White Rose to Red Rose (wet ones)

The White Rose of Yorkshire

 This was the furthest North Greyrocks had ventured, so there was an expectation that as we came South again the weather would improve. How wrong we were! First we stayed three nights in Forest Hill with old Labour Party friends, and on the Thursday we based ourselves for the day in Balham so that we could visit our tenants in the evening, but first we went to Croydon and struck the "Height Restriction" problem over parking. By the time we had found somewhere accessible with Yvette and bikes it was pouring with rain, so Bob did the minimum and we returned to Balham. We took three machines-worth of washing to the laundrette.  As the time passed the rain worsened and became hail with thunder and lightning. Passers-by were cluttering up the place to shelter! When the parking time expired it was so uninviting that we delayed returning to the car and later - on exit -  got a flashed warning of a possible 60 pound fine! We were not feeling too pleased to be in jolly England!
It did get better! All was well at the let Balham house, we did the first of several Wetherspoons cheap dinner deals, had a dry and successfully parked shopping session in Croydon next day, and went to Paul and Cheryl's for diner a six and a great Socialist chin-wag! On Saturday decamped to the new Travelodge in Penge (known as Crystal Palace for marketing purposes).
On Sunday it didn't rain, and we we had an easy drive to Hampshire and back for lunch with Ruth's Mum and Dad, but on Monday it started again! We had arranged to visit the Morden flat with our master-handyman Pete, and then to take him for a drink, meeting his former colleague Barry at the Duke in Balham. Great gossip and banter - but disgusting weather!
It was no better in Brighton where we spent three nights!

Eggs Benedict!

Good old English fayre!

On arrival (and in the rain) we had an (ongoing) altercation with the parking system outside the hotel. The Travelodge receptionist was very helpful, but powerless to deal with their new contractors. We fumed, then paid up more cash to get the deal we wanted, and took the bus down into the city to meet Chloe after work and go for dinner. Next day it was pouring with rain again and we had to get Yvette out to Portslade for her MOT. Bob nobly went alone, took the bikes off at the garage and waited an age for a bus back in cold and rain. We met up and had a day of dodging rain again. Deja-vu! Pier a no-go area so fish and chips lunch at Harry Ramsden's again! (This time, though, we got the pensioners' special!) We have never seen the sea here so rough! We went back to get the car, and had to load the bikes back up in the pouring rain. After due consideration we decided it was too wet to venture out again, and got cold food from the Co-op! Thursday looked a bit better, and we had to move the car so went down to the Marina, had a Wetherspoons breakfast and mooched round the shops. Poor old Chloe was so shattered in the evening after some ghastly long shift that we simply went round to her flat and ordered an Indian take-away. She fell asleep before we left!

Friday and Saturday nights were with newly-weds Alastair and Josiane in Rotherfield. We stopped for fuel and breakfast at Tescos in Lewes (never seen so many Guardian crosswords!), and were then taken out for lunch in a pub with a roaring fire. Just the job! By Saturday the rain was doing its worst and our time in Tunbridge Wells was very soggy! The sun came out and the rain stopped on Sunday as we drove past Ashford. With a navigational error, truncated stop for a last real ale and a tedious wait for a 90-minute delayed ferry (weather of course!) we waved goodbye to Blighty!

22 days - 17 wet - all of them cold! Surely Northern France would be better! Watch this space!

Our Friends in the North!

Eight days in Yorkshire in mid-April! The weather was not kind to us!
The schedule was based around visiting friends: - old and new.

