Costa Del Brean

A bit of sun works wonders! We have been so lucky this weekend and had our second weekend away and a bit of beach time.

After the "shake down" trip last weekend with a promising weather forecast we decided to go for our second weekend on the coast. With bikes packed and being more organised this Friday I had even got some food on board!  We arrived at Unity in beautiful sunshine and were quickly settled in the Yellow Field backing onto the golf course. We had taken the bikes so did a quick trip around the camping fields which were remarkably full. The telly tuned in with no problems and a pleasant evening quickly passed.

Saturday morning dawned with a beautiful cloud free sky. A bit windy but sunny, we decided to give the bikes a good try out on the beach and see if we could ride from Berrow to Brean Down. Fine for the young and hearty a marathon for us! The beach was really like the Costas without the crowds, warm, sunny, a bit windy but beautiful!

We even spotted another Bailey on the beach! Brave person!!

It was a lonnnng, ride but we made it, cycling into the headwind on the way down the beach was "challenging" riding back was fun. We had a quick coffee in the cafe at Brean Down but enjoyed the sunshine and even got the sun! I got a new picture for my facebook page!

 

Yes it is England in June! The tide is out but the sand is golden and clean, not sure if I would want to try the water out though!

 

We rode back to camp after a nice lunch in a local watering hole.

 

 

A very successful weekend!!

First of the Season

After a very long , cold miserable and soggy winter, we have finally caught up with summer.

Billie has had a wash, buff and service and we are ready for the sun!!

The winter passed fairly uneventfully for us, a silver screen on the front and an oil filled radiator inside, kept Billie warm and cosy. We put a solar panel on the roof and that works well when the sun shines and saves us plugging in the electric in the summer. A first service and habitation check got Billie in the "summer mood".

We did the usual "start of the season" tank sterilisation saga, a bit of light hoovering and dusting and we were ready for the off. The major body clean was completed and a good polish with the dry wash, worked really well and was a lot quicker to do than Mer! We will wait to see how effective it is! The new bikes were loaded and as they are so much lighter and easier to put up, hopefully we will make more use of them. Not to mention the exercise. Weight reduction takes on a new meaning here!

We did a short first weekend away last week and hope to do another trip this week.

Strange, but after the winter we did need to think about how to do certain things again. Tuning in the telly was fun, but we think we have it sorted. We had a brief play with the Wi-fi Booster and may have another go this weekend. We have a ferry booked for France this summer but need to do a few little jobs on Smartie's trailer first and take him out for a run! We are still thinking around innovative new ideas to do with chairs and trailers, watch this space for further developments.

We are still considering an  A-Frame for Smartie's stablemate Heidi the Hyundai and we did investigate a few more types last weekend. For the moment, the jury's out on the best system. Electronic, brake buddy, heavy or light, everyone you speak to is convinced their system is the best, so we will rely on the trailer and Smartie on tow for now! New European regulations come out in 2014, so that may make up our minds for us.

All in all, the last weekend away reminded us how pleased we are with Billie! A great nights sleep too and a perfectly dry and un soggy comfy and cosy bed to sleep in. Too much food, too much drink, a bit of biking ( round the campsite once ) a bit of walking and a bit of sun. Perfect!

"The Soggy Mattress Saga"

"In the Bleak Mid Winter " or a damp February!

 I guess it's about time I did an update on Billie and the crew! Now joined by my nifty little Hyundai i10 just named Heidi, because we need another girl in our family. Heidi, joined the family back in November, when I decided I really didn't want to keep driving a Volvo estate to the shops. New and shiny she was a treat to drive and kept Smartie company on the long winter evenings, until a drunken driver shattered her equilibrium and ours by smashing her in the back end!! Still, following a bit of R&R, she is now fully recovered. The plan is possibly to fit her with an A Frame and turn her into a Toad, perhaps a handsome prince may then whisk her off to foreign climes. We'll see, although Smartie and the trailer may feel a bit put out, so we will have to give them a few outings too.

Back to the main story, "The Saga of the Soggy Mattress".

