Dave’s Trip to the UK May 2018

Just a note that this is more a factual record of the trip rather than a blog post as I am writing this nearly a year after the event. We have just had the site built by our son, Jamie, so just trying to keep a complete record of Dave’s travels.

180505 - Dave’s second trip to U.K.

Left Guernsey at 15.10 on Condor Liberation. We were last on and Martin had to reverse on, ok. Very calm trip to Poole. Drove to Bakers Arms again. We’d bought some Mount Gay rum on board - 43%! Good meal, Martin had chicken and thyme pie, I had fish and chips. Martin had a ‘strong’ pint - big mistake, was poisoned! Was awake with headache from about 2am...

180506 - Didn’t leave pub car park until about 11am. Beautiful hot and sunny day and I drove to a Shell garage so we could top up on gas (£7.29!). Drove to Vinnay Ridge car park in New Forest. Small area, but put awning out, brief walk to larger car park we were going to, good job we didn’t - was full! Martin went to bed in the hope he’d feel better, whilst I sat out and read. Spent quite a while trying to find somewhere to stay overnight. Some of the places we stayed last year now say the council won’t allow motorhomes to park overnight in pub car parks. Finally we drove to The Carpenters Arms in Bransgore. Not very salubrious, and average food, and bad company! Didn’t drink as we needed to move Dave, he was on a slope in the only space large enough. Very pleasant weather, and nice walk after food. 7,579 steps.

180507 - Bank holiday, and very sunny! Left early and drove back to Whitefield Moor. 07.30, and no one there. Chose our best spot and went for an 11 mile ride through the forest. The car park filled up really quickly, with no more space available. In the afternoon we rode into Brockenhurst. Left about 19.00 to drive to Marquis.

180508 - Main man, Bill on holiday till tomorrow. Didn’t start well with the lady at reception complaining about her 95 emails as she’d been on holiday - and her bad toothache! Despite having emailed Bill multiple times, they claimed they didn’t have a copy of our fault list. Pre-prepared, Martin handed over a spare copy of our 25 faults to be completed!  Left them to it, feeling slightly apprehensive and rode to Sandbanks, went shopping in Poole, read our books, just trying to while away the day. Mainly completed the habitation check. Parked up in the industrial estate again overnight, waiting to be woken at 05.00 by the business next door! 3,785 steps.

180509 - Liberation Day! Rob said he’d work on Dave all day... The new internal door was no good - again despite Martin asking them to check it when it arrived. In the end we have the same door, but some joiners nearby faired it off, and perfectly acceptable. Rob visited the showroom and “borrowed” spare parts from demonstration Mobilvettas for the parts they hadn’t ordered! We agreed to go back on 22 May so that the paint work could be done by Kevin.

Rode to Sandbanks and along see front to Bournemouth. Pleasant day, but much colder.  Did some shopping, watched the squirrels, and kept moving around to try to find warmer places to sit and read. 9,041 steps.

180510 - Marquis had Dave again in the morning. Again, road into Poole to sort out my new SIM card with Vodaphone. Paid £234 for the habitation check, and left.  Drove down to Cornish Farm in Taunton, Somerset, took about 90 minutes. Lovely campsite, would be £18 per night, but refunded because of the alarm being fitted. Went for a walk in the lanes after tea, but not for long - there were midges everywhere! 7,074 steps.

180511 - Van Bitz wanted Dave at 08.30. Used showers at campsite, heated floors, and clean. Rode into Taunton. TK Maxx first stop! So much stuff, over whelming and only bought two Dave mugs. Rode back about 14.00 and £1,000 later, Dave had his Growler alarm system fitted. We left about 16.00,as we needed to arrive at The Truro Caravan and Camping site before dark, was just about 19.00, as we were stuck in traffic on M5. Jamie came and collected us. Had a lovely rum and coke, and M&S curry. Jamie told us he had some bad news and we’d have to go into the loft! He meant to get the toys down - Annabel is 10 weeks pregnant! She is suffering with sickness/nausea, not just in the morning! Walked back to Dave about 10.30. We’re paying £25 per night for 3 nights, as there is no where else to park!  Only ten minutes walk away. Woman on campsite not really very friendly, only plus was that it wasn’t busy so we were on a ‘super’ pitch with electric. Showers and toilets ok, but smelly, but warm and cleanish. People can buy a static home there with a 12 month license for about £25,000 to buy and then pay ground rent of about £450 per month plus gas and electric - amazing what you find out from random chats! 11,813 steps.

