Northumberland in the rain!
This is night No 70/2018 living in my caravan. This is also my second night at Berwick Seaview C&MC Site in Spittal, near Berwick Upon Tweed.
This is very much a day of getting wet, and doing a bit of reading. It surprises me how little rain I've seen in the 70 nights I've been touring this year. I certainly can't complain of the lack of a good spring and summer, for sure. Most of the rain I've encountered has been through the nights, or quick showers.
One huge surprise last night. At around 1800, the chap in a neighbouring caravan was getting very excited right next to my van. My pitch looks down onto the mouth of the Tweed, and there was a pod of dolphins breaching in the surf! I had no idea there are dolphin in this area, the furthest south I was aware of sightings was at St Cyrus. Like a tin of tuna, I must be 'dolphin friendly', I've seen them every time I've visited Chanonry Point at Rosemarkie, and I've even seen them in Berwick Upon Tweed?
I also spotted quite a bit of lifeboat activity too. Turns out a woman trying to take pictures of the dolphins fell from the pier and had to be rescued. Unfortunately, the rescue vessel grounded, and that had to be refloated!
Woman falls off pier
We went out for a good long walk along the water towards Berwick last night, past the lifeboat station and the historic dock. It was dark when we got back around 2130. I slept really well. The rain belting off the roof and the occasional passing train made for a relaxing night.
It was torrential when I woke around 0600. After my freshly squeezed lemon and honey, it was on with the waterproofs and down to the beach. There's a very industrial looking private gymnasium place near the beach and there were a few folk 'beasting' themselves when I passed. I even noticed one bloke with his top off sprinting around the car park and on the Spittal promenade. It was wet and windy!
One great facility in this van is the toilet. It is tiny, but it has a shower tray floor (even though you simply can't shower in any Eriba) and a very efficient hot air outlet from the van heater. Not very green, but wet kit hanging, heater turned up, and door closed it's a surprisingly good drying room. The vent is at floor level, so even shoes dry.
Mid morning, we went for another longer walk down to Spittal, along the promenade and back along the Main Street. I read it was a popular seaside resort back in Victorian times, and although now very different, there are some nice houses and the whole old street is well preserved. There's a nice old pavilion on the promenade, adding to the 'old resort' air about the place.
After lunch, with the rain continuing, decided it would be a good day to do some road touring in the nearby area. The Scottish Natural Heritage App on the phone is excellent for finding local historic places. The first I visited was Foulden Barn.
It's roadside location hides the fine church and graveyard in which it sits.
It's in the grounds of the Foulden and Mordington Parish Church.
The door was open and it was a fine old church.
The craftsmanship in these places is really stunning.
A great spot to get out of the rain...I mean a nice place to gather my thoughts (!)
Next stop was Edrom Church. Reading up, it seems the arch is the only part remaining of the original building, a larger church being built next door during the expansion of the churches.
Some fine stonemasonry.
The only part of the new church which was open was an upper floor memorial room.
The new church looks very much like a traditional church manse.
On the return trip I noticed a sign for a honey farm, a very rare thing these days. This was an old fashioned traditional bee farm on a massive scale. The farm also had a big collection of old machinery and London Buses! Nice display of what they do, they keep 1800 colonies of bees. There were bees everywhere, even on a rainy day like today. The shop had a great selection of different honey's and wax products like candles, polishes, and little moulded figures. There was also a display of apparatus and tools used in beekeeping. On the way out, I could see an old bloke working in a workshop, working on collecting honey. It was almost like looking into an old car parts shop, big counter and racks and racks of equipment for beekeeping. Fascinating place, and I indulged myself with some really nice honey's. I tried the comb and it was delicious. The clear jar is a almost white clear flower honey which they had extracted for a beekeeper in the south of England.
After their history lessons of the day, I took the dogs for a wet blast on a beach not far from Spittal, Cocklawburn Beach. It's probably a really nice beach when it's dry!
