West Country 1 (Devon) - 5 Jun to 6 Jul 19

Google Maps has an excellent feature which plants a red dot everywhere you've been. We noticed that there was a severe lack of dots around the south coast of Devon and round the coast of Cornwall to Tintagel. Accordingly, although we would normally tour Europe in June, we set off "dot filling" in the West Country.

On  Wed  5th June we had a our first stop near Cheltenham at a pub called the House in the Tree. Amazing grub, good beer and a good nights sleep, despite the noisy road.

A resident of the pub

The House in the Tree

From Cheltenham it was on to Tanpits Cider Farm in Taunton, where we were to meet up with some old friends for a splendid curry in town. The site is, as the name suggests, on a cider farm and it sells very nice scrumpy, albeit the owner had no idea of the strength of the brew! The farm is also alive with Peacocks. Peacocks are interesting birds but bloody noisy!  Lovely site, well worth a visit.

Tanpits Cider Farm

Could be 4%, maybe 5% ....10%? Dunno really

On Friday, in heavy rain, we  moved from Taunton to the Temporary Holiday Site at Exmouth Rugby Club. We parked on the training pitch, which is handily situated very close to the station and centre of town, and we were a bit worried about the mud, but the ground was just about holding up. The rain stopped and we walked along the seafront in sunshine. Exmouth is a nice place, especially the microbrewery  (the Grapevine). Even better, the ice cream man visited the site, driving right up to our door, and sold us a very nice cone for £2.

Exmouth Rugby Club

On Saturday we got up expecting to get wet that day as it had rained all night with blustery winds. We caught the train to Exeter St David's and changed for the train to Teignmouth, which runs along the famous Dawlish sea wall.  We wandered around Teignmouth, enjoyed a proper cream tea (with cream on top, not like some of those dodgy Devonians like it), then walked along the coast path to Dawlish before catching the train back to Exmouth.  Before turning in for the night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the estuary. In all, we walked 11 miles that day - and the rain held off!

Famous Dawlish Black Swans

The following day we walked to Lympstone, home of the Commando Training Centre, then on to the National Trust property, a la Ronde, which is a very interesting and pretty house. The sun was shining, it was warm and the views magnificent, so we had lunch on the lawn before exploring the house. The weather started to close in, we walked back to Exmouth, popped into Marks and Spencer for provisions and then the heavens opened. We thought we could dash the short distance to the van without getting too wet. We were wrong. Luckily, the rain stopped, the ice-cream man cometh and we managed a short walk to the estuary staying reasonably dry.

Lympstone

a la Ronde

Ice Cream delivered to your door!

On Monday we moved a little further around the coast to the Brixham Temporary Holiday Site. It was sunny. We cooked outside. We walked down the steep hill into Brixham and, once again, the clouds came in and we got soaked. By this time we were beginning to wish that we had gone to France or Germany as they were suffering a massive heatwave and we were cold and wet.

Brixham

On Tuesday the forecast wasn't good (what a surprise - I blame Brexit). We decided to buy a bus pass and have a pensioners day out on the buses. First stop was Newton Abbott. We didn't stop long. Certainly one of those places that sounds better than it actually is.  From there it was to Torquay. It rained. We left. Finally Kingswear and Dartmouth on a packed, damp bus out of Brixham. What sort of imbecile brings two large, wet, stinking dogs on to a small packed bus? Funnily enough, a caravanner from the C&MH Club site at Hillhead! Dartmouth is lovely, but by now we were cold, wet and thoroughly pissed off, so we went home.

Not impressed with Newton Abbott

Torquay

Torquay - The English Riviera! Pah!

Kingswear

Dartmouth

Wed 12. It wasn't raining! Early walk to Berry Head, then a bus to Dartmouth to enjoy this pretty town in the sunshine, and it was certainly much better in the warm and dry. We explored the Castle, had a cream tea, wandered around a bit more then took the bus back to Brixham and had fish and chips by the harbour. 

