Shaftesbury and home to Whilton - 23rd Sept ‘19

Going home day today. Pack up was a long one as we were getting Brunnehilda ready for her 2 week “holiday” in Shaftesbury. The leave time of this site was particularly early as well - 10.30am!

Every day’s a school day and another lesson was learnt today - always make sure the jockey wheel is square on when you are hooking the car up. We couldn’t get the car down onto the hitch as the jockey wheel bracket was stopping me dropping the van down low enough. After 10 mins, a lot of kicking the wheel and a lot of words used that Harry would have said ... “don’t say that Grandad!”, we sorted it!

See pros and cons list for East Fleet Farm Club Site below. We left at 10.32 and arrived at Blackmore Vale at just gone midday. We had a chat with Paul and Pete and left them with Brunnehilda for a couple of weeks. It felt very strange driving off down Sherborne Causeway and leaving her on the forecourt! She’s in good hands though!

Lunch at the Salt Cellar on Gold Hill in the centre of Shaftesbury. I had the creamy fish soup and it was about as nice a bowl of soup that I’ve every tasted! This pescatarian thing is working out well!

After a coffee stop in Abingdon, we arrived home at about 4.30. No putting Brunnehilda to bed at Whilton Marina this time - straight home to unpack. Including putting Isabella in our bedroom for storing - what will Kim say with another woman sharing her bedroom???!

Until the next time ....

Pros and Cons of East Fleet Farm:
Pros:
1) Great position right by Chesil Beach / The Fleet
2) Well stocked shop
3) Fabulous toilet and wash facilities - especially everything being all together in one cubicle
Cons:
1) No 4G and rubbish WiFi
2) Staff & guests unfriendly. Lack of eye contact and no “hellos” - albeit begrudgingly in most cases
3) Pitch right next to the playground - very noisy especially if sitting out. Ok if they’re your kids but not so good if they belong to someone else!
4) The request to park our “foreign van” facing the hedge - the caravan equivalent of being out on the naughty step
5) Showers don’t stay on - need pressing every 30 seconds or they turn themselves off 

Thomas Hardy NT Properties - 22nd Sept ‘19

If I had to list my favourite authors, Anthony Trollope would be a shoe in for number 1 spot but following closely behind would be Wessex’s son, Thomas Hardy. So today was a particularly special one as we embraced all things Hardy and hit the National Trust trail!

A later start this morning. Heavy rain all night and into the morning didn’t encourage us to get moving early. The miserable morning skies and temperature meant the omelette breakfast was partaken indoors and not outside. We cast our minds back but couldn’t think of any other occasions so far on our Brunnehilda adventures that we couldn’t breakfast outdoors or at least in Isabella!

We headed off to Dorchester- about 10 miles away - although the traffic, as always seem to be the case around these parts, was heavy!

First stop was Hardy’s Cottage (his birthplace in 1840) in a village called Higher Bockhampton. After signing in at the Visitors Centre there was a very evocative 15 minute walk through an ancient and undulating forest path to the cottage. The setting was idyllic, the cottage and garden being small but very “original”. Truthfully speaking Rachel could have been game fully employed tidying up the garden a bit but to be fair that was part of its charm.

A lady gave us a very interesting 15 minute introduction as we sat by the fireplace. The small room (and house) filled with the smell of wood smoke. There was only about 5 rooms to see and all were tiny! Hardy’s bedroom where he wrote his first 4 novels (including Far from the Madding Crowd) being the highlight. I sat at his desk by the window for some inspiration - none was forthcoming!!

We then made the 3 mile journey into the outskirts of Dorchester and the house that Hardy built himself after he was famous - a dark large but fairly modest Victorian villa.

It was really well done with all authentic furnishings (obviously!) with everyone getting a very easy to read booklet explaining the rooms, the family, their visitors and the history. In a number of the rooms the displayed books ( most of them by Hardy!) were for sale. I bought a couple - 2 of his early ones that I hadn’t read - a Pair of Blue Eyes and Desperate Remedies.

