Josie's 21st

Sunday 30 September

Well, we have had a great weekend with all the family and special friends joining us for Josie's 21st Birthday bash at Tutbury's Dog and Partridge. What a fantastic night we had and we are so grateful to everyone who travelled from all over the country to share the day.

Here a are a few pictures to show what was going on....

Morning after the night before....

We left Burton on Trent in the morning to return Josie and Paul to Reading. After lunch with them we headed off for Dover arriving at about 4pm. We then spent the remaining daylight preparing campy for the journey through France and Spain.

Bye bye West Country

Thursday 27 September

We were up early again today, it is becoming a bit of a habit and we don’t like it. It’s all go now and will be so till we arrive in Malaga for out winter break. First we have to go back to Burton on Trent for Josie’s 21st birthday bash. We needed to get an early start as we need to go to the store to drop off all the final bits of camping gear that we can do with out and the bits that were left over from the alterations to the front of Campy. It filled the floor of the van!

So we were up and ready to go to shower when looking out the window we saw the middle aged lady from the campervan next door ambled over to the shower block in front of us. No matter we thought, as we have a load of washing to put in the washer and by the time Petra had sorted it, she would surely have finished. No chance, 10 minutes later Petra came back to the van and explained the lady was still in the shower. It turns out she would push the button on the wall starting the flow of water. all would go quiet and about one minute or so later she would press the button again! The amazing thing is it really was cold in the shower block because there is no heating. Another 10 minutes later and there was still no sign of the lady. Kev decided to go in and have his shave and find out what was going on. 

Inside the block it was exactly as Petra had said and the shower would only intermittently go on. He carried on having his shave and cleaned his teeth. As the shower lady was still working on the best way to get a constant flow back to the van Kev went. 45 minutes later out she comes without a by your leave and ambling back to her van. Kevin was out the van like a shot and passing her on the way, she grinned nicely and made no comment, Kevin grimaced likewise and also made no comment.

Both eventually showered and breakfasted we set off at 9.00am arriving at Portsmouth storage depot at 11.30am. we unloaded the things for storage and took them up to the room. It took us till 13.30pm to finish all the things we needed to do including sorting our new space in the van. Once finished we signed out and made our way to the campsite for the evening. 

We are now on a farm CL not far from Newbury.

Dorchester for the day

Wednesday 26 September

Up early again today, it was still dark for goodness sake! Anyway we dressed and breakfasted like yesterday and we were off at 8.10 to Dorchester VW garage arriving at 8.45am. Not much happens in Dorchester till 9.30am so we sat in the reception area drinking their coffee and reading out of date issues of ‘Top Gear’, nearly fell asleep again.

We were told the van was going to take all day so we needed to occupy ourselves till mid afternoon at the earliest. Before we walked into town we went to the body shop and explained to the manager that we had had a front spoiler fitted and would he check over the installation. Kev was not happy about the gap between the spoiler and the bumper. The manager confirmed that it could be better and he would arrange for it to be sorted by the time we came back to collect the vehicle. We have been so impressed with the service, We couldn’t thank him enough - VW Dorchester ‘We Salute you’.

The walk into Dorchester from the garage is not that far but it is all uphill, quite a climb too. We then did some shopping till about 11.00am. Petra, as we know, is a fan of Thomas Hardy and his house ‘Max House’ is on the outskirts of Dorchester. We made our way there and flashed out NT cards as we went in. The house was quite interesting and designed by Hardy himself. We didn’t realise that he was a fully trained up and awarded architect. A typical Victorian house really, quite dark as you would expect, except in the study which had large glassed windows which he used to bang on when we was not happy with the gardeners.

We spent a good hour in the house and thought the visit was interesting as were the staff and volunteers. We walked back into Dorchester town centre to have some lunch. Wetherspoons were doing an unbelievable offer of two meals for £5 so we went in to take a look. Thankfully, all the tables were in use. We thanked our lucky stars for the close shave we had had and out of spite, used the loos on the way out.

Petra had of course packed a picnic lunch requiring only bread so we hot footed it into M&S and got some mini rolls. We sat on a bench outside enjoying our apple smoked cheddar rolls and plum tom’s. The only thing that spoilt it was a religious man standing nearby with a blackboard and easel. On it was the word (written vertically) J E S U S. He had then turned it in to an acronym at which point we turned off and did some people watching. Isn’t it strange how friends wear the same type and colour of clothes? 