When we first took delivery of our van, I thought the mattress was a bit, well dampish. I put this down to the fact that it had probably been stored in a warehouse somewhere and with a bit of an airing it would be fine!  Victorian housewifes knew a bit about airing things, we just open the windows and wash the bed clothes regularly! However, being a bit old fashioned I have a nose for a bit of damp. In France last year and during the summer everything was fine. Then in October we went away for a weekend and had the heating on low overnight. On our return we prepared Billie for his winter hibernation and noticed the mattress felt wet in places.

Following lengthy explorations and propping the mattress up to let the air circulate, it still felt very damp! We put the damp down to the fact we were sleeping over the boiler in an enclosed space with the windows shut, saunas are fine in their place but not in our van! We looked at ducting and air vents and finally got a pair of mini humidifiers. We keep an oil filled radiator on low during the winter but the rest of the van and all the other seating , cushions and fabrics were bone dry. While we did all this, I guess we were not totally convinced that the dampness should have happened in the first place. Finally, we kept turning the mattress and propped it up in the middle of the van, the next plan was to take it into the house. Den contacted Bailey's to see if they had noticed a problem, customer services replied in less than a helpful manner!! In the end, Chipping Sodbury Caravans and Tony to the rescue!

Yes, there was a problem said Tony, bring the mattress in and we will get it sorted! Our mattress went back to be refilled and recovered and arrived back this weekend, clean bright and DRY!! Ready for the new camping year. The problem had been the fire retardent filling which had been used by the manufacturer in the mattress had been retaining water. This had meant it had acted a bit like silica gel and absorbed all the moisture from the van and us.......nice, and retained it like a sponge! We suspect a big problem for someone, especially when the vans wake up from their winter hibernations. It only seems to be some mattresses and cushions in caravans and motorhomes that were affected, glad we spotted it when we did. Checked this morning it's still dry! Better get the bed clothes back on and get off for a weekend.

Billie "Struts" His Stuff!

You kind of know in your heart when things are not going to go well! This weekend was just one of those times. We sort of planned not to go away because Den was in crisis at work and thought we may get the "phone calls", he was right. We decided to go anyway and try the Caravan Club Site, Cirencester Park and explore Cirencester a bit more.

So , we left in a bit of a rush, without the usual preparations  and I forgot to pick up the left over curry we were going to have for tea. Fortunately, as it was a CC site, the sign by the toilet block said "Fish & Chips, from 5.30!"  Nothing for it then, fish and chips. Our luck was in briefly, as we got the last two fishes from the van, they were obviously also having a bad day! The rest of the queue had to make do with anything that wasn't fish.......at least the chips were still on the menu. Disaster number 1, averted, for us!

The site was excellent, quiet and really well laid out with loads of hard standings. It was busier than we were expecting but we still had a good choice of pitches. A third of the site which were the grass pitches, were closed for re-seeding and the second toilet block was being up dated. Time for the bunnies to have a ball, but beware the bunny holes, health and safety elves at work. The existing loo block was excellent and up to the usual CC standards ( when and if,you can get a pitch on one of their sites of course.) Even the telly picked up a signal, although the phone was an issue, but more of that later.

 Billie at Cirencester Park.

 The walk into town takes about 20 minutes, via the scenic route through the Bath Hurst Estate Park. We put on our walking boots but there were lots of paths so shoes would have been fine.

Beware, the gates shut at 5.30pm. I wonder how many people they lock in every year?

 Next time we will walk up to the monument!

Check out the park http://www.cirencesterpark.co.uk/


Saturday morning dawned as a bright dryish day. The van was really cosy as we had used the silver screens overnight. To be on the safe side, we had run the heating on low to take the chill off. The overall heating system in Billie is great and it can be used on gas or electric, 1 is fine for overnight.  We decided to walk through the park into town. As we lifted the bed to get out our rucksacks, the strut  holding the bed up stuck and before we realised what had happened, it damaged the laminate panel under the bed as we tried to close it. Den removed the mattress to check what had happened and climbed under the bed. Just as all this was going on the phones started ringing, it was a work problem. Getting to a phone with a sprung mattress propped up in the middle of the van was entertaining. It was then we realised that the phone signal here was very iffy, three mobiles and a signal that kept dropping out on all of them. Eventually, we had to go and use the actual "phone box", fortunately being a CC site they still had one that worked. Miracles of modern technology!!!   NOT.

