Weeks 1-2 Holiday

The holiday has been flying by.

The first weekend, on Saturday 18th, CBC and I travelled to a rural part of Essex to take part in the memorial celebration of a friend's life.  Last year, we had been invited to our friend Annie's for a memorial celebration of her mum, Inge. I'd offered to play my flute for it which Annie had jumped at and when her husband died in January, she immediately checked whether we would be available in July for a memorial celebration to play.  We were really sad to say goodbye to him. I was very fond of him, he was a great man who had owned a model railway shop and made amazing railway structures as well as being an amazing DT teacher.  

Naturally, I dressed accordingly, wearing my Cath Kidston train dress, which was much appreciated by lots of those who came along.

CBC and I set up a keyboard and microphone and speaker under the gazebo.  Annie had suggested some songs that she would like played and in the end, CBC said I should sing some of them. I felt quite nervous about this as I am used to performing flute solos but I don't sing solos very often, especially, in the non-classical or musicals context.  I ended up playing flute for La Vie en Rose and then singing Singbird by Fleetwood Mac, Dream a little dream and 

The celebration in the garden was wonderful. I took myself off to one of the zones of the garden where there was a lovely sun lounger that Andy used to read in. Andy and I were always discussing books and would each lend each other ones, particularly with a train theme (or Gerald Durrell or Terry Pratchett).  I also picked some lovely cherry plums from their tree.

We drove home late.

The next morning, after church, CBC and I drove to his sister's house to wish her a happy birthday. We stopped at Waitrose and bought her a birthday cake and Prosecco.  We had cake in the garden and gave her presents and also to F, her youngest son, whose birthday was also coming up.

Ended up with a train-theme to the weekend as S, the oldest, has a train driving simulation game he wanted to show me as well as getting a football kicked at me in goal!

After this, we drove to Lewes in Sussex, as CBC had booked for us to watch a production of my favourite Jane Austen book, Northanger Abbey, by Moving Parts theatre co, at Lewes Castle.

We bought some fish and chips (chips in my case) and then watched the play in the grounds.

It was very entertaining and a very picturesque place to watch the play!

The next day, we drove to Hexham for a week.

The first night we arrived, we went for dinner at Hexham's new Thai restaurant! FINALLY, Hexham has a Thai restaurant.  It has a lovely decor including an indoor tree and the food is delicious. It's not cheap but the food is wonderful.  This Tamarind duck, which my MiL ordered,  was superb!

The next day, CBC, his Mum and I travelled to Pooley Bridge near Ullswater in the Lake District to meet some French cousins.  CBC's dad's Great Grandfather was French but CBC's Dad was not very sociable at meeting the French contingent of the family so the cousins have not met that often.  We were meeting a cousin and her daughter who were on holiday there. We had a jolly time meeting and eating

went  and went on a quick boat trip on the lake.   We discovered that there are yet more family links with music as Marie's son is organist at the La Madaleine in Paris and is doing a recital at Notre Dame (yes, THE Notre Dame!) in September.  The family all want to go and watch now!

Marie's daughter is a teacher too, but in international schools in very interesting locations- she's been in Khazakstan, Mongolia amongst other places! We got a little chance to chat together alone near the end and annoyingly discovered we were quite kindred spirits in many respects which would have been lovely to chat more!

The next day, I sent CBC off on a cycle by himself and  I took myself off to swim at the Wentworth pool (Sadly, Haltwhistle outdoor pool was totally booked up!) as well as having a look round the shops.  I didn't buy anything except one silk top in a charity shop.

I walked back up the hill to my MiL's house.

The next day, CBC and I planned a walk to Allendale.  Wonderfully, there is a bus that goes from CBC's Mum's house to Allendale and Allenbanks and so we planned to do a small section of Isaac's Teatrail, which I'd really hoped to walk some of this Summer.  The bus was a very scenic route with fabulous views of the moors.  When we arrived in Allenbanks, we bought some sandwiches from the tearoom and then walked back towards Allendale.  The walk ended in Allendale village, where I paid my respect to the Allendaleks outside the Museum of Classic Scifi and then met CBC's Mum, who had a podiatry appointment in Allendale (I'd planned this day cunningly!). 

