I can’t think of a snappy title…

01 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by Simon Barlow in Elddis Caravans, Erwin Hymer Group, Travelling in the UK, Trips

Tags

Elddis Carvans, Erwin Hymer Group, Travelling K

Back at the start of July we had an invitation to travel up north to visit Erwin Hymer Group at their manufacturing facility in Consett, County Durham for the first look at the 2020 caravans and motorhomes.

By coincidence a young lady that I had been ‘chatting’ with via email for several months was visiting from the far off land of a thousand landscapes. We had provisionally planned to meet up in Derbyshire but after realising we would both be staying at the same site – C&MC Teesdale Barnard Castle for the Erwin Hymer event we could catch up there and travel to the event together, woo hoo… go us, saving the planet.

The last time Sue and I were at Barnard Castle was back in 2011 or 12 (link here) I think and we were staying at the C&CC site a little further along the road. We drove past the C & MC site and both remarked at the time that it looks either new or recently redone, as you could see all the pitches from the road and the planting was nothing more than two foot tall twigs with a few leaves. What a difference a few years and careful ground maintenance makes.

As the event was scheduled for the Monday, we opted to travel to the Barnard Castle site on the Sunday. This would hopefully allow us to traverse the Pennines when the traffic was the lightest on the M62. Usual prep saw us hitched up and ready to roll by 11:20. Selecting the Barnard Castle site in the Garmin GPS gave us the option of two routes – east ofer the M62, then north uptimes he A1M or North M61, M6 and east via the A66. Now two things at this point… one, my own internal navigation had never considered north than east… I’d always thought of the north east as a M62 – M1 route. The second was being given the option of two routes with an overview map with distances and timings on the Garmin, our previous TomTom GPS just gave us a route.

A stop around 12:45 for coffee saw us arriving at Teesdale Barnard Castle after 128 miles of towing around 14:45. The traffic being light all the way.

I flirted off a text message to say we had arrived and shortly after received one back.. a few minutes later a familiar, yet never met person came wandering up.

It was course Karen, from the great YouTube channel “Travelling K“. Karen was over travelling around the UK meeting up with some of her followers and some of the people she follows.

We sat outside for around three or four hours chatting about all sorts including caravanning (duh that’s a given) and New Zealand and everything else in-between. I’d previously offered a lift to Karen with Sue and myself over to the Erwin Hymer Group preview of the 2020 Elddis Caravans & Motorhomes and we confirmed details. It was about a 50 minute run from the C & MC Barnard Castle site to Consett through some spectacular countryside.

2020 Elddis reveal…

Nope… not going to see it. At the time of rising there is still an embargo on any release of info or photos. That’s why you haven’t seen Karen’s video about it yet and I’ve not posted some of my usual trivial scribblings on the subject. Save to say…”Hmm, that’s new”.

We did meet up with Karina & Jules (Here We Tow) , Stephen and Karla (Adventure Wheels Blog) to name a few (well I don’t want to drive my google stats crazy by name dropping too many!)

So no photos or comments about the reveal for now. It is fairly new territory for many caravan and motorhome manufacturers to invite the great unwashed bloggers and vloggers to their events. Traditionally it’s been members of the esteemed market sector press, dealers and suppliers. However over the last couple of years most of the manufacturers are catching up (I think Bailey were one of the first) realising that the traditional outlets for marketing are changing. For instance the ABC figures (Audit Bureau of Circulations) for Practical Caravan Magazine shows issue sales around 18,000 copies per month Practical Motorhome 12,300 per month, Caravan Magazine 7,500 per month and Motorcaravan Motorhome Monthly (MMM) around 28,000 per month. If you look at those figures, revenue for the publishing house has to come from advertisers, the cover charge cannot cover the printing and publication costs alone, therefore advertising brings in the main source of income and this brings the marketing budget into focus for a lot of manufacturers. Now I don’t know what the figures are for other blogs and vlogs but Caravan Chronicles gets around 200,000 page hits per week. At some point I probably get more people reading something I’ve written than an article in one of the magazines. Same goes for video blogs on YouTube. At some point more people will watch something about caravanning than will read about it.

This has not been lost on marketing departments. It’s now becoming easier (read cheaper) to invite a number of social media “commentators” for want of a better word, to launch and reveal events that it is for a printed press campaign and get a far wider reach across to people that may not buy printed publications.

Don’t have a problem with it… we might get a freebie buffet now and again but as I’m not being paid for it I can basically ramble on as I like. However there are a couple of rules, one being you don’t break ‘publication embargo’ dates, the other is if you are in a position to take photos or videos of something and the company requests not to publish as its privilege or proprietary then you don’t. Not difficult rules really.

We ( well I ) had promised Karen an evening meal after the Elddis event and that boring I’d put all the ingredients for a Rogan Josh curry into the slow cooker.

I might have set Anglo-Kiwi relations back fifty years…

Unfortunately the recipe was untried although from a reliable source. It smelt good and the nan bread was placed int he over for a quick warm up. Wine was opened, the smell form the slow cooker was enticing. Rice was microwaved, plates laid with associated ironwork and finally the slow cooker brought to the table. OK insert screening to a halt sound.

It was awful… no flavour, no bite, no heat, not enough seasoning and watery, not thick. It couldn’t cling to a wall if you threw it. Karen was very diplomatic and said bugger all… mind you that might have been something to do with the…. ‘would you like another glass of wine” tactic to divert attention from the curry. This night may have done bugger all for Anglo-Kiwi relations.

Just to prove Karen survived the “Kiwi Curry Incident”

How good is this…

If you have ever watched Martin “The Caravan Nut” you might have seen his video “3M Cutting Compound & Wax Trial“… (if not go and watch it now then come back here). He tries out the 3M cutting compound and wax… bit like the title of his video come to think about it…

Well I had ordered some and in the aftermath of ‘the curry incident’ I decided to work off the excess “argh” and give it a try. Well what can I say, but what a fantastic product. It took a couple of hours of work but the first results on the fibreglass front cap are amazing. It’s has removed that powder feel coating and actually started to put some shine back into the gel coat. (a subsequent second go improved things again). I’m not saying it should used every time you wash you caravan but two or three times a year should restore and maintain the gel cote on your fibreglass front cap.

PS.. f you haven’t watched any of Martins videos, go ahead and give them a go “The Caravan Nut“. I like videos about doing stuff, repairing stuff, installing stuff, making stuff and inventing stuff. Martins videos have stuff.

Saying goodbye…

Wednesday saw Karen heading off in the general direction of Hull. We had talked about maybe trying to meet up at Dusseldorf for the Caravan Salon however it may not be an option as Sue is a bit limited in the time she can take around then. I did think about going on my own, but if you look at the cost and logistics it wasn’t really worth it. Been trying to get there for the past three years but for one reason or another never made it. However there is always next year!! If you want to catch up on Karen’s video for Barnard Castle you can find it here… just ignore the idiot part way through… ~~I’m~~ He’s only on for a few seconds thankfully!

We didn’t have to head back until Thursday and took the opportunity to catch up on a few other chores around the caravan. I still need to finish off the window edges that I started in Betws-y-coed, but I did manage to stick some of the top cupboard door edging strips that were coming adrift.

Thursday morning the weather wasn’t so good. It was dry but rain and strong wind were forecast for the East coast, so rather than head count down the A1M and west over the M62 Pennine route I opted to take our Garmin SatNav’s other offering, west over the A66 to meet up with the M6 then turn south for the M61 and M60 around Manchester. All in all the milage worked out the same but the route was far more scenic, especially coming westbound over the A66.

Epilogue…

” The Kiwi Curry Incident” as it shall henceforth be referred to…. I re-created the curry… same slow cooker, same recipe, same everything – except slightly shorter cooking time. The result? The same… it was awful. That recipe now banished and shall never be cooked or spoken of again. In other news I can do a mean chilli in the slow cooker, and my slow cooker slow cooked spicy chicken casserole with chorizo and rice is a bit of a hit too.

Glastonbury 2016…

23 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in Events, General, Mini Break, Travelling in the UK, Trips

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Glastonbury, Somerset, The Old Oaks, Touring

A bit late but here’s a round up of our last trip down to Glastonbury…

Monday 20th June

As we’d been able to pre-load the caravan we had chance to get an early start on the 215 mile run south down to The Old Oaks just outside Glastonbury. Generally we have been lucky with the traffic on all our trips and this today was no exception. The M6 was smooth flowing and after leaving the caravan storage facility at 7:45 we pulled into Stafford Services around 9:30 to collect a couple of take-out coffee’s from Costa and have a leg stretch. By 10:00 we were back on the M6 and the easy traffic meant we could fairly breeze along at 55 all the way down to Birmingham, only slowing down for the four lane high level sectioned roadworks just after the start of the M5. It had been on and off light rain all the way until we passed over the high level bridge at Avonmouth when blue cracks started to appear in the overcast. Having been down to Glastonbury when the festival was on several times before we noticed that the signs for festival traffic had changed slightly and there were more of them. Winding our way around the outskirts of Glastonbury, which was now in bright sunlight was almost second nature… to the point Sue was commenting on things that had grown in peoples gardens since we were last here. I finally pulled the handbrake on out side reception at 13:20…. a total time of just over 5 hours if you take off the 30 minutes stop at Stafford Services.

