Sandringham 3-8 Dec 20

 Lockdown 2 finished on the 2nd December allowing us to get away in our 2nd home to remain socially-distanced outside of our prime residence's four walls. We didn't want to travel too far to maintain the spirit of Tier 2 of the covid rules, so we headed off to Sandringham for a few nights. 

Not a soul around at Sandringham

The journey was awful. It chucked it down all the way - and continued to chuck it down once we arrived. There were very few other campers on the site and we were able to have a vast area all to ourselves, so we settled down and watched the rain.

On Friday it continued to rain. Then it turned to sleet, and then to heavy snow. Everything turned white, so we wrapped up well and went for a 5 mile walk to Sandringham house and back. The house itself, and the gorgeous church, were closed, but we had a bimble around the gift shop then wandered back. On our return the snow turned back to rain and it continued to rain heavily well into the evening so we didn't bother queuing for fish and chips, cooking in the van instead.

Narnia?

The Sandringham war memorial in the snow

Saturday it was quite nice weather-wise, so after a bit of a lie-in we had a short walk into West Newton before heading back for a bit of admin and to watch the women's rugby. West Newton is a lovely little village with just the one butcher's shop - but that is by appointment to HM the Queen!

West Newton Church

Sandringham Primary School

Sandringham Caravan Club Site

On Sunday we went for another 4.5 mile walk along the scenic drive, stopping for hot chocolate at the visitor centre. It was foggy, but quite busy out, with a number of people enjoying a walk around the grounds. In the afternoon we watched a turgid England v France game and an absolutely brilliant Gloucester v Harlequins game.

Lovely view from the viewpoint

Monday dawned very cold (-1 degrees) and foggy. We ramped up the heating and wrote Christmas cards whilst eating mince pies. The fog remained all day and it struggled to get above freezing, so we stayed in the warm and had one of those delightful days where you do nothing and don't feel at all guilty about doing it! That said we had a little walk around the site and then queued up for delicious fish and chips from the van that arrived on site.

The chip van

Tuesday, again in thick fog, we breakfasted then had a leisurely drive back the relatively short distance home.

Ferry Meadows, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire 9-11 Dec 20

Wed 9 Dec - After stopping at the garden centre for a cheeky cake for breakfast, we set off on the short run to the Ferry Meadows site in Peterborough to meet up with our old friend Martin, who was there for a couple of days. With Covid regulations still playing havoc with our lives we were permitted to meet outside, so we erected the gazebo and sat in there for a very chilly evening eating piping hot stew, drinking wine and generally catching up. 

The Meggersmobile

On Thursday, whilst Martin had lunch with his son, we had a wander around Ferry Meadows then spent some time reorganising the van, something we hadn't really done since we picked up the thing in June. In the evening we had another very pleasant evening with cheese and too much wine and port reminiscing about great trips in happier times.

A deserted and rather forlorn looking Nene Valley Railway

Friday it was time to say goodbye to Martin and pack up and head home.

South Cambridgeshire 20 Sep - 13 Oct 20

The call to harvest was early this year and we had no idea how long it would take, so we packed for 3 weeks just in case and on Sun 20 Sep we set off for the short trip to the vineyard, parking up in our usual perfect spot just outside the winery where we could enjoy the silence and dark skies. 3 days of perfect picking in glorious sunshine followed, then it was back home for a long weekend during which time we decided that electric bikes would be a good idea, so we bought a pair.

On Monday we collected the bikes and had a quick test ride around Grafham Water, then they were loaded into the garage of the motorhome to see active service on the half a mile commute from the winery to the vineyard each day. We picked on Wednesday and Thursday and, after work on Friday, we went back to the Camping Club site in Cambridge for a couple of nights and to buy some thicker duvets ready for the winter.

Cambridge CC site

Test driving the new bike around Grafham Water

New Duvets

The following week we picked every day except Thursday when the weather was forecast to be pretty bad. On Saturday we went to the caravan club site for the night to recharge the batteries, empty the waste and fill with fresh water. The caravan club is more expensive than the Camping Club and, in all honesty, not as nice. We certainly preferred the camping club site. We were going to go for a walk on the Saturday but it threw it down all day, so we stayed in and watched the Rugby and a film.

Monday the 12th was the last day of picking and it was a long, hard day. The Pinot Noir grapes grow low along the wires so it was backbreaking work bending over for 9 hours to clear these pesky beauties, but finally it was done and we cracked open a bottle of wine produced from last year's labour to celebrate - and bloody good it was too!

In all, hard work, but so nice to be out in the fresh air in good company in a Covid safe environment doing something productive. Can't wait for next year.

Valuable grapes need suitable security arrangements

A happy bucketeer