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Believe it or not, that's a Dump Point

7.6.10
I was a bit sad to leave Wales today. Such pretty country and so nice to catch up with Derek and Barbara after all these years. Age may have changed their outward appearance but inside they are still the same lovely couple we used to know back in Air Force days.


Ros came a long way to see me yesterday and it was really great to have lunch at a nice local pub and catch up on her Welsh activities and to fill her in on what's been happening in Oz since she left just over two years ago. While she was Editor of Caravan World she gave the fledgling Australian Caravan Club a lot of support. New editor Max has continued to help us.

Ros brought the two mutts with her from Oz!







While at D&Bs last night, they gave me a lovely humourous Welsh tie. It's still in its protective wrapper so there was a bit of reflection when I took its picture just now.



This the airfield where Vi and I spent the first years of our married life -
RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire. It's changed since those days but it still
brought back memories as I drove around the village today.

I was able to talk to Sue on Skype at a Maccas today after dealing with Murphy's interferance!

There's free wifi here at this Caravan Club Certified Location  behind a pub near Cirencester but it's too late to contact anyone back home. I'll try them in the (our) morning.

The weather has been mostly very nice all the time I've been in the UK (It's only just over a fortnight but feels for ever!) However today it's tried to rain at times so maybe the fine spell is over for now.

I filled up with petrol today - 66 ltrs. It cost $137 !!!!!!! No wonder they use small cars here.

8.6.10

I wanted to catch up with CLIC member David Klyne but an email to him found they were away on a caravan trip to Peterborough.

 A quick consultation of maps and the Tom Tom and I decided I could make Perterborough today and have a day off tomorrow to catch up on washing before moving on the the CLIC meet at 'Conkers' on Thursday.

 By a sheer fluke I found an empty site (pitch!) right next to them and my Aussie flag alerted him to who had arrived. We went out to dinner at a lovely complex quite nearby. David and Margaret are very nice people and great to be with - it will be good in future to know the person who posts to the CLIC forum

It was a rotten drive today - it rained for most of the way and traffic at times was heavy. I'd have been bushed without the Tom Tom and now it's got over its fixation with the Vatican, it's invaluable.

Maccas wifi to the rescue today and I was able to Skype Jackie and Chris. No pics today as it was too wet and miserable.

9.6.10

I'm amazed at all the rabbits hopping about at this place. There's plenty of grass between sites and at dusk and early morning they are everywhere. There are squirrels as well - grey ones that are an introduced species and are endangering the native red squirrel. The magpies are different here - quite long tails. I'll try to get a pic if I have the chance.

I got up early today, sorted my emails and then did my washing. Quite a lot had accumulated so I was pleased to get it all done. It cost 3 pounds for the washer but only 60 pence for the drier - unfortunately I had to put in another 60 p for a second dry.

Tom (Tom Tom gps) took me to a huge shopping centre today - I'd be lost without him to guide me.  

When I got back here David and I had a go at the rear door lock as it would't lock either with the key or by pushing down the button. We oiled it but didn't think we had done any good but surprise, surprise, it now works. Must have been the oil.


The park is well served with dump points and other services plus the ablutions are very modern and spotless.

Despite the dire forecast yesterday it has been quite warm and pleasant today and we even sat outside for a cuppa this afternoon.

Tomorrow when I head for Conkers, near Ashby de la Zouch, it looks about a three hours run so I won't hurry away from here.

10.6.10

I left David and Margaret around ten and headed for a Maccas in a Lincolnshire town I later found was called Stamford. Sue was out at a meeting so I had a good yarn to Shaun.

It was cold and damp but I enjoyed a cross country trip using a variety of types of roads. I passed through quite a number of Counties including England's smallest - Rutland. It was bitterly cold when I arrived at the park but a warm welcome awaited me. They had spotted the Aussie flag which has become a bit tattered with the wind. A warm welcome also from John and Jean who were here first and from Jim who arrived at the same time as me. Jean had the kettle on and the coffee was most welcome. I believe another two CLICers are expected tomorrow so that will make  6 of us.

The wifi here is a bit iffy and quite expensive - 10 pounds for just one hour! Too much for me so I'll be going to a Maccas in the morning!

11.6.10

I tried out MSN Messenger with Rob this morning and it was fine. That should mean it will be ok for the Board Meeting on Sunday! (I said 'should'!) I then went to Maccas and had a lovely chat with Sue. They have bought a webcam and it was great being able to see her. I also Skyped Chris and had a good chat.