The usual post setup photo

Tuesday 21st June

Tuesday started out cloudy but bright and we decided to walk into Glastonbury. From the site there are a few paths you can choose. A good idea is to pick up an OS Explorer Map (Number 141) as it shows not only the paths into Glastonbury, but if you want to walk the 1.6Km across to the festival you can do so using public footpaths across the fields.

OS Explorer Map No 141 (c)Ordnance Survey

Leaving the site via the footpath that runs up to the two old oaks, at the gate turn left and follow the path to Stone Down Lane, At the next gate turn right up Stone Down lane for the steep pull up Stone Down Hill heading directly towards the Tor.

Once you reach the top, and have regained the strength to carry on, bare right at the junction and continue to follow Stone Down Lane past the base of the Tor (photo). Follow this road for a few hundred metres and at the next junction bare right following this as it climbs up slightly for a couple of hundred metres. At the next junction you are at the top of Bove Town where it joins Paradise Lane (you can follow Paradise Lane back to the campsite). Turn left and head down hill, down Bove Town and it brings you out on Wells Road, just at the top of the High Street. I think it took us around 50 minutes to do the walk. All the walking meant it must be time for some form of snack… brunch maybe…. and we wandered down the High Street towards our favoured Heapy’s Cafe. Sitting outside enjoying brunch we could keep an eye on the local market and all the comings and goings of the very popular (and cheap) veg stall….. and a few of the craft stalls too!

After doing our usual saunter round the shops and sights we decided to head back following the Main Road and up Wicks Lane. This is not a route I’d recommend if you are nervous about walking along the side of a busy narrow road. It is however a much flatter route if a bit longer.

Wednesday 22nd June

As it was arrivals day for the festival, it’s always prudent to either stay local or go somewhere miles away. We opted for the stay local and headed off to the Clarkes Outlet Village in Street. Setting off early…. just in case!

Turning right out of the site into Wick Lane didn’t hint at the chaos unfolding on the roads. However at the end of Wick Lane…. it was stationary traffic heading towards Pilton on the A361. Thankfully we were heading in the opposite direction and it was clear. We continued to pass standing traffic… that by now had festival revellers wandering about… in one camper van they were cooking bacon… I could smell it as we drove slowly past and in another it looked like the bar was open and a group were all sitting down in the road between the vehicles. The traffic was still stationary as we went round the roundabout on Magdalene Street and still standing traffic. By the time we reached the roundabout at the A361 – A39 junction it was just a mahoosive car park. Following the A39 past “Burn’s The Bread’ bakery and over the river it was still stationary and looked like it had been for a while. As we got to the big roundabout where the bit of dual carriageway is… still a car park and at that point we turned into a very quiet Clarkes Outlet Village.

Arriving early the shops weren’t open yet…. but the local Frankie’s & Bennies was and they were serving breakfast.. it would be rude not to wouldn’t it!

Several hours (and shopping bags) later it was time to head back… the A39 car park from earlier was still a car park. Ok… plan of action. Having the OS Explorer map in the car was handy and after a bit of finger tracing…. Cue the music…. we set off like we were in The Italian Job navigating round Milan. 25 minutes later we were back at The Old Oaks having crossed standing traffic on the A39/A361 three times. Navigating like a local….. DONE!

Thursday 23rd

Having never been to Cheddar Gorge… well Sue had when she was about 12 or 13…. it was time to correct that. Thursday started out well…

Lets say we had 110% humidity and 10% of that was falling… it never rains on holidays. The local weather report following the morning news was upbeat and the rain was expected to clear, which it did almost as soon as the forecaster said it, it stopped.

Firing up the Freelander we punched the destination into the Sat-Nave and trundled off hoping the previous days traffic had now cleared, which it had.

Arriving in the village we parked at the first car park at the bottom of the gorge, donating a large slice of my wallet to do so to the young woman in the small office. Never having been here and to be honest not doing any research beforehand we did not know what to expect. Following the signs we wandered in the general upwards direction towards the entrance. On arriving we were a bit stunned to see the admission price… OK we wanted to visit but hell I didn’t want to invest enough for a 10% equity stake in the place. Deciding we needed more info before committing…. and caffeine to overcome the financial news forecast on the state of my wallet, we wandered in search of coffee. Passing the cheese factory shop and always on the hunt for nice cheeses we hopped in and out again. Now that was just taking the… £6.50 for something that was more wrapping than content. (Note… go to Wells market on a Saturday and you can get huge blocks of local hand-made cheese for half the price). We spied a tea shop – The Wishing Well Tea Rooms, that had a raised vantage point and a free table….

… and ordered coffee and scrambled eggs on toast while we contemplated our next move… which it turned out was a leisurely round-about drive back heading up the gorge and going cross country.

Our route back took us past a couple of the entrances to the Festival, which by now were full of very soggy revellers….

That evening it was Cadac time…. unfortunately One Harry Caravanner forgot his apron of disguise… so I had to step up to the plate and came up with a Tex-Mex…

So… Cadac all set up….

Yes… it’s all under control dear…. yes I have stirred it…. no its not burning….

… doing nicely…..

… add the sauce and more spices….

… and serve on a wrap….

…`waddya mean… where’s the salad?

Friday 24th June

Clouds on the horizon greeted us when we got up, but sun was forecast for most of the day with a shower or two later. Deciding we needed some exercise we decided to do a circular walk round the site and so headed off along one of the many footpaths that are around the site, heading off first to visit “the girls” (the chickens) and to see how the pond work had being going over the closed season.

A lot of effort had gone into tidying up and clearing weeds from the pond… not that it really needed tidying up in the first place mind you…

We set off past the two old oaks and along the track that looked down on to the site, which is actually quite hidden from the surrounding areas…

… and you do get a view across the valley of the festival site… yep it’s just over there…

Turning back onto Wick Lane the sky started to darken and we picked up the pace as we could see the rain slowly moving towards us from the hills to the east. By the time we turned into the site spots were falling and we just made it as far as the little hut with the elsan point… unfortunately this picture doesn’t show the torrential downpour that had us trapped there for about 10 minutes…

The rest of the evening was damp to say the least!

Saturday 25th June

Saturday is Wells market, and definetly worth a visit. There are some excellent little craft stalls and some really good local food stalls with everything from fresh local veg to French and Italian olives, locally cured meats, a rather delicious smelling bread stall and one of those stalls that when you want one you can never find one…. a great stall selling every type of shoe and boot lace you could possibly imagine. Enjoying the scrambled egg on toast a couple of days earlier, we found a suitable place to sit overlooking the market and ordered the same again, complete with two large coffees. We just about managed to finish or brunch and coffee when the rain came down again briefly.

As we were due to head home in the morning, the afternoon was spent tidying up, generally pottering about and watching this guy…

It’s always a welcome break coming down to The Old Oaks and it always seems no sooner than we arrive than we are packing to leave. Better start planning the next trip then, which might have a few changes in the setup… lets call it “Project Wolf”. Stay tuned for more!

Southport bound…

08 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, Mini Break, Travelling in the UK, Trips

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Caravan Club, Caravanning, Caravans, Southport, Touring

Managing to get three days off recently, and not wanting to spend too long getting there, we headed off for a short break at the seaside…

Monday 23rd May

As it was going to be a quick break, we hadn’t pre-loaded the caravan as usual. So Monday morning saw us packing up the Freelander with everything ready for our mini break. We have wanted to visit Southport for a while. It was one of those destinations that although being so close to home (Manchester), for some reason we had only ever been for the flower show, and that was a fair few years ago. The only other time I’ve been to Southport was for my spin and stall training many years ago when I was learning to fly, and to be honest I wasn’t taking much notice from 3000 feet back then.

The Caravan Club Southport reception

Every time we kept looking on the Caravan Club web site it was fully booked for the dates we wanted. However the site has expanded with a new section and facilities block and a quick check showed they had the three days we wanted on a super pitch. We hitched up around 11:15 and headed out for the 53 mile 1 hour 30 min drive. The traffic Gods were being kind and all the motorways were flowing freely… well at least in our direction.

Checking in was the usual Caravan Club efficient process and we were given the usual site plan with our pitch marked up.

