One of Newport’s many mansions

Most of the issues from yesterday were resolved this morning delaying our departure on the bus to Newport. One outstanding problem remains in that I can’t call US numbers on my mobile. Every US number I try I get the same message “the number you have called is not recognised”

I chatted to Three and spoke to them on the phone, followed all their advice to no avail. Tried all the variations of international dialling codes. In the end I Skyped the number instead and got some answers to our RV issues.

Rather than unhook the RV we took the bus to Newport. It was late and in the evening we had a cold wait in a draughty bus station back to the campsite. No wonder public transport is not popular!

And what about Newport? It was a place of three halves. The bit around the harbour was OK; not as I imagined it. There were quaint parts but not as many as I expected. And the rest of the town outside the historic streets is the same as you’d get anywhere in the US.

The second half was a walk up Bellevue Avenue past many huge mansions and other large homes built by people of wealth from New York who came here in the summer months. Many of these grand houses overlook the ocean, todays blip being of one of these grand houses from the third half of our Newport experience: the cliff top trail, along the seaward side of the mansions back downtown.

One disappointment was not being able to take a “trip around the bay” on the Harbour Shuttle. We were waiting at the quayside some 15 minutes after the advertised departure time when the harbourmaster came along and said he didn’t think they were running today as he’d not seen them today or this week. Being harbourmaster you’d think he’d know.