On Friday night we had a birthday party to attend in Brighouse, so we caught the train from Peterborough in the morning. That is to say, we would have caught the train but of course, being a British railways system, the train was cancelled. Eventually we arrived and even west Yorkshire was warm and sunny! We partied until the early hours with our best friends, grabbed a few hours kip and , hungover and weary, made our way back to Peterborough, our hangovers not aided by the appalling sights, sounds and smells of the local population around the Peterborough bus station. Luckily, summer was still in full swing on the Saturday and we met up with our old friend Martin, who has decided to come ashore after years of living on a narrowboat, and join the motorhoming community. Finally, too exhausted to even think about watching the show, we went to bed.
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| Martin goes shopping |
Sunday we had bacon rolls with the Motorhome Fun crowd, wandered around the show, helped with the dismantling of the Motorhome Fun tent just in time before we were hit by a heavy shower. So that was summer then. It was nice while it lasted.
The following day we drove across to the Severn Gorge Caravan Park for a 3 night visit to Ironbridge to cash in our museum voucher. It was cool but not raining, so we walked down to the Blists Hill Victorian Town for a wander around, then back to the van for dinner.
On Tuesday, despite the rain, we unloaded the bikes and cycled down to the Jackson Tile Museum, which is a very interesting place to visit, before heading into Ironbridge to see the work being done to restore the famous bridge and to enjoy a cream tea. Then it was on to the Coalport china museum where we spent a very happy hour watching some glassblowers produce an absolutely stunning glass vase. It was fascinating.
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| The Hay inclined plane |
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| Detail on the Iron Bridge |
On Wednesday we did a circular tour on the bikes, calling in to the Darby Houses, the Museum of Iron, Ingenuity and then down to Ironbridge, along the Severn valley way and then up the Silkin way before stopping at the pub for a delicious curry.
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| Bit muddy |
On Thursday we were booked onto a small certified location ready for a vineyard tour on the Friday. It is a lovely little field, within the old Roman walls of Wroxeter, surrounded by stunning scenery. Unfortunately the soil and grass accumulated over the solid masonry of the city since the 7th century is not solid enough to support a 3.8 tonne motorhome. We tried - we sank - we just about managed to get ourselves out. We drove around to the vineyard and luckily they let us stay for 2 nights (you cannot drink and drive). Before we parked up for the first night, we drove around the local National Trust establishment, Attingham Park, for a very interesting mooch around, then returned to the vineyard. The following day we enjoyed a very interesting and amusing tour of the vineyard, lunch and quite a bit of wine before having a good night's kip, hoping that the temperature would stay above freezing as the vines were starting to shoot and the damage could be nasty.
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| Attingham Park |
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| Roman Villa at Wroxeter |
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| Wroxeter Roman Vineyard |
On Saturday we got up early, said goodbye to the lovely family that run the vineyard and, in heavy rain and a temperature of 7 degrees, we went home.
How was your summer? It was nice while it lasted, wasn't it? Anyway, annual habitation check, MOT and service this week. Bet it chucks it down all day.
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