After our dose of Hardy we parked up in Dorchester for food and a walk. The food was supplied by Wagamama situated at a nice edge of town retail area built around an old Brewery- called Brewery Square. As always with Wagamama, you get a very reliable tasty good value meal - with free green tea as well! We had a long walk around a deserted city centre (it was early Sunday evening after all) and followed the river back to the car. I liked Dorchester - lots of history but just a touch scruffy and “lived in”. Note to self - it would be worth another visit when everything isn’t shut!

We were back home tucked up in Brunnehilda by 7.30. A different game tonight - Canasta. Different game but same result! Kim takes losing to me very well - to be fair, she has had a lot of practice though!!?

Another Brunnehilda episode tonight ... the water heating isn’t working! We suspect it’s connected to our water leak episode yesterday. The visit to Blackmore Vale tomorrow can’t come soon enough!

Portland and Lulworth Cove - 21st Sept ‘19

It was cooler today, still sunny and less windy but definitely a few degrees cooler than yesterday. The old bones dictated more time in the car and less walking today!

It was an identical start to this morning as the day before ... abolitions, omelette and out by 11.30!
Today we headed for Portland - retracing a lot of our tracks from yesterday but this time with 190 bhp of Swedish engineering to power us.

The Isle of Portland is An interesting but very odd place. I guess the prison and the navy base gives it a strange identity. There seems to be a lot of inner city type housing amongst the wild and rugged scenery. A bit like dumping Tower Hamlets in the Shetlands! We drove round the whole island stopping at a couple of places...

Portland Bill was very busy but also very atmospheric. We didn’t climb up the lighthouse but we did have a good look round and walked across all the Portland Stone slabs to get some wonderful views of the rugged coastline.

On the other side of the island was a fabulous vantage point with fabulous views of Chisel Beach and Weymouth Bay. We supped our cup of tea and just took it all in.

We then headed off to Lulworth Cove for the afternoon. The 20 mile journey took a lot longer than expected as the sat nav took us through the middle of Weymouth and we got caught up in all the Iron Man traffic. They were all taking their bikes down to a park ready for tomorrow’s big race. We looked out for nephew Luke but couldn’t see him!

Lulworth Cove was busy but we still managed to spend a very peaceful couple of hours sitting by the cove and walking around the ridge. I spent 30 mins weighing up whether I should have a quick dip or not.  I decided not to in the end - probably a bad decision but ... we’ll be back. Kim had to suffer me recounting my first visit to Lulworth - my geography field trip experience (when I was 17!). At least I got to tell her how the Cove was formed - so that Grammar School education wasn’t wasted after all!?

We came hone via Weymouth stopping for a walk along the front and a bite to eat. A very nice Chinese restaurant in the centre of town called Ming Wah. I had a dish I had never even heard of - Cheesy King Prawns - it was as different as it was scrumptious!

Back to Brunnehilda to a bit of a catastrophe! Mysteriously the water had all gone so I promptly re-filled it. Kim tried to fill the kettle and nothing was coming out but you could hear gushing water - uh oh!! Turned out the hose had slipped off between the tank and the pump. When the taps were on the water was gushing from the tank into the under bed storage area. Lots of towels were needed to soak it all up. I have no idea how it could have happened although there is no clip on the pipe so all the rocking of the caravan (from the wind!!!) could have dislodged it? Other than that it’s my racism theory again and Brunnehilda was sabotaged   - but that’s just paranoia??! Anyway, we need a clip - one for Pete at Blackmore Vale next week!

We finished the day off by watching a DVD we both had fancied when it was at the cinema - Glen Close in The Wife. Absolute garbage! Not the train wreck that Mary Queen of Scots was but not far off!
Finally to bed with the sound of rain pounding Brunnehilda. Let’s just hope the water stays on the outside tonight?

A very long walk into Weymouth - 20th Sept ‘19

A nice sunny day but very very windy. My hat, like it’s owner after curry, coffee and a walk, kept blowing off! Indeed, with 2 of the said “blow offs”, the hat managed to launch it self straight at the current Mrs Pitts. As you can imagine, the wearer was deemed more culpable of the crime than both hat and wind!!

The newer toilet block on this campsite (there are 3!) is particularly nice. The toilet, hand basin and shower are all together in one cubicle. In other campsites the morning ablutions feel more like a safari supper - the toilet for starters, moving onto the shower for the mains and then finishing off at the basin to clean teeth.

