Northumberland, September 2023

It's almost exactly one year to the day since we set off on our 3 months Iberian adventure. We had hoped and expected to have completed at least one more lengthy European tour at some point during 2023 but I'm afraid that real life has conspired against us and it simply isn't going to happen. The building work we are having done on Lisa's house in Yorkshire is finally under way but it is still a long way from being completed and so we can't wander too far from home in case any problems arise which require our presence on the ground.

The van hasn't been completely dormant over the Summer months. Since we did our little bimble round Kent back in the Spring she has found her way to 5 different music festivals, 2 of which were completely new to us, and we still have one more to look forward to at the end of this month before the trunk of fancy dress goes back in the loft. We've occasionally tagged the odd day or two at either end of these on a site or in a pub car park to break up our journeys. We've also spent our annual week chilling on the beach with friends at Waxham in Norfolk, plus a further weekend with another group on Mersea Island. But to date the van has only spent a grand total of 44 nights away from its storage depot during the whole of 2023, which really is verging on neglect, so we are going to make the most of a 2 week window in our diaries by hitting the road again.

Our mates Graeme and Cheryl spent a couple of weeks up in Northumberland earlier this year in their van and came back with glowing reports. It's not a part of the country that I am familiar with at all and Lisa hasn't been there for a good few years so that's where we are headed. We're not going to rush and are going to make at least 2 stops on the way up there before we start exploring coast, castles and a certain Roman wall...

Tour Map

3 September 2023 - Louth

4 September 2023 - New Roads and a Fabulous Beach

5 September 2023 - Whitby

6 September 2023 - Seaham Glass Beach

7 September 2023 - Warkworth & Amble

8 September 2023 - Alnmouth & Howick Hall

9 September 2023 - Craster, another Castle and Dolphins!

10 September 2023 - Seahouses

11 September 2023 - Bamburgh

12 September 2023 - The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

13 September 2023 - Kielder