Back to Woolacombe (3rd time!) - 1st Sept ‘ 20

We left it at the height of Storm Francis but we returned to Damage Barton, for the 3rd time this summer, under blue skies and 18 degrees sunshine. 

Kim and I stayed overnight at a Premier inn at Exeter. We popped into Darts Farm (we knew from last year) for breakfast and then drove the 70 miles up to Woolacombe. The breakfast was Ok but nothing special - although my strange choice of Eggs Royale probably didn’t help. I’m sorry but Smoked salmon really doesn’t go with Hollandaise sauce!

We arrived at Damage Barton at about 12.30. It was lovely to see them all. We caught up sitting in Isabella before heading out to Barricane Beach. They had done a good spring clean on Brunnehilda removing all evidence of a week of Twinnie / Charlie abuse! There were a couple of little “breakages” appeared over the week but, to be fair, both were borderline warranty issues. The usb connector has become dislodged and can’t now be accessed and the front window blind is split so is hard to keep down.

The sea was really rough so the planned kayak launch didn’t happen. The whole beach visit didn’t happen at one stage ... I managed to lose my keys when parking up! We knew they were somewhere in the car as it would still start! 30 mins later we found them on the roof!! Needless to say I received lots of helpful feedback from my wife and daughter on how I might avoid repeating my faux pas!!

We spent a lovely couple of hours on the beach - clambering over rocks, paddling in rock pools and, of course, taking the opportunity for a swim. Although it was so rough, we couldn’t get out very far.

We wandered up to Woolacombe for an ice cream, a wee shop and a quick blast on the mini racing cars, before Laura, George and boys said goodbye and started the long journey home.

Kim and I headed to the sunny upstairs balcony of The Captain’s Table. The view was splendid as we caught the last rays of the afternoon sun. The food was ok although we did manage to over order on the chips!!

Back to Damage Barton via a petrol film up. During which we bumped into an old Volvo colleague! Small world eh?

It seemed to take ages to strip the inside and then take down Isabella. By the time we had finished it was pitch black! For some reason (I guess old age might be the best guess!?) we were both very tired so after reading and snacking it was time for bed!

South to North Devon & More Weather Related Stress - 24th August ‘20

Normally we have glorious weather for our moving days - this one wasn’t. A bit of sun but mostly grey and cold. By the time we got to North Devon we were faced with very low cloud and drizzle.

The journey, especially at the North Devon end was extremely busy. It should have taken us 1 3/4 hours but ending up taking over 2 1/2. So we arrived at about 2pm to the Damage Barton Club site at Woolacombe. Our 2nd visit this summer and 3rd overall - we like it.

The purpose of today’s visit is to set up Brunnehilda and Isabella for Laura, George and the boys to have a weeks holiday in her.

So, having arrived in plenty of time to get set up, it then all started going a bit astray. Firstly, when we arrived there was a big sign up advising against putting up awnings! We had just survived Storm Ellen on the south coast and now we had Storm Francis on its way in. It’ll be Storm Gobsh*** next week no doubt! What bloody weather. Problem is , we didn’t have any choice - no awning, no holiday for Laura et al!

The second problem was the almighty mess I made of levelling her. The pitch was heavily sloped from back to front so I needed to get the jockey wheel as low down as possible to enable her to be wound up to maximum height. Im not sure how I did it but in messing around, the jockey wheel came apart and went so low I could neither raise her or lower her - I was stuck. I grabbed one of the wardens, a very helpful chap called Phil and with the help of a very powerful drill (to raise the front stays) and huge dollopings of experience and common sense - he got us sorted!

Then straight onto the Isabella erection. You could almost feel the Storm brewing in the air so we had no time to waste. As it happened she went up fairly easily - not much over an hour. We also put on a storm strap - we got it last summer when we where on this same bloody hillside in the wind, but hadn’t yet used it.

It was quite ironic though, as we were putting our awning up, the bloke opposite us was taking his down in preparation of the brewing storm?!

Into Woolacombe then for a bite to eat. We went to our favourite- The Red Barn. The service is excellent, the food good and fantastic value - especially as it’s a Monday and another chance to eat out to help out!

Back to Brunnehilda and to bed. The rain is lashing down outside now. Although, according to the forecast, the worst of the wind won’t hit until tomorrow evening! So it’ll be Laura and George not us lying awake cursing the British summer weather tomorrow night!

