Sumners Pond & Alderstead Heath

We have been away since France, but for some unknown reason I didn't blog it.   It was in September and was a very muddy experience at Sumners Pond.    When we booked they told us that only grass pitches would be available and because it had been quite dry all summer we thought it would be okay.   Ha bloody ha, that week it rained most of the week and we ended up parking on a blinkin bog!   We put up our porch awning and this time it went up easily no wonky tubes.   In no time the awning carpet was covered in mud, so much so we had to bring it home and hose it down.   It was a shame really because we'd always liked Sumners but it has become very popular with young families - I don't have a problem with children at all, it's the parents - why oh why do they have to yell from their caravans, why not just walk the few extra paces and quietly tell your kids "tea's ready"? 

Alderstead Heath

We found this little C&MHC site googling sites in the area.   For weekends we prefer to stay south of the M25 so that we don't upset all the M25 commuters trying to get home on a Friday.....  not really it's so that we can avoid all the nutters trying to get home on a Friday!   Alderstead Heath is a lovely campsite, quite big but partitioned by rows of trees with lovely wide gaps between the pitches.   To be honest, we didn't really explore too much as the weekend has been very wet and windy and winter is on it's way.   However, we liked the feel of the place and will certainly go back.   It's just down the road from us so perfect for a weekend getaway.

That's it..... short and sweet.

France - August 2017

Day 1- Wednesday

The one and only thing that has made both Del and I  say “it was easier with the camper” is the fact that we could park the camper on the drive at home and pack it at our leisure.  Of course, with Bill it’s a case of having to remember everything because once he’s hooked on at the storage place there’s no going back.

Today Del managed to leave work earlier and was home by 13.30, Rob, Fred and myself were all ready for him and we were at the storage and all hooked up by just after 14.00.   

The first part of our trip was to Folkestone where we stayed overnight at the Caravan & Motorhome Club site, Blackhorse Farm https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/black-horse-farm-caravan-club-site.     The site has ‘Ferry Pitches’ for the likes of us who want to leave early in the morning to catch either the ferry or the tunnel to France.   We were somewhat shocked to find ourselves the next morning the only ones still left!  Everyone else had gone.  Very nice site, lots of rabbits bobbing around, nice clean shower block etc.

Day 2 – Thursday

We were up and ready to go promptly and got to the tunnel terminal very quickly.  Note to self here, make sure you check the roof hatches are closed as the main roof hatch (the expensive one) was wide open, thank goodness we hadn’t travelled far.  For those of you who have not used the ‘ferry pitches’ it’s really quick and simple to get to the tunnel and takes about 10-15 minutes.  There was a slight delay to our train departure so we had some breakfast in the terminal – breakfast muffins at Leon, yummy.

Arrival in France and on the road with no hassle.  The weather was mixed but even with the low cloud the air was much warmer than at home.   The drive to Epernay took us about 3.5 hours with a couple of stops and despite trusty Satnav not being able to tell us where the campsite was, Del and I remembered as soon as we drove into the area.

The municipal campsite here in Epernay was heaving Epernay Municipal Campsite – thank goodness we’d actually booked a pitch.   The small restaurant/snack bar had been raised to the ground by a huge fire earlier in the year so a pop-up restaurant had been installed just yards from our pitch and we decided to go along there for dinner.  The food was lovely, well-cooked, tasty and portions were sufficient – prices around the same as you’d pay back in the UK.   Probably a little pricey to eat in there every night but as its well within staggering distance we’ll definitely be using it again before we leave.

Despite every intention of ‘practicing’ the erection of Flash (the awning) we didn’t actually get round to it before today...   BUT!  With the help of the lads (gotta stop calling them ‘the boys’) we erected the awning, complete with inner bedrooms for the lads, remote control strip lighting, blow up beds etc. in about 2 hours – which isn’t bad considering all the new stuff was still in boxes and needed unpacking, instructions read etc.  and not a cross word was uttered!

This is one of the pods that the boys had each

Day 3 – Friday

Shopping day today.   We went to Carrefour as there isn’t a Super U or Intermarche in this area; not sure if it is that particular supermarket or prices in general but boy the prices have gone up in France!  Del and I shopped carefully as we’re feeding 4 mouths this time and boy can these lads eat!

