Iona goes to Bridlington

Regatta Field, Bridlington, - Trip:8

May 22nd - 26th

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Our next trip is to Bridlington and we are still waiting for the cooker to be repaired under warranty. Luckily  Nick rang on the Friday before departure to say he had the part and due to a cancellation he could fit it straight away. He arrived at 2.00pm and was gone by 3.30pm. So with the cooker now working we are ready to wild camp with the C&CC on a temporary holiday site at Regatta Field, Bridlington.

We set off for Bridlington at 10.00am with the first stop being the garage to put in some fuel and away we went. The radio was playing some rubbish but after trying to tune it in we end up with nothing apart from some numbers. Next stop a lay-by where we found that the radio was working but the dab signal was very weak. We got it sorted and set off.

The route took us towards Newark and then the A46 to Lincoln, avoiding the city centre. Then up the A15 and over the Humber Bridge. This was a first for us and it was a relief to see the toll booths taking any vehicle, I had imagined the dartford crossing of the Thames but this was on a smaller scale. The journey had not taken as long as we thought so we pushed onto Bridlington.

The Humber Bridge

We arrived at the Regatta Field via two very narrow lanes with passing places. The stewards signed us in and showed us to a space that was not level but with the ramps we were soon setup. One advantage was that our hose will reach the tap without having to use the aqua-roll.

 

After lunch we went for a short walk to see the sea. The sea is only 300m away and we were soon heading towards Bridlington. This was not the plan but we got to within touvching distance of the harbour before we decided to turn for home. Sue was in her element on the beach and wants to come back every year, and this is 2 hours into day one.

 

Windy Beach

New Style Beach Huts

Paddling Pool on the Prom

Posh Beach Huts

We got back to Iona at about 16.00 and it felt like like beer o'clock to me. We sat outside behind the windbreak although the wind had now dropped. We have fields behind us with horses and the starlings are making a racket, just now there is a skylark singing overhead as we start to think about tea. Bring out the cadac I feel a bar-b-que coming on,

Day 2:

Awoke to sunshine and a few clouds, the wind was quite strong and blowing from land towards the sea. After breakfast we decided to just walk to the beach, 300m away. There were quite a few dog walkers and also some horses being exercised in the sea. We walked to the sea and paddled as we watched the horses. We appeared to be on a sandbank because the tide was coming in and we were getting surrounded, although as we walked back to the shore the water was less than a foot deep.

WW2 Beach Defenses

We walked along the beach and there was evidence of ww2 tank barricades and 'pill boxes' but as we went further you could see that the sea was eroding the coast and exposing a layer of clay under the sand, one pillbox was at 45* and another was some 100ft from the existing shoreline.

The most disappointing aspect of our walk was the amount of dog mess, not only had people failed to clean up after their dogs, but some of those had then left the bags of poo around the concrete pillboxes or just threw it into the dunes.

We walked home and spent the afternoon by Iona reading. The wind changed direction and blew in off the sea but the sun was out most of the time. I got sunburnt legs so tomorrow I am under orders to cover up.

She Who Knows

The view behind Iona

Everyone seems to eat early and by the time I got the cadac out most people appeared to have eaten and were clearing up. Tonight we had Steak,stuffed mushrooms and garlic potatoes.

Day 3:

We slept well and woke at 9.15am to sun. The beds in Iona are very comfortable. I appear to have got sunburnt legs from yesterday, they would not look out of place on a cooked Lobster, so normal trousers are selected.Today we will walk into Bridlington or stay on the beach. Decisions decisions

We decided that because it was cloudy and tomorrow has a better forecast, we will walk into Bridlington today. It was quite a bit further than our previous walks but we soon ended up by the harbour. The tide was out so half the boats were beached, there was a barge like boat with a huge JCB on the bow that was dredging the harbour.

We walked around the harbour and bought a couple of dressed crabs for tomorrow. With all the hot weather I was getting short of beer so we walked all around the town looking for a supermarket. There was an M&S but the cheapest wine was £7 a bottle and the the beer was not cheap. We about gave up but then I asked a couple if they knew anywhere and they directed us to Tesco which was about 500yards away on the outskirts of town.

Calm Sea today

Suitably stocked up with some beer and wine we headed home. By the time we walked past the harbour the tide was nearly in and it looked more picturesque. The walk home seemed to go on for ever, our legs were aching and I could feel every stone through the soles of my trainers. By the time we got home it was 2.00pm, we had walked 7.5 miles, the one thing we had forgotten was to have fish and chips in Bridlington. I can assure you that walking back into town is not an option available anymore.

Bridlington Harbour

The afternoon turned very cloudy and the wind was coming off the sea so we eventually retired into Iona and read from our kindles. At 5.00pm the clouds had gone and the sun was still warm so we spent a few hours outside, I am on bar-b-que duty tonight.

Day 4:

Woke to brilliant sunshine and hardly any wind. It could be sunburn weather on the beach today. We walked to the beach this morning and the tide was out. I walked about half a mile for a paddle in the surprisingly warm water. On the way back I came across a crab, but one I had never seen before so I need google's help to identify it. After a couple of hours we came back to Iona for some lunch, a cold beer went down well and we read our kindle books.

We walked back to the beach and the tide was in so I went for a paddle and Sue decided to go for a swim, although this is one of those beaches where you have to walk along way out before it gets deep enough to swim, so Sue decided just to lay in the shallows.