There was  a rumpus with a small boy who was adamant he was not going into Poundland. Frankly, we could see his point but it made no difference and he was pushed through the door with a promise of a bag of crisps and a Coke. You could head the poor little chap at the other end of the shop still complaining bitterly. Also outside Poundland was a ‘well to do’ man who also didn’t fancy running the gauntlet and was standing waiting for his wife to buy the necessary. The thing was he had a very nice camera, a beautiful Leica which he wore across his chest and guarded it with his life. No surprise really as you need a mortgage to buy one.

We did a bit more shopping and wondered back to the garage for 2pm. We were quite tired by now and didn’t care if Campy wasn’t ready we just wanted to sit down and the coffee is free and very reasonable. 3pm and Campy was delivered back to us windows fixed and bumper sorted all FOC. Fantastic, we feel we are now ready to go.

New windows for Campy...

Tuesday 25 September

So, this morning it felt really strange to have to get up for an appointment, especially as we haven't had to be anywhere at a given time for three months. Still needs must and we were up at 6.30am showered and ready to go by 8am. Today is the day Campy gets the windows sorted. We arrived at the VW garage at about 8.30am and handed in the keys to the reception. We then waited.....

Eventually, after two very good cups of coffee we were told the news. One of the windows has been replaced and all is well with that one but the one over the hob does as suspected need to be replaced. So it's back again for a second day. This time it's an all day job as the stuff they stick the window on with needs time to cure. On the up side we won't have to pay to park the van in the car park and we can have the whole day in Dorchester, plus the van will be fixed before we head off to spain.

We came back to the campsite for lunch and spent the afternoon planning the start of the route through france. Looks like our first stop will be Reims on one of the many Aires in France. We think we will do about 200 miles or so a day through France till we get to Monaco and then take our time driving along the Rivera and Med coast till we arrive in Malaga on 27 October. We can't really see the point in making a fixed route and planning every day, we would much rather let thinks happen en Route as it were. In other words we will sort it out as we go along it will all become apparent as we go. You can do that when you don't have a schedule.

Anyway, its up early again tomorrow for us....

Campy gets a weigh-in

Monday 24 September

It didn't half blow last night, the rain really didn't stop all day and we got quite a dowsing. One thing the rain did confirm 'Campy' has a leak. Well two leaks actually!! The sliding windows in the side door door and above the hob both dripped a small but constant amount of water. We stuffed a piece of thick kitchen towel (not the thin crappy Tesco value stuff you understand) under the runner and in the morning you could wring them out. We did know there was a small leak but the shocking weather highlighted how bad it was.

As it was still raining when we got out of out of the Duvalay's we decided we should get this looked at before it's too late and we are on our way to Spain. The local VW commercial garage is in Dorchester or is it Casterbridge? Without making an appointment we drove to the garage and we were amazed at the attention we were given. An engineer came to look at at the windows immediately, he tried the windows one by one and knew straight away what was wrong with them.

He announced that the sliding window over the hob was faulty and could be easily removed and replaced. This is apparently a well know problem with the T5. He thought that would solve the problem with that one. The other window in the sliding door he suspected would require the whole window assembly to be replaced. However, first they would try to replace the sliding window as with the other in order to see if that worked, but if not, it would have to go.

I explained the situation with him over us leaving the area on Thursday and we were not returning to the UK for 6 months and he said 'right we will order the parts today, you come in first thing in the morning and we will swap the two windows over and test them for leaks. If that works then fine but if not we will have it back in on Wednesday and we will swap the whole window assembly over.'

What fantastic service VW Dorchester - we salute you...8.45am tomorrow then watch this space for an update.

Whilst Kevin was sorting out Campy, Petra was in Lidl stocking up with chocolate, when she came back we went to Tesco's and filled up with fuel, not that we needed it but we had a 5p off voucher that expired today and every penny counts. Then we went to have Campy weighed on a weigh bridge. We needed to know for ferries and besides we have no idea if we are over our limit.

As we know, Campy is a Volkswagen T5 - T30 140 Converted Transporter. Now, the T30 means that the maximum weight load the van can carry is 3000kg or 3 tonnes. The completed van from Bilbo weighed in at 2326kg So that means for maximum user payload is 674kg which includes the two of us, all fuel and water, the equipment we have put in and everything else I can't think of.

