The last few days on home soil!

26th August

4 more days until we board the ferry! 

Today we have moved to a new site called RiverValleyholidaypark.co.uk which is situated 3 miles from Mevagissey in Cornwall. The site has all hardstanding pitches which is a saviour with all this rain!

Another well kept site with a cycle path directly behind the site to Mevagissey and St Austell so the bikes came out for the first time for 5 days we were in need of food and provisions.  We had passed a couple of large supermarkets before arriving at the site but a lot of them don't seem to cater for large vehicles like Bessie so we have to pitch up on site and use the bikes to find the supermarket but its much more fun and of course we could stop at a pub along the way for a short liquid lunch!

Pentewan Sands beach

                                                         The fun Pentewan cycle trail

                                                 A Cornish house preparing for more rain!

 27th August.
This morning was so peaceful, no rain or wind or the sound of people arguing because their tents are soaked and they heave to pack it all in the car and the kids are fed up waiting, just birds singing! Does that mean we are going to have a nice day? I usually wake up around 8 get up and push up a blind to see if anyone is up and usually there is the odd person wandering over to the toilet block in their pjs but usually everyone is still tucked up or just cant be bothered to open their blinds it is so cosy when you shut yourself away in your own little space. Neil makes the most of the bed to himself by sprawling out like a starfish for another hour or so. I will put the kettle on and catch up with my blog and I will open the odd blind so i can watch whats going on outside too. The family opposite us are obviously here with their friends because they have matching awnings and bbqs along with a never-ending windbreak that edges their pitches and says to everyone else this is our pitch, do not enter! You do wonder how they get in themselves!  Its funny what people do with their square patch of grass and its usually the caravanners not all and nothing against them we had one once but they do tend to mark their patch with all sorts of equipment! We have seen full sets of tables and chairs with parasols and heaters attached, solar lights, huge tv ariels, boats and even Chimmineas!
Neil is stirring and has just grunted so that means are you putting the kettle on Rachel? thats my me time for today, love him x
After catching up with the washing at a cheaper £3 a load, we headed off on the 4 mile bike trail to Mevagissey. Another very pretty working fishing harbour with lots little shops again i did buy a little something for Bessie!

Mevagissey Fishing Port

After fish and chips on the harbour in the pouring rain and chatting to the owner who was raving about his fresh fish and chips whilst he was eating a veggie quiche! He had been a fisherman for 35 years and had decided to start up a mobile fish and chip service on the Harbour front, he wished he was back on the boat catching fish as it was longer hours running a catering business than catching fish!
On our cycle ride home we found an Adult Only site called the Meadows,  it had 2 little vintage caravans for hire  and I couldn't resist taking a picture of one, they were so cute!

Lottie

29th August
We are now at our final site RiversideCaravanpark.co.uk which is 3 miles from the centre of Plymouth and our Ferry! You would never know this pretty site was here, we drove through a Retail park and then a Industrial estate and a park and ride and yes we did get lost finding it! They told us the river would be on your right when you leave the big roundabout, well when you could actually see the river it was on our left! Another call to the site via a Sainsburys shop taking up 4 parking spaces to park Bessie, we found the site!
There are quite a few permanent retired residents staying here and word soon got round of Bessie, she was the talk of the site and she had a few visitors enquiring about her and then about us but we did get lots of info from a retired man who also has a motorhome stored here and has been travelling abroad for 14 yrs, he has stayed on some of the sites we are looking at so it was interesting for us anyway.
There is a lovely outdoor pool too here and quite fancy a dip IF it warms up today! Sorry... Neil is snoring and its putting me off typing hang on.. i will cough that usually stops him...........yep that did it!
I have taken a photo from Bessies window, the time is 8.55am and no one is up yet apart from 2 little boys in their onesies on scooters carrying a pint of milk from the shop for mum and dads cuppa probably. Touring is such hard work you know!

8.55am as you can see its sunny again!

The Kettle for my morning cuppa keeps blowing the electric so i had to find my little camping kettle I bought in Padstow out to try and its like a little dolls kettle! probably enough for 2 cups of tea so Neil will have to wait for his.

                                                              Can you see the Kettle!?

