On the Road Again!

We had to cancel the trip to Norfolk as at the beginning of the week Claire had a tooth ache that developed into an abscess in her front upper jaw. As well as the pain, her face swelled on one side.  After two emergency visits to the dentist this week, we thought it better not to go 180 miles from home. I emailed Nelson's Patch and hoped as the park wasn't full that they could let us delay the trip a few weeks. No reply. I checked on the website and pitch 9 is shown as being vacant.  They also have only ten of the twenty pitches booked tonight for the weekend. So it's not as though they were turning people away!   I guess they got my email. It would have been nice to have got an acknowledgement from them.  Next time I won't bother with this place. It shows a lack of respect when not bothering to reply. I have checked my spam folder as well. Nothing.

Once again our motorhoming travels takes us to Norfolk. We must be gluttons for punishment going north all the time, but when you live pretty near the very south-east of the UK, north is pretty much anywhere! With it being a football free weekend we decided to get away. It seems months, or maybe longer, since we were away in Molly!   The need to get away is strong.  We are away the weekend after the UK's August Bank Holiday and it is still school holidays. Usually kids are back in school in the first few days of September on England at least. After looking about I chose Nelson's Patch again. When we went earlier in the year  I don't think we really did it justice.  Reggie is a very reluctant road side walker and hates traffic. The road in front of the site isn't too bad for noise but cars are in the "national speed limit" zone, i.e. 60mph. Last time we were on the pitch named " Dreadnought " after the ship that was at the Battle of Trafalgar . This t...

We have stayed at Nelson's Patch before and when I was looking for a weekend away at the end of the school holidays I thought it would be nice to go again.  Two nights and hopefully the weather will be better and we can take a walk to the coast and maybe to Happisburgh  and see the lighthouse and the beach.  Last time we had a walk locally but Reggie wasn't too enthusiastic as the road past the entrance to the site doesn't have a decent path, and the traffic was flying past. Hopefully, the pub right next door will be open this time as we will be there Friday and Saturday evenings!

0900 Today when I got up to take Reggie for his early morning perambulation there was a lot of activity. I am not an early morning person and so dog walks at 7.30am are a strain. At least the boy was asleep all night and I was saved an evening earlier wander around the showground, doggy bag in hand... Today the sounds are all of people packing up and getting ready to leave. Our closest neighbours went yesterday and another lot went just now.  The latter were parked as instructed but with their T5 VW they had a tent/awning almost the same footprint alongside us. There was just enough room to walk through. Once breakfasted there are very few jobs to be done before we leave. I have the EHU to disconnect and the silver screen to stash. Claire has to wash up. Next stop Snape Maltings in Suffolk. 1200 We arrived at Snape and as before we go past the entrance and turnaround in the next parking area! We end up in a different area of the parking between two trees. Access to the overflow car...

Just over a month until what will probably be our next trip away from home for a weekend away. We have never been to one of the outside shows before but we have seen them on the vloggers' YouTube channels. As we are new to this we decided that we'd go for the weekend Friday to Sunday and pay a little more to have a pitch with EHU as well.  We have solar and the battery is newish, but whether it would last over two days is anyone's guess.  We have plenty of gas. It's at the Norfolk Showground.  I was thinking that rather than "brave" the terrible traffic around the Dartford Crossing on a Friday, that maybe we look for a Caravan Club certificated location (CL) and go up on Thursday afternoon when the traffic may well be lighter.   Although looking at the FAQ for the event there's a £5 charge to stay on the showground Thursday night. Something to investigate. Another consideration is that the UK school holidays begin the week before and so there will be loads...

Monday. With the weather continuing to be good we set off from Wells. Pretty much backtracking along the A149 to Sheringham.  We once again had hours to cover 30 or so miles. So we decided to stop off at another National Trust site at Fellbrigg Hall. We have been here before. I set the satnav to take us there when we were half way along the road.  We had thought to simply use Google Maps but one of the turns looked too iffy for the van. In the end the Ohrex took us on a weird square trip off the main road down the muddiest single track road. We encountered a 4x4 coming the other way with just enough room to squeeze past each other.  Then we were back onto the same main road around 200 yards from where it made us turn off! It hasn't ballsed up like that before. The right turn into the hall's long driveway was only about 400 yards further up! We parked up by backing into a space, separated from an Autoquest 185 by a fence. He had been luckier than us and avoided muddy lanes...

Friday.  We finished loading the van up and set off about 1030 or so.  We had to navigate the Dartford Crossing and given that it was Friday, we were expecting a tough crossing.   For some reason there are four lanes of traffic that approach from both sides. The Bridge coming south and the tunnels going north are also four lanes.  So why doesn't the traffic simply get in lane and drive through without miles of tailbacks on both sides?  There's a 50mph limit and that shouldn't cause any problems, but it does.   Maybe the drivers that use it are too stupid for their own good! Anyway although there was some traffic building up it wasn't as bad as we have seen it in previous occasions and we were through reasonably quickly. We usually stop at the services at Thurrock just after the Crossing but we had already planned a farm shop stop at one that had been recommended by  The FrenchiesMotorhomies on YouTube . To get th...

