Awaycation Autumn Sun 2023 - Where?

With all the planning for the Awaycation in the Summer all sorted, It's just a matter of getting the van from storage and a little cleaning, then going on the trip.

It seems that the sealant that Elddis use on the body is especially sticky and gets dirty really quickly.  So, we need to give it the once over before we set off in about 11 days. It seems quite easy to clean but there is so much of it. We took it to the jet wash in Seabrook before our last little break to Mersea Island, and got the front cleaned.  The bulge over the front cab was particularly horrible and I have no idea where the yellow and brown stains came from!

So back to the subject in hand. The trip to Germany looks to be still at the top of my pile, Although, I like the idea of some Autumn sun.  Will we get that in September in Germany?  So another idea is to head to Spain again. maybe this time taking us through the north and making the most of the weather as long as we can. I'll need to set about planning once we get back from France!

I am thinking of Sapin again or maybe Italy.  Or maybe stixck with Germany and get across the border to Austria?  Mmmmmmm!

Staycation 2023 - Mersea Island Day 2

Part 1

An early morning as Reggie needed to have his ablutions... I had a lie in for a few minutes and Claire took him out. He was a little out of sorts but still ate his breakfast.

After breakfast we had a few false starts on our walk. The idea was to check out the dog walk. Firstly we forgot a poo bag. Then treats for Reggie. Both sorted. We still forgot his water bowl...

In then we walked on the beach to West Mersea. Past hundreds of beach huts at the neighbouring Park Dean Park and then the privately owned ones that line the coast. Sometimes on the incline they are four deep! The highest number I saw was 602 and there were quite a few more that we didn't walk past ..

We decided to have a coffee. The Two Sugars Café was cash only. I had none. 😮 Claire hadn't brought her purse. 😲

We checked Google Maps to see where the nearest supermarket was and set off. It was mostly on road but not much traffic.

It was a Co-op. Cash machine raided and I bought a meal deal. As it was barely much above the price of a bottle of water and a Dairy Milk bar. The chicken mayo sandwich and hula-hoops were a bonus. 

Once back on the beach we lightened the load by eating the sandwich and hula-hoops. Reggie didn't want the water even from the washed oyster shell we had selected. More of oyster shell art later!

The beach here is covered in wild oyster shells. Hardly any looking like the ones found (and farmed) that all look alike.

We arrived back at Two Sugars. A coffee and Eccles Cake each later and we were fit to walk back. My Strava showed 2.91 miles.

Walking on the beach is a little challenging in places. The soft sand strains the calves.The tide was moving in and so the hard sand we had walked out on had been covered with sea.

When we got back to the Park Dean site we opted to walk on the public footpath that goes down behind the beach huts. Much easier. We had a look into a couple of the static caravans that they gave for sale. Prices ranging from £76995 upwards.

We arrived back at the Moho with 3.95 miles showing on Strava. 

Our arrival time yesterday was 3pm. We were looking forward to a couple of hours in our splendid isolation, but by 1.30pm newcomers had started arriving. Caravans to each side but with an empty pitch ❤️ between us. Luckily no one backing on to us.... Yet.

More later and pictures added when I have internet signal greater than H+!!!!

Staycation 2023 - Mersea Island

I got back from the greyhound rescue a little earlier than usual and had my breakfast.

Even though we are only away two nights, there is still quite a lot to pack in the van. Clothes of course. All the bedding. We tend to favour sleeping bags and have one each. These are more comfortable when the outside temperatures are low. 

Of course, we need stuff for Reggie. His bed. His food and essentials, his noo-noo and some toys. To calm him he has a licky mat with peanut 🥜 butter.

So it was1229 when I pulled backwards off the drive. This manoeuvre do much easier with the rear camera. Molly is a little longer than Suki at 7.02 metres.

We made good progress upto Dartford. The traffic for the tunnels under the River Thames was quite heavy and we joined the queues before the A2 junction. 

With everyone swapping lanes and almost three lanes of nose to nose HGV's it left only only lane for private vehicles, cars and us! Eventually after 25 minutes we were free and in the right-hand tunnel. We had already decided to skip a stop at Thurrock Moto service station. So the right most lane was best.

Progress to the A12 was pretty swift and even the two sets of roadworks didn't cause too much delay. 

We had a stop at Witham for Reggie to have a pee and for us to get a coffee. It's an M&S shop, so the sandwiches were well filled!

It was just after 4pm when we checked in. The tidal causeway was low and we had no problems getting across. I would have used my brother's Go-Pro camera but the battery was almost flat.

I'll see if I can charge it for the return journey.

Once on pitch, EHU connected we set off to have a look in the shop. This site has a couple of bars and a restaurant. Reggie not allowed in any of them. Out of season there were only three other people using the bar....

