Gloucs & Worcs (June '19) - Day 9

3 sunny / hot days in a row - aka, Summer! Up to 30 degrees today - the hottest of the year!

Today was what I think might turn out to be a  "typical" touring day - doing very little but enjoying every moment of it.

It started with a cup of tea in bed looking out the window at the morning Worcestershire sunshine. Followed by a fry up and a long reading session in the heat of the midday sun. Tilly has made friends with the old couple at the van next door and bolts over there at every opportunity.

View from the bedroom window

Big news - we tried out Brunnehilda's shower for the first time today - separately obviously!! She works really well - although a couple of lessons learnt ... the plug hole is so small it doesn't take much hair to block it up and ... 2 showers just about used up a whole tank of water! Luckily this wonderful site has taps at every pitch so Brunnehilda could be quickly and easily re-filled.

Squeaky clean we headed off for an afternoon trip out. Firstly to a caravan accessory shop near Leominster. Its website suggested it had a showroom the size of a small field with every conceivable item under the sun you might need for your caravanning pleasure -we wanted a chair. In reality it was a room the size of a suburban new build lounge- the power of marketing?

Ah well, undeterred we went onto Ludlow. The countryside in this part of the world is beautiful. Although we concluded that when it came to "poshness", we suspected the good folk of Worcestershire probably looked down their noses a bit at the Herefordians.

Ludlow is a wonderful little town - lots of history, a castle, a river, quant streets and shops. Mind you try getting a cup of tea / coffee after 4.30 on a Saturday afternoon!? Thankfully Costa came to our rescue and we enjoyed our iced coffee watching the world go by just outside the castle gates.

View from our seat outside Ludlow Castle main entrance

As the day was so hot we couldn't leave the dogs (aka Dumb and Dumber) in the car and had to bring them with us. So we had 2 pulling, wheezing, snarling, whining dogs to negotiate around Ludlow. Now here's a confession ... whenever I saw other people's kids I always thought ours were a credit to us and better behaved. The opposite is true when it comes to dogs - everyone else's dogs seem to be walking peacefully to heal while ours are like a couple of leashed Direwolfs.

Dumb and Dumber aka The Direwolfs

Home to the Old Orchard via Tescos at Stourport to buy tea and get rid of breakfast!! We ate outside, We weren't treated to a gorgeous sunset but it was a beautiful evening, the temperature now much more comfortable - even cool enough to take the dogs for a walk around the fields - although they hardly deserved it!

A smashing day was rounded off by live streaming the Killers set from Glastonbury on my i-phone and my Harmen Karden speakers (part of my leaving present from work).

Brandon being live streamed into Brunnehilda

And so to bed .. the last day of our first real trip with Brunnehilda and Isabella. Hopefully this first of many more to come.

In the words of Brandon ... "I got soul but I'm not a soldier!"

Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 8

The Old Orchard site sits on top of a hill. Not only does this give it the great views but it also provides a gentle cooling breeze which, given the heat of the sun today, was as appreciated as the vista.

The discipline of writing this blog has become my new “work e-mail”. What I mean by that is I don’t look forward to it, know if I don’t do it I’ll regret it and feel very virtuous when it is complete. I suppose that is no bad thing as it helps “wean” me off work and into a non-work life?!

When the weather is good you do spend virtually every second of the day outdoors. Just in 2 days of sun my skin is resembling a cricket ball towards the end of its active life.

The late night last night meant a bit of lie in. A leisurely coffee enjoying the morning sun and then off to Tesco’s at Stourport on Severn. For the purpose of this blog it was to stock up with a few provisions (beer and things) but if you refer back to yesterdays blog and this site’s lack of certain facilities, you may work out for yourselves the main reason for the 5 mile trip. 

Stourport is a weird (but interesting) place. Lots of water activity with the river and the canal but it reminded me of a sea side resort with its big fair, crazy golf, amusements and slightly tired high street. Definitely worth a proper visit at some stage.

The heavy traffic in Stourport (I think the river crossing makes it a bit of a bottle neck) meant we didn’t get back to the site until 12.45. Bobby and I got Isabella up and pegged out in under 90 minutes. She glided on fairly easily (the silicon spray definitely helping), the wind didn’t help the pole erection but overall this was the best yet and a B+ score for speed and elegance of final finish!

Tilly even chipped in!

