Advertisement
Published: September 1st 2014
Edit Blog Post
The run up to a holiday is always a busy time. Trying to work out what clothes to take. Will we need jumpers? Will it be cold? Do we need that thicker coat? Should we just take thin clothing and hope for the best. The long range 2 week weather forecast was giving us few clues. We completed filling Suzy’s fridge full of enough food to last about three days. We took our currency and our passports together with Suzy’s file which contains train tickets, campsite bookings and booking for our Padua card up to the van. We thought a lot about what we needed and gave up as usual thinking that if we have forgotten something it won’t be the end of the world. Have we got everything? Even after two and a half years in a motorhome we find we still have to add things. This year we have purchased batteries just in case we need them and there is not a Bricomart handy and extra hearing aid batteries. A new set of Corelle plates and dishes. An American invention Corelle is like porcelain, quite heavy and apparently unbreakable . Advertised by the Camping Clubs as perfect for motorhoming
we purchased a set only to read in the guarantee that they are unsuitable for camping. They look good though and time will tell if they were a good purchase.
We did not sleep well the night before we left. We went to bed late after having an abortive attempt to upload new maps to Sally Sat Nav. At 2.30 I was still lying awake thinking about the month ahead and the interesting places we would visit.
We left home in reasonable sunshine at 10.30 and headed for the M1 just a few miles up the road. Once on it we hit the inevitable traffic jams but luckily we moved slowly but surely south. From Derbyshire to our neighbouring county of Nottinghamshire. Onwards through Leicestershire, Northamptonshire until we reached the leafy suburbs of Cambridgeshire. An affluent area full of what looked like expensive housing, the world famous Addenbrookes Hospital, thatched cottages, fields of ripened golden corn and cycle lanes. Everyone we saw looked healthy, no-one overweight, not a sign of a motorised scooter, many riding bikes and even running the dog rather than walking it.
Our site for the night was the Camping Club site at Cherry
Hinton set in a leafy residential area of the city. The 62 plots were set in a wooded area which boasted rabbits, dormice and bats as potential neighbours. We paid £24 for the night which as usual is rather high compared with camping in Europe. We found a hardstanding plot right next to the ablutions block. Handy for emptying the grey water tank which was full . We had forgotten to empty it after our last trip in June and when we got home Suzy is parked on a slope so no amount of trying to empty her would have worked. Note to myself – remember to empty her before we reach home!!! After seven trips back and fro she was empty. Next job top up the water which mysteriously was empty despite being filled before we left home. Four large containers later and she was pouring water out from her overflow so it seems like the gauges were faulty rather than her being empty. WiFi was available for £2.50 per night or £25 annual fee but we did not use it and we were not able to use our satellite dish however there are digital aerial sockets on the
electric points so TV is available if you have a connection. We forgot we had bought a connection when we camped at Ludlow two years. Once found we spent the night catching up on TV. If there were any downsides to the site it was the young children riding their bikes in and around the caravans and motorhomes using the site as a racing track. In turn setting off the two pugs opposite. We are getting too old for this dog barking lark.
Sleep did come easy though following a box of Pringles washed down with a bottle of vino. Tomorrow - well tomorrow we will be on our way to Prague.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.147s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 20; qc: 28; dbt: 0.1167s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
I so look forward to reading about your semiannual vacations...
and now you are on your way again! Where will you be the second half of April 2015 when I'm in Croatia and Slovenia?