Tuesday 28th May the day to leave beautiful Scotland and if you watched my latest you tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JWpSeTF3Sg you will know how emotional I was feeling about it. I have since realised, now that I am actually back in lovely Sussex, that my fears revolve around being pulled back into my life, how it was. As soon as I saw my children, back at the family house, I knew that this was inevitable to a degree and I would just need to go with the flow of this, although also knowing that I must not interrupt the new routine that they have now got with their dad. I cannot been pulled back totally as the van is still my home, and I will still be living out of her over the next 6 weeks.
My plan was to take my time driving south, breaking up the driving time by visiting and staying overnight in several places along the route back to Sussex. The first stop being Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town of England at the mouth of the river Tweed, just over an hours drive from Edinburgh along the amazing east coastline. It is definitely worth visiting if you are ever this far north. Its Elizabethan town walls are a mile and a-quarter long with the ramparts completely surrounding the town and are one of the best preserved bastioned town walls in Europe. They were designed to keep out the marauding Scots – who I actually found to be the most delightful of people. I was once again blessed with a sunny day, which was welcome after being rained on, on and off in Edinburgh for 3 days!
If you are interested in art there is also the Lowry trail displaying copies of the many paintings that he did here. On my walk I saw the bridges, realising that I was going to have to drive over the middle one to leave the town. It looked pretty high from below but it wasn’t so bad driving over it. Little did I know at this point that I would be driving over much higher and longer bridges than this on my chosen route south! Another fear being overcome.
From here I headed to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne which is only accessible at low tide by the causeway and it just so happened I reached there at the perfect time. It has amazing sandy beaches backed by beautiful sand dunes
I did not do the tourist trail to the castle as I was walked out and wanted to get to my overnight stop at Cresswell Beach, another one hours drive. I had read that this is the best and most desserted beach in Northumberland. The book was right. The carpark has a height restriction which of course I was able to get under, but motorhomes could not! I had the entire carpark to myself during the night.
It was now Wednesday and my destination was the North York Moors, so that I was close to York where I was going to visit on Thursday. I had looked at the map and chose to head to Helmsley as it was a small town near a river. On arriving it was definitely on the tourist trail and although it looked really pretty and had an overnight carpark I decided I wasn’t ready to integrate back into society just yet and headed towards Rievaulx where the map showed the river. Just a short way down this small road there was the perfect wild camping spot. It is quite amazing how I just keep seeming to find the perfect place.
After a good nights sleep I headed to York. I chose one of the free park and ride carparks and was delighted to see there was a special place just for campervans.
York is a beautiful medieval city with so much beautiful architecture and history. I could have easily visited here for two days as there was so much to see and do, but I just had to squeeze in as much as possible in the one day. I had a little tour by volunteers of the oldest working observatory in Yorkshire located in the Museum gardens as I have a love of the moon and stars. The telescope still used today was built in 1850 and at the time was the largest telescope in the world! It was really interesting to see how the mechanics of it work, on which modern day telescopes are based.
Afterwards I ate my lunch in the beautiful Museum gardens, that I had brought with me, before heading off for yet another free tour by volunteers of the city. I had no idea that Harry Potters diagon alley is based on the street called the Shambles. I could see the resemblance especially as now there are a number of wizardry shops and even one full of Games of Thrones merchandise. I did not go in as I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist buying something Dragon queen related! You can walk around the walls of the city, which give you great views. I will definitely be returning to York again.
From York I headed to Nottingham and Sherwood forest, as it’s another one of those places that I have seen the sign for on a previous couple of trips to the North but never had the time to stop and visit. By the time I got to the forest area it was 7pm and I had read that it was a difficult place to wild camp. However, I spotted a gravel track by a public footpath sign off the busy A614, underneath the trees. Although it was a little noisy with traffic until 10pmish it was pretty quite after that.
I headed out early to the forest. You have to pay £4 for the carpark but it all goes back into maintaining this beautiful area of outstanding beauty. It was lovely to see so many old and new oak trees and the 800 year old major oak of Robin Hood notoriety was incredible although it has been propped up since the 1900’s to support the weight of the huge branches.
Finally, I couldn’t put it off any longer and drove the last leg back to my mums at Redhill, it took 4 hours which actually wasn’t too bad considering the Friday madness on the M1 and M25 at the end of half term week. I was actually glad to park up the van, get fed a hearty meal, take a lovely hot shower and sleep on a proper mattress, although ‘Lucy’ is very comfortable and I do sleep very well in her. It all felt very luxurious having running water and a flushing toilet, it really is the most basic things that become a luxury when you are travelling on the road. I didn’t have to wait long to get back to my vanlife as the next day, although glammed up, I drove ‘Lucy’ to my friends wedding at the Cooden Beach hotel right on the beach at Bexhill.
What a romantic affair it was and a great opportunity to catch up with so many friends from the theatre group I used to act with in Surrey. I had the best room of all! It brought a smile to my face in the morning as I was cooking up my scrambled egg breakfast in the van seeing all my friends having breakfast in the hotel. After spending some time on the beach I headed off to see another friend who I hadn’t seen in 12 years. This new life affords me the time to catch up with friends, so I plan to see quite a few whilst I am back in Sussex and I am currently with friends in Shoreham for a few days before I head off on my Sussex coastal tour. I am unashamedly enjoying being pampered, but am feeling a little guilty about taking time out from living in ‘Lucy’.