A very pleasant breakfast of cheese and mushroom omelette - in the sun with Brunnehilda sheltering us from the worst of the wind. We were out by 11.30. And out was a walk along the coastal path into Weymouth. It’s only 3 miles by road so I estimated a couple of hours following the coast. We arrived at South Quay Weymouth 5 hours and nearly 10 miles later!

The walk was very interesting geographically. Not spectacularly pretty as Chesil Beach https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesil_Beach prevented us from seeing out to sea. We went by some military places - shooting ranges and ammo dumps. However, it wasn’t too hilly and but for the strong wind would have been near perfect.

We were very lucky too. We stumbled across the Crab House Cafe at Wyke Regis https://www.crabhousecafe.co.uk/ A splendid little seafood restaurant- very quirky, fabulous food (I had mussels and spicy fish fritters, Kim had pollock) and friendly staff. We both thought it reminded us of an American beachside  restaurant.

The walk from Wyke Regis to Weymouth was along an old railway line so there was some shelter from the wind. We stopped at Sandsfoot Castle for a wee rest bite.

So at 4.30 we found ourselves in our usual position - arriving somewhere when everything is shutting! We did manage to find a nice little tea shop open until 5 - Library Harbour Cafe.

We walked the 3 miles home along the main road- stopping off at Starbucks for a caffeine injection!
We arrived back at the campsite in time for a shared fish and chips from the mobile van (Bennett’s Fish & Chips). I have to say they were very good!

Tea, reading and backgammon before bed. And boy after 13 miles of walking every bone in our bodies were ready for it!

Whilton to East Fleet Weymouth -19th Sept ‘19

Just a short stay this one and no Isabella so we are expecting quite an uneventful few days.

We left Whilton at about 10.30. We did bring Isabella along with us but more for the ride and company than the use. Autumnal clothing packed as well, although the weather looks nice for the first couple of days.

After a brief stop at Tot Hill (Newbury) to take on board Starbucks coffee and McDonalds chips, we arrived at East Fleet Farm caravan site just on the outskirts of Weymouth at just gone 3. http://www.eastfleet.co.uk/

It took us a long time to get set up. Don’t know why though? I think we were both still tired from a sleepless night last night. I can never sleep the night before a trip but I think I have now passed this mental condition onto Kim!

I also managed to half full Brunnehilda with “non-drinking” water! We were annoying a motorhomer who was waiting for us to finish so we moved on when I realised and filled her up the slower way later.

The site is lovely. It overlooks Chesil Beach https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesil_Beach and is yards away from the water. The shoreline is very muddy as it is sheltered from the sea by the beach a few hundred yards out to sea. No possibility of a paddle but good for wildlife. It is also right on the Jurassic Coastline Footpath.

Our pitch is right opposite the toilets and the very impressive playground - the Twinnies would love it! I expect in the summer this would be a very noisy place to be,  but in mid September it was fine. The site seems very nice, except ...... no 4G! WiFi is free but that’s for a reason. It’s as reliable as a Boris Johnson promise!

We didn’t fancy a walk - reference the previously mentioned knackered-ness - so we set off to Weymouth via car - about 2 miles. We walked from the Asda car park down to the quay and found a little cafe called Nanna Moons. We grabbed a seat in the window (it wasn’t busy!) and watched the boats and people go by as we ate a pleasant but far from memorable scampi in basket / hummus panini.

We stocked up at Asda before making our way back to Brunnehilda and a cup of tea and game or 2 of Backgammon. We were sleeping soundly in Brunnehilda’s welcoming, cavern-ness Teutonic bed by 10 o’clock!

Oh and another thing ... we encountered some more caravan racism this afternoon! We were asked to motor move Brunnehilda in “front first” so that our nasty foreign door was facing the same way as all the English doors. Which means that we have a close up view of a hedge from our kitchen window. It’s not that they are unfriendly it’s just that they seem to want to let you know that you’re different from them! As a “white middle aged straight man” (copyright Auld Music) , I have never experienced any so called “harmless passive racism” - Brunnehilda has opened my eyes to it. Something to blog about separately when I can be arsed!