We had decided to take the bikes with us and after setting up, I off loaded the two bikes from the back of the Freelander and we geared up. One of the great things about the site is the easy fairly traffic free access to the seafront, handy if you have younger members of the family and you want to go cycling. In the information centre there are also a number of leaflets with themed cycle routes that are all suitable for beginners and range from a 3 mile to a 7 mile ride. The Caravan Club also on it’s website has an easy route that you can download.

We joined the seafront near the site and cycled north along the beach. The cycle way is separate from the path used by pedestrians, unlike Blackpool where you always seem to be avoiding the small dog on the extendable lead thirty feet away from it’s owner.

Cycle lanes on the left, pedestrians on the right

We rode north, past the amusement park… which was closed, and on under the pier. We reached the Ribble Estuary National Nature Reserve and rather than turning inland we headed back south looking for somewhere to have a late lunch.

As we got back to the pier we spotted this place “The Guelder Rose” which had tables outside so we could wheel the bikes up to the table and lean them on the wall. They did have a bike shelter in the car park but it didn’t look too secure. While I sat outside Sue went in and got a couple of menus.

The view from the table was OK, and the antics of drivers on the roundabout kept us entertained. Unusually it was warm enough to be out cycling in short sleeves but sat on the corner outside, the wind still had that late spring chill about it. Suitably refreshed Sue went in and paid the bill and we walked the bikes over the road and continued south under the pier and back towards the site.

When you reach the shoal of fish, you know you are nearly back. We crossed over the road and headed towards Southport Eco Centre (which never seemed to have the wind turbine operating) which is on the quiet road that leads back to the site.

Tuesday 24th May

Lord Street in Southport is famous for it’s shopping and the last time I can remember being there was as a child in the late 60’s being dragged up and down by my parents. I suspect a lot has changed since then. It’s about a 6 or 7 minute walk from the site past Morrisons. Lord Street is about a mile long, with a roundabout marking each end. It was mainly built in the 19th Century and a lot of the shops still retain the glazed canopies that protected the early shoppers from the vagaries of the weather.

Walking north along Lord Street one of the first buildings you pass is Southport Lord Street Railway Station which opened in 1884 and served the Southport and Cheshire Lines. The station closed in 1952 and is now a hotel. On the opposite side to the shops Lord Street has a mixture of residential and business property and the street is flanked by lines of trees. In 1846 the future Napoleon III lived in lodgings just off Lord Street and it’s said that the covered walkways and tree lined street was the model for the boulevards of Paris when he ordered the reconstruction of the French capital in the late 1850’s through to the mid 1870’s. However… it was morning coffee time.

Sat outside one of the numerous establishments that served morning coffee, it was hard to imagine you’re sat in a tree lined boulevard in Paris… despite the blue skies and sun. Sue’s phone was dinging away with text messages from the hospital. Whenever she’s away it always seems like there is some pending meltdown and the department is going to grind to a halt. Suitably stocked up on caffeine we set off again window shopping and exploring some of the little side malls.

One mall caught my attention. It is the grade II listed building now known as Wayfarers Arcade.

The Arcade first opened in 1898 and the design of the building is typically Victorian, with a domed glass roof, supported by decorative iron work, with some stained glass windows and mahogany shop fronts that have been virtually unaltered since the day the arcade opened. The 13m span, barrel vaulted glazed roof is one of the largest in the UK.

Having ‘done’ Lord Street and the 60’s architecture influenced parallel Chapel Street we walked back towards the seafront thorough King’s Gardens and towards the Pier.

Kings gardens was constructed on land reclaimed along the former sea front as the sea receded almost three miles over the course of several decades and is now popular for all sorts of activities, including sailing. As Sue had never been along the pier we continued throughout the gardens.

The pier is a grade II listed building and at 1112 meters is the second longest pier in the UK (The longest is Southend). In June 2015, the Southport Pier tram service was scrapped due to rising maintenance costs and council cost-cutting measures, but you can still see the old tram lines. It has since been replaced by one of those small land trains that you can see running round the streets of various resorts.

At the end of the pier is the new pavilion opened in 2002 which houses a collection of old penny arcade machines and a cafe… that serves beer. Result!

Sue watching the tide come in… well we think it was coming in, it was so far away!

Looking from the end of the pier towards the Ribble Estuary and my former workplace BAE Warton.

…and just to prove we did walk the 1112 metres to the end, oh yes… the tide was coming in!

It was time to head off to find somewhere for a late lunch again and eventually wander back to the caravan. It had been a great two days beside the sea in Southport. The weather was better than we hoped for and we managed to get some cycling in too.

The Caravan Club Site

It’s a busy site… busy in terms of getting a booking as it’s so popular and we can see why. Its hidden away even though its not far from the centre. We could not hear any road noise and sitting outside in the evening was really peaceful. If you want to book the site for some of Southport’s big events like the flower show, air show or jazz festival, (there is lots more, check out what’s on and when here) I guess you have to be quick off the mark at the start of the season. The new section of the site felt open and a little less claustrophobic that the original site and the new facilities block was easily up to standard. The staff were friendly and welcoming. Would we visit again… we only touched the surface of things to do and see in and around Southport, so yes, as soon as we can find a free couple of days when they have spare pitches we will be back.

Wiltshire Wanderings…

20 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Simon Barlow in General, Mini Break, Travelling in the UK, Trips, Weekend Break

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bath, Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Chippenham, Great Western Railway, Plough Lane, Swindon, Swindon Designer Outlet, Touring, Towing, Wiltshire

Sunday 6th September

Despite the weather the previous week being a bit ‘iffy’ Sunday started out bright. We had loaded up the caravan the previous day and within 20 minutes of arriving at the caravan storage compound we were hitched up and ready to set off by 9:35 for the 170 mile journey south to Plough Lane Caravan Park ( a member of the growing number of Tranquil Touring Parks sites) near Chippenham in Wiltshire.

Virtually all trips south for us involve the M6 and even for a Sunday it was busy, but the traffic was flowing and we didn’t get held up. On the northern outskirts of Birmingham it slowed to 30 to 40 MPH and there was a bit of a queue to get on to the M5. Once that hurdle was passed, again it was a nice easy drive with the traffic thinning out the further south we got. We were planning to have a coffee break and leg stretch at Michael Woods services ( a brief look at the map and I’d planned in my head M5 to Bristol and then M4), but the Sat-Nav had other ideas and brought us off the M5 early and we did a pleasant bit of cross-country. On this trip I had a new gadget to play with, a TyrePal tyre monitoring system (a full review can be found here) and was fascinated by how the tyres responded to different types of road – motorway and A roads. We arrived at Plough Lane around 13:15 and as we pulled in we were 3rd in the arrivals queue.

We pulled up to the automated barrier and pushed the button… a friendly voice told us to drive through the barrier and pull into the parking lay-by… when the next parking lay-by was empty pull forward into that one.

Waiting in line.

We drove through the barrier and pulled in. We could see the next caravan ahead of us. While we were waiting I dug my camera out and took a few photos.

The TyrePal unit on test showing the near side caravan tyre at 69PSI and 23 Deg. C.

The caravan in the bay ahead of us pulled forward to reception and we moved up another bay and a motorhome pulled in where we had just been. In all it only took seven or eight minutes before it was our turn to pull forward to reception.

At reception we were greeted by Helen Wilding, who with her husband Rodger created the site nearly 20 years ago. After a brief introduction and run through of the facilities we paid our £10 deposit (refundable) for a token for the electronic barrier and given a mahoosive site guide… probably one of the most comprehensive site guides we have ever seen!. We were given directions to pitch 39 (the site has around 50 pitches) and we returned back to the Freelander to follow the road round to our pitch.

We had booked on to a fully serviced pitch which had plenty of space and it didn’t take long to set up and plumb everything in.

It was time to relax and enjoy the clear blue skies and warm September sunshine… and have a read through the mahoosive visitors guide!.

Monday 7th September – Chippenham

Chippenham (tourist guide) is in western Wiltshire, at a prominent crossing of the River Avon, between the Marlborough Downs to the east, the Cotswolds to the north and west and Salisbury Plain to the southeast. Plough Lane is only 4 miles outside Chippenham and in the site visitor guide it said there were maps in reception for a nice short walk around Chippenham along the river. Never ones to turn down a river walk, or a bit of shopping, we drove into the centre and parked in the central car park near Brunel’s railway viaduct constructed as part of the Great Western Railway connecting London to Bath.

Being Monday, Chippenham was fairly quiet and we soon found somewhere to have a coffee and do a spot of people watching. We decided to head into to Waterstones where I bought “The Girl In The Spiders Web” the fourth book continuing Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo” trilogy, and do some window shopping. As well as the main street, there is a small shopping arcade complete with a Tesco’s if needed and on the opposite side of the street a modern open air shopping mall with a Wetherspoons, which we returned to later for a late lunch.

