Transfer box delivery time!

We drove down to Burrs Caravan Club Site to meet Kathy and Rob for the weekend!  They only live a mile from the site!  We were also carrying a transfer box for a Land Rover.  This had been in my garage since January, when I had collected it from Frog who had driven it to my brothers place in Basingstoke.  It was on its way to Blackie.

The journey from the previous site to Burrs Park could have been superb, if we had managed to see anything, but it was foggy.  Proper thick fog, not like the stuff we get down south!

When we got to Burrs Court we were told that only grass pitches were available. Suited us down to the ground as this was the view!

Then Blackie rang to say he was on that train and would soon be with us to collect the transfer box! yippee, now the Freelander would be able to travel at its normal high speeds, without that lump in the rear!

Then it was off to Robert and Kathy's for Dinner.  Robert collected us, in the jet propelled roller skate. We sat in their garden supping wine, and then Mark and his gang turned up!  Dinner cooked by Robert was a really special occasion! We got a taxi home, they are so cheap up there compared to round here!

Sunday dawned bright and clear, and we wandered down to see Kathy and Ethan do the sport relief mile!

This was everyone gathering at the start. So many were doing the 'Mile', that they ran several separate ones.

Soon it was time for Kathy's race!

Then they were off!


Kathy whizzed round the course, not quite doing a sub four minute, but still an excellent performance!

It was then back to the caravan, where we set around for most of the afternoon enjoying excellent weather.  It was warmer during late March, than it was in the summer of 2011.

We also watched more trains!

The following day we went on the Tram, from Bury to Media City.

Really enjoyed the tram rides, as I was able to sit behind the driver and pretend that I was driving!  Strange that we were on a 'old' railway line one minute and the next we were traveling on the streets of Manchester

 Media City is a bit of an impressive place. It is set round part of the old docks. Next door ITV are building their new studios as well.  There is also a branch of the Imperial War Museum, that we visited briefly as it was free and we were in need of a comfort break!

Manchester was certainly an interesting place.  Hopefully in the Autumn we will be able to visit there again for a longer period..

On the Tuesday Robert popped in to say farewell.   We cleared up in the warm sun and set off for home, a four hour run which returned a MPG of 27.  Not bad when towing!    Wepopped the caravan back in storage, ready for the next trip after Easter!

Oxenhope 22nd-24th March

Checked we had the camera and left home at about 10.30 am and set off for for Upwood Holiday Park which is just outside Haworth. The journey took about five hours as we were held up for a long time on the M6 where it crossed the Manchester Ship Canal owing to an accident that had happened in the early morning.

The site was a mixture of residential vans, Holiday lets, Statics and Pods.  There was a small area set aside for touring caravans which had marvelous views over the country side, little did we know but we should have taken the photographs then.  We set up the caravan, and discovered that the built in TV aerial worked.  First time ever!  It would not work last time out when we could actually see the transmitter.

Pete and Pilau picked us up at 7.00 pm and  we went to Petes place, Very nice flat.   From there we got a taxi to a rather good curry house.  We were looking forward to this, as our favourite one in Chipping Sodbury  shut a few months ago, and we were not disapointed!  Then it was a Taxi home for us, at a cost of £30.00!

Woke up to thick fog!

Went out for a drive and met Pete and Pilau at Petes work place for lunch for lunch.  Inspected his office and his dental equipment.  Pete was in the process of looking for a new place to live in Ilkley.  It was now a warm day, so we sat outside for a sandwich and a drink. wandered round the town and spotted this rather smart vehicle!

For those who are not into Land Rovers, that is what is called an Overfinch and costs about £100.000.
Left Pete and Pilau and drove over Ilkley Moor that looked like this

Then the fog returned, rapidly with a vengance, so it was back to the camp site which was a total white out!

As there was a club house, we settled on having an evening meal there which was excellent.  We turned in early, as we had an early start in the morning down to Bury!

The morning dawned thick fog again, so we set about breakfast and clearing up!  The manager of the site kept checking up that we were clearing up ready to leave as he was going to put a caravan on our pitch!

We set off to drive to Bury, again in thick fog!

Excellent site, that we would visit again!

Pitts Farm on the Mendips 16th - 19th February

Our first real venture on to a proper greenfield site, just water and waste disposal, plus electric hook up for the grand total of £8.00 per night

When we pulled on to the site there was only one other van there. The ground was very soft so it was a good job we were in the Freelander. We set up at the other end of the field to the other caravan. Everything went well as we set up, even had the satellite TV system set up in 10 minutes. Then washed the front of the caravan.  It was plastered with mud and other unmentionable things from the road that ran through the farm.  All came off easily as it was still wet!

Checked to make sure that  we had everything!  I had forgotten the camera!

Popped down into Wells, only ten minutes away!

Very cold outside over night, but toasty inside the caravan..

On the Thursday after a fine fry up for breakfast, we set off for Clark's Village.  wandered round, and did not spend a penny. Not a place I care to visit again in a hurry.   On the Thursday night the caravan had gone, but about 6.00pm a motorhome appeared and set up right beside us

Friday was quite misty, but that soon cleared into a bright fine day. We set off to Burrington Coombe for morning coffee.  From there we drove over the top, via Charterhouse into Cheddar.  There were a lot of people around, but nothing apart from food shops seemed to be open.  No wonder the Somerset tourist board is encouraging shops to open more out of season to catch tourists.