Time for a very quick lunch of Heinz beans, sourdough toast and Oxford sauce http://oxfordfinefood.com/baron-pouget%E2%80%99s-oxford-sauce.html/. I am specific about the ingredients of this seemingly simple lunch because you may want to replicate it? It’s a wonderful spin on a basic meal. OMG, now I’m giving culinary advice ... whatever next?

We walked the 45 minute walk into Ombersley village. The route through tiny back roads and bridleways was great. I think we only met one car and no other dog walkers - which was a bit strange really given the loveliness of the weather?

We planned to meet Kim at Ombersley but she had a horrendous journey (partly caused by heavy traffic and partly caused by ... oh well, let’s just leave it at that!). We waited for about an hour. Firstly at a splendid little local coffee shop / butchers called Checketts https://www.checketts.co.uk/ and then, to avoid the heat of the sun, under the shade of the trees in the park opposite.

Back to Brunnehilda for Kim to tag Bobby and send him home. He did the journey in half the time - the traffic was clearly better?

We went into Worcester for an evening stroll by the river and a very nice Chinese / Malay meal at the Singapore Restaurant http://www.singaporerestaurant.co.uk/  The food was very tasty and very generous helpings. Highly recommend the satay sticks! I think our enjoyment of the food was further enhanced by how bloody hungry we both were by this time (about 8.30).

When we returned, we planned to have a cup of tea and a game of backgammon - in the spirit of the rock and roll lifestyle we were now leading - but Brunnehilda’s big bed was more tempting to our tired limbs so, that’s where we went.

Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 7

Another moving day and another blazing hot day with cloudless skies. It’s just all the pooey weather in between!

The strip down went well. Isabella came off her rails without a hitch and Bobby and I got everything packed up and ready to go fairly effortlessly. We even had time for a shower and a very pleasant cafetière of Tewksbury coffee. On the road by midday and this time with some pre-planning! We dropped down to pick up the M5 so we could breakfast at Trensham Services https://www.roadchef.com/motorway-service-area-strensham - which by the way is fabulous for us caravaners!

We arrived at The Old Orchard, Ombersby (just north of Worcester) at about 1.30  https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/certificated-locations/england/worcestershire/worcester/the-old-orchard/https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/certificated-locations/england/worcestershire/worcester/the-old-orchard/. And what a site this is? Huge flat pitches with views to die for. No shower and toilet but hey personal hygiene is a small price to pay for a location like this. We met a really nice old couple from the Lake District who were in their 48th year of caravanning!! They couldn’t have been nicer though. Caravan couples do seem to like to talk but, to be fair, the ones we have come across so far have been extremely friendly and helpful.

I set up and, as Bobby had a strong 4G signal, he did his work from the van. I took Tilly for a walk around the farmers fields- a real treat for us both. The views across to the Malverns were great and the weather / temperature was about perfect. We headed off to Worcester at about 4pm.

How have I got to being 60 (next week) without visiting Worcester? What a great place - lots of history and so pretty. We walked along the river, by the Cathedral and then down the main pedestrianised shopping street. We bought a coffee at Patt Val and drank it in the sun by the river watching the workers rushing home from work- gee, it’s a tough life!?

When we got back to Brunnehilda we both decided it was too nice an evening to mess about with Isabella - the awning would have to wait to the morning! I read and Bobby did some more work. We then had a 45 minute walk around the farmers crop fields. Building up quite an appetite in the evening sunshine.

We feasted on “posh” tinned soup - not this cheap Heinz stuff for us - while we watched the sun setting over the Malverns - a totally idyllic end to a good day.

When the sun went in and Bobby had finished his work we managed 4 games of backgammon and a round or 2 of cards. Modesty won’t allow me to tell you who won (convincingly!) the backgammon but let’s just say beginners luck clearly doesn’t last forever!!

Bobby has been a perfect travel companion - always tolerant, always positive and always fun - but I’m looking forward to Kim joining Brunnehilda, Isabella and I tomorrow.

Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 6

One of the great things I’ve noticed about being retired is that I don’t spend half my holiday thinking how far through my holiday I am! I’m more than half way through / I’m 3/4s the way through / This time next week it’ll be over. I didn’t realise I did this until I didn’t!

Any way .. onto the travel blog.
A dry, windy(ish) and cold day - considering the time of year!

