Jane & Ivan in Yorkshire
Starting fresh in July 2020 we decided to set ourselves a challenge and sleep at least one night in each of the 49 counties of England. A year and two months later we are near to completion of our challenge with four counties left to go.
Using the map gifted to us by John & Sheena we scratch off each county we stay and reveal the flag of the county underneath. It’s a great way to explore the UK and you will see on the map above we completed
Wales 2021 in May, June, July. Most of the west coast of England was scratched off in 2020 between lockdowns. When we left you on the last blog our special guest Lewis told you all about the Coddiwomples in Kent at the end of July and with 21 counties to go we continued slowly north to the very top of the east of England.
In this blog we show you pictures of our tour of the north east, covering some of our favourite counties including Yorkshire and Northumberland.
Our motorhome Daphne complete with awning, Ural motorcycle and sidecar, Otto our dog and Ivan
As we crossed the Humber bridge from Lincolnshire into Yorkshire we really felt we were into the swing of travelling again. 19 weeks at our lockdown campsite had made us complacent as we love it there so much, however travelling again makes us feel so alive. We love exploring new places and finding a nature reserve to explore at the foot of the iconic bridge, who knew!
We had a brief sojourn to see Janes sister and family who recently moved to Scarborough and are loving being by the sea. During this time Daphne had a fresh MOT, new tyres and front brake pads . Pictured above is Jane with Otto and Ottos mum Una; our nephew Stevie on his Dads new bike; Ivan & Jane with our niece Imogen and Stevie again.
North Yorkshire is stunning. We enjoyed time in the North Yorkshire national parks travelling the tiny roads, fords and lanes on our Ural motorcycle plus visiting the historic monuments.
We were taken back in time visiting epic locations like Goathland where TV programmes like Heartbeat and films such as Harry Potter were filmed. Robin Hood Prince of thieves apparently bathed at Fallen Foss waterfalls! Plus who does not love a steam train 🚂
Once we had travelled past the iconic Angel of the North we really felt we were in the land of old England. We saw ancient castles, small fishing villages and beautiful unspoilt sandy & rocky beaches: Northumberland did not disappoint. We were lucky with the weather and made the most of trips out on the motorcycle while we stayed opposite the beach before heading further to the highest town in England, Berwick upon Tweed. One of our best days out was exploring Holy island, photos below:
The causeway to the island and Lindisfarne castle and village is tidal so you have to make sure you time it right. We loved it there and saw a huge colony of seals as well as taking the day to explore the whole island.
The largest forest in England is Kielder forest and we stayed the night in the dark star area before riding the forest drive on our motorcycle. A great day out 😊.
Our most hair raising day was following footpaths to try and get onto the Pennine way. Needless to say we diverted and did not enter this field of curious cows. This resulted in climbing two five bar gates, walking through sheep fields and crossing the inevitable river. We made it in the end 😅.
With the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Surrey still left to explore if anyone has any recommendations please do let us know. In the meantime, thank you for reading and we wish you happy travels ❤️.