The afternoon was spent lazing around, playing cards, before a lovely barbeque cooked by Del on his birthday present.  The weather once again has been mixed, quite a reasonable amount of sunshine and it was quite hot (ish).

Playing Chess

I bought Del a Safari 2 Cadac for his birthday (tomorrow) and we/he was very impressed with it.  Del’s not a lover of barbeque but on the new kitchen he cooked a lovely pork chop and chipolatas for us all.   Definite success.  The evening was quite warm and we sat outside until about 9.30.   Del and I are early birds so the boys (sorry lads) are set-up with a video to watch on the laptop outside in the awning – result!

Day 4 – Saturday – Happy Birthday Del

Crap day to be honest – so far!   We decided to go into Epernay Center Ville but by the time we got there, the market was closing, all the shops were either shut for lunch or closed for their holiday – can you imagine closing a shop for 2-3 weeks at home?   Oh yes, and it’s raining...   Robert is getting a cold... and Groucho seems to be visiting us all today!   We then came back to the campsite, had some lunch and then sat in our own corners being grouchy.   However, as I write this we’re all much happier and preparing to visit the campsite restaurant again to celebrate Del’s birthday!  

Happy Birthday Del

Once again we had a very nice meal on site, I tried the coq au vin which was cooked the traditional way with a rooster, the meat was red and a little drier than normal chicken but still very tasty.   Del was presented with a glass of Pineau Champagne for his birthday – he enjoyed it, I thought it tasted like sherry – and cooking sherry at that!

Day 5 – Sunday – on the road

Up and packing this morning in search of the sun.  We were very methodical in our packing – open the door and chuck it in the van!  It was a long drive south to LeMoulinFort in the Loire Valley http://www.lemoulinfort.com/ where we have stayed before, just down the river from the beautiful Chenonceaux Chateau.

The sky changed from grey heavy clouds, through to lighter off-white, through to bits of blue, bigger bits of blue (like The Simpsons) and now this:

On arrival we had the awning up and all but the lighting in an hour – we didn’t even have to use the instructions for the awning – hallelujah.   The awning is the best erection we’ve had so far!   Dinner was had in the campsite, pizza which wasn’t the best but they were very busy.   Del and I were reminded of our previous trip as we sat outside eating with the hot air balloons flying overhead, a beautiful site.

Tonight in the awning we had a visitor.  Now normally he would be nicknamed Freddie but as poor Fred was not to happy with our visitor best we call him Fergus.   Fred had opened the awning and in he hopped, he did quite a circuit of the awning until Del managed to catch him and let him go outside.   It really was quite funny!

Fergus the Frog

Day 6 – Monday

Woke up to glorious sunshine today and as we’d had a long journey yesterday we decided that a day in camp would be for the best.   By the end of the day there were some very red bits amongst us.

This evening we attended the Pasta & Virginie evening at the camp house.  Lots of different pastas to be had and then the delightful Virginie as entertainment.  All the songs were in English and she had us up dancing by the end of the evening.   Once again we watched the beautiful balloons flying overhead – it was a lovely evening so we counted six tonight!

Balloon Fest at Le Moulin Fort

Day 7 – Tuesday

Shopping this morning and we found SuperU just up the road in Chissay de Toigne, we bought just a few things we needed – meat and wine mainly.   Prices here are about the same we’d pay at home and Del looked forward to trying out the new ‘kitchen’ and barbeque we had.  

The afternoon continued to be grey and miserable so we decided that today maybe a good day to visit Chenonceaux – so did everyone else...   We waited an hour in the queue to get into the chateau, but it was worth it.  The rain left off until we came out, so unfortunately the beautiful gardens went unvisited except for a quick photo shoot.   There were some aching legs that evening.

Beautiful Chenonceaux

Day 8 – Wednesday

Mixed day sunshine/showers but it remained very warm.   We decided it would be good to hire a small propelled boat to sail the River Cher and see Chenonceaux from underneath.   I was a little reluctant at first (I’m not too good with boats) but once we set sail it was very peaceful.... until, we picked up some weed in the propeller and the boat almost ground to a halt – I mean, we were being overtaken by row boats!

Father & Son sailing on the River Cher

Caught up with some washing in the afternoon – quite expensive here at 4.50 euros a load, but they are big machines.

