Motorhome Madness with the Walters

 Ian refused to leave the middle door open, so when Monty barked in the night it was him who had to get up to open it! Then we all went back to sleep till 8.30. Ian wasn’t even half way through his morning pfaffing when Chris phoned. Turns out Ian had an emergency set of accounts to produce, from the middle of the Cheviot Hills. Luckily, he had brought along his laptop for just such an occasion. I made some porridge while he set too, then sat outside chilling. The morning had started nice and warm. I finished yesterdays blog then did the washing up, by which time Joe Bloggs Ltd had their accounts, which Ian had been on at them to send in the info for since March. Not much more of this kind of stuff to go.  We had decided to follow a walk suggested by the site to a cafe at the little village of Ingram about three miles away. The day was warm and sunny when we set off, so I slathered myself in sun tan lotion, especially my nose. Ian decided not to. I also made sure I had my sung...

 Sadly, Monty was naughty in the night again, full on barking until Ian opened the connecting door and let him see us. We all went back to sleep till around 8am when some cows came into Dame Shirley and woke us up. Well they sounded like they were inside. We didn’t even know we had cows on the doorstep. 8am isn’t a bad rising time, so I fed Monty and took him for his morning stroll. It was moving on day and we had to be off by midday. Plenty of time for pfaffing and chilling. We had porridge once again then sat outside in glorious sunshine, with sun tan lotion on our noses. At 11.30 we began to batten down the hatches. By 11.45 we were ready to depart. We loved Beadnell campsite, it’s one of our all time favourites, so we were sad to depart. We will hopefully be back next year for Ian to do his run. It was less than an hour to our next site, we would be staying at River Breamish Caravan and Motorhome site, in the Cheviots, for the next three nights. As Sir Georgie Kelly has been a ...

 We always said that it could never be Saint Monty barking in the mornings at home. Sadly I have to tell you that around 7.45am he began with small yips, which morphed into full on barks. Luckily it was Ian’s turn to get up. We had plans for a very lazy day today. I know, most of our days are pretty lazy, but this was to be extra lazy. Porridge was on the menu for breakfast, and we ate outside as the sun was out and it’s very sheltered on the door side of Dame Shirley. Sunny porridge After breakfast I washed up while Ian decided to tidy his garage. It looked like a jumble sale when he got everything out. Good job we are up weighting soon. Roll up, roll up Around 1pm we had a lovely walk into Beadnell Bay and along the beach. Monty was very snappy to another dog once again so had to be put back on the lead. The beach was packed, as in Northumberland style packed, with loads of paddle boarders having loads of fun.  Beadnell Bay Beach After having fun at the beach, we took a foot...

 I slept really well, no sitting bolt upright, and awoke to the pitter patter of rain. By the time I had roused and dressed to feed Monty that had stopped but it was very windy. We had a swing round the dog field then returned to Dame Shirley. Ian was keen to watch the start of the race he would have been running in so, not even stopping for breakfast, we hurried down to the beach in Beadnell  Bay.  It was a hive of activity, but we managed to spot Gail, a friend from our schooldays, preparing herself. We walked onto the beach and Ian took a hundred photos of the start, here are a couple. Off they go  And one of mine We set off to walk back to the site when we came across a bacon buttie shack.  Breakfast sorted. Being refreshed we had a walk on to the harbour and round to the little point. From the harbour wall The lime kilns We trotted back to Dame Shirley and had just enough time for a cup of tea before our expected visitors arrived. Kathy had been the designa...

 5am. Snug as a bug. I sat bolt upright a feeling of dread seeping through me. I hadn’t remembered to pay for the ***** Tyne Tunnel. Well, nothing to be done now, so I went back to sleep.  We woke to sunshine around 8am. Ian fed and walked Monty while I frantically sought the TT payment page. Result! You can’t pay up to midnight the following day.  We decided on cereal bars for our first breakfast of the holiday. I’m kidding, we had a lovely full English as usual. The usual As Ian had the heavy cold we had a very lazy morning just watching the world go by, then set off for a walk to Seahouses a couple of mile up the coast. It was eventful to say the least. Monty was good as gold on the way there, sniffing and playing with numerous dogs. The tide was out at this stage. In the town itself we sat outside a little cafe where Ian had a sandwich and a sausage roll and I had a scone. It was here where Monty first blotted his copybook by snarling and snapping at a passing dog. I ...

 As Ian had booked to do a 14mile run along the beach from Beadnell Bay to Alnmouth, so we scrambled to book somewhere at the start or the finish and came up with Beadnell Caravan and Camping Site. The plan was for Ian to run, then Kathy would collect his battered body at the Alnwick end and return him to Dame Shirley. I would have been waiting there, having had a fabulous day of doing nothing. Sadly, old sick note was injured and had to defer till next year. Happily we decided to go to Beadnell anyway, and take Good Dog Monty with us. In between going to Wideopen and this trip we had to replace Dame Shirley’s battery, so I was a little concerned she wouldn’t start, but all was well and after dropping Ian’s mum at Whiston Hall we set off up the M1. We decided to come off near Thirsk on the A19 and rejoin the A1 North of Newcastle. That way we could find a lay-by for lunch and not end up fighting for a space with the hundreds of other motorhomes at Wetherby. We duly did this, and fo...