Horrible Weather, Nice Day - 15th Aug ‘20

The forecast changed overnight and said it would now be grey, overcast and quite cold until evening and then it would rain non-stop for a few days. This was pretty accurate apart from the 30 mins the heavens opened at about 1.58pm. I know it was 1.58 as it was exactly 5 minutes after we had all clambered on board a kayak on the river Wye.

The weather couldn’t spoil a nice day though - although I’ll give it an A* for effort! It started with another morning of impressive choreographed movements as the 5 of us negotiated getting up , getting ready and breakfasting in a small 3 berth caravan. We did eat breakfast outside again - albeit today Charlie had a quilt wrapped around him to keep warm! 

We thought we would try the kayak hire at Symonds Yat again. This time we made sure Charlie had so much food and drink inside him it would be biologically impossible for him to want more as soon as we arrived - it worked! As mentioned above we were on the water 5 mins before we got an absolute soaking. It was still fun but our freezing cold wet clothes took the edge of it. Ironically the water was much warmer than we were - it was tempting to dive in to get warmer - we couldn’t have got any wetter. I’ve got to say, I wouldn’t want to be relying on any of my fellow paddlers if ever we needed to get somewhere quickly!

Straight home to Brunnehilda to dry off. The boys watched another DVD while Kim and I read and chilaxed for an hour. We’ve just bought the 6th DVD of the 3 day trip tonight but, given the appalling weather, they have been a godsend.

We promised the boys a bit of fishing so we went the mile along our road to the footpath bridge that allowed us access to the water. This was the same spot I swam 2 days earlier. Amazingly it was almost unrecognisable as the water level had risen at least 6 inches - probably nearer a foot.

The fishing was successful with a bucket load of tiddlers caught in 30 mins or so. Finners had a few more in his wellies  too!? A few rounds of poo sticks on the bridge on the way back to the car and we were ready to head out for food.

We decided to go to Hereford - the nearest “big” place, about 18 miles away. After a wander around and being turned away from 2 places - no room at the inn apparently although we looked and smelt like 5 people who hadn’t had a shower for some time - we eventually stumbled on a Wagamama. A safe choice whenever you’re out and about in a strange city!

On our walk round, Hereford cathedral looked very impressive and of course it houses the famous Mappa Mundi - definitely worth a look. Note to self to go back one day - when it’s open!

Back home to Brunnehilda via a huge Asda - diesel, toys, chocolate bread and yet another DVD later, we were back on the road!

DVD, tea and reading was the repeat order for our last evening with the boys in Brunnehilda. We have Finners joining us in bed tonight which, after the horrors of Harry “horizontal sleeper” MacArthur last night, I’m quite looking forward to just the odd kicking rather than a contestant physical assault. Moving day tomorrow do I don’t expect I’ll get much sleep anyway?

And Then The Rain Came - 13th & 14th Aug ‘20

No blog for a couple of days. To be honest, I couldn’t be arsed and if you don’t feel like blogging it’s just best not to! Feeling sorry for myself is not one of my more appealing traits - in fact my box for appealing traits is particularly small - but my mood is often linked to meteorological events and my goodness that has changed quite dramatically in the last few days.

I thought I owed it to my audience to start blogging again. Just checked the readership figures and I’m sure they will both be glad to see Travelswithbrunnhilda back up and running!

13th August

One hell of a storm last night. It started about 10pm and went on for about 3 or 4 hours. A thunderstorm in a caravan is a mind blowing experience (and goodness we’ve witnessed our fair share over the last 12 months!). The sound of the rain is amplified so much that you literally can’t hear yourself speak. Every thunder clap sounds right on top of you and the lightening seems to shine through every window!

We were picking up the boys today - meeting Laura half way at a place called Lickey Hills Country Park bear Bromsgrove.

We went via Ledbury for a quick shop (with the shops open this time!) and a bite to eat. We battled through the rain storms and found Cameron & Swan cafe - it was OK although I probably picked wrong with fish cakes and the tea was a little too strong for me. Have to say though, their level of COVID avoidance measures were impressive! 

