Thursday 23rd February 2023
We had a leisurely start, making sure we had loaded up everything we thought we needed, and having a list ready to record all that we had left behind!
We headed up the A30 with grins on our faces, listening to all the bumps and rattles from the back but then drowning them out with Popmaster and Ken Bruce on Radio 2. We stopped for coffee and hot cross buns in our favourite layby, a first for this Colin before continuing to Chelston Motorhomes where Geoff wanted to check out something with the dealers there. I perused the very well stocked supplies shop and we came away with more loo roll, at a bargain price (!) and a new external blind for the front of the van. We had experienced very bad condensation on our first trip away, so this was intended to solve the problem. (Update: it did!).
We arrived at our site for the night, Uphill Marina just before 2pm and were quickly set up, just reversing onto the levellers slightly, and drinking our tea and eating scones for a late lunch in much less time than it used to take us to set up the caravan. Then we set off for a walk, which took us round the lake in front of the van, which must have been an old quarry, along by the mud bound Marina, and down on to Weston Super Mare beach. This was a wonderful bracing walk, with the sea barely visible in the far distance at low tide, a sand yacht taking advantage of a large flat sandy area and surrounded by lots of dog walkers and their beasts!
We haven’t done any walking of late, with both of us less than 100% in the health stakes, but we planned to increase that this coming week. We managed to achieve 3 miles today, but opted for a bus back to the Marina from Weston super Mare. A wonderful sunset ended our first day, followed by a supper of fish cakes. Then Geoff watched the football and I retired to a very comfortable bed to watch Netfllix! All good so far!
Friday 24th February 2023
After a very comfortable night we took our time over getting up, showering and dressing, after all this is only the second time we have done this in this van and it is going to take time to get used to the new procedure within such confined circumstances. Our only mishap was me tripping the electric by using my hairdryer at the same time as we had maximum electric on heating and hot water!
We ate our breakfast enjoying the views around the campsite, especially over the lake. As we later discovered the high tide completely transformed the views over the Marina adjacent to us.
We took our time striking camp, albeit much quicker than in the caravan, before driving down to the promenade in Weston which looked so different with the tide in. We fuelled up at Tesco, then joined the motorway and the Prince of Wales Severn Bridge into Wales. We had a plan to drive to Jean and John’s the long way round, up over the Brecon Beacons, along the northern edge and then south across the Black Mountains.
We turned off the M4 north of Cardiff, heading up the A470, through the valley and then up into the mountains, stopping for lunch next to a reservoir en route. The views were spectacular in between the showers. As we headed towards Llandovery the rain started in earnest and we were debating whether to avoid the Black Mountains because of the low cloud and rain, but then decided to chance it. We stopped at the top in a parking area for a cuppa, but it was very misty and sadly the visibility was seriously impaired, but the journey down the southern side was much brighter. Having said that, I was on the side of the road which dropped off steeply and kept telling Geoff as much, which he clearly did not appreciate!
We arrived at Jean and John’s at about 4.30pm and after a rather tricky reverse into their drive, welcomed the glass(es) of Cremant, lots of chat and a delicious supper with them, before retiring for the night into our home from home.
Saturday 25th February 2023
Not such a good night for me, but that was more to do with lack of control over food and drink the night before! We took advantage of a lovely warm shower room in the house before joining Jean and John for breakfast. Geoff and John enjoyed freshly made porridge followed by a full cooked breakfast, but I stuck to toast and coffee.
After breakfast we walked up to the Golf Club, just a short distance up the hill from where J&J live, and were rewarded with the most magnificent views across the Black Mountains, in glorious sunshine. Jean and John are both learning to play golf and they will have a fabulous place to play on their doorstep.
After coffee and more chat we set off around midday, retracing our route from yesterday over the Black Mountain, which was amazing. My turn to drive and Colin performed brilliantly tackling the hills up and down with no problem at all, I was beaming!