This is very much a day of getting wet, and doing a bit of reading. It surprises me how little rain I've seen in the 70 nights I've been touring this year. I certainly can't complain of the lack of a good spring and summer, for sure. Most of the rain I've encountered has been through the nights, or quick showers.
One huge surprise last night. At around 1800, the chap in a neighbouring caravan was getting very excited right next to my van. My pitch looks down onto the mouth of the Tweed, and there was a pod of dolphins breaching in the surf! I had no idea there are dolphin in this area, the furthest south I was aware of sightings was at St Cyrus. Like a tin of tuna, I must be 'dolphin friendly', I've seen them every time I've visited Chanonry Point at Rosemarkie, and I've even seen them in Berwick Upon Tweed?
I also spotted quite a bit of lifeboat activity too. Turns out a woman trying to take pictures of the dolphins fell from the pier and had to be rescued. Unfortunately, the rescue vessel grounded, and that had to be refloated!
Woman falls off pier
We went out for a good long walk along the water towards Berwick last night, past the lifeboat station and the historic dock. It was dark when we got back around 2130. I slept really well. The rain belting off the roof and the occasional passing train made for a relaxing night.
It was torrential when I woke around 0600. After my freshly squeezed lemon and honey, it was on with the waterproofs and down to the beach. There's a very industrial looking private gymnasium place near the beach and there were a few folk 'beasting' themselves when I passed. I even noticed one bloke with his top off sprinting around the car park and on the Spittal promenade. It was wet and windy!
One great facility in this van is the toilet. It is tiny, but it has a shower tray floor (even though you simply can't shower in any Eriba) and a very efficient hot air outlet from the van heater. Not very green, but wet kit hanging, heater turned up, and door closed it's a surprisingly good drying room. The vent is at floor level, so even shoes dry.
Mid morning, we went for another longer walk down to Spittal, along the promenade and back along the Main Street. I read it was a popular seaside resort back in Victorian times, and although now very different, there are some nice houses and the whole old street is well preserved. There's a nice old pavilion on the promenade, adding to the 'old resort' air about the place.
After lunch, with the rain continuing, decided it would be a good day to do some road touring in the nearby area. The Scottish Natural Heritage App on the phone is excellent for finding local historic places. The first I visited was Foulden Barn.
It's roadside location hides the fine church and graveyard in which it sits.
It's in the grounds of the Foulden and Mordington Parish Church.
The door was open and it was a fine old church.
The craftsmanship in these places is really stunning.
A great spot to get out of the rain...I mean a nice place to gather my thoughts (!)
Next stop was Edrom Church. Reading up, it seems the arch is the only part remaining of the original building, a larger church being built next door during the expansion of the churches.
Some fine stonemasonry.
The only part of the new church which was open was an upper floor memorial room.
The new church looks very much like a traditional church manse.
On the return trip I noticed a sign for a honey farm, a very rare thing these days. This was an old fashioned traditional bee farm on a massive scale. The farm also had a big collection of old machinery and London Buses! Nice display of what they do, they keep 1800 colonies of bees. There were bees everywhere, even on a rainy day like today. The shop had a great selection of different honey's and wax products like candles, polishes, and little moulded figures. There was also a display of apparatus and tools used in beekeeping. On the way out, I could see an old bloke working in a workshop, working on collecting honey. It was almost like looking into an old car parts shop, big counter and racks and racks of equipment for beekeeping. Fascinating place, and I indulged myself with some really nice honey's. I tried the comb and it was delicious. The clear jar is a almost white clear flower honey which they had extracted for a beekeeper in the south of England.
After their history lessons of the day, I took the dogs for a wet blast on a beach not far from Spittal, Cocklawburn Beach. It's probably a really nice beach when it's dry!
Bet she was trying to take a selfie...
ReplyDeleteGood to read you are spending your money just like a real tourist. Those artisan set-ups are always attractive to look over. Spooky coincidence that the Radio 4 Today news program reported that daft lady being rescued from a rock by a dredger and it did make me wonder if you were in the vicinity. Reads like a genuinely nice place to visit, even on a wet Autumn Monday.
ReplyDelete