On the Road Again!

With the distance from home in Kent to the overnight at Dawlish Warren, it looks to be about 260 miles and nearly five hours on the road with no stops.  The distances I have plotted in Spain and France are far lower than this. The plan is to arrive somewhere early enough to find space in the aire or on the campsite, and then be able to sit and take in the view or explore the town. I wanted somewhere around halfway to break the journey, allow some stops on the way. On Search4sites I found Wyndham Farm . It's close enough to the A303 and also near to Stourhead National Trust.

The things that were outstanding on the trip after the decision to put it on back 4 weeks. The two nights at Oyambre after we dock. Irish Ferries return ferry journey. The AHC date change. The first two are sorted. I needed to call them, yes, I had to speak to another person! That was done today. Admin fees and changes to the pitch rates and ferry fares mean another £40 has evaporated. The AHC remains the problem. Everything is done online to order one and their website says that as a small vet's they handle these things, including replying to emails, are part of their jobs and they action them in the order they arrive. So that's the one we are waiting to sort out.

Back ib December I was looking at a few days before the Christmas season to go away in the van.  With Chatsworth House Caravan Club site closing in the summer, that ruled out the Christmas Market there. Then I saw some vanlife vloggers had been to Sandringham Estate for the Luminate Show. 💡 Luminate also have special nights during the run where people can take their dogs. It's only one night a week. That's six nights where there are no dogs!!! Based on the dates for 2025 on their website, I made a guess on when it would be on in 2026 and booked a couple of nights at the Caravan Club site. The deposit was only £5.  I blogged on it before: https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2026/01/sandringham-camc-site.html However, Luminate bookings opened this week and I was two days out with my guess.  I was thinking the dog friendly days would be the same but they aren't. Dog day is now Monday.  So I booked the Caravan Club site to get up there earlier on Monday and leave on Wednes...

I have booked the Sandringham site for a few nights in early December 2026. I am hoping it will mean we can visit the Luminate Christmas light show. I have gambled on dates that will include the dog friendly evening visits. I based this on the 2025 website where it says the doggy days! If not then maybe Reggie will be quite at home in the van. It's a light show and not fireworks. The website still shows the 2025 event but it gets updated in the Spring. I have booked with the £5 deposit and should I need to cancel I can and get my fiver back. https://luminate.live/sandringham-estate

Today was the first leg of the journey to Chatsworth House for the Christmas Market. Rather than do it in one day to Derbyshire, we decided to break the journey roughly in halves. So tonight we will stay at Ashridge Farm Caravan Club site. It's in Hertfordshire near Royston.  Everything was going well until the M25 ground to a halt at Waltham Abbey junction. We crawled to the A10 junction and headed north. The first few miles weren't that good as many others had the same idea.  Then TomTom took us from the A10 across country from Buntingford. We eventually popped out onto the A505 add off again. In hindsight we would have probably been better off going to Stevenage and onto the A1M!! At least we arrived here around 2pm. The rain that had dogged us most of the way had finally stopped. There's no 4G signal on O2 here and so we are able to use the free club WiFi. Every hour you have to re-login. However,  we couldn't get the Firestick to connect. Tomorrow we he...

This trip was a chance to get away after the disappointment of cancelling our holiday to France.  Another reason was that I was determined to attend the National League Promotion Final at Wembley Stadium.  With the London Underground system in chaos for the weekend and the Mayor being his usual belligerent self and refusing to intervene, capacity at the Stadium was reduced to around 50000 of the possible 90000 capacity. In the end I got a ticket.  I was still not fully fit. Looking for an alternative way to get to the Stadium I saw that Chiltern Railways had a service stopping at Wembley Stadium Station! Tracing back along the line I saw Denham. Opening another window opened and the Caravan Club had a site at.... Denham. I booked two nights. The site is alleged 25 to 30 minutes walk to the station. Much it seemingly on a road with no footpath.  Given my health. I decided on a taxi. We had a reasonable drive up on Saturday with our lunch and coffee stop, plus comfort ...

In UK we have yet another storm brewing and due to hit the west side of the country tonight and into tomorrow for us. Winds are supposed to be around the 40mph mark here and upto 80mph out west. We are due to be going up to Suffolk tomorrow and the weather could play a part in the whole weekend. We'll have to see what happens. We have a table booked at the Badingham White Horse near to the site.  We'll have to leave Reggie in the van whilst we go as the restaurant isn't dog friendly, and we can't guarantee a table in the bar area. We had a small problem when we picked the van up from the storage yard. The radiator fan kept running with the engine switched off. I tried it a few times and it ran on for five minutes. We had only driven six miles. We took it to the dealership today and they checked it over. If course, it didn't do it again. They didn't find a problem. 

