Day 160 - 2 Dec '23 - St. Ives Bay. It's pretty crazy to think we've been on our journey for 160 days! As time always seems to, we feel like we've been travelling for ages, and yet hardly any time at all. It's only when we look back on photos that we realise exactly how much we've done!
This morning we went for a very brief walk on the beach at the campground. Alex, being the intelligent boy that he is and not wanting to listen to ANY advice, wore shorts, and planned on digging his usual hole. It was 4°C.
It was a fairly steep climb down the sand dunes to to the beach, and there was hardly anybody else there.
"That's because only walkers, dog-walkers, and the insane come for a walk on the beach in winter when it's 4°C!" Dan pointed out.
The two of us were feeling quite snuggly in our multiple layers, and there wasn't much wind. Alex then decided it was the perfect time to take off his socks and shoes, and dig his hole. He also convinced Abi to join him.
Abigail got one foot on the sand, yelped from the cold, and hobbled around on one foot while Dan helped her get her sock and shoe back on. Alex put his hand in the sand and did one small scrape, then realised it was, in fact, too cold.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Dan and I laughed.
(No sympathy here!!)
Funnily enough, Alex decided it was too cold to carry on, so we walked back to the cabin. He got slower and slower, and even managed to shed a few tears!
"My feet hurt!"
"Of course they hurt," I said, "they're cold! Look at them! They're bright red!"
"I can't walk home, they hurt!"
"Well, you're going to have to. And when you get back to the cabin, you'll have to wash your feet in cold water."
"What?! Why! My feet are freezing!"
"Because you can't put hot water on cold feet, it's not good for the blood vessels and will make your feet hurt," explained Dan.
"They already hurt. Every step is really sore!"
"Have you learned anything?" I asked.
"No!"
After watching him struggle painfully on for another minute, complete with a few more tears, I thought about giving him a piggyback...
"Have you learned anything yet?"
"No!"
"Are you sure you haven't learned anything?"
"NO!"
Man, he can be STUBBORN! Oh well - no piggyback!
It seemed Dan had a fraction more sympathy than I did (or perhaps less tolerance for the theatrics) as he came over then and scooped him up fireman-style, which Alex was thrilled about. Until, that was, Dan went to put him down in the icy puddle by our cabin! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Once at the cabin, Dan went inside and brought out a kettle of lukewarm water for Alex to wash his feet.
"Ow! That's hot!"
"It's only lukewarm, and it's probably still too hot."
"Have you learned anything yet, Alex?" I asked...again.
"Yes," came the meek reply.
"And what have you learned?"
"Not to take my socks and shoes off outside in winter."
FINALLY!
We had our leftover dinner for lunch, then the kids went to explore the campground. This time fully dressed!
They were gone for an hour (armed with a map and my phone), which gave Dan and I a bit of time to plan our next few days. Shortly after they returned, it started raining; we didn't have any plans on sightseeing today, which worked out rather well, as the rain got heavier and more persistent.
I decided to battle the washing machine again, and discovered the skylight in the laundry was leaking, with water running down the walls and puddling on the floor and in the cupboard with the hot water pipework!
Maintenance came out to check it, but there obviously was nothing they could do at the time - they'd come back tomorrow once we'd checked out.
The rest of the afternoon we stayed tucked up and cozy in the cabin. We watched Harry Potter 3, then had some dinner, when Alex accidentally knocked over his whole glass of blackcurrant cordial, which dripped between the table cracks and splashed over Dan and Abi.
Lucky me...I got to do more washing!!
Day 161 - 3 Dec '23 - St. Ives to Paignton. It was much warmer this morning when we left, a positively tropical 10°C, despite a sudden downpour and hail as Dan was loading up the car.
We were heading to Tintagel, the seat of King Arthur, when Dan realised it was not the castle you can walk out to at low tide that we thought it was. That was St. Micheal's Mount, which was across the bay from Penzance.
And at 10:30am it was very much not low tide! Oh well, still looked pretty cool.
"If we'd gone to Penzance for lunch yesterday like you'd suggested," Dan said, "we'd have seen the tide out and could have driven over."
"Mmm."
"But we wouldn't have gone out anyway because it was raining."
"Mmm."
We carried on then made an unexpected stop at the Screech Owl Sanctuary, and were pleasantly surprised to discover it was free to visit over winter. What a fabulous place! We saw so many different owls, and they all seemed to be sitting at the front of their enclosures. We even saw one eating its dinner of baby chicks!
