What are you all up to

I thought it was there that you had stopped, Francis. There are grand views all round that area, and some very impressive properties too.

Another fine sunny warm day, around 22C, but with a stiff wind. We delayed leaving the THS until after noon as we only had a tow of 27 mls, and couldn't get on site until after 13:00. All set up, a round of washing done and out on the clothes airer, & Flyte walked before 15:00. Everything nice and dry before we had our evening meal. The site is much busier than when we were here earlier in the year with a roughly even mix of caravans and M/Hs.

We are in Yorkshire with my cousin and her husband, we have been best friends since babies and fortunately our husbands get on very well too. We are staying on a very remote farm, with many sheep right outside the patio doors. The guys are watching football and the sheep appear to be watching it through the window. We have spent much time watching them. We went to Thirsk on Sunday, a lovely place, bought great scotch eggs in the Farmers Market and ate them with a coffee whilst sitting out in the lovely sunshine in the square. Then we went to the Herriot Museum, which was great. No kids in there so the four of us had a great time using all the interactive stuff, probably meant for kids and we are all in our 70s. Then a nice meal out in the evening. Today we went to Whitby, we’ve never been there before, it was very busy, we didn’t have the energy to walk up to the Abbey but it looked very iconic. Then back here to watch the football and the neighbours (the sheep). Now deciding on tomorrow’s outing.

I’m just catching up after a busy few days😁 Lots to read, Hope OH’s op goes well Millie, good luck with the 30 questions WN, done a few of these🤔 You seem to be having a grand time away Nellie. Best wishes to others. Debsc, sounds like our kind of place, remote, sheep for neighbours🤣 The Herriot Museum is really good, like you, we played with all the interactive stuff. Some of the cabinets could grace a torture chamber😳 Whitby is always busy, even in Winter. The old part of the town is nice, and yes, the Abbey is well worth visiting, but the steps take a bit of doing😮‍💨 

So, what have we been up to? A whistlestop trip up to Newcastle to watch the England game. First half, the only excitement was two seagulls flying over, but once Harry Kane and Grealish came on, the quality soared and they duly delivered. Our first time looking around Newcastle, very interesting, and buzzing with all the fans around. We had a leisurely stroll around, a nice meal and then walked up to St James’ Stadium with hundreds of others. Fabulous stadium, last time we were there was 1982 for Rolling Stones concert. It’s changed a bit🤣 We got back to Metrocentre via rail link at around 11.10pm, then the fun and games started…….A1 closures overnight, so a whistlestop tour of Gateshead, County Durham, quick break for a coffee at Scotch Corner, back onto A1, more closures. We finally picked pooch up from Mum’s at 2.30am. We weren’t that tired really, sort of enjoyed the drive on fast roads that were empty, but thank goodness for the Sat Nav as it was a convoluted diversion. With hindsight, we might have been better doing A19, but we were committed by time we realised. Beautiful day in Newcastle, very warm and sunny. A place we need to explore more.

You are right about the French weather. I watch the French horse racing on Sky TV from various tracks in the country and much of the weather has been horrendous for the time of year and the tennis Grand Slam in Paris has had some rain and a lot of cooler weather as well.  It seems strange to watch the spectators in coats and hats, instead of shorts and T shirts. Even the players have been feeling the cold as well, which is very unusual for tennis players.   We have had some sun in Southport in the north west, but it has been very cool on most days and today there is a high wind, with intermittent, very heavy showers more like late October than June.

The 10 day weather forecast has been wrong many times so you cannot rely on booking anywhere more than a few days in advance, if you want decent weather.  I stayed a couple of nights at a CL site near Lancaster 2 weeks ago and set off home at 6.30 in the morning to try and avoid the heavy rain and winds on the way home.

Perhaps the awful weather is why many sites have not been too busy, here in the UK!

