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!

A Scorcher at Woolacombe Beach - 30th July ‘2

I’m writing this blog a day late so please excuse more shortcomings than usual. Leaving it until the next morning is not conducive for quality blogging!

Anyway ... what a day for weather? Sun all day and about 28 degrees. Ideal beach weather we thought. Which is exactly what most of the population of South West England thought too and not an insignificant proportion of them had headed for Woolacombe.

Before all that we had had a very leisurely morning. Breakfasting outside for the first time this week. Once again we didn’t get out until gone 1pm. The serious holiday makers saw the sun and were up and gone out before 10. One of the good things about this site is that they leave the shower block open until 1.30 so it gives an excuse for leisurely mornings - not that we need one!

As we were leaving our next door neighbour was returning. We did the normal exchange of pleasantries (it’s the rule - it’s in the manual!) and he said they had tried to get to Croyde beach and had to turn back - the number of cars trying to do the same had made it impossible! 

So as we headed down to Woolacombe we pretty much knew what to expect! Much like a fly stuck on a web. In our case it wasn’t a spider but a bloody long traffic jam to get in the car parks - it went all the way up the hill to the edge of town. If you don’t know Woolacombe that will mean nothing to you so let’s just say, not something you want on a scorching hot day with 3 kids in the car all anxious to get on the beach. 

In the end it wasn’t too bad and only took us about 45 mins to get to the car park entrance. Lucky for us all those efficient and organised folks who had been on the beach since 10 had now had enough and were leaving.

The beach, as you might expect, was crowded. We walked as far to the left (away from the town) as we could but it was still a challenge to find a socially distancing spot. As we were setting up I could literally feel the disapproval of those millions of Daily Mail readers! But, s** them, they don’t have 3 kids chomping at the bit to get in the sea!

We spent a lovely 3 hours on the beach. Body boarding with Charlie was a highlight but it was also fun just chilling with the Twinnies. I have to say I felt a little inadequate today at the beach. Now I know what your thinking but no, it was nothing about body image - how could I feel inadequate in that department??! It was that everyone seemed to have a wet suit on - young and old! Why you need one in the 28 degree heat and warm sea I have no idea - yet another fashion trend I suspect? Any way not having one made you stand out like a pork pie at a Jewish wedding!

The operation to get 3 boys (and yourself) sand free was helped by me bringing a container of water in the car - to be fair with the de-sanding thing, and as you might have guessed, Kim does most of the “heavy lifting” with the Twinnies. 

Charlie was keen to revisit the restaurant right by the beach - The Red Barn - so we did. They had a good post COVID process and we had a nice table outside to eat our grub. Harry didn’t like the cheese in his cheeseburger and at one stage did a rather loud “old man burp” that turned a number of heads, but apart from that it was a nice meal / experience.

Laura was joining us today but had had a late start and a delayed journey. She arrived at the campsite at about 8.45.

We headed straight back out to Ilfracombe as she was gagging for a fish supper and some ice cream. Of course we all joined her with the ice cream. Kelly’s Cornish with clotted cream on the top is heaven in a cone (or in last nights case - a tub).

The wind has got up again and as soon as the sun went down it got blimin cold. We had our ice cream sitting by the harbour and then set off back to Brunnehilda. Kim and I are sleeping in Isabella tonight so a fair bit of “set up” was required. All 6 of us went to bed very tired!

Funniest (no most embarrassing moment) cane at the Red Barn. When you are sitting having a pleasant meal and you hear a loud “old man burp” and you look to the table where it can from you do tend to assume it came from the old man sitting at the table rather than the cute 5 year old! So after being the recipient of a number of undeserved dirty looks about 5 mins later I managed to spill my glass of cider all over the table. In this case the dirty looks were deserved! I think everybody was rather glad to see me leave!

A Day at Lynmouth / Lynton & More Woolacombe Beach - 29th July ‘20

Little sun but no rain today. A pleasant enough 18 degrees from early on until evening so no real complaints on the weather front. If only the same could be said for kicking the crap out of your elderly grandparents front?! I finally had enough at 6.30 and, some would say rather cruelly, put the full weight of my legs over my 5 year old grandsons legs to keep them as still as possible. It worked, to a fashion, but the “fight” had woken me fully and that was it for my nights sleep. Finners woke up fully refreshed and ready to go at about 8.30. 

We had a pleasant leisurely morning. Breakfasting, reading, gaming and playing a bit of football. The wind break remains up but the wind has now virtually gone.

