A day in Clovelly- 31st Jul ‘19

It’s amazing how quickly a morning disappears!! Charlie and I slept in Isabella - the new camp beds were good. It was a little chilly in the night and the wind howled but we both managed to sleep well. Better than Kim did with the Twinnies thrashing about! We all woke at 8 and it was 1.30pm before we had had tea in bed, breakfasted (used the Caddy again!), washed up, ablutted, put a load of washing on, emptied the toilet cassette and took the boys for a quick bike ride.

We decided to go to Clovelly this afternoon. We didn’t really do our homework - I knew it was a walk down through the village to the harbour but I didn’t remember it being so bloody steep and cobbled! If we had realised we might have chosen more appropriate footwear. The boys did well and we got to the bottom, ate a pasty, had an ice cream, walked on the pebbled beach and got back to the top - all in a very enjoyable 3 hour stay. 

On the way back up the hill we had some caricatures done of the boys. These will embarrass them for decades to come! The guy was very good if not a little over assertive with both sitters and guardians! I suppose you need to be and he did a good job.

Back to Woolacombe for another game of Pirate Golf and dinner back at the Red Barn. This place is growing on me - the food is plentiful and good, it’s reasonably priced, the people are nice and, considering it’s so busy, they seem very efficient. Ice creams all round and then back to Brunnehilda.

Charlie didn’t  want to sleep in Isabella tonight so Kim and I had a manic 30 mins doing some packing up prep to make tomorrow morning just a little less stress full!

I’ll do a summary of the Damage Barton site tomorrow but in the meantime I thought I would summarise the highs and lows of our caravanning week.

Good - we got Brunnehilda set up safely and easily on quite a fierce slope.

Bad - I wasn’t happy with how Isabella. looked - not as tight as I would have liked.

Good - the awning light and carpet are great - good buys.

Bad - the inner tent and blow up mattress were a disappointment.

Good - we managed well with all 5 of us inside overnight. Not bad in a 3 berth!

Good - we slept in Isabella for the first time. Even in a gale force wind she stood firm!

A Rainy Day in Okehampton & Stormy night in Ilfracombe - 30th Jul ‘19

An absolutely horrible weather  day - rain and strong winds from when we got up to when we went to bed.

Like the rest of North Devon, we decided that the weather was so poor that the only possible activity would be an indoor one! Kim was on the Net first thing in the morning looking for a spare cinema seat showing Toy Story 4. She found one in Okehampton - about 45 Devin miles aka over 90 minute drive.
It was worth it though - Toy Story 4 had a big thumbs up from all 5 of us - aged 4 to 60 - so good going Mr Disney / Pixar! We all agreed it was every bit as good as the first Toy Story.

After it had finished we wandered up to a park (Cummins Park) and the boys enjoyed a game of Poo Sticks while we feasted on coffee and Cornish Pasties. Why are Cornish Pasties always such a disappointment!?

The long drive back got us at Ilfracombe at about 5.30 just in time to see another beach rescue. This one there was actually a guy being resuscitated by the emergency services on the beach!! The sea was amazingly choppy and the assumption we came to as that he may have gone in after his dog?

Then it was off to the Admiral Collingwood, a Weatherspoons pub on the front. It is what it is - and for a very reasonable price we all left with full bellies! Not so full that the boys and I couldn’t squeeze in some more ice cream which we purchased from a wee stall on the harbour.

Twinnies in a 3 berth caravan in the rain brings its challenges. So we took the opportunity to get them running down a steep slope a few dozen times to burn off some of that excess pent up energy.

The wind isn’t really abating so I bought a universal awning strapping kit which I was assured would fit Isabella. You guessed it - it didn’t so it will go back tomorrow. My conclusion and advice for all, which ironically I have known all my working life - there is no such thing as good value, functional generic fit thing. It fits 80% of stuff badly and 20% of stuff not at all!!

Anyway the day finished on a high - Finners did a poo in the toilet. Which is good news for everyone apart perhaps from me as I’ve got to empty the cassette on Thursday morning!

Crabbing in Lee Bay & Crazy Golf at Ilfracombe - 29th Jul ‘19

I’m not sure I like short term weather forecasts being so bloody accurate? They said the rain and the wind would start at 4pm - and it did!

To be fair we did manage to fit some fun stuff in before the weather struck back!

Croissants from the camp shop made for a nice breakfast. By the time we were all abluted it was nearly midday.

