Chilford Hall 22-23 Sep 13

 

This was an unusual trip. We had been given a Christmas present of a day's wine tour and, after much consideration and planning, we settled on a vineyard 10 miles south of Cambridge purely for ease of access. We are glad we did!

 

On Saturday we were at the motorhome show in Lincoln, which was a bit of a disappointment as it was significantly smaller than the Peterborough show and there was quite a bit of old tat in the way of motorhomes on display (no Adria or Chausson on display). We did see a rather nice Hymer B544 though, but at over £70k a bit out of our price range, and the spitfire flypast was probably worth the journey alone.

Anyway, back to the vineyard. Up early, collected the bus from storage, put a few bits in the fridge and then the hour long drive down to Linton. We parked in the car park and wandered in for a coffee before the tour began. It really was a very interesting and informative day out, firstly wandering down to the vineyard itself to see the vines, with the guide going into great detail on the problems associated with wine making in the UK and the reasons for the layout of the vines themselves. It was then back to the Tudor barn for another interesting lecture on the winemaking process before we adjourned to the Bistro to sample six of the wines made at the vineyard - and excellent wines they are too! Lunch followed, accompanied by a bottle of wine, then we sat on the bench on the lawn in the warm sunshine and downed another bottle of excellent rose. By this time we were a little jaded so we adjourned back to the bus for tea and several cups of tea, before taking a stroll along to the vineyard again to watch the sun go down over the vines.

Back to the bus and enjoying the absolute silence of this remote location, we enjoyed a good nights kip before setting off back home in time for Debs to start work.

A great day out using the bus to its full advantage.

France 4-10 SEP 13

With a few camping cheques left over from the summer, plus a long period of non use due to rip off site fees during the school holidays, it made sense to hop across the channel to give Tom a chance to stretch his wheels.



Where's Tommy? The Aire at Cite d'Europe

The squeeze the maximum out of a 5 day travel ticket on eurotunnel we booked the 0130hrs crossing on the Thursday morning. The plan was to collect Debs from a work do in central London and then pile down to the tunnel. However, for a variety of reasons she didn't go to the do so we left home together, stopping at the Ashford outlet for a half hour then onto the tunnel to see if they would let us on an earlier train. It would appear that arriving at 2100 for an 0130 crossing means that you are classed as arriving a day early, so we we sent packing and ended up waiting at the services for some gopping KFC ( why does the thought of KFC never match the taste) and then a quick kip before arriving on the correct day for our crossing. On arrival, it was quickly into the cite de Europe aire for some shut eye.

 
 

The pitch at Chateau du Gandspette

 
 
Thursday was hot! We went into the massive Carrefour to stock up and then headed to our destination for the next few days, the Kawan site at chateau du Gandspette in Eperlecques. Quickly setting up on a nice pitch we had the sunbeds out in no time, caught up on a few more zzzzz then a quick swim in the pool and a couple of pints of Leffe Ruby in the bar in the warm evening sunshine. Bliss.

On Friday I got up early and did the cycle recce for the days activities, covering about 15km through some very pretty woods and villages. Eventually she got up and we cycled into Watten to poke around the market and walk up the hill behind the town to admire the view. After a well deserved pint of kronenburg devils brew in the local bar, we cycled back following on of the cycle trails in the area. In the evening it was out with the BBQ and an excellent steak meal.

The weather on Saturday was meant to be bad, but it was surprisingly nice, so we had breakfast outside, lazed around a bit then cycled off to the V2 bunker in the woods for a very interesting few hours looking around this monstrosity. We followed that visit with a visit to the restaurant on site for an excellent meal. Nom nom nom..

 

We have visited St Omer before, but as it was so close that on Sunday we decided to go again, even though it doesn't have too much to offer. We parked up in a nice spot next to the canal then trundled into town, finding what could be described as an agricultural fair in the local park. It was, in fact, very good with lots of very interesting things on display. Being in an area famous for its cauliflowers there were loads on display - and remarkably cheap too! We cooked croque-monsieur on our pitch by the canal before retiring back to the site for a lazy evening.

 

Monday saw us up and out and heading for the tunnel, a few more boxes of wine, a slightly delayed journey back across the ditch and then onto the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Folkestone. The site is located down a narrow, long track to a very nice location overlooking the beach. We decided to walk into Folkestone and really wished we hadn't. I am sure that it could be improved. On the way back the rain came down, the umbrella broke and we got absolutely soaked. Was it really only a few days back that it was so hot and sunny?

After a good nights kip it was off back home (via the Ashford outlet mall) and a big clear out of the bus ready for the annual service and habitation check the following day (which it passed with flying colours - huzzah!).