Cali has been to Swanage

For our final weekend away in Cali we went to Haycraft Caravan Club Site at Harman's Cross near Swanage.  This is one of our favourite weekend sites, but it's quite hard to find vacancies at a weekend as it's only a small site and gets booked quickly.  

We arrived mid-afternoon after Steve finished work and were surprised to find we had a choice of pitches - we chose pitch 20 which is at the end of the pitches on the lower level.  It was a very hot afternoon so we were glad there were some clouds whilst we sat outside for the afternoon.

Pitch 20 Haycraft

On Saturday we decided to do one of our favourite walks from the site.  We walked through Langton Matravers and Worth Matravers to the coast path at East Man before walking along the coast path to Durlston Country Park.

Durlston towards East Man

From Durlston we walked into into Swanage before catching a bus back towards the site.  We usually catch the steam train, but the station nearest to the site is closed due to Covid-19, so we used the bus instead.  It was one of the hottest days of the year and, at times, the walk was quite challenging so when we got back to the site we sat in the shade for the evening.

Sunday morning was another hot day and we stayed on site before packing up late morning. We normally stop somewhere on the way home, but as everywhere was so busy we decided to head home instead.

This is a lovely site and felt very relaxed, even though there were strict Covid-19 restrictions around access to the facilities block. 

A fabulous sunny weekend for our last holiday in Cali.

7-9 August 2020

Cali has been back to Woolacombe

We decided to go back to Willingcott Caravan Club Site in Woolacombe for my birthday weekend.  We arrived just after midday to find the C&MC had changed the arrival times at all their sites to 1.00pm to allow for extra cleaning between departures and arrivals.  As we hadn't been told of the change (it had only happened a couple of days earlier) the site staff let us on a bit earlier once they had got everything ready.

The site was almost full (the same as on our previous visit three weeks ago) but what a change we noticed with the attitude of campers.  I'm not sure if this is because there were a lot more families or if it was because a lot of the campers weren't local, but there was scant regard for Covid-19 regulations.  As far as possible we gave everyone a wide berth over the weekend.

We found ourselves a lovely sunny pitch and sat out to enjoy the hottest day of the year, only to find the sea mist rolled in and we had a cold damp afternoon and evening - unlike the rest of the country!

Pitch 107 Willingcott

We had torrential rain overnight on Friday and then a drizzly start to the day on Saturday.  We walked from the site along the lanes to Mortehoe and Bull Point.  It was still very cloudy but the sun was trying to break through.  As we walked along the coast path to Ilfracombe the sun came out and we had a very hot walk back to the site along the old railway track. 

Bull Point towards Ilfracombe

Saturday evening stayed sunny which was perfect for sitting out to eat our fish and chips - my birthday meal!

On Sunday we walked from the site again, this time we headed in the other direction.  We started off along a muddy bridleway towards Georgeham and then to Croyde.  Once we had left the bridleway we walked along the road which was slow going as it's very narrow and we had to keep stopping as vehicles passed us.  After sitting on Croyde beach for our lunch we walked towards Baggy Point just as the sky started to turn black and Lundy island disappeared.  We decided to take shelter instead of heading on to Baggy Point - a wise move as we had another torrential downpour.  After the rain had stopped we walked around Baggy Point before heading back along the coast path to Woolacombe and returning to the site by walking along the edge of the Downs.

Baggy Point towards Croyde

We had yet another downpour during Sunday night, but Monday was fine so the roof dried quickly for us to pack away.  We left mid morning to return home as Monday was my birthday and we decided to spend some time sitting on the balcony at home with a G&T (a present from my nephew and his family).

We do like this site but decided that in the future we will avoid staying there over the summer.

31 July-3 August 2020