3 weeks rather than the 4 is causing some headaches in the planning stage. Having realised that three weeks is not long enough to get to where we want to be we need to be we are considering two four week holidays next year at least. And this is where the lottery win is required.

Perhaps it may sound to some people that talking about planning a holiday 8 weeks before leaving sounds a bit premature. But this is part of the fun of the holiday and makes it all seem real. However, what I would like to know is why do the weeks below 10 feel as if they pass by more quickly than those above 10? Is it something to do with being a child and being taught to count in hundreds, tens and units? Perhaps the tens sound much easier for a child to understand. Or is it something to do with having ten digits on your childlike hands. You can count them easily and see time passing by as each week you count off one digit at a time turning the fingers down and see the time falling away before your eyes.

The weather is still poor, the rain is falling with endless monotony and I yearn for the seasons which seem to have long since gone. Winters thick with frost, waking up in the morning to icicles forming on the leaky gutters, snow up to the doorways and windows. Having to dig ourselves out. No sign of paths with the road hidden under the freshly fallen snow. Milk frozen in the bottle, expanding and pushing the silver milk bottle lid skywards. It would be pecked by blue tits trying to get at the ring of cream on the top.. Struggling our way to school in our wellington boots which ended full of wet and slushy snow leaving us with soggy wet socks which steamed on our feet as they dried. . Spring with all its beauty, the spring flowers and lambs and the endlessly long summers which felt hot and muggy. June, July and August wall to wall heat which drifted into our Indian Summers of September and October . And then the circle returned with Winter again.

Now it feels as if Summer will never come – on a brighter note the last of our hosepipe bans have been lifted and gardeners can water their waterlogged pond like gardens again. The raspberries and redcurrants have produced a veritable feast and the apple tree is going through a rather late June drop. Vegetables though sadly lacking due to the wet weather. No doubt the apples and the tomatoes will be ready just as we leave for Europe again. Listening to our local gardening programmes it seems as if we are not the only ones whose vegetables are disasters this season.

Train booked curtesy of Tesco Clubcard vouchers . We continue saving and have enough for our May 2013 holiday already. Our overnight campstop the night before is booked again at Warwick Racecourse. It makes a convenient halfway stop between home and the tunnel. Will the upgrading of the M6 be any closer to completion? Highly unlikely as I am sure we will face endless lines of cones marking out areas where work has commenced and been finished and cones marking off areas that look as if no work is being carried out at all. It probably will go on through next year as well. What is it about motorway repair work that it goes on forever and yet very little seems to get done?

Suzy’s shakedown list is in the hall awaiting checking . Most items are still in the van some never taken out but others all washed, cleaned and tidily put away. As usual there will be the last minute items that cannot be put away until the morning we leave. Coats, scarves,gloves, towels and tea towels all in their place perhaps we will take enough this year. The things left to last minute are the mobile phones, the chargers, laptop and tablet. Some things are easy to remember to put in the van. Pens and note paper replaced in readiness for taking notes for the blog. Memory not being as good as it used to be so notes very necessary., Times checked , Insurance up to date and passports safely put away. Vignettes checked. The route is evolving as we go along.

Plan A Three days drive through France, Switzerland into Italy to our destination Baveno on Lake Maggiore where we plan to spend a few days to take in the glorious scenery of the lake and its surroundings. It will be a time to rest awhile watching the world go by. The weather should still be good in early September around the mid 20’s and hopefully the campsites will be quieter than at Lake Garda with Baveno and Stresa less commercialised. There seems quite a lot to do in the area ranging from sitting around and doing nothing to people watching in the lakeside cafes and then island hopping . A scenic train traverses the mountains to Locarno and a cable car climbs to the top of one of the nearby mountain ranges. Vertigo will prevent a trip on that sadly. And then on to Bologna for a taste of city life and perhaps the Ducati factory if it reopens for tours, Bergamo with the old town and than south to Tivoli to see the gardens. From West to East across the country to the seaside resorts close to Rimini, to San Marino a place I visited almost 20 years ago and up to Ravenna famed for its mosaics. However time not being on our side means that this may not work and we could find we are rushing about too much between places without taking in their beauty and charms so it could be back to the drawing board and Plan B.

7 weeks and counting and into Plan B – Do we really want to go to Bologna and Bergamo? Why not take in the MotoGP at Misano which falls right at the middle of the holiday? But then this restricts us and forces us to be at a certain place at a certain time and isn’t this the very reason we bought Suzy – to give us the freedom to stay or move on as we pleased. Perhaps we need a Plan C.

Another finger has been ticked off , turned down . The weather has not improved any. We wake to drizzle or heavy rain most days. The clouds are low and it is particularly misty which is rather unusual for this time of the year. Is it November or is it July – hard to say?

We have purchased an aerial or at least something that looks like an aerial which is used to amplify the signals from WiFi hot spots up to 1 km away. Last holiday we did find it frustrating that WiFi was only available at reception areas and we sometimes found outselves sitting in the rain trying to log on to the internet. At other times the sun was so bright we could not see our screen. Signals were occaisionally so weak we continually lost the internet mid surfing. Hopefully this little gadget which fits to the van and plugs into the laptop will amplify the signal and make it much more user friendly.

At this point we seem to be counting days rather than weeks. . Sadly I even found myself counting actual working days and how many grass cuts we need before departure. How sad is that?

Plan C has come into play. The map is on the floor and as we look again we contemplate cutting out the whole of the East side of Italy as it will up too much time of the holiday. We thought about concentrating on Bologna, Pavia and into Chiantishire where we hope to get in a few days walking. There are so many beautiful Tuscan and Umbrian villages we can spend time just doing nothing. Isn't that what holidays are about. From there we plan to go across the border into the south of France heading for Cassis . We should be on the train line between Toulon and Marseilles. Mileage around 3000 miles again and campsites located. Reading blogs tend to make us re-assess the route as we read of somewhere interesting we fancy visiting. Purchased a Rough Guide to Portugal and have realised that we could spend a good holiday in that country as well. Just need the time.

We received our second replacement locker door and this time it is the right one for the waste locker. But we still have not received the wet locker door. It seems we may not as Thetford think they have already sent us the right one a few weeks ago. We have failed to get hold of Lowdhams to tell them yet again that we are waiting for the replacement. It seems we write e-mails and they end up in a black hole. Not the best customer service. Will it ever get resolved?

Site booked for an overnight stay on the way home at Poolsbrook in Derbyshire. The site sits on an old colliery site it is very similar to the one we stayed at in the Spring at Teversal.

Aside from all of this we travelled over to Sheffield to attend a wedding. I love the journey over at this time of year over the Woodhead Pass.. The road starts to the East of the city of Manchester and passes through the tiny stone villages of Mottram in Longdendale, Hollingworth and Tintwistle. After this it rises through the valley of Longdendale and through the Peak District National Park. The hills which at times look brooding are started to become covered with the lovely shades of purple heather. Large areas are covered in all shades of purple and it looks majestic. The reservoirs are now full and the area full of walkers and serious hikers but during the winter the road can become impassable. Perhaps it could be a trip for Suzy at some point later this year.

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