Day 10 of our camper van escapades. How the heck is it day 10 already? Time really does fly when you're having fun!

Kim got woken at 5.30am by a THUD, not our usual human combination of ‘donk, ouch, FFS’. This time it was Evie falling off the bed - not great when our bed is more than double the normal height in the van due to the storage underneath it. It's only the second time, since we've had the van, that she's tried to get down without a human lift.

He popped her back up and she seemed fine. But an hour later, when I got up to take her out, she promptly threw up almost as soon as I put her down on the floor. So she'd probably jumped down as she wasn't feeling well - nice of her not to puke in the bed! But in her usual fashion she was right as rain right afterwards. I wish I had that ability!

By late morning we were back on the road heading for a friends house in Yorkshire, otherwise known on the road signs as 'The NORTH'! It felt like we were going to another country… We couldn’t resist reading out ‘The NORTH’ in a big movie voice every time we saw it. 🤣 Well, it was funny at the time. ☺️

Then again it is foreign territory for me. I can count on my fingers, or perhaps even one hand, how many times I've been more than 50 miles north of London in the past 35+ years and all but two of those involved a flight to Edinburgh.

After some 315km (just under 200 miles to the non-metric among you) we landed in little Bedale, North Yorkshire. According to the signs it’s been a market town since 1251! 1251!!! And some awe inspiring reversing skills - of course not mine but rather Kims - slotted us neatly into our friends front garden for the night on the first attempt.

If I said that Bedale is full of history that would be a huge understatement. Just one example so as not to bore you, though you’re likely asleep after one too many van stories already!

In the pictures you'll see what looks like a teeny tiny castle by the river. In actual fact it’s a leech house - the one and only left standing in the UK. Built in the late 1700's, or perhaps early 1800's, it was used as a secure place to store the medicinal leeches used for bloodletting by apothecaries (the predecessors of our modern pharmacists). Can you imagine all those little squirming beasts in there?!

Fresh water from the river (actually called a ‘beck’) kept the little buggers healthy and a small fire kept them from freezing in the winter. It was last used in the early 20th century by which time the practice of bloodletting had all but faded away. You can now breathe a sigh of relief!

Tomorrow we're heading for Northumberland and the beach. And what's the weather forecast? Rain, rain, and more bloody rain. 🌧 🌧 🌧 🌧 🌧 Typical British ‘summer’ weather!