Berry Head - the smallest traditional lighthouse in the UK

Dartmouth

We knew that the good weather couldn't last and we had a drizzly drive to out next stop, Ilton Farm, just outside Salcombe. This is a lovely site with fantastic views, albeit the access road is very narrow and the van touched the hedges on each side all the way along.  In drizzle we walked the two miles into Salcombe and she managed to find a new waterproof coat in one of the sales. Salcombe appears to be full of poncy yah-yahs. If you are not wearing the correct sailing gear then obviously you don't belong here. We walked a different route back through the steep, narrow Devon lanes and managed to get home without being squished by cars on the very narrow lanes

Ready to press the "breathe in" button

Salcombe

As she had purchased a new waterproof, the following day it stopped raining. we had a long walk to the national trust property at Overbeck, down very muddy tracks. We cleaned our shoes on the beach, visited the house, walked along the coast path to admire the views at Starehole Bay, walked back down along the coast path,  and rewarded ourselves with an ice cream on beach at South Sands.  Billy Twelvetrees, the Gloucester Rugby player, was paddleboarding around the bay and trying to steal his children's ice-creams. We took the bumpy ferry back to Salcombe, had an expensive beer then walked back to sit outside the van with a Salcombe Gin.

Mud on

Mud off

Ferry to Salcombe

Billy Twelvetrees

On Saturday, in glorious sunshine, we walked to Hope Cove, around Bolt Tail, and followed the coast path to Soar Mill Cove, reputedly the inspiration behind Enid Blyton's famous five adventures.  It was a stunning walk.

Wedding photos - arriving by helicopter!

Hope Cove

On Sunday, in miserable weather, we moved to Plymouth Sound Cackyvan and Motorhome Club site. A lovely little site with no facilities, but with beautiful views over Plymouth Sound.

On Mon 17 June, we walked along the coast path to Mountbatten, where we caught the ferry to Plymouth. First stop was the famous Cap'n Jaspers burger shack, then a wander around the Barbican, a very interesting tour and tasting in the Plymouth gin distillery, into the shopping area to look at the market and collect a pair of shoes that she had ordered online, a nice couple of pints in the sun at the Barbican and then the ferry and walk home. On the way up the hill to the site we noticed skid marks on the road and a tractor towing a muck spreader had crashed through the hedge and into a field with one tyre shredded. On that steep hill, that could have been a nasty, and very smelly, accident! In all we walked 15 miles that day. 

RFA Tidesurge

Cap'n Jaspers

The Barbican

Plymouth gin

Tractor crash!

On Tuesday it didn't stop raining. We walked to the local shop then came back, sat in and watched the rain, moaning about how utterly useless the met office is at predicting weather, as the promised sunny intervals never appeared once.

Dorset 20 - 28 May 19

The traffic was horrendous on the road down to Wool. Long tailbacks, roadworks, narrow roads, but we eventually pulled into the campsite. Quickly setting up in the rule-heavy site, we walked across the railway bridge to meet up in the local pub with a dear friend, Stuart, who pitched up in his Jaguar posemobile to join us for a catch up and a pint or two. Stuart later took us down to the local branch of the Royal British Legion for a pint or two with the locals.

Tuesday was another bright, sunny day so we walked the mile or so to the Bovington Tank Museum, where we (well, I) really enjoyed a day wandering around the very impressive collection of armoured fighting vehicles. Later, Stuart took us for an evening drive down to Lulworth Cove and here we witnessed first hand the robbing barsteward who is fleecing everybody for his  ridiculously overpriced car park.

Bovington Tank Museum

Saladin - I used to fit into one of these

On Wednesday Stuart, our wonderful local tour guide, spent a day taking us around the sights of Purbeck, including a trip on the Swanage Railway to Swanage where we had a nice cup of tea overlooking the bay. Later, we had an enjoyable pint in the Castle, and later a pint in the "Burr" (the Bear in Lancastrian) before pestering the locals in the RBL again. A great day. 

Corfe Castle

Swanage Railway

Swanage

The following day we reluctantly said goodbye to Wool and moved the short distance to a camping and caravanning club temporary holiday site just outside Weymouth. Parked up in no time, and sucking in solar power to recharge the batteries, we set out to walk into Weymouth (about 3.5 miles). It wasn't an inspiring walk and we wished we had taken the bikes as there was a good cycle path. However, we reached town, had a wander around and agreed that Weymouth is a pleasant enough town which they are doing their utmost to bring down. That said, it is certainly much nicer than Great Yarmouth or Scarborough! We ate some overpriced fish and chips (award winning, but again, not up to the standard of our local fish shop at home) before investing in a weekly bus pass to enable a thorough exploration of the area. Restocking our supplies in Morrisons, we returned to the van.

