Devizes Caravan Club Site, Seend, nr Devizes

29/05/2012

We did not expect to be staying here, but, since we are we take advantage of the excellent cycling along the canal.

I am in desperate need of a haircut, so we cycle the five miles or so along the canal to Devizes.

After an initial false start, ie heading in the wrong direction!, we are soon peddling toward Devizes.

Now, I usually manage to convince Kathleen to take part in these cycling outings, using the argument, than canals do not go up hills.

I will not be able to use that line again, we soon encounter a flight of some 20 or so locks, and the canal rises steadily over a distance of about a mile. We arrive panting at the top of the hill.

Devizes is a quaint place, I soon find a Barber Shop, for a quick haircut, and then we have a little wander, stopping for coffee and cake.

Seeing these signs outside of a Butchers Shop, could not resist a photograph, clearly, a butcher with a sense of humour.

Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire (continued)

Today (Monday 28th), the plan is to spend some of the day with Susana and Gabriel, in Lymington.

We decide, instead of getting the bus, to cycle there.

Kathleen has worked out a route which will (hopefully) avoid any busy roads. this is not entirely successful, her route is fine, but we fail to find one of the turn offs, and end up doing about two miles along a busy "A" road. Nevermind, we are here to tell the tale.

Susana takes advantage of the baby sitting opportunity to go to the Sauna, while we amuse Gabriel (and ourselves) at the childrens play area in the hotel grounds.

Not sure what Kathleen is teaching him here, but, since it involves showing his belly, he clearly finds it amusing, as children do. Not sure what Kathleen's excuse is.

After a picnic lunch, we leave Gabriel to his afternoon nap, before cycling back to the van. This time we avoid the road completely, by cycling along the coastal path (Solent Way), to Keyhaven, then along quiet roads to the van.

The only disadvantage with this route, is the brisk breeze, and there are few sets of steps to lift your bike over. But, so what, Kathleen has to have something to complain about. The steps problem was solved when she enlisted the assistance of a passing (young) man who was also cycling that way. He actually waited for her at each set of steps and lifted her bike over for her.

A refreshing shandy at the pub at Keyhaven, and all is well.

In the evening a meal with Gary, Susana and Gabriel at the Angel Hotel, Lymington, and then the enxt morning we are on our way.

We are heading for a CL, at the Duke Inn, Calne, but, we have to take a detour because of a road closure. By chance, we pass the Camping and Caravan Club site at Devizes. Kathleen has been told all kinds of good things about this site, by some lady she chatted to at Bristol.

We pull in, they have spaces, soon, we are a member of the Caravan and Camping Club, and are our van is parked alongside the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire (continued)

Gary, Susana and Gabriel, visit. Gary has to attend a course in Southampton, tomorrow (Monday), so they have come to stay at a hotel in Lymington for a couple of days.

We visit the Isle of Wight, on Sunday.

Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire (continued)

Wednesday, (23/05/12) superb weather, we catch the bus to Christchurch, a few miles along the coast towards Bournemouth, very upmarket.

There is the inevitable ruined Priory, courtesy of Henry VIII.

Kathleen never tires of railing against him, and I never tire of correcting her biased (Catholic) view of history and pointing out, that, perhaps it was the Pope who was the baddy, by playing Politics with Philip of Spain.

I have to admit, there is one plaque dating from that time, in the church, which is particularly gruesome. It concerns the Countess of Salisbury (Lady Pole). Her youngest son, Reginald,  (an Archbishop at 17, bit of favouristm perhaps?), wrote a critical article about Henry. Henry was not happy about this, and with Reginald safely out of reach in Padua, not to be outdone, Henry ordered his relations in England to be executed. Lady Pole (over 70 years old at this time) was executed at the Tower of London. It is said, she refused to put her neck on the block, so, the executioner hacked off her head where she stood.

Enough of that gruesome stuff, isn't this a picture of Englishness, a couple of teams of Pensioners having a game of Bowls?

Takes you right back to Francis Drake, doesn't it?