Another lazy morning. By the time we had got up, got ready and had breakfast it was gone midday. Breakfast in Isabella - yesterday was so miserable we stayed in Brunnehilda to eat,  I suspect if we had just a little sun this morning it would have got us out altogether?!

We went to the over side of the Malverns today - the Welsh side. That was via B&Q for the regular purchase of bigger and longer screws for the badly designed dinette. It is such a shame, Brunnehilda is wonderful apart from this one silly little issue!

Bobby, Tilly and I had a great couple of hours up the hills. We climbed a couple of the peaks and enjoyed the Malvern spring water we had filled up with down below in the car park. The views were hampered by the low cloud but it didn’t spoil our enjoyment. I managed to fall over - I reached out to Bobby for a steadying hand but that didn’t stop my graceless full. Bobby says it was his slippery coat that made me lose my grip ... I think he moved himself out of the way?!

A stop at Waitrose on the way hone to stock up with the essentials - bread and beer!

Kim and the boys came over for the evening - it was great to see them all. They arrived at about 5.30. Another nice meal at the Robin Hood - the boys loved the play area in the garden. Needless to say, the weather meant we had the large garden and play area to ourselves! I would highly recommend the food and the value of this place. The staff are just a little on the glum side - certainly didn’t see many smiles - but hey, you can’t have everything.

We wrapped up as warm as we could for a walk on the Common. The boys and the dogs enjoyed the leg stretch. Back to Brunnehilda for drink, cake, ice cream and chocolate before they set off for home - about 9 pm. It was lovely to see them- Brunnehilda does seem small though with 3 adults, 3 children and 2 dogs going about their business!

Bobby has a bit of a cold coming on so we didn’t want too late a night. Although by the time we played a game of backgammon (he beat me again!) and watched another offering from the Coen Brothers collection, it was nearly midnight.

Big day tomorrow- another moving experience!

Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 5

I think that’s one of my new favourite sounds ... the sound of rain on the caravan / awning roof when you’re lying in bed and have no where particular to go!

OMG, did it rain ... from about 4 in the morning until midday it threw it down. Good news ... Isabella didn’t leak. First job this morning - after breakfast - was to peg her down internally. Then we wasted time until the rain stopped.

Bobby had a call to make at 2.30 so we headed out to find a coffee shop in Tewksbury. This particular venue was chosen as I wanted to browse the wonderful second hand map shop on the High Street. Cornell Maps https://www.cornellmaps.co.uk/ didn’t disappoint - if you ever need an old OS this is like Aladdin’s cave.

When Bob was taking care of business, Tilly and I had a stroll along the river / canal. She has been confined to the lead for 3 months and is relishing the chance to stretch her legs again. This included chasing after all the bird life - until I read the sign about that particular field bring some sort of world heritage site for rare bird breeds! Thankfully she is too slow / dumb to catch anything!

After walks / work we met up at Miss Muffet’s Deli https://missmuffetsdelicatessen.co.uk/ coffee shop. Lovely friendly staff and a vegetarian Scotch Egg that I couldn’t recommend highly enough. Who would have thought it ... a veggie option (based around a cheese and potato mix) that was far better than the original meat based version?!

Then onto Ledbury for an early evening stroll round the town. We went in a beautiful old church - to be fair it was the only thing open. St Michael’s http://www.ledburyparishchurch.org.uk/guide.html was so peaceful and tranquil - reminded me what I have always known, old church’s are wasted on the religious.

Before we tucked into our soup, beer and sourdough bread back in Brunnehilda , we did a 45 minute circular walk around the Castlemorton Common - just 2 mins drive from the campsite. It was as interesting and beautiful as it was damp and wild! Apparently there was a very famous rave there 35 year ago - it was hard to imagine 30,000 New Age travellers raving away at such a desolate place? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlemorton_Common_Festival

I taught Bobby backgammon and then he beat me on the first game - God, I’m a good teacher ... of course it might be that I’m rubbish at Backgammon!!? Another evening with the brothers Coen - this one was the Hudsucker Proxy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hudsucker_Proxy .Not as gripping as Blood Simple but certainly a funny / light view.

Just settling down in bed when .... crash! The dinette bed collapsed again- it really is a poor design. Even longer and thicker screws will he needed tomorrow.

The lousy weather and England being thrashed at cricket couldn’t spoil another nice day. Tilly’s day was going great as well, until right up to bed time ... she was sleeping under Bobby’s bed when it collapsed!!

Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 4

Moving day today. Bobby and I got an early start. A grey but dry morning - just right for the next round of our Isabella relationship.

And we did well .. by 11.30 we were driving off the pitch at Cirencester reflecting on a productive 3 hours of awning decommissioning, site pack up, caravan hitching up and personal grooming.

As the wise man said .., “Everyday is a school day!” 2 lessons learnt today:
1) Always plan your journey - we were starving (no breakfast!) but couldn’t find anywhere that obviously took caravans. Also the sat nav instructions to the next site took us through the middle of Tewksbury and 2 very scary hairpin turns.
2) The awning was hard to get off the van rails (and even harder to put on!) so next time, maybe try with the window panels out?

We got to the Foothill CL site at Castlemorton, Malvern  https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/certificated-locations/england/worcestershire/great-malvern/foothills/ at exactly 1 o’clock. The greyness burnt away and it turned into a very hot, sunny and humid afternoon. As we were starving by this time, after 30 mins taking on water, levelling and securing Brunnehilda, we went the 2 mins in the car to one of 2 very accessible pubs.

The Robin Hood  https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/category/Pub/The-Robin-Hood-Castlemorton-Malvern-1391018187834971/ was a great choice. Great food choice very reasonable priced and a big garden for Tilly to join us in the afternoon sunshine. Not sure if it was because we were so hungry but OMG it was a splendid lunch. We could have gone for even better value lunchtime offers but the smaller potions didn't seem so attractive at the time!

The weather and the pub lunch must have invigorated us because we decided on an afternoon romp up onto the Malvern Hills. Stupidly we neither had coins for a car park or water for the scorching hot afternoon - clearly missing Kim’s un-appreciated planning skills!! It was a stiff climb to the top but we were rewarded with the stunning views and a rather embarrassing inflated sense of achievement. Tilly was on the lead most of the time - which was handy going up but positively dangerous going down!

The visit to Morrison’s to stock up was a very weary one. A stop to take on fluids at MacDonalds helped. Then back to the site and what a great site Foothills is. The site is like a very big beautifully cared for lawn and Mr Lowe was as genuine and friendly bloke you are likely to meet! After a brief “rest” for me and some work on line for Bobby, we attempted Isabella election part 2!

It was a hard fought 2 hour 5 minute battle but I think we just about won! I must the say the slight slope back to front didn’t help us!

The busy (physically and mentally) day meant that the beer and beans on toast with Oxford sauce at 10pm was pure nectar. Just time to watch Blood Simple on the DVD while trying to stay awake - although that’s not fair to the Coen Brothers - it’s a very good film! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Simple

A splendid day .. a more restful one scheduled tomorrow- especially as the rain is due back!

Gloucs & Worcs (June '19) - Day 3

Bobby came over with dogs late last night. We headed off for a late night shop st Tesco’s to buy a quilt and some more essentials. By the time we met up and got the car parked it was well after 11. Kim made up the dinette bed. It looked as long as the fixed bed so I had s quick try - crack, bang, scrape ... I was on the floor and the bed had collapsed! To be fair to Brunnehilda I may not have clicked it into place properly but ... the design (4 very small screws holding it up)  is not great! We got it propped up on cushions to allow it to be used as a bed.
Oh, BTW, it is as long as the other bed!!

Weather not as good today but all had a good night. 3 adults and 2 rather confused collies fitted in and all seemed to have had a good night sleep?
The sun did poke it’s head out for a bit after we finished another alfresco breakfast fry up. The walk through the park into Cirencester was gorgeous. We had a coffee in the sun before walking back. The dogs thoroughly enjoying the leg stretch after a confined nights sleep.

In the afternoon we went back into Cirencester with the car - lots of things to buy from DIY, pet and camping shops! We still had time for a very good value cup of tea in Cirencester town centre - £1 each. Thumbs up to Caffe Kilim (3 Market Place) ... Afterwards we walked round a rather eclectic but nevertheless impressive array of old cars being shown in the main Square.

Back to Brunnehilda for a snack. Well to be fair we snacked in Isabella as by this time the weather had broken and it was drizzling then raining then pouring, may be rubbish weather but it did prove that  Isabella is fully waterproof - yippee.

