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. 

Pick up Brunnehilda & Off to Ross on Wye - 10th Aug ‘20

Another really hot day. We packed the car up to the gunnels with all the stuff we took out of Brunnehilda to allow them to service her more easily. We’re not taking Isabella this time but it is the first outing for the new sun canopy. Let’s hope we get the weather for it!

We left at about midday and after a stop at our normal resting place,  the McDonalds at Tott Hill, we arrived at Shaftesbury at about 3.45pm. 

After a chat with Pete the mechanic and a quick look around a funky new wee Knaus model, we were back on the road with Brunnehilda -£400 lighter in the bank balance!

The XC40 doesn’t pull her as well as the Xc60. She did groan a bit as we headed up the steep hill towards the town. We had a relatively trouble free journey - apart from going right through the middle of a very busy Bath! The last hour of the journey was following the river Wye valley up to Ross. Driving by Chepstow racecourse, Tintern Abbey, Monmouth and then on up to Ross. The river looked perfect for my canoe - shame I haven’t bought it this time?!

The last 2 miles to the site were a bit hairy! Single track with passing spaces. Although the said passing spaces were a little thin on the ground! Praise the Lord ... we never met anything coming the other way!

The entrance to the site was a bit tight and, me bring rather cocky, chose not to open the gate as wide as it could go. Subsequently I missed scratching the side of the van by about 5mm!! Lesson learnt!

The site is amazingly positioned, about 50 yards from the river Wye and, to quote Bjork it is “oh so quiet”! We are about a mile from the nearest hamlet. 4 miles from Ross - as the river flows.

Can’t fault the site although the owners fondness for rules seems to continue. We had 2 separate letters of instructions about all the COVID dos and donts and on arriving at the site we were faced with more rules on a sign by the water tap. Interestingly all this communication about rules but absolutely nothing on what to do, where we can walk, nearest pub etc.

We popped out to Morrison’s at Ross to get tea and a few provisions to keep us going. It’s still very humid and being by the river there are lots of midgys.

Tea and an episode of The Wire got us to 11 and an early bed! God it is sooo quiet here! With the Twinnies due in a couple of days I fear this haven of peace and tranquility may be blown right out the water!

Off to Woolacombe - 25th July ‘20

Back on the road after 4 months of COVID lockdown. As we’ve all had the dreaded virus we feel more than happy to be out and about in this horrible new post pandemic world.

Although what a bloody day. Lots of mistakes (maybe the 4 months break had coddled my brain), a huge long journey and plenty of weather!

George brought the boys around at 9.15 and that’s when the troubles started - although this time nothing to do with the terrible Twinnies! Yesterday I had put (with Bobby’s help) Brunnehilda out of the front garden and into the church car park. So my plan was just to hook her up and go ... yeh sure?!

It took an age to hook her up - don’t know why - but once we had I couldn’t get her through the church gates very easily. So we un-hitched again and man handled her around the corner. Hitched her back up, or so I thought, and started up Brington Road. And then it happened... crash bang, and all I saw in the rear view mirror was Brunnehilda getting further away! I had not hitched her on properly and she had slipped off. In doing so the emergency brake had come on (which is a good thing) but of course this meant the emergency brake cable had broken!

So we hitched her back up (correctly this tine) and headed of to Venture Caravans to buy a new one. It wasn’t easy to fit (well for me it wasn’t!) but 30 mins and lots of rude words later we were off. So the departure time, which should have been 9.15 was gone 10.30!

We arrived at Damage Barton Caravan Club site, Woolacombe at nearly 7 o'clock - over 8 hours travelling time. 240 miles in 8 hours with 2 short stops - you can do the maths! The Saturday traffic was awful. We stupidly went on the A303 which for about 50 miles was traffic jam after traffic jam. We got a nice view of Stonehenge though - in the pouring rain.

And by this time it was raining! I don’t think I’ve every seen rain like that outside of the US. We struggled to go over 30 for several miles - which was ironic as 10 mins before and 10 mins after we were stuck fast in a jam!

We stopped at MacDonalds at Newbury and Taunton Dene services. Both stops were a little depressing as the world of queuing to get in, one way traffic inside buildings and face masks is well and truly with us ... uck!

I have to say, the boys were brilliantly behaved. Considering they had been in the car for nearly 10 hours, there wasn’t even a cross word let alone any fisty cuffs!

