York, 28th - 30th November

Christmas(y) Shop Window

Hooray it is November and we went on our annual trip to York. This is the first time we have ever been there in the camper. Goodness me it was cold, thank god for thermo mats otherwise we might have been frozen solid. We were frozen in on Sunday morning and had to aim the fan heater at the locks before we could get out. Here's a picture of what we found when we escaped the van...

We stayed at Manor Farm Caravan Site, by the racecourse. It was so convenient for the city centre, and there was a bus every 30 mins into the centre and back again until 11pm.

Misty York Minster on Friday night

Christmas lights and a ghost tour...

On Friday night we spent some of my birthday money at a Turkish restaurant called Kapadokya - Dolma, sigora borek, mussaka, salad, baklava and a bottle of wine later we were stuffed.

Here I am looking very happy in the candle light....

And here is Gordon looking happy on Saturday night in the very sparkley Vudu Lounge with a cocktail, which was followed by a fab steak to end the night at Wildes on Grape Lane. Roll on next November!!!

Chester weekend 25th/26th October

We visited Netherwood Caravan Site from Friday night to Sunday morning. It only took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get there and was a great find. It was right next to the tow path and you could either walk along there to the town centre or catch a bus. Near to the site were a couple of pubs so we walked to the nearest (the Cheshire Cat) and had a meal - which was a bit rubbish - such a shame as the surroundings were lovely. Next time we go we will book in the Plough which is the other direction up the tow path as it has just won a best gastropub in cheshire award. Chester is a perfect weekend destination, history, town walls, nice shops and lots of places to eat. We had a lovely meal on the Saturday at Brasserie Chez Gerard. Only problem we had was that I forgot my camera so I don't have any proper pictures from the weekend - here's one of the rows from someone else's website!

Mari and the rocking reindeer!

Run to the Hills 22nd - 24th August

We went to our first proper VW event near Matlock called Run to the Hills. We camped with Club 80-90. Thanks to the members that made us feel welcome, and Matt for organizing everything. It was great to be with so many other T25s and meet other club members I've talked online too. Gordon and I went after work on the friday night, and we were joined by Sarah and Jon and Lauren and Matt on Saturday morning and Charlie and Donna on Saturday evening.

3 Counties Tour August 14-17th

We set off from home after work on the Wednesday night and headed down to Birmingham to stay over with Dad. It was nice to see him and he served up one of his recipes - Normandy chicken. Mmmmmm.

County No.1: Worcestershire

About 10am on Thursday we set off for our first destination. It took about an hour to get to The Marlbank Inn near Malvern. It was a nice little site for the money. The location was good, but the facilities were in the midst of a refit so you had to use the pub loos. It was fine for a 1 nighter and only £10. We had a pint in the pub and chatted to a friendly local then went outside to catch a bus into Great Malvern. Then the heavens opened. I've never been out in anything like it. We tried to brave it out under our single umbrella but once it started hailing we had to admit defeat and run across the road to the pub porch.

Once in Malvern we found that it is one of the most boring places to be stuck on a Thursday afternoon. Seeing as it was the first day of our holiday and Malvern has the most fantastic views we envisaged sitting in a beer garden (between showers) and looking at the scenery. No such luck. None of the pubs in the centre were open until 5pm. We caught the last bus back to the campsite at 6pm and headed into the pub for some tea. Wow. It was great. It made us sleepy though and we were soon back in the van with our feet up.

The next morning we took a walk across the fields away from the pub. It was lovely. We will certainly go back once they have sorted out those showers.

View of the Malvern Hills / Looking towards Upton upon Severn

County No. 2: Herefordshire

Friday morning took us to Lyde to visit Mum and Gramma, and have a look at their overflow pipe in the attic. After lunch we headed up to Eardisland near Leominster and booked in Arrow Bank Holiday Park. Again a nice site, this one was absolutely immaculate. We ended up parked next to a couple from Ellesmere who were a good laugh.

On Friday night we met up with them in the pub and had a great night. It all went a bit strange when we went in the Cross Inn and the landlady decided to go all psychic on us. She came out with all sorts. It was certainly an experience. Our fellow campers had left us by that time, and we wandered back to the van glad that we had remembered to bring a torch as it was pitch black.

The next day the other couple said that they had fell off the kerb and ended on the ground, and had to be escorted back to the campsite by a local as it was so dark they couldn't find their way back. Those beer goggles wouldn't have helped either I imagine.

We were ready for the off for 11 o'clock on Saturday and took a bit of a detour to Pembridge and Dunkertons Cider Farm, part of the Herefordshire Cider Trail and one of the best ones we have sampled. Their cider is always the same standard and I think they sell some via Waitrose so you just know it will be good. I like their Black Fox cider. Mind you I didn't think I would fancy drinking again for a bit after the night we had just had in Eardlisland.

We headed off for our next campsite but before we got to Leominster we saw a sign for cheese and decided to follow it. There was a lovely little cheese shop with their own Hereford cheese and organic bread so we bought some and knew lunch was sorted when we got to our next campsite.