We had decided to avoid motorways today and followed the A40 all the way to Cheltenham via Brecon, Crickhowell, Abergavenny, Monmouth, Ross on Wye and Gloucester. It was a lovely drive through some really diverse scenery in intermittent sunshine. We stopped briefly for a late lunch in a Services area off the A40, where Geoff was able to catch up with the score from the Italy v Ireland Six Nations Rugby, which Jon was watching in Rome with a stag group!
We eventually arrived at Briarfields Caravan and Camping site on the outskirts of Cheltenham around 4.15pm, and by the time we had filled up with water, connected the electric cable and got the kettle on it was time for the England v Wales match. Unfortunately we had some connection issues, so Geoff missed some of the first half which was a minor disaster, but after several incidents which resulted in shouting at the TV, England eventually won 20-15 despite Owen Farrell’s poor kicking!
Sunday 26th February 2023
A leisurely start today and when we did finally draw the blinds it was to let the sun pour in. We enjoyed our breakfast before venturing out with a bucket and a brush to clean Colin. He was absolutely filthy after motorways and muddy Welsh roads over the past few days, Bobby Dazzle is our product of choice and it didn’t disappoint.
One of the reasons we chose this site, which is much busier than we have been used to using in the past, is because it is located on an excellent frequent bus route between Cheltenham and Gloucester (service 94 for those particularly interested!). We wandered out from the site around 11 am and lo and behold, 2 minutes later a Stagecoach Gold double decker with leather seats and phone chargers showed up. £2 single for me, being so young, and free for the old man of course, we took our seats and admired the views, admittedly of an industrial estate and lots of housing, but plenty to nose at.
We disembarked at a very smart Transport Interchange and walked through a couple of shopping centres to find the Historic Docks area. It was busy, being a sunny Sunday morning and we enjoyed people and boat watching. After trying a couple of restaurants, one being full and the other not serving Sunday lunch, we decided to opt for Cote Brasserie, a known option and, as it turned out, a perfect meal in a pleasant atmosphere.
Stopped off at M&S for simply food before catching the bus back home in time for Geoff to watch Newcastle play in the League Cup final, their first final for many years. Sadly they were beaten by 2-0, but I was well occupied booking sites for the rest of our tour, one in Cheddar and one in North Devon.
Monday 27th February 2023
After breakfast we headed out and caught the bus into Cheltenham at 10am, me purchasing a Day Rider Ticket for the princely sum of £7.50. Our destination was Chalford, the village where Mum and Dad had met at school, grown up, and married. We had worked out it would cost less for a bus ticket for me than the cost of fuel! Additionally, we would get to try out some interesting bus routes and both of us enjoy the views along the way.
As we arrived in Cheltenham, we remembered that it was a lovely Georgian town and merited a day visit, which was not our intention today. We then caught the 66 bus to Stroud and this was a real treat, with the route over the Cotswold hills into Painswick, home of the cheese rolling, and into Stroud giving the most amazing views across to the Severn estuary in one direction and back across the plain to Cheltenham and Gloucester in the other.
We had been to the bus station in Stroud before and it was pretty grim, with no signage to show how to get into the shopping centre immediately above the station or indeed the town. Using google we found our way, via the HSBC bank, formerly the Midland where Mum had worked before she married, and onto Waitrose. Here we bought flowers and chocolates for Aunty Margaret and grabbed a quick coffee and sandwich before catching the 67 bus to Chalford. We had downloaded a timetable for this service which advised us that the bus went to Chalford Hill Green, a fact that Google maps disagreed with so I was a little concerned but we were reassured by a lady and her husband at the bus stop. The bus was late, so we were treated to a good deal more information from this well informed lady!
The bus actually stopped in Chalford much closer to Aunty Margaret’s than I realised, and we arrived earlier than expected. We spent a convivial hour and a half chatting and exchanging family news before we had to make tracks to catch the return bus.
We eventually arrived home at the van at 6.15pm, a long day on six separate buses, but an enjoyable one. We had a long wait in Stroud on the return leg as the bus was 25 minutes late, but 4/6 buses were pretty much on time so I suppose we were lucky! Dinner in the van this evening followed by another episode of Gold.
