Tenby Dinosaur Park and Freshwater East - 17th Aug ‘22

A better day today. Woke to drizzle but from about 9am it was classic “dry with sunny spells” - up-to about 21 degrees. Before climate change, this is what used to constitute a typical English summers day.

A repeat of yesterday morning. Charlie 45 minute in the shower (more hairy towels), bacon bagels and cereal for breakfast and me 15 mins in the shower.

We had a bit of a debate this morning about what to do. It was all very civilised and grown up I have to say. After a few minutes we agreed not to go on a boat to Caldey Island and find a nice Sandy surfing beach in favour of a trip to Dinosaur Park just outside Tenby.

On reflection I think this was a pretty good decision- well done MacArthur Boys. We arrived at said Park at about 11. It was busy but not unbearable. We didn’t have to wait more than 10 mins for any of the attractions.

Charlie was very good, going on a lot of things with his wee brothers. I sneaked on a few as well. Slides, water slides, electric cars, foot golf, crazy golf, playgrounds and a maze to name but a few. 

We had a lovely 30 minute stroll in a wood in the sunshine spotting  lots of the parks inmates. 

But the highlight, for me anyway, was a safari foot tour around another wood seeing lots of “moving” dinosaurs. The wee girl (about 19 years old) who gave the 20 minute tour was absolutely fantastic. So much energy, so much fun and so knowledgeable. She got everyone - adults and kids (including Charlie!) doing all sorts of strange things and making odd noises as we got totally immersed in the world she created. She even picked on Charlie at one stage (after picking on me). Bless him, his face went the colour of Harry’s Man Utd shirt!! Note to self: I need to write an email to The Park and tell what a star they have.

After about 4 hours we were done. So ice creams and then we were outta there. 

Actually talking of snacks … I surpassed even Grandma with the array of snacks I had in my rucksack today! Just as well, as looking at dinosaurs is blimin’ hungry and thirsty work. 

Charlie fancied more fish and chips from Saundersfoot, so that’s what we did. It was just as gorgeous. This time we ate it overlooking the harbour (not the beach) with a couple of huge seagulls keeping a close watch on us throughout the feast. Another good choice by the MacArthur boys!

Then we wasted 1.5 hours looking for a supermarket that sold DVDs. It seems big supermarkets in West Wales/ Pembrokeshire are as scarce as good 4G signals! They have bloody cheap diesel though so I guess it’s swings and roundabouts!?

We finally bought a couple of DVDs to watch tonight at an Asda close to Pembroke Dock. 

By this time it was 6 o’clock so straight to the beach at the campsite for a go in the kayak.

To its credit, the sun was doing its best to come out again.

Charlie did great - considering he hadn’t kayaked before. He was paddling the Twinnies around like a pro. We had fun for about 30 mins before the Twinnies got bored and Charlie’s arms ached - light weights!

Not sure what Kim would have thought of it all but I stayed off the kayak myself and kept totally focussed on the situation for fear of getting a mental / virtual reprimand from her!!

The last couple of days have been very odd. I’ve felt very close to Kim because she would have loved it all but not in a sad way as the boys have kept me grounded on the present moment. I don’t think about her as much when I have been walking in Derbyshire as I know she wouldn’t like the sort of stuff I do there. But crikey she would have loved every second of this time with her grandsons - just as I have.

Back to Brunnehilda. I got a lot of clearing up done - including giving the old girl a bit of a wash and putting down the sun canopy. Ironically, in the evening sun. The boys watched DVDs and snacked!!

Just realised, in contrast to Charlie’s robust cleaning routine, the Twinnies haven’t had a wash or cleaned their teeth for 2 days and they’ve drunk and eaten their body weight in fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate and sweets. Now I know a responsible grandad should care about this but .. I don’t. Better not tell their mum and dad though!!

Home tomorrow. Packing up will be challenging but I’m sure we’ll manage. Definitely do this again next year - just not sure if a 15 year old Charlie will be up for it! Count me in though if he is.

So to the scores on the doors …

Freshwater East Caravan Club Site:

Pros:

1. Fantastic position right by a fabulous beach.
2. Great facilities and everything very clean.
3. Good grass pitch right by all the facilities.
4. Very friendly staff. 
5. Nice details - shelf to put your chemical toilet cap on and non-sizeist mirror placements in toilet/shower block!

Cons:

1. No 4G and rather expensive and erratic WiFi.
2. Staff may have been friendly but they still wanted Brunnehilda (dirty foreigner!) to put herself face inwards.
3. The mega slope on the pitch - especially going front in!

