Cornwall Adventure May 2013

We set off on Wednesday, dropping China dog off in Bournemouth we headed South West in search of more sunshine, friends and beer!

As it was quite late in the day, we aimed for somewhere in Dartmoor to rest our heads.

The Pajero is kitted out for wild camping so all we had to do was find a good spot. Now luckily on our last trip down we earmarked some places which would be suitable for a bit of wild camping.

We didn't take us too long to find a great spot, off the road and with a good view for the morning.

We had just brewed up and the bacon sarnies were on the go!

On arrival I had cooked steak with onions and mushrooms in a baguette - Tasted even better being out in the open.

Next day we headed out of Dartmoor and towards the Cornish coast, no plan in mind, just head for the sea.

We stopped off in Redruth for a resupply and a wander around, not a great deal to see, but these were in the pedestrian part of the town.

Bronze cast dogs, but if you look close they are made from old wellington boots!

From Redruth we headed to the coast at Portreath, then followed the road hugging the sea southwards. The sun was out and it was warm so we decided to see if we could find a small campsite so we could laze around, relax, have a few beers and a shower.

We called into one who wanted £18.00 for the night, a bit steep as that did not include hook up and the place only had a shower and loo so as we were not wanting to pay that we moved on. 

Another place was still closed and had not opened yet! Obviously did not need or want the money.

We then saw an official tourist camping and caravan sign, to our right, followed it down a windy road, and I do mean windy and very narrow. After managing to turn around at the bottom we headed back up the lane. It had gone, completely vanished.

Now if I had been towing our twin axle down there by now I would have had the right hump, fortunately in was just the Pajero, but please if you close your site down, which we later discovered that this had happened. Take the bloody sign down!

Then we discovered a little piece of heaven!

The Trevaylor Caravan and Camping Park just a stones throw North of St Just. The 

Run by a husband and wife team Charlie and Michelle, who made us very welcome indeed. The site has a great layout, and although has approx 70 pitches is segregated by high cornish walls, which are basically stone walls covered in grass to make big banks so makes the site feel much smaller.

There were not many on site, which we were surprised about considering the season had started, but that was better for us as we had the pick of where we wanted to go.

The shower and loo blocks were clean and spacious, complete with a laundry room. There was also an onsite shop and a bar with meals available! Hardstanding is available for those who don't like the feel of grass.

We asked the owner if the bar was open and he said that he would open it if we  wanted to have a beer, so around 1900 we headed for a pint. Lager on draught, bottled cornish beer and some rough cider on tap. 

Had a few pints and slept like a baby!

All in all a great site and well worth a visit, so if you are ever down that way, then book in here.

The details are: Trevaylor Caravan and Camping Park, Botallack, St Just, Penzance TR19 7PU

Tel: 01736 787016
Email: trevaylor@cornishcamping.co.uk
Website: www.cornishcamping.co.uk 

Not only that but talking with the owner he told us of a great walk down by the coast to some old deserted tin mines. The views were amazing. We would never of known about this if we had not of stopped here as it is not signposted anywhere.

(Now this is where I would of inserted some pictures, but as I can't find the lead for the camera, and as waking "M" is a hanging offence I shall leave them for another time!)

Another little touch which we thought was spot on, was a young German lad was back packing the coast on his own. He needed to get the bus the next day, so the owner took him by car to where he could get his bus! Now I'm not saying he could do this at the height of season, but as it was quiet we both said how kind it was to go out of his way to do this. After all he was German!

We left from here after a very leisurely start to the day and headed further down and around the coast.

Now, our main reason for being down this part of the world is that we have good friends Sharon and Thomas who live in Helston. It was her 40th birthday on the Friday and drinks, food and laughter were planned for that evening.

Then on the Saturday we had tickets for the Masked Ball at Porthleven.

Firstly friday, much was drunk and eaten that day and as the day progressed to the evening and the evening into the next morning at around 0330 hrs we thought it might be a good idea to collapse!

Early afternoon Friday

The next day was slow to start but gradually picked up pace as we got our vehicles down to the site, back to the house for more grub, Thanks Toby for cooking the beef it tasted amazing.