Dinner was some Italian style sausages bought earlier at the weekend. Very nice and meaty washed down with Thatcher's Blood Orange Cider.

So tomorrow?

Staycation Spring 2023 - Mersea Island Shakedown

With a few weeks to go before we go away to France on the Awaycation, it seemed like a good idea to get the away for a few days as a shakedown!

So I was looking at another short trip. I looked at some Caravan Club sites and there were none that really pushed any buttons.  We like to go midweek where the chances of the sites being overrun with kids is limited.  The Caravan Club doesn't have any Adult-Only sites.

I moved my search to certificated locations. There were a few but given the uncertainty of UK weather it was hard to find any that have hardstanding.  We could have returned to one of the ones we did last month, but they were nice, but are in the middle of nowhere.  One has a pub nearby that would have been a good dog-walk with a cheeky pint at the end of it, but the pub closed, possibly due to the pandemic, and has never re-opened.  

So where to? Mersea Island? I had a look at Fen Farm again. We did that in March (I think) and it was good but grass pitches.  We were lucky last time that it was quite well drained but I decided to try somewhere else.

There's a holiday park nearby, still on Mersea Island, and so I had a look there.  It has all the things to make the perfect holiday. Bars, shops etc.  Dog friendly and £32 a night this week.  It's £30 for us and £2 for Reggie.  So I booked. We go tomorrow after I get back from the greyhound rescue volunteering I do twice a week.

I have the reception area at Waldegraves Holiday Park entered into the satnav and so we should arrive right to the door. Exactly why we use a satnav!  Of course, it means we have to cross The Strood causeway again and the tide times table shows that we should be okay in both directions, tomorrow and when we return on Saturday morning.

The next job is to go and collect Molly from storage later this afternoon. A bit of time to get our non-perishable stuff loaded in and maybe test the fridge on gas.  The Dometic fridge fitted to the 175 works on 12 volt but only when the engine is running. Other than that it runs on the electric hook-up on sites (EHU) and on LPG.  We have never tried either fridges on the motorhomes on gas.  You can only use gas when parked up.

As there is a massive difference between diesel and petrol prices across Kent, we will take the opportunity to fill the tank on he way back at ASDA in Chatham.  The price difference is running at around 16p a litre (75p a gallon) less than locally to where we live. Rip off?

Awaycation Autumn Sun 2023

This trip hasn't been looked at since Christmas Day 2022. So I am having another look to see what we can do on this trip. The options are to stay once again in France or to go east and look at Germany and maybe Austria?

The last blog was about going to Germany and maybe as far as Fussen and Neuschwanstein Castle. I have read a few reviews of the parking near the Castle and they aren't all that good. When I was there last June with my bike mates, the Castle had been sold out for ages to the many coach parties.

Claire and I did part of the Romantic Road already and the bike lads and I did a bit of it last year on the way home.

So where to go? This trip we will be on the P&O Ferry to Calais and arriving at around 12.25pm. We will of course have to do a shop and so we have about five hours or so to the first stop of the trip. I will be checking the ACSI site to see what there is available around that time and distance.

Maybe limit the total distance to the Mosel and Rhein? Even at 50mph average on the toll free motorways we might not get that far. It's sun we want to pouring rain and cold! Perhaps head to northern Germany? Or keep to the original plan and head for Bavaria and maybe Czech?

Suggestions always appreciated.

The world of course is our huitre....

P.S. A useful website is https://www.tolls.eu/fuel-prices . I needs to be updated more often as it looks like only monthly.  

Awaycation Summer Sun - France

In my last post I mentioned I had got the return date wrong.  It was only one day! Of course it would have meant turning up at Eurotunnel and them charging us an arm and a leg to change the booking on the hoof.  I am still smarting at the cost of the last time when we came back in the snow in December. It had to be done then as we may have got stuck in France!

Last time it was well out of season and we only booked a few places and used the Camping-Car Park sites more than actual campsites.  This time I have opted to book ahead. It's June and apart from the first few nights on the way down to St Etienne, I have booked two nights at a time at a variety of places.

Even though we live near the sea in Kent, We rarely have a trip that there isn't at least one day where we can sea the ocean or even paddle in it.  This time no different. A couple of nights in the Camargue near to the Mediterranean and then we turn northwards and inland. France is a relatively large country compared to the UK. The campsite at La Brise in the Camargue is around 1140kms (708 miles) from Eurotunnel.  In the past I have done it in a day when on the Suzuki Cavalcade LX.... But never again!

So this time we are going to go "up the middle" as it were. Keeping to the east of the way we went down and back up to Spain before Christmas.  I usually plan using Google Maps and then look for suitable campsites or aires around the route.  This time I decided on places to stop and then looked at the ACSI website where I have taken up a year's membership. It seems the best rated and included in the ACSI system, and bookable online, are in a chain called Flower Camping!

