The First Expedition

My home from home

Last weekend I was hoping for some spring weather.  It came ... well ... brilliantly, where I was, although I know there were places less fortunate.  From the thick coat I wore last week, even a flimsy one was too much, and stayed firmly in reserve in my bag.  I set off, as planned, about lunch time on Sunday, and a leisurely two-and-a-half hours later I arrived on my cousin's doorstep at 3.0pm. At least, it would have been the doorstep if I'd been willing to try reversing the motorhome down her drive!  As it was, I parked on the roadside by the lamp-post, where vanity prevailed, and some photos were taken.

It's always good to catch up with family. There's only so much that can be exchanged through social media, and the laughter that overcame us at one point - purely through a misunderstanding of what we could both see out of the window - could never be transmitted, and had to be heard to be believed! Suffice to say that the word 'butterfly' will become a family euphemism for amusement.  As if to seal this new law, I found a small metal butterfly ornament on a pavement a couple of days later, and kept it as a souvenir.

St Giles' church, Cromwell

On Tuesday I made the short journey to the Milestone Caravan Park in Cromwell, a charming if small village to the north of Newark.  After settling in, I took a walk into the village and examined the church, which to my amazement I found open.  It was clean, neat and seemed well looked after, and on the wall I found a portrait of Frances Smith who, at the age of 39, was the first lady in England to be appointed to the office of churchwarden.  I wasn't expecting to find myself staying in a village of such national achievement!

Milestone Park:
my pitch by the lakeside

Milestone Park:
the lake with benefits for all

As to the site itself, I was quite im-pressed. As well as all the usual facilities - including showers that are hot, and toilet floors that are dry - it boasts its own fishing lake, providing endless activity for those who fish, and pleasant scenery for those who don't.  I found a pitch that overlooks it, and took many pictures of the ducks that enjoy life there. There's a little island in the lake on which is a small duck-house, perhaps inherited from a political scandal of a few years ago!  There's even a little display alongside one of the footpaths that wouldn't be out of place by the seaside!

Newark: the church tower
looks benignly over the roof-tops

Wednesday found me out and about in good time to catch the bus into Newark. Like many such places, at its heart is a large market place, which I found to be in full swing when I turned up at about 10.0 am.  The church tower can be seen beyond the rooftops, watching the goings on from a street away.  I found myself wandering this way and that, just taking in the day-to-day of a town at work.  There were a number of eating-places, but many were not yet open.  I also discovered that there is another side to the town.  Wondering why so many people were coming out of a narrow passage, I explored and found that it led to the Town Lock, a canalside panorama complete with warehouses and a castle!

Newark: Town Lock and
the castle ruins

The canal was built in the late eighteenth century by the Trent Navigation Company, to service the many maltings in the town.  Now it serves as a tourist attraction, and a backdrop for a pub and café.  Apart from the open air market there is also the Butter Market, so-called, behind which there used apparently to be a covered market, but this is now re-modelled to provide a number of small retail units and a delightful first-floor cafe beneath a glass roof.  After sampling its wares, I made my way back to the bus station, and my temporary home at the campsite.

All too soon it was time to return to real life where, for the first time, I helped to ring bells for a Friday wedding ... very fashionable these days, it seems. Why, oh why, are brides notoriously late?  The odd minute is profoundly traditional, and of course acceptable, but over half an hour ...?!  Some of us do have other lives to get on with.

The week has taught me one thing.  Nothing goes completely right first time. I've brought home a list of things to do differently next time, or matters that simply need to be attended to.  My challenge is to fit them in alongside another session of 'normal work', which begins on Monday.

All is not as it seems!