Part 1 – A change of direction….
Greetings! Not from somewhere in France as was the plan but instead, from the County of Cambridgeshire and the village of Littleport, very much this side of the English Channel.
Why? Well, read on.
Trev’s Mum, better known to readers of this blog as HRH is, to put it bluntly, knocking on a bit. In fact she’ll proudly tell you that she’s nearly 92. A great age no doubt and the only part of the body that doesn’t seem to have succumbed to the ageing process is the jaw - but the last few weeks have seen a marked deterioration in he health and we took the decision a couple of weeks ago, to cancel out trip and stay this side of the channel – for obvious reasons. The sites we had booked very very good about it – one refunded the deposit and another said we could use it another time. I knew the ferry ticket was non-refundable but it was a loss we just had to swallow. Or so it seemed. More on that later.So we decided to start our trip in our old home county not too far away from the aforementioned HRH.
Our decision to change plans appears to have been a wise one as, on Friday, she was taken into hospital with suspected blood infection. To date, they are dealing with the infection but her stay in hospital is likely to be more than a few days and it’s far from clear that she will be able to return home.
So, unusually for us doing our long summer holiday we have no itinerary – and given the circumstances it’s probably just as well. We will be changing sites after the weekend though to be on the right side of Cambridge for the daily visits to Addenbrookes hospital. As much as we love the site – and the location (pub just 400 yards away) – it’s a long trek to make everyday. Beyond that We have no idea where we’ll end up and when we’ll get there, but no matter.
So, getting back on track a bit, it was Sunday when we headed up having finished school on the previous Friday. Earlier than many schools I know but Independent schools tend to have longer holidays, particularly in the summer.
The journey up was trouble free although Rosie, our red Honda clearly found it thirsty work, returning just 27mpg over the 157 mile trip, quite a bit less than she’s managed although given the amount of stuff we piled in to her and Patsy over the weekend it perhaps wasn’t surprising. At least my heavy leather coats and jeans can’t take the blame though as sensibly they stayed at home.
The site itself was easy enough to find, being just a mile or so from the A10 with no single track roads to negotiate. It’s a pretty site with a combination of statics, seasonals and tourers, motorhomes and tents. Adult only and just a few yards from the river Great Ouse, so popular with fishermen. Across the other side of the river is the aforementioned pub and Littleport itself is a few minutes walk further on. Having booked in for five nights we decided almost immediately to extend that to a week, as at seventeen quid a night including electric it is such good value. I haven't yet been around the whole site with the camera – I need to see the owners first – but as soon as I have some pictures and a video you’ll know about it. Here’s a couple though to give you an idea:
Needless to say (too late) There hasn’t been much in the way of sightseeing – well any really, but funnily enough we HAVE found time for a couple of research expeditions to the nearby pub and Sunday evening saw the opportunity for some lens clicking as the sun went down.
I mentioned earlier about the ferry. Well, I called them on Saturday morning to advise them that we wouldn’t be travelling – just out of courtesy really and was met with one of the worst examples of customer service I’ve ever experienced. Appalling attitude and zero customer service skills when all was trying to do was the right thing. Anyway, a little moan on Twitter brought a phone call from another lady on Monday morning who could not have been nicer. She went a long way to restore my faith in the company that was completely shattered on Saturday morning. Well done DFDS for doing the right thing.
Right, there really is little else to tell at the moment. We’re giving the pub a miss tonight as I’m planning a cremation on the little Cadac later. Tomorrow morning will be another run to the hospital but hopefully we’ll get back in time enough to have a look around Littleport itself where we’ve been advised are a few things on interest.
So until then thanks as – always - for reading.
Rich & Trev