We stayed four four nights in a pleasant guest house in Bootham. On the first night we met Chris and Penny, and Bob went with them to see a weird Turkish film. Next day we started preparing the bicycles, but even with the few warmer clothes that we could locate in Yvette it was bitterly cold, and Ruth refused to ride anywhere, so Bob went alone. We met up periodically with C and P, and in particular were taken on a mega-tour by car - see below. As we reached the Moors the heavens opened. We took a quick look at Goathland - now a magnet for coach-trippers as it the location for the TV series "Heartbeat", and nearby stopped at a famous pub in Beck Hole. Apart from us there was a stream (!) of very soggy walkers.
Whitby was dry, full and very cold. We did various tourist things, and had fish and chips at The Magpie, and then went to Scarborough.
After York we went to Leeds where it was raining, and we became very frustrated trying to park with the cycles aloft, so we made it a quick stay, including a look at the Merrion Hotel where Bob had worked many years ago. It looked past its best!
Thence to Halifax, where we stayed at a Premier Inn beautifully located next to the canal. Bob's old friend and colleague Rob - not seen for 19 years - walked down to meet us and we spent a wonderful afternoon with him, his wife, two sons, two grandchildren and their mothers; following this up next day with lunch in the newly trendy part of town, where an old street has been covered over to form an arcade.

Our final stop was in Huddersfield. this had been arranged in March when our occasional but regular Fuerteventura neighbours were in residence and issued the invitation. Unfortunately the weather really did deteriorate during our stay, but they also arranged a very full day of touring and dodging showers, including to the Huddersfield Canal, Holmfirth (home of another TV series - "Last of the Summer Wine") and a delightful pub and micro-brewery in Marsden.

On departure day it was raining even more, and we had a rough drive back along the M62 with its roadworks, to arrive back down South. Here are a few shots from the trip as a whole!

Treking North and wondering why!

This post should have done in April, but we have been suffering some setbacks on the ICT front since leaving Lattes! Internet access has been cheap but slow, or fast but pricey, or non-existent, or inaccessible. So here is a quick run down on our run up France and England since April 3rd!
We left in fairly dull weather and were told by the campsite man that we were his clients sympas, which was nice! As we left we caught sight of one of the first Line 3 Montpellier trams in all its multi-coloured glory on the first day of operation. Five miles later came the first remarkable event of the trek. The two cycles were on the rack at the back of Yvette, and had been carefully secured earlier that morning, but we had not checked the fixing of the rack to the car, and rather close to a city roundabout there was a loud crash and we saw the two bikes (firmly attached to the rack) lying in the road behind! Zoot alors! Deploy high-vis vest and hazard lights and get fixing! Bob's good bike was on the outside and had suffered more damage, and the socket set needed for the rack was well-hidden, but a repair was effected and we moved on!

A highlight of the rest of the day's travels was traversing the Millau bridge. The outlook was a bit murky, but the structure is most impressive:- one of the great grand projets effected so well in France! The night was spent in Montlucon - and it was getting colder!
The next day we made quick progress towards Alencon and we geared up for an early arrival, but thanks to strange exit numbering, and a closed slip road we got into a serious "Lost in France" situation. We were within 3 minutes of the hotel, which we have visited before, but got sent on a Deviation, which was on reflection for those going elsewhere, went round the ring road with no idea what we were doing and ended up on the right industrial estate but unable to find what we wanted. Huge frustration and much of the saving on cheaper diesel frittered away! That evening Bob's shorts seemed fairly inappropriate for the weather! Next day we had the usual 250 miles or so to do, and the sun shone a little! We got round Rouen almost to plan and stayed at the new Dunkerque P Classe, where we were entertained by two Polish youth football teams enjoying themselves along the walkways! As we walked out for dinner people were pointing at Bob's shorts and exclaiming!
We were up early (Bob in jeans!) and took the 10 am ferry. This was uneventful, as was the drive up to Oulton Broad, where we went to Halfords and left the bike for repair. We stayed three nights in Ricky's place, meeting up with the rest of this branch of the family (and new naughty puppy!) several times - including for Easter Sunday lunch with entertainment at one of the many holiday camps on the coast, but once again the planned day out (Bank Holiday in this case) in Great Yarmouth was sabotaged by disgusting weather, and we were barely out of the car, pub or shopping mall all day. The consolations were market chips, and some excellent real ale! We set off for Yorkshire with some trepidation, and some new warmer clothes on Easter Tuesday (April 11th)