Wednesday 23 May - Cathy's Birthday!
I was woken at about 0230 by a flashing light. It was the fridge light and I noticed we had lost mains power. The fridge kicked over to gas and as it was too dark to check if there was a site-wide power cut, I went back to sleep. First thing in the morning power was still off; as we'd had fuse trouble earlier in the trip I checked those in the garage - all OK. I then noticed that the fuse box at the pitch supply had tripped so I reset this and power was restored! The moral of the tale is don't panic, carry out the basic checks and 9 times out of 10 you’ll be able to fix the fault, even a technical dyslexic like me! I made Cathy a breakfast brew which she had in bed (of course) and passed her the presents and cards she’d been eyeing up for days. Then followed her choice of breakfast - bacon, toast and duck egg, with another strong brew. Fully secured for sea and shore power disconnected, we set off for Seahouses.
The main car park caters well for motorhomes - drive straight through past the cars, coach parking and into the overflow area - there’s plenty of space to park on the grass. Seahouses caters well for the tourist with all the usual grockle (gift) shops, cafes, pubs etc. We filled up with provisions first, staples from the large Co-op, lovely fresh bread from the Bakers and lamb chops & sirloin steak from the friendly village butchers. Having stowed this all away we booked our boat trip to the Farne Islands. This was good value for a 3 hour trip, helped by mirror calm, clear, dark blue seas and unbroken sunshine. There were lots of photo opportunities, including one hour walking around one island full of birds - lots of noise, lots of birds and lots of sh... Guano! We particularly enjoyed the Puffins, who seemed to find flying such hard work! On the return journey we stopped to photograph lots of seals at play - they were having great fun. On return to the mainland we were hungry so bought fish & chips from Neptunes - highly recommended - which we ate perched on the harbour wall.
Then it was time to move on to our next site - Waren Mill, between Bamburgh and Holy Island. This is a very large site that caters both for both static caravans and tourers; the touring end was very quiet with only a few motorhomes and caravans. So we took the opportunity to have much longer showers and are both cleaner for it (well the cloud of flies following us have now gone!). With her birthday cards on the dashboard for all to see, I'm on cooking duty again tonight (same every night) and Cathy can choose from either barbecued lamb or sirloin steak, with a salad. And of course we have jelly and a Birthday cake with one candle (health & safety!). Before that we're enjoying a large G&T from the enamel mugs we brought with us - cheers! Tomorrow we’re off to Holy Island first thing, then over to Bamburgh - I want to visit the Grace Darling museum as the RNLI is one of the charities I support. Then we'll be heading inland to Haltwhistle and some time exploring Hadrian’s Wall - built to keep the Scots in - sadly it failed!
I was woken at about 0230 by a flashing light. It was the fridge light and I noticed we had lost mains power. The fridge kicked over to gas and as it was too dark to check if there was a site-wide power cut, I went back to sleep. First thing in the morning power was still off; as we'd had fuse trouble earlier in the trip I checked those in the garage - all OK. I then noticed that the fuse box at the pitch supply had tripped so I reset this and power was restored! The moral of the tale is don't panic, carry out the basic checks and 9 times out of 10 you’ll be able to fix the fault, even a technical dyslexic like me! I made Cathy a breakfast brew which she had in bed (of course) and passed her the presents and cards she’d been eyeing up for days. Then followed her choice of breakfast - bacon, toast and duck egg, with another strong brew. Fully secured for sea and shore power disconnected, we set off for Seahouses.
The main car park caters well for motorhomes - drive straight through past the cars, coach parking and into the overflow area - there’s plenty of space to park on the grass. Seahouses caters well for the tourist with all the usual grockle (gift) shops, cafes, pubs etc. We filled up with provisions first, staples from the large Co-op, lovely fresh bread from the Bakers and lamb chops & sirloin steak from the friendly village butchers. Having stowed this all away we booked our boat trip to the Farne Islands. This was good value for a 3 hour trip, helped by mirror calm, clear, dark blue seas and unbroken sunshine. There were lots of photo opportunities, including one hour walking around one island full of birds - lots of noise, lots of birds and lots of sh... Guano! We particularly enjoyed the Puffins, who seemed to find flying such hard work! On the return journey we stopped to photograph lots of seals at play - they were having great fun. On return to the mainland we were hungry so bought fish & chips from Neptunes - highly recommended - which we ate perched on the harbour wall.
Then it was time to move on to our next site - Waren Mill, between Bamburgh and Holy Island. This is a very large site that caters both for both static caravans and tourers; the touring end was very quiet with only a few motorhomes and caravans. So we took the opportunity to have much longer showers and are both cleaner for it (well the cloud of flies following us have now gone!). With her birthday cards on the dashboard for all to see, I'm on cooking duty again tonight (same every night) and Cathy can choose from either barbecued lamb or sirloin steak, with a salad. And of course we have jelly and a Birthday cake with one candle (health & safety!). Before that we're enjoying a large G&T from the enamel mugs we brought with us - cheers! Tomorrow we’re off to Holy Island first thing, then over to Bamburgh - I want to visit the Grace Darling museum as the RNLI is one of the charities I support. Then we'll be heading inland to Haltwhistle and some time exploring Hadrian’s Wall - built to keep the Scots in - sadly it failed!
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| Great fish & chips in Seahouses |
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| Birthday Cards! |