Whitby and Bridlington 19 - 27 Nov 23

We were overdue another trip and the amount of time available for our planned long expedition was getting shorter and shorter by the day as other commitments conspired against us. With time running out we settled on a quick 12 day break to visit old haunts in Yorkshire, starting with a weekend at York Rowntree Cackyvan Club site. This site is ridiculously overpriced, but central to the York markets and we hadn't been away for a while so we decided to splash out. The weather Gods also decided to splash out. We had a call from the site telling us that they were closing as they were shutting the flood gates. We shortened our planned stay hoping that the flooded River Ouse would play nicely. It didn't, and the site remained closed, so we amended our dwindling break to miss out York and spent the Saturday watching Cambridge lose to Hartbury instead.

It would be nice to see Cambridge win a game 

On Sun 19 Nov we finally set out, travelling 70 miles to Milestone Caravan Park in Cromwell near Newark, which is literally on the A1. We haven't been here before and what a nice find it is. There is the Milestone Brewery next door, which is an absolutely splendid little place - friendly staff, excellent beer and a selection of food outlets appearing most nights. We had the pulled pork, which was delicious, apart from the chips being a little bit too salty. We enjoyed a few pints then had a very quiet night in this beautifully kept site before continuing our journey on the Monday.

Mon 20 Nov - we had a brief stop at the York Designer Centre, which was very busy indeed. We had a quick bimble around then had a very enjoyable lunch in Wagamama before continuing our journey to Whitby Holiday Park. The place was deserted and we couldn't be bothered to go down the 199 steps to go into town, but we couldn't wait to visit the excellent Whitby Brewery, so we walked along the cliff top in the pitch dark to find excellent beer, a friendly welcome and some wonderful pizzas.

Whitby Brewery

Headtorch beanies are very useful

Spooky churchyard at the Church of St Mary, referenced in Bram Stoker's Dracula

Tue 21 Nov It was blowing a Hooley as we walked along the cliff top into town. Indeed, a waterfall over the cliff was blowing upwards! We beat the wind and rain and made it into town and straight to the Magpie café to test what we've always found to be the best fish and chips anywhere. It was OK, but the fish was a bit soggy. We then set off on a mission around the charity shops to find a cake stand for mother for her posh high teas served in her Chiswick flat. We found a Royal Doulton example in one shop, alongside a complete Royal Doulton tea service. There was a lady in the shop looking at the service, including the tea plate and seemed willing to let us have the plate, but it seemed a shame to break up her service and she seemed relieved when we said we wouldn't take it. What a kind lady! We finally accomplished our mission finding an unused brand new cake stand for the mighty sum of £4.99. A lot of trouble for a joke, but it gave us a mission and a reason to find all the hidden shops of Whitby.  We then headed off to the brewery to celebrate our find with a few well earned pints before gingerly negotiating our way back in the dark along the treacherous cliff top.

Waterfall going upwards!

Fish and Chips in the Magpie

Tacky bargain cake stand

Fortune's Kippers

Whitby Abbey

Wed 22 Nov and we got the bikes out for a chilly ride along the cinder path. It's meant to be a cycling/walking path along an old railway track that runs from Whitby to Scarborough. It is, in reality,  rough, muddy, slippery and with loads of loose chippings making it almost impossible to ride upon. We gave up the ride at Robin Hood's Bay and headed for the Tea, Toast and Post café for a scrummy bacon sandwich before heading back along the path to Whitby Abbey, chained the bikes up and headed into Whitby for some provisions. It was hard going walking up the 199 steps after a day in the saddle.

The cinder path

Robin Hood's Bay

Brilliant cafe

On Thursday we decided that a gentle day was needed to recover from all our exertions, so we had a leisurely morning then, despite the wind and rain, wandered down the 199 steps (again) to enjoy some lovely Whitby crab sandwiches in the Hamond Jewellers Tea Rooms at the bottom of the steps. We then did a bit of Christmas shopping (well, it was her spotting a pair of boots in a shop window, deciding that she didn't really need more boots, wandering around town and thinking about said boots, going back to the shoe shop to try on the boots "just in case they are lovely", buying the boots, then lugging them up those poxy 199 steps back to the brewery).

Captain Cook was well prepared for the storms of Cape Horn having lived in Whitby

These boots were made for lugging

Fri 24 Nov. The wind kept us awake all night. It was like trying to sleep in a tumble dryer and the wind was banging on the side of the van, making it rock violently. In the morning, we were feeling a little bit seasick from lack of sleep and the violent motion of the van!  We were also a bit worried about the next leg of our journey down to Bridlington, but it turned out OK as the wind was behind us and it eased a bit as we came off of the North York Moors. We quickly settled in to the South Cliffs Holiday Park in Bridlington and then relaxed for the rest of the day, with just a very short walk to check that the sea was still there.