We went into the pub and had a cup of tea and a plate of chips  

That evening, CBC's brother arrived in town for the weekend. We were happy to see him.

Our toad, Magical Misery Toad met HIS frog, Ricky!

Saturday morning, I started off the day with Watermelon with lime juice on it (very, very nice combination!)

We decided to do a walk from Corbridge after lunch at Hexham Abbey. J dropped us in Corbridge where we had cake and tea at Grant's bakery. WELL worth a visit if you go to Corbridge!

We walked along the river Tyne and then headed back via the scenic route towards Hexham, through Swallowship woods.

I was bemoaning the lack of fungi spotting when T spotted this one!

It was tempting to have a swim in this spot!  If only it was a bit earlier and I had brought my swimming stuff!

We ended the walk with a trip to the Tap and Spile pub.

On Sunday morning, we had a slow, late start. I regretted not getting up in time to go and sing with J with the St Mary's choir in Witley.

In the afternoon, CBC, T and I went for a walk in Hexham along the Tyne which was very pleasant.

We went for dinner at the Thai restaurant as T is also fond of Thai!

I had a beef dish which is very unusual for me as I usually have Tofu green curry!

We went to watch the final concert of the Corbridge Music festival which was superb!

I saw a friend from my music camp who had come from Yorkshire for the festival.

After the concert, we went round to J's friend's house for a drink.

Back home, it was time to pack.

Alas, on the way home to Essex, our car packed in near Retford/Newark on the A1 and we had to call out the AA to rescue us!  Alas, the car had an Oil problem that was going to prove incredibly expensive to fix and difficult.  A repair worth more than the car!

We got home at after midnight.

The next day, CBC and I cycled on our bikes, since the car was kaputt, to go and look at new cars.

CBC decided he wanted to go electric. He'd said his next car would be electric but we weren't anticipating it being this soon!  He decided,from looking, that he was most interested in a Renault EV but the local places didn't have quite the year or model he wanted.

I spent much of the rest of the day reading under the cherry tree. It was so hot!

On the Thursday, I can't quite remember what happened in the day apart from some packing and booking of train tickets to Norfolk.  By weird fluke, buying on onward ticket to Sheringham proved cheaper (by more than half the cost!) than just buying a ticket to Norwich.

Later,  we walked to the station and got a train to Southend, walked and changed trains to meet my Mum for diner at Akropolis, a Greek restaurant. We enjoyed our food but regretted ordering a Greek salad as all our meals came with salad!

We then headed to the Cliffs, Pavillion, to watch Cole Porter's High Society. A weird coincidence occurred. I'd been reading Island of the Mad by Laurie L King, a Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell novel and in it, they met Cole Porter!

The show is one I know very well as I was in a production of it. They did a fantastic job! Helen George (Call the Midwife) was really good as Tracy.  The costumes were utterly dreamy and the set was beautiful!

My Mum bought me a 'You're sensational!" t-shirt to say thank you!

We all walked to the station and were beaten there by some of the cast! They move quickly.

Back home, after ANOTHER long walk, I did some packing for our next adventure to Norfolk.

The next morning, I walked my suitcase and holdall to the train station to catch trains and buses to Brentwood as my flute quartet had our recital

The practice and subsequent concert went really well and we had, what was one of their biggest lunchtime recital audiences of the year with around 70 people.

Our programme consisted of a variety of pieces with a sort of celestial theme!

About 14 of my own friends came to watch, including our lovely ex-Chair of the Governors from school, who has recently resigned (which I'm so sad about as he was one of my biggest supporters and a wonderful man!)

After this, CBC and I walked to the station and got the Liz line to Shenfield to get our connection to Norwich.  We had an hour to kill before our train so CBC got some lunch in a restaurant near the station.

The journey to Norwich, via Colchester, Norwich and onto Sheringham was very pleasant. What a great train service!

  CBC's sister and husband, plus Mum picked us up from Sheringham station and we went and did a big shop and drove to our home for the week, a cottage in Brinton, a tiny little village!

