The NEC and Chapel Lane, Birmingham - 22/23 Feb 14

It's been a bit of a busy week on the motorhoming front. Firstly I installed a new leisure battery on Thursday and then, on Friday, we had to move to a new storage location on the farm, as they are building a new barn to accommodate the expanding gluten-free flour business. With typical farm health and safety, I dodged diggers, dumpers, HGVs and a road roller to get onto our newly laid parking spot, but it was a bit lonely....

Tommy no mates

On Saturday it was an early start and a drive to the NEC Birmingham for a day at the National Camping and Motorhome Show. We spent a good few hours wandering around the  new motorhomes but must admit that the general build quality was not up to much and we still feel that our bus ticks most, if not all, of our requirements. I also resisted going to the camping and caravanning club stall to roast them over their rip-off prices and, by about 1500hrs we had had enough of the crowds and headed back to the bus to drive to the caravan club site to watch England beat the Oirish and have a few beers. We did buy a posh new dinner service at the show though!

The site itself is very pleasant but a bit like parking in a car park. I suppose it is a good option for exploring Birmingham, but there isn't really much to commend it (still better than the camping and caravanning ripoff club though).

On Sunday we had a bit of a sort out and an easy drive back home via Costco in Coventry. Shopping is so easy when you have a large fridge and freezer on board (plus unlimited space to carry bulk toilet and kitchen rolls).

Crystal Palace 30 Jan - 2 Feb

Crystal Palace yet again, but it makes sense and saves quite a bit on extortionate train fares.

I arrived late afternoon on Thursday after dropping the mother in law home and, as it was raining, had a relaxing afternoon before walking to the station to meet Debs. We then had a splendid evening just chilling out after a very hectic week.

On Friday Debs went to work and I caught the No 3 bus to Trafalgar Square, walked along the Strand, through Covent Garden, up Fleet Street, around St Pauls Cathedral, and into the Museum of London at the Barbican. I am sure that this is a great museum, but the noise from the billions of schoolkids made it a fairly intolerable experience, so I had a quick look around, had lunch and then walked...and walked...and walked. Through Liverpool Street, Houndsditch, Guildhall, Petticoat Lane, Old Street and then into the old East End to Wapping and Limehouse, although a lot of these areas are now yuppified and not like the old tough East End that I remembered. Finally I arrived at Canary Wharf and had a quiet pint in the old Ledger building (now a pub) before Debs arrived from work and we had fish and chips (and very good they were too).

On Saturday we caught the train to the O2 and travelled across the Thames on the Emirates cable car, a thoroughly enjoyable trip. We then walked to docklands for lunch and then onto the Prospect of Whitby for a pint before returning the Wetherspoons in  Crystal Palace to watch the England/France game.

On Sunday it was up and home and already planning the next trip (if the weather improves any time soon)

Ferry Meadows, Peterborough 17-20 Jan 14

In much the same way as we found with Cambridge, going to a local site really has its advantages in that the journey times are short, yet it still feels like a holiday. So it was with Ferry Meadows. We took the bikes and cycled around 15 miles on the Saturday, going into Peterborough for a bit of shopping and a nice lunch in a microbrewery which sold fantastic Thai food. We then got lost around the many cycle ways of Peterborough before finding Halfords to negotiate a new bike for Debs.
 
On Sunday we pootled around the country park, had a light lunch, a long walk and watched the sun go down before heading to the local Beefeater for dinner. Another excellent night's kip followed and an early start on a misty cold morning back home ready for Debs to start work.
 
Ferry Meadows really is a very nice site, spotlessly clean with huge pitches. I think that we will be back (but not when its full of kids!)

Bike and Bus - perfect machines!
 

Is that Victoria Pendleton? Surely not?

Crystal Palace 8 - 12 Jan 2014

Happy New Year! It's been a while since we've been out in the bus, but family commitments and a rapid trip to Ireland, put paid to any planned trips away. Anyway, back again to this very useful site, travelling by a less tortuous route than the north and south circular roads and setting up and on the way to visit Mother in Chiswick in no time, meeting up with Debs back at Crystal Palace later that evening. We really enjoyed just sitting there with a glass of wine after such a long absence.