For the masked ball we are lucky enough to know a very talented and wonderful lady called Shirley Davis a professional Milliner. She has a massive collection of masks in stock all hand made by herself, mine even had an old pair of my glasses built into my mask!

You can find her on facebook here at STUDIO 12 just click the link to see more, all her contact details are there. If it's fancy dress, costumes, or even wedding hats and veils you're after then you need to speak to Shirley!

"M" in her amazing outfit

My good self, looking like a cheap extra from a dodgy horror flick!

Many people made a real effort to dress up, and it was an amazing spectacle, which we both said we were glad to of seen. Not sure if we would do it again, due to it being more of a rave, than a festival which is a bit of an assault  on the ears to say the least!

Myself and "M" both said we know now what it is like to become old! On the way into the main entrance point we both spotted a tent saying "Tea and Toast" see, said we were getting old!

Tucked that away in the memory bank, and at around midnight we both decided that this was exactly what was needed.

However, on finding out that the cost of said "Tea and Toast" was £4.00 each, with a quick, you can F**k right off! For that I want Assam tea, brought form China in a silver casket, served by a scantily clad beauty whilst being hand wafted by giant palms, my tea served in Royal Doulton with lace doily napkins, silver spoons and my toast well done with dripping butter cut into triangles and hand fed!

As we were in a canvas tent with hay bales to sit on we headed back to the Pajero to brew our own!

Once there we decided that our days of raving were over and retired to the sound of surf hitting the shore, well we would of if it wasn't for the heavy bass line making the ground tremble and the sounds of young and innocent teens throwing up.

Another sign of us being old is that in the morning we were sat out in our chairs looking out to sea with a brew in our hands. Two young girls walked by and said "aahhh bless - so sweet" all we needed was a rug over our knees to keep the chill out to complete the picture!

But I do have to say it was a laugh and an experience which young or old should be had!

Sunday, with no clear plan we headed back to Sharon and Tom's house, mooched around and caught up with everyone else and around lunch time we headed back North.

Our original plan was to head back to Dartmoor and wild camp for a final night, but as we drove on it became fairly obvious that what was needed was our own beds.

So after a full on couple of days we drove back home, happy, tired and with some great memories!

Till later.....................

Army Vs Navy Rugby 2013

I've just returned from the annual Army versus Navy rugby match held at Twickenham.

To say that I am not feeling on top of the world is an understatement!

I went straight up on Friday evening where I met up with an old friend. The last time we had clapped eyes on each other was nearly 30 years ago.

We grew up in Shaftesbury together and have known each other since the tender age of 13 or 14 and it was me who was responsible for him following in my footsteps and joining the Royal Corps of Signals. He went on to do his full 22 years and gain the rank of WO2 and Squadron Sergeant Major.

As you can imagine we had a bit of catching up to do!

That took care of friday night, Saturday morning started as we meant to carry on with a pint for breakfast. It was mostly down hill from here on in!

We had stayed in Slough and we decided to get a taxi into Twickenham rather than take the train. We agreed a price with the driver which was just as well as he then managed to get lost several times! The M25 and A30 (both directions) plus Terminal 4 Heathrow were all visited before we managed to get near and vacate the taxi at "The Winning Post"  pub.

A few more beers were consumed before we made it to the stadium.

Finally meeting up with my old mate Mark, which was just as well as he had my ticket we made it in with minutes to spare!

More beer and trips to the loo's later and the Army beat the Navy 43-26. All though at one stage they did have a 19 point lead, but at half time it was all square.

I reckon we had the best seats in the stadium!

After the game it was back to the Corps beer tent for more drinking and meeting old friends who haven't been seen in years. It was a bit of an emotional days.

I saw someone who I thought I knew, went up to him and said, I know you, but don't know where from, his reaction was to hug me like a lost brother! What made it worse, he remembered my name and it wasn't till this morning when he tracked me down on face book that I realised what his name was!

Even worse, I just had a message from him saying that meeting me had made his day! I couldn't even remember his name! Terrible!