Lickey Hills was really nice. We gave the dog and boys a good run! The rain had stopped by now so the boys even had a go on the playground. The toilets were shut though so Kim had, and took, the opportunity to embarrass Laura as she desperately tried to find a “quiet” spot! I’m sure Kim didn’t need to explain why Laura was acting a bit dodgy but she did - to several bewildered passer bys!

Home to Brunnehilda via Morrison’s (DVDs) and KFC (chicken). All safely in bed before the storms came again.

14th August

This time the thunderstorms came in the middle of the night. They didn’t last as long as the previous night but they were just as intense!

And the storm left us with a drizzly morning - in fact the rain / drizzle didn’t really abate until 4pm.

After breakfast under the protection of Izzy, we headed out to Symonds Yat. We had a quick look around and assessed the situation - we could eat or we could go on the water - either hire a kayak or a boat trip. The boys all fancied the kayak but then Charlie piped up ... he wanted something to eat (chips in particular). He is so like his mother - we would get the whole family into a Disney Park paying just shy of £1K for the pleasure and as soon as we walked through the gates (and I mean as soon as walked through the gates) she would want to get something to eat and drink - with acres of paid for fun at our disposal and the clock ticking down, she would insist on spending even more money!

So, at the will of my grandson’s stomach we trudged off in the rain to find somewhere to eat. One pub was full the other wasn’t! Now that in itself should have told us something!? I don’t want to be too critical of the Royal Lodge but I would say that once again, excellence in COVID avoidance measures was far more impressive than their ability to cook and serve food! And it took so long ...

By the time we got back to the kayaks they had shut early - they were worried about the rapidly rising river level. Ah well, at least Charlie had his chips- well to be fair, 1/3rd of a plate of them!

So, with Grandad’s wallet burning a hole in his pocket, we set off to the Toy Shop at Ross. The Wye’s loss was the toy shop’s gain as we stocked up with toys, books and more DVDs (at Morrisons).

The rain had stopped by now so we did get a pleasant short river walk in and a quick romp in the play ground. The boys threw some stones into the Wye but there was a family of swans menacingly watching us at rather close quarters for most of the time!

Back to Brunnehilda for a BBQ. The boys enjoyed playing with their £1 paper planes as we spent a pleasant evening under Izzy. Kim taught Charlie to play Jacks and the Twinnies helped me pick some blackberries to go with the ice cream. When I say “helped”, that consisted of them screaming at the top of their voices if they heard anything like a car approaching.

And so to bed. The forecast is pretty bad for tomorrow as well so ....

A Lazy Day down by the River Wye - 12th Aug ‘20

Ok, so I got the weather forecast wrong! It was another scorching hot sunny day today. However, as I sit writing this blog at 11pm at night there is a mighty thunderstorm raging outside - the weather has definitely broken now!

A lot of repeat stuff from yesterday. Pretty boring for you the reader but as yesterday was such a nice day ... more of the same for us!

Started with a lazy cup of tea in bed, an omelette al fresco for brunch and a read in the sun watching the river go by! We headed off for a walk- in the other direction this time - at about 1.30. Pretty much the hottest part of this very hot day!

We walked along the river bank - more fabulous views and then did a 90 degree right turn up a footpath to How Caple Church in the grounds of a big Manor House - How Caple Court. 

We had a look around - it was a beautiful little church - and then we chilled on a bench in the churchyard taking in the impressive vistas.

The walk down the hill was a lot easier than the walk up it! We got back to Brunnehilda in time for a bit of tunch and a vast quantity of drinks - beer, coke, water and tea. And some ice cream with a load of blackberries I had picked on the walk. S’funny when we’re out with Brunnehilda we eat a lot of brunch and trunch and not much breakfast, lunch and tea!

By 5pm I was gagging for a swim. The faint noise of thunder in the distance gave us the motivation to get moving. We drove about 1/2 mile along the road to a footpath bridge over the river. Here you could get down to river easily enough to have a paddle / swim. There was another family there already paddling and a couple taking their 6 (yes six!) spaniels for a swim. The water temperature was amazing. It was only about 2 feet deep even in the middle of the river. The current was scarily strong. It was very hard to swim against and answered our questions why we had only seen canoes and swimmers going down river and never up! I took a bottle of shampoo with me and washed my hair - that was a first for me. Not washing my hair - washing my hair in a river!