We were planning a walk into Cirencester for dinner. The weather had other plans - you can’t change the weather so just change your plans!! Yeh, screw you English June weather!
Fab meal at The Fleece https://www.thefleececirencester.co.uk/. You could have moved a small family into Kim’s steak and ale pie. My Flatbread was nice but the wrong choice.

Kim and Ben (one of the collies!) headed home at about 8.30 - well someone has to earn some money in this family!

Bobby, Tilly (the other collie) and I settled down for a restful evening - Bobby writing a work proposal, Tilly watching the dogs walking by the awning en-route to the dog exercise field and me just chilling. After 37 years of e-mail fuelled Sunday nights, I’m getting used to this chilling malarkey!

So last night was the first night with dogs, tonight is the first night without Kim!

Gloucs & Worcs (June '19) - Day 2

Thank God for Nick from Exeter!

Absolutely perfect weather today - warm and pleasant sunshine from 8 in the morning (it may have been sunny before then but we wouldn't have known!) until 9 at night.

June 22nd will forever be known as Isabella Day. Straight after a fry up in the morning sun, we started the erection of the awning. And thats where Nick from Exeter comes in .. not only did we borrow his steps (otherwise I would have never of reached the top of the van) but we took advantage of his 35 years of caravanning! And Nick wasn't the sort to pass instructions from afar ... no Nick was a get your sleeves rolled up sort of a guy.

So after an instructional couple of hours in the sun, with Nick by our side, we got Isabella fully erected. She'll do - although I want to get her a bit tidier each time I do it. I think I could become a bit anal about Isabella's lines!?

BTW Nick wasn't just some random guy - he and his wife, Helen, were in the next door van with their 6 (yes, six) perfectly behaved Cocker Spaniels.

After Isabella was safely pegged out we walked through the beautiful Great Park http://cirencesterpark.co.uk/ directly into the centre of Cirencester. A welcome cup of tea and slice of cake at Keiths http://restaurantwebexperts.com/KeithsCoffeeShop/ got us in the mood for a bit of shop browsing. Not too long though, after a 20 minute relax on a seat out side the Corn Hall we pressed on back up the hill to Brunnehilda - the Park was closed by this time so the walk home wasn't as pleasant.

The fish and chip van was visiting the caravan site and it seemed rude and inhospitable not to buy some. So while I re-pegged Isabella - I realised a big booboo (see picture) on my return - Kim went to buy some chips.

We ate the chips outside in the evening sunshine with Brunnehilda and Isabella looking splendid behind us. I'm a very lucky man - on my travels with 3 strong and beautiful women! I'll get the sick bag ....

Gloucs & Worcs (June ‘19) - Day 1

Trip 2 started with the first non-wet June day for a couple of weeks. Kim went off to earn some money for the morning leaving me to get everything packed in the car. That task was completed relatively easily which lulled me into a false sense of security for downloading some viewing material - my Mac wasn’t having any of it so I packed the Sopranos full box set and a box set of Cohen Brothers films -about 6 weeks of viewing for a 9 day trip!

We got to Brunnehilda at about 2.15 and were on the road before 2.45. I was particularly proud of the fact I didn’t use the mover to get her hitched. Quiyte sad really but a fair reflection of my current reversing confidence! The Volvo’s reversing camera was particularly useful though. All went off without a problem until we noticed after a few hundred yards that we were mirror less! Easily fixed and back on our way.

An uneventful 2 hour journey down the Fosse Way arriving at Cirencester Park Caravan Club https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/cotswolds/gloucestershire/cirencester-park-caravan-club-site/site just before 5. The lady who signed us in was particularly smiley and helpful. Stopped at the Motorhome station to fill up with water - no aqua roll lugging for Brunnehilda. 60 mins later and we were  all set up - except the awning! We put that off until the morning. I did feel a bit of a caravan newbie though. Partly because Kim was stopping everyone that was walking by and telling them we were first timers but mainly because I used the mover for the most simple of backing moves - the plots are very big and easy to access so I really should have left the mover controller in the glove box!

  

It was a gorgeous evening so we walked into Cirencester. We had a very adequate Indian at a place called Sultans https://www.sultancirencester.com/#/. It was top of the Trip Advisor list but the Peshwari Nast was the only thing that I had that justified such a high score - IMHO! A trip to Waitrose on the way home to stock up for tomorrow mornng’s breakfast.

Time for an early night. Isabella awaits us in the morning and I think she is going to be quite a demanding lady?!