Our 2008 Caravan Holiday Blog
Want to know more about what we got up to on our caravan holidays during 2008? We have written our caravan holiday blog ...
Have a read of our latest caravanning getaway...
Well, we've now had our last week of caravanning as there are no more school holidays until Christmas, unless we decide to gallivant off somewhere for a weekend!
The campsite where we have our seasonal pitch closed on 31st October so we had to bring our caravan home.
Before that though, we had a great week of relaxing walks along the beach, catching up with friends at the campsite, shopping, and just generally doing things which we don't normally have time for!
Becky the dog had a fantastic week - most days were spent walking miles along the beach and chasing the waves as well as all the seagulls!
The weather was super - the sun was out most days even if it was rather nippy to say the least, with the first overnight frosts of the year! Needless to say, the central heating in our caravan was certainly tested and found to be working superbly!!
As the week went on the campsite slowly emptied with only a few "seasonal" 'vanners and half-termers left.
We love the campsite at the beginning and end of the season - it's so much quieter, you have uninterrupted views and the wildlife around certainly comes alive! Some of the wildlife we have seen this year at the campsite include a barn owl, many field mice munching on seeds in the banks, plenty of skylarks, a crane, seals in the sea, and much, much more.
Well, we've now bought the caravan home - not without a hiccup or two (one of our cars decided to discharge it's battery which confused it's electronics - just as we were about to leave to start our journey home. We called one of those very, very nice men from the "AA" who soon put us on the road home!!).
Now we have the job of thoroughly cleaning the caravan and getting it ready for winter. Have a read of our "Overwintering" page to find out what we do. It's also booked in for a service so it will be ready at the start of next season, unless, of course, we decide to go caravanning at Christmas, New Year or perhaps both!!
Now, where's that list of caravan sites open in winter …
Here's our latest adventures - our Caravan Summer Holiday Blog!!
Well, the summer's over (was that it?!) and we're back at work and school, only being able to visit the caravan at weekends again.
We did loads and loads of things over the summer while we stayed at the caravan.
There was lots of sunshine as well as quite a few showers - including a monsoon one day which saw rivers (well, ok, streams!) running through our awning! We couldn't believe it - we had to move everything off the awning floor! It's a wonder the caravan didn't float away!
We also had a "plague" of earwigs living in our awning - it must have been the perfect weather for them as there were hundreds! Does anyone have any tips for repelling them? If so, we'd love to know!
We have walked miles through parks, forest, along the coast and up hills, seeing some beautiful views along the way.
We had a great time at the Carnival. Seeing the Red Arrows flying so low over the campsite was one of the best sights - although rather noisy! We also watched a dog show, a motorbike stunt show, a beautiful firework display, plus so much more (we don't want to bore you!!).
We decided to buy a model remote control speedboat as there's a boating lake nearby and it looked rather fun! But, believe me, it's definitely not as easy controlling the boat as it looks.
Our speedboat now has a crushed front but has been repaired so it's still usable!
We have also seen a car crashing into the back of a caravan - luckily they were just turning slowly into the campsite so didn't do much damage. It's a good reminder - it's just so easily done if you lose concentrating for a moment.
Becky the dog had a great holiday. Her absolute favourite thing to do is to just race around the beach, maybe with someone throwing a ball (or a hundred!) for her to retrieve.
Well, that's just a few highlights from our summer holiday this year. We won't bore you with any more!
Here's looking forward to next years summer holiday. In the meantime, does anyone know what the weather's doing this weekend!!??!!
Here's the next instalment of our Caravan Holiday Blog!!
We visited the caravan for the Bank Holiday weekend and amazingly the weather was hot and sunny. The only really annoying thing was that it took us twice the normal amount of time to travel down to the caravan because a main road had been closed due to an accident. Anyway, it was certainly worth the wait when we got there!!
We discovered when we arrived that someone had accidentally turned our electricity off at the mains so when we opened the fridge (which we normally leave running with bits and pieces in it) there was rather a lot of mould!! Nigel quickly volunteered to take the dog for a walk leaving me to clean out the fridge!!
We bought a new porch awning while we were there (you will probably remember our last porch awning blew down in the windy weather we had during April). Our old awning could have been repaired but it meant ordering and waiting for parts and, as we saw these on offer, we decided to splash out and buy one!
 | Our new awning is a Sunncamp Ultima 260. It is a tunnel awning and is a brilliant shape as it seems huge inside and is so easy to erect. These porch awnings are very lightweight and dry out very quickly in the mornings. |
Anyway, the weather stayed extremely good while we were there and we are hoping it continues. Monday came around too quickly and we had to pack up and leave. Heres waiting for next time ...
The new season has finally arrived - caravan holidays here we come!!
Having at long last had the caravan faults rectified by M & M Leisure, our local Bailey caravan dealer, we gave the caravan a good clean and loaded it up ready to go.
The site where we locate our caravan opened on 19th March. We were packed and ready to go down at the Easter weekend but due to the appalling weather conditions we decided to leave it to the following weekend, which coincided with the school holidays.
Saturday 29th March dawned. We set off and finally arrived at our site early in the morning. The only drawback was that the outlaws (Mum and Dad-in-law!) were unable to come down with us due to the fact that their new caravan had not been delivered and was at this point three weeks late!
The weather was good and the wind had finally died down so we decided to put up our porch awning. It was great to be back! The dog was really excited and couldn’t wait to get down to the beach.
Sunday evening came around too fast and it was time for me to go home with only the dog for company. The others were staying on for two weeks due to the school holidays and I would join them the following weekend and stay for the final week.
Well, the weather stayed really good for the beginning of the first week and was sunny and even mildly hot!! So hot that Karen decided to buy some suntan lotion as it was on offer. BIG MISTAKE!! Wednesday morning dawned and I get a text message saying that the wind had blown in the awning against the caravan which was trapping them inside!!! What a laugh - especially as they had decided to have a lie-in and were still in their pyjamas!! They finally managed to get out and eventually got the awning down. The awning took a bit of a battering (one broken pole and a couple of rips and broken clips) but is repairable. You never knew caravan holidays could be so exciting, did you??!!
The next text I received said that the TV had blown up!! Extremely annoying as they were waiting for the FINAL episode of Torchwood!! Then the toaster decided not to work as well!!
Finally Friday came and I finished work, picked up the dog and off I went to join the others at the caravan. What a feeling to be finally going and having a week off work too!
Saturday came and the "outlaws" arrived with their new caravan (a Bailey Senator Wyoming).
The weather turned again on Saturday ...
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Yes, as you can see it started to snow!! The whole caravan site was blanketed in snow for a while before it began to rain in the afternoon.
Well, during the two weeks of our first caravan holiday of 2008 we did lots of walking, shopping, exploring and, of course, relaxing!!
We went on a train and took the dog with us. Never again as the dog took a dislike to all the other passengers on the train.
Then during the Friday night the electricity went off. We learned that a main cable had blown up and wouldn't be mended until next TUESDAY!! But, the Electricity Board were going to provide a generator for the campsite. Phew !!
We got wet and blown about most of the time. But all in all, we had a great caravan holiday.
Here's waiting for the next caravan holiday - can anything else go wrong ?!?!?!
CLICK HERE to read Becky the Caravan Dog's Blog
(or "The Adventures of Becky the Caravan Dog!").
We found a super range of postcards whilst away on holiday and this was one of them. We think it is great !
Look out for these postcards while you are on your travels.
Copyright: www.aikengraphics.co.uk
We hope you enjoyed reading our Caravan Holiday Blog. CLICK HERE to see some of our favourite caravan holiday photos.