Day 9 – Thursday

Umbrellas in soggy Saumur

Grey and windy today so we thought we’d go to Saumur which was about 1.15 hours away.  As we approached Saumur it began to rain, once we’d parked at Saumur it was really raining.  Mr. Grouch returned, mainly because we’d come out without coats, umbrellas etc.   Saumur didn’t look anything like Del and I remembered from two years ago and we just wandered around until we decided that we needed food and a drink.  So, we went to the first restaurant, got totally ignored, I went to the loo, still ignored, got up and left.  Found another restaurant, ignored again – I mean do we smell?   Finally went to a third restaurant and was told “non Monsieur food finie at two o’clock” (it was 2.05) – no wonder we were ignored at the other two, they didn’t want people ordering so close to closing time!   Seriously, 2pm?   The waitress gave me a forlorn look and I returned her look with a really p’d off scowl!   Finally we found a ‘pub’ which gave us his own ‘version’ of a croque monsieur – piece of ham between two slices of bread and some grated cheese on top, but it was okay and ‘filled a hole’ as my mother would say.  The return journey went quickly and the day was summed up by the blue skies above our campsite....

Saumur

We stopped at Super U tonight and bought some of the very nice pork that the French seem to produce.   Barbequed pork chops, June’s barby potatoes and the tinned peas and carrots that the boys seem to have taken a fancy too.

Rain, heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow, it’s very windy out tonight and Del is fitting the storm straps to the awning.  Who knows what will happen tomorrow?

Day 10 – Friday

Well surprise surprise it was grey and cloudy with just a hint of rain in the air so Del and I thought a nice trip to the supermarket would be a good thing to do – yawn... but seriously there is nothing else to do!   The boys decided to stay at home and play games.  However!   Joy of joys we found an Intermarche where we were able to buy our favourite wine – Del likes the 10 litre box of cab sav for a whole 17 euros!   My 5 litre box of white wine is a whole 9 euros.  We bought, chocolate, cake and a whole stack of naughties to try and cheer us all up –goodness we’re sad!

As we left the shop the sky decided to burst and it just poured, we stayed under the shelter of the roof.  A young English family left at the same time, the Dad being ‘macho’ said, I’ll run for the car and bring it across – well!   And it’s one of those moments where you have to repeat the word, well!  the poor bloke just as he made a beeline for the car there was this huge cloud burst and he got drenched.  

Once we’d got back to the campsite the sun came out and we were able to sit in the sunshine for a short while.  The campsite had really emptied out and the friends we’d met via a Facebook page Janice & Ted had already left.  

Day 11 – Saturday

Yay!  We were on the road to our favourite place in the whole wide world!   It was only a two hour trip so we virtually slung everything in the van and left pdq. Arrival at Kathy and Dave’s was just about the best feeling ever and we both felt that we were finally able to relax.  The sun was shining it was warm and K&D were hosting a huge party in the garden to celebrate Kathy’s birthday.

Now by party I mean the entire village turns up.  Food is brought out in dribs and drabs, huge bowls of beetroot, shredded carrot, bread and there was no specific order, it just came, you helped yourself and then ate until the next bit came.  For the main course they had been roasting a pig and cooked whole potatoes in the ashes, then came pate and more bread and fruit salad, cheese it just kept coming.  Of course, all of this was washed down with copious amounts of wine, including their own cocktail of wine, pamplemousse (grapefruit) and cointreau – oh yummy it was gorgeous!  

Camp Host Dave had his dancing shoes on!

I sat with Tracy (& Bob) whom we met last year and caught up on the news, they had just arrived that morning and a French couple named Phillipe and Chantal, both of whom spoke very good English but were keen to learn more – it was quite hysterical teaching him cockney rhyming slang!   I think I must have drunk about 2 bottles of wine but felt fine.  I think it all finished about 11pm, everyone went home until the morning when they all come back to tidy up!

Day 12 – Sunday

Oh what a beautiful morning.....

The sky is a deep azure blue the sun is shining and hot – Del went off in search of bread as the bread van doesn’t deliver on a Sunday.   Several men from the village had turned up, later joined by the women – it seems K&D were hosting an invitation only lunch party today. 