Impressive sand sculpture at Weymouth

Durdle Door

Stair Hole

Lulworth Cove

On Friday we thought we would take the bus to walk between Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove before the Bank Holiday crowds moved in. What a delightful day it was. The sun was shining, the sea was blue, the scenery stunning and the walk suitably tiring. What more could you want?

Returning to Weymouth, we had a walk around Nothe Fort and a refreshing cider by the harbour before meeting Stuart for a pint outside the pavilion.

Nothe Fort 

On Saturday we took the bus into Dorchester and had a mosey around this very attractive town, enjoying a rhubarb and custard pasty en route. 

Dorchester

From Dorchester it was a quick bus ride up to Portland to admire the views, look at the stone quarries and explore an interesting old gun battery by the fort.

Portland and Chesil Beach

The following day was a bit murky and we really wanted to avoid the Bank Holiday crowds so we took the bus to Abbotsbury, a very pretty village close to Chesil Beach. There we had a wander around the village and enjoyed a lovely Sunday lunch (the horseradish sauce nearly blew my socks off!) before a vigorous walk up the hill to the chapel.

Abbotsbury

On return  to Weymouth we quickly wandered around the "fayre in the square", enjoying some pretty good music.

On Bank Holiday Monday we lazed around and enjoyed a visit from Stuart, who popped in for a cup of tea.

Excellent 30mm RARDEN case vase - thanks Stuart!

On Tuesday we set off home, encountering very heavy traffic once again trying to clear Dorset. It took over an hour to go the first 25 miles!

In all it was a great trip, with good weather, beautiful scenery and meeting up with an old friend on his home turf. We think that we may have fallen in love with Dorset - if only they could sort the traffic out!

Newbury 16 - 20 May 19

Newbury Showground and the Southern Motorhome Show, where we spent a very pleasant few days pitched up with the Motorhome Fun crowd. Unlike Peterborough, this show only opens on the Friday to the Sunday, so we relaxed on Thursday before going to watch the band in the marquee and getting involved with a couple from Runcorn, who plied us with booze.

On Friday the show was open and it was off to buy a great microfibre dressing gown from Giso Microfibre (https://www.gisomicrofibre.com/) to add to our collection of towels, cloths and T towels purchased from this great company. Apart from that we decided that there wasn't much else to tempt us apart from the pop-up gazebos that were springing up around the motorhome fun area like a mushroom infestation. We couldn't be bothered to go the show on the Friday night as it was a bit chilly out, the van was nice and warm, the prosecco cold etc etc.

On Saturday we went into Newbury for the day and had lunch in the Wetherspoons, before returning to splash out on a gazebo and a new exterior carpet. Later we went off to watch Marmalade (rubbish) and Dozy, Mick and Titch (who were quite good).

Sunday it was backwards and forwards to the show to buy more carpets and be the butt of many jokes about the poncification of our gazebo.

On Monday it was packing up and off on the next leg of our West Country adventures.

Marlborough 14-16 May 19

The start of our west country tour was a couple of nights in the Camping in the Forest site in the Savernake Forest near Marlborough. A fairly basic site, in the forest (the clue is in the name), albeit within walking distance of Marlborough and earshot of a busy road, which spoiled the peace and quiet somewhat, but we have certainly been in noisier places. In warm sunshine we spent the first afternoon relaxing, enjoying the first time we have been able to sit outside in shorts and T shirts for any length of time this year.

On Wednesday we walked into Marlborough, enjoying this very pleasant little town, trundled along and round the impressive college and back into town for a spot of lunch then back to the site via probably the worst Tescos we have ever been in. In the afternoon, we had a wander around the impressive Savernake forest, admiring the girth of some of the ancient oaks populating this wonderful place.

On Thursday we packed up and drove the short distance to Newbury. 

The Cathedral Oak