At 1pm we headed off to Lynmouth / Lynton - arriving around 1/4 to 2. Amazingly we stumbled across a perfect (and free) parking spot - the village was very busy and the pay and display car parks crammed full so that was a considerable bonus!

Lynmouth is such a pretty place - it’s hard to believe the devastation caused from the 1952 flood! As it happened we went on quite a special day in Lynmouth’s history ... the wonderful old gothic looking hotel perched right up on the top of the cliffs was being bulldozed to make way for some other development! Kim and I had first come to Lynmouth on our honeymoon - 40 years ago!! Apart from the disappearing  hotel, not a lot had changed.

In typical fashion, as soon as we arrived we wanted something to eat. We bought a rather splendid takeaway (I had homemade crab pasty) from a wee cafe / deli right by the harbour. Harry said it was the best lunch ever! A little over dramatic but it was good! We ate it on the stoney beach.

We decided to wander up to the LLCR (Lynmouth & Lynton Cliff Railway) and get a return trip on the old Victorian funicular. The queue was huge - the chap estimated over 45 mins!  Not something that any of us fancied, so we decided the best plan would be to drive up to Lynton and see what the queue was like up there. It seemed rude not to buy an ice cream on the way back to the car. Guess what flavour the Twinnies had?

I had forgotten how steep the road hill was up to Lynton? The sign said 18% which, I think, in old money is about a 1 in 5 gradient! I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be towing Brunnehilda up there!

We parked up and found the top of the railway. The queue was indeed tiny so we were soon enjoying the view as we headed back down to Lynmouth.

Once at the bottom we visited the toy and beer shop- yep, there is a shop in Lynmouth that sells toys and local beers and ciders - what’s not to like about that?! So toys and beer were bought!

We also had time for a 10 minute rest by the river and the boys and I paddled our feet - it was blimin’ freezing! The plan fell apart then ... there was still a 45 minutes queue for the Cliff railway to get back up. After a brief discussion about options - including walking up the steep steps to the top - we decided to sit it out in the queue.

By the time we got to the top it was gone 5 and we just headed for the car and pointed her back to Woolacombe.

We literally threw all the beach stuff in the car and headed for Woolacombe beach car park and the cheap parking -after 6pm.

There was no sun but it was pleasant enough and the sea was very warm. Charlie enjoyed body boarding and the Twinnies just raced around lapping up every moment - as only 5 year olds can do! Once the water fun was done with there was a lot of sand based activity before we trudged back to the car.

They say there is no gain without pain and the gain of a nice session on the beach is an equal match for the pain of sand bloody everywhere and that horrible job of getting 3 wet / sandy boys “car ready”!

We decided to head for the Thai takeaway in Braunton. It looked nice and it must be - there was a 1 hour wait for food. We might have waited but the kids wouldn’t last out so we found an empty Chinese takeaway down the road. We discovered that there was a good reason why it was empty - it was poo!

Anyway we drove home and none of us really ate much. Partly because it was late and folks were tired and partly because it was poo!

The boys were too tired to watch a DVD. We went through the motion so of putting it on but all 3 were asleep by the time the adverts were over!

Harry joins us in bed tonight. Laura is due down tomorrow and it’s due to be hot!

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!

Another Stormy Night & A Day Spendng Money! - 27th July ‘20

The problem with rubbish weather on holiday with the boys is you just spend spend spend! However, we did manage to salvage a nice enough day out of another appalling day of weather!

The day started early - we were all woken by a tremendous storm at 5.30. To be fair it had been raging from midnight and continued until gone 10am but it must have been particularly bad at 5.30. Isabella was really being battered by the 50mph winds and the horizontal rain! I popped out to check all the pegs and then moved the car around to be between the prevailing wind (the south) and Isabella. As in the infamous Whitby storm this trick seemed to help!

So from 5.30am we had both twins in the bed. The night with Harry was equally as uncomfortable as the one with Finners. Finners lashes out with his legs once and extremely violently - like a Backstroke swimmer starting off - while Harry is persistent using all his limbs and continually pounding you like a front row forward trying to get the ball. To say which one is better is a ridiculous concept like asking someone if they prefer tooth ache or stomach ache.

The funny thing is if you think of all the weather Brunnehilda has had to withstand over the last 12 months it would bring tears to you eyes - thunderstorms, rainstorms and winds the like that I don't think I have ever experienced anything like before? And to think, that when we bought her we were wondering about getting air con!!!! I think we’ve only had a couple of days where we have had all the windows open! 

We headed out to Bideford at 11am. That’s the great thing about Twinnies .... we’re always out and about fairly early. No leisurely cup of tea in bed, no lazy breakfast with omelette and coffee, no relaxed shower and ablutions!