Smallcombe Farm CL:

Pros:

1) Very friendly and pleasant owner

2) Nice views across Dartmoor

3) Handy placed between Salcombe, Dartmouth and Totnes

4) Good facilities - nice shower and ok toilets (unusual for a CL)

Cons:

1) All those Devon Lanes - with and without Brunnehilda

2) Noisy - could hear the A38 over the fields 

3) No where easily to walk from the site

4) Poor 4G. 

Walking to Woolacombe - 1st Aug ‘20

Let me start of with a bit of a moan - best to get it out the way and off my chest. My skin crawls when I come across any sort of ‘ism. Racism and Sexism are rightly becoming more and more rivalled - thank goodness. In fact the only sort of ism left that seems to be left unchecked is heightism. I could go on about aircraft seats but that’s not the issue that’s exercising my sense of injustice this week. This is such a nice site in so many ways so why oh why do they think sizeist washrooms are acceptable? 

When the person put this mirror up they had a choice to make - they could make it work for 4 ft 9 inch to 5ft 9 inch people or 5 ft 2 inch to 6 ft 2 inch people. They choose the former when all the laws of decency, statistics and average male heights where screaming out for then to chose the later! There is no acceptable reason for this - and I don’t believe it’s ignorance- other than a bias hatred towards any one over 5ft 9 inches! And before you bleat on about things being put up high on supermarket shelves, imagine a shelf system with nothing down below than a purposely left 3 ft gap with shelving extending up to 8 foot - there would be a bloody outcry.

You’d think with this being such a big issue for me that we had a bad day today? Nothing could be farther from the truth - we had a splendid day.

It started with a cheese and mushroom omelette which is the only way to start a good day. A lot of lazing about and reading while the weather improved from grey to sunny spells. 

We were locking up the van at about 1pm. We had decided to walk into Woolacombe - via Mortehoe -  about 3 miles each way?

We knew the way very well by now as we had walked across the fields to Mortehoe twice already this week and made the drive in between Mortehoe and Woolacombe more times than that. The walk along the road, which is fabulous by car, is even more impressive by foot. You see so much more when you are not driving - there were some mighty impressive properties all the way in. There isn’t really a gap between the 2 places, they just merge into one.

We bought a coffee from a converted horse box in a lay-by and then found a bench on the cliffs edge and watched the surfers for 30 mins or so. We came to the conclusion that surfing was rather like fishing - 95% waiting and 5% activity / excitement. That said, it would still be really cool to be able to do it!

We finished our walk into Woolacombe and had a quick look round - it was very busy although the beach wasn’t as busy as the 2 days we were on it! We bought a pasty and headed on up the Mortehoe Road to try and find somewhere nice to eat it.

We luckily stumbled on a lovely place - again not visible when in the car - called Barricane Beach. It was a tiny little cove, especially as we were there when the tide was in, with a  shop / takeaway specialising in Sri Lankan curries. The curries where available from 5pm and it was now 1/4 to 4. So we ate our pasties sitting against the rocks on the beach watching the world go by. The sun was more out than in at this stage so it was very pleasant.

Now I can resist most things but a swim in the sea is a hard one for me. Luckily I had my trunks with me so my craving was fulfilled. 

It was soon 5pm and we joined the queue for the curry. It was clearly a popular place as within 10 mins there was queue of 20 people all the way up the slipway down to the beach. I have to say it was lovely - I succumbed and had chicken. We shared a portion between us. Unlike me, Kim avoided the flesh and stuck to the Dahl, sauce and rice. 

We went a different way home. Walking up a very steep National Trust path, through a beautiful little glade and then into another campsite. We walked through the site and then were only about 1/2 mile away (along the main road) to our campsite. 

A smashing circular walk, a swim, a curry, a laze on the beach, a coffee watching the surfers ... what’s not to like?!

We had a cup of tea and watched a DVD - First Man with Ryan Gosling playing Neil Armstrong. It was good - 7 out of 10 probably.

In between 2 film watching sessions we took down Isabella and loaded her up in the car. There is always a touch of sadness taking her down as it normally means the trip is over.

The smashing day was finished off with a late night call from my old Volvo buddy, Barrie Collins. So the world was put to right by two 61 year old codgers before the blog was finished and the light turned out on the first day of August.

