Cali has been to Glastonbury

A couple of friends have recommended The Old Oaks at Glastonbury so we thought we would visit for Steve's birthday weekend.  It's a private site and a little more expensive than our usual sites (£68.00 for two nights) but the facilities are amazing - definitely the best site we've ever visited.

Pitch - Orchards 21

The pitches are allocated, but we requested a hardstanding with electric near to the facilities block.  We were allocated Orchards 21 - a lovely spacious pitch.  The whole site is beautifully maintained with a team of staff ensuring the gardens are kept to a high standard.  The site shop is well stocked with essentials and all the reception staff were very friendly and helpful.

Whilst there isn't a local bus service nearby, there are footpaths directly from the site which lead to Glastonbury Tor and into the town - which is the walk we did on Saturday.

From the bottom looking up ...

... and the top looking down

A fabulous site and definitely one to visit again next year.

8-10 June 2018

Cali has been to St Mawes

We booked a long weekend at Merrose Farm Caravan Club Site at St Mawes for the Bank Holiday weekend.  We had previously visited the site many years ago when we had our caravan, but thought we would see what the site was like with Cali.  The location is perfect, a short walk to the coast path and it also has a bus stop outside the main entrance with regular buses between Truro and St Mawes.

We arrived around mid-day on and had a lazy afternoon on the site.  On Saturday morning we caught the bus to St Mawes (every two hours - £5.10 return) and did a lovely circular walk to St Just in Roseland returning on the coast path to St Mawes.  

St Mawes at start of walk

The town was busy when we got back as there was gig racing as part of the Fal Festival, but we managed to get a seat outside the Rising Sun pub to watch all the activity!  The weather had been glorious all day, but very humid so it wasn't too much of a surprise when we had a thunderstorn overnight which lasted about three hours.  Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep.

On Sunday we walked to the coast and decided to walk both ways along the coast path, mainly because we wanted to see how many more walks we could do when we return to the area and also because the forecast wasn't too good so we didn't want to walk too far from the site. 

Portscatho

In the morning we walked along the coastpath to the headland beyond Portscatho, stopping off at The Hidden Hut - a fabulous beach cafe with amazing cakes!  We then retraced our steps and walked to Pendower Beach and a pot of tea at the Shallikabooky Beach Hut before returning to Cali.

Monday morning was beautiful and sunny so we had breakfast outside and a lazy morning reading the papers before heading home.

Pitch 34 - Steve preparing breakfast

We loved the site and we now know we can do plenty of walking in the area, either walking from the site or using the local bus.  Definitely a site for us to return to next year.

25-28 May 2018

Cali has been to Swanage

We've been back to the Haycraft Caravan Club Site for a couple of nights.  It's a site we visited last year and like it as we can walk directly from the site, as well as having a small station close by.  We arrived about 6.00pm on Friday evening and were surprised to have a choice of three pitches as this site is usually fully booked at weekends.

On Saturday we walked from the site through Langton Matravers to Worth Matravers and then took a path to the coast at East Man before returning to Swanage along the coast path.

East Man towards West Man

We had a potter around a couple of shops in Swanage and saw that Tilly Whims sold the 'Mac in a Sac' we had been looking for, so bought ourselves one each for our rucksacks.  As we were too early for the train, we went for a beer before heading to the station and catching the to Harman's Cross and walking back to the site.

We woke on Sunday to glorious sunshine, so decided to have a lazy morning on the site before heading back home early afternoon.

Pitch 40 - ready for Sunday breakfast

11-13 May 2018

Cali has been back to Godrevy

Even though we went to the Godrevy Park Caravan Club Site a few weeks ago, we decided to go back again for the Bank Holiday weekend.  It's an area we love - we know there's plenty of walking from the site and also a good bus service to both St Ives and Portreath (although it wasn't running this weekend as it was too early in the year!).

We arrived on a lovely sunny Thursday evening and pitched in a spot where we had seen a campervan parked on our last visit - it was sheltered with hedges on two sides and wasn't too far from the facilities block.

