Day Trippers! 6 August 2026

 Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to Bangor....  Well, Bangor is a bit far away for a day trip, but C2C are offering £15 returns to Southend-on-Sea during August, so we decided to take advantage of this, as neither of us had ever been to Southend.

Neither of us had ever caught a train at Fenchurch Street Station before, nor do I think either of us had been on a C2C train.  Not that they are any different from any other commuter-type train in this country these days, although slightly more comfortable than most.

We had to collect our tickets from the station - they do do e-tickets, but I think you had to buy them on the app, which I ended up downloading anyway to get accurate timetables.  I had bought them via their website, so was issued a code.  We arrived at a side entrance to the station (Northern Line to Bank, then Monument to Tower Hill and a short walk - I thought Bank and Monument were linked underground, but it appears not to be the case.), and the one and only ticket machine was being used by a couple of people who were having trouble with it.  I went to the kiosk, which was staffed, and was issued our tickets no problem - I gather the machine was misbehaving.

The next train was leaving in a couple of minutes, so we got on it and about an hour later arrived at Southend Central, from where it was only a short walk down to the pier.  We decided to buy tickets for the pier railway, and were lucky enough that they held the train for us, or we'd have had to have waited half an hour for the next one.  The little train - a narrow-gauge railway - crawls along to the end of the pier.  The carriages are enclosed, with sideways bench seats.  Many years ago, there used to be a similar railway along the pier at Walton-on-the-Naze, which we took many times when we holidayed there in the 1960s, but that, I think, had open carriages and has long since demised.  I gather this one did close for awhile, but reopened.  

At the end of the pier, we had a lovely walk round.  The pier pokes out into the Thames Estuary, and we could see the Maunsell Sea Forts on the horizon, as well as watching a container ship come downriver (from Tilbury, we assumed) and head out to sea.  We also visited the lifeboats, and I bought a packet of rhubarb crumble biscuits for the Swan Whisperer, as it's all in a good cause. Lots of photos on Facebook, of course.

Then it was time to catch the train back to the town, which we did with rather less haste and more decorum than we had the outbound one!  And it was lunchtime.

There is really only one thing you can eat when on a day trip to the seaside and that is, of course, fish and chips.  The main road was lined with chippies, and we patronised one where a waitress was standing outside offering the menu.  We could, we discovered later, have found cheaper elsewhere, but it didn't really matter, as the cod and chips were excellent!  I couldn't eat all my chips, but had a jolly good try!  I drank fizzy water, and the Swan Whisperer had a 7-Up!  

After lunch, we made ourselves comfortable and then went for a short walk towards a building that we could see some distance away, which turned out to be the old Kursaal.  I gather this may reopen - it certainly looked far from abandoned and derelict, but we decided that was probably far enough to walk, so turned back and walked along the prom (prom-prom, but there wasn't a brass band going tiddley-om-pom-pom) back to where we could get an ice-cream - a 99 for the SW, and a scoop of rum and raisin for me, and then we walked back to the station.  We had discovered, on the way out, that there was a slightly different route we could go back, which went past Tilbury, so we got that, although we couldn't see very much of the port as the hedges were too high.  Then we walked to a 35 bus stop, and had to wait rather a long time for a 35, but one came in the end and we sat on that all the way home, a quick dash into Lidl to get some necessary staples, and then home and flaking out!  

Oh I do like to be beside the sea side...

Summer Holiday 18-20 July 2026

Brixton, London, UK

I haven't blogged over the weekend because most of it wasn't that interesting, so I thought I'd concatenate the days.

On Saturday morning, we were actually ready about 15 minutes before we needed to leave, but after visiting the services we decided to get to Le Shuttle anyway, and they didn't turn us away! In fact, they offered us a crossing on the 10:20 - we had booked on the 11:36, so we said yes please, and, although there were long queues at passport control (what with the new EES and ETA systems being implemented, although at the moment Le Shuttle's French passport officers only scan your passports and don't require fingerprints and photographs, but they do take their own sweet time about it), but in the event we got on the 10:04! I don't know why we count getting on an earlier crossing as a win, but we always do, and as the service had been seriously disrupted the previous day, I wasn't too sure whether we would be able to get an earlier one.