I have a two night stop near the Millau Viaduct.  The chances of paying to go over it are very very slight.  We should be able to get a good view of it in all it's glory.... The next stop will be somewhere we have stayed before, but only for one night in a hotel in the upper town - Saint-Nectaire the Puy de Dôme locale. This time another Flower site at La Vallee Verte. 

It so happens that my favourite cheese is Saint-Nectaire fermier. Hopefully we'll get to sample a few whilst there! Three nights there to have at bit of R&R and unwind.....  and consume cheese....!

I have been looking at vets that can do Reggie's worming and have been recommended a couple of vets in Belgium that will do that and also are able to provide a pet passport for Reggie.  It's something I looked into when we were in Spain in November and a local vet in Alcossebre would have done it. With two trips this year across to the EU it would have saved us £69 each trip this year. In the end we didn't do it.  One of the vets is in Bruges and she can do the worming and pet passport for us.  It's a fraction more than another £69 for Reggie in August. But the passport is valid for three years.  Reggie is no youngster but it should be better for him in the long run. And us in the wallet! 

Where after that?  I have yet to think about it too much. But I expect with around 550 toll free miles left to do to get to Eurotunnel and 5 and a bit days to do it that we won't be biting off too many miles each day. So probably single nights at Camping-Car Parks.

It's a month today before we are away. I prefer the non-toll routes and not have to pay the tolls on the motorways. But, the first day I think we'll need to get some shopping done once across into France and then pay the toll on the A26 to kill off some of the mileages to the first overnight stop. Hopefully Picard will have some of their dogador raw food for Reggie. It seems that very few of their stores stock it. We have been lucky in Calais!

So the countdown has begun.

Staycation Wiltshire - Day 2 & 3

Day 2

We needed to be ready quite quickly so that we could get into Salisbury and St Osmund's Church in Exeter Street for about 1130am.  The funeral was going to start at Noon.

We were early and I decided that I'd do a fly-past of the church and go around the block so that I was on that side of the road for Claire to exit. In the end we got lucky and one of the free on-street parking spaces was big enough for me to park in. I did a few back and forths to get the left tyres against the kerb. Luckily they are so tall (not low profile!). The sign said free for two hours and no return for four hours. I took a photo just in case a jobsworth parking attendant came along. 

Claire got out about 1135 and set off for the church that was about 100 metres away on the right.  I sat in the van. Windows open, Right mirror tucked in. I didn't want to leave the van there as we were only just into the marked space.  In fact the wheels were but the superstructure does overhang a little both sides.  Trucks and buses passed by easily so there should have been no problems at all. I sat and read for a while. Took a photo of the spire of the Cathedral over the wall and then decided that Reggie needed a pee.

I wrote a note for jobsworth and stuck it on the windscreen wiper to say we were in the Catholic Church  for a funeral.  Togged up. We set off up the street past the church. I took a photo.  The hearse was outside.

We then took a left turn through some wooden gates into what appeared to be a road. This was apparently St Ann's Gate.  The houses along her were superb and probably millionaires only!  And then it opened up and on the left was the Cathedral. It is very impressive. To get a photo (to follow) I had to hand Reggie's lead over a fence post.  Otherwise it's impossible to get the photo you wanted!

We didn't get a chance to photograph the "world's oldest working clock" as the sun was behind it and the camera on my phone just glared out. I expect had the KGB that came to (allegedly) kill a dissident had said that was why they had flown from Moscow it would have been more believable than the cock and bull they came out with....

We did the loop around the structure, carefully avoiding the coach parties, and hopefully not messing up too many of their photos.... 😀 and back towards Exeter Street and the van.  I was in a hurry as I didn't want to be away when Claire returned and also because I had changed into funeral reception black jeans and didn't have a poo-bag with me.  Luckily the latter wasn't a problem.

We passed the bug cathedral (photo to follow) and then through the Harnham Gate (photos to follow). It's a pedestrian and cycles only gate. It even has spikes on the road to deter even the most insistent car owner!  We were back in the van in good time. No sign of the parko and my note was still there when Claire returned.  

Bug Cathedral

Hanham Gate

We went to the reception/wake.  It was a nice affair and I met Claire's cousins from her father's side of the family.

I went back a couple of times to get Reggie out for apee and a walk. He didn't really want to get out.  Then we showed off the van to one of her cousin's husbands.  They have a VW camper. Reggie got out and ran to Claire and him and I was dreading him being over enthusiastic, but he wasn't.

When we can to leave I had a little trouble with the slope from the car park to the road to turn right.  It was about half the length of the an and each time I tried to pull out something came from one side or another. We made it eventually.

We stopped for diesel and then set off into the city to take the ring road out. I hadn't shut the front rooflight.  I managed to stop at a bus stop and shut it. Luckily no damage but this is the second time our pre-flight check has missed something! In fact, the same something! We were lucky the traffic lights worked in our favour and I was able to get away without hassling other road users.