Thursday, and I have to eat my words, Kathleen is raring to go on a bike ride. Naturally, she does not want to follow the route I scouted out a couple of days ago, so off we go via another route, which is (hopefully) small and quiet roads.

We actually cross "my" route after about three miles, and then follow it to the coast and along to Milford-by-the-Sea. A very pleasant 16 mile round trip, along quiet country lanes.

Edengate, Lymington, Hampshire

Monday 21st May 2012

Edengate is a CL, ie a small 5 van site.

The photographs of the site, on the website, flatter it in real life I think, but I am sure we will be fine here.

When we arrive, there are three other caravans here, it is certainly peaceful, but I am not sure how near we actually are to Lymington.

The facilities do not impress from the outside, but, inside they are well kept.








We do a little exploring on the bikes, initial impressions are not very satisfactory, the road is not very wide, and reasonably busy.

Instead we take the bus into Lymington, which is a pleasant place, with a particularly quaint area around the habour.

In the evening, I explore a bridle path, near the site, it takes me all the way to the coast, more or less without going on any busy roads.

Nine miles there and back, not sure I will be able to tempt Kathleen with this. 

Wood Farm, Charmouth, Dorset, continued

A bus trip to Weymouth, we caught the "express" bus, there, but it still took almost an hour and a half to get there. Not worth the wait. Weymouth was clearly once a very attractive place, but it has definately seen better days.  We came back on the "normal" bus, via the "scenic" route. This passed through a place called Poundbury, one of Prince Charles developments and very nice too.

Saturday, we catch the bus a few miles along the coast to Chideock, and then walk back to Charmouth, along the coastal path.

It is far from flat!

and, in some places, disturbingly high.

Where, there are cliffs, there are hang gliders.



Wood Farm, Charmouth, Dorset

Wednesday 16th May 2012

The sun is still shining!

The site appears to be excellent, we are at the top of a hill, with excellent views.

I suspect this is not going to be cycling country, too hilly, so we will have to get our walking shoes on.

During our exploring of Charmouth, we come across a speciality Chocolate Shop. They are advertising "healthy chocolate, fat free and sugar free" We buy some. I am wary of this, based on my experience of low fat biscuits (which are like eating beer mats). The "healthy chocolate" does not disapoint, take my advice, don't bother, it is just like eating candle grease.

Thursday, we decide to walk it to Lyme Regis.

Looking at the map, it is about 1 mile west along the coast. But, the footpath is closed due to a landslide, so we have to take the inland route, through the woods.

A very pleasant 2.5 mile walk, a bit hilly, well, to be honest VERY hilly.

We will have to repeat this walk, probably, on Sunday, since the Catholic Church is in Lyme Regis. There is a bus service, which we discover will stop for you just outside of the campsite, even although it is not an official bus stop.

Minnows Caravan Park, Tiverton, Devon, Continued

Sunday, so that means only one thing, Kathleen is off to Church.

Up sharp, and we cycle along the canal to Tiverton.

While Kathleen does the God thing, I explore Tiverton on foot.

They have built flood defences along the river in the centre of town, not very scenic, but better than being flooded periodically, I suppose.

There are the usual information boards about flooding hundreds of years ago, and information about very cold winters when the river froze over and people ice skated on it. Clearly, climate chnage must have been caused by horse droppings, or some such, then.

The view up river shows flood defences too, but a little more scenic ones, in my view.

Have you noticed something else about these photographs?, yes, the sun is still shining, we are now on for a record third day of sunshine!

After I collect Kathleen from church, we visit the tea shop by the canal at Tiverton Basin.

I can recommend the Apple Pie with ice-cream, oh, yes, I had a cup of tea as well.

They had this rather impressive show of teapots on the wall of the house attached to the teashop.

Then we cycle back, and go to "The Globe" in the village for an excellent Sunday lunch. We even get a 10% discount, because we are staying at "The Minnows", oh how Kathleen loves a bargain, that makes her meal taste even better!

Monday morning, and it is raining again.