So we drove straight to No 6, where we spent the rest of the day. My sister decided to profit from our being there to spend the night with her partner, but she and Mum agreed it was fine if we slept in the motor home, so we did. In the morning, I helped my mother dress (not that she really needs much help, but she does like someone there when she gets out of the shower, and someone to put cream on her back, which I think is just an excuse for a daily backrub!).  We took her to church, which was lovely - my sister had already taken her wheelchair over to the barn where the dance was to be held, so she had to totter up the path with her walker, which she did rather well, we thought.  After the service, we went back to No 6, and it wasn't long before we had to load up the car with our folding chairs and table, various drinks, glasses, Mum's walker and Mum herself, and drive over to the barn.

The dance was great! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; I didn't dance every dance, but did dance a fair few of them, unlike last year.  Last year I'd thought I'd be exhausted if I danced, but I was exhausted anyway, so decided I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a goat.... and, in fact, was fine.

My sister and her partner were rather disappointed with the turnout from the villages, most people there being friends or family, and are swearing Never Again.  As my sister said, after last year, so many people said it had been fun and could we do it again, but then didn't come.  Mind you, there is a difference between a birthday party - which last year's was, to celebrate my sister's 60th - and the fundraiser that this year's was.  People apparently didn't want to pay £20 towards the cost, with any surplus going to church funds!  All the same, they missed a good time. My sister grabbed Mum's wheelchair for the last dance, and danced her in it!  I thought she'd have needed a seat-belt!

Then back to No 6, and a couple of hours to relax before we started to load the car with almost everything except the stuff in the fridge and the stuff we'd need overnight, and spent our last night, for now, in the motor home.  Up shortly after six, and were away by about 09:10; a very easy journey home that took much less than the 2 hours we have learnt to allow for it.  Almost all the traffic lights seemed to turn green just as we arrived at them! Unpacking, lunch, then I sat down in my armchair and slept for two hours! I don't know why unpacking is so exhausting, but I always find it so.

So that's it until the end of September for the motor home. There may or may not be other adventures in the meantime....

Summer Holiday, 17 July 2026

Blériot-Plage, Hauts-de-France, France

Did feel a lot better this morning - still not 100% sure I'm not getting a cold, but a good night's sleep did help. So after breakfast I popped into the Aldi, which was just next door to our overnight stop (which we discovered, when we went up to the services, had much nicer places further up in the aire, but I think they may have all been taken last night). Anyway, Aldi only had Cristal beer (my current favourite Belgian beer that I only discovered at the start of this holiday) in tins, and when it came to the checkouts, the queues were so massive that I didn't bother.

We decided that, because we were in no hurry to get to Calais, we would drive south along the Belgian coast, following the tram between Knokke and De Paan. It's a pretty amazing line - now in a dedicated space, now running along the street, and even, in one place, running through woods and sand dunes! The road - the N34 - crosses it eleventy billion times, so sometimes it's on your right, sometimes on your left, and sometimes you're right on top of it. I think it's now on my bucket-list. Almost all the trains went the whole way, but there seems to be a separate branch to Ostende. The road goes through Zeebrugge, and there was a cruise ship in the harbour, which was rather nice.  Not a that I really fancy going on one of those huge modern cruise jobs, but they are still interesting to see. 

We stopped once for lunch, rather early but the Swan Whisperer wanted to scramble up the dunes and look at the sea, and I badly needed to spend a penny, and by the time we'd done that, it was pretty well lunchtime. We stopped again for diesel somewhere in the Ostende area - forget exactly where - and then carried on down the N34 until E reached De Paan, and then got on to the A16 as we crossed the border into France, and it was only about half an hour from there to Cité Europe. 

As we crossed the border, all the variable message signs were saying you must have an ETA to travel to the UK, but we were quickly able to reassure ourselves that this was for visitors, not natives! I also found out that it doesn't apply to Irish passports, so my daughter and grandsons don't need to worry. 

I did a shopping in the big Carrefour, while the SW put on a load of washing in the facilities they provide in the car park. We had to wait while other people's washing and drying finished, but ours got done in the end. Meanwhile I had kindly bought liver for supper, which the Swan Whisperer loves. I don't know why it is so difficult to get in the UK - it's not my best thing, but this was surprisingly nice, served with mashed potato, cabbage (I didn't have time to do a more sophisticated vegetable) and a sauce made by deglazing the pan in which I'd cooked the liver with tomato paste, garlic paste, and the water over which I'd steamed the potatoes and cabbage (seasoned up, of course). It was surpringly good. Followed by the end of the redcurrants with yoghurt. 

