{"id":1261,"date":"2012-10-29T20:01:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T20:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2025-11-23T07:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:07:11","slug":"down-south-and-no-more-touristing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2012\/10\/29\/down-south-and-no-more-touristing\/","title":{"rendered":"Down South And No More \u2018Touristing\u2019\u2026."},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday morning we woke up late from our last night spent in a campsite for this year.\u00a0 Campsite mornings in the UK have us mystified; even when there are a large number of campervans and caravans on site, there are very few people moving about or in the shower blocks.\u00a0 Even when we leave around 9am or 10am, we very rarely see anyone.\u00a0 We\u2019re fascinated with what they\u2019re all doing inside their little homes\u2026.?!!<\/p>\n

We joined the A1 and followed directions to \u2018The South\u2019.\u00a0 According to the traffic reports the whole of England was covered in fog and mist and we could certainly confirm it was hanging over Durham.\u00a0 We stopped off at Thirsk and Rodney gave Eileen a thorough jetwash outside, while I whipped around inside with the \u2018Spray & Wipe\u2019.\u00a0 As we approached Scarborough the fog thickened and the temperatures dropped.\u00a0 We arrived at David and Wendy\u2019s around 4pm and so started a lovely evening of chatting and a lot of reminiscing for the boys.\u00a0 It was midnight before we\u00a0flopped in to their enormous spare bed for a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

Wednesday morning arrived too soon and we had a big drive ahead.\u00a0 So after a bath and more chatting over breakfast we hit the road.\u00a0 The \u2018sea fret\u2019, as it is called in Yorkshire, was still hanging over Scarborough, so we never got to enjoy the wonderful view of the coastline from their lounge windows.\u00a0 But even without providing us with the scenery, we still thank you so much Wendy and Dave, for the lovely meals and for inviting us in to your gorgeous home again.<\/p>\n

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Scarborough beach view from David & Wendy’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fog lifted a little bit en route to York, but it seemed the weather report was correct and the whole of England really was blanketed with the stuff all day again.\u00a0 We drove down the A1 to Newark, then the A46 towards Leicester, then on the M1 and the M69 towards Coventry, back on the A46 towards Warwick and on and on and on.\u00a0 It was really sad zooming across so much of England and not having the time to meander down the country roads and visit sights along the way; but we had to get to \u2018The South\u2019.\u00a0 We had to be in Taunton, in Somerset the next day, for a security system appointment for Eileen, so after driving about 250 miles (400 kilometres) we finally stopped at Neroli and Ians’ driveway near Chew Magna Lake in Avon, just south of Bristol.\u00a0 It was our longest drive in one day and we’re pleased to say that Eileen coped very well.<\/p>\n

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Ian & Laura with some of the herd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We opted for an early night in Eileen, as we were both really tired.\u00a0 Then in the morning Ian took us up to their fields to meet their Ryeland and Lleyn sheep and their herd of Dexter cows, which have short little legs and look rather like they are sinking in the mud\u2026!\u00a0 We then set off down to Taunton for our 2pm appointment.\u00a0 It took 2 \u00bd hours to get the security system fixed up and certified, so we drank a lot of tea and read a lot of magazines whilst we waited. After a yummy pub meal with Ian and Neroli and another night at their place, we set off east to Hertford.<\/p>\n

We had a great time at Bill & Ang\u2019s house when they held a very noisy dinner party on Friday night. It was a brilliant evening, thanks guys. \u00a0 Since then, we\u2019ve done a lot of unpacking and sorting of paperwork and belongings, but it all feels a little sad that we\u2019re at the end of another chapter.\u00a0 Our touring in Eileen is almost at an end for this year; we just have to visit a few more friends and family and then we\u2019ll spend the weekend of November 10th<\/sup> and 11th<\/sup> preparing her for storage over the winter in East Grinstead.<\/p>\n

Travelling around the UK in the wettest summer in 100 years\u2026……with farmers unable to get crops out of fields at harvest time because the fields are under water….. was probably not the best idea.\u00a0 But we’ve had a brilliant time and on November 12th<\/sup> we\u2019ll be flying off to South East Asia and warmer climes.<\/p>\n

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‘Teddy bear’ sheep (Ryeland), they’re so cute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday morning we woke up late from our last night spent in a campsite for this year.\u00a0 Campsite mornings in the UK have us mystified; even when there are a large number of campervans and caravans on site, there are very few people moving about or in the shower blocks.\u00a0 Even when we leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-the-road-in-great-britain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8198,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/8198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}