There were also llama, meerkats, two lemurs (boy, were they noisy!), and a fox, much to Alex's delight. We spent a lovely 20-30 minutes there, and put some money in their donation box.
On to Tintagel then! This was the seat of the legendary King Arthur, but his castle was now just ruins on a spit of cliff. We decided against spending £47 to look at ruins, especially since the ruins that were left were mostly just foundation stones with a few low walls. We did go down a rather steep hill towards it however, so we could at least see a bit of it for free!
We walked back up the rather steep hill to Pengenna Pasties, to get some Cornish Pasties for lunch. Dan and I had the traditional steak, potato, swede, and onion, with a little bit of salt and pepper. Alex had potato, cheese, onion, and chive, and Abi had a gluten free cheese and onion version.
Tintagel township was a tiny little place, but everywhere was surrounded by these fantastic stone walls, with the stones laid at various angles. There was also a really old cottage with a bowed roof on the main street that was looked after by the National Trust. I just love the history this country has!
The next hour or so was spent driving in the rain to our destination for the night, a place called Paignton, near Torquay. We were only staying for one night, before carrying on our journey east.
Our Airbnb place was a little two-bedroom garden flat; the owners had put up a Christmas tree, and even supplied some cereal and pastries, as well as milk and hot chocolate!
We've been spotting more and more Christmas trees in people's living room windows, and Abi is getting into the spirit of the game now.
Day 162 - 4 Dec '23 - Paignton to Amesbury. Rain, rain, and more rain. It started during the night, and was just a drizzle when we left, but got steadily heavier as we drove across the countryside.
Before we left Paignton, we went to the pier and watched some surfers try to catch the barest of waves. They were fully kitted in their wetsuits and hoods, but I imagine they would still have been a bit chilled.
Many roads on our journey east had pools of standing water, with huge waves being caused by the cars driving over them. The roads were even flooding on hills, which showed exactly how much rain the area had received.
We had a quick stop at Bournemouth, another English holiday spot of beaches, hotels, and a pier. Being cloudy, windy, and wintertime, it didn't hold quite the same thrall as I'm sure it would do in summer!
We walked from one end of the pier to the other, which was decorated with lots of Christmas trees, and enjoyed a fun Christmas quiz that had been placed at intervals along the fence.
The rain had tapered off a bit as we drove towards Amesbury, so when we were almost there, Dan suggested we drive past Stonehenge then, just in case it was worse tomorrow.
Stonehenge is another piece of English history that's behind a ticket gate, which in this instance, we felt particularly disgruntled by.
"Something as incredible and as old as this, should be free to look at!" we both said. "We shouldn't be charged £54 to get just slightly closer to it."
As it was, we could drive slowly past on the main road, which enabled me to take some pictures with my zoom lens. Then we went round the roundabout and headed back past it, so I took some more!
We're obviously not in the photos, but there it is - Stonehenge!
Our room tonight was above a pub, and when we checked in, the landlady informed us there was an army Christmas function on that night, with a live band and DJ until 10:30/11pm! Luckily, I'd arranged to have dinner at a nearby pub with my second cousin Diarmid (son of John, my first cousin once removed, whose house in Florida we stayed in).
What a great evening we had! It was awesome to get to meet Diarmid for the first time, and spend the evening sharing stories. We look forward to seeing him again some day!
We got back to our room just after 9am, and listened to the bass thumping through the walls until 10:20pm when it stopped, which was pretty spot on to what the landlady said. Phew!
Now to try to get to sleep on THE worst mattresses IN THE WORLD - no substance or structure to them, just lightweight foam, that compressed to lamina thickness when you sat on them, and were only slightly thicker when spreading your weight by lying down.
You know, we're not really that fussy. All we really want in our accommodation is a comfy bed, a hot shower, either a heater or air conditioner that's not noisy, and quiet neighbours. It's just the simple things we're after for a good sleep; the bells and whistles are just bells and whistles.
Day 163 - 5 Dec '23 - Amesbury to Eastbourne. We had a surprisingly alright sleep despite the mattress, although Alex woke us up quite a few times when he rolled over on the top bunk. I think we kept expecting him to fall out like he did the last time!
