Tuesday 12 March 2013

Minehead

After last times exploits at Michaelchurch Escley we decided that we wanted something a little easier than a muddy CL, so we settled on the Caravan Club site in Minehead.  This was also scheduled to be our first trip away after Lizzie operation.  However the operation was cancelled four times and has been rescheduled for the Spire private hospital in early March.

As is usual when heading south in England we opted to ignore the M5, and headed down south through Keynsham, Wells, Glastonbury and Street.  This adds about 20 minutes to the journey, but is a much more pleasurable route.  The only trouble on ordinary roads are the little old people, usually wearing hats and driving Nissan Micra's, who meander along, not realising they have a long queue behind them.  Certainly makes them jump when a Freelander2, towing a caravan overtakes them!

We arrived at the site and chose pitch 23.  All the pitches are hard standing, and are quite small. However I reversed on and got the caravan correctly positioned first time. On this site there is a post at the rear left of the pitch against which you have to put the rear off side corner of the caravan.  If you do not the warden comes and tells you to position it correctly It is all to do with maintaining an adequate firebreak between caravans. We set up with ease, and admired how clean our awning was. It came back so dirty from the last trip that we had put it through the washing machine!


It rained during the night and the awning was still waterproof!  Result!

On Friday I cooked the breakfast outside on the Cadac, much to the amusement of our neighbours.  It was only 5 degrees C outside!  We then set off for Porlock for coffee. Went on to Lynmouth and Lynton, and came back over the top of Exmoor through Simondsbath.
The hill down into Lynmouth.

I decided we needed internet access so paid £5.00 for a few hours worth.  Later in the evening I found an old internet access card that had a post-it note stuck to it saying that I had 5 minutes left on it.  Logged in with the card and it told me I had 19 hours access on it.  A good result.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny with clear blue skies. After a leisurely brunch we set off into Minehead to go on the West Somerset Railway.  We opted to go along the coast to Watchet.  The train was steam hauled, and very busy.  We discovered later that it was the first day of the new season.  I must admit traveling on a train like this really evokes memories of days gone by!
Coupling up !
A few shots of rolling stock etc on The West Somerset Railway!
Refurbished running gear on this DMU

The Guard watching on!




Rolling stock at the Somerset and Dorset Museum in Williton

Our Engine


Watchet Station
Our train arrives



Motive power in Minehead

On the Sunday I went down to wash the duvet, as it had coffee spilt on it on a previous trip.  It would not go in our home washing machine, so I popped it in the giant washing machine on the site.  I then spoke to the warden, and said we would be gone at 12 noon, as the Caravan Club rules demand, only to be told that as the site was only half full, and only 2 units were expected that day we could stay as long as we wished..
We spent the rest of he morning and the early part of the afternoon cleaning the caravan properly inside and out before setting off for home across the Somerset levels.

One thing that always amazes me when on Caravan Club Sites is the number of totally pointless signs!   Talk about stating the obvious!


I have to admit this was an excellent break, and we shall come back to this site one day!