I then went shopping at a nearby supermarket only to find the check out wouldn't accept either of my cards and I was out of cash. A walk to a bank fixed that but even it wouldn't accept my MasterCard pin -only Visa.


UK vans don't have water tanks and the sites don't have water or a drain for waste water so most have these Aquarolls for fresh water and a pump in the van draws water from the container. The Aquarolls have handles and they are towed like wheels to the tap.

The other gadget is for waste water and it is towed to the waste water disposal area. 

12.6.10

Jim and Paul were going for a drive to a large camping and outdoors shop this morning and invited me to go with them. I'm glad I did because I bought a self-inflating camping mattress for about ten pounds. It's only about an inch thick when inflated but makes a wonderful difference to comfort at night. I also bought a tin-opener. Some cans are ring-pull but by mistake I bought some that are not.

A couple of CLICers have satellite dishes but were not able to find the 'bird'. It's the soccer World Cup and there are 'England' flags everywhere you go and flying from cars. The match tonight was England v USA and ended in a 1:1 draw. They were all very disappointed.

Much more interesting was our extended happy hour after the match when we drank French red wine and swapped yarns.

I've included this pic Paul took to show the prostate business is not getting me down!

Paul is from Yorkshire and has invited me to dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday and has suggested a lovely-sounding CL quite near their home in the Yorkshire Dales at Otley.

 I'll probably stay there for two days and then move on to Pete and Jean at York.

14.6.10

This was a moving on day so I studied my Caravan Club dircctory and a map and decided on a Venison Farm in Lincolnshire as somewhere interesting to spend the night. Somehow the TomTom took me to a different CL in the same locality and I'd paid up before I realised my mistake. It didn't really matter as it's a lovely quiet spot and I'm the only one here. I might get a couple of pics in the morning.

Before John left this morning he showed me a couple of interestng things on his van. The most impressive was the jockey wheel which incorporates a nose weight guage, He also has one to fit between the ball and the hitch that also measures ball weight.











The hitch applies friction to the tow ball to stop any tendency to sway

Today's run across country was again a mixture of roads including the well known MI which took over from the A1 many years ago and carries a huge amount of traffic.

For some reason I couldn't get a wifi connection at Maccas  today. Nuisance as I wanted to call Sue to see how the camping weekend turned out. I'll try again tomorrow but if not Pete and Jean have Skype and I'll be there on Wednesday.

I bought a little TV gubbins before I left home. It plugs into a USB port on the computer and tonight I was able to watch an interesting wildlife programme on BBC 1. It has a silly little antenna but I imagine it would work well with an external full size aerial.

The sun was still shining at 9pm tonight and it's still light now at 9.30. It's light before 5am as well - a very short night but from the 21st it will be dark longer each night.

I ended up by mistake at a quite run down CL - I'd intended being at a Deer Farm in the same area but must have keyed in the next address because Murphy and Tom brought me here where the grass wasn't cut and the facilities basic.

15.6.10

I'm going to try an experiment. The views from this lovely CL, Pool Bank Farm, near Otley, Yorks, are so good I've taken quite a few and put them in a folder of their own. If this works you can click here to see them.

It seems to have worked - hooray!

I've just got back from a lovely evening with Paul and Julie and it was as though we had known each other for ages - Paul and I just met at the CLIC Meet at the weekend. Despite both being in full time work they had managed a superb meal (I think mainly Julie with a little help from Paul!) Slow cooked lamb and vegies plus home grown greengage and raspberry crumble with butterscotch ice cream

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Their garden was lovely as you can see from the shots of their back yard.

I left a DVD at their place and Paul came all the way back with it.

The camera battery is on charge just in case I get the urge for more pictures in the morning.

16.6.10

I broke the journey from Otley by detouring through Harrogate and Knaresborough - old haunts from the time we spent at Park House Farm before emigrating to Australia 51 years ago.

When Tom led me to York the Peugeot was soon snugly in the driveway and me indoors with Pete who works from home so was there to greet me. I was able to connect via his wireless set-up and that has been great.

After Jean came home we sat in the glorious warm sunshine, sipping wine and swapping reminiscences
.We had a lovely bbq with fresh baked bread but didn't eat till late as we were enjoying each others company and the red wine!

Tomorrow we plan a ride into the countryside as P&J have both taken time off work.

17.6.10

Jean dropped Pete and me off in the town centre and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering around the old walled City. I've put a selection of pictures on a separate page. Click to view.




This is the school where Chris started his education for a few months before we sailed.

