Thursday August 4th 2022

10:30 Lois and I drive off to Harrington, Northamptonshire, to spend the night there as Leg 1 of our trip to Newmarket for my niece Maria's marriage to Tom.

Today is also, by coincidence, the 50th anniversary of my famous car accident, 3 weeks before our wedding, which I can't remember due to post-traumatic amnesia (amnesia about the accident not the wedding haha) - yikes! But I try not to think about that today.

The route we take is the one worked out by our GPS Sat-Nav. I was lazy and didn't take the trouble to work out my own route - so, as punishment the GPS gives us spells on 3 different motorways, M69, M6 and M1, not necessarily in that order. What madness!!!!

On the return journey I'll try and work out the quiet route.

12:00 We arrive and check in at one of the lovely barn-conversion cottages on a working farm, Church Farm. It's an area we've stayed in before, in the rolling Northamptonshire farmlands, near to the site of the civil war Battle of Naseby (1645), where Oliver Cromwell was the victor.

You must remember the old Monty Python song "Oliver" sung to the tune of the well-known Chopin music-hall song, "Heroic Polonaise".

And that's just the start of this marathon song haha!

Our accommodation here at Harrington proves to be just lovely. We like it when it's "woody", that's for sure!

It's a lovely room with everything we want in it. And what could be better than to have a gourmet pub just across the road. Spooky isn't it! After much thought  - well, only for about 2 seconds, really - we decide to have lunch there.

The pub is called "The Tollemache Arms" after the family that used to be lords of the manor here. 

Do you know how long it is since Lois and I stayed in a B&B or hotel? The last time was in September 2019 in those glorious pre-pandemic days, at Dean Steep, near Lynton, Devon.

flashback to September 2019 - the last time

we stayed at any B&B or hotel

Happy days !!!!!!!

18:00 We stagger across the road to the Tollemache Arms again, to have an evening meal, but when we leave we're feeling stuffed to the gills - my god! We're only used to small meals these days - oh dear!

19:30 We stagger back across the road to our room, but all we're fit for now is the crossword and the Only Connect puzzle in next week's Radio Times. My god!

The Only Connect categories prove to be (1) words for to cheat, (2) upper body garments, (3) famous wrestlers, and (4) films starring Nicolas Cage. Somehow we manage to drag these associations out from the back of our heads, and then we move on to the crossword.

21:00 We finish the day with a look at TV, the old Marilyn Monroe / Jane Russell film, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", before turning out the light.

 

The TV is not that big, and it's high up on a wall and quite a long way from the bed. Also they've doctored the volume control so you can't have it on too loud - sensible really, so you don't disturb other guests. So we have to manage with the subtitles, which are working, luckily.

Not that we're getting old or anything haha!

22:00 Zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!