Nearly ready to set off for home

I’m now back at home reflecting on the adventure we just had.  I think everyone is happy in whole, I certainly am.  There is a sense of achievement after successfully transporting your family in a big loop around part of the country.  Along with towing the van through wind, rain and traffic and safely coming out the other side with smiles and memories of good times, I think the trip was a success.

I’d imagined the weather to be warm and sunny with lots of time spent on the beaches and exploring the towns.  We had a few days like this but we also had the exact opposite, we’d chosen the dates based on the historical weather for the past few years.  For the past 3 Aprils we’ve had BBQ’s and it’s been amazing weather.

Despite the weather we filled the days with exciting stuff and got to see some of the more common parts of Devon and Cornwall.  There is still more to see and we will definitely go back at some point.  We spent time in the sun on various beaches, played in caves, had brilliant food cooked outdoors, walked cliff tops, explored new towns and most important to me, spent time together as a family.

The van and car performed brilliantly with no problems, I am glad I had the clutch done before going as it undoubtedly made the journey a lot comfier than it would have been and also took the worry away of it failing.  I do need to strip the braking system down on each side of the van to have a look, I’m certain that the brakes aren’t releasing properly when reversing under certain circumstances.  I’ll take the wheels and hubs off and have a look inside.

Previously when spending periods of time away from home, say 10+ days, I’ve had that feeling of “glad to be home” upon returning.  I didn’t have it this time and could have stayed away exploring for a lot longer.

Not sure where the next adventure will take us but I’m sure we’ll be planning soon!

We took Layla to The Play King today, this is yet another play centre, we’ve been to loads over the last 2 weeks, it’s a shame she’s hurt her arm but thankfully it seems a bit better now and she was running around all over the place enjoying herself.  In fact we hardly seen her, 2 of her cousins also came to play and they were all off enjoying themselves.

This place is massive, definetely the bigest one I’ve been in, I didn’t get to explore it either as Layla was too busy running around, I normally have a go on the slides and stuff with her.  We did however take Ellie in the baby part which kept her occupied for a bit and let me have a play!

When we go to these places it makes me get my business head on.  They are basically just a warehouse unit with a “playframe” inside, some have other attractions such as arcade machines or football areas too.  One of the key money making aspects is the cafe part with food and drinks.

We’ve been in loads of different play centres and where I think some have gone wrong is with the amount of seating available for the adults that bring the children.  I’ve seen some where there is limited room for the adults to sit and wait while the kids play so they are standing around in the way.

The best ones, such as The Play King have loads of tables and chairs, this gives the adults somewhere to sit and entertain themselves and to also consume the food and drink they will inevitably purchase.

When it got to food time we decided to pick up an Indian take away on the way back to the site. The restaurant we found, courtesy of Google maps, looked a bit dingy from the outside, it was above a tatty looking pub and accessed from a door near the back.  It wasn’t clear that this was the entrance so I walked in cautiously.  After following some steps up to a darkly painted corridor I opened a door which gave view to the best looking restaurant I’ve ever seen.  Inside has been decorated like a cave with over hanging ceilings and lots of uplighting.

Unfortunately the restaurant was empty, the guy I dealt with said that is normal for a week day and weekends are normally busy, I’d like to eat there if I knew it wasn’t going to be empty and would have a bit of an atmosphere.  We all got a simple Chicken Curry with rice and chips and sat in our van with the main table erected to eat it, amazing curry!

Tomorrow sees the end of our adventure and we travel the 175 miles home.

There is a ski slope and toboggan at Pembrey, the slope was empty but we had a few goes on the toboggan.  Layla loves this sort of thing and had a go with Sam and me separately.

Sam and Layla on the toboggan

We’ve been here before and could remember that the coffee shop was good so opted to get some refreshments before moving on from the ski slope area.  I had an amazing Mocha and Sam had an awesome looking Chocolate with whipped cream on top.  I’ve been trying Mocha’s at different places while we’ve been travelling around and this one certainly topped the charts.

We spent a bit of time at the beach as well, it was sunny, warm and calm, after all the terrible wind and rain it was nice to be wandering around outside in the sun.

Pembrey beach, are we really in the UK?!