Friday morning started with a thick sea mist so we didn't have very good views as we walked from the site towards Portreath.  As the local bus service wasn't running we found a bench to sit and have lunch and then retraced our steps back along the coast path.  The sun came out early afternoon and it was very hot on the return journey.

Saturday saw more sea mist at the start of the day so we caught the bus to St Ives and hoped the sun would come out as we walked back.

Hayle across estuary

Unfortunately there was no sign of the sun all day, it remained very misty and quite cold - not like the weather the rest of the country was enjoying over the Bank Holiday weekend!

After two long walks we had decided to spend Sunday having a lazy day on the site.  We had another misty start to the day but when it blew away we had a glorious sunny afternoon before the mist rolled in again about 5.00pm.

Pitch 94 Godrevy Park

We had intended to stay until Monday lunchtime, but when we woke to more sea mist we decided to head home a little earlier than planned and set off mid morning.  At least it gave us plenty of time to get everything cleaned and ready to go away again next weekend.

Despite the weather we had another lovely weekend on one of our favourite sites.  

3-7 May 2018

Cali has been to Dulverton

The forecast for the weekend was good so we decided to return to Exmoor House Caravan Club Site at Dulverton - this was the first site we had been to with Cali last year.  The site was full for the weekend and as we were the last to arrive we got the last pitch which was next to one of the toilet blocks.  It wasn't the best pitch on the site, but it was in a lovely sunny spot so we were happy.  After setting up on site we popped to the Bridge Inn for a couple of drinks and then had a lazy Friday evening.  On Saturday we decided to do a circular ten mile walk from the site, along the River Barle, through the woods and across Anstey Common.

Anstey Common towards Dulverton

It was a really hot day, probably too hot for the time of year, and we were both pleased to get back to Cali late afternoon.  We wound out the awning for some shade whilst sitting out to have a few beers!

Pitch 65 Exmoor House

But, how soon the weather changes. Shortly after this photo was taken I went for a shower before we had our meal only to step outside the toilet block to torrential rain (at least I didn't have far to walk!) and a clap of thunder.  The rain stopped almost as quickly as it started and after a dry night we had another lovely sunny morning on Sunday.  Perfect for sitting out with a coffee and the Sunday papers.

This is one of our favourite weekend sites as it's only about an hour from home and there are plenty of walks from the site. 

20-22 April 2018

We have had Cali for a year!

It's a year since we collected Cali - in that time we've driven 5,270 miles, had several day trips, spent 52 nights at sites in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Pembrokeshire and Somerset, as well as journeys to the Midlands to visit our families.

We've learnt a lot, mainly about being creative with storage when living in such a small space especially when the weather is bad.  It's been a fabulous year and a pension well spent!

19 April 2018

Cali has been to Godrevy

We haven't been away for a while as the weather has been awful, but this weekend looked good so we went to one of our favourite sites - Godrevy Park Caravan Club Site.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and got set up for the weekend.  It's a breezy site so we found a pitch behind a small hedge with the wind blowing to the rear of Cali.

Pitch 108 Godrevy Park

On Saturday we walked from the site across the Towans to the beach and walked into Hayle.  We wandered around Hayle for a while and had lunch before walking back along the beach.  It was a lovely warm day and there were loads of people on the beach and surfing - perfect!

Godrevy Lighthouse from Gwithian Towans

On arriving back at Cali we noticed the wind had changed direction and was now blowing onto the front of the roof, but as it wasn't too strong so we left the roof open.  Overnight the wind got much stronger and even though the Cali topper and windscreen cover were fastened down tight, they still flapped in the wind and were very noisy.  There were also some strong gusts that rocked Cali slightly, which was rather alarming!  After a sleepless night we packed up to head home and managed to get the roof down safely between the strong gusts.  In hindsight we should have dropped the roof before going to bed - another lesson learnt!

13-15 April 2018