Kathleen is cross, moaning about the bread (which she chose), the slices are too thick, she says. You cannot taste the filling in your sandwich because there is too much bread.

My solution, increase the amount of filling.

This is not well received.

Sun appears again after lunch, thank goodness.

The question of sandwich fillings is resolved, and the rain has stopped, we explore the canal towpath in the opposite direction.

We come across this dedicated mother swan, patiently sitting on her eggs, father swan is off feeding his face, further along the canal.

Then we come upon this happy little family of eight cygnets, this father has obviously attended the parenting classes, and is doing his bit.

Tuesday, panic takes over.

Kathleen thinks she has lost her purse.

My suggestion that perhaps the Greeks have stolen it to pay off their National Debt, is deemed, not amusing.

Calm is restored, the purse id found.

It was in the coat she wore to go to church on Sunday.

It has been there, untouched since then, it is almost lunch time Tuesday now, need I say more?

Minnows Caravan Park, Tiverton, Devon

Friday 11th May 2012.

It has stopped raining, we are amazed!

But, today, we are scheduled to leave Baltic Wharf. It is a place we would come back to, but this visit has been marred by the appalling weather.

We pack up and head off for Tiverton, Devon, who knows we might even have some good weather at long last.

As soon as we are parked, Kathleen takes up her fairweather pose.

The site is right alongside the Great Western Canal, it is close to a village called Sampford Peverell and about 7 miles from Tiverton (via the Canal towpath).

I manage to drag Kathleen out of her seat, once I have finished getting everything set up and we get ourselves out in the freshair and sun.

This is real "Midsommer Murders" country!, the village could be the setting for the show.









Saturday, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and it is even warm!

We pedal off, along the canal to Tiverton.

This, is Tiverton Basin, with a floating Bar and Coffee shop.

Kathleen accomplishes her mission and finds the Catholic Church, in preparation for going to mass, tomorrow.

On the way back, we encounter this horsedrawn barge, now adapted to carry tourists of  course.

A brisk pedal back, to complete the 15 mile round trip, and we catch the last of the sun.

Then we buy our evening meal from the Fish and Chip van which visits the site on Saturdays.

Baltic Wharf Caravan Club Site, Bristol, continued

Thursday, and still, it is raining.

No chance of doing anything "outside" and we are both heartily sick of staying in the van. 

We visit the SS Great Britain, just a few minutes walk along the waterfront.

Another Brunel marvel.

The story of how it was brought back from the Falkland Islands is amost as amazing as the story of how it was built. It was towed all of the way from the Falkland Islands, on a barge.



It is preserved in the drydock, in which it was built, over 100 years ago.
As you can see from the photograph, you can go down into the drydock, and walk around the hull of the ship.

The interior of the ship has been restored, to a large degree to its original state.

The restoration is perhaps too good in places, the kitchen area includes the smells of stored food (without refridgeration of course), mixred with the smell of cooking etc etc.

The cabins (particularly in "steerage, the cheapest section) are a stark reminder of how much bigger people are these days, than they were in the 1800's.

Baltic Wharf Caravan Club Site, Bristol

Monday 7th May 2012.

What a time we have finding this site!

The Caravan Club are normally very good with their signposting and instructions, but, I have to say, this was one of the worst Caravan Club sites to find we have visited (but see later). This is made worse by the fact that it is very near to Bristol City Centre, so traffic is heavy and taking a wrong turn and ending up in a narrow street lined with parked cars is not an appealing proposition.

Once we find it, the site is fine of course.

As we arrive, the sun comes out, but our joy is short lived, it is soon pouring with rain again. Not to be beaten, we set off to explore.

The site is in the former dockland area, which has been extensively redeveloped.

The rain gets even worse, and we are forced to shelter in a somewhat unsavoury pub.