We had, of course, moved up to the aire here at Blériot-Plage - the next-door campsite is fully open as it is July - and we are ready to cross tomorrow morning. We will head to the terminal for about 09:45, and hope to get a crossing earlier than the one we booked on, but there have been disruptions today, so we may not.

But, for once, this isn't the end of our adventures, as we are spending the weekend in Sussex to attend a Barn Dance on Sunday afternoon in aid of the local church. We had planned to go back to London on Sunday evening, but it would be a logistical nightmare to get to the dance - across the fields from No 6 - and load the car, and, etc, so we think we'll head back to town very early on Monday morning, getting the car as loaded as possible, with just overnight things to pack on Monday morning.

Summer Holiday, 16 July 2026

Melsele, East Flanders, Belgium

I had hoped to go for an explore this morning, but found myself incredibly tired and sleepy, and a bit headachy, so didn't. 

After breakfast, we tried to go to the nearest REWE, but a fat finger on the Satnav screen meant it took us to the middle of nowhere, so we had to retrace our steps. 

We found the REWE in the end, and I did a Last Shop in Germany, and then we headed on through Holland (Dutch motorways are horrid - 2 lanes, 100 kph, very crowded). Then the Satnav wouldn't talk to my phone so we couldn't find out about traffic jams. I switched both devices off and on again when we stopped for lunch, and eventually they grudgingly agreed they could see each other, so that was all right. 

It was not long before we were in Belgium - motorway speed 120 kph, somehow much more comfortable. Of course it was very slow going past Antwerp, but we got here in the end - and then couldn't find the place, the Satnav having done its usual trick when it is cross with us, and taken us to the back of it! But we got here in the end. Not very nice, just the back of a row of garages, but it does the job, and we have electricity and there are services. 

The Swan Whisperer went for a walk, but found that what he had thought was going to be a lovely historic monument turned out to be a military barracks, so he had to come äway. I've been lying down and dozing, and slightly wondering if I'm getting a cold. I hope not! It may just be that I haven't slept very well these past two nights. 

No photos today, so here is my favourite from yesterday - swifts darting about and screaming! 

Summer Holiday, 15 July 2026

Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Well, I don't know whether St Swithun works in Germany as he does at home, but if he does, they are in for a wonderful summer - warm, but not desperately hot, with a cool breeze! 

In fact, when I got up this morning, I was almost chilled after my shower - I had the first shower, as the Swan Whisperer had (needless to say!) gone for a run. But when I had finished my breakfast and my coffee, I went out to explore. 

Bückeburg is one of those lovely little German towns that nobody has ever heard of, but well worth visiting. We really liked the aire, which was plain but serviceable - one paid for electricity and for water, but other than that, it was fine. It was situated on the edge of the park, in which there is a large Schloß,

and the town itself is lovely, with an ornate church, a Gothic Rathaus, complete with integral brewery, and some lovely buildings. The Swan Whisperer joined me, and our walk was rather longer than we'd planned, as we missed a rather obvious (in hindsight) shortcut and ended up walking all round the park! Oh well, all good exercise. The local Old People's Home were also out for their constitutionals, complete with Zimmer Frames and carers! There will be photospam on Facebook, although not of the Zimmer framers. You Have Been Warned! 

Then it was time to move on. The SW had bought rolls for lunch on his run, so I didn't need to shop, and, apart from stopping for horrendously expensive diesel (it is cheaper in both Belgium and France, so he only bought 1/2 tankful) and again for lunch once we were on the motorway, we came straight here to Oberhausen, which is one of the towns on the Ruhr. 

We decided to take a slightly longer route as I, for one, am sick of the A2, and were routed via Osnabruck and Dortmund. Tonight is our last night in Germany. This aire ought to be very nice, but someone has taken our booked place, which meant we took someone else's, and the people in our place aren't there - fortunately the very nice woman whose place we had taken rang the management, who gave her another pitch, so that was all right. But there is a very busy railway-line just feet away - I hope it won't keep us awake all night! For some reason the trains seem extra-loud, but I daresay they won't once I've taken my hearing-aids out! 

Summer Holiday, 14 July 2026

Bückeburg, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Germany

We were woken in the night by a thunderstorm and torrential rain - had to close the bedroom skylight as I was being rained on, and we will not speak of the state of the bathroom floor when we got up! For some reason, it didn't come through in the main living area, which is Just As Well, and of course it doesn't matter in the shower! 

