Monday 28 February 2022

Zebedee has been to Birmingham, Malvern and Minehead

After far too long we've had another adventure in Zeb.  We had planned on starting our journey on Friday with two days at Slimbridge, but cancelled our booking due to Storm Eunice.  Our intention was to go to a CL at Stafford on Sunday so we could see my niece and her family, but the site cancelled our booking as they were flooded.  We had already booked two nights at Chapel Lane Caravan Club Site after the Stafford site so we could visit the Camping, Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC, and managed to get another couple of nights at Chapel Lane.

We travelled to Birmingham on Sunday and after a blustery journey we arrived on site to hear that the Met Office had now named this weather front Storm Franklin.  We managed to find a fairly sheltered pitch and stayed on site for the rest of the day and Monday morning whilst the storm passed.  The weather was a little calmer on Monday afternoon so we had a short walk to Beckett's Farm Shop.

Pitch 47 Chapel Lane

We should have visited my mother and sister on Monday, but delayed our visit until Tuesday after the storm had passed.  We drove to Rugeley and spent the day with them before heading back to the site mid afternoon.

On Wednesday we went to the NEC and had a good day at the show.  We were both surprised at how busy it was at the show - there were no ticket sales on the door and we were told that 19,000 tickets had been sold for the day.  Even though it was busy most people were keeping their distance and masks were worn inside the vehicles.

On Thursday we left Chapel Lane to visit Steve's parents in Gornall.  After spending the day with them we drove to Blackmore Camping and Caravan Site near Malvern.  We arrived late afternoon and set up quickly on a lovely pitch near to the facilities block.  It had been a bitterly cold day, so after hot showers we settled down for the evening and went to bed early as Steve wasn't feeling too good due to the cold weather.

Pitch 6 Blackmore

We had only booked one night at Malvern so on Friday we drove to Minehead Caravan Club Site for the weekend.  After setting up on site we walked to Minehead and had a drink at The Quay Inn before returning to site.

Pitch 36 Minehead

Saturday was a cold, but sunny day so we walked from site to the coast path and then to Dunster beach.  We sat for a short while whilst having lunch, but it was too cold to stay long so we walked back to Minehead harbour and then to the site.

On Sunday we walked to Dunster village and Dunster Castle and Watermill.  We spent the day walking around the Castle and grounds and admiring the stunning views from the Castle grounds.  We returned to Dunster beach and walked back to Minehead along the coast path so we could have a circular walk.

Dunster Castle Keep towards Coast

We would have liked to stay longer at Minehead, but as we'd got a busy week at home we headed back on Monday.  After cleaning and emptying Zeb we took him back to the storage site on Tuesday afternoon.

Chapel Lane is a lovely site and perfect for visits to the NEC.  It was our first visit to Blackmore but we liked the site and I'm sure will return again.  Minehead is one of our favourite sites as there is so much walking from the site and it's not too far from home - the site is also open all year.

20-28 February 2022