We had a day trip to Redcar for morning coffee and lunch with Karen's folks. After which we parked up on the Coast Road and had a wander through the town. Much less frenzied than our previous visit last Wednesday.Read more
Bees
Thursday was so nice we sunbathed next to the van.
We were visited by the Caravanman, who makes repairs on caravans and motorhomes. We are anxious to have work done on a couple of faults with the van - which are hopefully covered by the warranty issued when we bought Chloe this time last year. As the weather was so hot the Caravanman was unable to find the problem we have with the electric heater, so we will have to wait for cooler weather to find what is causing this. He diagnosed the fault with the fridge and went away to contact our insurance company to receive permission to carry out the repairs under warranty. He was clearly very busy, now that people are once again planning camping trips away and discovering problems with their vans. We need to get our repairs done before we venture south on 13th July.Read more
A fabulous day and one which we had planned to spend in Redcar.
We enjoyed a couple of hours in late morning with Karen's parents in their garden. Nicola and Claire joined us for a socially distanced alfresco lunch which we enjoyed in glorious sunshine.
The garden was looking lovely and colourful, and the blackberry flowers were a great draw for the bees.
In the afternoon we had arranged to meet Karen's school friend Gill who had travelled up to Redcar from Manchester to visit family. Driving through Redcar it was clear that the place was buzzing, it was the hottest day of the year and the seafront was rammed. Pacittos ice cream and the new Gabrielle's ice cream shops each had queues of about 50 customers socially distanced spread out along the pavement. Lots of people on the beach and in the sea - never seen the place so busy.
We had arranged to meet with Gill at the cafe on The Stray as we can usually park the van there - it was impossible, not a place to be seen, cars everywhere. A left K with Gill and set off to find a placeto park up - after an hour of looking at all known locations I gave up and, found a spot some distance away in Marske where I sat in the sun to read my book.
Karen meanwhile enjoyed a nice walk with Gill along the beach catching up on everything.
We returned to Bedale in late afternoon, bottle of fizz in the freezer to help calm A's frustrations.Read more
We planned a visit to Easby Abbey today - an old ruined monastery a mile south of Richmond. Before we left K enjoyed a quick maths refresher with Magnus whilst A baked the sourdough. Magnus was on top form and the sourdough turned out really well - not bad for a first effort using home grown starter. After speaking to our girls in Australia we set off to the Abbey in glorious sunshine.
The Abbey was quite busy with families but we found a perch easily to enjoy our picnic. We then walked through the woods into Richmond - alongside the River Swale. Richmond really is located in a beautiful spot - the river runs through the town in a deep valley with the castle walls high up on the north side of the river. Many people were enjoying the green spaces alongside the river. We resisted the temptation to queue for an ice cream and returned to Easby by the disused railway route. A most enjoyable trip out.Read more
The return of good weather has been very welcome, so we have enjoyed ourselves once again in the beautiful countryside around us.
On Saturday we rode into Richmond and had a look at the Saturday Market. The town was quite busy and the stalls were the same as those we visited in Leyburn the day before. We didn't linger too long before returning to base with the Saturday paper to look forward to.
On Sunday and Monday we stayed local doing our usual walking routes. This time I took the camera to capture the numerous painted pebbles that one of the villagers has been moving about Crakehall over the lockdown period. Someone has obviously put a lot of thought and care into their work, and it brightens up our daily walks finding new exhibits each day.
On Monday we had a bread fest - A made a fabulous loaf with a wholemeal and crunchy flour mixture and then prepared a sourdough mix leaving it to prove overnight.Read more
The weather has been a mixed bag this last week but generally better than the previous one. We saw some sunshine on Saturday and enjoyed a bbq on site after a walk in the country side - ending up in Bedale where we purchased the Saturday paper.
On Sunday we cycled into Richmond, arriving just in time to see a load of police activity and youngsters carrying banners for a BML demonstration. It was not what we were expecting when we set off. The market square was full of demonstrators and onlookers - we kept our social distance by passing the demo to drop down into the valley below the castle. Crossing the bridge over the River Swale we enjoyed a nice walk along the valley by the river before climbing up the valley sides to return to Richmond at high level.A beautiful walk in stunning countryside. On our return the demo had dissipated with no signs of there having been any problem.
