taraabit

Wednesday 9th June 2021.

We are heading north on a return visit to Yorkshire where we will tomorrow meet up with our travelling companions Alison and Peter.

Our aim today was to visit an antiques and bric a brac centre at Helmswell south of Lincoln. However today ( we have no complaints) is is very warm and the sky is cloudless, the antiques centre doesn’t allow dogs in and it was far too warm to leave Layla in Homer, so we went to plan B. This was to visit the Sherwood Forest Visitors centre and the The Major Oak Tree of Robin Hood’s fame. My father is from Nottingham and a lot of my childhood/ youth was spent visiting there so I have always been aware of the story of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. Having said that I have never visited the forest before.

Looking on the parking/ camping apps we use there seemed to be a strong indication that it was no longer possible to park motorhomes there because of height restrictions etc, however I’m pleased to say we took the risk and the car park is accessible to motorhomes , it costs £4 to park all day.

There are various trails well laid out and signposted from the visitors centre, we took the one to the Major Oak and not far in we came to site of the tree. It is now well fenced off to prevent the ground beneath it being trodden down preventing rain water reaching its roots and it also prevents accidental damage from the public.

Parked somewhat out of character in the shade of the oak tree was an ice cream van, talk of robbing the rich to feed the poor, it felt very much like that at £7.15 for two ice creams.

There are many other sizeable oak trees in the forest many centuries old, one of them is known as the Bee tree and has an active hive in its trunk, we could see the bees but it was difficult to capture them on the camera.

Following a leisurely lunch in Homer we took a scenic route to our next stop.

Saturday 22nd May 2021.

We began the day by spending a few hours visiting our good friends of at least 50 years Keith and Jenny who live near Ilminster. After a catch up on all the family news we left there and drove up the M5 to tonight’s destination the final stop on our current trip.

The Sharpness Dockers Social Club doesn’t sound a very wild place to be staying but it is surprisingly a pleasant and interesting place to stop and it only costs £5 for the night. There is free access to the club which provides meals at lunchtimes and evenings during the week all at reasonable prices.We off course took the opportunity to sample the food and alcohol.

The Club is a short walk from the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal which runs north from here To Gloucester. Sharpness is an English commercial port in Gloucester one of the most inland ports in Britain on the Severn Estuary and can take boats up to 140m long.

Friday 21st May 2021.

It has been cold, wet and windy all day, very miserable, there have been short dry breaks but they didn’t last long. We had along with Peter and Alison decided to drive into Tavistock park up and have a ramble around town. We pulled up on the long stay car park/ coach park only to be told we weren’t welcome there and we had to move to a different long stay park, we drove there only to find it only had small spaces for cars and we would have to pay for two spaces to park a motorhome, not very forward thinking Tavistock as we decided not to stay and took our money elsewhere. For us it was a drive to Okehampton.

We parked up in Okehampton and went for a very wet walk around town, we had a look in a few shops but after a short while decided it was a miserable experience and we would head onto tonight’s campsite at Sampford Peverell.

Alongside the campsite runs a canal and so when the rain eased a little we went for a walk along the canal.

We walked from the canal down into the village which had a Spar shop and a pub The Globe. Well we didn’t need anything from the shop so that only left the pub which I’m pleased to say warmly welcomed us and Layla. It still feels strange to go back to sitting in a pub but it was warm and comfortable and we enjoyed the experience.

Thursday 20th May.

There was no Ho Ho Ho of pleasure as we visited Plymouth this morning. We parked at the Park and Ride next to Plymouth Argyle football club, the parking was free and it cost us £5.60 return for the bus. The bus driver gave us some instructions as to how to walk to the Barbican/ Plymouth Hoe.

The weather was horrendous, the rain was horizontal and the wind so strong that we struggled to stay upright, in minutes our legs were soaked so we admitted defeat and headed back into town.

It was a short drive to tonight’s site which is on the outskirts of Tavistock, no sea views but we are surrounded by pleasant countryside.Tavistock is a market town in West Devon situated on the River Tavey it claims to be the home of the cream tea. It has a good range of shops and a pannier market.

We walked into Tavistock via a park alongside the River Tavy. unfortunately as we arrived in town some of the shops were closing for the day so I think we may visit again tomorrow morning.

Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th May.

We arrived here early yesterday afternoon in warm sunshine, the site is a working farm which has several large fields and you can pitch up where you wish and select your view. This evening the farmer involved us and other motorhomers in guiding several flocks of sheep across the road to where tomorrow the ewes will be sheared.

