Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay

What a fab weekend!

Ignoramus that I am I somehow never imagined that anywhere in Yorkshire could be as beautiful as Whitby and Robin Hoods bay!


And hidden though it was for much of the time in low cloud and fog, Saturday decided to be skin scorchingly beautiful and sunny.


The journey North was relatively uneventful, save for the expected holiday hold-ups courtesy as ever of caravans moving at a snails pace, and we arrived at our chosen camp site mid afternoon, to a sign that said 'full' (we never book, it's too restricting) but I'm an old hand at this. A nice smile and proof that 'really it's only a very small tent' always results in a little pitch being available.


So that was it, we pitched overlooking the particularly beautiful Robin Hoods Bay and then set about our weekend...albeit one day late as the result of of over indulgence on Thursday night!

We did all the grockle stuff. We walked down to the bay (yes we walked up and down those killer hills, even Fletch!) in the evening and ate fudge dipped in melted chocolate from Browns Chocolate Heaven,


we sat on the beach in the evening despite the fog restricting the view down to about 10 yards and we ate dinner off the camp fire, well, it's a camp stove and it runs very nicely indeed on unleaded fuel (we hadn't tested it on run of the mill petrol previously), sites rarely allow actual fires these days unfortunately.

The only down side to the weekend was the sleep issue. Despite all the exercise I still couldn't sleep and spending the hours of darkness, wide awake, in a four seasons, expedition grade tent that has no space to sit up properly, becomes a little claustrophobic after hours and hours. Yes, I had anticipated this possibility, I had a book, a light and a torch but the torch bulb chose this moment to fail and anyone who camps will know it's never a good idea to completely deplete the only other remaining source of light. I though daybreak was never going to arrive!

Sunday finally dawned bright and sunny and off we went into Whitby. For Fletch this was kind of a trip down memory lane, he spent many happy childhood family holidays in Whitby and consequently knew his was around.


We had another day of grockle behaviour. We walked the harbour, visited Whitby Abbey (there is a funny tale to be told there another day), though Count Dracula seemed not to be in residence that day,


we ate the most fabulous fish, chips and gravy on the harbour wall and we took a boat ride out to sea resulting in the absolutely best bit of the whole weekend for me. We saw a porpoise!!! How cool is that?! A real live porpoise jumping merrily around just outside the harbour in front of the boat...amazing!!


Sunday evening was cuisine from the kitchen of Fletch and his camp stove again and then a swift walk to the local pub for the obligatory Guinness. By the time we arrived back at the tent the fog had returned and visibility was almost nil again.


Monday dawned damp and foggy still so we packed a very soggy tent (never good) and decided to head off home early on a protracted 'scenic route' via Scarborough (the only place I have ever seen a fetish shop on the main road!) and the moors. As we got further South the fog cleared and we arrived home to 28 degrees to add to our already lobster coloured skin!

It was an excellent weekend, really, I never imagined the area would be as beautiful as it is, I was wrong, I would happily go back tomorrow.

(Images clickable)

*The rest of the pictures and the 'arty'(?) stuff can be found HERE.

Oopsss....change of plan!

Punting: Pretty chilled.

Food: Acceptable, for a chain establishment.

Alcohol: Suitably silly high level.

Company: Completely, madly excellent.

Home: at absolutely stupid o'clock,....a day of recovery needed.

Change of plan: Yorkshire tomorrow!



(Clickable)

Fish and chips and Fylingthorpe

I'm in a rush! Lots to do!

With a little luck and a prevailing wind I will manage to get our recently much unused camping gear gathered together from it's various places of stowage, hither and thither about the flat, and get some degree of organisation going in an effort to set off on a long weekend away, bright and early tomorrow morning.

I don't think the camping equipment has been sighted, let alone checked out, since we returned from our mad long distance tour of Europe (video) on the bike last year! This weekend will be somewhat simpler, Eloisa is currently off the road forcing us to take the car, this is not good, but on the upside I don't have to fight to squish enough gear and camping paraphernalia for two, for 5000 miles, into the limited space available on two wheels! Believe me, it's a skill well honed over the years but to be able to just dump everything in a big car willy-nilly is something of a treat, though it does seem a little odd/sad not to be taking the bike.

So, our destination, probably Robin Hoods Bay on the Yorkshire coast. I've never been there, it's pretty close, it looks fab and it promises fish and chips to die for! Of course, as is our way, when we hit the road we could well have a change of plan and head off in another direction! Who knows.

I'm likely to be a little remiss on the blogging front over the next few days as a consequence but I'll be back next week if not before. Have fun.