Obligatory arty shot at the beach

Sam, Layla and Ryan exploring the beach

Ryan came back with the remains of a frog that had washed up on the beach, it looked pretty well preserved, the salt water probably dried it up.  No idea what it was doing at the beach, probably died for whatever reason and washed out from a river somewhere.

Ryan found the remains of a frog

The road out of Pembrey Country Park

I also managed to test the fire alarm in the van today while casually burning some toast at lunch time!

We visited the local Tesco superstore this morning and ended up getting a full breakfast, the cafe in Tesco does surprisingly good food for not much money so we use it quite a bit when we’re staying down here.

The rest of the day was spent visiting family, it was great to see everyone as we don’t visit as much as we’d like to.  When we normally come on a “family visiting” trip it’s over a weekend due to work commitments.  This means that we literally spend long days of house hopping in order to spend some time with everyone.  We’ve got a longer chunk of time now so should be able to spend longer with everyone and not feel like we’re rushing out to the next bunch.

We’d planned to put the awning up for any stop that was more than one night but in reality and after the experience at Newquay we’re not bothering because of the wind.  It’s hard to sleep when you can hear the awning flapping away outside, I think in future we will only use it if the weather forecast suggests there is no possibilty of high winds.

We're not bothering with the awning, the weather forecast isn't convincing!

Nice shot of Mum & Dad's Eriba Puck

While Sam was checking-in a woman stopped to chat with me.  She told me the night before had brought terrible wind and rain causing most of the site to be waterlogged and people had fled through the day.  Her party were just getting ready to leave, cutting their 2 week break in half.  She’d been going there years and never seen anything like it.

Sam came back and confirmed this.  She was advised that we are welcome to stay on any pitches that we’re happy with but they were cancelling any holidays for the rest of the week due to the state of the site, we’d only booked 1 night so they hadn’t called us to cancel.

We had a brief look but it was made up in our minds that we should continue driving to the next stop in South Wales.  This was another 116 miles on top of the 90 we’d just done but the sun was shining and it meant that we’d be able to pitch up and stay put for 4 days.  It also seemed that the further North we went the better the weather was.

We all got out and went for a walk about before the next leg of the journey, there was an on-site play area so Layla and Ellie had a play in there, Layla was still reluctant to use her arm, I think it’s getting better but we keep debating whether to take her to get it checked again.

We got to Gateway in Llanelli, South Wales in good time although it had been a long day’s driving in all.  We’ve stayed on this site many times before with no problems and always enjoyed it, it’s more of a base for us to go visiting though and it doesn’t feel like a holiday destination to me.  There were reports of bad weather for the past few nights but this didn’t phase us at all, we’ve endured that much already and I don’t think it could get any worse!  The current weather forecast predicts it to get better.

Sam went to check-in again while the rest of us waited in the car park, Layla was clearly happy to be at our destination and had Mum & Dad playing “running races” in the car park!

Running races!

Setting up was a doddle partly due to having a nice level pitch.  We were fairly close to the shower block but not on top of it.

The site seems quiet, there is a section behind us that looks full of vans and I’m guessing they are mostly seasonal ones.

We’ve now got 4 nights here instead of the planned 3.  The primary purpose of swinging round here on the way back from Devon was so we could spend some time visiting family, the extra day should allow us to chill out a bit more and hopefully spread the visiting out with some exploring!

We drove a few miles to Ilfracombe and found a Tesco supermarket to get supplies, it would have been nice to have a look around a bit more but the weather was really miserable so we got what we needed from Tesco and then headed back to Woolacombe.

Twitchen Park is run by a chain that has other sites, we decided to visit the one down the road called Golden Coast as our entertainment passes allowed us on to any of the sites within the chain.

There was an indoor play centre there so that kept Layla busy for a bit, her arm was still sore and it was evident that she was reluctant to put any weight on it.

Spot Layla!

We then drove past our site and round the coast to Woolacombe where the beach is.  It was like a ghost town, this might be because it was a dull Sunday afternoon in April but it’s not how I imagined it to be.