Tuesday 28th February 2023
Time to strike camp and move on today. After breakfast and routine chores our destination was Cheddar Caravan and Motorhome Club site, and the sat nav informed us that we would arrive at 12 noon if we drove straight there, but a direct easy route is not for us! After filling up with diesel at Sainsburys we headed for Birdlip hill and a parking spot we had used before overlooking the plain below. The sat nav was going bonkers as we consistently ignored her!
We drove via Cirencester, Tetbury (a lovely looking little town, but no obvious place to park) and on down the A46. We passed Westonbirt Arboretum, but we had visited there before, albeit some years ago, so then I decided to check out nearby National Trust properties and discovered that we were driving past Dyrham Park, so we made an instant decision to stop there for a wander and a light lunch.
The entrance gates only just allowed us through, thank goodness, as I am not sure what we would have done had we not fitted! There was plenty of room in the car park for Colin, and we were soon parked and walking down a rather steep approach road to the main house, situated in a hollow overlooking a beautiful garden and the countryside beyond. The house was built by William Blathwayt during the 17th and early 18th centuries, the history of whom we were introduced to in a series of videos and a wonderful potted history from an antipodean lady volunteer! We had a whistle stop walk around the ground floor of the house, which was full of wood panelling and tapestries, apparently in the baroque style, before grabbing a quick lunch in the tea room. We hitched a ride on the mobility bus back up the hill, to save our knees and some time!
We continued on to the top of Cheddar Gorge, which neither of us had been to before. I was a little disappointed to begin with, until I realised we weren’t actually in the Gorge proper, and I soon changed my mind as we approached the bottom which was spectacular. The drive down was fairly easy, negotiating the village of Cheddar in Colin, not so much! The campsite is in the village itself, and we were soon installed on a large fully serviced pitch, filled up with water and the external blind fitted. When we realised we were only a 10 minute walk from Sainsburys we headed there to top up supplies before retiring to the van for the night.
Wednesday 1st March 2023
After what was a busy tiring day yesterday, we opted for a quieter day today, just walking locally from the van. We headed into the village along the Strawberry Line, an old railway line which has been tarmacked to provide an excellent cycle and walking trail. The full route is from Shepton Mallet to Clevedon. This proved a much safer route than that we took yesterday to Sainsburys.
The village of Cheddar, with its rather quaint Market Cross, was small, but with an extremely well stocked Tesco Express and a rather posh local baker. We walked through the village in the direction of the Gorge, stopping off at Café Edelweiss for coffee and a rather splendid toasted teacake.
The next stop was the obligatory Cheddar Cheese factory shop, and a tasting for Geoff. Of course we had to buy some and were horrified at the price for a rather paltry wedge of Vintage Cheddar.
Further up the road, before the road disappeared into the Gorge itself there were several rather tacky shops selling the usual souvenirs, more cheese and of all things, a Christmas shop! We wanted to walk up the first part of the Gorge and gain an impression of its scale again, and we are glad that we did, but came to the conclusion that we probably wont come back again.
We returned to the van via Tescos to buy supper, we had thought to have lunch out but that teacake was very filling. The rain started as we got back to Colin, so and we ended up spending a quiet afternoon cosy in the van playing scrabble (G won this time!) before supper and the last two episodes of Gold.
Thursday 2nd March 2023
We opened the blinds to discover bright sunshine pouring into the van as we ate our breakfast. Moving day today, so after chores, including emptying the waste water at our pitch rather than the drive over waste which was rather poorly located right next to the exit barrier, we finally left Cheddar Caravan and Motorhome site, never to return! Don’t get us wrong, it was a perfectly nice site in a perfectly nice village, but a tad too touristy for us!
We followed the sat nav, somewhat surprisingly, to the M5 and then south stopping briefly at Taunton services for a coffee break before visiting Chelston Motorhomes again. We had identified a few bits and pieces we needed, so called in to purchase from their excellent supplies shop.