I have been promising to bring Michelle here to Bigbury on Sea for years as she has seen it on T V and heard my friends and I often talk about a visit we made some years ago.

The whole of the area has very poor wifi and phone signal, between us we have access to four different providers but non are better than any other, hence the delay in publishing this blog.

The view is of Burgh Island, it has a great character pub The Pilchard Inn and an Art Deco Hotel made famous by Agatha Christie who based at least one of her books on the island.

We have visited the pub twice over the past two days and sampled the Otter beer, today we had a quick snack to keep us going as we were out for 5 hours, Michelle had gourmet crab on chips, all very expensive but enjoyable.

At low tide you can access the island. by walking across the beach but when the tide is in you can gain access by paying to take a ride on the Sea Tractor.

We walked to the top of Burgh Island where there is a stone building that used to be occupied in the past by a lookout whose role was to spot the herring shoals and alert the waiting fisherman.

When the tide is out you can walk quite a distance along the beach, the scenery is stunning which ever way you look.

Monday 17th May 2021.

We had a quiet night last night no rain and the wind died down, however as we set off today it began to rain heavily. We headed a few miles to Slapton Sands where the rain held of for a short while whilst we walked along the beach.

For a beautiful place Slapton Sands has a sad history, in April 1944 whilst rehearsing for the D Day landing 946 American servicemen lost their lives.

We drove onto Kingsbridge a small attractive town situated at the head of the Kingsbridge estuary, we parked on the Harbour Quay car park, lots of room and easy to park Homer. We walked around town and made a few purchases.

It was only a short drive from there to tonights camp site two miles from Salcombe. After pitching up we set off and walked the two miles into town, the first part was along a level path but then it was a steep walk downhill into town, which we certainly felt on the return walk.

Salcombe is a popular seaside town steeped in maritime history and popular with sailors who moor their boats there. It is a very attractive town down a steep hill with very narrow streets, not a place to take a motorhome. There is a park and ride car park approx one mile out of town, not a lot of use to us, firstly it has a 2.2 metre height barrier and secondly the council have cancelled the bus because of Covid.

Altogether we have walked six miles today and we are having a relaxing evening giving the legs a rest, even Layla is flaked out and fast asleep.

Saturday 15th/Sunday16th May 2021.

For the past two nights we have been on a Caravan and Motorhome site south of Totnes, we were redirected here as the site we had booked in Totnes was flooded. Unfortunately the site we have been on is in a weak wifi area so we haven’t been able to add to the blog for two days, hence this one covering two days.

The weather over this time has been very mixed, we have endured some very heavy rain showers interspersed with sunshine, and overnight prolonged heavy rain, however we don’t let that stop us so yesterday we visited Totnes.

All four of us had visited Totnes before so it wasn’t going to be a new venture, however as it was Saturday we hoped it would be lively and entertaining.As we were in the middle of no where and had no desire to drive either motor home we ordered a taxi. When it arrived it was like a skip on wheels and if there had been any other alternative we would have sent the driver packing. It took him 5 minutes to uncover the front seat, he obviously wasn’t used to having four passengers.

There was a market near the top of town that had recently started to operate again, there were, probably due to the weather, stalls missing but it added some colour to the drab wet streets.

At the bottom of the town is the river and tidal estuary where at times you can catch a ferry to Dartmouth.

After some time wondering around we took a taxi from the taxi rank back to the campsite. I’m pleased to say it was spotless and the driver fell into that easy chat that many can with a view and philosophy on all aspects of life.

Late afternoon Peter and I watched the FA Cup Final, Leicester playing Chelsea, I’m pleased to say the midland team won 1-0. We finished the day with fish and chips from the mobile van which is often a feature of the type of site we were staying on.

Today in torrential rain we left the site and drove to The Cider Press a craft centre on the outskirts of the Darlington Estate, sadly there weren’t many units open, a reflection of the Covid shut down. Then it was onwards to Dartmouth. Here we parked on the Park and Ride as there is very little parking in Dartmouth and certainly nothing suitable for a motorhome. We paid £5 which covered the parking and the return bus fare.

Dartmouth is famous for its naval tradition and being the site of the naval trading college, it has a long seafaring history and the need to protect itself from attack.

It was only 1.75 miles from Dartmouth to tonight’s campsite, we are high up and are being buffeted by the wind but have a wonderful view out to sea. The site warden gave us a leaflet with some local walks so we decided to take advantage of a lull in the wet weather and go for a walk to the local village and then on to “Blackpool Sands” look out Lancashire.