The main shopping street in Chippenham – come here on a Friday or Saturday and it’s full of market stalls.

At the top end of the high street is a small square with the “Buttercross” stone structure erected in 1570 and used for the sale of meat and dairy products .

Once we had completed the rounds of the shops and picked up a few essentials we set off back down the high street towards Town Bridge to follow the map we collected from the site reception. It was an easy walk of about one and half miles and mostly level that first crossed over the river on a foot bridge and passed through a park….

… and then turned to skirt round part of the golf course with a rather grand building overlooking it…

Continuing to follow the path brought us right by the side of the river and you could glimpse through the trees some of the houses that backed on to the river Avon.

We continued to follow the river Avon and you eventually come across a foot bridge that takes you back into Chippenham… or you can carry on to the next bridge to cross back over… we continued to the second bridge.

Crossing over the bridge we stopped a while and just stood looking up and down the river… a great place to play “Pooh Sticks”

The path continues and leads you back into Chippenham past some really interesting old buildings that looked like they were rather grand houses when they were built. It was time to head back to the centre and call in Wetherspoons for a late lunch then back to the caravan and consult the mahoosive site guide… to plan tomorrows adventures.

Tuesday 8th September – Swindon

For a number of years I worked for one of the train operating companies, and that involved me travelling down to Swindon to First Great Western offices frequently. Some trips I’d take “The Welsh Rattler” as we knew it, from Manchester to Newport and then get on the London train stopping in Swindon. Other times I’d take the cross-country to Reading via Oxford and catch the Bristol train to Swindon. I used to prefer the Welsh Rattler route and each time entering Swindon station you pass the long line of buildings that made up the Great Western Railway Engineering Works that covered some 320 acres and at its height employed over 14,000 people. When I was travelling to Swindon over 12 years ago, a lot of these buildings were just shells some with no roofs. Now however some have been converted into a new shopping mall and a couple of others are now “Steam” – Museum of The Great Western Railway. Still having an interest in steam and the railway in general, it seemed like a visit to both was on the time-table for a first class day out.

Follow the road signs for either the Designer Outlet or the Museum and they will take you to one of the main car parks. It’s a ‘take a ticket’ on entering and you pay for your ticket just before you leave. However.. here’s a top tip: Do the shopping mall first, then the museum. When you buy your ticket for the museum ask for the car parking validation ticket. When you are ready to leave take this back to the information desk in the shopping mall along with your car park ticket and you will get free parking!

The mall… or “Swindon Designer Outlet” is packed full of the usual shops, however they have managed to retain lots of features of the original engineering works – some sections still have the travel crane’s and you can see where the old line shafts that ran through the workshops once were held on massive bearings. Even if you are not into shopping, its worth a walk round just for the architectural interest. Keep an eye out for the brass plates on the walls that tell you which part of the original works you are in. There are also a few of the old machines once used in the engineering works dotted about. There is a great bandsaw that I wouldn’t mind in my workshop!.

We picked up coffees ‘to go’ not knowing how long it would take us to walk to the museum and headed outside following the signs… the foam on my latte hadn’t even cooled and we arrived outside the entrance. Thankfully there’s a couple of benches and we sat and finished our coffee before going in.

The Museum is well worth a visit. The exhibits are first class and unlike a lot of museums you can get up close and walk on, through, under and even pick some things up. The story of the Great Weston Railway engineering works is fascinating and it’s well worth buying the modestly priced guide (front cover shown above) A number of the displays are interactive and while Sue watched on I managed to set all the signals and points in the box correctly to allow the Royal Train to pass through… OK so it was meant for children, I’m just a big kid really. Sue even commented on how much she enjoyed it and rated it on one of the best railway museums we had visited. It’s just a pity that they can’t run a heritage railway from there operated by steam engines.

Lunch in Wagamamma

After leaving the museum we headed back to the mall and called in to Wagamamma for a late lunch. While we were eating talk turned to replacing the Freelander., which we bought new, but was now nine years old. Originally I’d had in mind to go for another Land Rover, specifically the new Discovery Sport, but Land Rover are now just pricing themselves out of the sensible market not only with the initial purchase price but also the dealer servicing. Not keen on the 4 x 4 offerings from Toyota and Mitsubishi, or anyone else for that matter, by chance a week earlier on the way to work I was stationary next to a white VW Amarok. It was the first time I’d seen one and by coincidence, days later I was talking to someone who had bought one a few months earlier to tow their caravan. I was relating all this to Sue who said she had never seen one, so a quick Google on the phone looking for photos I discovered we were only a mile away from the Volkswagen commercial vehicle distributer in Swindon. So a quick detour on the way back to the caravan was planned.

We spoke to Craig one of their sales people and had a good poke round one in the showroom. It was ticking all the boxes ….. 4 x 4, low emissions, two litre twin turbo direct injection diesel producing 180PS (BHP in old money), eight speed auto gearbox, ladder chassis and could tow 2300Kg’s. It was big, apparently it didn’t need towing mirrors at 1.954 M wide and 5.254 M long and weighed in at 2093 unladen, 3170 Kg gross and a gross train weight of 5950Kg. (The mirrors thing has yet to be tested). Sitting in it was comfy and there seemed plenty of room in the rear seats. There were a few questions the salesman couldn’t answer… was the 13 pin electric fully ISO compliant (I.e. the leisure battery and fridge circuits installed), did the ECU need programming for trailers, what was the hitch nose weight limit, any known issues with LED trailer lights), so I’m going to ping off an email to VW with these and a few other questions. With that new vehicle smell still in our nostrils we headed back to Plough Lane with a few brochures tucked under our arms. Watch this space.

Wednesday 9th September – Devises

Wednesday started out rather misty and was forecast to be a bit of a grey day. Consulting the mahoosive visitors guide, a trip into Devizes seemed to be the way forward. We loaded up the Freelander with warmer gear, just in case, and set off. Parking was easy to find and about a minutes walk from the main shopping area. Compared to other towns around the area, Devizes, although having some tourist type shops, is mainly a working town for the locals. Pulling out a handy map (copies are in Plough Lane reception) we navigated our way around the shops, and of course stopped off for a coffee part way round. Sue wanted to visit Caen Hill Locks which is about a five or six minute walk out of the town centre.

The famous Caen Hill Locks are a flight of 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal. The 29 locks have a rise of about 230 feet in 2 miles and come in three groups. The lower seven locks, Foxhangers Wharf Lock to Foxhangers Bridge Lock, the next sixteen locks form a steep flight in a straight line up the hillside. A final six locks take the canal into Devizes. The locks were designed by engineer John Rennie and provided a solution to climbing the very steep hill. Apparently the locks take 5–6 hours to traverse in a boat and lock 41 is the narrowest on the canal or so we were told.

As the locks are so close together there is a danger of running out of water… or over spilling the next lock, so there are elongated ‘pounds’ (I think that is what they are called) that project sideways away from the canal between locks to take the volume of water from the upper lock and store it for the next lock down the flight. We walked down the tow path about half way down the flight, overtaking a few barges descending the flight in the process. Part way down, if you are in need of a spot of refreshment there is a small cafe in the old lock keepers house – or a couple of locks away a nice looking pub with a beer garden on the canal side… well it looked nice Sue reckoned because they had a cat. We turned and headed back up the flight… passing some of the barges we had overtaken while walking down and some of the barges that were still climbing the flight. Walking back into Devises we passed the Wadworth Brewery… handy place to do a tour if the weather is inclement, and decided to seek out a modest lunch in a cafe we had passed earlier in the day. Doing another circuit of the shops we strolled back to the car park and headed back to Plough Lane. That evening I finished the book I’d bought on Monday and started drafting the review for the TyrePal TPMS unit loaned to us.

Thursday 10th September – Bath

Today was our 32nd Wedding Anniversary… how time flies! So something special for lunch in way of a celebration we thought. Consulting the mahoosive visitor guide once again Bath seemed a good option and we could easily get there via bus and train. The visitor guide said timetables for buses were available in reception. The number 91 stops right outside the site… well about fifty feet from the end of the drive… and goes into Chippenham calling at Chippenham Station. A quick check of train times and the train from Chippenham into Bath Spa only takes 12 minutes… it could take that long to find a car parking space in Bath apparently!