Trying to empty waste water in a fierce gale overlooking Saltwick Bay

South Beach at Bridlington

Sat 25 Nov - "Let's have a gentle stroll along the sea front". 10 Miles later we returned to the van, absolutely knackered after walking along the coast path to Sewerby Hall and back. We only just had time for a quick turnaround and then back out again to the lovely Bridlington Spa to watch Skerryvore. We did intend getting something to eat before the concert, but trying to find food in Brid on a Saturday night is impossible and we had to settle for a shared bag of chips standing in the pouring rain. The concert was brilliant though and when we eventually got home we discovered that, in all, we had walked about 15 miles!

Sewerby Hall

Bridlington Spa

Skerryvore

Sun 26 Nov - It was definitely a lazy day. Just a slow bimble to ease our poor, aching legs, some fish and chips, a quick call into Tescos to reprovision and an early stack.

No wonder it was so cold!

Mon 27 Nov. It didn't stop raining the whole way home. The A1 was closed at Grantham and we had a massive detour. We broke the journey at Boundary Mills and eventually arrived home safe and well, but very pleased that the horrendous journey was over. 

The builders arrived at 0800hrs to noisily dump a huge load of gravel. 

Boundary Mills - parked in the coach bay because we couldn't be bothered to get soaked.

Sussex 10 - 17 Oct 23

Statue of Arthur Conan Doyle in Crowborough

Tues 10 - Although we don't really like going south around the dreadful M25, we thought we'd better brave it to head to Sussex before the Camping Club sites closed for the season. We headed the relatively short, and painless, journey down to Crowborough Camping and Caravanning Club site, arriving at about 1400hrs and were met by the charming wardens who quickly set us up on a decent enough hardstanding. This is a fairly basic site next to a sports centre with a short walk uphill into town and a very handy bus stop outside. We walked into Crowborough, had a mooch around, did a bit of shopping and had dinner in the Crowborough Cross (a Wetherspoon's pub, but don't tell anybody we went there). It was decent enough.

On Wednesday it was time to follow in the paw steps of Winnie the Pooh so we took to Mr Toad, found the visitor centre, had lunch in the Pooh Corner tearoom and museum (a fairly good little museum with some interesting Milne/Shepherd memorabilia, but they really need to get somebody who can spell to write out the information cards). From there it was onto Pooh Bridge, then onto Ashdown Forest for a 2 mile walk where, to quote Pooh " I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost". The map from the visitor centre wasn't very good. After a good day's walking it was back to the van to relax and recover.

AA Milne and Christopher Robin

Poohsticks Bridge

On Thursday we took the bus into Brighton. It was a nice journey, through Lewes and Uckfield, and we really enjoyed wandering around the lanes and a really good lunch in Mowgli before heading back on the crowded bus to Crowborough.

In all, we were quite impressed with the site. A good location with easy access. The shower facilities are pretty basic though and the C&CC are probably charging too much for the site, but that seems the way of the world at the moment.  Shame it closes during the winter.

Despite it being Friday the thirteenth, we took to the road to travel the short distance to Normans Bay C&CC club site. Now this really is a "meh" site. Fairly bleak, set behind a high bank so you can't see the sea and accessed by a truly horrible road passing some ugly houses.  It a quite a distance from any pub/shop although the sea is very close by. The facilities are average and the site very regimented. Another 3 star site with 5 star pricing. Anyway, we settled in and drove to the local ASDA (huge but bloody useless) for some provisions and had a wander along the beach.

The beach at Normans Bay

Sat 14 - There is a famous view if the Seven Sisters and Beachy head, with coastguard cottages in the foreground and we wanted to see this view. It was a somewhat circuitous route, but we got there and had a wander. Next we decided to see Beachy head from the top. Now Beachy Head is BIG, but our ace navigator managed to miss it, so we headed into Eastbourne for a wander around and then have another attempt at finding it. She missed it Again! Luckily, Beachy Head found us and we joined the hundreds of foreign tourists milling around the top. Eastbourne itself - well, the seafront is nice and we found a good cake shop, but won't be in a hurry to come back. We headed back towards the site and stopped at the local pub for fish and chips. It was cheap and cheerful.

Sun 15 - we braved the narrow, bumpy road to walk the 1km or so to the deserted Normans Bay station to catch a train into Hastings. The train station is near the shopping centre, which is any town any where and therefore to be avoided, but there was a historic vehicle rally on the sea front, the fishermans museum was excellent and the old town streets very nice indeed. We had a brilliant roast beef dinner in the Royal Standard pub, then took the cliff railway up to the top for some views, before heading back down for ice cream and another wander before heading back on the train.

Mon 16 was designated as a rest day, but we didn't. We went into the useless ASDA again to try and find Basil and some crab paste but there was none to be had. We wandered around the very pleasant, and large, Sovereign Harbour with lunch in the Harvester, before heading off for an interesting walk around Pevensey Castle. The winds picked up all day and we spent the night in the van feeling a bit like a ping pong ball in a tumble dryer.

On Tuesday it was up, packed and a smooth journey home with the M25 and Dartford crossing being kind to us for a change.