A very deserted Woolacombe beach

After having a drive around we opted to retire back to our site, on the way back we made one last detour to the other site that is opposite Twitchen Park, this is called Easewell Farm.  We followed a long road in to the site but decided we didn’t have the motivation to get out and look at the facilities.  That was when we saw 2 quite new vans with the awnings draped over them.  The bad winds had clearly lifted the awning up and over the vans with the poles probably causing damage to the near side.  The contents of the awnings was out in the open and on show, things such as tables, chairs and even fridges.

It was slightly dissapointing that these vans were left in this state, the winds had died down over the afternoon so this presumably had happened when it was really bad in the night.  If our van was on a seasonal pitch and this happened I would hope the wardens would do something to secure it to prevent further damage.  I doubt we would leave an awning up if we weren’t around though.

One of 2 vans we saw with broken awnings. A real shame to see

Back at the site we had a meal at the on site Fish & Chips restaurant again.  It’s a simple place but nice and clean and great service.  I opted for Chicken Tikka Curry, it was great, everyone enjoyed their food and we discovered that Ellie likes Naan bread.  Layla had another dance with Betty Beachball in the club before we headed back to the vans.  She’s a bit shy around the dressed up character but seems really besotted with it.  Yesterday we bought her a Billy Beachball teddy after seeing another kid with one.  We tried to get a Betty one but were told they only make a Billy one!

Tomorrow we have the drive across to Weston Super Mare, I hope the wind eases a bit, it seems to be picking up again now.

The way we’ve packed it this time has proved to work well and there isn’t much to do when we come to move.  There is tonnes of cupboard space and the fixed bunks for the girls mean that their beds can remain made.

The roads to Woolacombe were quite gusty so I drove with caution.  Annoyingly we got confused with the directions and I took 2 seperate wrong turns.  It reminded us that we should take a look at the days route before setting off so we both know the basic plan.  We don’t 100% rely on the Sat Nav in the car as it has potential to take us down roads that aren’t suitable for towing.

When I planned the routes for the trip I used Google Maps and then adjusted the roads it had chosen to make it suitable.  I didn’t have an easy way to get this in to the Sat Nav so we were relying on the printed Google directions, the Sat Nav and Google Maps on the phones.  Because of things such as changes in the road this can get confusing.  We got here in the end though.

We arrived at Twitchen House and it is very windy.  The first set of pitches we were assigned were tarmac and at a very steep angle.  The row we were on had a few vans already there but they looked to be currently unused so we presume they were on “seasonal pitches”.  The off putting thing was how steep the pitch was.  The vans that were already there had piles of bricks under the front corner steadies and I was convinced they wouldn’t survive the winds.

Nevertheless, I reversed the van into position and got out.  Dad came over and we decided we weren’t happy about these pitches so he went back to the reception and we stayed put and waited.  One benefit of a small van like the Eriba Puck is that you can bob about with it on the back without any hassles manouvering!

After a while I called Dad to see how he was getting on and he reported that we’d been assigned new “Super” pitches that were in a different area but more importantly they were level.

We drove up to the new area and the pitches are much better, the new downside is that we are higher up and it seems to be more windy.  I prefer the level pitch though and because they are Super Pitches we have our own taps and drains.

We got set up in speedy time, the awnings are staying down and our van is actually rocking in the wind!

Food came courtesy of the on site Fish & Chip shop, we haven’t eaten out so many times in a row since our frequent holidays to Ibiza and that was for a maximum of about 10 nights.  Even when I was camping in France on the Le Mans trips we ate normal food but cooked on camping stoves.

The guy at the chip shop seemed to take a liking to us, or Dad rather.  After we’d ordered food we noticed there was a big seating area so asked if it was OK to sit in there.  Then Dad asked if it was possible to have some bread & butter with his food, this was no problem and the guy wouldn’t take any extra money.

When he brought the food out he also brought some beans and the portions were a lot bigger than what we would have had if we got the food to take away as originally ordered.  Then we ordered some Tea and Coffee which again came out in massive portions.  We left a tip.

Tonight we went to the on site entertainment and had a few beers.  It was nice to do this but we did only stay for the kids entertainment before leaving for our beds.