CBC and I were really happy to have a double bedroom as we thought we would be getting the single beds in the twin room, but CBC's Mum insisted we got the second-biggest room and she would have the single bed room! 

We were happy but felt guilty about her sleeping on a smaller lower bed.

CBC and his mum made a salmon dinner for us and then it was off to bed!

The first two weeks flew by!

Ooh, here's something I bought in the charity shops and forgot about! Don't they go well together!

We hoped that our car issues would be sorted soon!

xx

 

Half term catch up

 Hi there,

It's been a little while since my last confession and that was in the form of a bad poem!  The half term was enjoyable.

It involved a lovely trip to Maldon on  Valentines Day.  CBC and I went to lunch at Mrs Salisbury's tearoom where, to our delight, we met our friends Lara and her husband. We explored the town and then returned home.

Sunday, apart from a trip to church, where I was completely saturated by torrential rain, the day was spent sheltering inside.

Monday and Tuesday, CBC had 2 days of work experience for  Garden design company so I travelled over to Mum's for the morning and early afternoon. We had a tasty simple lunch, lots of chat and tea, a walk to the seafront and then I returned home via town where I had my hair cut into a short bob which I was very pleased with!  

*Updated with haircut photo for Ang! *

Later, after an achy and muddy CBC returned home, I went off to the station and went over to have a rehearsal with my lovely flute quartet.  This was especially lovely as I didn't have to rush home for school and we ate cake and had a pleasant time. It meant I got to chat with Lara on the car journey from the station.

Tuesday, I had a tidying morning and then headed to town for the market. I bought delicious olives and fresh fruit and vegetables.  In the evening, CBC and I travelled to the other side of Chelmsford to a friend's house for a pancake party! It was the first time we've seen her since her husband died which was sad but we cheered her up. I was touched that she gave me a lovely cashmere cardigan which had belonged to her Mum whose memorial I played flute for last year.

Wednesday, after packing, we drove to Sussex to Angmering where we were staying for 2 nights at the Angmering Manor Hotel.   

We went to eat some lunch in a nearby cafe Juna and then after relaxing in our room, we went to swim in the pool. There were only 4 of us in there and most of the time was just CBC and I. We tried the sauna but it was boiling!

After showers, we went to dinner in the hotel. Huge portions. The young staff were really nice there.

Back in the room, we read and had a game of Qwirkle Cubes (SOB, my proper travel version of Qwirkle is stuck in Northumberland STILL!).

The next morning, we enjoyed a very pleasant breakfast down in the beautiful restaurant and then drove to Bosham for a walk around the water and church.  The tide was in.

Later, after tea and cake, we drove to Chichester for an explore of the Cathedral gardens and a look about town.

Back at the hotel, we read and I went for another swim.  There was only myself in the pool most of the time!

For dinner, we headed to Ferring where we visited Andalucia, a family run Tapas of 39 years which was wonderful!

The next morning, after packing up, we drove to Petworth to see our music camp friends Ellie and Nick. 

Ellie, C and I drove to walk around a Neolithic circle and got extremely wet!  We had lunch at Ellie's and then C and I drove to Guildford where we got the train to London to meet CBC's French/Phillipino cousins for a lovely catch up. We went to a beautiful Art-deco restaurant, Zejel for dinner which had a live Jazz Band.  Back to Guildford to pick up the car back home.

The next morning, after some washing and tidying we mostly spent the day avoiding/doing some work and the same on Sunday, except I went to church late so I went to the sister church for the 11am service and walked the 2miles home which was pleasant.

It was a lovely half term.

The return to school has been exhausting but OK! I have been filling in a Grant application for some equipment for school till now so I am very tired! Tomorrow, Lara is coming to tune the pianos at school and then in the afternoon, she and I are going to give mini recitals to the whole school. We'll then have a natter in the car on the way home!

German Blackforest, Schwarzwalder Fungi 4 and other find.

I thought I'd return to my Germany fungi finds during my walk in the Black Forest area near Bad Wildbad. 

Starting off with these two examples.  I confess to not knowing what on earth they are!