The rain was due to last until 5 so Kim found an outlet shopping place called The Atlantic Village in Bideford. They had a Nike store and Charlie had money in his wallet! It wasn’t a great success. There wasn’t much there apart from an Asda and the Nike shop. We queued up for 45 mins in the drizzle to get in the Nike shop and then when Charlie and Kim got in, they had nothing on the shelves for children!! Kim did manage to get some bits from Weird Fish.

We grabbed a KFC and headed back to Brunnehilda via Sainos for the boys to buy more toys and DVDs and Charlie to buy a Nerf gun. 2 more guns were bought for the Twinnies so when we got back to camp they had some fun firing them at some random targets. Although the 2 that went onto our neighbour’s awning were not part of the plan!

Kim did some washing and then we headed out to Woolacombe for the evening. Crazy Golf at the Pirate Adventure Golf.

Then more ice creams and then a walk on Woolacombe beach where they managed to get absolutely soaked - rolling up trouser legs doesn’t work when you wade through rock pools up to your thighs!?

We bought some excellent pizza from Stoned (a van on the beach) and headed back to Brunnehilda to eat it.

A DVD in bed (Captain Underpants) for them and a cup of tea and blog / read in bed for us. 

Finners will join us in bed tonight but the good news is that there doesn’t look like there is going to be any rain tonight/ tomorrow. Not much sun either but hey, no complaints here. After the last 24 hours, we’re just delighted to have, in the words of Barry Manilow, “made it through the night!

Oh by the way, to clear up a couple of things before finishing ... Charlie won the crazy golf - no idea how but his Grandma was scoring?!

Today’s funniest moment came on Woolacombe beach when Harry was so focused on eating his ice cream he didn’t realise the step down was so steep. Luckily he held onto the railing and went spiralling down it like batman going down the bat pole. To be fair to him, not one bit of ice cream was spilt but the look on his face was a picture!

North Devon (July / Aug ‘19) - Day 4

Perfect weather day today. Sunny cloudless skies and 24 degrees - also, the strong westerly wind seems to have blown itself out!

George, Finners and Charlie didn’t have a great night - turns out the second hand air bed we inherited has a slow puncture! Funny, the only thing we have not bought new for our caravan adventure is a dud!

George cooked a great fry up breakfast on the Cadac and the kids caught up on Jurassic World while we got ready.

Charlie wanted more body boarding so we planned a return trip to Woolacombe. Now, and here’s a funny story with a happy ending ...
I’m not a fan of going back to the same place twice so I looked at the map and found a nice place (with car park and shop) at the other end of the Bay - somewhere called Putsborough Beach. Kim has been caught out by my “risky” geographical decisions before so she was keen to impart the importance of the decision being a good one! Well it turned out the cliff road I was looking at was a dead end - a long car park called Marine Drive where the only way down to Putsborough was a 30 minute walk / climb down the cliffs with Twinnies, body boards, buckets, spades and Grandmas. Oh how we all laughed when we realised!! Anyway, as it turned out, we went as far as we could go with the cars down a track and stumbled across a steep but scalable and short(ish) path down to a perfect part of the beach with hardly anyone there. The weekend hordes were all at either end of the beach and we were in the middle - a classic case of victory bring snatched from the arms of defeat. Unsurprisingly, I modestly didn’t claim any credit for the turnaround in our fortunes!

Anywho.. we passed away a very pleasant afternoon doing all the beachy things but with much less people and more dogs than yesterday - what’s not to like?! Turns our Charlie is a natural at body boarding. The water temp and waves were about perfect. For swimming too.

At the end of the afternoon a clamber up the hot sand dunes and steep path was brightened up for us all by Kim falling flat on her face into the dunes!! Then off to Ilfracombe ...

Laura and George fancied proper seaside fish and chips before they headed home. Kim consulted Trip Advisor and we found s fantastic place called Lynbay Fish and Chips https://www.lynbayfishandchipsilfracombe.co.uk/ Lovely staff, perfect chips, gorgeous fish (I had hake!) and iPads for the kids to play with! Another success for Trip Advisor and defo a recommendation from the Pitts and MacArthur clan.

A Cornish ice cream cone with clotted cream whilst watching the boats in the harbour was a perfect end to the day.

Back to Brunnehilda for goodbyes and then Laura & George hit the road for the long drive home.
The Twinnies and Charlie played while grandma and grandad had an evening cup of tea watching the sun set over the Bristol Channel - or is it the Atlantic?!

Either way, all is quiet on the “Viking” front so we cross our fingers and go again!