Back to Skipworth Common

Last night was breezy to say the least. The biting wind was so gusty we couldn’t even keep the gas fire alight which is a first for us, and the wind only got up during the night rocking Wanda and sending us to sleep.
We knew we had to be up and out of the links road car park by 8am and I was up downing coffees at what I thought was 6:45am. Unfortunately the clocks are still on Spanish time and it was actually 5:45am when I got up and 6:40am when I realised I’d made a mistake.
Several coffees later and at 8am we left Bamburgh. The castle and views had been great but the weather was terrible and it could easily be just the same during a British summer.
I had intended on driving to Lindisfarne Island this morning but with the wind still howling and the heavy on and off showers we just decided to say we were done and head home.
The truth is, finding somewhere to park is a nightmare because as a motorhomer we’re just not wanted in this country. Spaces are barely big enough for a family car in this country let alone a motorhome and finding somewhere free to park is even more challenging. We’ve paid £12 to park for the night in a designated area but we have to be out by 8am and the main tourist attraction, which is the castle doesn’t open until 10am so where are we meant to go for 2 hours?
We decided to head back the way we came and head for Skipworth Common, being forced to leave at 8am put us on the A1M at rush hour which again is something I would never normally do and it took us just over 3 hours to make the 150 mile trek back to Selby.
We pulled in to exactly the same parking area as we had used on the way up and this time the car park was much busier with around 6 other cars and plenty of dog walkers.
Then after taking Ella for a quick walk we had a cup of tea and a Wanda Toastie before the 3 of us headed out through the heathland to explore the old RAF Base of RAF Rincorn.
The trail is a 2 mile walk around the old bomb storage bays with a small memorial at the bays that was erected in 2010. There wasn’t much to see mainly just remnants of brickwork but I did find some old buildings in the woods that looked more interesting but were flooded. Ellies main focus was trying to find the woolly cows and heathland ponies but we didn’t find them either.
We got back to Wanda around 3pm and then we just chilled and watched Netflix for the rest of the afternoon until it got dark and finally we were left on our own.
It’s not as dark tonight, even though we are blanketed in cloud the moon is low and bright casting a silvery sheen across the heath and woods giving the silver birch an eerie glow, and tonight it looks like we will be here alone. Just us and the owls.Read more