20. Jun, 2021

20. Jun, 2021

SUNDAY  20-06-21

Not our best day I have to say. We were up in good time for a nice hot shower, and having turned the vehicle around yesterday evening expecting the waste water flow to be improved, it didn't, I give up, though we do need to start paying more attention to the angle of the vehicle when it sits on its campsite pitch. Normally we'll use campsite shower facilities so it isn't a huge issue, but at the  moment campsites are either not opening their bathroom facilities due to covid, with no discount of course, or they're open, but we're choosing to use our own facilities. So thinking about it, over the past three weeks we've used our own facilities every day, bar two days on a Caravan & Motorhome Club site at Barnard Castle, using our LPG to heat the water, but no discount from the campsites.

Having emptied everything and filled the fresh water tank we left our campsite outside Alnwick and headed towards Amble further down the coast. My word, I shall be pleased when we've left these narrow twisting roads behind. Before too long we passed through Warkworth, somewhere I had earmarked for us to stop at and take a look en-route, but The Chef wasn't too bothered as she says the castle is a bit if a ruin, though I have to say as we passed through the village and past the castle, it didn't look too bad.

Just out of the village we pulled in to a large lay-by where we sat for quite a while to kill time and enjoy the sunshine which had finally shown its face. We were parked right beside the wide River Coquet, where there were lots of paddle boarders in action, many of whom were under instruction.

After lunch and a read of Saturday's paper we headed for the local Morrisons supermarket, which is very new. Again we were looking to kill some time. We just wanted to have a look around before we return on Tuesday morning to stock up for the final phase of this trip. This store had the added bonus of having a filling station on site which sold LPG. Rather than move the vehicle on to the forecourt we decided to just walk across to it. Despite  both of us looking for the LPG pump, we couldn't find it, so I popped into the shop to enquire. No they said, they don't have an LPG pump, just gas cylinders in a steel case available for exchange.I really must now contact Morrisons and request that they amend their website to include filling stations which have LPG pumps - I'll add that to my list of jobs to do when we get home. It's just as well we came across that LPG pump on the junction of the A1 and the road to our campsite and Holy Island some days ago. Had we not done so I'd start feeling under serious pressure to get the cylinders topped up.

By now we had killed enough time to make our way to our hosts for the next two nights The Trap Inn (N55.304408° W1.614198°), part of the Britstop scheme, in a village about two and a half miles from Amble our ultimate destination tomorrow. All the way there I was salivating at the thought of a nice roast dinner this evening, but no. The board outside the pub states that food is only available Wednesday to Saturday 12:00 to 20:30, and Sundays 12:00 to 15:00. So that was that, we went in to buy a drink and confirm the fact that there was no food available. Nope no food, not until Wednesday. Oh well , we splashed out five pounds fifty on a couple of drinks and that's all they'll get out of us today, and not much more tomorrow.

We are surrounded by bus stops but it's unclear which one we need to stand at tomorrow, having walked down the road to a junction we think we've identified the bus stop we need. As we sit here in the pub car park we are reassured that a mile down the road is Northumbria Prison, quite a large one too looking at it on Google Maps.

So tomorrow we shall either be stood at the right bus stop and arrive at Amble, or we won't. But if successful we'll have a look around and have a coastal walk, trying to make a day of it before returning here for the evening. I must confess to feeling a bit miffed because when I booked this Britstop three months ago, before pubs were even open, I had a nice long chat with the landlord and even booked a table for both evenings and gave him my mobile phone in case there were any problems. I appreciate that at that early stage nobody knew quite what was going on, but having eventually opened and decided on their opening hours I would have thought a phone call to tell us that food wouldn't be available on either night during our stay. Maybe I expect too much of people.

Never  mind, my darling chef has rustled up a delicious chicken curry which was most welcomed.

Tomorrow is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

I’ve heard whispers from back home, that the Fenland Dogging Club, in an attempt to attract new members, are moving their annual ‘Dogathon’ to late this evening, and inviting the local Druids to let their hair down on the ‘all-nighter’ climaxing in the rising of the sun tomorrow morning.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

19. Jun, 2021

19. Jun, 2021

19. Jun, 2021