We arrived at the weigh bridge which was at the local scrap yard...Campy looked resplendent all new and shiny amid all the twisted metal and mud. Kev went to see the man in the office and he showed him where the bridge was stated it cost £5 for the service. We took a few things out of the boot which are not going with us and left them on the side, Onto the bridge Campy popped and it turns out she weighs 2820kg. Not bad really, so we have 180kg to spare, enough for the tea bags, coffee and chocolate we are taking with us.

Next we went to Tesco again, this time to get food and some provisions to take with us. As we pulled up in the car park Kev remembered the things we had taken out of the boot at the weigh bridge were still sitting there so he made a quick get away to retrieve them whilst Petra went around Tesco. Thankfully they were still there. Back at Tesco, we have been waiting all summer for the 1kg bag of Lavazza beans to be on offer but alas we had to pay the £12.95 on the ticket. We have 1.5kg of coffee to last us the 6 months we are away, hope it's enough?

Unbelievably, by the time we had finished and arrived back at the camp site, it was 3pm. Another day gone.

Rain stopped play....

Sunday 23 September

Easy day today, it rained non stop all day. We stayed in the van with the heater on and did a bit of admin listening to slide guitar blues on the iPod through the radio system 'Nice'. The campsite has almost emptied of caravans, wonder why?

Portland Bill

Saturday 22 September

We have been looking forward to today as we are meeting Kevin’s sister Carol and Warwick. They came to see us for the day from Chard which is about an hour and a bit away. They arrived at 10.30 and after a cup of coffee we were on our way to Portland Island.

We made our way to Portland Bill and parked up in the pay and display car park. The first thing that strikes you about the area is how barren it is. Clearly, a wind swept and stripped landscape. It must be horrendous in a storm. Luckily for us we had a great day weather wise, it was cold and breezy but sunny and we were warm enough with coats and fleeces on.

We made our way down to the Old Bill and had a good look around the lighthouse outside. Unfortunately, the lighthouse tour is not operating on Saturdays so we were unable to go inside. Venturing on to the end of Portland it is very rocky and quite dramatic. It can take some scrambling over huge slabs of rock to get near the sea and on to the Pulpit a huge Stack that we saw people jumping off. They were clearly mad adrenaline junkies. We thought Warwick was going to climb one at one stage but it was a false alarm. 

The Pulpit

Tombstoning 

Carol and Kevin

Verne Medium Security Prison

We had a look in the visitors centre and then went back to Campy for lunch. We sat outside on the chairs eating our wraps in the nice sunshine and breeze. After lunch we took Carol and Warwick to the view point that we had seen earlier over looking Chesil Beech. We then walked along the top of the hill towards what turned out to be the Victorian Prison. A fascinating building which looked impregnable and was built into the hillside. We then went down a track that led to ‘The Battery’. 

The Battery turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. The High Angle Battery is derelict fort built in 1892. The Battery was built as part of Britain's Coastal Defences in 1892 and is located in a disused Portland Stone quarry at the northern end of the island. Just to the north, at the top of high cliffs of Portland is the Verne Citidel with which it would have formed part of an impressive defence instillation, protecting both merchant and navy shipping using Portland Harbour

Being down in a quarry the guns were hidden from view of any passing enemy ships, the element of surprise would keep them moving on, minimising a possible threat. The "high angle" that the RML 12 inch 9 Tonne guns fired at ensured shells dropped down to inflict maximum damage on the less well protected upper decks of any attacking vessel, the sides of which were usually rather better armoured.

Positions were built for eight guns but in the event only six were installed. The supply of shells were stored in underground magazines reached by a short rail. Shelters for the men were also to be found here, their main accommodation being in the adjacent Verne buildings.

The pace of maritime warfare increased with the use of smaller craft like Torpedo boats and the big guns would be far less likely to score a hit. As a result, they had been in use for just six years when they were taken out of service in 1898. The Battery was decommissioned in 1906, a short lifespan on the whole. Nevertheless the idea was adopted elsewhere with some enthusiasm, especially in the United States.

The Portland installation is the best preserved Battery of its type in the UK and is a scheduled ancient monument but remains hidden from view. 

We ventured into the magazines, a collection of tunnels and rooms off. They are supposed to be haunted but we didn’t see anything remotely spooky. Mind you we wouldn’t like to go there at night!!

We made our way back to the van and drove to the Chesil Beech Heritage Centre and had a lovely cream tea with clotted cream and a strawberry on top. We then went to watch the Kite Surfing in the harbour but it was too cold and windy to stay long and we headed back to the camp site.

We have had a lovely day with Carol and Warwick and we look forward to seeing them next week at Josie’s 21st.

A busy day in Dorset!