Campers kept their distance, we went out.  We decided to visit the Trogladyte village that we’d been too before, but of course, the boys hadn’t.   They both agreed they’d enjoyed walking round seeing how the people lived.   Accidentally on purpose as we say in my family, the trusty Satnav took us the wrong way and we ended up driving around the area, but it was just so glorious in the sunshine.  Fields of sunflowers with their heads bowed ready for cropping, purple hazed fields of linseed and of course rows and rows of vines.

We enjoyed sitting in the peace and silence (not a sound to be heard) of the orchard until it was time to cook dinner.   So nice to be able to sit outside eating a lovely meal, drinking some wine and watching one of the glorious sunsets here at La Fosse de Tigne.

Rochemenier - Troglodyte Village 

Day 13 – Monday

So tonight at La Fosse was the traditional wine tasting evening! Around 6pm Dave (the host), Luke his son, Bob & Tracey, Del and I and a couple of other campers walked into La Fosse and sampled a few of the local wines.   As we’d been before we knew to have a meal before the sampling.

Now the vineyard produces 10 different wines and even at 0.5 of a glass to sample it’s still a lot (Del and I had also had a snifter with our meal).   Once we’d tasted and purchased what we wanted we wandered back to the campsite and we all gathered (plus the 3 other couples that hadn’t come along) for an evening of more wine, cheese, pate and lots of chit chat into the dark hours.   The evening was warm and very quiet and as everyone was attending the party there was no one to disturb – result!  This really is a place for lovely people and to meet lovely new friends.

Day 14 – Tuesday

Oh god!  Felt rubbish this morning but after several cups of tea and some breakfast we decided that we’d go to Nantes to Les Machines de I’ile http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr.  It was just over an hours’ drive from La Fosse but well sign posted once we got near.   Bob & Tracey decided to come along too.

Oh my god! What a fab afternoon we had.   The machines are amazing and so clever and despite the heat (about 32 degrees) a good time was had by all. 

Les Machines de I’ile

First stop was the Gallery of the Mechanics – it was a guided tour, all in French – where we watched enormous creatures come to life, driven by children and adults from the crowd.  Giant spiders, caterpillars, ants and a Heron all came to life, flying overhead or coming up from a hole in the ground and squirting webs (water/steam), we were in Jurassic Park!

We had lunch at the cafe/restaurant on site – we had lovely fresh baguettes filled with tuna, chicken or ham (thon, poulet or jambon) – if any readers plan to visit the museum make sure you take water with you, there’s very few places to buy drinks but there are some water stations around.   Following this we visited the Carrousel des Mondes Marins 82ft high, 72ft in diameter – 3 carousels on top of each other.   You have to pay extra for this but we’d travelled a distance and probably won’t go again, so you have to do it don’t you?   Each level represented a different part of the ocean and the mechanical creatures reflected this – Del and I chose the middle layer – the abyss, and rode the Deep Sea Lantern Fish.  All of this excitement was followed by an ice-cream which was blinkin cold and we all struggled with a bit of brain freeze!

The Grand Elephant 40ft high, 26ft wide and 70ft long.  The ride on the elephant was arranged for 6pm and I managed to get right up the top – although you - could move about once you were on there.  The ride is very slow and takes about 20-25 minutes; every now and again the elephant would raise its trunk and squirt water over ‘itself’ (in other words - us) or the crowds standing around watching.   When the elephant was standing being unloaded and loaded with new passengers it also pee’d itself!  Much hilarity from all the kids.

Exhausted but happy we returned to the car where the machine wouldn’t accept the parking ticket and I then had to explain to the guy what had happened, fortunately with my little French and his little bit more English we managed to sort it out.

Day 15 – Wednesday

It took us a while to get going today and then it was all a bit of a mad rush because Kathy & Dave had invited us all to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.

We followed Dave nearly all the way to Angers – Del actually thought we were going to China at one point.   The restaurant was an all you can eat buffet at 12.50 euros a head and the food was really good.  There was sushi or you could take your meat up to the chef and he cooked it all for you, or of course, there was the many many dishes to choose from.   Well recommended if you are in the area.

When we arrived back at the campsite several fellow campers remarked that tomorrow evening would bring thunderstorms and heavy rain.  Oh blimey, we wanted to do so much tomorrow – our last day at La Fosse, but with this news we now also had to contemplate packing up the awning on Thursday night, dry or leaving it until Friday morning when it would more than likely be soaking wet?

- I love flowers and whenever we're away I take photos of the beautiful blooms that can be seen in the villages of France.

