Friday

Barnstaple - May Day weekend 2011 (Royal Wedding)

We decided not to go away until after the Royal Wedding on the Friday.  We packed the van on Thursday night so we were ready to head off as soon as the wedding was over, thinking this would be about 12:00 but we got hooked into the wedding and ended up leaving at 4.30.

We headed off to Barnstaple, we were booked into a CL at Braunton.
We arrived at the CL about 6.30 and set up for the weekend.


It was a lovely spot and the owner (artist Pete Caswell) had left part of the field to grow naturally, meadowlike, but cut pitches out for campers. 

We settled down for  a relaxing weekend.

Saturday
Woke up to good weather so decided to get the bikes off the back of the van and go for an explore . 
We were quite surprised how close we were to the sand dunes, sea etc. 


We thought we would take a short cut across the sand, but it was hard going cycling on sand as the wheels were sinking whilst we were cycling and it was a bit windy, I can now guess what it would be like cycling in the Sahara (ice cold in Alex came to mind)


It was exhiliarating but I was glad to get back to the lanes where we enjoyed the rest of our cycle ride.

Sunday
This morning we headed off to Barnstaple in the campervan, we parked in the B and Q car park then walked into town.  Before returning, we cycled past where we were camped and were surprised that 5 minutes away was Croyde Bay.

Surfers looked like penguins in the sea
Croyde Bay



Saturday

Easter 2011 - Bath Marina and Caravan Park

We decided to go back to Bath Marina for Easter this year.  Last year we did the same but it rained most of the time.  This year we were hoping for sun!
We had a great weekend, the first night we arrived we stayed on the same pitch as we had the year before.  The next morning, Good Friday, we decided to change pitch because the forecast was good and we were amongst the trees where the sun would not shine.

We moved to a lovely sunny pitch next to a couplewho were  from Cornwall.  We then headed off to Bath, the park and ride was just across the road from the site.


We did a bit of sightseeing and then hit the shops, stopping for lunch at Braserie Gerard, courtesy of Tesco vouchers, then hit the shops again before returning back to the campsite where we relaxed for the evening.

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast outside the van before heading off to Bath again.

It was another fantastic day weatherwise, in fact it was so hot we had to cool off with a Magners!


Again we had lunch courtesy of Tesco, this time it was Cafe Rouge.  Thank you Tesco!

Easter Sunday
Although the shops were open today the park and ride buses were not running, our Cornish neighbours had said that there was a lovely walk beside the river.  We decided to to try the walk but did not get far when we came across a lock.

We saw a boat approaching the lock so decided to sit down and  watch what was going on.




 It wasnt long before Billy was getting involved.

 Then there was another boat.


And another boat



Before we knew it we had spent a good couple of hours watching what was going on.  It was quite entertaining.

We continued walking alongside the river, noting that we should take our bikes another time as ideal for cycling.  We came across the Dolphin pub and rested for a drink and then returned back to campervan, stopping at the lock again on the way back. 

Easter Monday
Another lovely day, we had our breakfast and headed home, stopping off at some motorhome dealers on the way.









Street, Somerset - April 2011

First trip away in Campervan this year where we were not at a motorhome show.

We decided to take a trip to Street for some retail therapy and then stay overnight at a CL.
We left home early Saturday morning and headed off for Somerset.   We looked around Street for a couple of hours and then headed off for Othery, we had passed by the site several times and this time we decided to stay.




In the field next to us we could see cows and a couple of very young calfs.  Some of the cows were very big and looked ready to drop.  We found out later that it was the maternity field.