We caught the 09:45 train arriving in Bath 12 minutes later after passing through Brunel’s famous Box Tunnel. The weather had been kind to us so far and today was no exception… warm sunshine and clear blue skies. We headed for somewhere to get a cup of coffee, sit down and consult the map (copy available in the site reception) for a plan of action. One of the best ways we think to get a feel for a new place is to take one of the open top bus tours available in many cities. We used the City Sightseeing ‘hop on hop off’ tour costing £14 each (£8.50 for children). There is an added bonus as there are two routes – the city centre and the skyline route all included in the price. We trundled round the city centre route and in the process learnt a little more about Bath’s history. Hopping off the bus we headed for a stroll round the shops, stopping off at some of the sight-seeing spots. A quick stop in the Apple shop to buy a new mouse for my Mac Pro and a new lead for Sue’s iPhone and it was time for a late lunch. An old school friend, Sue Adams had recommended the Pump Station for a suitable anniversary lunch, but the queue for a table was a bit long so a quick check with google gave us directions to Yo Sushi. Always a good standby for us. Time to walk off our lunch and capture some of the classic tourist spots of the city.

Hmm…. could Bath be connected with rugby in any way?

Crossing over the bridge (above) we descended some steps and walked along the river for a while, passing the rugby ground and the big flood gate sharing the path with dog walkers, cyclist and joggers all enjoying the September sunshine.

We planned on catching the 16:43 train back to Chippenham so it was time to turn around and head back to the station. The train was packed but we managed to find two seats. not long after we were sitting outside Chippenham railway station waiting for the number 91 bus and reflecting on how much we enjoyed Bath and making a point to come back and visit again soon.

Friday 11th September

Friday was going to be an easy day before setting off for home the following day. We decided to visit the market in Chippenham to pick up some fresh bread to make sandwiches for the trip back and a few other bits and pieces. I’d finished my book the day before and wanted something else to read so we called in Waterstones again. I didn’t spot it, but Sue’s eagle eye spotted “After The Flood” about what the Dambusters did next by John Nichol (John is an ex RAF pilot who was shot down in his Tornado during the first gulf war in 1991 and I have a signed copy of his book “Tornado Down” about the shooting down, his and John Peters subsequent capture and torture). So that was my reading sorted out. In the afternoon I settled down to write my review of the TyrePal tyre pressure and temperature monitoring system that had kindly been lent to us by TyrePal. You can read my review is here.

Writing in possibly the best office you can have!

I was so impressed by the product, it’s on my list of things to buy… as soon as we have sorted out if we are going to replace the Freelander with a VW Amarok. Of course like any good writer I have my editor…..

“… well that’s a grammatical disaster for a start…..”

… and that doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Saturday 12th September

Saturday started wet. It had been raining quite hard over night and was still raining when we got up. One cup of coffee later and the rain had stopped and the clouds were slowly breaking revealing patches of blue. We started the well rehearsed routine of packing up. By quarter to ten we were done. All that remained to do was to drop off our barrier token and return the by now well-thumbed mahoosive visitor guide. While Sue walked round to reception, I hooked up the caravan and did my usual pre departure walk round. It wasn’t long before we were pulling on to Plough Lane heading back towards home. Interestingly, this time our Sat-Nav decided to take us directly to the M4 and west towards Bristol before turning northwards along the M5. The trip home was much longer… this time it was down to a couple of accidents on the M6 in Staffordshire which delayed us by about an hour. We eventually arrived back at the caravan storage site a little after three o’clock. Another adventure done.. but not the last of our Wiltshire Wanderings I’m sure of that.

Other Places to visit:-
Cotswold Motoring Museum & Toy Collection - http://www.cotswoldmotoringmuseum.co.uk
Avon Valley Railway - http://www.avonvalleyrailway.org
Atwell Wilson Motor Museum - http://www.atwellwilson.org.uk
Swindon & Cricklade Railway - http://www.swindon-cricklade-railway.org

When Things Don’t Go To Plan…

12 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by Simon Barlow in Accessories, General, Mini Break, Towing, Travelling in the UK, Trips

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Glastonbury, One Hairy Caravanner, The Old Oaks, West Somerset Railway

A few weeks ago we had a five-day break down at The Old Oaks, Glastonbury but all did not go quite to plan.

We had loaded up the caravan over the weekend ready for an early departure on the Monday. I’d done the usual checks, including wheel nut torque and tyre pressure…. oops, the left was down from its normal 62 PSI to a lowly 50 PSI and the right hand side was sitting at 52 PSI. Now at home I have a compressor and air lines in the workshop and it’s a simple matter of pulling out the retractable airline and squirting a bit of air in the tyre, but one thing I don’t have is a suitable 12 volt air compressor. Never the one to miss a tool or accessory buying opportunity after loading the caravan we headed in the direction of one of the well-known auto stores. Finding the correct section in the store and reading all the boxes of the various options it seemed they didn’t have an offering that would hit the magical 62 PSI…. not even the all-singing digital set your pressure and bob’s your Uncle £60 version. OK I’d have to come up with an alternative.

Monday 28th June

We set off just after nine for the 200 or so miles drive south to Glastonbury. I’d decided that it would be easier to stop off at a garage as soon as we could to correct the tyre pressure in the caravan tyres. I’d thought about the route and the only garage i knew that would allow me to get the Freelander and caravan in was the first services on the M6 – Knutsford. We joined the M60 in Stockport and picked up the M56 past the airport. The main cause of damage to under inflated tyres is over heating brought on by overloading and speed. We weren’t overloaded and I reduced speed as much as I could on the motorway without hopefully causing any problems. I had noticed that the caravan didn’t feel comfortable being towed. Normally towing with the Freelander is a pleasure as Land Rover know how to make vehicles that can tow, even an older one like ours.

It wasn’t too long before we were leaving the A56 and joining the M6 south and within a few hundred yards I was indicating to pull off into Knutsford Services. We have only been in Knutsford Services once before to meet up with friends coming down from Scotland to head in convoy to the Isle of Wight and one thing that struck me, being more aware of the need for them towing a caravan, is the lack of signs. We followed the road round for the filling station and pulled in looking round for the “Air Line” sign. Sue jumped out and walked over the forecourt shop, emerging a few minutes later. “The air line is round the back” Great… we were in totally the wrong position and would have to reverse back “and it’s out-of-order” Fantastic. No choice but to head back on to the motorway and call in at the next services – Sandbach.

What a difference, plenty of signs and you didn’t have to go through the garage forecourt to access the airline. It was a pay-to-inflate unit and setting the pressure to 62 before pulling out the air line, which was quite long enough to reach we were soon back to our normal operating pressure. Sue popped into the shop and picked up two coffees and we headed out back on to the M6. What a difference a few pounds of air pressure makes. Within a mile or so I could tell everything was behaving and feeling as it should. Since this trip I’ve bought a portable 12 volt air compressor that is capable of inflating to 95 PSI and Ill be posting a full review of it shortly. If your tyres are only a few pounds out, sort it out before you set off, it makes the world of difference to the towing experience.

Living in Manchester, like most Mancunians, we have a love hate relationship with the M6. We like the fact it is close and allows us to go north or south easily but hate the fact it is prone to mahoosive tailbacks from time to time. This morning it was the former, no accidents, traffic flowing easily and we maintained a cruise of 55-56 MPH all the way down to Birmingham, only slowing down for a bit of congestion at the M5 junction. The M5 was quiet and by 1:00 we were pulling in to Michael Wood services for a sammich and cup of coffee. Setting off again into the afternoon sun it was an easy hour and a half drive down to The Old Oaks, pulling in at exactly ten to three.

Ove winter, the entrance to The Old Oaks has been updated to allow the installation of automatic barriers.

Over winter, the entrance to The Old Oaks has been updated to allow the installation of automatic barriers.

Up-dated landscaping to the front of reception.

As usual, checking in is quick and easy and the staff are always friendly and helpful. As we hadn’t had chance to do our usual pre trip caravan wash and polish we took the opportunity to book a full wash and polish by a local company. This can be arranged by the staff in reception.

We were parked once again in the walnut circle, and as connecting to power, water and drainage is always straight forward at The Old Oaks it didn’t take long before it was wine ‘o’clock.

Pitch with elbow space… you never feel hemmed in and plenty of grass to sit out on. Glastonbury Festival is on the hill in the background.

And the view from our pitch….

Tuesday 23rd June

Tuesday is market day in Glastonbury, and as Glastonbury festival was due to start it’s always full of interesting characters and after a tour of the market stalls, sitting outside Heaphy’s Cafe enjoying a coffee (green tea in Sue’s case) and Panini in the mid morning sun affords one the pastime that is people watching.

My feet were starting to hurt and were rather tender and I was hobbling rather than walking by now. The back story to this is back in March I’d gone back to work after a few years of ‘retirement’ and working airside at Manchester Airport we have to wear safety shoes, that are mainly plastic and Kevlar, so we can pass through the metal detectors without steel toe caps setting them off. These safety shoes don’t allow feet to breath and for the past couple of weeks I thought I’d got athlete’s foot and had been treating it with a proprietary medicated powder. However my feet had started to blister and walking was to say the least uncomfortable.