Friday 21 September 

What a busy day we had today! It all started off ok with a leisurely get up. It is really starting to get a bit cooler in the mornings now and is a sign for sure that southern France and Spain are calling. Mind you the cold is nothing to the Pendleton blankets and we are lovely and warm in bed. So warm neither of us want to get up in the morning to put the kettle on. Luckily, we do not have to get out of bed to put the heater on and when we do it is roasting in no time at all.

We decided that we would do 5 things today, first was Lulworth Cove,then Durdle Door next, the Tolpuddle Martyrs museum and on to Thomas Hardy’s Cottage. Oh, and the 5th is Morrison’s - we are completely out of food.

So, first stop Lulworth Cove. Kevin has sailed past the cove on a number of occasions but has never been into the cove before. Lulworth Cove is of course famous for the geology that makes it. It must be a geologists heaven. We learnt from watching the DVD (£12.99 available at the counter) that in fact the cove is made of 5 different types of stone Portland Stone, Purbeck limestone, Wealden lay, Greensand and chalk. Over time the sea and weather has eroded the minerals and washed it all away making what we see today. It is of course still eroding and eventually it will disappear, no doubt as previous coves have done so before them. 

We had a leisurely walk around the small village which is predominately geared up for the tourist industry with a few shops and restaurants. We then made our way down the road to the beach a saw the cove for the first time. It’s great, very impressive and you can spend quite some time just looking at the huge slabs of Portland rock next to the softer clay and chalk. It easy to see how over time the sea has taken its toll.

We then walked up to the top of the hill and took a look at Stair Hole which is an erosion in action. You can see where the sea has broken through the Portland stone and made caves which have collapsed and been washed away. Eventually, this ‘hole’ will join up with Lulworth and the Cove will be changed forever. 

After a look around the Heritage centre we made our way to Durdle Door, It is only a couple of miles from the Cove but much higher up the cliffs. We drove through a campsite to get to the car park which felt a bit odd but came out the other end to a large pay and display car park. The walk down to Durdle Door is steep and the path is powdered Portland stone which makes it slippy under foot. The walk down is well worth it as you are rewarded with a fantastic views of the massive arch and across to Portland island. The beach is made of small pieces of ground stone (fish tank size). We arrived back up the top hot and ready for lunch.

Next it was off to the Tolpuddle Martyrs museum. There are a lot of ‘Puddles” around these parts, Tolpuddle being one of them. The museum was built by the unions and has 6 houses (Alms houses I suppose) for people who have served the unions well through their lives. We didn’t see Arthur there though!! The museum is very small but quite interesting if you are interested in how unions came about and the suffering of the Tolpuddle 6 it really is a shocking story of how things used to be. 

Finally, we went to Thomas Hardy’s Cottage. This is something Petra had been looking forward to for ages as she is an avid reader of his works. We parked Campy in the small car park and made our way along the path through the woods. It was a lovely walk and reminded us of the woodlands in Sutton Park where we both were raised. Eventually the path brings you to the back of the cottage and you have to walk around the other side to gain entry.

The cottage is lovely, thatched and rustic with a cottage garden, well past its best by now but still showing charm and interest. In the house the first thing that we noticed was the smoke. Unfortunately, the fire had been lit and the house was full of smoke. We think it was because the air was so still there was no draft to take the smoke away. Anyway, we made our way around the cottage with its whitewashed walls and uneven floors. There was lots of information in each room about it’s use in Hardy’s day. Small rooms and very low beams.

Finally we stocked up on provisions in Morrison’s before making our way back to the site in Chickerill.

Weymouth

Thursday 20 September

It would be rude to come all the way to Weymouth and not to go and have a look so, that’s where we were today. We are only 2.5 miles away from the centre of Weymouth but the walk is not a pleasant one so we decided to up-route Campy and take her in. The road from the campsite is one of the narrowest and windy roads we have been on and you certainly have to take your time venturing down it. There are a number of steep blind right angle turns to negotiate and on a couple of occasions we have met someone coming the other way. As we are the larger vehicle thankfully they feel obliged to reverse.

We were going to park in the Harbour side car park but we didn’t fancy it much as it was very full and busy. Instead we opted for the safer and quieter car park 200m back down the road. Safely tucked up side on to a hedge and over looking the river we left Campy to bask in her own beauty and show off the new front.

