Walking to Lee - 2nd Aug ‘20

Much of the same today as yesterday - and just as nice! 

A leisurely morning but instead of omelette, we had freshly baked croissants from the camp shop - not quite so good but darn close.

We left the site at about midday, walking down the hill, this time not turning left to Mortehoe but kept on walking down all the way to the gorgeous little village of Lee.

It was about a 30 minute walk literally all down hill. We had hoped that the little coffee stall would be open but it wasn’t! What a missed opportunity for someone as it was quite busy.

The beach at Lee is about the complete opposite to Woolacombe - very rocky, very few people and very sheltered (no waves). We found a nice spot on the rocks and watched the world go by. As with yesterday the urge to swim grew - especially when the sun came out and the water seemed to be calling out to me!

I have to say it’s one of the nicest swims I’ve had in some time. It was like a mill pond, very warm (once in) and lots of rocks to explore. It was so pleasant that Kim even said she might have been tempted - if she had had her cossie with her!

We walked back up the hill at about 1.45, taking our time with a couple of stops to catch our breath. We went straight out when we got to Brunnehilda and were in Ilfracombe by 3 o’clock.

As this was our last day we went for “blow out” ... a shared fish and chips from Lynbay and a Kelly’s ice cream - in my case topped with clotted cream! Here’s a question where does the clotted cream end and the Cornish vanilla begin??

Back to Damage Barton by 4.15 for a shower and final pack up of Brunnehilda. As we are trying to minimise the amount of stuff in Brunnehilda for her upcoming service we put a lot more equipment in the car- in fact she’s full to bursting!

I was tempted to try and back her out but hey, why have a dog and bark yourself? Why have a motor-mover and make an idiot of yourself in front of all these judgemental caravan types? We hitched her up perfectly - which was nice compared to last weeks fiasco and were heading out the gates by 5.45.

We arrived at Blackmore Vale at Shaftesbury by 8.15 having had a splendid trip over. We hitched up and had a simple tea, watched a couple of episodes of The Wire and “crashed out”.

Tomorrow we leave Brunnehilda behind for the week as she has her first service.

These post COVID days means they have to have her for a week as they aren’t allowed to step foot inside her for 3 days - unclean unclean!! I plan to leave them with a list of small warranty jobs to be sorted as well.

So here ends a smashing week. Lots of fun with the boys and a couple of days of rest and relaxation (although lots of walking!) to finish up.

Damage Barton Caravan Club Site, Woolacombe:

Pros:

1) Fabulous (hard to beat) views

2) Good location for fabulous footpaths

3) Good location for Woolacombe and Ilfracombe

4) Nice shop

5) Laid back staff

6) Nice big pitch

7) Toilet block open all morning (until 1.30) so you never have to worry about it being shut 

Cons:

1) A long walk up the hill to the facilities 

2) Sizeist wash rooms

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.

Crabbing in Lee Bay & Crazy Golf at Ilfracombe - 29th Jul ‘19

I’m not sure I like short term weather forecasts being so bloody accurate? They said the rain and the wind would start at 4pm - and it did!

To be fair we did manage to fit some fun stuff in before the weather struck back!

Croissants from the camp shop made for a nice breakfast. By the time we were all abluted it was nearly midday.

We decided to go to our beach (Lee Bay) at the foot of the campsite. We didn’t fancy the 45 minute hike with the Twinnies so we drove down. Car parking was a bit traumatic but we managed it eventually and had a very pleasant hour or two amongst the rook pools. We found several dead crabs and one very much alive one that took a liking to my right index finger!

We then moved onto Ilfracombe through some very “Devon” lanes - no way Brunnehilda would have  found her way through!

We parked at the Promenade in Ilfracombe which, I have to say was half the price of its neighbour Woolacombe!

Crazy Golf was our go to destination. The good news is that Kim got the memo this time and Charlie won. The Twinnies and I tied for last place although, in my defence, we did let them count their own shots at each hole!

By the time we had finished we were starving so a quick trip to the fish and chip shop restaurant was next on the agenda  The 3rd one in 3 visits and this one was a  similar standard to the first one - the clear winner being Lynbay. I managed to leave my back pack behind at today’s so that will be another bloody trip to Ilfracombe tomorrow - we will NOT be having fish and chips!

The rain came right on schedule so we headed off to Barnstaple for a shop. First to a camping shop to spend another £100 - this time on 2 camp beds for Isabella - to replace the duff blow up mattress.
Then to Asda. The Twinnies didn’t bring any toys with them but thankfully £30 can buy a lot of fun at Asda.

Back to Brunnehilda for the normal tea, play and bed set up. It is blowing a gale tonight and after the incident with the falling tent pole (onto Kims’ head!) we decided to all pile into the safe and warm Brunnehilda.

 Sitting in bed listening to the wind howling reminds me of more money we need to spend - some heavy duty storm lashings for Isabella - does it ever stop!? The spending that is not the wind!

The forecast is rain all day tomorrow - I’m guessing they’ll be right again!!?

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!