roemin around

Set out from Croft in the rain to find some sun in Norfolk. We had to call somewhere for provisions before we went too far so I stopped in Lutterworth. I went a rather round about way for a change using the A14 and A141 which took us along miles of fens and drains to Sandringham.  It's mostly dry at last and there was even a red sunset. We are only here for one night on the CMC site then off along the north coast towards Cromer. There are a lot of pidgeons nesting around the site, this one is in a tree just behind our van.

After a quiet night, the hens are in sheds overnight, we started the day with bacon sandwiches (bacon from the farm shop). Rosemary bought some steak and lamb from the farm shop then we went to have a look at Foxton Locks, as we were quite close by. Had a coffee and ice cream in sun watching barges go up and down the flight of locks. Then we decided to go to a NT place and chose Canons Ashby near Daventry. We were held up by heavy traffic in the road works on the Northampton ring road, but spent a couple of hours looking round the house, gardens and church. No rain again and got back home at 7:00  via A5 to Lutterworth.

We went to the food fair again this year and on this occasion we were able to take a tour of Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens which were opened specially for the occasion at half price.  I found the first floor exhibition of the maps and charts of Macdonald Gill most interesting. The food fair was almost exactly the same as last year. Afterwards we spent the night at a farm shop in the pretty village of Ashley, in the Welland valley near Market Harborough. Active farm and farm shop with sheep, lambs, cows, hundreds of hens and a friendly farmer and farmer's wife - a very good Britstop.

The motorhome holiday this year took us on a round trip of 2150 miles to the majestic scenery of the north of Scotland. We did most of the NC500 route around the north coast that is being heavily promoted as 'the best drive in the world' and Scotland's Route 66. But we added on the Trossocks, Speyside and the Isle of Skye, all places we have not been to before. We timed the trip very well enjoying almost 3 weeks of mostly unbroken sunshine at the start of the trip, although it was cold at night and windy at times. Then a few very wet days on the west coast, followed by two hot days, bought the midges out and we retreated south with some bites. We managed to fit in stops at the Tower ballroom in Blackpool on the way up and the Lake district on the way back. We stayed at a combination of 5 Caravan and Motor-home Club sites, 5 Camping and Caravan Club sites, 8 independent sites mostly on the NC500 , one wild night at Aviemore and 4 Britstops going to and from Scotland. We ...

Rosemary shopped in the farm shop and I picked some fresh strawberries from the PYO poly-tunnels. They have thousands of plants growing in waist high troughs so PYO is really easy as the fruits are just dangling ready to pick. Yields and harvesting time must be 10 times traditional method on the ground. We spent a few hours at Shugborough, the NT property that belonged to the Anson family, later Lord Lichfield. Interesting place thats worth another visit when the NT have done more work on presentation of the last Peter Lichfield photography stuff. We arrived home at 4:00pm after taking a rather slow A5 from Stafford back to Croft. The total round trip was 2150 miles.

I had another fruitless 2 hours of fly fishing  and Rosemary found some interesting plants in the onsite garden centre before​ we left the nice little site at Sizerg. We found a Britstop and  NT property near Stafford for a final stop on the grand tour. We stopped on the M6 at a service station with an M&S and found some bargains. We passed the 2000 mile marker on the way. The Br itstop is a farm shop and soft fruit farm by a canal. I had another hour fishing and caught a roach whilst Rosemary made a traditional Scottish delicacy, macaroni cheese. The Belgium Britstoppers were surprised I did not want to eat the roach.

A quiet midge free night developed into a warm sunny day. We had breakfast baps in the Two Sisters cafe and bought a few things from the artisan shops on the Britstop before leaving. I drove the 15 miles or so to Lake Windermere and parked near Nab Pier for a few hours while we walked into Bowness, which was heaving with tourists. We had a look round the shops, had a simple lunch and caught the little tourist train back to the car park. We are staying on a small site with a garden centre, tearoom and trout fishing lake. We called in to nearby Sizerg castle, a NT place, for an hour on the way and looked round the gardens. I spent 2 hours fishing until it was dark but without success.