A short walk up the road brought us to the Victoria monument and the seaside coast of Weymouth. It has all the usual, fish n chips, penny arcades and shops selling nothing but crap. But it was fun walking along the front towards the new Weymouth Tower, a rising observation platform that was opened in July this year just in time for the Olympics. The beach is immaculate, pure white sand which we have a suspicion was put there for the games and we have never seen such nice sand in any UK beach. Just as on the continent the beach is cleaned and raked over to make it flat and patterned.

We than walked around to the old part of town and the harbour where we saw a tall ship which is based there. It's quite a picturesque part of Weymouth is full of old buildings including harbour side cottages, the Harbour office is an interesting old building and there are several pubs and clubs.  Next we went into the town centre and looked at the shops. Very much like any high street it has nothing to offer more that any other. We got a few bits before making our way back to Campy for lunch.

After lunch we walked along the beach in the other direction and had a go on the 2p slots in an arcade. Good fun for £2.50. We carried on to the end of the prom Greenhill Gardens and back along the main road to Campy. 3.30pm and we were back at the CL.

Campy gets a face lift!

Wednesday 19 September

We had to get up early today as we needed to get to Portland in Weymouth by 12.00am. Campy was booked in to have a new grille and spoiler fitted. We had breakfast and loaded the remainder of our things in Campy and set off at 8.00am. 

As always, it is very nice to have a break from Campy, but it is always great to get back on the road. After all Campy is our home and it felt really good to know that the van was so sorted and clean throughout. It was a trouble free journey and we made good time. Stephen took us along the coast road down to Weymouth and we stopped for a coffee on a lay-by looking down on Chesil Beach. The weather was glorious and the sun glistened on the sea. 

11.30am we arrived at the Vanworks and Campy was handed over to the care of the staff for the work to be carried out. It only took three quarters of an hour to to the work and she came out into the sunlight like a swan in new feathers. We love the upgrade and whilst we were there we saw all sorts of wonderful ideas for the future....maybe!

Before....

After....

By now we were hungry, as we were on Portland we drove up the hill to the top and parked up on a free car park overlooking Chesil Beach from the opposite end to that we had having coffee earlier. It was great and we enjoyed a short walk along the top of the hill taking in the views and photographs.

After lunch we drove back down the hill and along the narrow spit of land that connects Portland to Weymouth to a visitor centre and car park. From the car park there is a new wooden bridge that goes over a stretch of water that gives access to the beach itself. 

Chesil Beach is the most extensive and extraordinary accumulation of shingle in the world. It is not man made, nor as popular belief would have it , thrown up by a single night by a raging sea. In geological terms Chesil Beach was formed quite recently, 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. When it melted and the sea stabilised, a bank of pebbles 17 miles long, 200 metres wide rising to a hight of 13 metres was formed extending from Bridport to the foot of Portland.

The pebbles are amazing, the bank increases as they move towards to Portland and so does the size of the pebbles thanks to the westerly waves hitting the beach at an angle pushing and rolling the shingle inwards and along the to the south-east. Strange though it may seem it is the larger pebbles which move the most in stormy seas as they stand proud on the beach offering more resistance to the waves. Only when pebbles meet a mate of its own size is it likely to stay put.

We did wonder why there weren't  many people walking on the beach but soon found out why, the going is quite tough on the beach as the pebbles really slow you up. It’s also quite noisy so as spectacular as it is we had a nice short walk and returned to the visitor centre.

Now, those who know us well enough, will know we are rather partial to good well made coffee. We were surprised and delighted to see in the cafe of the visitor center an Electra Coffee Maker. We couldn’t resist it so 2 Americano’s were ordered and were fantastic. I include a photo of an Electra we saw at the Eden Project.

The CL we are on now is probably the best we have been on so far. Cowslip Cottage, Coldharbour, Chickerill in Dorset. It has spotless showers and toilet block, a washing machine, electric and a lovely view over the valley to sheep filled fields on the opposite side. We had a set up camp put the chairs and drank a G&T admiring Campy’s new face.


Helloooo.... ding dong.....!

A great day.....

Tuesday 18 September

This is our last day here at the lodge and we spent it doing final preparations for moving on to Weymouth. The Van was given a good clean and polish in readiness for its face lift tomorrow at Vanworx in Portland. We did a bit of last minute washing (and wait for it...) ironing, packed our bags and loaded it all in ready to go. 

We are so grateful to Sarah and Michael for allowing us to use the lodge it has been very restful and we have used the time wisely making sure we are ready to go to Spain. So, thanks again and don’t forget you are welcome to come and visit us in Riogordo.