Welcome rain except at 3 am!

 August 17th

These last few days have gone quickly; only one more night before we travel back to FS. And apart from going out to find another beach for Toffee to play on, we have just chilled. Saturday we did absolutely nothing! Another hot day, we decided that to go out and find somewhere to park the motorhome would be almost impossible. School holidays, sun and it being a weekend, where would most folk around here head for...the beach! Instead we had a lie-in, walked Toffee in the field, played Quiddler and Three-crowns, drank copious amounts of beer, then went on to the wine and had a BBQ in the evening. 

That night it rained, how lovely to have the drumming of the drops on the roof. What wasn't so lovely at 3 am was I suddenly realised both the dog and I were getting wet! Yep, we had left the roof vent wide open!

Sunday, we found a beach at Sea Palling. Parking was easy, and although the swimming beach was busy, the dog-friendly beach was almost empty. Toffee again went wappy; she is never happier than when leaping over the waves and surfing the waves. Unfortunately, we only put two hours on the parking ticket, so had to cut our visit short but vowed to go back on Monday to spend longer.

k

 

What a difference a day made. The heat wave is well and truly over, with a good 10 degs cooler today than yesterday. But it didn't deter us from driving to the beach again. On arrival found the tide was yet to go out and only a small expanse of beach was showing. That didn't stop us from heading toward it along the sea defence wall with Toffee trying to hurry us along. As soon as we let her off the lead, she was off.  No photos of her today; just look at the previous photos as it was more of the same. 

What we did find when we left Sea Palling was a remote cafe near to Horsey Gap, a beach we had been to years ago; I remembered walking through the dunes to get to the sea, and so remote, not another person was seen on it. Well, that hidden Gem did not remain hidden for long because now it's so popular that signs along the track have been put up forbidding motorhomes, buses, coaches and caravans from getting to the car park. Anyway, I digress. The cafe looked interesting because it appeared to have an unexploded bomb hanging from an A-frame. 

Well, we had to go and see, but OMG was it busy? We despaired at getting a parking bay, and it was only because a car pulled out near the entrance, leaving a wide enough gap to slot the motorhome in, that we stayed. It was an amazing place considering how remote the area was, full of WW11 paraphernalia and exhibits from Dad's Army. No wonder it was so popular. On the menu was bubble and squeak with bacon and egg. No need to wonder what we ordered then! It was really delicious, and when my tea arrived, served in a teapot covered in a knitted army soldier cosy; well, how cheesy was that?

Back at the motorhome, Ian soon had the BBQ lit. Salmon (still to go on) with Hash Browns tonight: the chicken drumsticks are for the journey home tomorrow. Skies looked very grey, and we were sure rain was in the air. Thankfully it held off fully until we finished cooking. 

 

 

Tomorrow it's back to FS and for Toffee, a bath! All that sea and sand has made her feel sticky. We can't possibly return her to our sons in that condition!

 And a few photos of our site. 

k

j

Oh, and do you remember our South African safari pothole saga? Well, this was sent to me by Jayne, one of our group on tour with us, who saw it in the Daily Mail. Sums it up nicely!

 

An update of whats been happening.

August 15^th

Has it really been 2 months since I last posted? Gosh, I’m beginning to wonder where the time has gone. It's not as if nothing has happened; I’ve just been very lax in putting fingers to the keyboard. Oh, and I’ve just realised that one year and 15 days ago I had my knee replacement. To date, all good although the swelling is still present. Maybe that will never go down, but it's a small price to pay for a pain-free lifestyle.

So what has been happening for the last couple of months? Well, firstly it's now official. We will be leaving the water for a land-based lifestyle. Returning to the park home site in Grantham, we decided on a different plot to the one we originally chose. It's slightly more central to the lake, so the views will be even better. Also, all the spec on the mobile home has been given the go-ahead to the manufacturer so now it’s a waiting game to sell our bungalow. That goes up for sale on 1^st September.

 

We have Toffee at the moment and slightly longer than expected. Our niece got married down in Maldon, Essex, and as we all but passed our son's house in MK, it stood to reason that collecting her a week early was better for us than having to make the journey back to MK a week later. With the weather so incredibly hot, we decided to get an electric fan to keep her (and us) cool in the boat. Even so, we sweltered. Temperatures up in the 30s; it felt like we were roasting in an oven. The steel hull and cabin sides do not help to keep the heat out! And another thing, CRT kept closing the Erewash due to low water levels. It got so bad that they decided only boats going to the boatyard for maintenance or blacking would be allowed up, and that was with assisted passage only. Needless to say, Dan and Vicci, boatyard owners, have lost a lot of business because of it, one they are not sure they will ever get back. The annoying thing is the basin has plenty of water; the feeder is still topping us all up even though, on a daily morning ritual, the bottom paddles have been lifted to send water down. Makes one wonder where the water is disappearing to, but it can only be due to leakage through the gates. A lot more will have to be done to keep the Erewash alive! And also with no boat traffic, the weed has built up alarmingly, so much so that the use of Pentland (ECP&DA work) has been put to good use by the society work party pulling out as much as possible. A thankless task in my opinion, but a much-needed one.

