From Hartlepool to Harwich
Oct. 10th, 2024 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustWhere to start? Hartlepool's as good a place as any.
For some time now we have been plotting an autumn getaway, nothing ambitious but with a definite intention to leave the country: which meant that we were waiting untildurham_rambler had a final meeting with his cardiac specialist, at which point he could tell the insurance people he wasn't awaiting any appointments, and things would get cheaper. And then we would book the ferry to Belgium... Instead of which, the specialist confirmed what we had been told, that everyone is very pleased with durham_rambler's progress, but they are curious about what caused the problem and would like to do an MRI scan. And the insurance people didn't simply raise the price, they declined to cover us.
After a bit of cursing, we came up with Plan B, to holiday in the UK. Our first thought was to head for Scotland again, and we had some specific ideas that had distinct possibilities. But then I remembered a conversation that GirlBear and I had had, a year or so ago, and suggested a visit to Essex instead. There are reasons why this strikes me as a really good idea, and reasons why I find it quite absurd, and perhaps some of them will become apparent as our ten-day break unrolls. But for the moment, here we are in Harwich.
We had protected those ten free days in the calendar, without making any plans or bookings: now they were almost upon us, and we had to organise a holiday in between work and laundry and two separate visits to the GP for three separate vaccinations (each) and did I mention the Hartlepool Folk Festival? If the picture above is a bit confused, it's because it was taken at a moment when there was a lot going on: I was sitting in a deckchair, enjoying the (October! in Hartlepool!) sunshine, eating chips and listening to the Wilsons, while the giant fish and crow and skeleton puppets chased each other back and forth... Another highlight was more sedate, Sunday morning with Alistair Anderson in the Fishermen's Arms. These are old friends, of course, and it would be nice to have stumbled over something new and thrilling, but it's a lot to ask, and there was plenty of interesting stuff without it.
We gave ourselves Monday and Tuesday to pack, and needed both: even so we weren't away before midday yesterday. We stayed the night with D. andvalydiarosada in Ely, always a pleasure, and today we visited Sutton Hoo. About which I will say only that a picture is worth a thousand words:
Then we crossed the Stour into Essex, and here we are at the Pier Hotel in Harwich. And there's a shanty festival about to start happening. We had no idea, though it does explain why we weren't able to book as many nights here as we wanted. Perhaps tomorrow we'll find some shanties.
For some time now we have been plotting an autumn getaway, nothing ambitious but with a definite intention to leave the country: which meant that we were waiting until
durham_rambler had a final meeting with his cardiac specialist, at which point he could tell the insurance people he wasn't awaiting any appointments, and things would get cheaper. And then we would book the ferry to Belgium... Instead of which, the specialist confirmed what we had been told, that everyone is very pleased with durham_rambler's progress, but they are curious about what caused the problem and would like to do an MRI scan. And the insurance people didn't simply raise the price, they declined to cover us.After a bit of cursing, we came up with Plan B, to holiday in the UK. Our first thought was to head for Scotland again, and we had some specific ideas that had distinct possibilities. But then I remembered a conversation that GirlBear and I had had, a year or so ago, and suggested a visit to Essex instead. There are reasons why this strikes me as a really good idea, and reasons why I find it quite absurd, and perhaps some of them will become apparent as our ten-day break unrolls. But for the moment, here we are in Harwich.
We had protected those ten free days in the calendar, without making any plans or bookings: now they were almost upon us, and we had to organise a holiday in between work and laundry and two separate visits to the GP for three separate vaccinations (each) and did I mention the Hartlepool Folk Festival? If the picture above is a bit confused, it's because it was taken at a moment when there was a lot going on: I was sitting in a deckchair, enjoying the (October! in Hartlepool!) sunshine, eating chips and listening to the Wilsons, while the giant fish and crow and skeleton puppets chased each other back and forth... Another highlight was more sedate, Sunday morning with Alistair Anderson in the Fishermen's Arms. These are old friends, of course, and it would be nice to have stumbled over something new and thrilling, but it's a lot to ask, and there was plenty of interesting stuff without it.
We gave ourselves Monday and Tuesday to pack, and needed both: even so we weren't away before midday yesterday. We stayed the night with D. and
valydiarosada in Ely, always a pleasure, and today we visited Sutton Hoo. About which I will say only that a picture is worth a thousand words:Then we crossed the Stour into Essex, and here we are at the Pier Hotel in Harwich. And there's a shanty festival about to start happening. We had no idea, though it does explain why we weren't able to book as many nights here as we wanted. Perhaps tomorrow we'll find some shanties.
