Cluny two nights.

We returned to the medieval town of Cluny. Beautiful old Abbey originally built in 11th century when it was the largest church in christiandom? Restored in 18th century. Some great old buildings throughout the town. Fabulous selection of restaurants and bars. A great ambience throughout the town as there is always something going on. At present there are loads of magnificent horses parading around the streets as it seems they are in the middle of an international show jumping event. There is also a major Jazz festival on and some sort of religious festival with people dressed in costumes. So enjoyable to sit at a bar and just watch this all enfold.

Montbard

Sat Nav: 8 years old... so outdated, goes round the houses adding to the journey like a London cabbie . Barb wants to keep it cos it cost £400, I want to sling it . Todays trip to Cluny will take 3 hours 35 minutes with this one. The newer sat nav that cost £30 sits neglected but raring to go, promising the same trip in 2 hours 20 minutes. Wife 67 years old, obtained 40 years ago, goes round the houses a bit... STOP II THERE! Back to the day in Montbard.. Really nice town with some old sections. CampsiTe good but too early for ACSI, cost 23e bit overpriced for a municipal but we made good use of the free water park where we made prats of ourselves trying to operate the digital lockers "stupid old English". Incidentally we were charged 11e for our excellent stay at Sezanne municipal site.

Sezanne 25th August

After doing nearly 400 miles yesterday the 90 odd miles to Sezanne were a doddle. Arrived 10.30am, topped up with fuel and got the rations in. Dorado fish for tea. Love this site 13e a night and free use of olympic sized pool. Great swim... did about half a mile. Then chilled out in the afternoon sun at side of the bus. Keep staring at the beer we got with the rations. Will have to drink it when it starts staring back.

24th August 2021. France.

 Easiest drive to chunnel. Left 7am arrived 12 noon, took it easy and no jams. Earlier train at 1.20. Got to Saint quentin around 5pm. Great aire but ticket machine broke so parked for free outside

4th 5th and 6th August Lady Margarets at Chirk

 Well the idea was to progress from our two night stay at Wirral, complete a 3 day trip to Chirk and then go for a 4-5 day trip to Coniston. What is it they say in the middle east "Man plans, God laughs". When we arrived at Chirk the weather was lovely. I spent a few hours putting the awning up, the tent up and the windbreaker up. Then off to Chirk Castle for a lovely walk through the NT grounds.  But then....that night....little Jack wouldn't settle and stayed awake until nearly midnight , Sophie was tired and the next day we were faced with constant rain as we walked through Llangollen. We did have a break from it as we sheltered in a nice pub but the decision was inevitable...Sophie and Barbara decided that Jack was a little too young so they all deserted me and set off for home. However 2 nights peace, relaxation and quiet with just me and Jonesy. Still I had to take down and pack away all of the equipment after drying it out. 

Another decision was shortly to be made...to leave Jack another year and cancel the trip to Coniston. We also decided to plan for an earlier departure to France and hopefully Spain.

Aiden in the grounds of Chirk Castle

Gatekeeper

A rain sodden walk along the Dee at Llangollen. Poor Jack never gets a look in.

31 July and 1st August. Two nights Wirral with Kids.

 We decided to give Jack and Aiden a trial for a place on our camping team. Of course Sophie came as well and all in all it was a successful two nights in a great location.

Ok we had a few tantrums at the pub but we were prepared to learn from our mistakes and move on. We checked out the beach. We did a round trip of 9 miles walking into West Kirky and most importantly Aiden successfully 'cracked' his cycling skills. No longer will he cycle using half rotations of the pedals. He now zooms along at full pace using full rotations whilst either ringing his bell or pulling on the brake. 

We had a really good evening meal and were joined by Michael who turned up at the site after completing most of the Wirral Way during the afternoon.  A couple of drinks together and a good catch up.

Thurstaston Beach.

Motorhome surfing.

You'll never catch him Jonesy

Quality time with Jack

A nice grass pitch on Wirral Country Park

Lovely evening beer with Michael

13 nights ...Tewkesbury (1), Andrewhayes site (4) Charmouth C&CC site (8)

 Another well planned and executed trip. Tewkesbury is always a good stopover and it truly is a splendid site with well paved plots. We didn't do much here just wandered around the town.