Leaving Wellington, I directed Geoff up the wrong road thinking it was a B road up onto Exmoor. It was a very narrow white road on the OS map and it got narrower! The worse bit was when an enormous tractor came towards us, clearly with no intention of stopping never mind reversing so Geoff had to, and for some considerable distance – what a star he was!
We soon joined the correct B road and followed several of these up onto Exmoor and gained incredible views to the north over Minehead and the Bristol Channel and also sweeping views to the south as we drove along the escarpment. We stopped at Chargot Wood, which had a small car park in which a couple of Forestry vans were parked. We just got through the entrance posts and reversed into a lovely spot with a great view for our lunch. The Forestry men were very busy eating their lunch and chatting, and then went off for a walk with their dogs!
Geoff drove expertly out of the car park entrance and we carried on through the delightful village of Exford and one stretch of true moorland to Westland Farm CL. This was a perfect place for us, a flattish hard standing fully serviced pitch with fabulous views across the countryside, including Wistlandpound Reservoir, which was coloured silver in the bright afternoon sunshine and, the best bit is that we are the only ones here. We soon set up, including raising the front on the ramps and then met Will, the son of the owners of the farm. He showed us what was where and invited us to come and meet their first 7 new born lambs in the barn! They were delightful but the mothers were a little wary of these strange people ogling their offspring.
We watched a wonderful sunset while writing the diary before tackling supper!
Friday 3rd March 2023
We had planned an intensive bus day out today and were excited at the prospect of seeing the Exmoor coast from the open top of a double decker bus! After a leisurely breakfast we wandered up the drive to catch the 310 to Lynmouth. We could see a long way in the distance so would have plenty of time to flag the bus down, but as the scheduled time came and went, I double checked google, only to discover that the 1020 bus was a 309 and went a different route missing out Westland Farm! For bus people we really ought not to have made that mistake, but truth be told this sort of thing has happened before! (Geoff has just reminded me that it was me not him!).
The next bus, due at 1120 was indeed at the end of the drive, the problem with this was that it missed the connection with the Exmoor Coaster and that was the only opportunity to get to and from Minehead in the day. Undaunted, we flagged the bus down and were very glad we were not in Colin when he took the bus down some incredibly narrow lanes through the village of Parracombe.
We alighted in Lynton, and with the advice from the driver ringing in our ears ‘go that way love!’ we headed down the road towards the Valley of the Rocks. We had a spectacular view of a rocky valley just behind the cliffs above the sea, then took a tarmacked path towards the cliff and joined the coastal footpath which, whilst tarmacked throughout, seemed to be hanging above the sea. Geoff made sure he kept close to the edge furthest from the sea, while I was just beaming with pleasure – the views and the fact that there was no one around was amazing to me. The downside was that it was bitterly cold, and on the open cliff walk, even more so with a headwind.
We walked into Lynton across a bridge over the cliff railway and then walked up to the village centre, with some really attractive shops. We had a brunch in a rather old fashioned café before boarding the Cliff Railway down to Lynmouth, again with amazing views and in a lovingly looked after carriage with brass furniture gleaming.
We walked out onto the small breakwater for the classic view looking back up the river before walking up to the bus stop for the return journey. Just before the bus arrived Geoff discovered a small shop with a Model Railway on show which turned out to be the love child of a man who had established it 40 years ago! It didn’t look as though it had been cleaned since then, but unlike Geoff’s train set, none of the trains derailed!
Home on the bus, and a very nice bus driver dropped us off right opposite the camp site, for which we were very grateful as the main road would have been extremely dangerous to walk along.
This was our last day on this inaugural trip in Colin III and it is true to say it has been a real learning experience. On our first night, I marked various aspects of life in the motorhome and to be honest they were rather low scores, but after 8 nights, I have definitely upped the scores considerably and we are finding a way to ‘be’ in our new home.
See you next time in Brittany!