We drove back to the caravan and had an afternoon of sitting in the sunshine watching all the comings and goings at the site and catching up on a bit of reading, in my case a couple of copies of Land Rover Owner magazine.

By early evening we were both feeling a bit hungry so my alter ego “One Hairy Caravanner” assembled the Cadac and rustled up something from our purchases earlier in the day….

Local sausages, pan fried new potatoes, spicy omelettes (Mexican style) made from fresh eggs laid by the chickens at The Old Oaks, and salad.

By 7:00 I could hardly stand and Sue headed down to reception to find out if there was a local surgery where I might be able to get an emergency appointment. Sue appeared back shortly “We’re off to hospital” she announced. I though this would be a long drive to one of the major towns, but only three or four miles away was the local cottage hospital – West Mendip Community Hospital. 10 minutes later we were booking in. The receptionist entered my name, date of birth and address and up popped all my GP’s details. We sat in the waiting area with a few others waiting our turn.

Eventually we were seen by a nurse ( I wish I could remember her name) and in conversation it turned out she was from Stalybridge and worked at Tameside Hospital before moving south to an area her and her partner loved and had spent many holidays there. She took one look at my feet and decided it wasn’t athletes foot… and declared a second opinion was needed. A few minutes later another nurse practitioner appeared and after delving into a bit of medical history it suddenly dawned on us that I’d had an allergic reaction to something. Now backing up a bit, about 18 months earlier I’d bought a pair of – love ’em or hate ’em ‘Croc’s” to use pottering about in, but after a couple of hours wearing them I’d got tiny blisters over the top of my feet… didn’t wear them for a while, tried again and the blisters came back, even with socks on. It turns out I had a reaction to the plastic in the safety shoes at work.

Feet covered with cream and bandaged and with a big box of antibiotic pills we sat outside the caravan…. this was going to scupper all the plans we had for the holiday.

Wednesday 24th June

Having the ability to only hobble a few yards and having to have my feet dressed twice a day meant it was a feet up kind of day, doing absolutely bugger all. By now I’d read everything. Sue had depleted her reading matter and sat in the sun realised that she might just have to tow the caravan home on Sunday. This would be a bit of a challenge as Sue had never towed the caravan. I’m definatly going to get her on the next Caravan Club towing course.

We did manage a genteel walk (or hobble in my case) around the fishing lake at The Old Oaks and along the new path created that takes you through the woods and round the top of the site.

I managed to just about capture a couple of the dozens of dragonfly’s that were around the lake…

…and somewhere under here was a big fish that kept causing a splash as it was after the insects…

Wednesday night was curry night, and we, like a lot of the other caravanners and motor-homers ordered a curry, collected by a couple of the staff from the site from the local Indian restaurant.

Thursday 25th June

Thursday started rather misty…. well it was at ten to seven!

Dispite the misty start, by eight o’clock it was burning off nicely and promising to be another warm sunny day.

Today was the day that the guys were coming over to wash and polish the caravan so we put the chairs away so they had a clear run around the caravan.

The twice daily feet dressings seemed to be working and we decided to head over to Bishops Lydeard, just north west of Taunton, to take a trip on the West Somerset Railway for a day out in Minehead. The first steam train departed for Minehead at 10:25 so estimating it would take about an hour to drive we set off just before nine. I’d already programmed the station as a POI into the Sat-Nav a couple of visits earlier as we had always intended to go before now and the cross-country route was an easy drive through some picturesque countryside. West Somerset Railway is apparently, the longest heritage railway in England.. although I have heard that Severn Valley hopes at some point in the future to add to its route which may be slightly longer. Then again West Somerset has ambitions to connect up to Taunton via Norton Fitzwarren.

It takes about an hour and twenty-five minuets for the train journey from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead, passing through eight stations. One of the more notable stops is the one just before Minehead at Dunster, where you can visit the castle or walk through the old village.

Somehow pictures of steam trains always seem better in monochrome…. well to me anyway!

Although I worked for a rail company for years, I know very little about steam engines, apart from the basics. I do like some of the engineering details though. This do-hicky was gently hissing steam but I haven’t a clue as to what it is or does.

I appreciate all the people who give up hours and hours of their time to volunteer and work on many of the heritage railways we have visited. They look after everything from the engines and rolling stock to the track bed and buildings in a supreme effort to maintain some of Britons finest engineering heritage. It’s always worth visiting these railways in en effort to support them… and it’s always a good day out too!

Sue waiting patiently while I wander round taking photos, even getting the coffee in!

One of those classic “looking down the platform from the train” shots….

The first glimpse of the sea after passing through Williton…

…and of course the other classic train shot… the train rounding a bend…

After years of traveling on trains up and down the country, it is great to not have the background engine noise from a DMU or some motor or other running on an electric unit… just the clickety-clack of wheels passing over rail joints. No welded rails here. The down side is of course sometimes getting covered in ash if you forget to close the window at the appropriate moment!

Minehead is probably more well known by generations of families for the Butlins holiday camp than anything else. There is evidence of human occupation in the area since the Bronze and Iron Ages.

A handy pocket guide with a map available free at the station.

There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, which grew into a major trading centre during the medieval period. Most trade transferred to larger ports during the 20th century, but pleasure steamers did call at the port. Major rebuilding took place in the town following a fire in 1791. The town is the starting point of the South West Coast Path National Trail, the nation’s longest long-distance countryside walking trail.

Minehead’s picturesque harbour with its RNLI station and shop, also hosts summer pleasure boat cruises on the paddle steamer Waverley and motor vessel Balmoral.

It doesn’t take too long to walk the sea front and using a handy pocket guide we picked up on the station platform we set off up the main shopping street in search of coffee and brunch avoiding the crowds at the cafe next to the station.

Although it was overcast, it was warm enough to sit outside and do a spot of people watching as we ate lunch. Sue needed to find a chemist to stock up on bandages and gauze pads for dressing my feet… which were improving at a remarkable rate, and according to the guide there was a “Boots” on the main street.

Medical supplies replenished we explored some of the other shops. The further away you go from the sea front, the shops change from mainly tourist/souvenir to a mix of local and specialist.

By now it was time to head back towards the railway station. We planned on catching the last train back at 16:25 arriving in Bishops Lydeard around 17:35. I think a lot of people were planning on this and the platform was fairly busy… I guess how it must have been in the heyday of rail.

We got back to find the caravan all lovely and shiny in the evening sun. The guys had been and washed and polished the caravan and after a close inspection I concluded that they had done an excellent job. I can recommend the service.

Friday 26th June

“Phew what a scorcher” could well have been the headline in any of the red tops. Clear blue sky and first day proper day of Glastonbury Festival. We had passed by Clarkes Outlet Village several times and naively assumed it was just an outlet village for the Clarkes shoe factory, but reading through some of the tourist info available in the information centre at The Old Oaks discovered it was lots of shops. Sue never wishing to miss a ‘shopertunity’ (and me neither really… ) thought it might be worth a visit.

There is a great selection of major brand outlet shops that seem to go on forever and they link up with the main shopping street of Street – the town. There is a selection of chain restaurants there too if you need sustenance on an extended visit. Sue spied a “must have” handbag that was a bit of a bargain and I managed to pick up a pair of sandals from the Clarkes shop.

Friday night is ‘fish and chip’ night at The Old Oaks… you place your order anytime throughout the day and they are delivered direct to the site. The only thing we found was it’s worth popping the oven on before they arrive to warm the plates and heat up the fish and chips for a few minutes. These were washed down with a rather nice bottle of local cider bought in the site shop.

Saturday 27th June

Another place we had always intended to visit on one of the previous trips down was Haynes_0001 the Haynes Motor Museum at Sparkford near Yeovil. It’s only a short drive following the Sat-Nav across country, almost the same route you take to the Fleet Air-Arm Museum (another ‘must’ if you haven’t been before).

The museum, which was established in 1985, is an Educational Charitable Trust chaired by John Haynes OBE, of Haynes Publishing Group, the company that publishes the Haynes Manuals. The museum contains over 400 cars and motorcycles.

When we arrived in front of the recently refurbished and new sections of the building the local motorcycle club was holding an event and there were stands from motorcycle suppliers, the local police and ambulance services with displays including some of the bikes they use. It was an added bonus to the visit.

While there you can visit the Museum Motoring Shop or get a coffee or a meal in the Café 750 and if you really want…. you can get married there too!

“Do they do them in any other colours?”

Err… that will be a “No”… this is the red room.

