Dean's Catchup Blog - North to Scotland

ello ello ello :)

Well, we attended the long awaited wedding of Sam and Matthew in Norton, Stockton-on Tees, and spent a wonderful 2 weeks recharging, making new friends, and fixing up the camper van. I made a few changes to make our lives on the road a little more comfortable, like bolting the invertor behind one of the chairs, re-assigning storage places for the outside table and chairs, sectioned off the shower/toilet floor so water no longer gets caught under the toilet if the van is on a slope, and put in two new speakers for the sound system so we can enjoy better sound quality. I built a small shelving area for the kids playstation games, and small DVD player we bought. (Silly actually...because we have ended up playing DVDs on the laptop anyway.)

We left Norton 2 days ago, first stop was Durham, and Olde Worlde medievil town with a beautiful river, and an even more awesome cathedral, built a thousand years ago, and still operating today as a church, with services every week. I had the feeling that just as some people travel to Mecca for their spiritual needs, this Cathedral was, for me, one of those places...a place where people have prayed for a thousand years. The awesomeness of the building itself, was greater than the Eifel tower. The ceilings , pillars, and carvings were from another time. It was one of the highlights of my trip.

We stayed overnight on a CL near Durham, and woke the next morning at 10am. It was a farmers field with haybales strewn all over, so the kids had a lot of fun. Left at 2pm, and made our way further north, drove through Newcastle, but decided we didnt want to walk through city streets at this point, so we carried on driving, and reached Alnwick, another small old town. We found a bunch of motorhomes and caravans on the local rugy fields, and paid 8pounds for the luxury of a spot alongside them. The van leisure battery was by now starting to fade fast (kids insisted on playing playstation while the van was on the road), so luckily I quickly grabbed a spare electrical point when an early leaver packed up their tent, and the battery recharged before we left. We booked in at a CL in Scotland, in Haddington. Looking out our window right now, we can see fields of wheat, a stallion in a field, an angry goose, and ten motherly hens. Marielle is cleaning up the remains of some dirty dishes, and the kids are banished to sit and wait, till cereal is served. Glad to say we still have Internet access in Scotland, although the weather has gotten a bit chilly. We decided to stay here 2 nights, and begin a few days of seeing Edinburgh. No rush to leave this part of the country. It is really beautiful and my expectations are high.

more from me soon:)
D