We arrived back at the site and decided to move from Pitch 31 to Pitch 32 as it was in the sun and we could sit out.  We went up and bought ice-creams for us, none for Reggie, and told the wardens we had moved pitches.

I was very tired and I had a little sleep before dinner. Snacks today were Aldi cider and Aldi ridged crisps. A good combination.  For dinner? Bolognese sauce and linguine.

Day 3

We didn't get up until 9am. A better night with hardly any interruptions from Reggie. He has taken to sleeping on the bench seat on a rug and spends less time trying to sleep on the bed with us.  He seems to have given up trying to get into the sleeping bags as well.....

We left at 10.47am.  The satnav said over two and a half hours to cover 143 miles. As we rarely go over 55 that seems about right.  We stopped at Fleet Services on the M3. The northbound services aren't as good, or as nice as the southbound side. Tackier and older!  Still as dog unfriendly.

Lunch? A coffee from Starbucks and a King Charles III Coronation Chicken sandwich between us.... It seemed pretty much like any coronation chicken sandwich! Coronation Chicken is really chicken in a curry sauce.  No doubt a throwback to Empire! We eventually ate that at home as we wanted to get going and eating a sloppy sandwich is a no-no folks whilst driving!

We arrived home just after 2pm. We unpacked the van as quickly as possible then had lunch - yes the Chazza III sandwich.  

And that's another trip over. Where next?

Staycation Dorset-Wiltshire - Day 1

It's day 3 of this trip and we have been across the county border from Dorset into Wiltshire.

With the Salisbury site not open for check-in until 1pm we had some time to kill. 

Firstly I planned to head up from the coast and do a recce where the church is for tomorrow's funeral, and check out some parking. 

The former easy. There is no street parking for non-residents on the street near the church.  It's almost opposite Salisbury Cathedral.

As an aside the Cathedral was allegedly the reason why two KGB operatives came to Salisbury...... Not to spread a chemical weapon around to kill a Russian dissident.

How lucky they were not to have arrived in  a campervan over 2.1m as they would have found Salisbury to be pretty unfriendly for motorhomes. Even the park and rides have height barriers!!! Maybe they make money from all the coach parties... No wait... One coach park...

Anyway we checked out one parking. It's £8 a day. No shorter periods available. Within walking distance of the Cathedral and the church Claire is going to go to.

But it's accessed through a not very pleasant archway from the medieval city walls.

We'll decide at the last minute.

From their we looked for parking. Ending up in Sports Direct / Waitrose. 

We decided, as there was still well over an hour before check-in, to go to Stonehenge.

Satnav set and we worked our way through traffic and being in the wrong lanes at roundabouts for the Henge.

Things have changed a lot since Claire and I went there years ago. Then we parked up, went through a tunnel under the road to the visitor centre. The stones were about 200 yards away.

Now. Massive visitor centre. Huge parking area. Separate and marked spaces for motorhomes and caravans as well as coaches. Shuttle buses to the stone circle as we are now a mile and a half from them!  A friend joked on FB that they moved them to build a bigger visitor centre.

As National Trust members we get free admission tickets as part of membership. The stones are managed by English Heritage.  I booked tickets from 1230.

We arrived earlier and so had lunch. Cornish pasty and coffee.

Reggie is allowed up there but can't go on the bus.  We checked in and set off. 

The first part is on a separated path and then it joins the road. Reggie started to refuse. He hates walking on the roads with traffic. The path is just the edge of the road with a white line separating it from the buses. With all the money spend they might have considered a separate path for walkers to travel safely.

We got about 200 yards and aborted.

Once back at the van we were off to the Salisbury Hillside Caravan Club site, arriving around 2.30pm.

First job after check-in was to find a pitch, then empty the grey waste and fill with fresh water.

We eventually decided on pitch 31. It's the furthest from the facilities but overlooks the farm next door and the cows in the field.

We settled in. A dog walk for Reggie. Some reading. Heck sausages for dinner washed down with more Aldi cider.

Bedtime as usual at 2230 or so.

Tomorrow? Salisbury and the funeral for Claire. Who knows what we will do until the wake starts...

Staycation Dorset - Day 2

Had a lie in this morning. We were always going to have a lazy day of reading and dog walking.

As it was sunny we got the chairs and new table out. We even gave the wind out awning a few minutes air time before the snapping of the wind had us rewind it.

So not much to report. We had a longer walk over the fields to get a better view of Chesil Beach. The Fleet Lagoon was full. With the tide in it saved us walking along the shoreline ankle deep in mud. 

So apart from that we did very little.

Our 175 on pitch

The last one is chicken pie cooked in the RidgeMonkey.