Sunday 28th June

All to quickly our time was up for this break. Sue was pleased that she didn’t have to go through the traumas of towing the caravan for the first time as my feet were recovering quite well. We packed up and by 10:15 were leaving The Old Oaks heading towards the M5 and back north towards home. Nothing went to plan on this trip really, but sometimes it’s just like that and there is not much you can do except just ride along with it. We had great weather and as usual The Old Oaks and it’s staff proved why it’s probably one of the top sites in the UK.

Epilogue

It was unusual for me to return home from a trip and have to go back to work the following day. I’ve not had to do that for a few years and hence why this post about the trip took so long to write… next time I’ll start writing while we are away.

So where is our next trip going to take us ?. Well, back in January (before I knew I’d be returning to work) we had booked a number of trips away, some of which we had to cancel. However one of the trips we did book that we can do was to another Tranquil Touring sites for our wedding anniversary in September – Plough Lane Caravan Site, near Chippenham.

What’s next, Well I have a review of a rather handy 12 volt tyre inflator which I mentioned earlier that I have been impressed by coming up for you and I’ve been trying to catch up on all the emails the blog receives. Since passing one million page views a while back the blog is as busy as ever and companies are now interested in asking me to review kit and equipment, so there might be some sponsored reviews coming up in the near future. I’m still blown away by how fast the blog has grown in just over three and a half years since I started tapping away on a keyboard.

More Mulled Wine and Markets…

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Simon Barlow in Christmas Markets, Events, General, Mini Break, Motor Home, Travelling in the UK, Trips, Uncategorized, Weekend Break

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Andy Harris, Camping & Caravanning Club, Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Christmas, Christmas Market, Jamie Oliver, Oxford, Touring, Towing, Travel Trailers, Waddesdon

Part Two of our Cheltenham and Oxford festive outing…

Wednesday 10th December

Thankfully the wild weather that was affecting northern England and Scotland didn’t extend as far south as Gloucestershire and after a bit of a late start we were packed up and ready to say goodbye to Briarfields and set off for Oxford. We called in reception to drop off our electronic tag that operated the security barriers and waved goodbye to our neighbour who was leaving in his campervan after an overnight stay. The Sat-Nav gave a distance of about 37 miles and a time of one hour twenty minutes to complete the journey. We pulled off the site just before eleven o’clock and headed out into the late morning traffic enroute for Oxford Camping & Caravan Club site.

We hadn’t being travelling long when Sue produced a ten pound note out of her pocket… “That’s the deposit for the electronic tag.”

“Hmm I don’t remember paying a deposit”

When Scott booked us in I think he forgot to take a deposit, and Jo assumed he would have and gave Sue ten pounds back. So apologies Scott and Jo, we seem to be ten pounds up on the deal, just means that we have an excuse to return next year to give you the money! Mind you, I don’t think we need an excuse as there is still so much to see and a visit to Gloucester in the summer is definitely planned.

The trip took us through the beautiful rolling hills of the Cotswolds, the sun was shining and it was a pleasant drive to Oxford. We had stayed at the Oxford C & CC site a number of times before as it is convenient for exploring Oxford. It does have a downside though. It can be noisy as the main Oxford to London railway line runs only a couple of hundred meters away and through the night there is plenty of railway freight run on that line. Additionally there is a large factory that sometimes can be noisy. All that said, the advantages tend to outweigh the disadvantages.

We arrived at the site about 12:20 and checked in. During the winter months the site has to run on a reduced number of pitches due to the ground conditions and motorhomes are parked on the tarmac road areas. We were shown to our pitch which was on the northern side of the site. The grass wasn’t too soft but had obviously been wet for a number of days.

That evening the clear skies of the day gave way to a drop in temperature as the sun set. Behind us was a Hymermobile Motorhome, which had three satellite dishes on the roof. Now it was either an outpost of Mission Control or Andy Harris of the Motorhome Channel had upgraded to a Hymer…. but we could not smell any fresh toast being prepared, so discounted that idea.

Had Andy Harris upgraded to a Hymer?

A quick trip to Aldi to stock up on Gluevine and a few other essentials and a quick wander round Go Outdoors finished off our day.

Thursday 11th December

The weather forecast for the day was generally windy and rain but Friday looked like it would be clear again so we decided to put off our visit into Oxford for the Christmas market until then. Sue had always wanted to go Blenheim Palace and thought it would be a good destination for the day. Checking on-line they had Christmas events and it was looking promising. I checked the ticket price and was floored at the cost. For the two of us for the Christmas attractions it would be just over £45 to get in. As we were mulling that over I clicked on Trip Advisor and read some of the reviews for the Christmas event…. there weren’t many but most complained about the cost and there wasn’t actually that much to see. However one lady that had posted a review (Margaret151151 ), her last line was “…Now our visit to Waddesdon at Christmas WAS well worth the money!”

Neither of us had heard of Waddesdon!

A quick ‘google’ soon found the website and it did look interesting and the ticket price a more reasonable £36 for the two of us. Decision made, I bought the tickets on line which gave us timed entry into the house and Sat-Nav programmed we set off for Waddesdon. Located on the A41 between Bicester and Aylesbury it didn’t take very long to get there.

The house is the former home of the Rothschild family… (or some section of it… I’ve not read up on it yet) and is set in wonderful landscaped gardens. While most of the house was closed for its annual winter deep clean, one wing was still open and had been decorated for Christmas… with dozens of Christmas trees grown on the estate specifically for certain rooms in the house, so the height and width of the tree had been monitored to ensure an exact fit… here is just a few:

The trees and decorations were all themed for the rooms and they really were spectacular. Not often I stand in front of a Christmas tree(s) speechless! The timed entry into the house really worked well and there wasn’t a mass of people who could make enjoying the spectacle a disappointing experience.

The corridor from the Manor shop to the restaurant

From the house we headed down to the stable block, a short walk from the main house to the cafe and shops. If we had been there a couple of days earlier we would have also had chance to visit the Christmas market that is also held there.

The impressive and lavish stable block now houses shops and a cafe

A late lunch in the cafe followed by a walk round the Bruce Munro light installations in the grounds in a vain attempt to walk off the calories.

Waddesdon is somewhere we are planning to return to so we can see the rest of the house. We both would recommend it as a definite ‘to do’ on anyones list of Christmas places to visit.

All too soon we were back on the road towards Oxford again… it was fast approaching mulled wine time.

Friday 12th December

The weather wasn’t quite as promised but it was clearing slowly. We walked across to the Park & Ride stop opposite Go Outdoors to catch the number 300 service into the centre of Oxford.

Just as we arrived, it started to rain again so we headed in the direction of the indoor market for a mooch round in the dry. By the time we had come out the rain had stopped and we set off towards the Christmas market. Sue had an Italian version of mulled wine (well it is nearly Christmas!) while we wandered around the many stalls. As always is was rapidly approaching ‘lunch o’clock” again and we kept an eye out for a suitable place. Last time we were in Oxford it was with our friends Pete and Julie (Julie sadly passed away last year) and we had tried to get into “Jamie’s” – Jamie Oliver’s restaurant but it was full. This time we managed to beat the crowd.

We decided on a light lunch and opted for…..

JAMIE’S ULTIMATE SHARING PLANK

£10.50 PER PERSON

For two or more to share.
Artisan fennel salami, mortadella, spiced chicken-liver pâté, truffled salami & fennel pork scratchings with grissini & music bread, Cauliflower fritti,mozzarella & aged pecorino, tomato mostarda & crispy shallot rings, Olives & pickles, grilled marinated peppers, & crunchy kale slaw

… and a carafe of house white.

Now I’m not sure what I was expecting. It was nice with a good selection but maybe I was expecting more of a ‘wow’ than I got. Service initially was a bit slow off the mark but there was a Christmas party of around 20 people starting to arrive that seemed to delay things a little. The service did improve after the party group got sat down. The lunch was enjoyable and the atmosphere in the restaurant vibrant. However… I was missing the ‘wow’ that I thought I’d get… not sure what the ‘wow’ should be but there you go. Bus Guide_0001

We headed out again to cover a few more shops and to do another turn round the Christmas market – just in case we had missed anything. The light was starting to fade and all the Christmas lights decorating the streets came on. Deciding it was time to head back we retraced our footsteps back to the bus top to catch the 300 back to Redbridge Park & Ride opposite the caravan site.

Saturday 13th December

The temperature on the digital thermomiterbob said minus 2.6 degrees outside and it felt like it as it was only 10 degrees inside the caravan (OK who turned the heating on to the lowest setting then… that would be me!)

It was a bit of a lazy start packing up – Sue attended to all the inside ‘pink’ jobs while I looked after the outside ‘blue’ jobs. Thankfully the water in the Aquarol and the wastehog hadn’t frozen. I drained the loo flush tank back into an empty container and just before 11 we were ready to hitch up.

