Well, that was fun!

A lovely surprise as I looked out the galley window early in the morning!

 

See, a beautiful sunny sky, a lovely motorhome and an old woman...

It was bright and sunny when we (I) packed the motorhome (known by Ian and Irene as MB - can't remember what it stands for, but I am sure Irene will enlighten us in the comments later today - she is a gem like that). I loaded up one of the shopping trolleys 3 times - my clothes, David's clothes, and the food. Each time, David had to lift the trolley from inside the boat, up the stern steps and on to the jetty so I could tow it up to the motorhome. Then because the ground was a bit wet and definitely muddy, I decanted the contents each time on to the couches (the clothes in their Kathmandu zip up pouches), and the floor (the food and footwear). Then while David sorted out some of the boat stuff - bringing the rooftop allotment lettuces and herbs into the boat to reside in the bath for the duration  (in case it gets too hot and dry over the next few weeks 😉😉💁💁 yeah, right!) I took off my boots outside MB on its step and stowed everything in its appropriate locker. 

The last task at the boat was to put the tonneau cover on - it cannot be fully domed on at the moment, because we have left the frame for the pram cover on with the measuring strings the fabulous John Wiper tied and taped on as part of his pattern making to replace the very damaged pram cover. But we got it on securely enough that if the too hot and dry weather doesn't eventuate, then the rain won't be able to swell the stern doors.

And as we climbed into the motorhome, the heavens opened. Excellent timing!

A stop at the bins for David to offload the last of our rubbish as we will be away for a few weeks. You can see how wet the ground was after just a few minutes of heavy rain.

I had a bit of a 'mare about travelling all the way on motorways and David was keen to do so. Not sure what his thinking is. Mine is that on UK motorways you need to have eyes like flies - multiple sets seeing all around you... Traffic is very fast and drivers swap lanes fast and often without signalling. Scary shit.

So we plotted a route without motorways to Chippenham, our destination for the day, and departed. About 500 metres up Debdale Lane, I pulled over into a small passing bay and said to David that I was just being a wimp and we re-plotted the route, motorways included. The first part of the trip was back the way we had come in the last part of our drive back from Langley Mill the other day when the GPS recalculated the route because of traffic jams ahead. There are a couple of 'Breathe In' moments to make the motorhome less wide - the first of which is Pit Hill in Saddington, exciting enough in a car if there are vehicles parked, but even more so in the motorhome ...

The weather improved as we travelled and by the time we got to the motorway, it had dried off. But still and all, I find it far less stressful to travel in the left lane - I am very happy to be overtaken by truckies; after all, they are working, and I'm on holiday!

No photos for the first section. A reasonably empty section of the motorway, but still and all, I am staying in the left lane ...

No worries - if those trucks can get under, so can we!

Stunning yellow. Horrible name. Apparently there are a lot more rape fields planted this year because of the war in Ukraine limiting growing and production there. 

 

We had a stop somewhere (?) at a services area with an M&S food shop and bought food for dinner and some nibbles and treats, then on we went to Chippenham. We had used the Brit Stop book and found a pub called The Pewsham that allowed overnight parking. We could have just gone in for a cup of tea and cake but decided we would have dinner. That was significantly the more expensive option ... However it was a good place to stay over. The road was about 70 metres away, the pub about 50 metres away, and off to the two other sides of us were trees and open fields. Pretty peaceful really. 

Waiting for dinner at The Pewsham

Guess who was first in bed - by quite a margin.

Behind the pub, beside the fields. In the morning light.

Yesterday (Thursday 11/05, actually) I had decided I wanted to travel off-piste as much as possible. Getting to the north coast of Cornwall by motorway involves heading almost all the way to Exeter - and to me that is really bizarre (I was going to say it sounds dumb, but that is harsh, although true ...). So David and I compromised this time - part way on the motorway and part on the local A road. 

Motorway first. Must clean the windscreen ... Down towards Minehead, I think. Or Bridgewater. Cannot remember - I was concentrating.

In 1988 with my mum and in 1990 with David and the kids, I drove the A39. I sort of remembered it as narrow but very scenic. And I can confirm that my memory has not failed me in this regard. 

It does seem narrower in a motorhome, for some reason ...

And some very picturesque houses

And in some places it is almost normal width ...  Diesel is about £1.59 a litre, so we are not doing too badly price-wise in NZ, people.

It was nearly lunchtime when we decided a break would be a good idea, but the A39 doesn't have much in the way of rest areas ... So I saw the sign to Dunster Castle, and we turned in on a whim. Looks absolutely beautiful and very lovely grounds and picnic tables. Pay and display carpark, but it only took coins and it was £11 for the day, no partial days or by the hour. How much did we have in coins: £3.50. So instead of having an explore and tour, we ate our lunch in the motorhome, took a couple of photos and slunk off without paying. Sorry, NT.

And the A39 is extremely steep in parts as it descends down to the coast and then ascends back to the top of the cliffs again. Porlock Hill will remain in my memory for some time. Not least because of its steepness. In particular though because of one extremely tight uphill corner on which I stalled trying to get from second gear into first... Ian and Irene, I can do very good hill starts! Even with some dipshit deciding he couldn't wait and overtaking me as I moved forward on the blind bend ... As you will understand, there were no photos taken at this point 😅

Second gear for most of this

Beautiful scenery.

 

Clearly I'm going to be waiting for my turn on this wee road ...

On the way down in to Lynton and Lynmouth. Spectacular. I remember that back in 1988, this was the first place I ever saw escape pits on the side of the road in case of brake failure. They are still there. We didn't need them, folks!

And on the way up from Lynton and Lynmouth, a bus driver (big bus, not the little sensible Market Harborough version) decided to try and turn left out of a side road in front of me as I was ascending the hill in a particularly narrow part. David was videoing that drive and it was the first time I swore. The bus driver did wait his turn, luckily for us all.

In parts, the A39 reminded me of streets in Wellington: Ngaio Gorge, Garden Road, anywhere in Hataitai and in Roseneath above Oriental Bay, Devon St in the Aro valley - particularly when the big bus was about to turn in front of me ... 

On Exmoor. A lot of gorse above the treeline, but in the UK it is not considered a noxious weed. As temperatures rise and it spreads to lower areas, that thinking may change ...

Mt Taranaki ... 💗

And a full-sized tour bus - we saw 2 of them. If they can fit on half of the road, then so can we...

The juxtaposition of the moors and the arable land was striking and the treeline was stark.

Concentrating while the paparazzi does his thing.

 We stopped at a Lorna Doone site - I remember reading about Lorna Doone back when I was at Highlands Intermediate School. There is a lovely cafe there. Sultana scone shared, and a hot chocolate with heaps of marshmallows and cream for David. A good breather with plenty of wind across the moors.

The cafe here is quite sheltered from the wind - and it needs to be!

In the cafe - I purchased some seville orange marmalade; we are waiting for the scone and the hot chocolate.

I had already done a sweep of the marshmallows on the saucer, and still there were heaps!

And here we are. Lovely place to be staying. More details in the next post.