Friday 7th July 2017 – Scarborough

Well after last night’s hell with rain, thunder and lightning today was going to be a lovely day.

So after breakfast we got on the scooters and headed down to North Bay of Scarborough beach. We had to go down a couple of steep hills but they were no problem.

We got to the bottom and went all the way around the bay on the promenade to South Bay where the town is. It was a long way but a lovely drive. We could see seagulls nesting on the cliffs and making a lot of screeching. We also went quite quickly on the areas of prom that had lots of white spots.

As we were going along the tide was out and there was a pungent smell of sea weed – a smell we both remember from childhood holidays.

We got caught by a couple of girls promoting the RLNI to join their £3 per month club. We gave them £3 and told them we would think about it.

We arrived at the marina – all very nice – there were several boat trips to be had from here – 20 minutes around the bay in a pirate ship or Ride the waves in a speed boat.

It was time for the first ice cream of the day (yummy – if a bit naughty).

We tried to find some olives ham and cheese for lunch but it seems it doesn’t exist this far north. So we ended up with a mixed meat baguette which we ate at the Queen Victoria statue at the top of the cliff, next to the Central Tramway funicular railway. We came up from the prom via a winding path in a park next to it.

After lunch we decided to head back to the site. Dolly was fine while on the flat but when we tried to go up the hill she just cut out on me. Nigel thinks she got too hot. Anyway we stopped for a while and then went on with Nigel pushing me like we did on the hills in Devon. We got to the top but then she did it again. Again we waited before continuing back slowly. We made it but I must admit I’m worried about Dolly.

For dinner tonight we had Fish & Chips from the site shop. They were OK although we’ve had better chips. Then we watched the England South Africa test cricket highlights.

We are both tired, from all the sea air I guess, and a bit sun burnt as well so off to bed.

Saturday 8^th July 2017 – Bridlington

Today is again another hot sunny day. What a change from last weekend.

We have decided to drive to Bridlington today. The trip was uneventful but when we got there we found that the Town Fathers have decided that any vehicles over 2.1m high would have a hard job finding anywhere to park – with height barriers on all the car parks. We decided to visit Sewerby Hall & Gardens as we could park OK and anyway we do like gardens.

On our scooters we paid our money – it entitles you to access to the Hall and Zoo as well as the gardens but we only did the latter. Lovely they were too – just the paths being a bit narrow in places – but little stops us these days. We met a couple while we were eating an ice cream in the courtyard – they were very interested in our scooters and our setup – they went away chatting excitedly – I think we gave them some ideas for their retirement.

The gardens were good but we found we could leave them near the Cliff Top Cricket ground (and the terminus of the Land Train) to go to the promenade and sea front. There is a fun fair and again lots of people – many of them looking very red. We tried again to find our kind of lunch but it seems Fish & Chips, Burgers and Hot Dogs are the primary street foods available in this area. We did decide to have our pudding before lunch – a very good whippy ice cream – Nigel had a lemon vanilla and I had chocolate vanilla. Then we returned to Voyager where we had Olives, Feta, tomatoes and Melba toast.

When Nigel came to put the scooters away he found that Dolly had gone into error mode again so he had to put her into Betty manually. He said that when in neutral she is not too difficult to get up the ramp but it is a worry – will she make it to the end of our holiday?

Any way we are off tomorrow – quite a big journey to Lincolnshire.

Sunday 9^th July 2017 – Onward to Woodhall Spa

We didn’t move on too quickly today as Nigel wanted to finish the blog and get it posted before we left. We had a good breakfast because we knew we had a long drive. The trip over to Woodhall Spa was OK – nothing to report and we didn’t kill anything on route. We decided to have lunch just before we got to the Humber bridge so found a lovely layby and had a simple lunch.

It cost us £1.50 to cross the bridge – with nothing off for disabled. Oh well not like the Severn Bridge where we get free crossings with the blue badge. The Humber and the old Severn Bridge are very similar in appearance though.

At last we got to the site even though we missed the sign again and had to turn around – Nigel practicing his reversing skills again.

We got all set up and spoke to Sophie on facebook – she just missed us as she had been at the spa just down the road – still we will see her soon.

Spent the evening watching TV and relaxing.

Monday 10^th July 2017

We woke again to a lovely day. The sun is shining and it is warm. After breakfast we had a good clean up – Nigel did most of it – I just sat in the sun.

We had a look around the site on the scooters – hunting out the kiddies play area etc.

We got back and Dolly seemed to be running fine after her exploits the last few days – maybe it is something to do with her getting too hot. Even so I’m a bit nervous about going too far on her now.

We had lunch outside Voyager – with the awning up – it’s lovely to be able to sit out all day and not be cold. We sit and watch the mad campers trying to get their tents up. It is meant to be a quick job these days with modern fabrics and air inflatable tents. One man told me he was meant to be able to get his tent up in 20 minutes – he was still at it four hours later.

RAF Coningsby is just down the road from this site and Nigel enjoyed the sight of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight practicing for the display they are giving for Prince William tomorrow. Two Spitfires, two Hurricanes and a Lancaster Bomber made several circuits. He managed to get a few good shots too.

It has been a nice day just chilling out on the site. Andrew, one of the wardens, said he had something for us – he said he’d pop back. It took him a while as he was busy sorting pitches for the new folks arriving but when he did he gave me a speeding ticket. I thought he was serious – it said I was clocked doing 5.2 mph round the site and it would cost me a giant mars bar – he should be so lucky.

Only trouble with lazing around is I have been nibbling all afternoon and I don’t feel hungry at tea time. I made us a prawn salad though thinking it would be a light meal – trouble was only one of them made it to the table. I stood on the top step and as I was holding the plates my foot slipped and I slid down to the next step – all my salad hit the grass below and I hurt both my arms stopping myself from falling completely out.

Well my Nigel, ever the gentleman, shared his dinner with me. He did say though that he will be fitting a child gate at the entrance to stop it happening again.

After we ate and cleared up we thought it would be nice to explore the local area on the scooters. So off down the road we went. It was lovely at first but when we had gone a couple of miles it started to spit with rain (it had been threatening for a while). We kept going and when it got heavier we stopped under the canopy of a closed Petrol station. It really chucked it down for a while as we waited in the relative dry. We realised we had left the sky lights open on Voyager but there was nothing we could do. We had also forgotten to replenish our emergency rain poncho’s after using them at the Black Country museum a couple of weeks back so all we had was a couple of bin bags. Nigel put a pedal bin one on as a hat and I did my best with a dustbin one over a bit of me. The level of rain diminished so we set forth on our return – the first passing car went through a puddle and drenched Nigel and then the rain started again at full force – we kept going we were both drenched anyway. It took a while to get back – most of the drivers who passed us did so slowly and tried to avoid the really big puddles. Dolly behaved herself with no issues I’m pleased to say and by the time we got back the rain storm was coming to an end. One of our neighbours had kindly put our lounge chairs under the awning – which was good of them. Unfortunately the rain had collapsed the awning and when Nigel tried to straighten it out again the collected water deposited itself all over him – I didn’t laugh then but we have laughed about it since – at the time it did not seem funny.

We used towels and dirty clothes to clear up the water in Voyager and had the heating on full through the night to dry everything out. All in all she hasn’t suffered too much – which is good.

We slept well if a little steamily – so are ready for the start of our last week tomorrow.