With a crowd of over 72,000 squaddies and matelots a new world record was achieved for the most people watching an amatuer game of Rugby.

All I can say is that the atmosphere was just incredible, there were some unforgettable sites of people making fools of themselves and partying hard.

Another statistic I heard was that more beer is drunk on this one day than all of the 6 nations games held at Twickenham!

It was an awesome day, after a late night curry I finally managed to get the last train back to Slough and to my hotel.

Seeing old friends who you haven't seen for so long was very emotional and worth every penny spent.

Can't wait for next year, maybe "M" will come with me to witness the mayhem and total carnage next year! I for one will definately be going!

Thankfully I have the week off which was just as well, as it is now nearly 1400 hrs on Monday and I'm still not feeling right!

More wild camping in the Pajero from Wednesday onwards, heading to Cornwall for a 40th birthday party on friday night, then a Masked Ball Festival on the Saturday! - You should see our costumes!

Till later.............

Who Else Full Times In Their Caravan?

I have just spent some time catching up with emails from folk that have written to me asking advice on full timing.

This got me wondering, actually how many of you out there in the real world are actually living the dream?

I know of a couple of you that are, but it would be great to hear from anyone who is currently living full time either in their caravans or campervans.

Since starting this blog I have received a fairly constant amount of emails asking for advice, which is great.

When we first started to look into living full time in our caravan I found very little relevant information to hand, which was one of the reasons why I started to write the blog.

So don't be shy, say hello and share your story here with us, what's worked for you, what hasn't worked, the highs and lows so far.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Till later...........

More Chinese Confusion

I make no apologies for finding this funny, I have said before that I am not politically correct, never have been and never will be.

Here is another little incident that tickled me and I hope it does you as well!

View Larger Map

Above is a map of a road that I travel down, which will all make perfect sense once you read through below!

I stopped in Christchurch to pick up a Chinese lady, who said in her thick Chinese accent "One Way Weturn Please"

I repeated - One Way (Weturn) Return? well, you can have a one way ticket or a return ticket, which do you want?

She said "Weturn - One Way"

Looking confused I said, lets start again. Where do you want to go?

She said "One Way"

I said "One Way"

Yes she said, "One Way Weturn"!

Then it dawned on me so I said so you want a Return ticket to the Runway?

In an exasperated voice she said "Yes - One Way Weturn - Thats What Ive Been Saying"!

Indeed you have Madam !

All aboard!

Caravan And Camping Season 2013

And so with Easter arriving so do the campers!

It's been a quiet winter here on site, with no one in over the last couple of month, but that is mainly down to the fact that the field has been inches deep in water.

Glad to say it is drying out nicely now and the approach into the field has had new gravel put down as it was a complete bog.

We have been working hard all winter, in fact I've been flat out,  this being my first day off during the week since around January! The rest of the time it has been 6 days a week, having only Sunday's off. Hence the lack of writing on here.

Easter weekend saw a full site, even had some hardy campers in a tent. Now that is just a bit too cold for me as we have been still getting frosts first thing in the morning.

So what have we been up to? Well apart from working not a great deal.

Not strictly true as back in March we took a week off, packed up the Pajero and headed over to Wales.

The plan was to drive over to the South Western tip and then head up the coast and meet up with old friends in Caernarfon for a long weekend.

We set off with a rough location for our first night as we would be wild camping in the Paj!

Not setting off till the afternoon did mean we were pushed for day light, so by the time we got to Haverfordwest it was all ready dark. Heading off along a side road towards the coast we eventually found a spot right on the coast over looking the sea. 

As it was pitch black we could not see the actual coast line, but knew it was down below us somewhere.

We had taken along some Moroccan Lamb stew to heat up on our gas cooker and with some crusty bread we ate listening to the sound of the sea below us.

Settling down for a good nights sleep in the Paj we woke early just as the sun was rising.

What a treat awaited us. It was clear, in fact it was -3 but toasty in our sleeping bags.

We had stopped just before Newgale Beach. A long stretch of sandy beach it was spectacular.

We really had now idea when we stopped that this would be what we saw when we woke up.