I also visited the garage where I worked for a few years after I left the RAF. It hasn't changed that much in the past 55 years except the petrol pumps are no longer out the front. I took a pic but it didn't come out but I'll try again later.




We went out driving after lunch and visited the beautiful Valley Gardens in Harrogate. Here's a few pics:

After wandering a bit and indulging in coffee, we re-boarded the bus for the second half of the tour.

We finished the day with fish and chips from what was claimed as 'The best fish and chip shop in Whitby' before a drive over the moors back to York

Click to go back to the top

19.6.10

Today was great! Pete and in particular, Jean had done a great deal of preparation for the 'Lamb Family Gathering' and people had started arriving before 4pm. More than 25 altogether turned up.

Before that I went for a drive to Stamford Bridge with Jean. Her daughter Jackie's family had entered a 'Scarecrow' competion in the town and we were delighted to hear their entry had won first prize.

There were people at the party I knew from when we lived at 'Park House Farm' in Harrogate - now sadly a housing developement. In particular I remembered Pat - Vi's niece who used to visit us in our caravan as a teenager. It didn't seem possible that also at the party were Pat's daughter Kim and her two children Victoria and Daniel - one a school teacher and the other at university. How the years have flown.




Before everyone left Pete had them sign a replica of the spoof card they had used as the invitation to the party!

We relaxed, after everyone had left, over a few more reds followed by delicious Coffee Royale!

And so to bed.

20.6.10

This started out as a quiet day as we had been late to bed yesterday! I spent a lot of time sorting out photos I took the day before and making them into a captioned printable document that I can print out for Mary back in Highett, Vic, as she doesn't have the internet. She is one of Vi's  two surviving sisters  and very interested in what happens with her rellies many thousands of miles away in Yorkshire. She told me to take paper and pencil and write everything down but I thought a pictorial record would be much better.

Pete and I did some route planning for my trip to France next week - they have been there many times so have good knowledge plus photos of  'must see' places.

In the afternoon P&J went out for a little while and I caught up with the diary and finished Mary's document.

They had a treat in store for me in the evening - a lovely meal in an historic little restaurant they know and then on to a hotel for a jazz night. The four musicians were brilliant and even though I prefer traditional jazz to modern, I still really enjoyed the night helped by a little of the red stuff. My only regret was that I hadn't taken my camera! I'd have loved to have shared the wonderful happy expressions of the keyboard player with you. The leader played a very modern looking trumpet and doubled on a mellow flugal horn. Actually it wasn't my only regret - we sat on stools and I had a dreadful backache!

21.6.10

How can I begin to describe this day? A day with stunning, everchanging landscapes with weather so perfect it was hardly credible!

It started with farewells to Pete and Jean who have made my stay so enjoyable. Apparently according to them I did the same when they visited Oz.












Tom was annoyed that I ignored his instructions and headed for Harrogate where I not only managed to get a pic of the garage where I used to work 55 years ago, but had a good chat with the current owner.




After that Tom settled down and brought me through absolutely beautiful countryside to reach a CL here at a farm near Broughton in Furness. I have a fair idea of the layout of Broughton and surrounding area as Tom didn't have the address for this dairy farm and so I did a bit of a wander before I found it.

I also met a bus coming the other way on a narrow stretch where there wasn't room for both of us. I had to reverse a long way before he could sneek past with inches to spare! Steve, who sold me this Peugeot on a 'Buy Back' scheme, will be relieved to hear the vehicle is still in one piece!


I took two more pics showing the view from my site (OK - my 'pitch' for all you UK folk!) :

23.6.10

If I'd stopped to write this diary before lunch I would have painted a far different picture of my day. You may remember I said a while back that the M1 was boring. Well the M6 and M61are worse! I started the day with a lovely chat with Martin and Pauline, the owners of the peacefull rural CL where I stayed near Broughton. Then for a while my senses were again overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty of Lake District vistas.

That all changed as I headed towards Manchester and found myself on four lane motorways with the enthralling vistas of the backs of huge trucks travelling like me in the left hand lane while cars zoomed past in the other three lanes. Charming I'm sure!

Finally sanity returned as I got nearer the Peak District and again found myself negotiating the narrow twisty streets of little towns and villages as I started getting into the hilly country that makes up this fascinating part of Britain.

I'm staying at a Caravan Club site at Castleton right in the heart of the Peak District and tonight I walked - yes, you read it right - walked to the historic little town that has its origins back in the 1,000s when Cromwell's Peveril Castle that looks down on the town was built.