Finally, after a very stressful hour or so, all was calm. The work problems were solved until Monday and the bed was useable. Den removed the strut and would repair the damage when we got home. We did have a lovely walk through the park into town, lunch at a very nice pub and a stroll around the shops. We just made it back to the van before the rain came down. The X Factor on the telly and a bottle of wine, another exciting evening.

The drive home through the Cotswold was lovely with the Autumn colours just starting, an hour and we would be home. Not likely, M4 closed for an accident and an hours drive became two. Just another one of those weekends! The good news was Den repaired the strut damage and a new one is on it's way! Advantages of having a local dealer, a quick call to Chipping Sodbury Caravans and  Billie will be back to normal, very soon.

Next weekend the Motor Caravan Show at the NEC Birmingham. Time to look at more extras. Tickets have been bought, the work phone can stay at home. Billie can have a weekend off, we'll take the car this time.

Billie Goes On A Roman Weekend

Of course we left it to the last moment to book! Needless to say, "there was no room at the inn. " I tried about 6 sites on a Friday morning looking for a hardstanding and had almost given up when I stumbled on Mayfield Park. With great trepidation I phoned and while waiting for rejection, was most surprised to hear they had spaces and on a hardstanding! Even more cheering was the price, £32 for the weekend!!!

By 3ish on Friday afternoon we were off. Not far we thought. Well it should have taken around an hour, it took a bit longer, but we did get a "Cotswold  Grand Tour", Tom Tom never found the site, but with a trusty map and a bit of manoevering we did. The site was a bit sloping but with the chocks, we were soon installed on a flattish gravel pitch, behind some tall trees, that's put paid to the telly viewing then, back to Kindle! On the positive side the campsite was not crowded, we had water on our pitch and it was dry!

 Billie enjoying a spot of morning sunshine.

The back field at Mayfield Park.

The next day dawned with a clear blue sky and the sun trying to come out. Armed with a map we set off for Cirencester via the scenic route, down the country lanes. Around an hour later we made it. Slight detour through the woods, over a few styles ( some managed better than others) and braving the local livestock in the fields, we had a great walk though some beautiful countryside. We were really pleased we were prepared with walking boots or we may not have been quite so happy, some of the fields were very muddy.We were really lucky as the sun came out and it was quite warm.

Beware the wild animals!!! Well there were a lot of sheep in this field!












We finally found our way over this stile and out of the woods. Fortunately did not encounter any livestock here.











Took a while to work out the instructions for the "walk", but we made it in the end.



 

On the way to Cirencester.

The end in sight, only one more field to tramp across, fortunately the cows we were expecting to find in the field were having breakfast elsewhere. Phew!!!












We whiled away a few hours exploring Cirencester, having lunch, coffee and going around the museum, well worth a visit.Those Romans were really quite clever! Cirencester  actually had some great little shops, I was amazed how many tea and cake shops there were!. We bought some very nice chicken parcels from the local butcher and caught the 51 bus back to the site. In the absence of telly, it was dinner, reading ,wine and bed, all that walking had worn us out!

 Certainly worth a visit, although I would be tempted to try the Caravan Club, Cirencester Park site next time. Mayfield would be a good place to go if you fancied walking as there were loads more walks we could have tried. Perhaps another weekend soon, but not in the summer the noise from the road would not make for a peaceful evening outdoors.

A Visit to "The Sheppy Show!"

This weekend we decided a trip to the motorhome show at Shepton Mallet was called for. Armed with our reduced admission ticket from the Caravan Club mag ( 2 for a tenner) we set out. We decided Billie would stay at home, as we have had wet and horrible experiences at the show in the past.

In order to rest our "little grey cells" we took a shopping list.

• Find out about Wifi for Billie. We wondered if Sophie and Adam  ( Motorhome Wifi) would be at the show?
• Find out about "solar panels", Vanbitz?
• Look at cab carpets.
• A new updated, colour co-ordinated easy clean tablecloth (  we can't only look at expensive things can we?)
• A new travel kettle ( possibly)
• A storage bag for the silver screens.
• Anything else "exciting."

The day was beautiful as we set off for Shepton, a good day for a motor show. As we arrived, the first thing that struck us was how quiet it all seemed. The car parking field was not as full as we have seen it. Even the camping area was not as full as usual. We quickly got into show mode, Den setting off at full speed, me lagging behind and looking at things! The sun beamed down. We looked at all the jolly campers and were glad we weren't joining them. We love going away in our motorhome, but for peace and tranquility, not display! Still, horses for courses.

