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.

A Re-run of 3 Days Ago (With Laura this time) - 31st July ‘20

The last day of July and being 17 degrees, a bit of sun and a bit of sea mist but a lot of cloud is one thing ... but when you see the weather at home is 34 degrees and sunny then that’s quite another!!

Kim and I spent the night in the camp beds in Isabella. We both slept well, although both woke up very warm as we were dressed for winter and the sun was out early and very warm. Unfortunately 9am was its warmest and it only went down hill from then!

I would say a leisurely morning was had breakfasting and getting ready but that is not the adjective that best describes it - chaotic? manic? stressful? Isabella is great but it’s still 6 of us in a very confined space and 3 of the 6 are the Twinnies and Laura! 

We set off at 12.30 and walked the same path we had a couple of days ago to Mortehoe. Rather than pasties from the shop, we lunched at the Chichester Arms. The place was a bit scruffy and COVID meant we had to sit outside but the food was rather nice. I had a very acceptable ploughman’s.

The sun was out for a bit on the way back but on the way over we couldn’t even see the sea as the mist had rolled in a made for a rather chilly and damp walk.

Once we got back we went straight off to the beach. Trying to cram in as much as possible before they had to hit the road. We assumed that as the weather wasn’t great the beach would be quiet - wrong! It was less busy than yesterday but only a little. Charlie and I had a quick body board - rather annoyingly he is so much better than me! I assume it’s my greater bulk that puts me lower down in the water and therefore more resistant?

Of course, as soon as we were finished we had to grab an ice cream on the way out - those are the rules!! Then it was a mad rush to get them all ready for despatch. Laura finally left at about 6.45 which means they probably won’t get home until midnight - at the earliest!!

It felt weird to wave them off and then go back to an empty caravan. We’ve had a lot of fun with them this week and we wouldn’t have had it any other way but ... they do keep you on your toes 24/7! 

We thought we would get a takeaway from a rather nice place at Mortehoe. We drove down there but the chap explained that they were so busy they couldn’t take any more orders. I rang the Thai in Braunton and they quoted a rather ridiculous waiting time of 90 mins! I’m not sure if it’s just so busy down here or that they are all trying and failing to cope with COVID restrictions - either way it’s bloody annoying not just to eat what you want whee when you want to!

We ended up at KFC in Barnstaple and called in at Saunton Sands (next to Croyde) for a 20 minute stroll to try and walk it off. During this time we had a call from Laura. They were not having a good journey home with the blessed tyre pressure warning light coming on about 30 mins after leaving!

Back to the quiet Brunnehilda. She resembles an army camp after all the soldiers have moved out!

Walk to Mortehoe & an Evening on Woolacombe Beach - 28th July ‘20

Well the weathers improved! And we had a good night sleep, with Finners managing to keep his limbs under control for the whole night. On top of that, the silence of no gale force wind in Isabella’s sails was nice to wake up to.

But of course we are on holiday with the MacArthur boys so nothing is ever straightforward! Poor old Charlie has had a nasty stomach ache most of the day - until about 8 pm!

We had a leisurely morning. More DVD re-runs, lashings of toast for breakfast and the luxury of a shower for Kim and I. I’m afraid to say this is our first one - 3 days into the holiday! It’s true what they say though, when you stink you can’t smell others! 

The sun was out all day but it remained a very pleasant temperature (about 18 degrees) until the evening - when it suddenly got very chilly.

We decided a walk would be a good idea - and we were right. We left the campsite at about 12.45 for a walk across the pretty footpath to Mortehoe village - it took a pleasant 45 mins at Twinnie pace. We walked through another campsite on the way - better facilities but no where near as good views.

Once at Mortehoe we bought some pasties from Mortehoe Village Stores and ate them on the steps of the pretty little church at the centre of the village. Then the walk back along the same footpath. By this time Charlie’s stomach was quite bad.

When we got back to Brunnehilda he went to bed, the Twinnies relaxed and Kim and I read. After a reviving cup of tea I put up the new Isabella wind break. It took a couple of goes but eventually looked ok and seems fairly functional-  picture in tomorrow’s blog. There is still a bit of a wind so we thought a bit of shelter to sit in wouldn’t go amiss.

We waited until 6pm for Charlie to feel better but it wasn’t really happening. The Twinnies had been so good and we had previously promised them a trip to the beach so ... Kim stayed  with Charlie and I took them down to Woolacombe beach.

They absolutely loved it! Building sandcastles and rollicking in the early evening breakers. It clearly would have been more fun with their big brother with them but as always with the Twinnies, they got on with it and had a nice time.

By the time we got home to the campsite, Charlie was feeling a little better. So, we went off to Ilfracombe Tesco’s to get him some medicine and stock up with provisions. And of course more toys for the Twinnies!

On the way there we popped into Lynbays for some chips. We ate them by the water at the other side of town. It was noticeable very quiet tonight. I would say only about 25% of the number of holiday makers you expect at this time of the year!

Then back to Brunnehilda for the usual DVDs (Farmargeden tonight) and blogging / reading in bed. 

Today’s funniest moment came late on. We decided to eat our chips in the car to avoid the seagulls - but they still found us. We had the sun roof open and at one stage they nearly got in much to the terror / amusement of Kim and the boys! The current favourite profanity of the Twinnie’s is “Cheesus” which they shouted in unison during the full attack.  

I have to say, when they say “Cheesus” it does sound just like their daddy - just saying!

Finners returns for a second night in a row in our bed. Fingers crossed we will have as good a night as last night!