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Shrewsbury Town Trip - Day 1

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Almost a last minute decision to come up to Shrewsbury this weekend. We had enjoyed last weekend's visit to Colchester and Suffolk.  I get to go the football and Claire has a relaxing day without me. I checked that Phil could take over the Arsenal ticket and then bought my ticket for the Oldham game at Shrewsbury. Next, I checked that the Caravan Club CL at Betley Park had room. It costs £25 a night including 10kw of electric. Booked. We set off around 10.30am. The TomTom route was via the south of London on the M25 to the M40, then M42 and M54.... We made good progress. Then with TomTom connected the traffic info showed a problem around the services at Clacket Lane, and again around the A3 junction. Time dragged on. We shouldn't have been bothered by the M25 being closed eastbound where it turns north by the junction with the A21 and M26. Except it seems we were. No logical reason for both hold...
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Oldham are Back!

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The ticket arrived yesterday and so that worry is off the table. Amazed that the post office managed to get the envelope, posted first class, on Tuesday. As with Colchester last week, the site we are on is the nearest to the football ground but is too far to walk. I have been looking at buses but they aren't that easy to see where they go from and how close they get to the ground.   Roll on Saturday.
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Allpowers Solar Panel & Bluetti AC70

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"Was a sunny day, not a cloud was in the sky" It's the first day this year we have had some almost summer weather. It's April 8th and the temperature was nudging 20°C. I checked the Bluetti and it was showing 86% full. So out with the folding Allpowers Solar Panel and plugged that in. The panel is rated at 100w and so to get 80w peak input seemed pretty decent. It was moving between 70w and 80w for the hour and a quarter it took to get the battery up to 100%. It's the first time the panel has been out since last summer.
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The Southern Motorhome & Campervan Show

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I had an email from Warners Show about camping shows we hadn't booked for. We are already planning and booked to go to Norfolk again. Then I saw on the Motor Caravanners Club (MCC) that they have a club area at the Newbury Show . There's a small discount for staying in a club area. We decided to book a club pitch. By then we should be able to exist off grid for a much longer time than we have at rallies at the moment. I printed the ticket and it is also on my phone in the Eventbrite app.  I still don't trust the phone when we are out and about.
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Where next Claire?

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Another trip is planned for next week. So soon. By then Mr Trump's war might have pushed the price of fuel even higher.... This time to Shrewsbury. Another Oldham Athletic away game and the last chance this season to see my old team. I last went to their old ground that I was sure was in the town centre. This would have been about 60 years ago!  I had a look on a few of the camping and park up sites and found Betley Park CL just to the south of the town centre.   It was a bit of a faff to book on their website after I thought I had booked on the "CL Booking" app. But once done the emails and confirmations arrived pretty quick. The football ground is down that way too inside the A5 loop to the south of the town. Hopefully within easy travel time. On Google Maps it doesn't look like it's all that far. The CL website says that there is a bus stop outside. When we check in maybe they'll be able to...
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Easter 26 - Day 5

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The final day of this Easter Bank Holiday. "Where are we today Claire?" If you know, you know... We were up earlier to get away as close to 9am as possible. The plan was to get the "jobs" done and get away. I did the black waste with Reggie tagging along. He was off lead and he ventured away to check out what might be living in the barn. The destination: The Tiptree Jam Factory Tea Room in Tiptree, Essex. The TomTom took us on the A1120 route that we are used to and we made good time around Ipswich and back down the A12 past Colchester before Tiptree. I had checked it was open on Bank Holidays. It was. I parked in the overflow parking lot. They have a marquee in the garden that is dog friendly. Access is through the usual tea rooms and the small Wilkins museum. We ordered the Tiptree Breakfast and tea and coffee. Reggie didn't settle so I took him back to the van and ...
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Easter 26 - Day 4

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So Day 4 comes and boy was it WINDY! This weekend is supposed to host "Storm Dave" but up in the north and Scotland. We were parked up nose into the wind. But it didn't stop the gusts rocking the van quite violently. We also had the Remis blind on the roof light above the bed rattling.  We survived. Reggie survived. The plan for today was to go to Claire's sister's house after lunch.  She only lives 4 miles from Waterpump CL, but there are several ways to get there, some of them along sketchy roads. So that was the one TomTom chose. We had a pleasant few hours there catching up and having some homemade apple cake. Once we were away, TomTom chose a different way back. Although this was slightly longer it was on better roads. After a cup of coffee, we had a walk across to the pub. It was about ten to seven and it was closed. It did look like someone was in the kitchen though. Claire tried the door...
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