Saturday 25 January 2020

Cali 2 is on order!

Well, we've done it - we've placed an order for Cali 2!  Our new campervan will be a Hymer Ayres Rock.  We'll both be sad to sell Cali, but the new campervan is full height, has a fixed bed and shower/toilet and is only half a metre longer than Cali.  The compromise is that it has a smaller living area, but that's fine for us.

We're buying Cali 2 from Highbridge who were at the Motorhome Show at Westpoint this weekend, so we got a free pass from the dealer to attend the show and place our order.  He's got to check on delivery time, but we expect it to arrive around May or June

25 January 2020

Tuesday 21 January 2020

Cali has been to Bath Chew

On Saturday we went to Paignton and viewed a Knaus Boxstar and then travelled to Highbridge to see a Hymer Ayres Rock.  We've narrowed our choice down to these two vehicles so also obtained prices from the dealers.  

As the forecast for the weekend was good we had booked Saturday night at Bath Chew Caravan Park.  We'd visited the site many years ago when we had our caravan, but couldn't remember how much walking we would be able to do from the site.  We had booked a standard hardstanding pitch but as the site was fairly quiet they upgraded us to a Fully Serviced Pitch, at no extra cost.  

It was getting dark when we arrived so after showers we had our meal and settled down for the evening.  Thankfully we had taken our thermal covers as we woke to a heavy frost.  The temperature inside Cali was 2 degrees, but I had left the heater remote control by the bed so I could turn it on for a while before we got up.

Pitch 41 Bath Chew

The site was lovely and just how we remembered it, it's like camping in a large garden.  The site has individual shower/toilet rooms, which is a nice idea but mops would have been good so the floor could be dried as they soon got very wet and muddy.  

We left the site on Sunday morning and visited another dealer to look at a Boxstar and then returned to Highbridge to refresh our memory on the Ayres Rock.  Which one will it be?

18 January 2020 

Monday 13 January 2020

Cali has been to Wareham and Hayling Island

It's been over two months since we camped in Cali and have really missed our time away, so were itching to get away again. The weather forecast was slightly better this weekend so we booked two nights at Hunters Moon Caravan Club Site at Wareham as we wanted to visit Hayling Island to view some campervans.  

We arrived on site late afternoon on Friday and set up on a pitch near the facilities as it was very windy and starting to rain - again!  As we were heading off early the next morning we hadn't taken the thermal pop-up cover so left the roof down overnight.  

It didn't take long to get on the road on Saturday and we drove across to Hayling Island.  We saw several VanTourer campervans and have now crossed them off our list as we felt the living area was cramped.  After leaving the dealer we headed to the seafront and had lunch at the Inn on the Beach.  It was very windy and bitterly cold, so we only had a short walk along the beach - looking across to Portsmouth.

Hayling Island Seafront towards Portsmouth

We had a short drive around Hayling Island and decided we'll return one day to camp and have a walk around the island.  It was dark when we got back to site but we still got pitched in about ten minutes.  There was another awful storm overnight with very strong winds and torrential rain, so it was a lovely surprise to wake on Sunday to blue sky and sun.

Pitch 62 Hunter's Moon

After breakfast we packed up and drove to Lyme Regis for a walk along the seafront.  The day was glorious and we walked several miles around the Cobb and the Langmoor Gardens.

Langmoor Gardens towards Charmouth

We had a lovely weekend and realise how much we have missed going away.  Hopefully the weather will start to improve so we can get away for more weekends.

10-12 January 2020