Conkers, Leicestershire 4 - 7 Feb 20

It's been a while. Soggy ground, a new kitchen, a rugby trip to Clermont Ferrand and Christmas all conspired to stop us going away. However, armed with 2 brand new front tyres, we have finally managed to get away and tick off another county in the UK. The Camping Club Site at Conkers in Leicestershire it was then - but only just. Another 200m and we would have tripped over Derbyshire so wouldn't be able to claim Leicestershire as one of the counties in the UK where we have spent at least a night in the van. Not a bad site, clean and well laid out, but as ever the Camping Club seem more eager to invest in glamping tents/pods than they do in renovating their tired and dated shower and toilet blocks. Clean they may be, but a tiny shower cubicle closed off with a tatty cold shower curtain is not what you expect for the fees they charge. Anyway……

Camping and Caravanning Club Site

On Tuesday we arrived in good time and had a quick 5 mile walk around the area to orientate ourselves. First impressions were that the area of the National Forest is nice, but there is still an awful lot of housing and not particularly attractive villages. At least there were plenty of pavements to walk along. 

 

The following day we walked to Ashby-de-la-Zouch (11.5 miles), which is a fairly alright sort of place. Unfortunately the castle, famous for being featured in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, was closed. The town certainly makes the most of the Ivanhoe connection, desperately clinging to any chance of fame with Ivanhoe College, The Ivanhoe Way, Ivanhoe Football Club, Ivanhoe Hair studio etc etc. I'm sure Ivanhoe wouldn't have thought that leaving a trail of various piles of dog poo on the muddy track to the Castle was a particularly chivalrous thing for the locals to do though. Avoiding the ubiquitous Wetherspoons, we did enjoy a very nice lunch in the Bulls Head. What a nice place! Built in 1598 with Timber framed walls and ceilings and a lovely atmosphere - and a lovely pie and pint to match!

Ashby de la Zouch castle

Ashby de la Zouch

On Thursday, after a very cold and frosty start, we thought we'd have a shorter walk (8.5 miles) into Swadlingcote, which sounds much nicer than it actually is. The route took us up a long, long hill through some pretty uninspiring housing. The Wetherspoons in town was packed, and awful, so we stopped for a coffee and cake in a little tearooms before heading back as swiftly as we could.

Swadlingcote

Albert Lake

On Friday morning we left Leicestershire, pleased that we'd bagged it, and probably in no rush to hurry back. 

Counties where we have spent at least 1 night

Cambridgeshire 3 - 17 Oct 19

Work? Work! Yes, two weeks of sort of work, grape picking in Cambridgeshire, something we've always wanted to do and to be able to stay in the vineyard in the Motorhome was a great experience. We learned a lot about vines, grapes and winemaking and, despite the weather being somewhat indifferent, we had a great time with some lovely people working in the open air in beautiful surroundings. A tiring, but very rewarding, experience. 

Lincoln Motorhome Show/Flamborough Head 19-26 Sep 19

We've only visited the Lincoln Motorhome Show once as day visitors many years ago so we thought we would round off the "show" season with what is marketed as the "season finale". On Thursday we completed the journey without mishap and were duly marshalled and parked up in our allocated space with the Motorhome Fun crowd in the showground. Once settled we opened the beers and relaxed. I must admit, it did have a bit of an "end of term" feel about it, albeit the weather was pretty good and we managed to sit outside in the warm sunshine. 

Friday we wandered around the show, which was actually quite good, but the only thing we bought was a case of excellent cider and, once again, some toilet fluid, which is significantly cheaper at the show than it is elsewhere. Everything else seems to be marked up for the show to cover costs. Our favourite Thai fast food stall was also present. Luvverly!

On Saturday we took the coach into Lincoln and enjoyed a bimble around this pretty city, although it was very crowded. Lunch was a pork roll and we could tell we were up north by the invitation by the stallholder to cover it in gravy. Gravy? What is that all about? In the evening we had tickets to watch the Manfreds and the Hollies and had the chance to meet Mike D'Abo. An excellent show - really enjoyed it.

Steep Hill - a steep hill

Lincoln Castle

Mike D'Abo's autograph

Sunday we mooched about after watching England's first game in the World Cup against Tonga. In the evening, some stupid prat decided that he would squeeze his mega 4x4 through the gap between us and the van next door, rubbing his wing mirrors along the van. Barefoot I chased him across the field to make him stop, nearly giving the silly old fart a heart attack when I thumped his roof with a lot of force.  Luckily there was no damage to our van, but what was disappointing was that the git had no intention of stopping or admitting that he had thumped the van. Bloody cackyvanners.

Monday it was up and off across the Humber bridge to a cheap night's stay at a Haven mobile home eyesore park at Thornwick Bay near Flamborough head. This is a strange site. A huge mass of those awful, ugly, static caravans with a sloping touring field in the far corner. The bar, shop and restaurant, however, were very nice and for a short, cheap stay it makes for an ideal spot, but we were not sure that we would want to spend too much time there. On Monday afternoon we walked along the cliffs towards Flamborough Head.

The Humber Bridge

On Tuesday the weather was appalling, so we caught the rather expensive bus into Bridlington. The seaside part is not really our cup or tea, but the old town is quite pleasant, and we had a nice lunch in the Georgian tea rooms before heading back home. We were due to continue our tour north, but had a call to go and assist with the grape harvest at Chilford Hall, so we decided to stay another night and then head home.

Bridlington Sea Front

Old Bridlington

The following day was cloudy but dry, so we walked along the cliffs to the very impressive RSPB site at Bempton cliffs, where we spent ages watching the gannets. The area does whiff a bit of guano though.

Bempton Cliffs

On Thursday it was the long drive home ready for grape picking, stopping at the Boundary Mills car park to watch the England v USA rugby game. This trip highlighted that we are due some new front tyres and the leisure batteries could do with replacing.