Day 16 – Thursday

Woke up to a another beautiful morning so Del and I set off to Doue le Fountaine Intermarche to stock up on our favourite wine and to spend some of the euros and cents we had laying around – “last day of holiday, spend your shrapnel, postcards and souvenirs”.   We got back about midday and went straight off to the zoo at Doue http://www.bioparc-zoo.fr.   

BioParc Zoo 

Doue is only just 10mins down the road from La Fosse and to be honest we weren’t expecting much in the way of a ‘zoo’ – so much so we all nearly choked when she said 82 euros for us all to get in!   However, we weren’t just pleasantly surprised we were all wonderfully amazed at how fab the zoo actually was.  Wow, bears, tigers, lions, hippos, giraffe, monkeys, parrots, vultures, the list goes on.  Each area is beautifully laid out and all the animals were very well cared for and all given adequate living areas – thoroughly recommended if you are ever in the area; do take refreshments with you as they are expensive.

Upon return to the camp we made the decision to collapse the awning and pack all away for an early departure in the morning.  It seemed like a good idea but when you’ve been shopping and then at the zoo all afternoon you are rather tired – I think we finally finished around 9pm.   At which point Bob (of the Bob & Tracey campers) came and invited us for drinks at their place – we finally left at 12.45am....

Day 17 – Friday

We got away about 9am, none of us slept particularly well but as it happened the weather was not too bad and it only just started to rain as we were winding up the legs.

Bob & Tracey were there to say goodbye with “see you next year”....” if not before”.   We’ve spent some lovely time with them this week.

We’d booked for the night at a campsite just 10k from Calais which meant a long journey ahead of us.  One thing we have found a bit annoying is the services at the Aires on motorways; the signs are really good saying where each type of vehicle should park but the spaces for car/caravan are very limited and are usually full of cars or trucks.  Twice today we had to drive straight out again because there was nowhere to park.   However the roads are so good here and traffic was very light compared to the UK with three stops we arrived at www.campingdelabienassiste at about 4.30pm.   Lovely campsite, really pretty.  Loads of Brits here, swimming pool, bar, restaurant, snack bar, golf etc.  Not sure I’d like to stay here more than two nights as there are loads of kids but it is very pretty.

We just had dinner here, all reasonably priced and nearly all the food is homemade!   Really really tasty.  And sorry, I have to say it as it’s been going through my mind since I got here – there’s several people that look like they’ve made the most of the good food....

Camping de la Bien Assiste

Can’t finish today’s blog without telling you of the little ‘oh dear me’ moment we had at our nemesis – Rouen.  It seems each time we travel through Rouen trusty Satnav takes us a different route, this time we were doing okay until trusty Satnav told us to stay left – we did, until we found ourselves in the filter lane for the tunnel that takes you under the next busy junction and brings you up the other side with a bloody great sign that says height maximum of 2.6m.... STOP! Del just managed to stop before we descended down the slope into the tunnel and without following cars hitting us.   Fortunately there was a small escape break in the wall which meant that we could get back into the lane going straight on, but this meant we had to back up about 2m too be able to swing the car and Bill into the traffic – this also meant getting the traffic behind us to back up too... oh dear!   But at the end of the day, it is better to have to ask traffic to back up than to close the tunnel for goodness knows how long because a caravan has gone in it and crunched its roof.

Day 18 – Saturday

We were up around 7.30am, we’d all had a reasonable sleep, the campsite had surprisingly been very quiet; it was about 9am by the time we left and the Tunnel was minutes away.  At check-in we managed to get an earlier train, traffic on the motorways home was heavy but moving – good grief, caravan in storage and home eating toast by midday!

Another adventure had, we’ll cram in a few weekends before Winter but for now there’s a mountain of washing to be done and a caravan that has that well lived in look to be cleaned and polished.   So I leave you with just about the best view in the World – La Fosse de Tigne at sunset....

Sunset at La Fosse de Tigne

Darn it!

We were originally going to meet up with our friends Derek & Irene, but poor Irene has to go and have her dodgy knee replaced tomorrow so we thought this weekend would be a good opportunity too attempt to erect two awnings AND try out a new barbeque.   Two awnings?   Well we were going to try again to put up the full-size one (now known as Flash) so that when we go to France in a couple of weeks, we'll be well used to erecting it and the boys would have somewhere to sleep that wasn't going to collapse on their heads halfway through the night!   However, we have also purchased a small porch awning for when we are away at weekends and we were keen to put it up; I mean, we've had an air awning before, how difficult could this one be?