The sites mascot is Betty Beachball and Billy Beachball.  Betty came out and all the kids seem to love her.  Layla enjoyed dancing and we enjoyed having a chat and some alcohol!

Betty the Beachball entertains the children

According to the weather apps on our phones the wind is ~55mph, I’m not sure if that’s correct but it is very windy!

We’ve got 2 nights here now but I think the weather could be a limiting factor on what we can do.

We drove up towards Towan Headland where there was a Pay & Display car park which we used.  The sun was out and it was warm.

We took a walk up a path that leads right up along the Towan Headland peninsula, we could see a view point so aimed for that.  When we got there we were met by two gentleman who were sitting down admiring the view.  I got speaking to them and it turns out that one of them was based near where I work in Wrexham during the second world war before being posted out to somewhere in Asia.

We had a look around and took some pictures.

View towards Little Fistral and Fistral beach from Towan Headland

Looking back towards Newquay from Towan Headland

We’d packed some buckets and spades from Layla’s sand-pit at home so walked back down past the car park and on to Little Fistral Beach.  We hadn’t planned to come to this beach in particular, it just so happened to be next to the car park we were in.  It turned out to be a great little beach and had a cave.

Little Fistral Beach

From within the cave on Little Fistral Beach

Another shot from within the cave which has a hole in the side

It was nearly lunch time so the conversation of what to do came up.  Sam suggested we should use up the remaining meat we bought when we had the last BBQ so we headed back to the site to meet Mum & Dad.

I fired up the Cadac and it was the first time we’d sat outside of the caravans in the sun and was great!  Sam had just finished feeding Ellie some food when she started crying uncontrollably, Layla said a bee had been near her but we couldn’t find any signs of a sting.  After a while I noticed a black mark on one of her little fingers, the bee had stung her!  Mum & Dad put something on it which seemed to ease it and combined with some cuddles from Mummy she was OK.

After we’d eaten Sam remembered we had some ice creams in the freezer. Perfect!

Eating ice creams in the sun

We decided to have a look around Newquay, the shops weren’t amazing but I found the Fat Willy’s Surf Shack!  I remember seeing Fat Willy’s stickers on cars, mostly VW’s when younger.  We went and bought a sticker to put on one of the caravan windows.

I found Fat Willy's Surf Shack!

On the way back to the site we stopped at a Fish & Chips shop for yet more takeaway food, feels like we’ve eaten loads of it lately, we are on holiday though I suppose!

Back at the site, when we’d finished eating, Layla wanted to take Sam to see the play area we’d found previously.  It is hidden behind the shower block in a fenced off area, you’d never know it’s there.  There is a big wooden castle with internal ladders to get up to the top, Layla ran ahead and disappeared in to the castle, just as we caught up with her she fell down the ladders.  I ran over and picked her up, she’d hurt her arm.

She was eating a lolly with one hand and we can only presume this is why she had fell, she wasn’t holding on properly with both hands.

Her arm seemed to be hurting a lot so we took her to the local A&E in Newquay.  She was seen pretty quick and diagnosed that it will heal itself.  I hope this doesn’t stop her from having fun for the rest of the trip.

We’ve packed up as much as we can tonight in readiness for tomorows departure.  We’re driving up to Woolacombe and staying there for 2 nights.  It’s a bit windy so I’m hoping tomorrow is OK, I don’t fancy driving in bad wind.

Ellie standing up at the door

We fitted the Storm Straps to Mum & Dad’s awning today.  This is basically a strap that goes right over the top of the awning to stop it lifting.  Heavy duty pegs hold each side down.

Today was the day we took the 45 mile drive to Land’s End, this was something we just had to do as we were close by.

Nearly at Land's End!

The end of the land?

The weather was dull but OK.  We had a look around Land’s End and had the obligatory photo under the signpost.  The main attraction for Layla was the play area, it was her first time on a zip slide and she loved it.

Dad pushing Layla on the zip slide

We also got to climb aboard the beached RNLB James and Catherine Macfarlane Oakley class lifeboat.

RNLB James and Catherine Macfarlane at Lands End

There is an awesome looking 4D film experience that we were keen to see but the showing times didn’t fit what we were doing.  We planned to drive across to Penzance to visit St Michael’s Mount so off we set.