County No.3: Shropshire

We drove up through Ludlow and turned left up a B road through a golf course towards Much Wenlock. What a lovely road, we hardly saw another vehicle. We were heading for Sytche Camp site just outside Much Wenlock.

Much Wenlock - taken as we arrived

Sunny day (not when we were there!)

After parking up we went for a look round, it really is very picturesque and feels as if you have gone back in time, I think this is becasue there weren't any chain stores there. At about 4.30pm the heavens opened. We took shelter in the Talbot Inn where we met a local character with mutton chops who told us about how he had seen Hayley Westonra at Shrewsbury flower show that week. She was wearing a pink organza dress and looked "very romantic" in his opinion. A few minutes after our conversation we spotted he had dropped off to sleep in the pub. V. funny. We had a lovely meal in the Talbot Inn, very 1970s, but we like that sort of food so it suited us fine.

About 7.30 we headed back to site, it was still raining and we were glad we were parked at the bottom of the site to give us some shelter from the gales that were forecast. We were warm and cosy in the van and relaxed in front of the telly for the rest of the night.

The next day we headed for home, passing the V festival site at Weston Park near Telford. We had a great time, and would recommend all the sites we stayed at.

Moretonhampstead 19th July

We left Cornwall on Saturday morning and headed into Devon, calling in to see Matt, Pip and Mari. Bliddy typical - hot and sunny. Matt wowed us with his vegetable garden. He sure has green fingers.

Trevornick, Holywell Bay 14-19th July

On Monday morning we headed off down the coast to our usual Cornish camping spot at Trevornick inbetween Newquay and Perranporth. We met up with our friends Jo and Phil who'd arrived on the Saturday. So 2 vans became 3 :-)

Bluebird & Flossy

Phil & Jo's van

As usual for this trip the weather was awful, gales, rain and general grey most of the time. I must admit I was feeling a bit travel weary when we arrived at Trevornick. I blame the weather. Anyway it was great to see Jo and Phil, even though we didn't spend much time with them, as we all did our own thing and met up later on, or if we happened to be at the same place. While we were there we went into Truro, Newquay and Perranporth. This was our 4th or 5th visit to Trevornick and we think it is time for a change next year.

Look...the sun is shining. Jo and Phil in Perranporth

Gordon and Rachel - colour coordinated!

Pound shop shades - Cool! / Perranporth beach

Higher Harlyn near Padstow 12-14th July

A photo of the sunset taken from our pitch at St Merryn on Saturday night.

We moved on to St Merryn on the Saturday morning. We had decided to stay at the C&CC holiday site next door to Higher Harlyn Holiday Park. Sarah and Jon were a bit concerned about the lack of electricity on the holiday site so when we arrived we asked how much it was to stay in the proper site with electric. £28 a night. We were shocked. £28 a night to camp, and that was before the schools broke up. There's no doubt the main site was a nice field with a nice view but the showers/loos weren't as good as cheaper places we have been. So we followed through our plans and drove through the site to the rally field and booked in with the stewards from the Birmingham District Association. £12 a night with the use of all the facilities at Higher Harlyn. Fantastic. We were greeted by 2 brummie pensioners who brewed up while we filled in our booking forms. Lovely people.

After we got settled we jumped on a bus and went into Padstow. Gordon and I headed across the fields from the campsite to the bus stop. We didn't have to wait long until the little green bus turned up. Unfortunately Sarah and Jon just missed it, and we saw them as we sped past. We met up an hour or two later and went to Rick Stein's for fish and chips. Gordon and I had plaice and chips and a scallop each. Last year they were absolutely fabulous. This year they were the greasiest chips we had ever been served. The fish was lovely but even the scallop was swimming in fat. It comes served in a shell and there was a puddle of oil in there too. What a disapointment. We couldn't believe the difference in standard to our previous visit. Sort it out Rick please.



We headed back into the town centre for a mooch round. And I managed to take a tumble on the quayside. HOW EMBARRASSING. I grazed my knee and gave everyone a good laugh! No alcohol was involved either (honest guv). Ah well I survived even though I hobbled around for the next few days.



Gordon and I headed over to the club bar in the evening and we were impressed by the surroundings and the live music. Lovely. Best of all we heard the weather forecast for Sunday. A proper sunny day.

The beautiful Harlyn Bay beach - and blue skies :-)

After breakfast we made a picnic and headed down to Harlyn Bay which was about a 15 minute walk away. This was great for Gordon as he had had many happy holidays there with his parents when he was little. He said it looked exactly the same. And the weather report was correct - it was actually hot!

One of the funniest things of the day was that we discovered that Sam didn't like walking on sand. We had to build a path for him with beach mats so he could move about. Mind you, it meant you could plonk him on a mat and he was trapped. For once you didn't have to keep playing the chase me chase me game.

At the beach we met a new monster man - called NODROG.

At the end of the afternoon we went over to the Harlyn Inn for a few drinks and to listen to the entertainment, 2 guys on guitars who were very good and gave us a laugh with their banter.