Updated 30th October 2015
I have decided to keep the blog going in some sort of fashion, albeit probably not as frequent, one as a diary for ourselves, and also for friends and family who might be interested?
So what have we been up to since the last instalment ?
The sky over Delft tells me it's going to be a nice day tomorrow
From Delft we shot down through Belgium and into the Flemish province of West Flanders, and the town of Ypres. 50.847618 2.893380, a nice Aire besides the river overlooking the fortress walls of the town.
Ypres was completely devastated during the Great War, and after a walk around in the afternoon, we went to the Menin Gate monument, where the last post ceremony is played every evening at 8pm.
Many of these buildings were rebuilt after the Great War
The Menin Gate Monument
There are over 54,000 names on the walls, and that's only the names of the fallen who have no known grave.
The service was an haunting experience, something I remembered feeling having visited the Normandy beaches and it's cemeteries two years ago, such a sad loss of life.
6th July
We took Max into a vets in Ypres this morning, no big shakes as they administered the medicine in a chew and not a needle like the last time, a wise move by the vet, she obviously didn't want to loose any fingers.
So we are in France once again, in the fishing town of Grand Fort Philippe near Gravelines. 51.002522 2.107320 a free Aire alongside a canal.
Our view from the van as the evening set in.
A nice stop, quite a few British vans here also.
7th July
Our last night will be spent at Wissant 50.886669 1.670220, another free Aire, viva la France.
Wissant
You see this quite a lot on beaches in Europe, weather charts
Today we did our last shop, the last chance to stock up on drinks etc at more favourable prices than the UK. Wissant is also a free Aire, and a nice place to stop either before leaving or entering France.
8th July
Well after 8 months we re-enter blighty, the weather doesn't seem to have changed since November! On entering the Chunnel we noticed many migrants walking the side of the roads, and quite a few makeshift campsites dotted around the place, also the queue of lorries backed up extended both ways for some time, I feel sorry for the people of Calais.
Max was first up to get checked at his passport control, a quick look at his documents and a microchip scan and he was clear to go, next we entered the passport controls, our van was pulled to one side and inspected by the customs/gendarme, they asked where we had been and for how long, the sniffer dog gave it the three times over and they checked the garage, one look into the garage and they saw how packed it was, a quick chat in French ensued and the common consensus was bugger that and off we went.
Arriving in the UK operation stack was in force, and we drove over 20 miles of stacked lorries, the portaloo people were happy as there were hundreds along side the road.
We headed for Greywell and the Fox and Goose in Hampshire, I had the van booked in for the MOT and a service the following day in Aldershot. After settling in I spotted another van parked up that belonged to a friend we met last year at Greywell from the Wild Camping forum, Mike had been here two days and was on his way to Warwick, we arranged to have a beer later and catch up.
The Greywell Tunnel has more roosting bats than any other place in Britain,
with five different species
9th July
We took the van first thing into Aldershot to a firm called Tracts, and was told to come back later in the afternoon, so we strolled into the Garrison town. I was surprised to be honest of my misconception of what it would be like? Aldershot is not a bad place.
After a few hours we went back to pick up the van, it had failed on a few things, handbrake and the brake pads, which I'm not surprised after going over and down the Alps, Pyrenees and Atlas mountains, anyways a few hundred pounds lighter and a clean MOT with no advisories, we took off to Greenhill leisure park in Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire.
A nice commercial site with tidy walks for Max
10th - 12th July
When we spoke to Mike a few days ago, he mentioned this pub called The George in Tiffield, Northamptonshire, and a Rock n Roll day that was happening on the 12th, we decided to give it a look over.
We spent three relaxing days at the pub, we were put up in an adjacent field, and for the first two nights we were on our own, we were joined by Mike and Ann,"another from the Wildcamping forum" who we had met last year also at Greywell on the Sunday afternoon, we met some nice people and Russ the landlord was very welcoming. Sunday evening there were now three vans parked up in the field, and we drank and chatted till late.
Happy Birthday Ylonde
13th July
Today saw us drive up to Eriba Glade camping site in Stretton-On-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, a quiet place and ideal for Max, there were a couple of pubs within walking distance, but we didn't visit them due to the rain.
14th - 15th July
We are heading to the Upton Upon Severn Blues Festival, so today we meandered down to Tirley in Gloucestershire. We are stopping at the Hawbridge Inn, a nice place with fantastic walks along the river Severn, we will stop here two days as they also have free wifi!
Not for the first time on our trip, we are the only ones on site!
A great place for any campers, with a huge beer garden and campsite to the rear
You can pick up the Severn way trail that stretches for 224 miles from mid Wales to the Avon gorge.
Well we are in Cider country? An old stone Cider press now used as an ornamental flower pot
The Hawbridge and Riverside Inn split by the B4213
16th - 19th July
Well today's the day we have been looking forward to, we head onto Upton for the annual Blues Festival in Worcestershire.
Seven counties to get here
At Upton Upon Seven we bumped into quite a few Wild Campers who we would meet again next week at Caerphilly. Upton Blues as it was last year was great, and the weather was nice all weekend.