Last week we made a 'spur of the moment' decision. The boat was becoming too unbearable; that heat was a killer, so how about heading for the coast where conditions were cooler. Mid August and school holidays what were the chances of finding a campsite for the motorhome? Well, we got lucky, found a 'hideaway site' about 15 minutes from Cromer that could take us for 5 nights. So last Thursday we headed off, took 5 hours due to traffic, and on reaching the site found only one other camper. 

Friday we found a dog friendly beach at Overstrand. OMG, Toffee went ballistic, jumping in and out of the waves and having mini nut spells racing around the beach.  The dog might have loved it, not so much me having to walk across an uneven pebbled area to get to the sand and that ramp to get down to the beach...talk about steep! Going down was bad enough; going up made me realise how unfit I was!

Next weekend we dog sit for our daughter and son-in-law. They are off to Croatia for a week, so River, their black 2yo lab, will be our doggie fix. We would have had her on the boat with us, but she has been named well! Trying to keep her out of water is a nightmare; imagine then what she would be like with the canal for temptation! Nope, we decided to house sit instead, keeping River well away from any water. Oh, and I got some photos of the eclipse, not brilliant as I had no special lens but managed these anyway.

 

A big decision to make

 Lots have happened since our return to FS last Tuesday. The park at Presteigne ticked all the boxes, and we came away thinking this must be the right park for us. Feeling excited, we phoned the family. Our daughter was all for it, even though we said they would have at least 2.5 hours to drive from their house. Our son Colin, on the other hand, was very much against it. Their drive would be nearer 3 hours and his argument was that if anything happened to us, he wouldn't be able to get to us in a hurry. By now, feeling very deflated, we gave up on that park, feeling that we needed to take both our children's thoughts into consideration. 

On Wednesday, 17th we drove to Grantham. Another park called Lakeside, with three fishing lakes, had also been on our list to see. This is a very new park, having only been open for two years. About 10 homes have already arrived and been occupied, and several plots are being developed. So the place looked a bit like a builders' site, but with imagination, you could see what it could be.

view from one of the show homes window. Building work can be seen on the left.

The developing plots above and below

 

4 mobile homes purely for fishermen who want to stay for short periods

All the lakes hold specimen fish (catfish, very large carp and coarse fish)

pizza oven

4 more plots for development

We spent nearly 4 hours at this park, not just talking to the owners but to the residents as well and without the owners present. Everything pointed to a well-run park site. So, a lot of decisions to make, our children are all for it, the drive for both is about 90 minutes. We have chosen the mobile home and picked a possible site to put it on. Again, not developed yet, but will eventually overlook one of the lakes. All I can say is watch this space.

Back at FS, one of the first things we did was to order a fridge for the motorhome. That took some finding, and unfortunately, the same model of fridge was no longer available. The one we did get has a smaller capacity but fits in the space like a glove. Yesterday we both went to the motorhome at the storage yard. My 'man that can' removed the old fridge, we both manhandled it out of the door, and the new fridge was carefully taken in. We didn’t want that damaged, considering how much it cost! It has to stand for 48 hours because laying it down in the car boot was the only way to transport it. Ian assures me that the gases will have settled after that, and it can be switched on.

 

No more plans for a motorhome getaway at present. Family commitments keep us tied to Langley Mill, although we will be 'teenage sitting' for two weeks starting next week at Milton Keynes. Toffee will also be coming to stay in August for three weeks. We do so love having her to stay. Every now and then, we need our doggy fix.

Park home and Leisure Show

 Near the Stoneleigh show ground was a CC site. It happened to be at the Rugby Club, and electric hook-up, as well as drinking water, grey water disposal and Elsan were all on hand. It was the ideal place to stay for three nights because on Friday and Saturday, we planned to visit the showground to see what was on offer in the way of new and used mobile homes.

Our allocated pitch was under a tree, and it wasn't the rain that kept us awake but the high winds
 

Two days of wandering around the show ground looking at mobile homes of all shapes and sizes, chatting to various manufacturers, we found one we both liked. The manufacturer is Pathfinders, and the 50ft X 22ft mobile home feels like the right size for us. It has 2 bedrooms, one with an en suite, a guest bathroom, a kitchen-diner, a separate lounge, and an added bonus of a small study. 

 The price is within our budget, and can be taken to any location of our choice. The biggest problem is finding the right park home in the area we want, and that could take some time. Of course, we still have to give our tenant notice and then sell the bungalow, so nothing will happen in the immediate future, but at least we have some sort of plan now.

June 14th. Unplanned journey

Leaving the Rugby ground for Powys, it was a touch of deja vu as we almost followed the same route back to Wales. This wasn't planned, we were going back to the boat but talking to a site owner at the show, and being shown photos of the park, and the fact we were only a couple of hours from the Welsh border, it was too good an opportunity not to go and see it. So we found a pub stopover, The Bateman Arms, at Shobdon. It's literally about 20 minutes from Presteigne, where Norton Manor Estate park home is situated. This photo from the leaflet

 A meal was booked for 5.30pm, Ian chose steak and ale pie, and I had the lasagna. Wow is all I can say. Never have I had such a flavoursome lasagna; it was delicious, and Ian's handmade pie was full to the brim with tender succulent beef. We both highly recommend this pub! I suppose the only fly in the ointment was the red wine. They only had Malbec or Merlot, no Shiraz, but that was a small price to pay for such a good meal and excellent service. 

 So, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.