On Friday Deb went to work and I bimbled around a bit playing with the new radio before heading off to Canary Wharf to meet her for lunch. I really do not like Canary Wharf much. At twelve o'clock it is like somebody has stirred an ants nest as thousands of suited arrogants barge through the tunnels. Luckily, after lunch I was able to escape to the Museum of London Docklands and spent a very interesting and informative afternoon browsing this superb museum before meeting Deb and heading to the mother-in-law's for dinner, then back to the site on the very useful 227 bus.

Up and out early on Saturday to get to Twickenham for breakfast in the Webb Ellis pub and then watch the game against Clermont Auvergne. As usual, trains in London were totally screwed (why can't they run a railway? They charge enough.) and it took hours to get to Twickenham, but we ate, drank, watched the game (we lost), drank some more and then returned to Crystal Palace much later than anticipated.

Sunday - a quick read of the papers, breakfast and then back home. 

Crystal Palace 25-29 Oct 13

Crystal Palace Caravan Club site has been on my radar for some while now as it offers easy access to Rugby at the Stoop and is very close to the in-laws in Bromley. The site, however, is very popular and it is hard to get a booking, particularly with the ridiculous caravan club book-every-single-site-a-year-in-advance system. With the worst storm since 1987 forecast I thought that lesser souls and sorry shed-draggers would not be brave enough to venture out, despite it being half-term, and I rang the site on the off chance and got in! 

The drive down on Friday was uneventful, but I did make the mistake of going around the north and south circular road, which took forever. After the usual quick set up, I bumbled along to the local shops to have a quick look around, before boarding the bus to Bromley  to visit Father-in-Law in hospital. Debs met me at Bromley South station from work and we did our visiting duty and then headed back to the site on the bus that almost goes door-to-door (but through some really nice (not!) areas of London.

Saturday we were up early, showered and dressed and went to chat to the wardens to see if we could extend our stay by one day to save driving back in very high winds. Despite being Leicester Tigers supporters, the wardens were great and sorted us out. We wandered across Crystal Palace park (I'd forgotten how high Crystal Palace is) and caught the train from the very pretty Crystal Palace station to Twickenham via Clapham Junction to be first in the Webb-Ellis pub for a mega-breakfast and several pints of foaming ale. Despite the adds, Quins thrashed Sale and, happy, we journeyed back to the site for a good night's kip.  On Sunday it was off to Bromley and Orpington again for more visiting and that wonderful journey back through the badlands of "Sarf Larndarn".

On Sunday night the storm was due to hit. It was very windy. One small tree on the site was blown over and the TV mast howled like the banshee, but we survived the winds and Debs was up early to go to work direct from the site.  We walked across the wind-ravaged park (more branches down here), but Notwork Rail were not running trains so we walked back across the park and Debs caught the packed number 3 bus to Brixton and the tube to work, somewhat later than anticipated, but she got there. In the afternoon I did some shopping and then went across to the hospital again. met Debs and returned back via the same old route. Tuesday, Debs got to work with no problems, I packed up and we all met up again at home that evening, complete with the rotten cold that the Mother-in-Law kindly donated.

I have booked Crystal Palace again for December as the site is in a great location.

Chilford Hall 22-23 Sep 13

 

This was an unusual trip. We had been given a Christmas present of a day's wine tour and, after much consideration and planning, we settled on a vineyard 10 miles south of Cambridge purely for ease of access. We are glad we did!

 

On Saturday we were at the motorhome show in Lincoln, which was a bit of a disappointment as it was significantly smaller than the Peterborough show and there was quite a bit of old tat in the way of motorhomes on display (no Adria or Chausson on display). We did see a rather nice Hymer B544 though, but at over £70k a bit out of our price range, and the spitfire flypast was probably worth the journey alone.

