After the campervan failed its MOT, the poet asked if we could go away for the weekend while it was still legal. He had a fancy for the seaside and asked me for suggestions. My suggestions were Filey or Mablethorpe. The Filey site was full, so it was Mablethorpe, in Lincolnshire. It’s close enough for a day out or a short weekend hop.
On Friday as soon as we’d both finished work, we jumped into the campervan and headed out, getting there in record time and stopping off on the way to get a few supplies.
The weather was very hot and dry and the van was warm. But that meant the leaking passenger door wouldn’t be a problem, something he’s getting fixed at the same time as the brakes that failed the MOT.
We were up fairly early on Saturday, we had something to eat, and then we walked into the town, which is about 2¼ miles away from the campsite. There was a big 1940s weekend taking place, and we think the US Army and Air Force of the time was very well represented. Town was rammed, the busiest we’ve ever seen it. It was nice to see it bustling.
We hopped onto the sand train and enjoyed a nice ride from the middle of the big, sweeping beach to almost the other end, where we hopped off and went to visit the seal sanctuary and wildlife centre.
We didn’t see very many seals in the hospital, which is a good thing, but some of those we did see may be permanent residents due to one reason or another. Usually, though, the animals are rescued and nursed back to health before being released back into the ocean. There were a few animals, though, that were taken in when a nearby zoo closed down.
The seabird aviary had 2 sick-looking birds plus one very healthy one that had a wing missing. The rest of the gannets we saw were probably being prepared for going back into the wild, but the sickly ones are probably now in their permanent home.
We also saw lynx, emus, pygmy goats, peacocks, pheasants, guinea fowl, rabbits, otters, eagles, owls, parrots, cockatiels, java sparrows, pigs, snakes, lizards. frogs, giant tortoises, terrapins. The gibbon and the porcupine were being a bit shy and we didn’t see any meerkats. They were probably taking shade from the heat.
The walk around the centre was about 2½ miles. When we came out, we had a meal at a nearby pub and we caught the pirate bus back into town so we could get a bit more shopping. We walked for about another 1¼ miles. Then we got a taxi back to the site and chilled for the rest of the evening.
On Saturday alone, we walked almost 13,000 steps over 6 miles in intense heat, and we were shattered. Sunday morning we were up and away and eating our breakfast on the way. We had to get the van back to the storage compound and we had our week’s shopping still to do.
Monday morning my legs were killing me, all that exercise from Saturday was taking its toll. BUT…I got up on time still and putting washing through while I had my dirty cuppa. I got embroiled with Facebook once again not showing the share attachment on my auto-post, and also the BlueSky post not auto-posting at all. So I fixed that via the mobile phone and discovered there were 3 updates WordPress wanted to do. I did those and I hope that means the auto-post and everything else will work properly today.
I didn’t need to feed the birds because they hadn’t eaten everything we’d left out for them on Friday yet. But I did hang the washing out, I picked up another bucketful of windfall apples and pears, and I did a quick flylady flick-and-fling in the conservatory and kitchen.
There were some good apples and pears on the trees, so I picked those too. The pears are very early. I see fruit crumble in our very near future, especially with all the blackberries as well.
In the office, I started with this week’s diary while the poet went to the dentist for his half-yearly check-up and clean. He came back with a glowing report and no need to go again for another 6 months. It was publication day for The Ace of Swords and I shared the relevant posts and pictures for that wherever I could. And then I started today’s blog post.
We had an appointment then, quite a distance away. So I called it a day.
what a lovely weekend, although quite a bit of walking. Aren’t seals adorable?
My legs knew they’d been for a walk!
We loved seeing all of the animals, birds and reptiles. One of the emus was a bit agitated, but another one was booming its head off!