Our final big adventure of the year is along the south coast, visiting some new sites and revisiting a few others.
On Wednesday we travelled to Black Knowl Club Campsite in the New Forest. We had a good journey with little traffic and arrived early afternoon. After setting up on a sunny pitch at the edge of the site we walked to Brockenhurst village, which is a couple of miles from the site. We had a potter around the village and found where to catch the bus to Lymington before having a drink at the Forester's Arms and then returning to the site.
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On Thursday we did a circular walk through the forest, walking through both Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst. This was a long walk on cycle trails through the forest so we stopped at The Greenwood Tree Cafe in Lyndhurst for a pot of tea and a fabulous blueberry scone! The day was hot and sunny so we headed back to site to sit in the sun with a G&T until early evening
Friday was another lovely sunny day. We walked back to Brockenhurst to catch the bus to Lymington. After having a look around the town we walked a few trails around the Nature Reserve before heading back to catch our bus to Brockenhurst and walk back to the site.
On Saturday morning we walked to Brockenhurst to fetch a paper and a few groceries. By now we had started to find a few short cuts back to the site along different paths, cutting the two mile walk to just over a mile. After lunch outside Zeb we walked the forest trails to the Tall Trees Trail and Arboretum - both of which were lovely walks.
We decided to have a rest day on Sunday as we had walked over fifty miles over the past four days. We spent the time catching up with a few jobs, planning what we wanted to do at our next site and sitting outside Zeb in the sun.
On Monday we moved to Litltehampton Club Campsite after stopping at a local supermarket to top up on supplies. As we were a few minutes before the 1.00pm arrival time we stopped on the road outside the site before checking in - only to receive a grumpy reception by the site staff who complained about us parking outside the site. Needless to say, the first impression of the site wasn't a good one. After setting up we walked into Littlehampton which we found to be a very run down town and the only place we found open for a coffee was Costa. We had a short walk along the seafront before returning to the site.
We had a thunderstorm overnight and the forecast for Tuesday was for more heavy rain in the afternoon. We decided to catch the bus to Arundel so we could pop into shops when the rain arrived later in the day. After getting off the bus we had a coffee at The Edible Sandwich and looked around the town before having lunch at Pizza Express. The rain never arrived so in the afternoon we walked along the river and through Arundel Park before catching the bus back to site.
Wednesday was forecast as another wet day, although it started bright. We walked back to Littlehampton but avoided the town and went for a coffee at the Harbour Lights Cafe before having a walk along the seafront and around the marina. We headed back to site for lunch and then sat outside Zeb during the afternoon as the forecast rain didn't arrive.
On Thursday we moved to Battle Normanhurst Court Club Campsite. We had previously visited this site when we had our caravan, but thought we would like to revisit the area with Zeb. We had torrential rain for most of the journey which continued as we arrived on site. We found a lovely large corner pitch in Bunny Plains and set up quickly. We managed a quick walk around the site between showers and then settled down for the evening to read our books.
We had more torrential rain overnight but woke to a dry morning on Friday. We did a short walk from a leaflet in the site office – the Freckley Hollow Walk and extended it to walk to Catsfield along the 1066 trail to see where the path led to Battle. There was another torrential downpour when were were in Catsfield so we headed to the White Hart Inn for a coffee until the rain passed. We returned to the site for lunch and stayed on site in the afternoon.
On Saturday we walked from the site along the 1066 Trail to
Battle. After looking around the town
and having a pot of tea and scone at the Bluebells Tearoom we walked back to the site, making a slight detour around part of the Sculpture Trail.
On Sunday we moved to Fairlight Wood Club Campsite - a small site set in a wood. Although it was busy we managed to find a good pitch on the edge of the site. We had a walk around the site in the afternoon and spent time planning our walks for the next few days.
The forecast was for a dry day on Monday so we walked from the site to Pett Beach. We then walked to Winchelsea Beach, Winchelsea and back to Pett along the Military Canal. It was a long walk and as the weather was a lot hotter than forecast we wished we had walked along the Military Canal first and returned along the coast as it would have been cooler.
After rain overnight we woke to more rain on Tuesday morning so decided to have a day on site. We were also half way through this adventure so spent some time cleaning Zeb and changing the bedding. When the rain eased to went for a few walks around the site.
We had torrential rain overnight and it rained heavily until mid
afternoon on Wednesday so we stayed on site. When it finally stopped raining we went for a short walk along some of
the lanes. We have enjoyed this site but
unfortunately the bad weather meant we didn’t do some of the walks we had
planned.