Subsequently, I find another explanation for the difficulty in finding the place. The Caravan Club "how to find us" instructions, where being delivered via KatNav, not TomTom. The instructions I received were to look out for "Howell Road" (which never appeared). But, I discovered when sitting in  (the above mentioned) pub just along from the site (to escape the rain, you understand), this area is called "Hotwells". Later, I read the Caravan Club instructions for myself, sure enough, it was Hotwells Road, I was supposed to be looking out for. The moral of the story is "remember, TomTom, does not forget to put its glasses on before reading and issuing directions".

Then onto the Cathederal, always a good bet if you need somewhere dry!

It is rather impressive.

We have now been on our travels for approximately two weeks, and we have had only two days without rain.

As result, we have had to spend much more time "indoors", ie in the van, than we would normally expect.

This evening, we were discussing, (or to be more precise Kathleen was pointing out), the pressures which can be placed on a relationship when two people are couped up in a small space, for a long time.

I may be wrong, but, I detect, I have caused annoyance.

I am easy going, the only thing which irks me, is a woman's apparent inability to adjust a thermostat. In my mind, "adjust" means turning it to a comfortable, sustainable temperature, not, turning it to maximum, then saying, "I am too hot" and turning it off. I keep this observation to myself. I am sure the men among you understand exactly.

I limit myself to expressing my view on the dealing with the rain problem, which is basically, if you just accept it is pouring with rain, and you just sit and read your book (or whatever), without fretting about it, then there is no real problem.

Kathleen's answer to this, is, I am much better than she is, at sitting on my backside "doing nothing" (for, "doing nothing", read, reading a book, playing on internet, etc etc). Whilst she cannot just sit "doing nothing" and has to be "up doing something" (ie playing with the VAX).

I am still trying to work out if this is a compliment to me or not?

I also note, Kathleen has sat and done half a book of "Killer Su Doku", but I have more sense than to mention that.

Tuesday, 8th May, and the forecast says it is going to be dry all day.

I am all for cycling the 16 miles to Bath (it is along an old railway line, so fairly flat), but Kathleen does not trust the weather forecast enough to risk getting her hair wet.

We catch the bus instead, this is a little adventure. We must get a bus into Bristol Centre (Temple Meads), then another bus to Bath.

Bath is very busy, lots of visitors milling about, and long queues for "attractions" such as the Roman Baths.

Kathleen is in a generous mood, and treats me to lunch and a musical recital. Well, it was actually a sausage sandwich, on a park bench, while listening to a busker (he was very good).

Bath is a very attractive place, even the Travelodge looks upmarket, and has a very pleasant setting alongside a wide part of the canal.

Attractive, it may be, but I think, charging 80p each to walk in a park (Parade Gardens, 80p each for OAP, more for the rest of you!), is a bit much. Particularly since it is smaller than, and no better presented, than South Marine Park in South Shields (which of course is free).

In addition to the "therapeutic baths and hot springs", not to mention, expensive parks, Bath is probably best known for its, well preserved, grand terraces of Georgian style houses.

I thought, whilst taking these shots, the view is spoiled by all of the parked cars.

But, to be truthful, when these houses were built, the view was probably just as congested with horse drawn vehicles, and a lot more smelly!







Part of the reasoning in planning our route for this jaunt, was to indulge our pleasure in cycling along canals, the Leeds Liverpool Canal near Chorley, and here in the Bristol area, the Kennet and Avon Canal. The weather has so far put paid to those plans.

But, here at Bath, the Kennet and Avon Canal joins the River Avon, so we at least get to saunter along the tow path.

There is a whole series of locks (about 14, but I did not count exactly), which bring the canal to the same level as the river.

There are lots of canal narrow boats moored up at various points along the canal, but, not much activity on the actual canal, maybe they too are subdued by the appalling weather we have had.






Back to Bristol on the bus, and a meal in "The Cottage" pub, next to the site. This is because Kathleen is "too tired to cook" after, I, "made" her walk from Temple Meads to the site. What actually happened was that, we had ten minutes to wait for the bus, (guess who's) patience exhausted after three minutes, "it was decided" we would walk to the next bus stop, and so on and so on, until we found ourselves back at the site.