Our favourite weekend campsite is just 32 miles down the road although it does mean tackling the M25 on a Friday evening; we arrived at about 4.30, plenty of time to put up the new porch awning.   Ha bloomin ha!  Who am I trying to kid?   Well to cut a very long story short – because I’m sure you’ve all been there – we gave up and threw it in the back of the car!

We’ve had some glorious weather over the past couple of months. Today, despite intermittent showers (pouring rain) and the odd thunderstorm (or two), we decided to have another go, it appears the awning has a problem - it wasn’t just us – and her inflatable trunk has a bad kink in it and it just won’t straighten!   So, Ellie (as she is now known) has been returned to her box and we’ll be contacting the supplier on Monday morning.  

The idea of putting up Flash has been panned... get it?

Oh yes... Flash?  - because it is red and we put it up in a thunderstorm and Ellie? Because it has a wonkie air-tube!

Lake District May 2017

Day 1 – On the road for a new adventure

We left home by lunch time hoping to avoid most of the BH weekend traffic, the M25 was very very slow and it took a long time but we did eventually arrive at our overnight campsite – https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/west-midlands/west-midlands/chapel-lane-caravan-club-site/. Very nice site, although a little road noise.

Day 2 – If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm - Frank Lane

Hot, hot, hot at the start of today and we were up early after a peaceful night at Chapel Hill Caravan Club site.   We were very quickly on the road and although met with some traffic nowhere near as bad as yesterday.   Trusty satnav got us to Kendal Caravan & Camping Club site  http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/uk/cumbria/kendal/kendal and we pitched up and admired the lovely views of the hills surrounding us.   

What we failed to notice was the huge black sky that was looming from the opposite direction...

Now for the more avid readers of our blog you will remember ‘Awning Gate’ from our first trips in our moho Deedee and of course our successful erection of Bill’s awning on our last trip out.   We were SO confident of doing a quick and successful erection that we continued to get the awning out and put it up – despite the even closer black sky....

In the beginning there was Watergate....

Well, and I have to repeat that... Well... torrential rain and thunder descended and just didn’t stop for about 3 hours but of course because we’d started the job we just had to finish it.   It was just awful and tempers were a little ‘frayed’ shall we say – but with the rain still hammering down so loud, we had to shout to have even a normal conversation!   Del’s waterproof jacket didn’t seem quite so waterproof and of course the waterproof trousers we’d both bought remained packed ‘somewhere’.  Finally, finally the awning was up and even the little string of solar lights I’d bought were up, when all of a sudden there was a huge gust that sent us running to hold on to our awning before it left us for the hills of Kendal!    Poles were down – fortunately not bent, doors were flapping and Del ran for the bag of tent pegs shouting “I knew I was going to do something!”

But it just didn’t stop there, I decided to go and have a shower.  Nice clean sanfacs here but the shower cubicles are a wee bit small.  Being a seasoned camper now, I know to keep my clothes well off the floor of the shower cubicles as there does tend to be quite a splash back.   Nice hot showers, annoying shower curtains – did the person who designed shower curtains ever actually use one??????    Turn off the water, aarrgghh... wrong way boiling hot water, got to escape, jump out of cubicle trying to dodge the hot pellets of water showering down, straight into stool carrying dry clothes, stool wobbles and away go the clothes straight into large puddle of water....  

And it didn’t stop there, upon return to Bill the torrential rain started again, the awning decided to create its own rooftop pool and we were constantly running in and out and clearing the awning roof of gallons of water.

And to finish off the day of all days – Chelsea lost in the FA Cup!  Oh well, bed and have a laugh about today, because tomorrow brings fresh new adventures one of them being to buy some storm straps!

Day 3 – ho hum...

First port of call was Asda to just buy a few essentials (food) and breakfast.  However, Del wasn’t well at all so we quickly bought our bits and returned to the campsite where Del spent the rest of the day sleeping.   However, Watergate still hadn’t had its last word – Del opened the car door to find the front passenger foot well literally that – a well.  The water was inches deep and Del had to use a mug to bail it out.  