Isabella Up & An Ilfracombe Fish Supper - 26th July ‘20

Sharing a bed with Finners is hard to put into words. Most of the time he lies at right angles to Kim and I. Imagine a capital letter “H” with Finners the horizontal. Then, every 30 mins or so, the person who wins the lottery of life and has his legs facing you gets a good kicking. This kick resembles an Olympic Back stroke swimmer scrunching his legs up and then thrusting off from the side with all the night he can muster.

We were up and about fairly early this morning. The delight that is a holiday lie isn’t something that’s going to figure this week I’m afraid. By 10.30 we had breakfasted and in a position to start putting up Isabella. This had to wait for gaps in the rain and wind. Luckily there was enough non rainy spells to get her up. And considering the slope, resembling, something you might come across in the Himalayan foothills, she went up amazingly well.

Kim and I scoffed at the description of an awning being a divorce in a bag and worked well together to get her up. I then pegged her out - with a little help from the boys! Yep, fairly pleased with this erection. Not bad on the timing either.

We were out the campsite gates by 1pm, heading for Asda at Barnstaple. We stocked up on food, toys and DVD. Given its size it wasn’t a very impressive Asda - although it might be that this virus has sucked any sort of enjoyment out of any retail experience?

We then headed into Ilfracombe. We parked by Verity (the huge Damien Hurst statue of a naked pregnant woman) and headed for the nice chip shop on the harbour called Lynbay. It didn’t taste quite as nice as last year but was still bloody good.

We sat by the harbour to eat - spending a lot of mental and physical energy trying to ward of a particularly determined and hungry seagull! Kelly’s Ice cream for afters. I had my normal ... Cornish ice cream with clotted cream on top. A fitting meal for a day that the news is full of warnings of the dangers of obesity!

We tried a bit of crabbing but Kim was a little worried about the Twinnies falling in so we left empty handed. Notice her hanging onto them in the pictures below. We headed home via the pretty coastal village of Lee but by the time we got there the rain was belting down so we just headed back to camp.

I finished bringing all the stuff into Isabella so we could have tea and biscuits around the camp table. The boys clearly had a significant amount of energy still needing some place to go, so I took them for a walk while Kim tidied up.

Then it was a DVD and crisps for them and a Zoom quiz for us - finishing 2nd again in Beth and Ben’s weekly quiz. We seem forever to be the Bridesmaids and never the Bride.

We decided to have a funniest moment of the day award this holiday. And the winner today went to Finners falling off his chair in the awning. To be fair to him it is at quite a slope (I don’t know if I have mentioned that??) But he toppled backwards very dramatically then tried to stand up and fell over again. Luckily, Finners thought it was as funny as the rest of us!

Sitting in bed, listening to the wind and rain and contemplating another, even wetter day tomorrow. Never mind, we are sharing a bed with Harry tonight so less likely to get a kicking but more likely to get a bit of a thump.

The end of the first European Trip - 3rd Nov ‘19

So 19 days later - our longest Brunnehilda trip to date - we are heading home.

Given the awful weather we’ve experienced in the last 3 weeks it was fairly ironic that we packed up in the dry and travelled home in the sunshine!

The Burford site is shutting down for the winter tomorrow so it seemed that virtually everyone on the site was packing up and going this morning. Isabella was soaking wet so we just threw her in the back of the car - I will try and dry her out in the garden tomorrow.

After just 3 nights it was interesting to see just how many leaves had been shed over Isabella ...

The journey was an easy one- 90 mins up the A361 and we were at Whilton. Quite ironic though as we had 2 mishaps at the end of the trip... firstly, there was a power cut when we arrived at Whilton they couldn’t open the gate for ages. Secondly, when we went to motor move Brunnehilda one of the wheels wouldn’t engage! We pushed her back into her space and will investigate the mover malfunction at the weekend. We also plan to wash her then as she is absolutely filthy!

Then the funniest thing happened during the whole trip ... Kim was unloading the van when she slipped and did the splits between the bed and the table. She was stuck fast - had to take a picture before realising her!