Manorbier Castle & Saundersfoot - 16th Aug ‘22

A great day in Pembrokeshire.  Although the sun didn’t show up, we only had about 45 minutes  of drizzle during the day. It was about 18 to 20 degrees so not too bad. Coats and sweat shirts did make an appearance though (the first one since June!!) towards the back end of the afternoon.

A late night last night so Finners slept in until 7.30! Charlie was out to the shower block by 7.45 - returning at 8.30!! I’m not sure that I’ve ever spent 45 minutes in a month, let alone a day, in the shower when I was 14! He said that the towel was hairy and he had to have 2 showers - makes sense as Brunnehilda hasn’t been cleaned and de-dogged since Derbyshire!

Breakfast of Coco Pops and bacon bagels and we were ready to face the World - well Pembrokeshire anyway. I showered  (for a lot less than 45 minutes!) and we were heading out in the car by 10.30.

First stop a fill up with very cheap petrol (10p cheaper than at home). So cheap I very nearly filled an empty tank for under £100!! Second stop was Manorbier, about a 15 minute drive away. We parked up and walked up the hill to the castle.

Wow, what a great place. So much to explore - dungeons, towers, chapels, crypts, solars and Great Halls. The castle was built in 1130 but still felt very much alive. The medieval dressed mannequins  helped with that and caused the Twinnies a few double takes when they entered some of the rooms!

Lots of cramped spiral stone staircases with uneven steps and scary battlements on top of high towers - Kim would have bloody hated it! I did constantly have her on my shoulder though telling me to have the boys in a tight and controlled formation!

Lovely views from the top though …

After the exploration and a bit of a picnic in the Inner Ward we then had the obligatory game of football. To be expected whenever MacArthur boys stop moving forward for more than 2 minutes!

We had purchased 3 hours in the car park so it seemed a shame to waste it - especially as it was right next to the beach.

More beach golf, paddling and crabbing. We didn’t find any just a few little things that looked like sea wood lice! Got to say it was a bit chilly by the water so no great desire to go in for a swim! Thankfully some of the rocks provided shelter for the Twinnies to have a wee, but then when Harry announced he was desperate for a poo, we all trudged back to the car park and the public toilets.

Onto Tenby and then right out again without stopping. It was very busy and the car parks all seemed a long way out and very full. Charlie didn’t think it looked up to much as well so the Volvo kept rolling! 

I remembered Saundersfoot being nice and was quite close by. We had been to a really lovely hotel high on the cliffs for my cousin Paul’s 50th - about 10 years ago.  So we made the 15 minute journey further along the coast to try and get something to eat. Now Harry had pooed he was starving hungry - to be fair, all of us were. Beaches and castles do take up a lot of calories! 

Busy here again including a harbour side car park that necessitated driving round waiting for someone to leave. Didn’t take too long but then I had to wait in a queue to get a Pay and display ticket. Of the 4 machines, only one was working! We all dutiful queued up-to pay. As I was doing so I wondered how many nationalities, other than the British, would even bother given the circumstances but Brits do love a queue - almost as much as they like a rule to follow!

We had a quick look round deciding where to eat but the consensus (not an easy thing to get at any time with the 3 MacArthur boys!) was for fish and chips. And what a great choice. It might have been bloody expensive for 2 fish and chips and 2 kids nuggets and chips but it was bloody beautiful.

We sat by the sea front and devoured every morsel. Charlie said it was the best fish he had ever had. I said fish and chips always tastes better when you eat them looking out to sea. Harry nodded sagely and popped a chicken nugget the size of a tennis ball in his gob! Even Finners nearly finished his! His big brother ensured clean boxes all round. I was reminded of the extraordinary eating capacity of a 14 year old boy!

Ice creams for pudding and then back in the car and home to Brunnehilda. Stopping at a Morrisons Express to stock up on evening snacks. 

We spent a relaxing hour or so at Brunnehilda until the Twinnies, messing about as 7 year olds do, knocked a cold coffee all over the seats. Annoyingly I over reacted, shouting at them both. Kim was so careful with them in the van when eating - putting towels down and reminding them every few minutes to be careful. I had let my guard down and Brunnehilda’s upholstery had got a soaking!

I felt bad because they’d been pretty much perfect during the day! They gave me that rather startled but sort of repentant look and promised not to mess around when drinks where out again. That particular vow lasted for about 6 minutes!!

We went down to our beach for an hour to run off some energy with a game of football. It really was quite chilly. On the way back we passed a large party of Hasidic Jews walking up the road - so weird, it was like Stoke Newington had gone to the beach. I expected at least one quizzical question from the Twinnies but none came. 