In one of the pubs, I rewarded myself with a Yorkshire Pudding and a pint. The pudding was delicious. As big as a dinner plate but with high crusty sides like a pie and the whole thing filled with rich brown onion gravy. Yum!

24.6.10

A quiet morning. I did some washing - after I was told by the office, "Yes - the coins do reject but keep putting them in and it will eventually accept them!" A notice to that effect would be helpful.

Then I spent quite some time arranging my itinerary for the next few days before I head for France. There's still some hold up about the insurance certificate and I need a letter from Steve so I've arranged to call in at Rainham on Monday morning and pick them up. It took a while to find somewhere to stay for Sat and Sunday as most parks (Sites) are full at the weekends. The same for tomorrow but I managed to get into a CL  about halfway between here and the destination for the weekend. The map suggests I'll be spending some time on those accursed motorways but at least they get you from A to B pretty smartly.



After lunch I had an experience I'm never likely to have again in my life-time. A boat trip underground on a river 600ft under the hillside. It used to be a lead mine and the tunnel was just a few inches wider than the boat so it often scraped the sides. You had to keep your head down at times.

To get down to the river you descended 164 steps - the trouble was you had to climb back up them after the tour finished!







Owen, our guide, told a fascinating tale of the old mining days. The miners were given free alcohol to combat the dreadful conditions but most never saw their 30th birthday.

The views from the car park were stunning including the famous Winnats Pass that was once the bed of the sea millions of year ago.

I came down it yesterday and it gets very steep.

25.6.10

Did I forecast motorways for today? I wasn't kidding - lots of miles on both the M1 and the M61 and they were extremely busy in parts.

I needed a Maccas to Skype home and made the mistake of letting Tom take me to one in the middle of Chesterfield! It was a nightmare of busy streets and thick traffic. Tom tried to send me up one way streets the wrong way, landed me in the middle of a crowded outdoor market and generally confused both of us. I never spotted the Maccas but re-programmed him to get me the heck out of there.

As I finally got clear of the CBD I spotted a Maccas just off the main road and pulled into their car park. I didn't even have to go in as there was an excellent signal in the car park. I later found that Costas - a caterer at some service areas - also has free wifi and easier to get to. A few service stops have Starbucks with wifi as well. I still haven't worked out what I'll be doing in France for Internet yet but I guess it'll have to be more Maccas until I do.
You don't see much scenery on the motorways - firstly you are too busy watching the traffic and secondly because the road usually has banks with bushes and trees so the view is hidden. I did notice after I got on minor roads near Oxford that the houses down here are mainly brick.

The whole of the northern parts I saw were of stone - the houses, the barns, the walls separating the fields where there were no hedges and the walls around gardens.
There are lots of hedges  all over the country and very little fencing like we have in Australia.

The evenings get a bit boring so I bought an amplified indoor aerial to see if my TV gubbins would work. It didn't! I'll try again tonight - its own little aerial worked the other night although the picture was very snowy. By the way - it's not as big as it looks in the pic.

I also bought a doona/duvet cover and pillow case today - what a swine trying to put the cover on in the confined space of a motorhome. The night was mild and I was too hot!

26.6.10

Travel today was all motorways including the wretched M25!
No more needs to be said except for some unaccountable reason everthing came to a stop and then we crawled for miles.

I've been wondering what would happen when my 30 days for 2 pounds special deal for internet access ran out. Well today I found out as they sent me an SMS explaining the options.

Simple! I now have another month of unlimited browsing although it won't be as easy in France next week.

Tom brought me here OK to the lovely spacious Caravan Club site at Alderheath, Redhill, not too far from London.

He then proceeded with Murphy's help, to give me the big run-around when I went looking for a maccas to ring Sue. Three tries and three blanks. Murphy must have moved them all as there was no sign of maccas big yellow 'M'.

Yesterday I said the telly didn't work. Of course it didn't as I hadn't tuned it! Today there's a plethora of sharp clear stations -  both analogue and digital plus countless music channels. It all else fails, etc.........!

27.6.10

I think I may have been maligning poor Tom unfairly! He took me to a different Maccas today but I almost missed it as it was just a shop-front. Maybe that's the sort of places he took me to yesterday and I didn't see them.

He played a rotten trick this morning. He kept repeatedly re-calculating the route. Over and over - until I began to wonder what life after Tom would be like. The one word that came to mind was 'miserable'! I've come to rely on him so much that without him I'd be lost -literally.