The Sea was very Warm

Tonight we are having the Dressed crabs we bought from the harbour yesterday, with a salad. This is our last night so the 'carpet' has been packed while it is still dry, but I have left the windbreak up because the forecast is sun from daybreak, so it should be dry. This four night stop has been brilliant and neither of us is looking forward to going home but needs must. This site is going in the diary for next year.

Day 5:

Took a lazy morning to pack the windbreak and do all the normal jobs while Sue packed the cupboards. We left the site at 11.00am and had a good drive down to the Humber Bridge. Then the M180 and off onto the A15, after less than a mile the traffic was at a standstill, there had been an accident and most cars turned around and headed off by another route, now we were five lorries from the front and they began to move then the first police car arrived and stopped us all, three lorries in front of us but now stuck, the final total was one police car, three police motorbikes, one ambulance, one Lives responder, a paramedic fast response car, a doctor and four fire engines. One crashed car with just the driver, the fire brigade took the roof off the car and after an hour our short queue of lorries and our motorhome were waved past. We finally arrived home at 15.00 after a four hour journey.

Trip 8: distance 204 miles, av MPH 35,  MPG 26.2

Iona stays by a Canal

Narrow Bridge Cottage, Hayton - Trip 7

May 9th - 11th, 2017. 

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It was an easy drive up the A1 and then to Retford and a bit further to the site. The entrance is down a narrow lane and over what looked like a steep hump back bridge over the canal. Luckily we made it over without scraping anything underneath.

The site is a C&CC authorised CL site although as we drove by the cottage it all looked a bit shabby, however the grass paddocks were fairly level. The electric hookups were in a shed complete with old fashioned coin operated meters that took pound coins. There was one fresh water tap by the entrance and an Elson point hidden by a fence which was decking with a manhole cover, on removing the cover you exposed an open cesspit, it was pretty gross and not for the faint hearted. However the Toilet and Shower block was clean and tidy.

After a bite to eat we decided to go for a walk along the canal back towards Retford, the tow path had recently been cut and it was a pleasant walk that took us past various gardens and a Swan sitting on a large nest. We passed under several typical hump back canal bridges. After the last one the canal turned to the right and just around the bend we discovered a Pub. The Gateway Inn. Although it was 3.30pm we decided it would be rude not to call in for a drink. We sat outside, although not sunny it was warm enough. A canal boat arrived and tied up, they had the same idea as us. It made a pleasant break and we made our way back to Iona.

By the time we got back the sky was clearing and the sun appeared. We sat outside with a drink until the sun lost it's strength as it began to set and the spring chill came back. Sue cooked a curry which was appreciated after the early evening chill. Tomorrow the forecast is sun so we will probably stay on site.

Day 2:

As forecast we awoke to clear blue skies and the Sun. I got the table and chairs out and we made ourselves at home. Out came the kindles. This place is so peaceful, we are surrounded by birdsong, pheasants having dust baths less than 20 yards from us, rabbits appearing at the edge of the campsite. 

Being  nosey I started to investigate the edge of the site and I found an old seed drill hidden in the undergrowth with hazel trees growing up through it's workings, a bit further on in the corner of the site was an old caravan and shed with a shelter between. With seats in the shelter and bird feeders hanging from a wire stretched between the trees. There was also a big cage suspended from a tree again with feeders inside, out of reach of the squirrels. The feeders were all empty and it was quite spooky in the trees and it reminded me of the film Deliverence. Luckily I could not hear any dualing banjos.

The Old Seed Drill

The rest of the day was spent sitting in the sun reading and getting sunburnt. Sue has a red nose that resembles the beak of a moorhen, talking of which, there is a laural hedge next to Iona, directly opposite our door there is a moorhen sitting on a nest four foot off the ground. 

We sat outside in the late sun with a glass of wine before retiring inside for a meal of Ribs and salad.

Day 3:

Another great morning with blue sky and full sun. Our last day and it started as always with the daily chores but first a shower in the van, I could not be bothered to go to the shower in the toilet block.

Then the job I had been dreading, emptying the toilet cassette, normally not an issue but as described on day one it looked pretty gross, and the experience lived upto expectations.

After a spell of reading and David Otter the owner appeared with an article he wrote and a picture of the sky taken as the finished putting in the final eleventh post of the Henge, in the sky vapour trails made the Roman numeral of XI. 

I suggested that we go for a short walk, so we set off along the canal in a different direction from our first outing. We very soon came to the Boat Inn that has recently closed and is awaiting another tenant landlord. It is a shame because it used to be a Brit-Stop where a friend used to stay in his motorhome. 

We continued along the towpath for a couple of miles, saw some swans, muskovi ducks and we nearly gained a dog as we passed a moored narrow boat. 

We could not find a bridge over the canal and the next one looked some distance away so we left the towpath and followed the edge of a field until we met a road and doubled back to the Boat Inn where we joined the canal towpath and headed home. Our short walk turned out to be just under five miles.

This evening the wind died and it remained quite warm even at 9.15pm when I went to check the electricity meter. We have had the electric heating on and the electric hob and we only used about £1.50 a day. 

The bird song was strong tonight with a Robin giving his all in a tree nearby, the pheasants called as they went up to roost in the trees in what David Otter calls his poets corner, an area of apple trees and pines with the odd Oak tree for good measure. This site is like no other site we have used, it is basic with ehu but so quiet with the only sounds  of  the birds and you sometimes hear the nesting swans on the canal.

Day 4:

Heading home today. The great thing about the new van is that there is no awning to pack away so we can take our time packing the cupboards. Today it is overcast so going home is easier than if we awoke to a sunny day.

Trip 7: distance 89,9 miles, av MPH 28, MPG 27.1, 3hr 11m.