Once cooled down and refreshed, we headed into Ross for a bite to eat. First stop - hotel / pub fully booked. Nice chap recommended a pub down the road - not doing food. Nice chap recommended an Italian down the High Street - we got in.

And very nice Avellino was too. Real Italian staff (I think!) and lovely  pasta. Kim and I had pretty much the same except mine came with fish and her’s didn’t! When we came out it had just started to rain and the sky was turning black.

We fancied a drive so we went the 15 miles to Ledbury. It’s a lovely little old wool market town with typical Herefordian black and white Tudor buildings. We had a quick window shop - the best type of shopping to do IMO and then headed home.

Two episodes tonight of The Wire and then to bed to listen to the thunder and rain. The thing about a thunderstorm in a caravan is - there ain’t no one gunna get any sleep until it moves  on ...

Lazy morning by the Wye and pm in Ross - 11th Aug ‘20

Wow, what a scorcher! Just think it was only 10 days ago I was bleating on about the awful weather we get in Brunnehilda and not needing to have aircon? By Jiminey we needed it today!

A late wake up. Well, to be more accurate we woke up early it’s just the reading and drinking tea made it a late get up. Perfect morning weather for omelette al fresco. Charles, the site owner, popped over to see us. What a smashing guy - I mis-judged him from his over zealous COVID rules but he was real nice a lot more laid back than I feared. He and his wife live in a beautiful house just next to the camping field- he’s lived there 52 years!

Turns out, the camper van that had the best pitch - lovely view of the river - has left this morning so it seemed rude not to pinch their front row slot with prime views of the river! We motor moved her across and were just putting the stays down when a new camper van arrived, so they had to go to our old, less salubrious pitch. They could see what had happened and were rightly a little p***ed. Although all is fair in love and caravan pitching!

We also put up Izzy - our little Isabella sun canopy. This was her first outing. She went up really easily. Although she’s smaller than we remembered and won’t give us much shade after about 4pm.

After all that excitement we decided to take a short walk. It was boiling hot so we didn’t want to go far. We walked about 1 mile along the road to Ross, all right next to the river. Now I say road .... I think we saw about 3 cars in all the time we were out. On the way back we found a rare accessible river access so we climbed down and paddled our feet. There was hundreds of little fish feasting off my skanky feet - it was like one of those popular fads a few years ago where you stuck your feet in a bowl of fish and they nibbled away at your hard skin.

The scenery is magnificent. Just can’t understand why so few folks are walking next to or on the river enjoying it. During the couple of hours we were out, we only saw one family having a picnic, 2 guys in a canoe and a couple of long distance swimmers.

Once we got back to Brunnehilda we packed up a bag and headed for Ross - arriving in the town centre at about 3. Yep, our normal timing, all the coffee shops stopped serving food at 3! We found a pub that hadn’t but this new COVID world meant we had to queue to get in and they just didn’t bother to come and attend to us (and 3 other couples that were waiting). After about 15 mins, we all left!

Eventually we found a Costa. It was so warm, we sheltered under their air con unit while they made our cold drinks. Blimin’ lovely they were too.

Onto Morrison’s (second time in 24 hours) to stock up. Here again, the wonderful new post COVID world gave us a new experience - queuing in a huge line of trollies to get through the tills and out! 

When we got back to the car the external temperature gauge was measuring 40 degrees! Given the lollies and ice cream on board we headed home pretty darn quickly. It’s only 4 miles but it’s all single track (with few passing places) so it seems to take for ever.

We then had an absolutely perfect evening. Drinking (in my case a couple of Belgian fruit beers), reading our books and watching the river (and odd cyclist / walker) go by. I fired up the Cadac and we made (joint chefing) a fabulous prawn paella. Goodness it was good! When I say “joint chefing”, Kim passed the ingredients and I threw them in the pan and stored them! 

A cup of tea and then inside to watch an episode of The Wire before bed. Although the gentle snoring coming from the current Mrs Pitts, suggested she wasn’t that bothered about the antics of Stringer Bell, Prop Joe, Omar and Avon Barksdale!

The geese were noisy this evening and then when they stopped the sheep in the next field started and kept bleeting well into the night. No complaints from me, it’s been a grand day.

The weather is due to get cooler (and wetter) tomorrow! Boo hiss!

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!

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

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.