So, after 8 sites in 19 days, here are the summary pros and cons for the 7 “non rated” sites we used:

Barfrestone Court Farm (Dover):

Pros

1) Fab setting in a very up market farm court yard

2) No one else there apart from us
3) Very friendly host - drove a Volvo!
4) Incredibly quiet - at first, see cons
Cons
1) Tricky road through village
2) The mooing cow kept us awake all night!




Camping Au Bord de L’Aisne (nr Reims):

Pros
1) Easy walk by the river into the wee town
2) Plenty of room - no neighbouring vans
3) Close to the motorway - less than 5 mins
Cons
1) Muddy /wet pitch
2) No toilet paper in toilets
3) Toilets and washing facilities just OK





Camping de Lyon (nr Lyon):

Pros
1) Close to the motorway - less than 2 mins
2) Close to huge shopping centre - over the road
Cons
1) Muddy / wet pitch
2) Noisy - let out a lot of mobile homes to “workers” who were having a fun evening!
3) A lot of works going on
4) Toilets and washing facilities just OK
5) Fairly long trek to washing facilities
6) No where “nice” to walk to

Camping Huttopia Royat (nr Clermont-Ferrand):

Pros 
1) Off the scale friendly and helpful lady - so so nice
2) Within walking distance of village / suburb
3) Very pretty - lots of trees shrubs
4) Fantastic pool and tennis courts - both unfortunately shut!
5) Nice generous / private pitches
6) Clean / new toilet and washroom facilities
Cons
1) Hard to get to from motorway- the wrong side of the city

Riva Bella (nr Caen):
Pros
1) Perfect position near port and restaurants
2) Good facilities, including an Ok toilet / washing block
Cons
1) The migrants camping outside the campsite
2) Noisy - a strange bang / explosion every hour or so all evening / night
3) Wet and muddy pitch - although not as bad as Reims and Lyon

Littlehampton Caravan Club Site:

Pros
1) Incredibly neat, tidy and well run
2) Immaculate toilet / washroom facilities
3) Pitch very close to all amenities
Cons
1) Rule dominated - told how to park!
2) Shut toilets for cleaning at 10.30 - punishing late risers like us!
3) No real boundaries between pitches - fine when not busy but ...



Burford Caravan Club Site:

Pros 
1) Very friendly and laid back wardens / greeters
2) Immaculate toilet / washroom facilities
3) Pitch very close to all amenities
4) Easy walk over to Cotswold Wildlife Park
5) Toilets / shut cleaned at 3 - perfect time to suit the guests not the wardens!
Cons
1) Too far out to walk anywhere (apart from the Wildlife Park)
2) Bloody hard to get the awning pegs into the hard standing!

MacArthurs head home and Stow on the Wold - 2nd Nov ‘19

Another rather grim weather day predicted so the MacArthurs decided to head home as soon as ready. They were always going home in time for the West Haddon evening firework display but the lack of good weather and data meant there was less holding them back.

Lottie slept until until 7 again this morning. Kim bought a very effective awning heater before we went away and having it on overnight right next to her crate ironically meant she was very nice and cozy. I suspect it was this, and the full on day viewing the wildlife, that meant she forsook her 5 am start for a couple of mornings.

We decided on a breakfast courtesy of Mr MacDonald this morning so Kim, Lottie and I set off for Witney. The drive through was incredibly busy with lots of folks getting breakfast before the Rugby World Cup Final kicked off at 9. A lack of internet and interest meant that we didn’t get to watch another England “disappointment”. No great loss by the sounds of it?

By the time everyone was dressed, abluted and packed it was midday. Laura, Lottie and the boys piled into the car for the 90 minute journey home - fingers crossed that the rain would eventually stop long enough for them to enjoy the fireworks tonight?

Kim and I headed off to Stow on the Wold for the afternoon. We had a very pleasant few hours wandering around the quant centre with all its interesting wee shops. The brolly was needed for the latter part of the wandering. We went by a lot of nice but busy and expensive coffee shops. Eventually we stumbled across a craft fair in the amazingly impressive town hall. We went in for a mooch round and found a wonderful place (run by RNLI charity volunteers) where we got cake, baked potato and 2 rounds of tea for the cost of a baked potato at one of the other places we walked by - what a result!

After all our car damage free travels around Europe and adventures up Italian mountains I managed to have 2 hiccups with the car today - in Stow on the bloody Wold! Firstly we got back to the very busy car park and some kind person had scraped my front bumper while getting out and then I scrapped the wheel over the kerb trying to avoid going up the kerb to squeeze by a police car!

