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!