When we picked up Malibu Molly (MM for short) of Tuesday we had already decided that we needed a trial run trip away to have a shake down.   MM is a 6m campervan based around a Fiat Ducato van . Old Molly was a 7m coachbuilt motorhome.  It's amazing what that extra metre can do!  Size does in fact matter! MM also has a fixed bed with lots of storage space underneath. There's also a removable floor that fits in so that instead of stacking stuff up we can fit storage boxes, if the are 20 litre sized (!),  under the floor and other more accessible stuff on the top.  The floor space is about 7ft by 4ft. All the boxes that used to fit under the bench seats in Molly fit nicely under this flooring.  I was going to take a photo but never got around to it, and oddly, none of the similar vans on the internet at dealers all across Europe actually have the floor and the brackets fitted. There does seem to be a range of Malibu 600 vans.  Ours has the two porth...

Two days! Yep. Just two days since I booked the return from Yorkshire and I have cancelled Clumber Park. At the moment I haven't got a replacement in mind but will be looking later on for somewhere about halfway between Yorkshire and home. Maybe we'll try a pub stop?  Don't know yet.  I decided to cancel early so that the pitch can be available ASAP to any other club member looking for a place.

One change to this trip.   I was looking at a pub stop in Yorkshire after we finished at Hawes but decided with the time we are going to be away that maybe we should simply head home after a "long weekend". As we won't be getting to Clumber Park CAMC site until later in the afternoon on the way up.  I decided that as we are likely to be retracing our steps that we should stop there again on the way back!  It's not very adventurous, but it will give us time to have a look around the National Trust Park in the afternoon. I can cancel upto 21 days before the arrival date if I want if I can find a better or more accommodating site instead. I had a look at a few other options and it looks as though this isn't a bad choice. It's within striking distance of the A1 and we can be on our way home after breakfast and see what there is to visit as we progress southwards.

Once we leave Hawes I was looking for a stopover on the way home. I had thought about maybe retracing our steps and stopping again at Clumber. On the way up we'd arrive a little late to get a chance to visit the nearby Clumber Park National Trust site. The CAMC website is down after a cyber attack and so I can't book yet. The other idea was to go over to Ribblehead and see if we could get a park up in the Station Inn car park. It's on Search4sites and is free if you use the pub. My brother and I stopped off there in 2013 when we were en route from Manchester to Scotland. The view of the famous viaduct from the parking is spectacular.  Back then they sold the most fantastic pies. I hope they do again in 2024! If we have an overnight at the pub, we'll not be any nearer home so we'll probably still be looking for somewhere about half way back! To be continued.

Grimm with two-mm's. This is based on a series of books set in the Yorkshire Dales known as the "Yorkshire Murder Mysteries". The main character is called Detective Chief Inspector Harry Grimm.  The police station they work out of is in the market town of Hawes. What luck that the Caravan Club has a site on the edge of Hawes. I have been looking for a long weekend getaway in July before the school holidays.  Unfortunately the nearer the date is to the schools finishing for the simmer, the less chance of getting pitch becomes. It seems those without kids like to live on the edge of the rugrat invasion. So what better than combining a trip in Molly, to a picturesque place and walk the paths in the Dales., but earlier in the month!!  At the moment I have a provisional booking for two nights at the Hawes CAMC site in early July.  It's a fair way to drive in one day so I am considering a stop.on the way up and of course, extending the trip after Hawes. More to...

Day 2 started off in the teeth of a gale. The forecast was for 40 to 50mph winds in the Waterpump CL area. We were the only van to overnight this weekend. Behind where the vans are parked is a bank that at least protects the parked up vans. The wind came around midnight and kept rocking the van for hours.  Once up we would only have around 12 miles to go to Claire's sister's new house. We sorted the housekeeping jobs like the rubbish and black waste. Then were off. The new house is on an almost finished section of a new build site and we found it easily enough and parked up outside. Getting there meant plenty of muddy roads and Molly is filthy. I think maybe it's time for a trip to the jet wash this week. After a few hours and lunch we needed to be away. I wanted to be back to the A12 dual carriageway before it got dark.  We failed in that but not by much. The roadworks on the A12 weren't as bad southbound as they were in Sunday. We stopped again at Thurrock...

