Welcome to another delayed blog, or 2 – we have been too busy enjoying ourselves to publish blogs. So here is a catch up.
So, week 1, on Monday 20 June, still on the Isle of Man we saw more friends, for more eating and drinking.
Tuesday morning, we flew to London Gatwick with EasyJet, into a UK national rail strike, but thankfully we had no problems getting a train up to London Bridge, if anything the train journey was easier than usual with less people around.
Once at London Bridge we were welcomed with a London Underground strike, so an Uber across town was the easiest way to go. Dropped our bags at the London School of Economics – Carr Saunders student halls of residence. Less than £60 per night for the room including breakfast – extremely cheap for London.
Then we needed to get back across the city to the O2 in Greenwich without using the tube, so a 1.5 mile walk to the river and then a Thames Clipper (boat) to North Greenwich, a nice way to see the city. At the O2 we had tickets to see “Queen and Adam Lambert”, a great show, we were on the back row, so managed loads of dancing without disturbing anyone else.
After a slightly chaotic queueing system we managed to get our pre-booked Thames Clipper back to the London Eye, followed by another 1.5mile walk to the LSE.
Wednesday, we had tickets for the War of the Worlds immersive experience, however on turning up it was clearly evident that it was not running today. A friendly chap came out and explained that months ago they had changed their schedule, however Ticket Master had not passed on the information to us, there was no other customers about, so it must have been just us that were not informed! We then booked last minute cheap tickets to Back to the Future – the Musical, which was a bit cheesy but good fun.
Thursday, after a lot of walking and a little retail therapy, we had tickets to “Hamilton”, another good musical, full of school groups.
Friday, we headed by train to Woking, followed by a little more retail therapy
On Saturday, we attend a family celebration. Good food, a little bit too much wine.
Sunday, we drove back up to Pocklington.
Week 2
Tuesday 28 June, we got the train up to Newcastle, had a stunning lunch at a restaurant called “The French Quarter”, then in the evening we saw Sandi Toksvig in her one women show “Next Slide Please” a gentle meander through what she did in lockdown, and other interesting stories. There was also some audience participation “what new skill did you learn/hobby take up?” the slightly strange answer from someone was “felting with dog hair”!! who knew you could felt with dog hair, and frankly who would want to???
Wednesday, after some retail therapy in Newcastle we got the train back to York.
We spend Thursday sorting out the Motorhome, for the next adventure.
On Friday Rog set off with his brother and mate to Morecambe, so they could cycle the “Way of the Roses”, Rog was the support crew (not cycling). The Way of the Roses is 170 miles from Morecambe, on the west coast, to Bridlington on the east coast. They did it over 3 days, thankfully with no punctures or mechanical issues, so Rog had it easy driving around in his brother’s car, eating cake and drinking coffee.
As the Way of the Roses goes through Pocklington, the team had Saturday nightat home, with a barbeque.
Sunday, was a drive to Bridlington to see the Boys finish, Fish & Chips, and drive back to Pock.
Week 3
Monday 4 July – Nic’s Birthday, out for lunch with both sets of parents to Deans Garden Centre, nr York, Rog had a Chicken Tikka Pasty, a little bit weird but good.
Tuesday, more motorhome sorting.
Wednesday, drove up to Chester le Street, via Richmond for lunch with friends, to see Micheal Buble at the Chester le Street cricket ground after a 2 year covid delay, a good evening of first class musical entertainment
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Thursday, back to Pocklington.
Friday, left Pocklington for our three month trip to France and Spain, but 1st stop was Cheshire to see Nic’s Auntie. We had planned to leave the Motorhome at Tarvin Fishery in their car Park, which we had used before. However when we got there it had changed hands and everything was closed, so back to the drawing board, a quick drive to a pub in the village, the Farmers Arms thankfully the landlady was a fellow motorhomer and she allowed us to park in their carpark for a couple of days.
On Sunday, after a couple of days of eating, drinking, chatting and doing a couple of jobs, we left Cheshire for Tonbridge, a longer drive than we expected as there was problems of the M25, but hey…. time we have got!
We are staying a couple of days in Tonbridge with Nic’s brother, before heading to France on Tuesday.
Travurple 