It was drizzling again this morning, so we didn't go back to Stonehenge. Alex and I went for a brief walk to play some Pokémon Go (a game we've been playing on my phone since Canada), and when we got back to the room, Dan and Abi had loaded the car with our bags.
Both mine and Dan's colds have pretty much gone. I've now got that annoying frog-in-your-throat, which is an improvement (I think?) over that annoying phlegm/snot you get that's too far down your nose to blow out, yet too far back for you to sniff. You know what I mean?
Our first stop today was at Brighton, to see...the pier!
"Why are we going to another pier?" asked Abi.
"Because your mum seems to like them," Dan replied.
We walked to the end and back, took a couple of photos, walked along the stone beach, and got back in the car. All the amusements on the pier were closed, and the rain was coming in, so there wasn't too much point in hanging around. The hotels and shops by the pier also all looked like they had seen better days, which was a shame.
Our next stop was the Seven Sisters cliff, at Birling Gap. These chalk cliffs were the same as the White Cliffs of Dover, but closer to get to.
I have to say, it was quite unnerving walking next to the cliff edge, where the ground just dropped off without a slope. We could see a fair distance along the coast line, where the cliffs were even higher, and when we went down to the beach, we walked past loads of signs telling us to beware of rockfalls.
Even though the chalk and flint cliffs have been there since the Cretaceous epoch, it would seem the edges are still prone to tumbling away; it's remarkable more hasn't been washed away!
We only had a 15 minute drive after that to get to our hotel room in Eastbourne, our final English seaside town down south. I think we'll leave the pier for tomorrow though!
We were in two separate rooms, and they were 'close' to each other, in that they were on the same floor and same area but not next door. Abi and I stayed in one room, and Dan and Alex had the other one.
"We bags this room!" I said, as we saw our view, a sliver of the pier.
That was before we found out one of our mattresses you could fold in half with one hand, our TV was half the size of theirs, and the shower was the world's smallest cubicle at just two foot square!
"But you've got a better view than us!" Dan laughed.
(And we did, as they were looking onto a wall).
Day 164 - 6 Dec '23 - Eastbourne to Cambridge. Abi and I had a disturbed sleep. The neighbours next door kept going in and out of their door until 11pm, then at 2am we were woken up to an argument! There was a fair bit of swearing, and someone was apparently irresponsible and they had lost a cellphone. After 20 minutes, I tiptoed across the room and called reception to complain. About five minutes later, we heard their door being knocked on, then some quiet voices, and once the door closed, no more noise.
Until 7:20am, when they got up and carried on their conversation. So much for our sleep in!
Our hotel had a buffet breakfast, which was pretty good, and not something we'd had since leaving Canada.
After breakfast, we went for a walk along the pier. It was a gorgeous morning; blue skies and no wind. The pier had originally been built as a promenade, and over the years, buildings and tearooms had been added on.
Once again, the town looked rundown, like it had seen its heyday and nobody cared about it anymore, which was such a disappointment. No doubt Covid had had an impact on a tourism-based place, but it was very sad to see peeling paint, rotted wood, and rusted steel (iron?) everywhere, and none of that just happened in the last two years.
We drove to Cambridge, our stay for the night. What a lovely city! All the inner city roads were narrow and winding, past lots of really old buildings.
We parked at a shopping mall and walked to King's College and Trinity College, but unfortunately they weren't letting any visitors in today for an unknown reason. We also walked past some beautifully decorated churches and buildings, with fabulous carvings on the outside. There were so many carved people standing on pillars or in cubicles, it was incredible to see!
Another church we walked past was the Round Church, built c.1130, but we didn't go inside that one either!
What did we do in Cambridge other than walk past places? We went to an outdoor clothing shop to buy Abi a winter jacket. Ha ha ha ha ha!
We were staying on the outskirts of the city, and by the time we got to our motel, the temperature had dropped to just 3°C. We were bemused to see frost on people's roofs that had been there all day.
"Either they've got great insulation," Dan said, "or their houses are freezing inside too!"
Luckily for us, the temperature meant our milk for breakfast, and cheese from Cheddar, would stay nice and cold in the car overnight!
Day 165 - 7 Dec '23 - Cambridge to Dinnington. We had a late sleep-in this morning, as check-out wasn't until midday, and we were just driving around the corner to go to an 'aunt and uncle' of Dan's for lunch.