I'm not sure if the ones below were a form of Puffball or Earthball.  They are very fluffy though! Perhaps they are Stump Puffballs?

I headed off into some dark mossy depths at one point in the woods and I am very glad I did as I came across a patch of something on my Wishlist- CHANTERELLES! IN this case, Winter Chanterelles. Craterellus Tubaeformis, also known as Yellow Foot fungi or Trumpet Chanterelles, for obvious reasons. The ones below are quite young

but I did come across a bugger example.  They have fake gills, they not actually gills, they have wrinkles that resemble them.  They have a delightfully fruity smell. I did pick this one and carry it proudly, for the remainder of my walk! Isn't it beautiful!  They are actually a fungus that I like the taste of!

I so wish I had someone with me, or a book, to identify this intriguing mushroom.  In retrospect, I needed to have a look at the underside too, to know more.

There were different parts of the forest where we saw lots of the same fungi but this moment was brilliant as we saw this wonderful collection of Shaggy Inkcaps looking like they were at some sort of Goth disco or party! How much do they look like they are having a gossip!

You can see a young one and an older one side by side.

Here we have some spent puffball mushrooms, probably Wolf-Farts or Pear-shaped puffballs. Their latin name is Apioperdon pyriforme (but apparently they used to be known as Lycoperdon pyroforme!) When they release their spores, they can make a farty sound. Apparently edible!

I always forget what this type of mushroom is below, every time I see it.  Are they Common Inkcaps?

Something very interesting we found was the honeycomb of some wild bees in a hole which had been taken over by wasps! I've never seen this in the wild before!

Possible some sort of Turkey Tail fungus here.It comes in so many different shades!

We found this wonderful collection of spotty feathers too!

 So many wonderful things to see!

Christmas catch up!

 Hello Blog buddies! 

I hope this post finds you well rested and bushy-tailed.

I've very much enjoyed my holidays and whilst I'm sad to be going back to school, the sense of doom isn't as pertinent as it usually is, not sure why.

I've somehow managed to largely avoid blogging which is sad in some senses though I have been busy with other things.

I thought I'd write about what I've been up to since the end of school.

Friday 19th:

After school, CBC and I attended his Arts faculty's Christmas party at someone's house. This was fun. I wore a black velvet dress with a white snowflake collar from Hellbunny which I picked up in the charity shop in 2019. It was a nice party with some delicious food. CBC made a Dauphinoise potato dish for it (this is one of many this holiday!), the 2nd he'd made this week!

Saturday 20th:

After a lateish start with some housework being done and a brief trip into town, CBC headed off to meet his old work colleague for late lunch and I prepared to go to church in the next town for our Carols on the Green.  I really didn't want to cycle as there's a really steep hill up to it and I knew I'd be really sweaty and I was going dressed up for both warmth for the outside carols as well as heading into London later.  I left later than was ideal for walking there and was going to be late. I couldn't seem to find anyone on the church Whatsapp who was going that way so I walked.  I was going to take a field shortcut but it was a bog so had to walk the main road instead.  As I reached a certain junction where I would be taking a back road and was going to be late, I saw a van stop at the junction and decided to see if I could hitch a lift!  Luckily, this driver was kind enough to allow me to hop in and he dropped me near to the green. The carols were really lovely. I played my flute and there was a really big crowd. The weather was kind to us this year- mild and not rainy- unlike last year! At the end, I scarpered fairly quickly to reach the nearest station to take a train into London.  I exited at Tower Hill and walked across a heaving Tower Bridge to meet CBC at the Bridge Theatre where we were going to watch the highly acclaimed new production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. The show was superb with a excellent cast and mesmerising scenery.  Our interval snacks were the slightly unconventional Cinnamon Bun and Sourdough bread! The walk to Fenchurch Street was quick with a weird need to change trains at an intermediate station!

Sunday 21st:

The next morning, I headed to church to play my flute and enjoy the last service of Advent and then onto the sister church for the nativity service which was chaotic but fun! I filled up my toilet cleaner bottles from the church's refill station whilst I was there.  I cycled home and then CBC and I headed into town to buy some presents and then ended up booking at table for the final day of service at Prairie- the vegan Barbecue restaurant. We were their final ever table booking and enjoyed an amazing lot of Vegan food!