180512 - Rode to J and Bel’s around 09.00 - bacon butties and made up picnic lunch. Went out riding for about 4 hours. Visited Porthowan where they’re buying their first home, and watched the current owners at cat from outside! It’s very near to the beach, went down there and had an ice-cream, and our lunch, yes in that order! It was looking very much like rain, so we made for home, swoping bikes as Bel’s was hard work up hills in comparison with our e-bikes! Back in time for a cup of tea just before it poured. Drove into Truro in the evening and ate at Bone China, rated #5 in Cornwall. Had a cocktail and tapas for £45 per couple. Bit quirky, mismatched crockery and cutlery! Nice evening out. 11,722 steps.

180513 - Walked to J and Bel’s. After breakfast went to Sainsbury’s. J drove us to Padstow (about 40 minutes). Really beautiful. Had an ice-cream and walked and walked in the beach. Sunny weather, think we were all a bit dehydrated! Had a fish and chip takeout from Rick Stein - worth the wait, fish was excellent! Because we hadn’t had enough to eat, J did a BBQin the evening! Watched The Hitman’s Bodyguard, lots of killing but quite funny. Rode home, couldn’t wait to get to bed, had headache. 12,895 steps.

180514 - J came around with bits for Martin’s new GoPro that he doesn’t need anymore and we said our goodbyes. We didn’t really know where to go. Plumped for Eden Valley Holiday Park near Lostwithiel. £14 per night with our Acsi card. What a difference, really friendly people, Darren and his wife, parked where we wanted, he suggested a nice pitch with sun in the morning and evening. Didn’t go anywhere - awning, chairs and table out! Did washing for the first time, and used our Whiteknight spin drier. Seems really good!  Thanks Craig and Joanne of Our Bumble for your recommendation. Very sunny, but everything dried quickly. Used the water with conditioner to give Dave a bit of a clean too.

180515 - Weather quite cloudy and cool in comparison with yesterday. Met a nice Dutch couple and had a long chat, so didn’t leave until quite late. Rode about 16 miles, but very hilly! Went to Lanhydrock, went on cycle track - probably for mountain bikes and children! Is a National Trust place, didn’t visit house. Rode into Bodmin, really helpful lady at Tourist information. Had our first pastie! Went into free museum, quite interesting. Rode to Bodmin Jail, but didn’t go in, probably should have, but was £10 per person, and getting late. Managed to make a risotto in the oven which turned out ok. 9,901 steps.

180516 - Booked into Heligan Campsite - £13.50 per night, so we could visit Lost Gardens of Heligan. Left about 11.00, and drove to Fowey (Foy), an old maritime port. Quite narrow roads there! Had a walk about in the rain. Very steep to walk into town. Car park £1.50 per hour. Bought huge pasties, but not as good as the ones in Bodmin (Malcolm something bakery).

Couldn’t really be any closer to Lost Gardens at our campsite, literally next door. Was £29 admission for both of us.  Walked around in the light rain from about 13.30 to 17.00. Enjoyed seeing pigs/sheep etc up close. Bird hide good, saw a red woodpecker. Not many flowers in the flower garden! Fantastic old rhododendrons. The Burma Rope Bridge in the jungle area was good too. Set in 200 acres. Wasn’t too busy, probably because of the rain! Overall, an expensive long walk! 12,544 steps.

180517 - Woke up earlier, showered in own showers, didn’t fancy theirs much! Another campsite we left without even talking to any staff. Drove to Mevagissy. Arrived before 09.00! A double harbour with a working fishing port. Quaint! Drove to Tesco for a top up shop.

Martin had found a campsite near Bodmin Moor, so I drove. Really narrow! Glad I didn’t meet any traffic. We obviously drove too far as we turned into a farm a man came and asked if we were looking for him! Lovely man called Peter at a place called Trenant. We had the field to ourselves, so green and peaceful. Across a little bridge was a cemetery. He kindly lent us his ordinance maps. We set the alarm on Dave for the first time. We stopped to look at the view and I noticed a couple of missed calls. Turned out to be from Peter as our alarm had been going off! We called and asked if we needed to go back, but he said it had stopped. When we did get back we think it was operator error, we had been told not to leave anything metal in the drink holders - but Martin had left his phone there!

We went out riding towards Golitha Falls, very pretty. Had a good chat with a couple of motorbikers. Rode to The Minions centre, then the Cheesewring and Hurlers (stone circles). Managed to make a chicken, bacon and leek bake with new potatoes and green beans. Nice! Easier to cook once and eat for two meals. We had difficulty in deciding where to go next. 10,531 steps.

180518 - Left about 10.00. Peter drove in front of us as an escort, and took us a slightly easier route. What a lovely man!