Now this is the first time that this has happened to us. The pitches at Oxford are lower than the tarmac road and on hitching up I discovered that due to the Freelander still having the front wheels on the road, the tow ball was so low I could not rotate and raise the jockey wheel so we had to unhitch again. We struggled and swung the caravan round so we were at an angle to the road and hitched up again… same problem. So we had to unhitch and swing the caravan enough so that the front wheels of the Freelander were off the road, hence lower so hitching up for a third time finally gave us the clearance to swing the jockey wheel round under the A frame and raise it.

It’s my fault as one our very first trip to Oxford with the caravan we had hired I watched someone have exactly the same problem… I should have remembered. By 11:30 we were pulling out of the site heading for home.

Surprisingly the roads were quiet. The A34 onto the M40 was very quiet and we made good time. On the M40 a National Express coach driver after taking about 40 seconds to actually overtake us (we were doing about 55 mph) decided that he didn’t actually need to know if he was clear and just pulled in without indicating with about ten inches clearance between the back of his coach and the front of the Freelander. I wish we had one of those CCTV camera recording do-hickeys.

A brief stop at Norton Caines services on the M6 Toll road and using the Caravan Club membership card to get our discount at the toll plaza we hit the M6, which even though there are road works at the M6 / M6 Toll junction was free-flowing and no delays. The rest of the M6 north was quiet too… we had never seen it run so freely even on a Saturday. By 3:30 the caravan was parked up in its storage bay and we were off home… time to go and give ‘the boys’ (our three Siamese cats) a good ‘polish’

Summing up…

Six days, three cities, two christmas markets… done!. Visiting Christmas markets is a great way of getting in the festive spirit. We used christmasmarkets.com to find out when and where the Christmas markets are. If you can’t get out in your caravan this year to a Christmas market…. start planning for next year or we might beat you to it!

The sites…

Briarfields is ideally located for exploring Cheltenham and Gloucester at any time of the year. With the additional on site motel, it’s great if you want to explore the area with family or friends that don’t have a caravan or motorhome. The site is well maintained and the facilities are spotless and it offers free WiFi. It could do with another Grey Water Disposal point though.

It is however about 1 mile (1500 metres) from the threshold of runway 27 at Gloucester airport so there will be aircraft passing overhead at around 300 to 400 feet but don’t let that put you off. They are mainly small single engine aircraft with the odd executive jet and the noise is not obtrusive. The airport operates restricted hours so the aircraft won’t be passing overhead all night. If you are an aircraft spotter it’s ideal!

Time it right and you can do Gloucester Victorian Christmas Market and Cheltenham Christmas Market in the same visit. I would suggest you book early though as it will fill up quickly, especially at Cheltenham Gold Cup time.

Would we return to Briarfileds? – Yes. Would we recommend it? – Yes.

Oxford C & CC site is ideal for exploring Oxford as it’s so easy to get into the centre by bus or walking beside the river. Oxford is a great place to visit any time of the year and is one of those cities you want to go back to time and time again. The Oxford C & CC site is a little tired, but well-kept. As the site is actually owned by Go Outdoors the C & CC club do have limitations on what they can do there to improve things. There is the known noise problem from the railway line, but in fairness it’s not constant like a road.

Would we return to Oxford C & CC? – Yes. Would we recommend it? – Yes.

Getting into the festive spirit…

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Simon Barlow in Christmas Markets, General, Mini Break, Travelling In Europe, Travelling in the UK, Trips, Weekend Break

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Camping & Caravanning Club, Caravanning, Caravans, Cheltenham, Christmas, Christmas Market, Christmas markets, Oxford, Touring, Travel Trailer, Travel Trailers

What!… It’s only August!

One of the great things you can do in the run up to Christmas to get you into the swing of things is stay a couple of nights at a site that’s within striking distance of one of the many Christmas Markets held all over the country (and Europe for that matter) Staying local also allows you to sample some of the mulled wine and cider that’s on offer.

Last year we had booked to visit Cheltenham’s famous Christmas Market, but unfortunately due to the builders not removing scaffolding from around the house in time we had to cancel. However to make up for it we decided to do two markets this year! We have booked into Briarfields an independent site just outside Cheltenham with a good bus service right into the centre of the town. From Briarfields we then head back north to Oxford to the Camping & Caravan Club’s site for a few days so we can ‘do’ Oxford’s Christmas Market too!

If you fancy the idea of visiting one of the UK’s many Christmas Markets we use this handy website that lists all the dates and opening times… http://www.christmasmarkets.com/UK.html and currently they list over 150 markets in the UK and over 250 markets all over Europe.

If you have never caravanned ‘out of season’ don’t worry. Caravan’s are great in winter… when it’s nice and toasty inside with some mulled wine… who cares what the weather is doing!

So it may only be August, but find yourselves a Christmas Market, find a site and get booked in and even better invite some caravan or motor home friends to join you.

A very early Merry Christmas.

Simon & Sue

Time With Friends… Pt 2

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Simon Barlow in Travelling in the UK, Trips, Weekend Break

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Caravan, Caravanning, Caravans, Fleet Air Arm Museum, Glastonbury, The Old Oaks, Touring, Towing, travel, Travel Trailer, Travel Trailers

Previously: Time With Friends… Pt 1

Wednesday 9th April

We left Morn Hill around 10:40 and set off for The Old Oaks, F & R following in their motor home. Somewhere along the route we caught up with a police escorted wide load and for around 40 minutes remained at a slow steady speed which didn’t do much for our MPG!. However just before we reached Longleat, the load headed off in a different direction and we could continue at our normal pace. Passing Stonehenge I noticed that F & R were not behind us anymore… As we were coming through Pilton on the A361 I said to Sue “that looks like F & R’s motor home in front”. We followed it through West Pennard and debated on whether it was F & R a few cars in front of us. When they slowed and turned right into Wick Lane, it could have only been them… unless someone else had hired a motor home from the same company and were also staying at The Old Oaks. (I never did find out exactly where we lost them and which route they took). It was exactly 13:00 when we pulled in so the 81 mile journey took us 2 hours 20 minutes averaging a little over 34 MPH Continue reading →

Time With Friends… Pt 1

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by Simon Barlow in Travelling in the UK, Trips

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Caravan, Caravan Club, Caravanning, Caravans, Glastonbury, Morn Hill, Morn Hill Caravan Club, Motorhome, The Old Oaks, Touring, Towing, travel, Travel Trailer, Travel Trailers, Winchester

Spending time with friends, especially good friends is always a pleasure. Since we had ‘retired’ from flying, it had been too long since we had managed to spend time with F & R although we did keep in touch by phone and email. They had fancied the idea of a motor home and wanted to give it a try, so a plan was hatched to spend a week at two different locations. We would take the caravan and they would hire a motor home.

As F & R would be hiring a motor home from www.landcruise.uk.com in Chichester, West Sussex we thought it would be best to choose a location not too far away for the first part of the adventure. I chose Morn Hill Caravan Club at Winchester as they accepted non-members and none of us had ever been to Winchester. Continue reading →

Caravan Chronicles

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Category Archives: Trips

I can’t think of a snappy title…

2020 Elddis reveal…

I might have set Anglo-Kiwi relations back fifty years…

How good is this…

Saying goodbye…

Epilogue…

Glastonbury 2016…

Monday 20th June

Tuesday 21st June

Wednesday 22nd June

Southport bound…

Monday 23rd May

Tuesday 24th May

The Caravan Club Site

Wiltshire Wanderings…

Sunday 6th September

Monday 7th September – Chippenham

Tuesday 8th September – Swindon

Wednesday 9th September – Devises

Thursday 10th September – Bath

When Things Don’t Go To Plan…

Monday 28th June

Wednesday 24th June

Thursday 25th June

Friday 26th June

Saturday 27th June

Sunday 28th June

Epilogue

More Mulled Wine and Markets…

JAMIE’S ULTIMATE SHARING PLANK

Getting into the festive spirit…

Time With Friends… Pt 2

Time With Friends… Pt 1

2020 Elddis reveal…

I might have set Anglo-Kiwi relations back fifty years…

How good is this…

Saying goodbye…

Epilogue…

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Monday 20th June

Tuesday 21st June

Wednesday 22nd June

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Monday 23rd May

Tuesday 24th May

The Caravan Club Site

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Sunday 6th September

Monday 7th September – Chippenham

Tuesday 8th September – Swindon

Wednesday 9th September – Devises

Thursday 10th September – Bath

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Monday 28th June

Wednesday 24th June

Thursday 25th June

Friday 26th June

Saturday 27th June

Sunday 28th June

Epilogue

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JAMIE’S ULTIMATE SHARING PLANK

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