At our last site a little Robin came to Bessies door he came every morning. They say a Robin is a symbolic sign of someone that has passed away whether it is a myth or not I will hold on to that and hope it is my sister because another Robin has appeared at this new site as i am typing away....it has made my day.

Tapas Treat Lunch in Plymouth

Tomorrow morning we board the 7 hour ferry to Roscoff, i am nervous but excited too, I wonder what lies in store for us?  Well the trial run around Cornwall is now complete and with only one hiccup with the leaking pipe everything is now working and now the Real Adventure Begins!

20th August 

Today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary and we are treating ourselves to a meal  

on the Harbour front called Pucellis.co.uk A first floor Italian restaurant with lovely views of the harbour front.

August 21st-26th  St Ives Cornwall

An hour and half drive to our next site 3 miles from St ives is Trevalagantouringsite.co.uk
Another site with very modern facilities and its own bus service into St Ives that runs every half hour which is great for us as its pouring with rain and the mist is covering the whole site so no bikes today!

Showers

Washing up room

  

Laundry Room @ £4 a wash £1 x 20 mins Dryer

                                                         


 St Ives has lots of little shops to browse around i bought a little camping kettle for when we can't use the kettle on low amp sites and Neil bought a hat for when the sun eventually shines again he looks like some dodgy dealer, but i won't tell him that!

Neils filling his tank!

Sunset over Trevalagan

                                                               Its stopped raining!

                                                     A cheeky Pimms on the waterfront!

                                                        Think Neils had too much sun!
23rd August
The sun finally came out today and the mood on the camp has lifted everyone is cheerful and the smell of bacon is in the air again. A fry up always tastes better when you cook it outside!

Even the toaster is outside today! 

Our one day of Sun!

                                       
24th August
Overnight we had more rain tents packed up and left then new arrivals with tents set up not realising how soaked the last lot got. They leave all their chairs and remnants from the night before outside and  its all wet by the morning. We have a birdseye view from Bessie, our pitch looks straight down the camping field! I do feel sorry for them all but I've been there and done that so I'm happy to sit back and watch now.  One couple set up here on Friday they arrived all excited (it wasn't raining then) they had obviously bought a new tent for the occasion they eventually got the tent up and then they decided to pull out a whopping great black push-up gazebo with 3 black sides to it, it looked like a tardis on the end of their tent! They just popped it up and forgot to peg it down and in the morning it was on its side luckily it didn't hit anyone else tent and they had to pack it up in the rain because it had leaked everywhere! Anyone thinking of camping don't bring a gazebo unless it is a proper camping one with guy ropes they are called Day tents, my friends will remember mine as it became our communal lounge with windows on both sides so we had a 180 degree view of newcomers pitching up tents!

                                                                The Black Tardis!

We caught the bus again into town the roads to the site are too narrow to use the bikes i havant seen one person on a bike here so i think thats telling us something! We then caught another bus to Penzance. We walked to the harbour which was nothing special apart from a pirate ship that had been turned into a pirate shop for kids, I'm not sure how many visitors they got  because the sign outside said bring your children in at your own risk as they may be chopped up or thrown overboard! Well if i was a child that could read i wouldn't be setting foot in there! would you!

That was the only interesting thing we saw all day really apart from when i bought a sausage roll to eat because we couldn't find a nice cafe to sit in i stood eating it overlooking the lovely harbour when a seagull swooped in from nowhere hit the side of my head and took off half my sausage roll!! That was the end of our trip to Penzance we decided to catch the open top bus home (Neils idea) seemed a good idea until we got going then it was absolutely freezing! I was so glad to see Bessie at the end of today!

25th August
What a surprise, we have woken up to more downpours! I really don't like this country anymore it looks like winter outside and most of these poor families out here are probably on their main holiday of the year! My advice is don't waste your money on a tent go abroad! The wifi here is £3 a day and today it isn't even working I'm trying to load photos and its like watching paint dry! Even the 3G isn't loading. If there is one thing that is bugging me so far it is the sites lack of good internet they advertise the whole site is Wifi well it is but it takes forever to do anything!  Our last day here on this site thank god, it feels like we've been here a month! Hurry up Ferry we can't wait to board!