Some pics of the Blues festival
From Upton we travelled to Wales and stayed at Pont Kemys/Chainbridge
near Abergavenny,
The winds can pick up in South Wales
The Chainbridge Inn
The following day we drove down and caught up with my family, Norma and Ylonde met us at Carl's house, Ylonde had made us a stack of welsh cakes, bloody good they were too, we then went over to the Gower and spent a few days at Carl's drum at Horton near Port Eynon.
Big Pit in Bleanavon
From there it was onto Caerphilly for the Big Cheese Festival, for 4 days and met up with fellow members of the WC forum and had a great weekend albeit it rained for 2 days.
Members of the WC forum
Probably the funniest man in his day "Tommy Cooper" was born in Caerphilly
Onto Hereford for 2 days, then Honeystreet in Wiltshire for another 2 days were we stayed at the Barge Inn
"now that is definitely a link worth opening just for the music",
Crop circle centre
I saw this old poster on a wall in the pub,
Onto Stourten Caundle for 1 day and Plaitford in the New Forest for 3 days
Passing Stonehenge
The campsite is next to the New Forest with 4 pubs in walking distance
We passed this wooden cross in the village of Wellow on the side of the road
The first person killed in Hampshire by combustible engine vehicle in 1911, William Coope Walke a passenger of the vehicle that crashed on Canada corner in Wellow
The owners have recently opened this campsite to the rear of the pub
And finally Wisborourgh Green for 2 days, arriving in Horsham on the 8th August 2015, 276 days after leaving in November
We would only be in Horsham for 4 days before we left for the Cropredy festival staying at Twyford Wharf near Adderbury on Wednesday, then the festival for 3 days.
Field 4 on Sunday afternoon
Unfortunately our good friend Paddy McIlroy was unable to be there this year due to his recent illness, but he would have been there in spirit, another great weekend with our friends from Horsham. We stopped an extra day at the campsite near Cropredy bridge and watched the annual Fairporters v Villagers cricket match on the Sunday afternoon.
Monday we went onto the Green Man pub at Long Itchhingdon for 2 days
We liked staying at the Green Man in Long Itchhingdon, there are 7 great pubs in the village and along the canal, we visited them all on the Tuesday.
It was then home for 5 days in which time we started de-cluttering the house in readiness to start the major works that are needed, which also coincided with my 60th birthday.
Back on the road again this time it's for The New Forest Folk Festival at Plaitford, it was at the folk festival we met John Hurst and his lovely wife Anne from Dorking, I had seen John last year and acknowledged him a few times as our paths crossed to the bar and this year we got chatting, John is an umpire and does a lot of celebrity charity events. it would probably be easier to name the people he hasn't met to be honest, we had a great weekend and it was a pleasure meeting them both we look forward to seeing them again next year.
John and Anne Hurst
Our friend Dan who does the Cropredy blog on YouTube
warms up the crowd in the open mike afternoon
A Max lookalike
We had one more jaunt away in September at Greywell for 4 days with the WC forum group
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| Our first Geocache |
It was at Greywell when we did our first Geocaching, there are millions of these hidden pieces all over the world, we found our first two in camera rolls and a third in a tuperware box in a hollow of a tree, you sign your name and date to say youv'e found it and log it on the site, we found a few more the second day and now have 6, and what I like about it is it takes you on walks you possibly would not have gone, we will try it out in Spain and Portugal when we get there. So that drunken weekend passed and it was back to the house to try and get it ready to rent. Fortunately our friend Dave wanted to rent it and would finish off the things we could not, which happened to be quite a bit after having new windows and kitchen installed, but it is nice that it is now rented while we are away! Thanks to my mates Wa (windows) Andy Raff (carpets and kitchen floor) and Jez (central heating) for helping out.
Just before we left we went for a meal with Sam's parents and brother and sister in law into Horsham town, there was the French market on in the carfax and quite a few local Aston Martin owners brought their cars out to display.
This Aston was used in the Persuaders and drove by Roger Moore
30th October
So here we are sitting in the sunshine of Saint' Marie, Perpignan in the South of France, we left the UK on the 19th October, we spent the night at the new Canterbury MH parking at the park and ride on the outskirts of the city, £3 for 24hrs with services, it's a shame more councils in the UK woke up to the fact and provided places to stop as in Europe instead of regimental campsites. The following day we were at the Tunnel and crossed into France, a quick jaunt to Ypres for the night then it was a 4hr drive to Amsterdam and Gaasper Park again.
Amsterdam was damp and cold
Our plan then was to drive to Cologne to visit family there and head down to the south, however the weather was poor in Holland cold and damp with rain, the forecast was no better for the forthcoming few days so we decided to skip Germany and do that on our way North next year, so we left Holland and drove to Luxembourg and stayed at a free aire in Dudelange 49.471619 6.078460, filled up with diesel at .71p a litre then it was onto Autun, Bourgogne in France 46.950760 4.310930 a free Aire
Sainte' Marie
Our trip so far 1964km
We are stopped at a MH site 9euros with all services and wifi 42.732159 3.024180 there are quite a few MH sites here along with 3 camping sites, there's is plenty to do here, and we will probably stay a few days and make a plan to cross into Spain and onto Portugal.
This American beast pulled in this morning, as you can see not a cloud in the sky, the sun is shining happy days
This time the blog will go out whenever I get the chance to update it, possibly every few weeks, anyone interested can subscribe and I think they will be notified when updates are posted, failing that just log in from time to time.
Happy Birthday Carl
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