*N.B. Archived posts from Europe are HERE if you're interested.

Asking for trouble?..... and heros

Tomorrow evening we get to go punting on the river in Cambridge, courtesy of Fletch's employer. It's the annual summer beano when colleagues and assorted guests, in theory at least, get to chill out together away from the pressure of work. In reality of course what happens is that they all spend the evening talking geek shop whilst we, the amassed clique of miscellaneous hangers-on try and follow at least a fraction of the conversation!

I of course am not complaining, this is an opportunity for Champagne (well it would be if I weren't the designated driver) and dinner at the companies expense and I can think of worse things to do than spend the evening being chauffeured along the river by candlelight.

I do however have just one reservation....the idea of Fletch, a punt, lots of water and a gaggle (what is the collective for intoxicated men incidentally?) of inebriated guys I suspect could be asking for trouble..... and has a higher than average possibility of resulting in any number of practical jokes and/or a very wet ending!

**And on an entirely different subject and more serious note, My Hero, pop over and add your support any way you can please.

A literary lightweight!

Over the last few months, as the result of all the time I have on my hands, I have returned to a pass time I used to love but over recent years never seemed to find space in my itinerary for, reading.

I rarely ever read anything very heavy, I read to relax and for me ploughing through something that I can barely even understand is neither fun nor relaxing, education be damned. Non fiction I will fight with should the need for knowledge arise but for me fiction has to be about enjoyment. I hate that scenario when I finally struggle to the last page after weeks of referencing.....and still don't have the damnedest idea what it was reading about all that time!

There is distinct pleasure for me in new books, the smell of the pages, the unbroken spine, the thought that probably no one has ever opened this particular book before, it is pristine. However, due to my current financial predicament I have taken to borrowing books from others (yes, I always give them back!), this limits one choices somewhat but it's benefit is obvious, it's cheap!

As a result I have read various things recently I might not have chosen had I stood among the heaven that is Waterstones, Jodie Picoult, Mark Haddon and Helen Townsend to name but three.

The problem has been this, those very kind people who have been lending me reading matter seem to have a penchant for the most miserable story lines known to man, death, destruction, illness, you name it just about any depressing life trauma or emotional turmoil and I seem to have been reading about it....and I do not need assistance in feeling depressed, I can manage that all on my own thankyouverymuch.

So, all good intentions were flung to the winds on Sunday and I bought a book, a completely appalling, blockbuster, rubbishy chick lit novel, that aside from the fact it makes it's author a living should probably be consigned to the recycling bin.....but this is the thing, it's cheerful and it's easy and right now I don't care if that qualifies me as an incorrigible lightweight, at least I will be a cheerful idiot! ;o)

Happy birthday Lisa!

For Lisa, my best friend......


who deserves a very 'Happy birthday' and lots of birthday cake this year for many reasons, but particularly from my point of view, for always being there despite everything.

Have a really, really fab one girl! :o)

I just did it!

The running thing that is...and as proof of just how un-fit I have become, I have suffered ever since. No great surprise there!

I didn't run far I have to say, more proof of my sadly lacking fitness, but I did come home and add to my run a 30 minute pretty heavy duty workout, none of your 'Thursday evening in a village hall stuff', this was a scaled down version of the warm up I did a million and one times in the days of my gymnastic career. That probably wasn't my best move, and I suspect has more to do with my current degree of painful decrepitude than the run itself! On the positive side however I did discover I can still 'spilt' after all these years.

Jeez....I had almost forgotten where exactly my abs were located but right now, each time I laugh or cough or move almost at all, I am painfully reminded!

I gave it a rest over the weekend to let my long since knackered (thanks to the gymnastics in the first place) and hypermobile joints recover a little, and then it's back to it again today.

....and they say this is good for us?? ;o)

Does this page load slowly?

I seem to be getting reports that this page takes forever to load for some people since I 'went pink'..... and thus far I am at a loss to know why.

If it loads slowly for you I would appreciate a comment to say just how slowly and if this is a new phenomenon! A few clues as to your browser etc. might help too.

So far my guesses as to why I have gone slow don't seem to have fixed it but I'll keep trying.

River dance drums

There are worse places to live than where this ensemble floats by your window on a Saturday morning and then disembarks to continue the cheerfulness on the quay! :o) Sound on.

Saturday sojourn

At last...a weekend with absolutely nothing planned. Heaven! :o)

We can do exactly as we please for two whole days.... or do nothing at all.

Phones off, music, DVDs and books at the ready.