We have three nights already booked in Norfolk. Two nights at the Caravan Club site at Seacroft near Cromer, and one night at Pinewoods at Wells next the Sea. So now I have added a fourth night. Another place we have seen on The Frenchies Motorhomes vlog.  It's called Nelson's Patch . All the 14 pitches are named after ships that fought under Admiral Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. The site is very recent and is still being developed. There are bushes planted  between each pitch that when they grow up should provide some privacy. So which ship did I choose?  Dreadnought . It's Pitch 13 in the corner. The road is the grey line at the bottom of the above site map and so I wanted to be as far away as possible.   There are walks nearby and once I get the confirmation through I can see when we can get in.  The night before we are at Wells and so it's only about an hour between sites. 

We have already booked two nights at the Caravan Club site in Cromer and I was looking to extend the trip. We have seen a few vloggers that have stayed at Pinewoods site at Wells next the Sea. I had a look and it's open when we are there in Norfolk. So I booked a night to see what it's like!  A chance to enjoy fish and chips from the chippy in the village. If we like it maybe we stay there again. Thanks to The Frenchies YouTube channel we see quite a few Suffolk and Norfolk sites and CL's. https://youtube.com/@TheFrenchiesMotorhomechannel So we have to hope the March weather is going to be good!!

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/

Today's target was Felbrigg Estate. It's a little way off the A140 towards Cromer. We set off late as contrary to the forecast it had rained and was drizzling. Car loaded and we were off. Despite Nissan Connect showing a looping route via Dereham we actually went almost the same way as yesterday. The newish A1237 was again coned down to one lane and a ludicrous 10mph limit showing. Not much evidence of any work though. Quelle surprise! Once we arrived it was a case of waterproofs on and a walk to check out the walks. We decided on the blue waymarked "Church & Lake" walk. At 1.7 miles far enough in drizzle. We had a coffee and Claire took a walk to the Walled Garden. Reggie not allowed so we hung about outside. The rain stopped. Waterproof off. Rain started. Waterproof on. Claire took a few photos in there. We got part way into the blue walk when we found the field we were crossing was full of sheep. Reggie isn't the sort of dog ...

Today's visit was to the National Trust site at Blickling Estate. Nissan Connect claimed it was around 19.5 miles away but the cross country journey seemed more like 50. It took over an hour. On arrival I found a good parking place. As it was grass with no marked spaces I did leave plenty of room to get the back door open to sort Reggie out. We had a coffee whilst we perused the map. Some areas are dog friendly and that includes both the café by the entrance and the Courtyard restaurant nearer the house. We decided on the Lake Walk and set off. It says it's 1.9 miles but my phone registered that I walked 3.1 miles! I brought the Nikon D50 with me. It's bulkier than a phone but generally takes good photos. The walk is around the outside of the main house and garden. It's a little uneven in places. One stumble and I felt something rip. Yes. My shorts. Rent asunder around the undercarriage.  After the walk we retired to the c...

Two weeks to go before we set off.  With Covid the owners are requiring extra time to clean up after the previous visitors and so we can't be in until 5pm. On the way up we will be calling in at Claire's sister's house in Suffolk. With it being a Friday it's the worst day for getting through the Dartford Crossing. Leaving after rush hour gives us time to get through and maybe have some stops on the way up. Constable country for lunch? Flatford Mill?    https://www.visitsuffolk.com/explore-constable-country-in-suffolk

I've not been looking at this all that much recently as it is done and dusted.   All I have to do is look for places to go when we are there. Various dog friendly web pages and apps will be used. It seems that wherever we look to go, the cottage is about 30 miles away!  name i and that's what Google maps "directions" says....

Now that Awaycation Tulips has bitten the dust as it were, I can turn my attentions to planning another staycation.   Before then we have the Staycation 2021 - Norfolk to get through next month.  The possible fly in the ointment is that despite the UK Government saying that from July 19th we are "free" from all the restraints that have been imposed since March 2020, the number of Covid cases continues to rise day on day. We are just under a month away from the Norfolk trip and yet if this gets any worse we could be in lockdown?

I got a little bit of a shock when my MasterCard statement arrived this morning.  Instead of paying a deposit on the cottage near Dereham and paying the balance a month before we go, they had taken the entire cost in one go.  Luckily between us we can cover it. Still a shock to shell out £695 when you thought it was only £250! The reason I ticked the box was in case Covid rates soar and we are forced by the Government to cancel we won't be out of pocket! Oh well. What is done is done I guess.

As the country starts to pull itself out of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns we are hoping that by mid-August we can get a holiday. Rather than bother with going to foreign climes, we decided to stay in England.  I looked for somewhere dog friendly and with an enclosed garden. We decided on Norfolk. We have thought about the county before and have ended up in Devon.  After the 2019 journey to and back from Devon, where we could have been south of Lyon in the same time (!) we have marked the South-West in August as a write-off. At least until I retire when we can go at times when the school aged children are not on holiday!  It's the nature of my job I am afraid. So Norfolk it is. A cottage with enclosed garden and mostly 10/10 reviews.  I paid part of the cost with £99 by cashing in some Tesco Clubcard points (£33 in vouchers) and the rest of the deposit on dear old Tesco MasterCard. At least we'll earn some more points to spend as vouchers from that! Booked through ...