When we arrived at Damage Barton we took on water and then went to our pitch. It has a lovely sea view but has an alarming slope to contend with. After a lot of fiddling around we got her level - although pitching on a slope like this is going to make getting Isabella up a bit of a challenge in the morning!? One of our neighbours was so alarmed by the angle we were pitching at, he came over to see if we were OK?

Once I got all the services sent up the boys and I went for a stroll while Kim sorted out the inside of Brunnehilda.

A bite to eat (purchased from the onsite shop), some gaming, and then off to bed to watch a DVD (Rio 2).

We are due rain tomorrow but we’re hoping for a better day than today. That said, it felt nice to be snuggling down in Brunnehilda’s giant Teutonic bed - although fidgety Finners will be joining us later!!  

Trip to Lincoln - 13th March ‘20

Today was our first post-Coronavirus trip.

The amazing announcements from around the world yesterday has made our trip this weekend a little  surreal! It’s looking like our trip to Spain in 2 weeks may well be off so we need to make the most of our long weekend in Lincoln.

And, as if to confirm the old adage that every cloud has a silver lining ... we may be looking at a catastrophic pandemic but at least it meant that our Lincoln site had had 2 last minute cancellations (folks self isolating apparently?) and left us the only campers - result!

We didn’t leave Whilton until 3pm. Kim had worked in the morning and I had walked the dogs with Laura and tried on Brunnehilda’s new jacket ...

She looked very smart (Brunnehilda not Laura) and this will hopefully stop the worst of the mud and grime when travelling. I also changed Brunnehilda’s number plate - we got a new car earlier in the week - to make her legal.

The journey was good apart from the last 10 miles. There was a huge queue crawling around the road worked Lincoln by pass and then we drove right by the site! This necessitated an additional 10 mile round trip to find somewhere to turn around!

Then more trauma when we got back to the site. There was a security gate stopping us getting in. This meant Brunnehilda was left blocking the road while we waited a good 5 mins before we could raise the owners and open the gate. The Tesco delivery driver, who couldn’t get by, was not a happy chap - unless he was using his horn to wish us all the best?

The owners are very nice and totally relaxed. The facilities, for a small 5 van site, seem excellent. We had the pick of where to pitch so I motor moved her front-in to allow a view of the pond (and the ducks) from Brunnehilda’s kitchen.

By the time we got set up it was pitch black! We headed off to a Tesco Extra in Lincoln to stock up. We are both very tired so, after an episode of The Waltons while eating our Tesco ready meal, we were both ready for bed - #rockandrolllifestyle

I drifted off thinking what a very splendid place Brunnehilda would be to self isolate for a couple of weeks. Also ... FYI.. 4G is rubbish here!

Off to Shrewsbury - 19th Jan ‘20

The first trip of 2020. The first trip for 6 weeks! I think this the longest we’ve been away from Brunnehilda since we got her back in June!

Well it’s true ... absence does make the heart grow fonder! After a very late night last night watching old videos of the kids and family holidays, our plan of being up and out by lunchtime didn’t really stand much of a chance of succeeding!

By the time we had breakfasted, bathed , packed, loaded the car and walked the dogs it was gone 1.30pm.  It was a smashing winters day - a nice hard frost but glorious sunshine from early till late. We had the sun right the way up the motorway to Shrewsbury with the exception of a 15 minute stretch going by Wolverhampton where there was thick freezing fog - I don’t know what that says about Wolverhampton but whatever it does I’m not saying it!

We soon got Brunnehilda hitched up at Whilton and the journey was less than 2 hours - arriving at the Roden Nurseries CL site at about 3.45pm.  We have this little 5 pitch site to ourselves. Which at 4pm, when the nursery shut, meant we also had a whole huge car park to ourselves as well. Not such a bonus for us but a real treat for the dogs who could run about like maniacs while we got set up. As usual Kim was on inside duties while I was on outside. All settled and cozy inside an hour.

Even after the 6 week lay off, we felt like a couple of old caravan pros as we rapidly went through the set up processes - what a difference 6 months makes?!  Only one snag - our water tap on the pitch had frozen so it meant a trip to fill up on one of the other pitches - but as they were empty, it really wasn’t a problem.

We then drove the 10 minute journey into Shrewsbury town centre to pick up a curry and take it round to friends Rowan and Gonzalo’s.

And a very nice curry it was too! We were officially celebrating Rowan’s 40th but Sunday night with a 7 and 5 year old are really not good for many things apart from getting an early night. So after a very pleasant couple of hours and very full bellies, we set off back to Brunnehilda soon after 9.