We decided to go to our beach (Lee Bay) at the foot of the campsite. We didn’t fancy the 45 minute hike with the Twinnies so we drove down. Car parking was a bit traumatic but we managed it eventually and had a very pleasant hour or two amongst the rook pools. We found several dead crabs and one very much alive one that took a liking to my right index finger!

We then moved onto Ilfracombe through some very “Devon” lanes - no way Brunnehilda would have  found her way through!

We parked at the Promenade in Ilfracombe which, I have to say was half the price of its neighbour Woolacombe!

Crazy Golf was our go to destination. The good news is that Kim got the memo this time and Charlie won. The Twinnies and I tied for last place although, in my defence, we did let them count their own shots at each hole!

By the time we had finished we were starving so a quick trip to the fish and chip shop restaurant was next on the agenda  The 3rd one in 3 visits and this one was a  similar standard to the first one - the clear winner being Lynbay. I managed to leave my back pack behind at today’s so that will be another bloody trip to Ilfracombe tomorrow - we will NOT be having fish and chips!

The rain came right on schedule so we headed off to Barnstaple for a shop. First to a camping shop to spend another £100 - this time on 2 camp beds for Isabella - to replace the duff blow up mattress.
Then to Asda. The Twinnies didn’t bring any toys with them but thankfully £30 can buy a lot of fun at Asda.

Back to Brunnehilda for the normal tea, play and bed set up. It is blowing a gale tonight and after the incident with the falling tent pole (onto Kims’ head!) we decided to all pile into the safe and warm Brunnehilda.

 Sitting in bed listening to the wind howling reminds me of more money we need to spend - some heavy duty storm lashings for Isabella - does it ever stop!? The spending that is not the wind!

The forecast is rain all day tomorrow - I’m guessing they’ll be right again!!?

North Devon (July / Aug ‘19) - Day 4

Perfect weather day today. Sunny cloudless skies and 24 degrees - also, the strong westerly wind seems to have blown itself out!

George, Finners and Charlie didn’t have a great night - turns out the second hand air bed we inherited has a slow puncture! Funny, the only thing we have not bought new for our caravan adventure is a dud!

George cooked a great fry up breakfast on the Cadac and the kids caught up on Jurassic World while we got ready.

Charlie wanted more body boarding so we planned a return trip to Woolacombe. Now, and here’s a funny story with a happy ending ...
I’m not a fan of going back to the same place twice so I looked at the map and found a nice place (with car park and shop) at the other end of the Bay - somewhere called Putsborough Beach. Kim has been caught out by my “risky” geographical decisions before so she was keen to impart the importance of the decision being a good one! Well it turned out the cliff road I was looking at was a dead end - a long car park called Marine Drive where the only way down to Putsborough was a 30 minute walk / climb down the cliffs with Twinnies, body boards, buckets, spades and Grandmas. Oh how we all laughed when we realised!! Anyway, as it turned out, we went as far as we could go with the cars down a track and stumbled across a steep but scalable and short(ish) path down to a perfect part of the beach with hardly anyone there. The weekend hordes were all at either end of the beach and we were in the middle - a classic case of victory bring snatched from the arms of defeat. Unsurprisingly, I modestly didn’t claim any credit for the turnaround in our fortunes!

Anywho.. we passed away a very pleasant afternoon doing all the beachy things but with much less people and more dogs than yesterday - what’s not to like?! Turns our Charlie is a natural at body boarding. The water temp and waves were about perfect. For swimming too.

At the end of the afternoon a clamber up the hot sand dunes and steep path was brightened up for us all by Kim falling flat on her face into the dunes!! Then off to Ilfracombe ...

Laura and George fancied proper seaside fish and chips before they headed home. Kim consulted Trip Advisor and we found s fantastic place called Lynbay Fish and Chips https://www.lynbayfishandchipsilfracombe.co.uk/ Lovely staff, perfect chips, gorgeous fish (I had hake!) and iPads for the kids to play with! Another success for Trip Advisor and defo a recommendation from the Pitts and MacArthur clan.

A Cornish ice cream cone with clotted cream whilst watching the boats in the harbour was a perfect end to the day.

Back to Brunnehilda for goodbyes and then Laura & George hit the road for the long drive home.
The Twinnies and Charlie played while grandma and grandad had an evening cup of tea watching the sun set over the Bristol Channel - or is it the Atlantic?!