We confined our exercise to walks near the site until Wednesday, when we ventured out in the van to Northallerton - filling up with Autogas on the way. Karen had arranged to visit a sewing shop in Northallerton prior to meeting Donald and Margaret at the open market there. Nicola and Claire joined us later and we all returned to the site for a socially distanced afternoon tea.
Thursday was wet most of the day so we stayed on site, then on Friday we cycled to Leyburn to post a birthday present to Jemima who is two next week. We got a little wet as we cycled through low cloud but made it back before the heavens opened in the afternoon.
We have informed Stella (the campsite owner) of our intention to move on from this site on July 13th, as long as campsites are once again open by then. It will feel strange to leave our little haven here - we will have been here for 16 weeks by the time we go. We are so pleased that we found such a beautiful spot to spend the lockdown period, and are very grateful to Stella and Steve for their support and help and friendliness during this difficult time. This is a campsite we will return to again and again, as it has everything we require and is in a beautiful part of the country.Read more
A rather wet and much colder week saw us have limited excursions away from our van.
Tuesday was forecast to be dry so we arranged to travel over to Redcar to celebrate Donald's 89th birthday. We spent two hours social distanced in the rear garden, the first hour in sunshine but when the clouds came over the temperature dropped quite sharply for the second hour. Donald had clearly been very busy in the garden over the last 12 weeks as it was looking splendid. We returned via Morrisons in Ripon for the big shop
The rest of the week was very wet but we managed to get out for our walks on Wednesday and Thursday.
Friday wet all day. We spent some time organising our movements for the expected opening up of campsites in July. We have made a plan to go south when we leave here.Read more
The weather was very kind for the first part of the week, and we enjoyed our cycle rides and walks in the surrounding countryside once again. Farmers were cutting and bailing green barley (to use as winter feed for animals) prior to the forecast rain.
We cycled to Bedale and on to Masham and took another walk alongside the river. The water level in the river was quite low - one duck had 15 ducklings following behind which was nice to see.
The market square at Masham had all the bench seats turned over and taped off to stop motorcyclists from congregating and breaking the social distancing recommendations as had happened the weekend previous.
Wednesday saw the weather change and we had overnight rain which was very welcome to the farming community surrounding us, the temperatures also dropped by 10 degrees.
The field in front of us sprang back into life following the rain - the sheep and lambs are now enjoying the new grass shoots.
We found some "crunchy grain" flour in a bakery at Leyburn and the resulting bread is fabulous - probably not good for the waistline. First attempt at sourdough was quite successful but there is room for improvement next try.
Facetime and whatsapp calls to Australia and London continue to be a joy.
It has been nice sharing Sophie and Samanth's birthdays with them on Facetime too.Read more
After a very windy weekend there was much debris from broken trees on our country walk - nothing too substantial on the whole, but there were many broken branches and at Newton Le Willows a tree had snapped and fallen across the pathway.
The week proceeded to get warmer as each day went on as the winds died away from their peak.
On Monday we cycled to Leyburn then took a walk up The Shawl through the woods prior to descending into the village of Preston-under-Scar. The village was looking very colourful with spring flowers. The views on our walk were splendid.
On Wednesday Alan went for a ride around the valleys and hills nearby whilst Karen did some patchwork at the van. The ride took me via Catterick around the back of Leyburn returning via Masham and Bedale, There were some strong breezes on the exposed hill tops and very still in the valleys.
The Australian schools returned this week, but maths lessons for the girls in Australia continued - an excuse to have fun with Grannymac - and with Magus too. Magnus returns to school in Walthamstow next week.
We enjoyed zoom calls with family and friends through the week.
We cannot believe the weather we are experiencing - constant sunshine and blue skies. It's a bit like waking up each day on holiday in the Mediterranean - no complaints. We have set up sunbathing spots outside the van on the grassed area next to us. So peaceful here - all we hear is sheep bleating and birds tweeting. Not a single vehicle to be heard!Read more