The AndrewHayes site close to Axminster was again a lovely site but a half hour walk to the nearby pub along a busy 'rat run'. Nice views from the site. We jumped the bus to Seaton and had a relaxing walk around the town, sitting on the sea front periodically and wondering about a walk over the top to Beer, "been there, too far". On one of the days I discovered a short cut that avoided the main road that would take us to the little hamlet of Kilmington. We set off through a forest path and after half way we spotted a sign telling us no entrance. We could see some old tatty looking caravans further on so frightened of attacks from mad dogs we took the path diversion which only took us to the main road. So we back tracked to the point where we'd seen the sign . I spotted a young lad outside one of the caravans and asked if we could actually proceed on our intended route "no problems , carry straight through to Kilmington". He also reasurred us that any dogs they all had where friendly. All in all this community consisted of about 12 vans positioned in the sunny side of the pathway. We stood and chatted to some of them for about 20 minutes. The land they were on was owned by some wealthy guy who had no interest in it apart from sending in a logging team every 12 months to maintain the forest. They left the commune alone and most of the people living there seemed happy with their lot. One of them had been there over 12 years. After wishing them good luck we carried on to the New Inn at Kilmington where we had a couple of pints and a tasty ploughmans. A pub I would definitely return to. We liked the AndrewHayes site but thought it was more geared to caravans as it was a bit out of the way and a car was a better option than public transport.

Similarly the Charmouth C&CC site was way outside Charmouth and 30 minutes from a bus stop. We used the bus most days going on trips to Lyme Regis, Charmouth, West Bay and Burton Bradstock. As an out of season resort Lyme Regis seemed to tick many of the boxes. Although it gets busy there is a good selection of shops, coffee bars, pubs and restaurants. Charmouth is quieter with a lot fewer shops etc. Although West Bay had charmed us on previous visits we now found it a bit soulless and lacking something although the stretch of beach here is fantastic. Further along the village of Burton Bradstock , although small had two tasteful pub restaurants and the nearby holiday park of Freshwater seemed popular and well reviewed by the people we spoke to. We walked through the site and it did have some good facilities...a lawn terraced large outdoor swimming pool, an indoor pool, bar restaruant and access to probably the best beach in the area. We walked from Burton about a mile to the site, had a look at it and then walked along the beach to West Bay . At Freshwater beach I took a 20 minute swim in the cold water. 

Arriving at West Bay we had a good hour to spare so we had a pint at a pub before bussing it back.

The weather has been really good on this trip apart from one day of rain. This made the rally field we are staying on a bit damp but vehicles could still move around on it. The rally field/ holiday site proved to be a good option as we have full use of the site facilities including electric hook up ...all for £16 compared to £29 if we were staying on one of the site pitches. Again the only drawback is the distance from the pub and bus stop...but hey Jonesy needs at least a half hour walk everyday. 

As I type this the temperature is increasing. It was about 24c yesterday and today Friday it will probably hit 26 going up to a possible 30c on Sunday when we head home. Up to now another good uk staycation (but still hopeful of Spain in September)

Jonesy enjoying the beach at Seaton.

Seaton , looking towards Beer in the distance. Both worth a holiday stay in.

Lyme Regis. Managed to bag this photo when the crowds weren't so evident.

Another relaxing day at Charmouth. I've noticed that we are turning into Park Bench People. Sitting for long periods on park benches talking to others, remember the song   "Old friends, sat on their park bench like bookends".

Charmouth, quieter than Lyme Regis with a more attractive beach area.

Our pitch on the Charmouth C&CC site. Great value and plenty of space they even brought in a brand new clean portaloo onto the field so you didn't have to walk 200yds to the main toilet block. Will use again.

Most people will be unfamiliar with this coastline but its ideal for swimming and ok its shingle but it never seems to be packed. Freshwater beach , Burton Bradstock.

Went for my first sea swim of the year. Cold.