Either way, all is quiet on the “Viking” front so we cross our fingers and go again!

North Devon (July / Aug ‘19) - Day 3

A bit of writers block tonight so this one is going to be a short one.

Early to rise and after a cup of tea in bed, Charlie and I went off to shower. Then to Sainos at Barnstaple to buy string and other assorted provisions. Of course it would be rude to leave without having some breakfast - so we did. Arriving back at Brunnehilda at about 12.15.

The Twinnies arrived soon after that. I equate the arrival of the Twinnies to a peaceful Saxon coastal village in the 10th century going about their simple relaxing life and then the Viking longboats appear on the horizon and their very existence is turned upside down. Don’t get me wrong, the Twinnies don’t rape and pillage but in their excited state their noise and activity settings do have a weird effect on the unprepared.

Much like a 10 day sea crossing for the Vikings, a 7 hour car journey meant a certain degree of pent up energy needed to be exercised. So once that was done and we had had a cup of tea we headed for Woolacombe beach.

Still sunny but slightly cooler than yesterday, we had a pleasant afternoon doing the normal beachy type activities - paddling, body boarding, swimming, rock pooling, playing cricket, building sand castles and then knocking them down. All this interspersed with a lot of running around and eating copious amounts of crisps!

We decided to try out the Cadac for the first time tonight. The resultant BBQ was splendid - although by now it was bloody cold on top of our cliff and the eating was a hurried affair half inside Isabella and half outside!

By this time the Twinnies were getting tired and, in a 3 berth caravan ( as lovely as Brunnehilda is) with a freezing cold wind blowing outside, there isn’t a lot of choice of things to do so it meant that everyone joins them. To be fair, I don’t think anyone was too upset to get an early night.

Harry slept with Laura on the dinette bed and poor old George was with Charlie and Finners in Isabella. The wind continued to howl and we all said a prayer to whatever God we worshiped - for a rain free night and that the Vikings could be assimilated into our simple way of life as quickly as possible with little or no bloodshed or loss of sanity.

North Devon (July /Aug '19) - Day 2

A cracking day - productive and enjoyable so whats not to like?

It started off with a visit to the office to check in properly and guess what ... it turns out I did have Brunnehilda correctly positioned on the pitch after all. The confusion was partly due to our neighbour's (other-side) sloppiness and the campsites positioning of the markers, Either way, I wasn't at fault and Brunnehilda remained un-moved. Result - nice to start the day with a heathy dose of vindication.

So, mainly because so much happened and partly because I can't be arsed to prose this entry as neatly as I should, I have summarized the day using a chronological list of highlights. And, of course it gives me another opportunity to do a bullet list!

10 am: A visit to the camp shop to buy a toy poo, a croissant and a pan au chocolat. The first 2 were for Charlie.

10.30 am: A superb fry up. Probably the finest bacon bagel I've had for some considerable time. Good job Mrs Pitts!

11.30 am: The erection of Isabella - which, considering we were on a significant slope and the wind was howling off the Bristol Channel, it all went surprisingly well. Full erected and pegged out in about 1 3/4 hours. Charlie provided the muscle for the pegging out. One disaster though ... the centre roof pole came out during construction and crashed onto Kim's head. After a period of groggyness and the resulting cartoon like bump, an important lesson was learnt - don't erect awnings in the company of small children or without having all your wits about you!

1.30 pm: We walked for 45 minutes via a splendid footpath from the site to a little village on the sea called Lee Bay. The views (and the properties) were absolutely splendid. We walked up to the pub, called Grampus but we couldn't get a seat in the garden. We headed back to the water and bought a smashing coffee / tea from the wee stall by the car park. It tasted so much better as we drank it down by the water amongst the rock pools. By this time the sun was shining and the strong wind we had at the top of the hill had all but disappeared down at sea level.

3.30 pm: The walk back up to the campsite, along the same footpaths, still took 45 minutes but it has to be said was more of a physical challenge for the 2 older members of our party of 3!

4.30 pm: We went off to Woolacombe - about a 10 minute drive. We had a bit of a snack at the Red Barn. Not exactly high cuisine but Charlie and I cleared our plates - Chicken nuggets and Chill Nachos respectively. It was quite good value for money as it had a nice view of the beach and I was certainly tasting the chilli in my nachos several hours later! After that we had a round of Pirate Golf at Funderland. Kim won! I was holding back to let Charlie win but the current Mrs Pitts clearly hadn't read the script!