Sadly when we arrived dogs weren’t allowed on the beach as it had blue flag status, we were quite happy to accept that but I was a little annoyed that I wasn’t even allowed to walk Layla on an adjacent grassy field whilst Michelle, Alison and Peter walked on the beach, but there you go.

The walk back was steep and uphill, thankfully we had just got back to Homer when we had another heavy prolonged shower.

Friday 14th May 2021.

Some days don’t start well!!

Overnight we ran out of gas so at 7.30am I was outside switching over onto our reserve tank this enabled the boiler to work again so that we could have our showers.

Before leaving the site we looked on the app http://myLPG.eu which lists places to go to refill the tank, what joy it showed that the filling station 400m away had a LPG pump.

Of course that was too easy, as I manoeuvred Homer up to the pump a small hand written note said “ out of order”, back to the app, the next convenient place was on route at Exeter motorway services adjacent to the M5. After navigating round several large islands with multi lanes we found our destination which thankfully did have LPG. We refilled the tank, 22 litres for £15, we have worked out that we have done 30 nights away since we last filled up, some without EHU so I suppose we haven’t done too bad.

We then headed for Dawlish, where after initially finding ourselves in a car park reserved for people having Covid jabs!! we managed to park correctly and go for a wander. We ended up sitting in the sunshine in a park by the river where we consumed a coffee from a shop/ cafe opposite,

Back in Homer we took a short trip to Teignmouth where thankfully we parked easily. Full marks and many thanks to Teignmouth Council as they welcome dogs on the beach and so Layla had a great time running around as we walked the length of the beach.

We had an enjoyable ramble around the town and treated Layla to a new harness and a new bowl, she wasn’t impressed.

The drive to tonight’s site was tedious and the heavy traffic made it stop start, this site is the substitute site for the one in Totnes which is flooded, the approach is along a narrow lane, about 1.5 miles long, and we struggled to find a pitch that was level. To top it all there’s no wifi signal and very little phone signal. It may mean we will have to talk to each other instead of watching tv.

Thursday 13th May 2021.

It started raining yesterday afternoon at 2.30pm and continued all night, it was still raining heavily when we got up. We then got a phone call to let us know that our camp site at Totnes for the weekend was flooded so we have to relocate to a new site 6 miles further away.

We had planned to walk down into Seaton but the weather was too wet, so each motorhome decided to do their own thing for the day, we drove down into Seaton parked at Tesco’s where we did some shopping, we left Homer parked there and went for a wet walk along the sea front.

We decided to leave Seaton and drove inland over flooded roads surrounded by flooded fields to the town of Axminster.

Axminster is a market town in Devon built on a hill overlooking the River Axe. It achieved world wide fame for its Axminster Carpets first made by Thomas Whitty in 1755.

In the centre of Axminster is River Cottage Cafe and Deli set up after the TV series River Cottage by TV presenter Hugh Fearnlet-Whittingstall.

It had stopped raining as we got back to Homer, almost 24 hours to the minute after it started yesterday, we drove back towards Seaton and then headed for Beer.

Beer is a pretty coastal village mentioned in the Domesday Book, it grew up around a smugglers cove and caves, it is an active fishing village.

Wednesday 12th May 2021.

It was a short drive of a few miles to Lyme Regis our place to explore today. I’ve been to Lyme Regis many times before and have spent quite a bit of time here so perhaps explore is the wrong description, perhaps Michelle and I would say re-immerse ourselves in a place we both enjoy.

Lyme Regis is mentioned in the Domesday Book and later was granted the Royal Charter by King Edward 1, hence the Regis. It is the birthplace of Mary Anning a geological pioneer who found and identified dinosaur fossils in the cliffs to the East of Lyme Regis. It is now part of the Heritage Coastline, known commercially as the “Jurassic Coast.”

The above photos were taken in the maze of small streets behind the main street, some adjacent to the small river that runs down the valley and flows into the sea near the theatre.

The harbour wall is known as The Cobb and is where one of the scenes from the French Lieutenants Woman was filmed.

The harbour is well sheltered from storms and is again an active fishing port.

There is a very pleasant sea front bordering the beach which is good to promenade along and hosts numerous cafes etc.

We are now parked up on Manor Farm Campsite at Seaton with beautiful views across the valley and the sea. Unfortunately just after we arrived here it began to rain a complete contrast to this mornings weather.