Even though the rain had really set in now, we decided to go home via Bourton on the Water. We huddled under the brolly and walked around with a coach load of Chinese tourists - all seeming to be enjoying their very English experience. As you would expect, in fact be disappointed if we hadn’t, we ended up at a coffee shop - The Cornish Bakery. We took some goodies home to Brunnehilda for tea.

By the time we had had a cup of tea and watched 2 episodes of The Wire box set it felt like bedtime. We ignored the fact it was only 8.30 and headed for bed - a big improvement on the camper beds in Isabella!

Travel to Burford - 31st Oct ‘19

The Littlehampton site has really thrown me a curved ball. The facilities were great with everything clean and to hand. The wardens were nice enough and very efficient - they even gave me a free adapter to go with the TV aerial cable I purchased from them but .... they also epitomised everything I dislike and despise about Caravaners and Caravan Club site. Their need for rules and everything to be the same! I also think the lack of pitch borders / shrubs might also be a problem in the busy summer months. As if to sum up exactly what I mean, we owed them £16 for the TV wire and I promised to let them have it before we left. I found this on the door this morning ...

More boarding school than campsite?
We got packed up, showered and another nourishing mushroom omelette. The mushroom omelette is fast becoming the “go to” food of Brunnehilda trips - well for me anyway!

It was a nice easy journey up to Burford although once again that A27 corridor going along the south coast proves to be one of the busiest non-urban parts of the UK! We stopped at our usual haunt on the way up - Tott Hill Services just outside Newbury.

We arrived at about 3.00pm. What a difference ... the lady in reception was great fun and just said park wherever and however we like as long as we stay within our allocated space. My sort of gal ... my sort of site!

The Burford Caravan Club site is right at the gate of the Cotswold Wildlife Park. About 5 miles from Lechlade and 2 miles from Burford. Laura and the boys are due to be with us after trick and treating at home - about 9.30.

So at 3.30 we started putting Isabella up / the first time since Lowestoft in late August! It took us 2 full hours - mainly because the pegs were so hard to get into the hard standing - my theory is that, as we have a door on the “wrong side”, the part of the pitch we were putting Isabella up has had few pegs in before.

We decided to pop into Burford for tea and found a wonderful pub on the Main Street - The Mermaid. Thursday night was pie and pint night for £10. Perfect - so I had 2 pints and a fish pie and Kim had a vegetable pie. They were both really nice - and all for 20 quid!!

Laura and the boys eventually arrived at 11pm. When they got here we realised that all the 230v appliances had gone off. When I checked I noticed the electrics had tripped and the leisure battery was only 20% full! So a mad scramble to find where the trip switches were. Found them eventually under a false floor in the wardrobe. Kim and I are sleeping in Isabella tonight with Lottie - should be an experience ?!

Sutton Hoo & The Final Evening of The East Anglia Trip - 29th Aug ‘19

Up and out a bit quicker today. Breakfast at Morrisons was cheap, convenient and pretty gruesome. I’ve tried meat and I’ve tried veggie.. either way, it leaves you wanting less!

We travelled the 40 miles to a National Trust Site, Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-hoo  It was s beautiful setting and was really interesting being up close and personal to my fave era of history ... Anglo Saxon England. The boys were very good except Harry kept telling us that we shouldn’t say die as daddy said it was rude. It made explaining what had gone on at Sutton Hoo 1400 years ago quite a challenge!

The tour guide would have been nice but somethings are not meant to be with Twinnies. They were all great fun as there were some things for them to do in the exhibition, lawn Jenga, a zip wire, trees to climb and, of course, ice cream!

We called in at Aldeburgh to buy 2 more stuffed seals- the Twinnies have taken a liking to the one that Kim got last week. We tried to find a t shirt for Charlie but that didn’t prove quite so easy!

Back home to Brunnehilda to pack up Isabella to facilitate a quick getaway tomorrow morning. The damp smell is still with us - we are a bit worried it might be Isabella her self that wiffs. Not something that is easy to tell a lady so the juries remains out!

Once all packed up we took the boys back to Lowestoft to play in the water fountain. This time though, as the wind was quite a chilly one, there was no one else there! It didn’t stop the 3 of them having a great time and this time we came prepared with towels and a second set of clothes - no trip to Asda for us tonight!