   
                                                   




                                                 

15th August, 2015
Our last day in Devon today, we have said our last goodbyes to everyone now for a while, seems strange it's just the 3 of us now.  We decided to take a long bike ride to the pub well just down the hill to the pub for a light refreshment and then onto the fish and chip shop!  With full tums we thought a little more excersise was needed so we pedalled up to the lighthouse at Mortenhoe point. Pedal power was needed on the way home some steep hills again but the views were stunning!
Well that's our time done in Devon its gone so quick, we have really enjoyed our stay here despite the hiccups. Tomorrow we move on to Cornwall.

                                                                    Me and Betty!

                                                           Bike ride to the lighthouse

We did have fish too!

                                                                  Can you see Neil!

                                                                The Watering hole!

                                                            We will miss this view.


16th August
Padstow Cornwall

After stocking up the fridge at Tesco and filling Bessie up with Diesel and water (she can hold 110 litres of water no problem) we are ready for  our next stay. We arrived at our 3rd site Padstowtouringpark.co.uk and first impressions are lovely. We have a large multi-serviced pitch (water, Drainage and waste) which saves Neils legs for 5 days!  This is the most expensive site we have booked at £35 a night but it is Padstow!  The site has very large spacious pitches with a private grass area. The toilet/shower facilities are probably the best i have seen and very posh! Yes i have been using the showers on sites but only if they are clean!
There is another Bessie on the site her owners Brian and Patricia from Cumbria soon spotted us and came over to chat, its funny what brings people together.
Time to catch up on a bit of washing and ironing, this site have all new facilities but they charge £4.50 for one 40 min wash so won't be doing much here Neil will have to wear his pants inside out or the Scrubba may have to come out! The Scrubba is Bessies version of a washing machine, it is a large green heavy duty bag with nodules on the bottom you fill it up with hot soapy water and seal the bag and scrub a bit like the old washboard effect I used it at the last site and it is good for small items.
I have a foldaway ironing board and a 700w baby iron and its brilliant!

                                                      The Posh Loos and Showers!

                                                             Our Pitch at Padstow

                                                             Our site from the footpath

                                                                Padstow Harbour

The Cafe on the Hill

                                                                Rick Steins Patisserie

The last 2 days have been hot and sunny and Padstow is very busy so glad we can walk in without having to park a car. The harbour is very pretty with lots of lovely little shops and restaurants, the cafe on the hill just off the harbour has amazing views. We spent the morning on the beach and today we biked the Camel Trail which is a disused railway line which stretches from Padstow to Looe we biked 14 miles to Wadebridge thats quite good for me and i didn't use the electric until we got back to Padstow then it gets steep! Its good not relying on a car you have to think of other ways to get to places and its surprising how many cycle paths there are.
Time for a Pimms now i think for all my hard work today and a Nutella Crepe from a food stall went down very well!

                                                                   The Camel Trail

         Hawkers Cove, Padstow

The Campsite on a Hill!

19th August - Today is a washout and the rain hasn't let up so we are chilling in Bessie for a while cooking some lunch and maybe watch a film and catch up with my blog etc. I think wine o'clock will be earlier tonight!

We said Goodbye to Patricia and Brian and their friends Judith and Mike it was lovely to meet them and we will be staying in touch!

1st stop: Tiverton Somerset.

9th August 2015

One of Bessies new gadgets the Tom Tom Truck had its first test on the journey down to Somerset,
it warned us of a part of the M5 that was closed due to a road traffic accident and took us off the M5 on a detour of 3 miles then straight back onto the M5 this new gadget worked and saved us hours of sitting in a jam! Brilliant! As we approached the M5 the other side of the accident,we saw the extent of the delay! This gadget is well worth the money!