As we worked our way down the first row of stalls we spotted Adam and Sophie and "Motorhome Wifi"   http://www.motorhomewifi.com/ perfect!  We spent a few minutes talking about our needs. We want to be able to pick up Wifi in the van usually when we are on campsites. We usually take our ipads and don't bother with the laptop as it's so big to store. We decided on the "I Boost" system with a larger booster, so we could pick up signals that were further away. Paid our money and ordered the system.

Sophie also explained about the "Fon " system so we could pick up more signals, for £36 it seemed a brilliant idea. http://www.btfon.com/  We'll update the blog with the outcomes after playing with the new setup, which hopefully will arrive later this week. First item on the list sorted!

Solar panels next. We found the "Vanbitz" stall and spent a worthwhile ten minutes going over the possibilities of "solar panels". We were given all the info we needed. The outcome is that we need to decide exactly when and how we want extra power. Solar panels will not provide unending energy for free but will supplement our existing system. All we need to do now is work out whether we want to spend the cash. The next step for us ,is to have a second battery fitted and we will probably get Chipping Sodbury Caravans to do that first. Still Vanbitz as usual were most helpful. Further developments will be reported on in due course.

Following on a liquid lunch in the local bar, well a glass of wine and half of lager, we bought the tablecloth and the bag for the silver screens. The travel kettle we decided we would buy in John Lewis. The show was still relatively quiet, our feet were killing us, so we set off for home. All in all a pleasant interlude.

Was the trip to Sheppy worthwhile? Well it passed a sunny afternoon and we got the wifi sorted. In terms of vans, lots of the bigger dealers were not around and we fancied there were fewer stalls than usual. We are still pleased with our Billie and can't see ourselves changing him for a few years. All we need to do now is get out and about in him a bit more. Job for next week, book a ferry crossing for July 2013!

Now where shall we go next week??

Out and About in Somerset

Just back from a great weekend in Somerset. We stayed at the Wells Holiday Park just outside the City of Wells near Wookey Hole.

Great little campsite, very well kept with super clean loos and hot showers.

http://www.wellsholidaypark.co.uk/

The journey there was slightly fraught ! Fine 'till we got through Cheddar and then the A371, was the road from hell. Billie was quite happy until the road became increasingly more bendy and narrow. It is an "A" road and we did follow the directions on the campsite website but it was tight in places. Just don't be tempted to follow the sat nav! A big "star" badge for Den, I was just glad he did the driving. The final insult, was we took the wrong turning into the site and nearly grounded Billie on the speed hump. I jumped out and held up the traffic while Den reversed back out onto the main road........ we had arrived, a large drink called for.

The campsite was in a great spot, easy to fill up the water and good access ( using the right gate). We were on a tarmac hard standing. The site was not too full but as the evening went on there were lots of new arrivals. An "adults only" site so fairly quiet. I had taken enough food for the weekend so we had a leisurely meal, a few drinks and a comfy night sleep.

The weather god was in a good mood! We took a 20 minute stroll into Wells and had a lovely morning looking around the market, which was really one of the best ones we have seen. Fabulous farmer's products, cheese, sausages and of course Somerset Cider. Wells was busy, but a great place to walk around. The cathedral is really worth a look, we didn't go round the Bishop's Palace this time, as only the grounds were open. Wells is somewhere we will be returning to again, soon.

After a leisurely drink in a local pub we strolled back to the campsite, had lunch and then walked up to Wookey Hole. Another, lovely ( if somewhat hilly) stroll about 1.5miles from the campsite, at £32 for two adult tickets, we did not bother going into the complex but enjoyed the sunshine and the stroll back. At £49 for a family ticket , we were amazed that anyone went in!! No nice pubs near Wookey Hole, so back to finish the white wine and watch the X Factor, we live life to the full!!!

In all a very (nearly) relaxing weekend break ( except for getting there,) we drove home on Sunday through Glastonbury and then the motorway, further to drive but less stressful! A place we will add to our list of favourites and  visit again very soon.

Next weekend off to the Motorhome Show at Shepton Mallett, without Billie!