We’re Going on a Bear Hunt…

“Is there anybody there?” said the Traveller, 
Knocking on the moonlit door.” 
― Walter de la Mare

We have set off on a adventure, it’s not a big adventure but it’s 2020 and adventures are hard to come by.

We’ve hired a camper van and we are heading North East to explore… perhaps the North East wasn’t the best choice in October 2020 as Covid seems to have put vast swathes of the country into local lockdown, but hey it’s an adventure..

The other reason, perhaps more serious for writing about our journey, is that after 30 years’of marriage, being together 24/7, much of it spent in a confined space, in a pandemic, in the glorious weather that October will no doubt bless us with, is that if only one of us returns, you will know where to start looking for the other’s body.

But I shouldn’t worry every campsite, pub, cafe, public attraction has got us tracked so, it’ll be up to Matt Hancock to trace us.

We had a plan;

Pick up van✔️Pack up van ✔️

Pit stop at Stamford, beautiful town, worth a pub stop ✖️

Car park says NO! Every car park either had a height restriction or tiny Fiat 500 sized spaces, I said the van was small but it’s not Hobbit sized!

So we drove round Stamford at least 4 times gazing longingly into pubs and cafes. Stamford looks like it is waiting for Mr Darcy, the Dashwoods, Frank Churchill or the Bennets to make an appearance and as Jane herself said

‘They reached town by three o’clock, glad to be released, after such a journey, from the confinement of a carriage, and ready to enjoy all the luxury of a good fire.‘

but for us it was not to be..

So we pitched up at our first campsite, based at an old watercress farm and as the light faded, we walked cross country to a lovely pub and on the way, we saw a hare, the first one we have ever seen in the wild.

Tomorrow brings us closer to another Jane Austen experience…Burghley House, just a shame I didn’t pack my best muslin dress, prettiest bonnet and my ‘up and at ’em’ bra…