We had our first break at the side of the road which was noisy but so cool! We just swivelled our cab seats round walked into the kitchen area turned on a tap made a drink made sandwiches sat in a comfy lounge, took a toilet break without stepping into any services for rip off food! It was great and didn't cost us a penny!
After a short break we headed to our first campsite minnowstouringpark.co.uk As we were driving along with the tunes blaring out our fellow motorhomers that were driving past us kept waving at us?  We wondered if something was wrong with Bessie some were flashing their lights but we couldn't see anything wrong? We couldn't work it out. We have since found out that apparently according to the site warden we are part of the club now and we should wave back! What a friendly lot!
We arrived at the first site after a 4 hr 20min journey and the Caravan Club site is their usual standard, immaculate and well run facilities and very clean shower facilities, so Neil will be trying out the showers later. After a walk along the canal which backs onto the site we settled in for the evening with a well earnt G&T and a fish finger sandwich!

10th August  The Wrong Turn


The road behind the site along with the rain in the night  I didn't get the best nights sleep but we are only here for one night and after lovely fry up and a few cuppas, we were soon on our way to our
next site near Ilfracoombe, Devon.

The final part of our journey was hair raising to say the least! The brilliant Tom Tom decided send us down a single track road that was supposed to be the road to the site......it was a dead end road to a farm! Bessie had to squeeze down this one way road with the hedges skimming her sides and a van coming towards us! The van had to reverse 300yds to a lay-by and there was no end to this road! We finally came to a farm i called the site and she said "Oh have you used your sat nav? its the next turning!!!" So why is there no sign!

The Hair Raising Wrong Turn!

     
Neil managed to turn Bessie around and we then had to back up the one way track only to find another motorhome coming towards us obviously looking for the same site! Neil had to reverse again to a lay-by where within an inch we managed to pass! We arrived at our second site DamageBarton.co.uk a little stressed! The site is situated high up on a hill and we have a pitch overlooking the sea. Another immaculate site with very spacious hardstanding pitches.  The awning is up along with the bunting and fairly lights so alls good.  We rode our electric bikes to Neils sons site about a mile over the hill and boy i am glad my bike is electric no effort at all i could see people staring as if to say how on earth are they not getting out of breath until they get closer and realise we are cheats! Who cares its fun!

August 11th   Bessie sprung a Leak!

We woke up this morning to a wet carpet and leak!!  One of the pipes had come loose but we couldn't get to it as it was behind the cooker.  As soon as we started the water pump the water sprayed everywhere and came up through the floor!  Neil called Swift to try and find a dealer close by, the closest workshop was 45 miles away from our site and they were fully booked for 2 weeks!  We then had to ask for help from the site and luckily there was a registered repairer 2 miles up the road but they wanted us to take Bessie up to them.  That meant taking down the awning and packing everything away! Bessie had a pipe that had come loose as we thought behind the cooker and she was soon fixed thank goodness so it was back to the campsite to set up once again! phew! In the evening we met Neils son grandson Bailey his partner Charlotte and her family for a meal.


August 12th   A Brighter Day

This morning we woke up to a dry Bessie and everything working again. We had breakfast in the awning with a wonderful view of the sea and not a cloud in the sky. We packed up our bikes and headed off to Woolacoombe beach to meet Neils son and Grandson and Charlottes family.

The ride down to the beach was so much fun and most of it was downhill, coming back up proved to be a real test for the electric bikes!  After a great day with everyone and catching the waves on huge rubber rings we headed back to Bessie. The steep hills were pushing the bikes to their limits but they managed it, just!

Bike ride uphill!

Charlotte and me

Neil tried out his new electric griddle to cook tea and it worked a treat, this will be a great addition when we have electric included on pithes. The scenery around this lovely site is stunning with panoramic views out to sea the site covers 16 acres of ground and is only 2 miles from the award winning 3 mile long Woolacoombe beach. Most pitches have a view of the sea and are hardstanding.The only downside is the poor wifi its taken me 4 days to post this blog!
Tomorrow the forecast is heavy rain so we've battened down the hatches and see what the morning brings. We are cosy inside Bessie I'm writing my blog and Neil is in bed......and snoring!
Nite all.

Neil cooking tea!

Sunset over the site

Dinner with the family!

14th August
Another night of heavy rain and gales but everything is intact and we are cosy, Neil has stubbed his toe twice this morning and i can't help laughing because he always does it in the same place! We will try out the bikes into Mortenhoe  our local village later if weather allows us but now i think its time for a fry up brunch!