I’m not normally a fan of Pizza Hut but I gotta say, it was darn nice. Good job Lowestoft Hut! I especially enjoyed the cheesy chips!

We settled down with The Missing Link and tea bracing ourselves for the journey home to Whilton Marina tomorrow morning.

Just to finish off:

White House Beach Club Site Pros and Cons:
Pros:
1) On the beach - less than a 5 minute walk.
2) The owners / wardens were exceptionally friendly and helpful
3) Good washing and cleaning facilities - body and clothes!
Cons:
1) The smell - right next to the sewage works. It seemed a lot worse in the evening?
2) No facilities for kids. Playground was quite poor.
3) No on-site shop

East Anglia trip highlights and lowlights:
- Nicest meal: Fat Teds Sheringham / The Bucket List Cromer
- Favourite town: Aldeburgh
- Best beach: Southwold
- Worst place visited: Lowestoft. The water fountain great but not much else
- Worst meal: Delphines Diner at Aldeburgh
- Nicest memory: Watching kids in the water fountain
- Nicest walk: Dunwich Beach and back via NT walk / Walberswick to Southwold / first night walk from campsite to Cromer
- Prettiest place: Walberswick
- Wow moment: For me, the seal encounter at Aldeburgh
- Biggest pleasant surprise: Halesworth Town and Sizewell Beach
- Biggest surprise: Catching 3 crabs in our second dip!

A Traumatic Move to Kessingland & the Boys Join Us - 26th Aug ‘19

Another moving day ... another scorcher!

The pack up went quickly and smoothly. The pitch was a bit of a disaster- I think a case of over confidence kicked in? I will expand later...

We left Seacroft Cromer at 11 and arrived at White House Beach Kessingland at about 12.45. Pros and cons of Seacroft will follow but firstly the tale of woh ...
1) I didn’t plan the trip (again!) so the postcode on the sat nav took us to a housing estate! We had to a couple of very tight turns to get out and then climb into the van to get the site book to get the correct directions!
2) We had lots of pitches to chose from but for some unexplained reason I panicked and just took the first one we came to!
3) I tried to back Brunnehilda on, failed dismally so had to motor move her. I had her stuck in the middle of the road with a guy waiting to get by and I couldn’t engage the mover for ages!
4) Once I got her moved, I placed her too close to a tree - Isabella wouldn’t fit in - so I had to put the corner stays back up and move her over a few inches.
5) Turns out I should have moved her over a couple more inches as the porch is now rubbing on a branch and the next door neighbour is going to struggle to get his electric hook up out as Isabella is right on top of his wires!

Laura arrived with the boys at about 6 pm just as I was putting the finishing touches to Isabella - pegging her out and putting down the carpet. Earlier we had to take a break from putting her up in the sizzling heat for me to take dip in the sea to cool down. This site is right on the beach - literally across the road. About 5 mins from door to water.

                         

The beach was very atmospheric - I think the heat was causing a bit of a heat haze effect? The water was about perfect although I would have personally preferred sand than Suffolk pebbles buy hey, you can’t gave everything!

Once we got the beds ready in Isabella, we headed out to Southwold for the evening. I took the Twinnies to the beach while fish and chips were purchased from the same chip shop we went to last week. The Twinnies built up an appetite by pebble chucking. Of course they managed to get their feet wet which grandad got the blame for!?

We ate the chips overlooking the sea with the Southwold lighthouse lightening the sky. Finishing quickly to enable us to get an ice cream from H&J’s before they shut at 9 - and a bloody nice one it was too. Kim had Mango which was very special.

Back to Brunnehilda for the beds up, jarmers on and to bed routine. Kim and I are in Isabella, Laura and Harry in the main bed with Charlie and Finners in the dinette bed.

As promised, pros and cons from Seacroft Club Site, Cromer:
Pros:
1) Great position for walking to Cromer (15 mins) and East Runton beach (10 mins)
2) Superb facilities. Perfect loos and showers and even a swimming pool - although we didn’t use it!
3) Good 4G
Cons:
1) Price - the most expensive one so far
2) Not very friendly folks around us. I have a theory which I will expand on some time soon
3) Busy road to pull out onto - especially if turning right
4) Pitch didn’t allow awning