Back to Brunnehilda. The boys played FIFA and watched a DVD. I made supper (bacon butties and warmed up pasty) and tried to watch The Cobblers on iFollow. The awfully slow Caravan Club WiFi, unlike the Cobblers, wasn’t playing ball and of the 90 minutes I paid £10 for I think I got to see about 10 minutes of it! They won 3-2 but I didn’t see any of the goals!

And so to bed after a really fun day. Poor old Finners has got the pleasure of sharing a bed with his grandad tonight! From my perspective, i could only think of one other person that I’d rather share Brunnehilda’s bed with than Finners - but she wasn’t  available!!

Pembrokeshire - 15th Aug ‘22

Another short trip out with Brunnehilda- and it’s not to Derbyshire!!

I was dreading this one more than any Brunnehilda trip since the first trip out without Kim to Woolacombe last August.

The destination was South Wales - somewhere we hadn’t been together before - but the problem wasn’t geographical it was my travelling companions!

This 3 night trip is with my gorgeous grandsons - all 3 of them. This was something Kim and I had done many times before and, to be honest, this is when one of the times she was at her happiest. On holiday with her 3 little boys and a chance to be with them 24/7 and spoil them even more than normal.

I’ve not been looking forward to this trip out with them for a few weeks now. My feelings of loss (and the poorpoormes) are generally managed  to just background noise but this one has been hard to ignore.

It’s also making me feel a number of other emotions:

Guilt - I love these boys to bits but after 35 + years of sharing sometimes I just wanted Kim to myself so I could occasionally act like a bit of a jerk on these trips. Now ironically, she is gone and I am left.

Pressure - we shared all the duties to keep them safe, feed and watered. I’d hitch up while she sorted their clothes. I’d set up while she cooked. I’d wash up while she got the bed ready. Nope, all my jobs this time - with a bit of help from Charlie of course.

But like most things, the anticipation of the event turned out to be much worse than the actual thing. Once we got hitched up, there was really too much to think about to dwell on what used to be!

The weather is breaking. It’s been in the 30s for the last  week or so and no rain for a couple  of months. The ground is scorched and dry but like a native Indian rain dance, just the thought of Brunnehilda’s wheels turning is enough to drop the the temperature by 10 degrees and bring on the drizzle. 

And drizzle it did for a lot of the way down - although it was hot and sunny for the last hour. A record turnaround hitching up though - Charlie helped with gates, caravan packing and light checking! The journey took 6.5 hours (10.30 to 5) with just one stop at a very busy services at Cardiff. I had to back Brunnehilda out of a HGV space - not very nice given my reversing competence.

The site (Freshwater East) is right next to the beach - 10 minute walk. But that’s where the good stuff stops … there is absolutely no 4G or even phone line! Bad enough for me but my 14 year old travelling companion briefly felt like someone had chopped his leg off - although we did manage to pay for the camps erratic WiFi!

Although very friendly, the camp Kommendart insisted on me putting my dirty foreign van in nose first. Doing this meant that the pitch I picked (my fault!) was at a very dramatic angle sloping towards the front. I had to borrow 2 of their large blocks for the jockey wheel to stand on to get it anywhere near level. This meant a much longer set up than normal - it took him ages to bring them up to me. 

The boys had been great in the car for nearly 7 hours but the Twinnies were rightly getting a bit tetchy for the 90 mins it took me to get all set up!

Once done, and the heat was up again, we had certainly deserved our walk down the hill to the beach. I think the tide was out at Freshwater East beach. There was certainly a large expanse of beach and it was as still as a mill pond and the sea was an absolutely gorgeous temperature.  I couldn’t persuade the boys to go in so … we didn’t.

We paddled for a bit them played a fun game of beach golf. Harry and I beat Charlie and Finn. This was probably the best result as Harry and I have both been known to sulk a little if we are the wrong side of a beating!

The pub / restaurant on the beach wasn’t serving food on a Monday so it made for a simple decision -  back home to Brunnehilda for tea!

Bacon (and ham) sandwiches, noodles and cheese and onion crisps was the very non Kim meal I prepared for them before settling down to a DVD. 2 of the 3 of them seemed to enjoy it though - it’s hard to get all 3 gastronomically satisfied!

I put up Brunnehilda’s sun canopy and washed the dishes while the Twinnies watched the DVD and Charlie Tik Toked - or whatever 14 year old boys do online! Not sure why I put up the sun canopy - there is no sun scheduled for the rest of the week. But at least it’ll keep us dry if we want to sit out in the drizzle?!

The boys wanted to all sleep altogether with me on my own in the bigger double bed. After a lot of coaxing and persuading I did eventually manage to get Harry to join me - bless him, why would anyone want to willingly share a bed with their old grandad?!