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...