Day 4 – Watergate and SEVERE travel warning!

It’s hard to find the words to begin today’s story.   So in the true tradition of those hard-to-believe adventures that we avidly read as children, I shall start at the beginning.

Del was feeling a lot better this morning so because the weather forecast was more rain we decided that we’d do something that Del would really enjoy - we’d go for a trip on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Steam Railway https://ravenglass-railway.co.uk/.   

Watergate continued and the car was full of water again, so armed with a rather large yellow sponge and a packet of tissues to bung up the holes we set off.   Now this is where I give the SEVERE TRAVEL WARNING, the lovely leaflet that is readily available wherever you go advertising the trip on the Ratty gives two postcodes – one for each end of the railway.   The first postcode to Ravenglass when entered into the trusty satnav tells you it’s 55 miles, the second to Dalegarth tells you 22 miles.   It’s a no-brainer isn’t it?  You go for the nearest, take the train, come back by train, come home....    What it FAILS and I repeat FAILS to tell you is that the 22 miles takes you 2.5 hours because it’s over the top of Cumbrian Mountains, Scafell Pike, Bow Fell...   2.5 hours to do 22 miles!!!!!!!   The road was so narrow barely one car could use it, it was so bendy that you almost met yourself coming back, it was so steep in places you needed an oxygen mask and what’s more it doesn’t even appear on the map!   Of course, we weren’t the only ones using this ‘road’ so there was an awful lot of inhaling (to make us smaller) so we could pass – I’m not too embarrassed to say that I was so scared that I cried.   Del was actually quite calm – I do think a considerable amount of his calmness was due to the promise of a ride on a steam train at the end of it!   I know it’s been a long time since I was that scared! 

What I also need to tell you that during the ride of terror, it was still raining, not too hard thankfully, but enough for the roof to pour water every time we went round one of the bends.  Just what do I do first?  Plug the hole with tissue, catch the water in the sponge, swear or cry?   Never, never again – I think my exact words were “I don’t care how far or how long it takes I am not going that f***ing way EVER again!”

The ride on Ratty was great, it’s a miniature steam train but it takes you on a lovely journey alongside the mountains and you get to see the most beautiful purple mountains.  From a distance we thought it was heather but from a bit closer you could see it was the most amazing flowering rhododendrons – beautiful.   

The journey back took 1.5 hours (55 miles) and was on what us southerners call a ‘road’ and there were some traffic lights and a roundabout – too much excitement for two very weary travellers.

Day 5 – Watergate Ceasefire Announced

So today there was no promise of rain until early evening, the sky was still very heavy and there was quite a chill in the air.   We decided that it would be another indoor adventure today and we headed off to the Lakeland Motor Museum.   Very nice there, not as big as Beaulieu but they do have a replica of Donald Campbell's Bluebird and several other cars which both Del and I reminisced on stories of when Dad had one of them or the day we went to.... in one of them.  

We stopped at the cafe for lunch and ordered gammon, egg & chips – jeez they sure know how to serve large portions here!  It was really very nice though.

At about 4.30 it began to rain but we were back in Bill – Del was ecstatic that his repair job on the Jeep’s roof (clear Gorilla tape) had worked and there was no longer any water leaking through!

Day 6 – Yay the sun is out!  

And we’re off to Ullswater for the Steamboat trip -   if you do the Ravensglass steam train journey then hold onto your tickets because you can buy your steamboat tickets for half-price.   This time we drove over Kirkwood Fells and it was simply stunning.   Ullswater is beautiful and the steamboat trip is just the best way to see the lake.   We stopped off in Kendal on the return journey for some lunch and a walk through the town, it’s just like any other town – lots of charity shops, but very few coffee shops!

Day 7 – Windermere

Mmm... well we both said (and agreed) that if we’d done Windermere first we wouldn’t have bothered with Ullswater.   Windermere was nothing more than a disappointment really, yes it was huge, yes it was lovely seeing the sailing boats and stopping at all the piers – crickey the swans at Bowness are huge!  but from the lake it’s just ‘green’.   

Ullswater is just beautiful - mountains, fields, trees, houses tucked away.