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Monday 22nd:

I headed into Southend-on-Sea on the train to meet my friend Margaret.  We had a delightful walk along the seafront to Leigh-on-Sea, stopping briefly in their Refill room for a coffee and then walked back to Southend. We hoped to have lunch in Sababa, amazing Veggie falalel restaurant but it was closed for Christmas so we headed to Utopia Lounge for milkshakes and sandwiches.  It was getting late by then so I walked back to the station to get home. CBC was cross with me as he was waiting for me to be home earlier and consequently hadn't done anything. I helped him wrap and post Christmas parcels last minute  We ate some dinner and the kettle caused a power trip!

Tuesday 23rd:

After a delicious fried breakfast, we spent the morning cleaning and tidying and then CBC and I went to go and buy a new kettle after last night. Soup and some packing in the evening.

Wednesday 24th:

Sorted the house, packed and then recorded our Christmas musical video to send to family and friends- O Holy Night with C on cello and me on piano and then Deck the Hall with me on flute and him on Harpsichord!  We then drove to my Dad's house in Kent to spend Christmas with him, my Stepmum and little sister.  We arrived in time for a delicious Lasagne! The perfect dinner!

Thursday 25th:

Christmas day was spent with scrambled eggs on muffins for breakfast and then shared presents. I was SO happy that CBC loved his Blackwatch tartan suit that I bought him on Vinted to match the trousers he loved and already had. It came with blazer, waistcoat AND trousers-I only bought it for the jacket as he'd said he wanted a tartan jacket as a throwaway comment a month ago and I tried to find the same ones as the trousers he had.  Luckily enough, the additional trousers were a better fit than the ones he already had so that was a bonus! The whole suit only cost me about £25! I also bought him coffee beans, a Ted Baker shirt (charity shop) and a book he had liked from an indy bookshop.  

My family liked their presents. I'd bought them things they'd wanted but also some extra bits. My dad was especially pleased with pickled slaw in a glass jar I'd picked up! I was pleased with the hardback books I'd bought them. The Jackfruit chronicles which was biography and recipes from a Bangladeshi woman for my stepmum, The History of the Apple for my dad and a children's poetry book for my sister.  They bought me some treats and my sister bought me a cute mushroom necklace, a massive Squirrel mug, mint chocolate crisps and my Stepmum and Dad bought me some flute music I wanted including a piece for piccolo and alarm clock - you order comes with an alarm clock!

Christmas dinner was DELICIOUS!! Favourite meal of the year!!!! My stepmum does the BEST roast potatoes and sprouts!

We had a game of Carcasonne and then did an Escape Room challenge in a box which I was given a few years ago set on the Orient Express.  We completed it EVENUALLY with a few hiccups!

Boxing Day:

We had bacon sandwiches for breakfast and then I took the dog for a walk with my Dad and C. 

My sister, niece and BiL came over at lunchtime. We had a lovely dinner of Roast Chicken and gammon and had a game of Herd Mentality as well as a fun game of Quick Stop, a great game I bought for my sister for Christmas. I love it!  Later that evening, after my sister et al went home, my sister and I had a brief game of Qwirkle (an unlucky game for me!) and then her boyfriend came over- he works for search and rescue so had been on shift from 24th-27th for 12 hours a day!

December 27th:

After breakfast, we headed for a walk at Lullingstone country park, my sister and dad had to leave us as the dog had been having some ear problems so they got him an emergency appointment, and CBC and I had a longer walk which we really enjoyed, I spotted a few mushrooms!  We drove back to get our luggage and bid goodbye to my stepmum (others still at the vet) and drove back to Essex. A brief turn around, eating left-over soup and then my Mum, sister and niece headed over to ours.  We had some crisps and lots of tea, opened presents and then my sister and I drove to go and fetch a Chinese takeaway! We ate most of it, watched Harry Potter and had a couple of games of Pass The Bomb and Herd Mentality! CBC and I headed to bed.