On Thursday we moved to Brighton Club Campsite – a site we had previously visited in 2017 with Cali. We set ourselves up on a pitch on the upper level and went for a walk to the Marina. We were disappointed to see that many of the shops and restaurants were closed and the area looked very tired. After a drink at the Master Mariner we headed back to site.
Friday saw a lovely sunny but cool start to the day so we walked along the seafront. There's a lot of work taking place around Black Rock and along the seafront and unfortunately I was paying too much attention to the Marina Walk development and walked in front of Steve, tripping over his foot and falling heavily onto the pavement. After cleaning up grazed knees and elbows, as well as getting my breath back, we carried on with our walk to Hove Lagoon. We had one short shower when we were walking on the pier, but were able to take shelter before walking back to the site for showers and tea.
On Saturday we walked into Brighton for the day, pottering around The Lanes, lunch at Pizza Express and a walk back to the site in the afternoon.
Sunday was another lovely day so we walked from the site
through Woodingdean to the edge of the South Downs National Park. We walked through the edge of the park to
Rottingdean, stopping at Shane’s Kitchen for a pot of tea before walking back
along the Undercliffe to the Marina and then back to site.
On Monday we moved to Rookesbury Park Club Campsite. We enjoyed this site when we visited earlier in the year and were pleased to see we could have the same pitch as our last visit. After setting up on site we sat outside Zeb for the afternoon and had an early night.
We decided to have a day in Portsmouth on Tuesday. We had already contacted Southdown Motorhomes (where we're buying our new campervan) to ask about the best motorhome parking and they kindly allowed us to leave Zeb in their compound. We also had an update on our order for the new van and the provisional build date is still July/August 2023. We caught the train to Portsmouth Harbour and started the day with breakfast at The Cosy Club which was near the Spinnaker Tower. After breakfast we walked aound Gunwharf Quay and Old Portsmouth before walking along the Millenium Walk to the edge of Southsea. We then made our way back to
the station to return to Zeb and drive back to the site.
On Wednesday we spent the day walking through the various paths and trails through Hundred Acres Wood. It was a warm day, although at times it was cool in the woods.
Thursday was another fine day so we walked to Wickham,
having a pot of tea at the Wickham Coffeehouse before making our way to the start of the Meon Valley Trail and
walking towards Sowerton. After eating
our lunch we walked back to the site to enjoy sitting in the afternoon sun.
On Friday we moved to East Fleet Farm near Weymouth - a site that has been recommended to us. Our first
impressions of the site were that it was rather scruffy, although in its favour
it was right on the coast path. Pitches
are allocated on this site and we had a narrow one backing onto other vehicles
– certainly not a pitch we would have chosen ourselves. We had a walk around the site and a stroll to the Fleet Lagoon before settling down for the rest of the evening.
Saturday was a lovely sunny day so we walked from the site along the coast path towards Portland. The coast path was busy with runners taking part in the Jurassic Ultra Marathon. We ate our lunch by the Chesil Beach Visitor Centre before having a pot of tea and slice of cake at the Taste Cafe. We then returned to site along the same stretch of the coast path.
On Sunday we caught the bus to Abbotsbury and after a pot of tea at The Old Schoolhouse Tea Rooms we walked back along the coast path to the site. The coast path was mainly inland through farm fields, which we didn't really make it feel like a coastal walk. We enjoyed the walk, other than being chased by a herd of cows in one of the fields - luckily we made it to the gate before they did!
Monday was our final day of the south coast 'adventure' so we caught the bus to Weymouth. We walked around the harbour and along the seafront as well as looking around the town and having lunch at Prezzo. We caught the bus back to site mid afternoon to have our final evening in Zeb.
On Tuesday it was time to travel home to get ready for our next trip to the Midlands in October.
We both enjoyed the Black Knowl site and loved the New Forest walks - we have booked this site again next year as part of another adventure. After our bad reception at Littlehampton we both took a dislike to the site and it's not one we would use again.. We enjoyed the Battle site and would like to have stayed longer but when we booked it we were unsure how much walking we could do from the site - we will definitely return to the site when we’re on our next adventure in the area. Fairlight Wood was a little run down but there is such a lot of walking in the area which we didn't do because of the weather - we hope to return one day. We enjoyed our return trip to Brighton and on our next visit would like to do more walking on the South Downs. Rookesbury Park is a lovely site and we hope to be back next year in March to collect our new campervan. East Fleet was a big disappointment and certainly didn't match the recommendations we had been given.
31 August-27 September 2022