Still suffering from our 3am bedtime yesterday, we were happy for an excuse to get to bed early tonight. The dogs settled down quickly as well!

Whilton Marina to Dover - 15th Oct ‘19

Wow, the day has come ... after 50 nights away in the UK we’re off overseas!! As exciting as it is terrifying!! Not sure if mainland Europe is ready for Brunnehilda?! Actually they’re ready for her - she’s just going hone after all - I’m not sure they’re ready for me pulling her?

Kim was working in the morning so we didn’t pull out of Whilton Marina until 12.20. We stopped at Thurrock for a bite to eat. Brunnehilda was parked amongst the HGVs as the HGVs had used all the caravan spaces! On all our 5 hour journey we didn’t notice another van - I guess most sensible caravaners pack them away by the end of September!?

The motorways were really busy which was surprisingly un-stressful! It doesn’t seem to matter if you’re going 40 with a van. You can only go at 60 anyway and so what if you’re running late- c’est le vie ... the life of a retired caravaner eh?

Barfrestone Court Farm just outside Dover is a smashing little CL site. It’s set in the courtyard of a very upmarket working farm. We were the only ones there so we had it to ourselves. The lady owner was super nice and very laid back. Also good as I didn’t feel any embarrassment (no onlookers) ad I motor moved Brunnehilda into the easiest of pitches.

As soon as we were set up we headed into Dover for a bite to eat. Not a lot to chose from but in the end we had a very nice one at Nandos. It was very busy so I guess most people had had the same problem as us in finding a suitable place to eat. I had a Mushroom and humus wrap which was really good - who needs chicken eh?

Returned to the site by way of a Tesco Extra. Not sure if the price of French diesel but we thought it prudent to fill up.

A quick read and then to bed. This place is in the middle of no where so there is literally no sound or lights at all. I think we’re going to sleep well.

Journey to Harrogate, via Fimber - 9th Oct ‘19

A short trip this one. We were going to the New Forest for 5 nights but Jenny’s (my big sister) worsening health made for a change of plan.

We left on Weds morning (not Monday) and headed North not South. We picked up Brunnehilda from Shaftesbury on Monday. We arrived late, after taking Bobby to his new flat in London, stayed overnight and bought her back to Whilton on Tuesday.

The new plan was to take mum and dad up to Jenny’s near Driffield, head over to Harrogate for a few days and then swing back round to see Jenny and pick up mum and dad for the drive home on Saturday.

Arrived at Fimber at about 2.30pm, 4 hours after leaving Whilton. The journey was fine stopping for beans on toast at the California Garden Centre in Howden https://www.californiagardens.co.uk/. We had tried to stop at Woodall services on the M1 but all the caravan places where taken up by white van men - selfish buggers! (I bet they’re all “leavers” as well!!!?)

Jenny is not great. She has a brain tumour and after 2 great years where she seemed to have the upper hand unfortunately it is now fighting back hard.

We left for Harrogate at 5pm. A nightmare journey - running very low on fuel and fighting around York northern by-pass during the rush hour. It’s amazing how few fuel stations there are when the red light is on?!

This was our first drive and set up in the dark- we didn’t arrive until nearly 7 and the Autumn nights are certainly drawing in! Apart from driving all over the grass and slightly annoying the warden (rightly so!), the set up went well. I really can’t back the van so I need to swallow my pride and get the motor mover out even for the most simple of manoeuvres. My pride and my manhood must be swallowed (can you swallow manhood???) in favour of an easy life and stopping pissing off site wardens!

The Harrogate Caravan Park https://www.harrogatecaravanpark.co.uk/ is fabulous. Situated in the Yorkshire Showground on the outskirts of town with lots of great walks around the huge site and a award winning farm shop and cafe right next door. I took the dogs for a quick walk - yes we have the 2 collies with us for this one!

We went to Harrogate for an Indian. We went to Jinnah (http://www.jinnah-restaurants.com/harrogate), situated in an old school - we had been before but I remembered it being better. My halo slipped and I succumbed to the pleasures of flesh! I felt dirty afterwards - I won’t hurry back to both the restaurant and cow / sheep based menu items!

Tea and backgammon with Brunnehilda’s heating system thumping out on the highest setting. Kim flukes a win at Backgammon so it’s fair to say things can only get better.

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 

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?

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!

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