December 28th:

Church started a 10.30 instead of 9.15 this morning and was a united service for both churches so was delightfully packed! It was a super service and the first time I've been there for this post-Christmas service which felt very special.  Back home was a very lazy day and then we cooked more roasted veg from my 5p Lidl bargains bought at least a week ago! Started packing.

December 29th:

We packed and drove to Hexham in Northumberland. I packed a lot of car snacks! We arrived around 7.30pm and enjoyed a hearty lentil and veg soup from CBC's Mum, J, who we were pleased to see!

December 30th:

After a lazy start, I slept really, really well (which is a rarity in recent times- stupid 40's cortisol body!) and then we headed into town. We looked round the shops, buying a new game in Mr Wolf and having a lovely catch up natter to Mrs Wolf, and then met J for lunch in Small World cafe which had a super new menu! I had a crunchy chicken foccacia and milkshake!  C and I headed to Corbridge to go and pick up tickets for the Allendale Ceilidh from a lady who had a virus and couldn't go. This was a miracle for us as it had sold out in 2 hours, months ago and there was a massive waiting list. But we were the only 2 on the waiting list so they were ours!!! CBC dropped me at the bottom of the hill and I went to drop in on my friends Jane and Chris. Their son and his family had just arrived for the new year and I ended up not chatting to J and C at all as I got embroilled in two BRILLIANT new games- Whirly Derby (marble run races!) which I came last in and Scrawl (a hysterical mixture of Pictionary and Chinese whispers!) which I came a respectable 2nd in.  I chatted to T's wife, who is a teacher, and then headed home up the hill.  J prepared salmon and potatoes and then we watched another Harry Potter and headed to bed.

December 31st:

Another late start.  CBC and I went to the supermarkets to buy food for our new year's day meal.We had some yummy canapes and then we got dressed up headed into town to go and watch the Berlin Philharmonic concert live screening at the Forum Cinema. This was superb.  After this, we headed off to Allendale for the ceilidh.  We walked into the village hall feeling a bit awkward as we didn't know anyone or where to sit but luckily, one of the organisers invited us to sit at his table and we felt better. I wore a green patterned J Crew charity shopped dress, an Isle of Skye tartan Tam O'Shanter and CBC wore his new Blackwatch tartan suit!  The village hall was quite compact but it was SO much fun dancing! Every one was very friendly and I felt I danced quite well! At 9am, it was supper time and we enjoyed Chilli and rice and then Apple cake and custard! There were a couple of new dances which were brilliant! Had a lovely moment, where two really nice girls, who'd danced in our set, put their arms around me and did a gig in glee at how well we'd danced together. I felt so welcomed!More dancing and then at 11.30pm, we walked into the village centre to see the Tar Barrel burning parade

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January 1st:

The next morning, after a very late wake up, CBC and I headed out for a walk in Swallowship woods.  We were really glad to do this as it was a bright day and it was good to get out. I saw a few fungi though not loads.  We headed back via the Coop to pick up J a newspaper. I picked up some bargains- Mint matchmakers reduced to 89p a box, mini cheeseburger canapes for £1.26 and a cheese, olives and chacuterie platter for £2.25!  We had some canapes back home and then CBC and I prepared the dinner of Prawn, Salmon and Whitewine wellington, potato dauphinoise, brussels and pancetta and prawn skewers to start! It was delicious! I went to pack.

January 2nd:

We had a bit of a fraught start to the day with getting packed and aiming to leave by 9.00am (ended up being later!), bid goodbye to J and then drove to York to visit the National Railway Museum.  We JUST made out slot in time, after finding some parking around a half mile walk away.  It was so much fun.  The drive back to Essex was not so fun as CBC's clutch started behaving very oddly and thank the LORD, it finally gave out completely as we tried to get into the drive! It could have been very dangerous if it had gone on our journey! We ate left-over Potato dauphinoise and brussels and pancetta and I watched Stranger Things 5 finale.

