28th and 29th May Bank Holiday - Padstow

Padstow

Another bank holiday weekend and we were off to Cornwall again. This time we headed for Padstow Touring Park. We arrived on Friday night and the site was quite empty and we had a view across the field to Padstow.

On Saturday we woke up to wind and rain so decided to go for a drive, we headed to St Agnes where we had found a camping accessory shop last time we were in the area.

However as we headed down the A30 we were wondering what to do for lunch, we were passing Kingsley village which we had driven past many times before but never had time to see what was there.

As it was raining and we did not have any plans we decided to turn round and take a look. We parked up and found ourselves in a huge food hall with lots of lovely savoury and sweet delights to buy. We then ventured upstairs to the café where we had a lovely cup of coffee and a snack of Ham, Bubble and Squeak and fried eggs, yum!. After our food, we had a wander around Ann’s Cottage and bought a couple of Weird Fish and Billabong bargains. Downstairs was an ice cream parlour but we did not succumb.

Three hours later we left with our arms full.

We continued on our way, arriving at the camping accessory shop as planned. We had a mooch around but did not find what we were looking for and left with a bottle of toilet blue! We drove back along the coast, stopping at Perranporth for a visit. Then headed back to Padstow passing Newquay where Run to the Sun was in full swing. We saw a few of the participants of Run to the Sun en route. They were identifiable as they had RTFS plastered across their vehicles.

We arrived back at the campsite but we had now lost our view as the campsite was almost full. We decided to have a quiet night so opened a bottle of wine and settled down to read with the radio in the background. However, it was not such a quiet night as the Eurovision Song Contest was on the radio.

30th May

We woke to sunshine and decided today was the day to walk down to Padstow. The campsite had a footpath across a couple of farmer's fields that took us to Tescos and then a walk down the hill into Padstow. A 20 minute walk in total.

Padstow was quite busy being a bank holiday weekend but it was pleasant wondering in and out of the shops and especially as a lot of the shops had sales on. We decided to stop for a coffee, found a café with seats outside and sat watching everyone going about their own business.

We decided we had to go to Rick Stein's to get the obligatory fish and chips.  We queued to order and pay for the fish and chips and then queued to pick up the fish and chips.  The queue was no longer than our own local fish and chip shop though and Billy even said he preferred the fish and chips from our local. 

 

20th May 2010 - Weekend in Newbury, Salisbury Plain and Salcombe

20th May 2010

Off to Newbury Motorhome show after work on Thursday but realised that the gates closed at 21:00 so we probably would not make it. Started googling for an overnight stay near Newbury and decided that we would stay at Chievely services where you could park for £10 outside the travel lodge, but careful not to park in the lorry park as this would cost £25 for the night.

Arrived home from work and Billy was not home so I took my time getting ready to leave as I knew we were not in any hurry to leave because we could not get into the showground. Billy arrived home half an hour later and shocked me by saying we were going to try and make it to the showground before 21:00. It was then a panic to get everything together and head off to Newbury. The sat nav said we would arrive about 21:15 and I thought we were not going to make it cos the traffic would be against us. We were watching the sat nav and when we hit Swindon we had made up time and then we hit road works, so the time went on. We left the M4 and could see the Motorhomes in the Newbury showground and we made it through the gate at 9pm exactly to be told we were lucky and they closed the gates behind us. Phew!

21st May 2010

Woke up to sunshine and before making our way to the show we sat outside enjoying the sunshine and the view across the field to the other Motorhomes.

We decided we could not sit around all day and made our way to the motorhome show. We realised that in our rush the night before we did not have any cash with us. However we knew we would be back the following day so decided not to bother going offsite to get money until the end of the day.

During the day it clouded over but it was very warm, we started to flag about 2pm but kept going.

When we got back to the site it was difficult to find our camper as so many more vehicles had arrived and the view across the field had gone.

After the show we left the site and drove to Chivevely services to get some cash ready to start buying on Saturday.

On our return we decided to try the temporary showers, they were surprisingly very good, we then went for stroll around the site.

22nd May 2010
Another lovely day, we went back to the show this time with money in our pockets.

My sister had asked us to look out for some lightweight high back chairs. We found these and bought four, 2 for ourselves and 2 for my sister. We also bought a small table and other bits and pieces. We ended up having to make several trips back to the van with the goodies we bought. We also forgot that we had to store our purchases including these chairs in our small campervan.

One thing we cannot get used to is the fact that we do not have a car boot to store items (like we did when we had the caravan). However we love the freedom of the campervan and we will learn how to manage with the space we have.

After a tiring day at the show and another refreshing shower, we went out to visit friends in Yateley, where we enjoyed a lovely meal and a few glasses of wine. We ended up staying the night and did not return to the showground.

23rd May 2010

Left friends at Yateley about midday and headed home via the A303. It was a shame to be driving home whilst the sun was shining so we decided to stop for lunch on the way home and took detour off the A303 to a picnic spot I used to visit with my Grandparents when I was a child. We went through Bulford Camp and pulled off the road below the kiwi cut out the chalk on Beacon hill. We were surprised as we were the only ones there, apart from the odd jogger passing by. It was so peaceful we stayed a couple of hours and then headed home.

24th May 2010
Another bright morning and a day off to recover from the weekend. Off for a drive in the camper to explore some more of the local area.

We headed for Salcombe, as I thought there was more to Salcombe than the town. Billy drove through the narrow streets of the town whilst I winced because people had to move over to the side and let us through.

On the other side of Salcombe we found a lovely beach, South Sands.

We managed to park in the car park but there was no spaces with a view. So we walked over to the beach and found a seat where we could watch what was going down on the beach. It was so relaxing, Billy walked back to the van to get some refreshments, he brought back pasties and something to drink and we sat and enjoyed the view for about an hour.

When we headed back to the car park we spotted a car was leaving so decided to move the van into the spot and stay a while longer. We were then parked up with a view of the sea, so we put the kettle on and stayed for a cup of tea. Shame, about the bins outside the van.

It was time to move on when we saw someone put their dogs mess in the bin! All in all a relaxing couple of hours.



We carried on our way, went around the corner and climbed up the narrow lane and down again where we found North Sands. We decided not to stay but will visit again another day.

Further round the coast we found Bolberrry Down, another lovely spot, this time at the top of the cliffs with views of the sea.

Bolberry Down

We parked up and walked down to the cliff edge for some photos and then on went the kettle again for another cup of tea!

We stayed awhile and then headed back home to get ready for work the next day.