Returned

This is the barge that I stayed on in Ripon.


Back home again after a wonderful, restful holiday. I had such big plans of keeping my blog up-to-date while I was away but alas "the plans of man".... But that's another story. I think I will post a few days stories in order that I traveled around the U.K. So after my time at Lamplugh House I went to Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast for a night in a caravan. I was expecting a caravan as I know them but the park was full of only what they call "static" caravans.


We know them as park homes or cabins. Mike and Margi are friends of my brother and this was our first meeting. We had a fun time together. After a night in the caravan we went to Ripon where their home is a canal barge. Had never been on one before but Maurice and I had often dreamed of traversing the canals of Europe and England. But we never won Lotto! The birds and ducks were such characters. I know why ducks have their name. There were two that would come to the kitchen window for ---food.They would peck at the glass and bob their heads up and down---ducking!




We even went for a trip down the canal and through a lock. I liked that experience as I feel I understand a little better how they actually work.

This is the inside of the lock gate and the water is rising.



While at Mike's they drove me around and we visited, Whitby, York (where we had afternoon tea, actually lunch, at the famous Betty's Tearooms and Cafe), Harrogate (while there, I saw places where I had lived and my grandmother's house, and where I had worked in my 20's) Yes, I did used to be that young. Also went to Knaresborough and to Aysgarth Falls looking for the spot where my granddad and I posed for a photo when I was about four. Also went to the Railway Museum in York. That was very interesting. Saw the old steam engines, royal coaches and carriages and also saw the Mallard which still holds the speed record for steam engines. It apparently only reached the record speed for 21/2 seconds I think it was before the engine blew up and it had to be towed back to the railway yards. It certainly gave all it had to give. I was with Mike and Margi for a week before going on the Lake District. Will tell you about that part in the next installment.