January 3rd:

I slept so well! CBC woke me at 9.30am with porridge and tea. This was nice!  Did some washing and sorting and tidying through the day. A mechanic  called in to look at the car! New clutch needed! I cycled to town to return my library books, recycle some small electricals, try (unsucessfully) to renew my train ticket, go to recycle soft plastics and then made roasted potatoes, parsnips and lemony aubergines and asparagus (Lidl reduction in Hexham) with some breaded haddock. We watched a Christmas Princess Switch and then headed to bed.

January 4th: 

I was late to church! Lovely lot of carols and celebrated an Emerald wedding anniversary with cake and tea and then I cycled to the station to renew my train ticket.  Had a bit of a faff as the system said NO and the nice vendor had to do it a very convoluted way of getting it through!

Back home, I cooked us scrambled egg on toast with masses of Three Cornered leek which has started growing in the garden already, sorted washing, hoovered, procrastinated by sorting CBC's tie and smalls drawers, did marking and then made an epic vegetable stew with carrots, swede, onions, shallots, Cannellini beans, sundried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, courgette, stock, paprika,rosemary, tarragon, three cornered leek, garlic, served with my homemade croutons and then did some more marking!

And now, I must REALLY go to bed!!!!

Mangapps Railway Museum

Today it is 200 years since the start of passenger railway travel in Britain! On 27th September 1825, George Stephen's Locomotion No. 1 travelled from Shildon to Stockton with a few hundreds of people on board.  This was a massive day in the history of travel and journeys.  As someone who spends almost 2 hours a day on board a train, this is hugely important to my life! I only realised this anniversary about 10 minutes ago as I was listening to Radio 3's Train Tracks show with music and words relating to train travel.  You can read more about it here and catch up on BBC sounds.

It's totally serendipitous, therefore, that I was going to publish my visit to a railway museum.

I hope you enjoy my day out with trains!

Back in mid-August, CBC's brother and his partner came out to see us and had a day out together.  We went out cycling and ended up cycling to Essex Marina to take the Burnham ferry (it's a motorboat that travels in the Summer months) to Burnham-on-Crouch.  This town is served by a branch railway line and you arrive on the jetty in the centre of town.  Sadly, the guy who has been running it for years has recently had to give up the business due to some sort of life-changing health condition and it's being currently run by a new owner and helped out by some other sailors.  The guy who picked us up used to be a Police-diver.

In Burnham, we went to go and have some fish and chips for lunch from Essex's best fish-and-chip shop and after a tea and cake in a nice cafe next door, we cycled onto our next destination,  Mangapps railway museum!

Run entirely by volunteers and on private land, this is a railway museum with lots to see and do.

We saw this old tube train outside as we arrived.

Inside there is loads of wonderful old signs and posters and benches.

It is quite extensive inside but not overwhelming somewhere vast like York railway museum.

You could get onto and up close to lots of the stock.

Every hour, you can take a short train ride to the other end of the field!

You could tell the volunteers LOVE what they do!

I miss trains being like this!!! Honestly, more comfortable than the current ones!

At the end of the field, we got out for a stop.

It was  Diesel running that day but they do have steam days.

Here was our noble steed.

Here's a rare picture of CBC!

The volunteers were very knowledgeable!

I enjoyed looking in the station master's office and a waiting room and a signal box!

There's SO many pieces of history to look at.

One couple got to have a go at changing the signals. We were in a bit of a hurry to see round as we had arrived fairly close to closing time so wanted to see round rather than try this.

You can see the signals change as you do it which was very cool and see what safety measures are in place to stop an accident.

You could go inside most of the trains and there were items relating to railway people and their jobs, model trainsets and much more.

I really enjoyed having a wander through this tube train by myself!

I used to love those black shiny handholds when I was a child!

Here's the signal box you could climb!

 We really enjoyed it and I really recommend you go to visit it if you are ever in Essex. Here's the website for details.  You can get there by train by travelling from Liverpool Street to Wickford where you change for the Southminster line (usually only one an hour) and go to Burnham-on-Crouch. Many people like to go crabbing here too!

After this, we cycled back towards Burnham and got the return ferry before cycling back home. We took them out to dinner and then they headed back to London.