The mount is on an island which is accessed by either a tidal causeway or boat.  The causeway is only available when the tide is out.  The boat wasn’t running while we were there, we would have chosen this option given the chance.

Unfortunately we were a bit late in the day to buy tickets to visit the castle on the island but we still had a look around the village and had a coffee in the cafe.

The castle on St Michael's Mount - viewed from the cafe

We didn't get to fully explore St Michael's Mount

Amazing shot of my family - the tide was on it's way in so we didn't hang about!

I sleeplessly lay in bed for the next 40 minutes pondering whether we should take the awning down or not, the wind seemed to be getting worse so we decided it would be for the best.

The idea of getting out of a nice warm bed and venturing into a storm to wrestle with what is effectively a large sail should be a daunting thought.  We both got some waterproof clothes on and got on with it quite casually.

Upon entering the awning I witnessed one of the peg straps rip away from the awning with a fierce gust of wind, this reassured me we were doing the right thing.  Once part of the awning is unsecure and flapping there is more chance of total failure.

Firstly I took off the horizontal bracing poles that run along the length of the awning, just as I was warning Sam that this would make the whole thing very unstable it started to wobble about with the wind.  The power of the wind was now being held off by just the vertical poles and the guy lines.  I went out into the rain with the intention of working around removing enough pegs from one side to allow us to pull out the horizontal poles in sequence.  Sam stayed in the awning to support it as best as she could, it was hard to communicate due to the noise of the wind and now the awning was between us.  Just as I started removing pegs a massive gust of wind hit the awning, the guy lines all pulled away and the vertical awning poles inverted.  Sam was pushed to the floor and I could just see a mound crawling towards the flapping exit hole at the side!

It was the worst rain I’ve been in for a long time and seemed to be going in all directions.  It gave me thoughts of what it must be like at sea in a storm when water is blowing everywhere.

With the awning now firmly pushed against the floor and to the side of the van it was actually a blessing in disguise.  It was now a fairly simple job to pull the vertical poles out and un-peg the awning.  Dad emerged at this point to help, I think he must have also been awake and spotted us out of the window.  We were grateful of the extra pair of hands and we got everything packed away in no time.

Mum & Dad’s awning was holding up well but it was still concerning.  It is protected from the Westerly gusts by their van.  It is also of a more solid frame type design, a proper awning, our’s is actually classed as a “porch” awning and has the same construction as the classic “dome” tent.

Once back in the van I spent some time glancing out of the window watching their awning but all seemed fine.

Waking this morning presented us with waterlogged grass everywhere, luckily not in the area of Mum & Dad’s awning.

Waterlogged grass after last nights rain

It’s crazy that yesterday was such a calm warm day that ended with a delicious BBQ and then this morning we were out in a storm tackling the awning.

Due to it being a dull day we decided to take the girls to a play centre so Sam had a look to see what the options were.  I had found info about the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and the play centre Sam had shortlisted was actually quite close to the museum, despite them both being in Falmouth which is 25 miles away.  The plan was born and we travelled to the play centre first, Mum & Dad were skipping this bit and would meet us at the Musuem a bit later.

The play centre was good but Layla didn’t seem wowed by it.  Maybe because we’ve been cramming in so much activity over the last few days.  We made sure she had a good time though.

We continued on to the museum, the building was quite prominent and looked to be clad with wood.

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Unlike other museums there were quite a few features that you could actually climb on or go inside, this was great for kids and Layla loved it.

Layla sat in an RNLI rescue boat

Another thing that impressed me was the on site workshop that were building a Bronze Age boat from a big log using the tenchiques and tools of the past.  They are due to finish in September this year.

Building a Bronze age boat - amazing!

A log half shaped into a boat as an illustration - oustanding!

It almost makes me want to have a go at building one!

A pirate ship moored next to some modern cruisers

Sam, Layla & Ellie in the Sea King helicopter

Cockpit of the Sea King

A display of old boating paraphernalia

On the way home we stopped at a restaurant called Four Winds in Falmouth.  Sam has recently got a Tastecard and this restaurant accepted it.  I had the traditional Bangers & Mash.  Great food and yet again great company.