We found our way back to Hitchin on Saturday 12th October where our campervan was bought 6months ago.
The owner and staff are most obliging. We had a couple of minor fix ups to be done in the van.
On Sunday we met up with our friends from Perth, Colin and Kandy at their friend’s place in Dunstable.
It was a rainy and cold day so it was nice to spend the afternoon with them after they kindly treated us to a very good Indian meal at a local restaurant.
Chris a most obliging person living at the caravan place took us down to the train on the Monday where we caught the train into London 35pounds return for the two of us which took about 40minutes. We made our way to the Indian Visa office to lodge our applications where a computer problem caused us to wait 2hours longer than our appointed 1pm time. There were also about a hundred other people in a stuffy large room.
We should/hope get our passport with visas back in about 2weeks.
We took the tube to Victoria where we met up with Maria Eivers for drinks at the Goring hotel (a very posh hotel which the Middletons booked out for the night before Kate married Prince William)
From there we went to a great Thai restaurant called the Mango Tree before saying goodbye to Maria and catching the tube back to Kings Cross and then the train back to Hitchin.
On Tuesday while our van was having minor adjustments Maurice and I walked into Hitchin old town which took about 45minutes where we did some shopping and had lunch.
The old town of Hitchin is very interesting with many very old buildings and also lovely cafes and quirky restaurants.
We took Chris and his wife Maureen to the Hermitage for dinner. They have been so helpful to us while at Hitchin caravans.
Things here in England are also supposed to be tough with many small businesses having closed their doors but like all over Europe the cafes and restaurants are bursting with people.
We set off for Whitby in the north on wednesday via Newark, Lincoln and the Humber Bridge and then onto Scarborough. It was a cold 9 degrees and raining which didn’t let up for the whole day. Scarborough has a large number of amusement parlours on it’s waterfront with a lot of flashing lights. Not very appealing. The sea was very rough.
We drove on to Whitby and had fish and chips which were recommended at a place called Hadleys. Everyone we talked
to said that we had to have fish and chips in Whitby but we were disappointed by the very greasy battered fish and refried
chips. We did complain and they took something off the bill which showed that they thought they weren’t up to scratch either! We arrived at the “Sandfield house farm” caravan park in the dark about 6.30pm. It is a lovely site overlooking the cliffs and the sea. Our campervan shook all night with violent gusts of wind and lots of rain.
Right opposite the caravan park is the Whitby gold club which is overlooking the sea and a wonderful position. I should imagine the wind would make for very interesting games!
We awoke the next day to brilliant sunshine and 16degrees which over the course of the day went up to 19degrees with Maurice even taking his jumper off. We first set off to the Cafe at the garden centre which overlooks the town in the distance.
I had last been in Whitby with mother nearly 20years ago and the old town looked the same with the old ruins of Whitby Abbey on the south side with spectacular views of the north part of town and the coastline.
The weather was so nice that we wandered around for over 3hours. I bought a pair of fur lined skeechers (like ugg boots) to keep my tootsies warm and we came across the Whitby fish shop where we bought a container of fresh white meat crab for 3.85pounds. We made up a sandwich and enjoyed the very fresh tasty crab.
Some houses on coast look like something out of a Jane Eyre novel.
We walked on the south side around Whitby Abbey and then to the north side to Captain Cook’s memorial and around the hilly streets.
I met Captain Cook there who was advertising a local restaurant.
We made the most of the weather and drove to Saltburn another lovely coastal town and Sandsend where the sea was pretty rough and lashing up over the road.
We were back tucked up in our campervan by 6pm as the temperature had dropped after sundown. Friday was a cloudy and cold day so we spent it doing the housework – cleaning the van and washing clothes at the caravan park.
On Saturday we left Whitby and drove down through the desolate and very foggy in places Yorkshire moors to Rillington about an hour away to see Gillian the wife of my mother’s first cousin Gerry (deceased) whom I last visited with mother 18years ago. She is a very young 80 and had just returned from a week driving around Turkey. She cooked us a lovely lunch and we spoke about travel for the next few hours as
she has travelled to many places we want to visit like Russia and Uzbekistan.