I never trust any forecast longer than 24 hours to be honest. We were talking about it just this morning and reckoning that they just have too much information from too many different weather organisations, be it computer models from America or Europe plus our own, that they end up cobbling a mish-mash together. You would have thought that with all of the technology at their disposal that forecasting would be a tad more accurate than it is.

Chasing our tails this morning, library, prescriptions, food for MiL plus supplements. Showers on a regular frequency. Wondering what else needs doing before we leave MiL tomorrow to fend for herself for 1 night and 2 half days.

Newcastle is a nice place to wander around Ttda, whether it is down by the river or the compact city centre. Good cycling as well, as I'm sure Cornersteady would attest to.

Meg went to the 'beauty parlour', yesterday morning so I seemed to spend most of the morning backwards and forwards between there.  She has to go every six weeks otherwise she ends up looking like a woolly sheep. We now use a groomer that's about 10 miles away, despite there being an abundance of them in Hornsea - but this one's good - she used to be a veterinary nurse so Meg gets her teeth cleaned by her as well. Here's the finished result - although she looks as if her 'onesie' is a bit big for her!!

I’ve just put our journey to Burrs CP into map suggestions😱 Not our kind of driving at all with MH. Or to phrase it bluntly…..”what ever possessed you to book East Lancs railway?” I am not Mrs Popular at the moment🫣 

Sounds like a good trip Debs, hope you have decent weather for the remainder of it.

Hope have thought of everything that needs doing before your short trip away, WN, and that you don't get that unwanted phone call.

An interesting day all round reading your post, tda. I am sure that you will find a better alternative route to the one selected by your Say Nav. Enjoy your stay at Burrs and especially the train ride.

We had some short sharp showers on a strong wind this morning but managed to fit in a couple of walks around the country park without getting wet. The sun came out around 11:00 but we still had a quite chilly wind all day, with a couple more very short showers. Essential food shopping this afternoon before another couple of dry walks from the site.

Dry and very pleasant dog walk. Warm(ish) and cloudy

Removed remaining covers from sofa to be washed as promising breeze and temperature. Got the first lot on the line, needs 2 loads in the washing machine. Blew nicely for about 30 minutes before the rain started..... Showers at first, enough to put the kibosh on gardening - again.

So needs must 😱 I cleaned the front porch for the 3rd time! Since the builders left.  (They sawed mixed and cut just outside it and guess which way the wind blew? I think I may have cracked it this time. Then I set about cleaning up the cloakroom after the snagging in there was finished yesterday. The boss came to 'help' tile the walls the week before last to speed things up. Fast but very mucky and as insufficient time had been allocated to the fitter his cleaning wasn't at the same standard as the bathroom.

All 'displaced' items have been found new homes, permanent or not remains to be seen 😉. So beginning to get straight again.

Hopefully there'll be a dry day tomorrow so I can garden something I do enjoy.

Good to read of others news and travels. A very smart looking Meg. Dora manages 8 weeks between her parlour cuts. Good job, more than both our terms combined 🫣

Hope you have a good time WN, change of scenery and a bit of a rest.🤞 

Meg looks lovely R&R, she will feel better as well as it gets warmer. We are lucky enough to have a very good groomer/friend who lives next door but one, and has her own set up at home. Not used much for Labrador (tough as old boots, his bathing routine is either a dip in sea or a bucket on the lawn🤣). But when we had Airedales, clipped/stripped every few weeks, a good groomer is like gold dust. (Irish Terriers keep wandering across my subliminal conscience🤣😵‍💫🤗)

Enjoying your tour from a distance Nellie👍 Fingers crossed we might get up North a bit later in year🤞🤞🤞 I have plans to get a rail card and do a bit of commuting again. Lots to go at using East Coast main line. Currently viewing the M1/M62 with trepidation. Cross Pennine routes this far South are terrible. The middle moorland bit is nice, but the conurbations either end are ghastly. We’ve only got three days, so it needs to be zip there, and zip back. Boring travel days.

Bakers, you never seem to stop. 

We are watching Dauphine bike race at moment, weather hasn’t been very nice at all across there.