Recently Caravan Club members were told that there would be a voucher allowing them a free night at a club site. The voucher needed to be used for a booking between New Year and March 27th. I had a look through for places within around 200 miles for a two night stop. It was harder said than done. Many sites are closed in winter.  In the end I found that the Seacroft site at Cromer on the North Norfolk coast opened in mid-March and so I booked a couple of nights. I had wanted to book something around Claire's birthday in late February. At the moment this will be our first trip of the year. https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/east-anglia/norfolk/seacroft-club-campsite/

I was looking for a midweek away in November and saw a post on one of the FB pages that they had cancelled a stay at Chatsworth during the Christmas Market... Although the post was an hour old, I had a look on the CAMC website. There were only two nights left, not the three cancelled by the FB poster. Hardstanding ✔️ EHU ✔️ Christmas Market ✔️ It fits the bill.  We have been to Chatsworth before and slogged around the gardens with Reggie. We couldn't go in the house as we had him with us.  We'll have to work something out.

The staycation to Suffolk stating in three different Caravan Club certificated locations begins tomorrow. Of course the weather has turned for the worst over the last week plus.  The torrential rain and even hailstorms seem to have passed for now, but the temperatures aren't actually that high. When we picked the Moho up from the storage site on Sunday it was raining quite hard and it stuck until the evening. The forecast for the area we are going to looks a little un-summer like. Luckily, and fortuitously, I have booked hardstanding at all three. After the rain we have had over the last few weeks grass pitches are going to be like swamps. The lady at the Garden House CL did say that they have well drained sandy soil, but I still asked for a hardstanding pitch. If the weather is dodgy we won't be getting the awning and chairs out anyway!  Molly the Moho will be needing fuel before we get back as well. The range on the dashboard is showing 200 mile or so to empty....

Wow. With Motorhomes and Camper Vans still selling beyond the expectations of many in the industry it does seem rather odd that when someone wanting to spend money is ignored totally. It's a week since I contacted the two next nearest Certified Locations of the Caravan Club to enquire about an overnight stay in easy range of Bosworth.  Neither has bothered to get back to me. At least the other one did say that they weren't taking bookings this year. So I have expanded the diameter from the battlefield.  One more to try. If this proves to be another blank then I'll go elsewhere to spend my hard earned cash! I have also sent an SMS to one of them as the contact number was for a UK mobile. Let's see shall we?

A short update on the last posting about a CL near to the Bosworth Battlefield. I got an email from them this morning to say that due to escalating costs that they wouldn't be taking booking for their certified location this year. It was a bit of a surprise as they are still showing up on the CAMC booking site as being available. This CL is only 3.5 miles from the battlefield. I dropped a line to the CAMC office that deals with CL's to let them know. No reply. So it's back to the drawing board.   I have found another couple. One that's only 11 miles away and another around 15 miles. Again it's not bookable online and so I have emailed both to see if one of them can accommodate us.  Both another with EHU. So it's a bit of w ait and see.

So here we are.  Spring Staycations give way to Summer Staycations! This time we are going away for a special occasion. Claire has been invited to the "Guide Dogs Experience Day" at the centre near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. It's a Friday in July. Our first thought was to check that weekend was free and that we could take the Moho! It is free and she enquired whether we could park the Moho in their car-park.  Both have positive answers! We will have only been back from Awaycation Summer #1 to France for a fortnight and so we need to careful about the pennies we are spending. On the other hand, Having a motorhome and not using it isn't that cost effective or value for money either. I checked to see what sites there are near to the Centre.  There's really only one, and it worked out at £44.50 a night for the three of us. Reggie obviously has to come. Once Claire received confirmation that she was on the guest list, I set about looking for places at a more reaso...

Sadly this trip isn't purely a pleasure trip as part of it is so Claire can attend the funeral of her Uncle in Salisbury. I had planned to get away over the May Bank Holiday weekend anyway. Part of the weekend, Saturday, sees Arsenal at home against Chelsea. A "can't miss" session. So I was looking at Sunday onwards. I checked the places we like and none of them had any pitches free for Sunday onwards. Salisbury is about 150 miles from home. It's a bit of a long way in one day. We also need someone to look after Reggie. He's not the easiest though. We could go in the Moho and see about parking later. The church looks to be near the Cathedral and it's double-yellows everywhere. So when we got the funeral date I looked for a site near Salisbury. The Caravan and Motorhome Club have a site about 10 miles away.  I think a site would be better as there's facilities rather than CL's where we would have to use the onboard washing facilities. So I have book...