A chocolate filled weekend of shameless, lazy, indulgent debauchery is in order!

Just do it!

Sometimes I wonder at why I say some of the things I do....you know the kind of things, the ideas that sound good at the time they are uttered with enthusiasm but that you just know you will regret almost as soon as you hear the words leaving your mouth!

Over the last few months, as a result of my lack of gainful employment, I have turned slowly into something of a mouse potato, my general level of fitness and strength have diminished accordingly and I spend my nights frustrated, bored and sleepless because I'm never properly tired.

Don't misunderstand me, as a child and teenager I was a competitive gymnast and I was always extremely fit but once all that stopped, the umpteen years in a gym was enough for me to consider that exercise wasn't something I was about to do for fun any longer! Subsequently I mostly did physical jobs which maintained my strength (hey, how many 7.5 stone women do you know who can lift 40kg routinely all day long in the course of their work?) and I considered that was enough to prevent me turning into a sloth.....not for me the weekly work outs and all that Lycra malarkey!

But then came the mouse potato era of late and I stupidly mentioned to himself that perhaps I should 'do something' to keep myself a little fitter, the only other thing I had excelled at in my formative years was distance running and in one of those 'I'm feeling unusually positive' moments I very stupidly mentioned that perhaps I could start jogging. Mistake!

A while later mention was made of why I wasn't running yet? I needed a suitable excuse...and fast. One came in the form of a lack of running shoes and lack of money right now for spending on such luxuries. Money was put in my hand. Damnation! I duly attended the local shoe shops....nothing decent was to be found, least of all in a size 3. Phew! The whole shoe thing is a nightmare at the best of times with tiny feet and what's more, the whole running thing might have seemed like a good idea at the time but the status of mouse potato has it's attractions and the motivation to actually do anything about it, had long since disappeared.

I was safe, no shoes, no running! Wrong.

Two days later a courier knocked on the door with a parcel for me, inside of which was to be found a pristine pair of Nike running shoes...it seems himself had taken matters into his own hands having listened too long to my excuses and instead scoured the web for appropriate, decent quality, children's sized foot garb..... my by now increasingly vain efforts at avoidance were foiled yet again when they also fitted like a glove! Goddamn.

A final and desperate excuse for maintaining my mouse potato lifestyle also failed me dismally. The argument I presented, that my lovely new shoes were far too nice and white and cute to get muddy and yukky and nasty, was scorned and derided and met with mirth!

Any day now it would seem I am off pounding the pavements and river banks!

Please let it rain......what? you can run in rain??

Don't you just hate it....

....when you manage, with a stunning degree of excellence, with prove yourself wrong!

Last night I decided in my wisdom that in my efforts to give Hammy as much free space as possible to exercise, that not only would I allow her time in the hallway, that has been proven to have no hamster sized escape holes, but to expand her playground to include the kitchen.

I had checked it thoroughly for possible escape routes and had found only one, but having considered her increasing girth, upon further investigation I disregarded it as now way too small.

Fletch begged to differ and when I flounced out of the living room to the new and expanded play area with hammy in hand, it was to the sound of his voice ringing in my ears saying 'you'll be sorry'.

Ppfftt...does he think I'm stupid I thought as I gleefully placed one small critter on the floor.

You know of course what happened next don't you?!

Within seconds she had found the little hole under the cooker that I had deemed too small...It would appear I had seriously underestimated her ability to squish herself into a tiny place by 'playing flat'!!

Bugger! In an instant all I could see of her was her rear end, I made a grab for her....and then all I could see was one back foot! Oh no! Disaster!

This was not a time for pride! In a something less than calm manner I shrieked to Fletch that I needed help, I had images of my little hamster lost forever in the labyrinth that is this 140 year old, 8 story building, worse still a local cat might be significantly intrigued by this new variation on a mouse.

Fletch duly 'attended' to find me scrabbling around on the floor trying to find a way to coax out said lost critter in something of a panic. He poked at the little foot while I panicked some more, extracted a treat from the bag nearby, held it near to her and in just a few seconds she was out. It seems I had also underestimated the power of hamster treats!

He didn't actually utter the words 'I told you so' but there was the definite hint of a smirk on his face as he left me to put madam (complete with attached post adventure cobweb) firmly back in her cage with my tail between my legs!

Simon Toefield's 'TV dinner'

The third and latest offering from Simon Toefield and his 'Simon's Cat'series.

This one is as accurate and hilarious as the two that went before.

Sound on.


If you somehow missed the others you can find them here and here

Red sky at night