Yes, we know we missed one, as this will be our 108th we decided to take last week off!
So this week’s blog is a quick catch up from Monday 3 July.
Still in Pock and spent the time catching up with family, helping out with a few domestic jobs, celebrating a birthday, doing some washing, getting haircuts, eye tests and packing for our next trip.
We also paid for annual passes for Burnby Hall Gardens, where we got married. They are lovely gardens and have a nice café, so we got our monies worth and managed 3 visits in the first week.
Saturday (8th July) – we set off on our next trip, a lift to York station (thanks!) and trains to Chester via Liverpool, or at least that was the plan, unfortunately ‘Trans Pennine Express” had other ideas (or possibly “no idea”)! Our train was running a little late, then stopped in Huddersfield and the conductor announced that the train was now awaiting a new driver, who was delayed on a different train! A group of very young “drinking” football fans got on the train, being very chatty, including the comment that “we can’t go to Weatherspoons, as we won’t get served, they always ID people”. Thankfully the conductor then announced that there was a faster train to Manchester on platform 3, for anyone who wanted to transfer, the young lads weren’t listening to the announcements, but Rog was happy to tell them, so they all rushed off and a little bit of piece and quiet was restored!
After about 20 mins a driver did turn up and we set off again, only for the train to then be cancelled at Manchester Victoria, with the conductor advising anyone travelling on the Liverpool to stay on the same platform and get the next train! However the train after that was advertised as Chester, our final destination. So we checked our tickets, which allowed “Trans Pennine Express and connecting routes only”, as we’d been on a TPE train, we waited for the Chester train! Rog then applied online due to our delay, and got a full refund for the ticket. So in the end we got to Chester for Nothing! Hooray for train travel.
Stayed with family just outside Chester, had a good meal at the local pub on Saturday night.
Sunday, helped out with a few jobs, then watched some of the Wimbledon coverage.
Monday, after a lift to Chester station (thanks!), we got the train to Bangor in Wales. We then had to wait for a bit in Bangor station for our bus to Bethesda, which dropped us right outside our AirBnB accommodation. We are here for a month, as part of our 3 month UK stay in order to renew Nic’s passport (the Passport office currently says passports could take up to 10 weeks to renew).
Tuesday, we’ve booked our first ever Tesco shopping delivery for this morning, (other supermarket deliveries are available !), a cheap 4 hour slot, anytime between 9am & 1pm which arrived at 9:15. Our AirBnB is not the easiest to find, it is hidden behind our hosts house, but the Tesco driver loaded all our shopping onto a sack barrow and got it up the sloped path, nearly to our door.
Tuesday afternoon, walked along the A5 into the village, a busy road, so we managed to find another route back via the woods. Nic spotted bilberries growing, so in a break in the weather later in the day went back to pick a few.
Wednesday we managed a walk along the path through the woods, around the local park and dog walking circuit, then back through the woods again, only stopping for a brief chat with a grandma pushing a baby in a pram who had cried all day. The weather for the rest of the day was not great, so we stayed in and watch more tennis.
Thursday, the weather was predicted to be a little better, so we packed our coffee/tea and headed for a walk, via some woodland and up the valley, up being the operative word!
When we set off, the vague plan was to get half way up the north side of the valley, cross to the south side and return home, however due to all the up, and the weather starting to look ominous, we decided to turn around and head back the way we had come.
Friday, another day with bad weather, after all it is July in Wales, so we only managed a short walk around the wood. Following our eye tests last week we both decided to order some new specs online.
Nic’s new passport was delivered to Pocklington, just two weeks from the online application and the old one being posted in!
Saturday, walked into the village, to the Londis shop, to get some bread. Every review of the shop online shows a picture of their beer selection, and for the size of the shop and the village it is an impressive selection. We got a bit wet on the way home. Then watched the Wimbledon Women’s final.
Sunday, another walk while the weather stayed dry, this time up the south side of the valley, a much better path underfoot, it is a national cycle path and runs around the slate quarry. More tennis, the Men’s final this time, then a quick walk round the village to get rid of some of the adrenalin from watching such a good match.
Travurple 