Drove to Princetown on Dartmoor. Took lots of information from the Tourist information. Paid £15 to park at The Plume of Feathers, who boasted about underfloor heating with good showers etc. Very average facilities, smelly, lock didn’t work, no way of drying hands etc, needless to say we didn’t use! Went on a 20km (13.5m) ride - intermediate to difficult rating. Big mistake! Paths were so full of big stones we had to get off and walk. Went around Burrator Resevoir, Sheepstor, Nun’s Cross Farm and back. Stumbled off my bike at one rough point, Martin had to upend my bike, put the chain back on and bend it a little, not terminal, but not right. It took about 3-1/2 hours - were pleased to get back. Really desolate, easy to imagine being lost for a long time. Apparently the prison is closing next year, can’t imagine the town surviving, think it was built for all the workers at the prison.

180519 - Meghan and Harry’s wedding day! Sarah and Herc were off to U.K. as Carl was proposing to Jade. Mum and Rod off to Lefkada for two weeks.

We booked into Ledford Caravan and camping park for tonight, £19.60, but can’t arrive until 13.00! Went for a very brief walk around Princetown. Bought some frozen chips from a little grocery store for £1 and drove out to The moors. Found a nice car park and had a cup of tea and a walk. About a dozen Porsches, Ferraris, Maseratis etc arrived - on a rally, along with drone footage!

The campsite wardens were friendly, quite nice lay out. Rode on the Granite way to Okehampton and back (nearly 21 miles). Lovely scenery, but so many green fly, didn’t want to talk because of added protein! Bought a couple of cakes from a stall in Okehampton. Rode to the castle, they wanted money to look around, so we didn’t bother. Bit cloudy, but shorts weather. Egg, beans and chips for tea!

180520 - Woke up fairly early, blue sky. Went for a walk down to Lydford Gorge, then sat out and read for a while. Left about 11.30 and I drove to Forest Glade, somewhere near Honiton, Exeter. £15.20 with our ACSI card. Why do we always seem to be out near noisy people? Large site with lots of statics and caravans. Sat out and read, but family from hell next to us, noisy children! Even did some yoga on the grass! Lazy day for us. Watched a Jack Reacher film in the evening. Didn’t walk or ride anywhere. Decided that Dave is incredibly noisy when driving, don’t think from stuff we added, just basic cab. Drove up a 20% incline to reach place!

180521 - Another sunny, hot but cold day! Left Forest Glade about 11 and drove to Tesco in Honiton. From there drove to West Bay. Huge shingle beach. Walked in the sea, we’re going to sit and read, but small flies everywhere. Walked around and finally found a seat with sea breeze, and not so many flies, sun went in! Saw Janet Street Porter in passing. Went back for a cuppa in Dave. Car park was only £2 for the whole day, best yet. By 18.00 we were on our way back to Marquis - again. Chili for tea. Feels like we’re just waiting to go home now.

180522 - Same old story of woe. We left with Rob saying they’d ring Kevin, the guy doing our paint job. When we returned we were told they had some bad news, some relative of Kevin had died, so he couldn’t make it. They even said, you can’t argue with that! They asked when we could return, and we said we weren’t intending to! Rob did a gel coat repair on the passenger side above the window, had to use “Swift” white, but not noticeable. He also said the waste water sensor was wired the wrong way round. Interestingly, Rob had been to Slovenia to look at the Adria. There a moho gets randomly selected and taken apart to check it’s been done correctly, with penalties for the staff. If only the Italian’s were more like that!

Rode over 33 miles. Went to Sandbanks, then on the promenade to Bournemouth, past Boscombe Pier on to Mudeford and Christchurch. Looked in the church there. Apparently the more blue in the stained glass windows, the richer they were, as it was the most expensive colour. Stopped off every now and then to read, was hot and sunny. Bought a T-shirt from M&Co in Christchurch. Back about 16.00, Martin had a headache.

180523 - Spent the night on industrial estate again, well its free! Drove about 45 minutes to Swanage. £3 to park for 2 hours. Walked all along the front and up to Peveril Point. Quaint old sea side town complete with beach huts and amusement arcades. Spent a while driving around looking for somewhere free to park. Found a layby, and spent about 4 hours there having lunch and reading. Not relaxing when the number 40 double decker bus thundered past and rocked us!  Drove to the Bakers Arms for our final meal.

180524 - Left about 08.00. Condor Liberation on time, and smooth sailing. Martin reversed Dave on with no problems, but is difficult to see looking in the mirrors as sunny outside, and dark inside. End of a useful break. Most faults repaired on Dave, alarm fitted, quality family time, and some exploring too!