6.30 pm: A walk and a paddle on Woolacombe beach. It has apparently won an award as the UK's best beach. I for one wouldn't argue with the merits of that particular accolade. The water was nice and warm and the huge expanse of sand and water (it was high tide) was very impressive. We did witness a bit of early evening excitement though. The Coast Guard were out, on the beach and in the sea, to try and find / help a surfer who had got into trouble. I don't know how it ended but for the sake of maintaining the holiday mood lets assume everyone got home safely for their tea!?

8.30 pm: Back to the campsite and I put down the new awning carpet and put up the new light. Very impressed with them both. Not so with the inner tent though! We need some string (high tech eh?) to fix it to the awning. Charlie will have to sleep in Brunnehilda again tonight and wait to christen Isabella tomorrow with his dad.

9.30 pm: Kim and I have a cup of tea watching the sea and sky merge into blackness. I blog and Charlie watches Jurassic Park. He fell asleep again - one day he's going to finish that bloody film!

North Devon (July / Aug ‘19) - Day 1

OK so this should be getting easier? A tiring first day of our second trip and lots of schoolboy errors with Brunnehilda - and we haven’t even taken Isabella out of her bag?!

It all started well in 37 degree heat - the hottest July day ever apparently - thank goodness for Volvo air con! We picked up Charlie and were hitched up and ready to leave Whilton Locks by 11. It would have been earlier but the Sky Q box at home had chosen this morning to play up. A long wait on the phone and a very efficient lady called Helen identified the problem as a knackered HDMI cable - who would have thought?

Brunnehilda was beautifully clean - the Twinnies had helped me wash her down yesterday.

So those challenges I mentioned earlier (I can feel a bullet point list coming on - another thing that I have perversely missed since my retirement!!)
1) We have picked up a strange creaking noise at low speeds - no it’s not Kim but I suspect something rubbing. We checked everything over when we stopped at Strensham Services for lunch - all seemed ok.
2) Once again I failed to pre-plan the journey and the Sat Nav sent me down a very dodgy A road trying to cut the corner to Ilfracombe. If you ignore the Q of cars behind me it wasn’t that bad - until the fuel warning light came on and that added another layer of unwanted tension.
3) I couldn’t get Brunnehilda’s fridge to work! 30 mins later ( and yes I did consult the manual) I some how managed to press the buttons in the required random order and she fired up. The tub of ice cream in the freezer was particularly thankful.
4) It was much too windy to put up Isabella. The temperature has halfed as we have gone west. From 37 to 19 degrees.
5) The most annoying one ... I have put the caravan on the next door neighbours pitch! Only realised late on (to be fair it was my ever vigilant wife that noticed!) so I will need to up sticks and move her (Brunnehilda that is not the wife or the neighbour!) tomorrow morning. Bloody annoying but more practice with motor mover and setting her up on quite a steep back to front slope is always useful.

The site is called Damage Barton http://www.damagebarton.co.uk/ and is in a fabulous position with wonderful sea views. Facilities seem OK and the location, half way between Woolacombe and Ilfracombe couldn’t be better. The only criticism so far is the poor pitch signing - although this is probably more annoying for my neighbour than it is for me!

We arrived at 5.15 (past the 5 o’clock closing time) but they left clear instructions to our pitch. Filled up Brunnehildas water tank on the way to the pitch and felt very smug watching all the suckers pushing and pulling their aqua rolls up and down the hill! It was after 7 that we were settled and snacked in preparation for an evening trip into llfracombe.

And what a nice place. After filling up with diesel we drove through the  town and ended up parking next to a 66 foot high naked pregnant woman called Verity. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verity_(statue)

We got some chips and fish on the go from Maddys - advertised as bone-less and skin-less, I’m afraid it was a bit taste-less as well! The Cornish Ice Cream with clotted cream smothered on top made up for the culinary disappointment though!

By the time we had had a short walk and a Tesco stop to fill up with essentials, we didn’t get back to Brunnehilda until 11pm. Charlie watched Jurassic Park (the latest one) and Kim and I crashed out!

On the subject of my grandson Charlie ... I have to report I was ashamed of his fashion faux pas tonight. Sliders and socks (dirty white ones at that!) is not something I want to be associated with - I made him walk 10 yds behind me at all times!