Anyway, back to the vineyard. Up early, collected the bus from storage, put a few bits in the fridge and then the hour long drive down to Linton. We parked in the car park and wandered in for a coffee before the tour began. It really was a very interesting and informative day out, firstly wandering down to the vineyard itself to see the vines, with the guide going into great detail on the problems associated with wine making in the UK and the reasons for the layout of the vines themselves. It was then back to the Tudor barn for another interesting lecture on the winemaking process before we adjourned to the Bistro to sample six of the wines made at the vineyard - and excellent wines they are too! Lunch followed, accompanied by a bottle of wine, then we sat on the bench on the lawn in the warm sunshine and downed another bottle of excellent rose. By this time we were a little jaded so we adjourned back to the bus for tea and several cups of tea, before taking a stroll along to the vineyard again to watch the sun go down over the vines.

Back to the bus and enjoying the absolute silence of this remote location, we enjoyed a good nights kip before setting off back home in time for Debs to start work.

A great day out using the bus to its full advantage.

France 4-10 SEP 13

With a few camping cheques left over from the summer, plus a long period of non use due to rip off site fees during the school holidays, it made sense to hop across the channel to give Tom a chance to stretch his wheels.



Where's Tommy? The Aire at Cite d'Europe

The squeeze the maximum out of a 5 day travel ticket on eurotunnel we booked the 0130hrs crossing on the Thursday morning. The plan was to collect Debs from a work do in central London and then pile down to the tunnel. However, for a variety of reasons she didn't go to the do so we left home together, stopping at the Ashford outlet for a half hour then onto the tunnel to see if they would let us on an earlier train. It would appear that arriving at 2100 for an 0130 crossing means that you are classed as arriving a day early, so we we sent packing and ended up waiting at the services for some gopping KFC ( why does the thought of KFC never match the taste) and then a quick kip before arriving on the correct day for our crossing. On arrival, it was quickly into the cite de Europe aire for some shut eye.

 
 

The pitch at Chateau du Gandspette

 
 
Thursday was hot! We went into the massive Carrefour to stock up and then headed to our destination for the next few days, the Kawan site at chateau du Gandspette in Eperlecques. Quickly setting up on a nice pitch we had the sunbeds out in no time, caught up on a few more zzzzz then a quick swim in the pool and a couple of pints of Leffe Ruby in the bar in the warm evening sunshine. Bliss.

On Friday I got up early and did the cycle recce for the days activities, covering about 15km through some very pretty woods and villages. Eventually she got up and we cycled into Watten to poke around the market and walk up the hill behind the town to admire the view. After a well deserved pint of kronenburg devils brew in the local bar, we cycled back following on of the cycle trails in the area. In the evening it was out with the BBQ and an excellent steak meal.

The weather on Saturday was meant to be bad, but it was surprisingly nice, so we had breakfast outside, lazed around a bit then cycled off to the V2 bunker in the woods for a very interesting few hours looking around this monstrosity. We followed that visit with a visit to the restaurant on site for an excellent meal. Nom nom nom..

 

We have visited St Omer before, but as it was so close that on Sunday we decided to go again, even though it doesn't have too much to offer. We parked up in a nice spot next to the canal then trundled into town, finding what could be described as an agricultural fair in the local park. It was, in fact, very good with lots of very interesting things on display. Being in an area famous for its cauliflowers there were loads on display - and remarkably cheap too! We cooked croque-monsieur on our pitch by the canal before retiring back to the site for a lazy evening.

 

Monday saw us up and out and heading for the tunnel, a few more boxes of wine, a slightly delayed journey back across the ditch and then onto the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Folkestone. The site is located down a narrow, long track to a very nice location overlooking the beach. We decided to walk into Folkestone and really wished we hadn't. I am sure that it could be improved. On the way back the rain came down, the umbrella broke and we got absolutely soaked. Was it really only a few days back that it was so hot and sunny?

After a good nights kip it was off back home (via the Ashford outlet mall) and a big clear out of the bus ready for the annual service and habitation check the following day (which it passed with flying colours - huzzah!).