We returned home and popped the caravan back into storage ready for our next trip, which is to be up North in a few weeks time when we will make sure that we remember the camera.


An excellent site to stay that we will use again!

P

Winter Caravanning

Lizzie and I have decided that as we have a lot of money invested in our caravan we should make good use of it all year round!

We settled on Dulverton Caravan Club site for our first go at 'Winter Caravanning', but with me having so many commitments in Chipping Sodbury, council meetings, Crib Festival in church, where I was transporting Donkeys around in a horse box, and the Victorian night, oh and new carpets being laid at home, we were not able to get away until the 7th of December.

We made sure we had propane gas on board (Butane does not work in the winter) and  collected the caravan from storage and set off. We decided that we we would head south, straight through the middle of Bristol, and pick up the M5 somewhere near Bridgewater. It was raining hard, and as we approached the site there were many large puddles. That meant the bottom of the caravan and the Freelander both got an extremely good wash.  When we arrived on site, both the caravan and the Freelander were pretty filthy.

We soon set up and put the small Christmas tree up in the front window!

The site is right in the middle of town.  Literally a 200 yard walk to get the papers, do some shopping and have a beer!

The first night there was a slight frost, but with no effort at all we had the caravan at a very comfortable 28 degrees.  With the awning up the heat did not escape too easily. All our heating came from the electric on board heating, at no point did we need to put the gas fire on.

Whilst in Dulverton we were able to drive over Exmoor, and when it was not raining we were able to take a few decent shots:

Whilst we were traveling around we went to Minehead, Porlock Weir and  Lynmouth and Lynton where we were able to do some Christmas shopping.

Every where we went there were so many puddles to splash through that driving was great fun.

We were amused by the following sign,

There were plenty of these signs, and also loads of Pheasants, but unfortunately we were unable to catch any!

On the Saturday we decided to visit Dunster as it was sure to have a Christmasy feel about it!  What a disappointment. There were no Christmas lights that we could see. or any decorations.  There was just one small Christmas tree at the entrance to the castle!

We had another pleasant run over Exmoor back to the Campsite.  We  then had an excellent dinner in one of the local hostelries. 

We drove home on the Sunday, again in the pouring rain!

We had endured pouring rain, high winds, frosts, bright sunshine, cloud down to the ground!   Would we do it again?

Well we are booked into another site for the third week of January, so maybe next time we will caravan in the snow!  It would seem that the bug has really got us!

Fairlight Caravan Club Site. 23rd - 30th October

After our last lot of exploits up 'north' we go involved in decorating the hall, stairs and landing and also updating the kitchen.  Well if the house is going to be untidy, you might as well do it properly!

We set off for Fairlight, which is a couple of miles east of Hastings.  M4, and M25 were busy but no problems and we soon found our way onto the sight.
The site is in the middle of Fairlight woods, so as you can imagine, there were rather a lot of trees there. The caravan pitches were in small groups based in clearings in the woods.
Now as it was autumn, the trees were shedding their leaves and they were getting every where!  the wardens, were constantly out sweeping and collecting leaves!
As usual when we got to the site I asked the warden, what he reckoned was the 'best pitch available'?  we were directed to use pitch 5, as although there were trees overhanging it, they were not the sort that were dropping nuts, conkers or acorns.

Whilst we were at Fairlight we visited, the following places:
Bexhill, a town that has certainly seen better days!
Hastings and thoroughly enjoyed wandering round the old fishing area.
Rye, a quaint old town on the edge of the Marshes.
Dungeness where we were able to watch the train travelling across the marsh.
We travelled up to Folkestone on one day so Lizzie could relive old haunts, and then went on to Rainham where we met my cousin Lee for dinner.  It was very good to see her looking so well!

For some reason, probably the inclement weather we took only 4 photos on our week away!  Note to self , take more photos.  I did take this one of Lizzie in Hastings though.

Burrs Country Park, Bury. 8th - 12th September

We decided to get some new passports so that we could venture up north!  The main reason for our trip was that it was Cathy's significant birthday, so we thought that we would make a few days of it.  It took us about three and a half hours to get there. The site was superb, if a little open. Running beside it was the East Lancs Railway, so we were treated to steam trains regularly throughout the day.

We decided that a trip on the train was must, and it was good.  As we went past the site we could see our caravan!

We visited all sorts of places.

The scenery was superb, and we will be back to the area again.  We even experienced the world Black Pudding throwing competition. On the Sunday morning we took the awning down as it was so windy.

It really was good break.  Cathy's party was good fun.  A bit of a nightmare journey home as it was the tail end of  Hurricane Katrina, so the journey back down the Motorway, was a bit of a nightmare, as caravans do not travel well in high winds

Tefi Meadows, Lampeter, Wales 30th August - 4th September

Cathy and Robert invited us to join them at Tefi Meadows for a few days. This was their base for two weeks. It was a beautiful site, chickens running around, fresh eggs and best of all electric hook up, and all for £13.00 per night.  The only downfall was that as we were in Wales it was raining!

We spent two days off roading, and travelled through some amazing countryside.  A small selection of the 250 photos that we took follow!

It was a really amazing few days.  Cathy, Robert, Zak and Ethan are excellent company.  Hopefully we shall be able to do the same again next year.