We had a lovely time with Adi and Steve, and a delicious lasagne (my favourite) for lunch, followed by fresh berries and cream - yummy! It was great to see Adi again, as the last time I'd seen her was when she flew out to New Zealand for our wedding 12 years ago.
Steve told us a few funny stories, and Adi had kindly knitted some gorgeous Christmas crackers for the kids (which they were thrilled to discover held chocolates!). Sadly, we had to say goodbye shortly after lunch as we still had a two-hour drive to our next stopping point.
It rained most of the way to Dinnington, so it wasn't the most pleasant of trips, but we made it there safely. Our accommodation tonight was a three-bedroomed house that was new to the booking platform, and there were a few areas they could improve on.
"Do you think the towels hanging over the banister and the radiator are clean?" I asked Dan.
We had to turn on the boiler to get the radiators to work, but the ones in the kids' rooms didn't heat up at all. We also had to wash a few dishes and glasses before we could use them, and the shower in the en suite was given a wide berth.
Like I said, a few areas for improvement!
Day 166 - 8 Dec '23 - Dinnington to Thurnham. When we got up in the morning, the house was ROASTING!
"Oh my god, it's so hot!" I said. "The radiators are boiling!"
"Did you turn them up?" Dan asked me.
"No! They're only halfway!"
"Is there a thermostat somewhere?"
"I only saw the one that was on the boiler, but that wasn't very high."
"Oh no, here's one!" Dan said as he found the dial on the wall by the front door, that we'd all walked past a number of times. "It's at 35°C!!"
"WHAT??!! No wonder we're cooking! Who on earth sets it that high, for crying out loud!"
We opened the back door to let out some of the hot air while we had our breakfast, and left not long afterwards.
Our sightseeing stop of the day was the grand old city of York. I wanted to look inside York Minster, but was met with zero enthusiasm from anyone else, so instead we walked around the city walls.
York city had been there since the 11th century, and the walls were built around the 13-14th century, in certain places built on top of pre-existing Roman walls.
The walls were saved from demolition in the 1800s by Victorians using them as a promenade! They were about 3.4km long, and we did about three quarters of it before getting down and walking through the streets.
Once again, the town streets were narrow and winding, and decorated with lots of Christmas lights. We also walked down Shambles, a street that has been voted as Britain's Prettiest street!
It was beautiful, with the buildings all leaning into each other, and just wide enough for the butcher's carts that originally used the street.
"This looks like Diagon Alley!" Alex exclaimed excitedly.
"It sure does," I agreed. "Maybe this is where the author got her inspiration?"
We grabbed some lunch from Tesco (today's meal of choice was coronation chicken sandwiches, cheese Quavers, and Irn-Bru, yummy!) then made our way to York Minster.
What a fabulous cathedral! There were lots of statues missing from their plinths, and also a new one of Queen Elizabeth II. It looked gorgeous from the outside, and I can only imagine how pretty it must have been on the inside.
We left York and carried on our journey to Thurnham. We were staying in an old manor house for two nights, halfway between Blackpool and the Lakes District.
When we checked in, we were a bit disappointed to discover we were not in fact staying in the manor house, but in one of the two-bedroomed apartments also on the property. Never mind! Our suite was very spacious, with two full bathrooms (and everything was clean!!).
After dropping our gear off, we drove 45 minutes out to Blackpool to see the Illuminations. This was six miles of lights along the length of the Promenade, which was started in 1879, and was really pretty!
So many different types of lights; rainbow sparkling ones across the street, tableaux on the side of the road, and of course the tower itself. The piers weren't lit up, which was a bit of a shame, but there were some Christmas-themed lights as well as a fairground.
We bought fish and chips for dinner and ate them while walking along the shore front, and after an hour of admiring the lights, we headed back home. We decided that Blackpool was a bit of a cross between Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and would probably look totally different during the day, but we were glad we went.
On the drive back to our accommodation, we saw heaps more Christmas trees in people's windows, and decorated on roundabouts and village corners.
"It still doesn't feel like Christmas," Dan commented.
"Really?! Why not? There's lights and trees everywhere! We've been to Christmas markets! What else do you want? Colder? Snow? I'm LOVING it!"
"I guess it's because we don't have a tree decorated, or presents under it," he justified.
"Yeah, I guess so," I conceded. "But I'm still loving it. THIS is a REAL Christmas!"
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