A few weeks were spent shuffling here, there and everywhere across England and Eileen shuffled between Chris’s warehouse yard, Doug’s car-yard and out on the open road. It’s been all very confusing; continually packing and unpacking, one week in her, the next week not. I can’t wait to get back properly in our little mobile home and enjoy knowing where everything is again. Our plan is to tour around the coast of Wales, then a quick trip down to Cornwall before we leave the UK and fly off to Abu Dhabi.
After our travels around Hertfordshire and London, our next jaunt in Eileen was up to Norfolk and Suffolk, so on Tuesday 13 August we set off north from Hertford. Before reaching Norfolk, we had a lunch date arranged with a cousin of Rodney’s in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire. Of all the numerous Blake cousins and second cousins, David was the only one we had never met, or knew anything about. He had recently tracked us down through contacting the writer of a book about Hertford Cricket Club who had kindly passed on our email address. It had been quite a surprise when we opened an email from David, whilst sitting in our campervan in Italy. We had a nice lunch at David and Margaret’s lovely home and spent four hours reminiscing, pouring over old photos and getting him up to speed on the fabulous Blake ‘clan’.
At Castle Acre we stayed with friends, Bill and Ang in their ‘holiday bungalow’ for three nights of fun. Ang whipped up two fabulous dinners. Bill cooked up a couple of fancy breakfasts and we spent one evening at a very good Thai restaurant in Guist. To help burn off some of the fuel, we spent a sunny day cycling from Holkham to Wells-Next-The-Sea. After drinks and cakes, we cycled a little further across the salt marshes before retracing the same route all the way back to Holkham. We then cycled past the car park and in through the gates of Holkham Hall where the grounds were full of deer and lots of holidaymakers were picnicking down by the lake. We took a short break to queue for ice creams (we needed another re-fuel) and then finally cycled back to our vehicles for the drive back to Castle Acre.
The following day we went to Fakenham and spent a few hours at the auction house, local market and the antique shops, with of course, the obligatory cups of tea and cake in a café on the return trip. Back at Castle Acre, Bill took us for a good walk around his ‘ancestral village’. There’s an ancient ruined castle and priory, a huge church and we crossed fields full of butterflies and wild flowers. We passed a lovely clear stream that did look inviting on such a warm sunny day, but we didn’t indulge. There were some cute country cottages and curiously only one pub which had the rather odd name of ‘The Ostrich’. Goodness knows how it got that name. Thank you Bill and Ang, for a lovely mini break and we’re looking forward to seeing you both at our home in Australia in December.
Our next stop was in Aylsham to visit our friend Vanea, who is over from Australia visiting her Dad and sisters. So we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon chatting, strolling across the fields and sitting down to another delicious home-cooked meal. Thank you Vanea and Alan for the meal and a night sleeping well in your colourful garden.
On Saturday morning we struck out south to Suffolk. When we arrived at the cottage near Kettleburgh, to visit cousins Sheila and Jack, plus Sharon and Ian, the TV was on the sports channel and there was a lot of surfing going on. Channel surfing that is; soccer, cricket, golf, tennis, athletics and, later in the evening, a bit of rugby union. Rodney settled himself on the sofa and was in ‘sport heaven’. The conversation flowed at high speed and high volume, the food and drinks flowed endlessly, and we finally crawled in to our bed in Eileen, very late and rather tired. Sunday continued in the same vein and we enjoyed every minute of our time with the Hagues; you are hilarious, please don’t ever change and we thank you for two wonderfully nutty days.
The only thing that spoilt the weekend was my back seizing up and by the time we left Suffolk on Monday morning, it was very painful. I managed to get an appointment with Carole’s osteopath, later in the day and she thankfully got me moving again. Unfortunately, on Tuesday morning it was really bad again and I had to lay flat on the back seat of Andy and Carole’s spare car, while Rodney drove us up to St Ives, Cambridgeshire for lunch with Ian and Ann, who we met in Port Grimaud, France, earlier in the year. We had enjoyed a couple of evenings of good conversation at the campsite and it was good to see them again, though it just seemed funny not being outside our campervan, or in their caravan….? Maybe we’ll be able to catch up with you both again, next year in Portugal or Spain and we’ll cook next time.
We spent the evening and overnight with my stepmother, Val in Peterborough and then Rodney drove, with me still flat on my back, across country to the Cotswolds to spend my birthday with my sister, Candice, nieces, Ellea and Honor and nephew, Max. It was a noisy affair, but it’s always good to see the family. Honor and I did a spot of delicious blackberry picking and our hands looked like we had had an accident by the time we finished; red juice was dripping off our fingers and palms. Ellea gave me a manicure and cooked me a really yummy sponge birthday cake, complete with my name iced on the top. We went to The Gumstool Inn at Calcot Manor for dinner on my birthday and finished the day with a very loud game of Top Banana, which Candice and I used to play when we were young all those years ago in Weston-Super-Mare.
We spent most of the long weekend back in Hertford catching up on washing, getting Eileen ready for setting off on the next trip and frequenting a few pubs with various friends. Rodney pub crawled around Hertford on Sunday with friends enjoying the music festival. Lots of the pubs and cafés in town had live music, of every type, playing from lunch time till late in the evening. And on Monday morning we set off south to Horsham. This will be another week of catching up with family and friends before Jonathan and Clare’s wedding on Saturday. There will also need to be a bit more shopping on my part. Our clothes for the wedding are hanging in Eileen’s wardrobe, but I’ve only just realised that I don’t have with me a pair of smart black shoes to go with my outfit. Fingers crossed I’ll find a tiny pair of shoes somewhere in Horsham or East Grinstead by Friday, if not I’ll be wearing Fitflops…….