Now, the trips on the Lakes aren’t cheap – Ullswater we got a reduction of 50% because we’d been on Ratty the steam train, but the trip on Windermere cost £20 each.  I’m not complaining but we were amazed at the number of people that sat with their heads in their phones for the entire trip!   There was a coach of Japanese tourists who just took photos of each other ‘posing’ – no one looked at the views or even sat still for 5 minutes, very strange and as for queuing to get off, it was hilarious seeing them pushing and shoving to get to the front.  I will confess a slightly nasty side of me came out and I made myself as wide as possibly to block them getting past me... tut tut...

Del had been watching the weather forecast and heavy rain was scheduled to arrive at the campsite early evening.  As we were making our way home the following morning we decided to pack away the awning and load up the car as much as possible.  Thank goodness because it sure did rain!

Day 8 – traffic!   

The M6 was a bloomin nightmare, it was horrible.   Thankfully we’d booked Chapel Lane again for an overnight stay.   We even went to the same pitch (sad?).   More overnight rain but we didn’t care as we were up and off by 8.30am – this time the M6 was okay and the M25 was a bit snarled up but hey ho... tell me something new?

So that’s the end of our tour of the Lakes, both very pleased we went and despite the weather we had a good time.

Tick!

A cheeky little weekend in downtown East Horsley

Not much to report on this weekend really - Chelsea (my team) secured the Premiership title on Friday evening.   The weekend was mostly sunshine and showers, with the showers being mostly during the night.   We enjoyed a relaxing time and did lots of planning for our forthcoming trip to the Lake District.

On Saturday we went into the village and bought some rather nice pork sausages from the butchers - it was so nice to shop somewhere where there was an actual butchers, bakers and some very upmarket charity shops.   When we returned to the site we realised we'd actually forgotten to buy sugar which was one of the two items we went out for in the first place!   There's quite a well stocked shop on-site so we could buy sugar and some 'pink' for the loo.   Not having our cameras on us we were rather cross because there was a huge Heron sitting on the lake and Mr. & Mrs. Goose decided to parade their two off-springs right in front of us, such sweet little things.   Oh yes, we also played our part in rescuing a beached carp - poor thing was more out of the water than in it and the sun was blazing down on it's back.  Anyway he seemed quite happy and did a few flips to say thanks....

This is such a lovely site, the wardens are so friendly and helpful, it's quiet and peaceful and very pretty.  We'll definitely be going back again (and again).

2017 - East Horsley for the weekend

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/uk/surrey/easthorsley/horsley?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=Horsley&utm_campaign=google_places.

So here we are our first adventure of 2017.   We’ve found a lovely site – Camping & Caravan Club, East Horsley -  We had a friendly welcome from the staff and were shown to a lovely pitch in a quiet corner of the site, having turned down the pitch next to the lady with the two miner birds.   Del’s reversing is really getting good and we were parked up with no shouting “where are you I can’t see you!” – such a familiar phrase amongst caravanners.

We didn’t realise how long it took to unpack everything after packing all away for the winter, not helped by the fact that the electric refused to work and we had to call upon the warden to help – he quickly pointed out that the fuse had tripped; we now know where the fuse box is.  He also pointed out, very kindly, that we hadn’t actually parked up in the correct place and should actually be two feet over to the right oy vey! parking shmarking....

Anyway... having our favourite-first-night-caravan-meal – corned beef curry we are now consuming our second bottle of Prosecco and yawning the evening away.  Early night for us.... tomorrow is “awning day”!

Well, awning day was surprisingly calm and I don’t just mean the wind!   Del was very keen to get going early in the morning so we attempted the awning before breakfast.   Fortunately the previous owners had numbered all the poles which made it all a little easier.  

It took just 1.5 hours to have a full erected awning, ground sheet and all!   No cross words, just some laughter – Del even coped with the pole falling down and leaving a nice scratch on the side of the car...

We left the awning up, it gives you another room, not that we needed it, but in the future we will definitely make more use of it.   On leaving day it took about 30 minutes to dismantle and pack away.   Both agreed the awning is a big success!

The lake at East Horsley site - a beautiful centre piece.

Such beautiful blossom everywhere this year.

The rest of day was spent walking round the beautiful lake here at the campsite, watching the footie and generally being very lazy.   I did have a little craft moment but decided I really wasn’t in the mood.

Sunday dawned to beautiful sunshine again, this really is a very nice campsite and we hope to come back again in a couple of weeks.  Lots of plans for 2017 – Lake District, France and several weekends inbetween.