Sue bought me an Aussie flag that clipped to the passenger window but repeated encounters with hedgerows in narrow lanes finally saw its demise.

 I need identification as an Aussie - so some insulating tape 'borrowed' from the park managers (wardens no less) has let me fix a flag to the bike rack on the back.

28.6.10

It wasn't exactly a fun day today! M25 to Rainham and when I got there the insurance still hadn't arrived. I'll have to ring them in the morning and get my policy number - at least that will show it's covered.

Then M25 again and a king-daddy of a traffic snarl a few miles before the Dartford Bridge. We progressed in a series of small hops for the best part of an hour. Then Tom got his own back for me maligning him about the Maccas and somehow we finished up on the way to Bournemouth instead of  Newhaven and when I queried him he came up with a different route showing we still had about 70 miles to go as opposed to the few mles he showed previusly.

I just hope he can manage to take me to the ferry in the morning. It's only six miles!

Bonjour Messeurs and Madames - yes I'm really and truly in France! The crossing from Newhaven to Dieppe was a little quicker than I thought and I set tyre on French soil shortly after 2.30pm.

It would have passed a little quicker if I had known you couldn't get back to the vehicle once we were under way so I couldn't get my kindle to read.

The Channel was smooth and the ferry very comfortable. I decided to buy a map directory of France to help Tom should he get lost.















This huge truck was lifted to a higher level by the ramp.

It was with some trepidation that I started driving on the 'wrong' side of the road but I was feeling quite pleased with myself until I dived to the left when I met a vehicle on a narrow lane near my destination. This is my first night at a 'France Passion' free site. I'm the only motorhome here on this busy working farm. (Since I wrote that another friendly UK couple, Alan and Krys, have come in and I've shared some ' healthy' organic wine!)

My first language problem showed up at a toll station. I'd been driving for kilometres (Yes - I've reset Tom to something familier) and then came to a halt at a toll station. The red lights were on going my way and I couldn't see a way of lifting the barriers. There was no booth on my side but motorists going the other way were being relieved of their money. I parked and went to the booth where neither attendant spoke any English. They seemed to think I wanted to know the way to somewhere and helpfully produced a map! I finally convinced them that all I wanted was the barrier raised so I could go on my way. "Ah - you take ticket" they said! I hadn't noticed a ticket machine but when I pressed a button out popped a ticket and the light went green. It all became clearer when some time later I came to another booth  where they took money and the ticket.

This is a lovely place and I won't leave in a hurry tomorrow.

30.6.10

You'll have a new page tomorrow so the pictures will load quicker for bit.

Today started off well. A quiet drive through undulating French countryside took me to the large city of Rouen where I was after a maccas. (My UK dongle won't work over here). Tom found the maccas fairly well but trying to find a parking spot in Rouen is like trying to park in the Melbourne CBD! I found a spot in a big hardware store car-park - a bit like Bunnings and was able to Sype Sue and answer email. For some raeson it wouldn't let me load the diary so I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

I then headed for Le Mans- famous for its 24-hour sports car races - along one of the smoothest and qietest motorways I've been on.  The gloss wore a bit thin when I had to pay a toll of 30 Euros!

My prime objective was to get a French dongle  to access the net and that led to an incredibly frustrating after noon. I found a large shop selling Orange gear (the firm not the colour) and despite our lack of communiction I bought the dongle. It said you could put money in through the net or pay in the shop. I've been caught before so i went back the van and tried to get it working. The instruction wher all in French which could have been Chinese the good they were to me. I couln't work out how the sim card fitted so back into the shop. It was easy, so back for another try. All went well until it asked for credit card details. It rejected my Aussie Visa and Mastercard. Back into the shop again. We don't sell vouchers but there's an Orange shop in the big shopping mall nearby. It was two shops from the entrance but Murphy ensured I'd entered the other end of the incredibly long mall.

I was sweating and then had to stand in line for about an hour only to be told the only way to buy time was by credit card on the net. Back to the first shop and asked for my money back. It took a while but it's back in my wallet waiting to see if another Tele-company is more accessible. The UK dongle was the same and you may remember I had to 'borrow' a credit card in exchange for cash to make it work. I don't know any Frenchmen to try the same trick.

Phew! That was a long diatribe - sorry.

I'm now about forty kms from Le Mans in a quiet little free camp  all on my own. The Loire is a short walk  just across the next field and it's lovely.  It was very hot today and I felt dehydrated with all the running around. I even drank water! It's still 29C in the van at 10.15pm with doors and windows open.

A new page starts today - click to go there.