Even when we were getting up, it was still raining, at times torrentially. But eventually the rain was away, and the Swan Whisperer went for a walk into Magdeburg - I was feeling exceptionally lethargic, so didn't join him - and said the town centre was very modern, even the so-called Altstadt. 

So we came away - we really liked the aire, although it didn't have any facilities. But a huge great reserved parking-space just by the river - what's not to like? I wasn't particularly enthralled by the song of the nightingale, which may be rather philistine of me, but the swifts were wonderful, flying aerobatically over the river and screaming their delight! 

We called in at a local Netto (I wanted a REWE, and told the Satnav to take us to a proper one, not a convenience store one, but it didn't, but there was a Netto just there) and I was pleased to score a big punnet of redcurrants, which I haven't had for years. My mother says they are nicest raw, but these are on the verge, so we are going to cook them very lightly to help them keep. 

The A2 seemed a great deal more cosmopolitan today; we speculated that, yesterday having been Monday, the Polish lorries might have all started their journeys then, as lorries aren't allowed on German motorways on Sundays (our niece says they all go on minor roads instead, but we haven't really found that to be the case). The Satnav said it knew a quicker way, so we said yes please, and it took us cross-country for a while, which was really nice as we have had too many motorways this holiday. But then it took us back to the A2, and the delays built and built.... But we got here in the end. "Here" is a motorhome park in the grounds of the local Schloß and its associated park; the Swan Whisperer did go for a quick walk, but again, I was feeling idle.

We will probably have a proper explore in the morning. It is very good value for money - only €9 for 24 hours, and €1 for 12 hours' electricity. We seem to be using someone else's at the minute, but will put in a euro before we go to bed. It is extremely humid, and we have had quite a sharp shower, with rumbles of thunder in the distance - all the motorhomers who were sitting out, including us, had to put away their chairs and tables in a hurry! 

Summer Holiday, 13 July 2026

Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

The Swan Whisperer would have liked to have gone for a run this morning, but I pointed out that if he did, it would mean that breakfast wouldn't be until about 09:30, and we both wanted to go out and do different things during the morning. So he didn't, and we got straight up and I, for one, was ready to go out by 09:00.

I had a lovely morning! I caught the bus up the the shopping mall we had seen the previous day (I could have walked, but having had horrendous cramp in the night, possibly because of walking too far yesterday, I didn't want to), and pottered round DM, REWE, Kik and Tedi to my heart's content! The bigger shops didn't open until 10:00, so there was no way I was going to make it back before my 24-hour bus ticket expired, but a "Kurtzstrecke" (short-distance ticket) isn't expensive!

I bought some more rude rolls for lunch as, rude or not, they are delicious. I got some more travel toiletries in DM, and one or two bits in Tedi, including a birthday card for The Boy, who turns 16 on Saturday. But why were about half the birthday cards in English, do you suppose? Obviously I got him one in German as he has just taken a GCSE in that language!

But the purchase that pleased me most was in the local department store, which was 3 bottles of 4711 shower gel, which I haven't been able to buy for ages and am nearly out of. I could have got 4 bottles, but decided that would be greedy.

I then got the bus back to the campsite and sat down with a cold drink until the SW came back from wherever he had been - into the city, but I'm not sure what he saw. Anyway, he also had a cold drink, and then we had to slightly hurry to get away by noon. We just about made it! 

First port of call was the Getrankemarkt (drinks market) across the road to stock up on beer and soft drinks and so on, and then I popped into the Norma on the same site to get some yoghurt, which we were almost out of, and they had some lovely cherries, and also marrows! Then we stopped at a petrol station as the tyres needed air, and then in a random rest area for lunch. And then non-stop until we arrived here in Magdeburg, where we are parked up along the Elbe.

Last time we were here, in 2013, we came by train, so hadn't appreciated what a very industrialised city it is! I do remember that the Old Town was lovely, though, and we may well be able to explore in the morning.

Editing this to add a couple of things i'd forgotten. Apparently, the reason German petrol prices have risen so alarmingly is that in May and June there was a tax amnesty to help motorists cope with the price rises, and this has now expired.

On our route today we drove past the service area which, back in the day, was the place where Western vehicles, particularly Army ones, had to check in and out of the only road that linked West Berlin to Federal Germany! I saw a video about it once, which was fascinating. 

The vast majority of the lorries on the A2, the motorway we were on for most of our route today, were Polish, as were a fair few of the cars! Apparently it is the major corridor between Poland and the Ruhr, but also France and Belgium. It is known as Warsaw Alley!