The just to finish things off a couple of race horses turned up and pounded their way through the surf! Amazing.

I was still up top when they arrived and by the time we had got down on the beach they were just returning. The owner was watching them with interest and we had a quick chat. We watched them go into the sea up to their belly's. One horse had been in the sea before but for the other it was it's first time. It was evident that they were enjoying it immensely.

Back up to the top and bacon rolls cooked up with hot coffee. Now this is camping!

We set off in a Northerly direction. Hugging the coast all the way up to once more it started to get dark and decided it was time to try and find some where to stop for the night.

Again we relied on instinct and having looked at a couple of places we finally ended up at Barmouth, we travelled down a track to Barmouth then headed out on the spit of land to the place where the Barmouth Ferry leaves, parked up, cooked up and got our heads down for the night.

As it was completely dark when we arrived imagine our delight when we woke to see this!

I've got to say that this is not my picture as the camera died at this point but this was our view!

Once again we had struck lucky!

It was extremely windy, having a pee even facing down wind was a challenge, to the point where I had to change my trousers due to the wind suddenly changing direction! Much to "M"s amusement!

After more bacon rolls and coffee we set off once more.

We hugged the coastline and wound our way out towards Aberdaron and around the peninsula and started headed North once more, stopping along the way for lunch in a tiny pub over looking the sea. The name of which completely escapes me!

Time getting on meant we had to stop to look for another place to park up. After a few places were discounted we ended up just south of Caernarfon, right next to it's airport. I say airport, it's more of a heliport.

Here we cooked again, brewed up and watched the sun set.

I think over the three nights the latest we were tucked up and snoozing was 2100hrs!

Next morning it was even colder, the butane was freezing up on the cooker, so with constant changes of cannisters we eventually managed a brew and our final breakfast before we booked in later that day to the Black Boy Inn at Caernarfon.

This is a great place to stay, 5 mins from the castle and a real friendly place.

Kate and Mark were to join us for the Saturday, it so happened that the Rugby was on and so we watched the Wales game, where we supported the Italians much to the disgust of the locals. The pub was heaving, but some good friendly banter was had.

We were expecting the TV to be turned off once the game had finished as England were playing, but much to our delight it remained on where we were totally out numbered, out cheered but not out drank!

Myself and Mark entered the pub at 1100hrs and remained at the same table till 2230hrs! A good session! Amazingly we both made it down for breakfast the next morning!

Later that day we said our goodbyes and headed home.

The exhaust on the Pajero was by this time blowing like a Trumpet Major's bugle after being run over.

New exhaust bought on the internet a few days later and she is now running sweet as a nut.

Sweet as a nut is not how I would describe our trusty old Landrover Freelander. Not long after we bought it the head gasket went. As it was under warranty all was not lost so we had it done, but it still used water.

For the last few weeks it had started to run a bit lumpy with tick over being all over the place. So as it was well due a service we booked it in. Bearing in mind we had just put it through it's MOT just the previous month at £350.00

During the service it was found that the back drums were knackered and this with the service cost another £300.00 - Thanks!

"M" drove it back from the garage but said it still didn't feel right, so next morning on my way into work I found it to be worse than when it had gone in for the service.

I had this nagging thought in my head that it may of been the head gasket again, but dismissed this as surely during the service, (oil change) etc it should of been spotted? The fact it was still running like a bag of nails after the service would of given it away.

I checked the the dipstick and there it was, enough emulsified oil to replace a jar of Hellmans Mayo!

Back to the garage, where it was confirmed. Now at this point I was a little cross that the garage had failed to spot this obvious fault, then proceeded to have me for the £200.00 for fixing the brakes knowing the gasket was shagged!

So do we repair or scrap it? After much thought, it was decided to scrap the car, a new head gasket, would cost around £700.00 with no guarantees that it would even fire up, as remember this is the second time it has gone.

Sadly she went last friday. Ebay? No, to a local recycler (scrap dealer) who gave us £200.00

It was easy with no fuss, paid in cash and to be honest a good price considering it was knackered!

Being upset about it did not last long as on Saturday "M" picked up her new toy - A Mazda MX5  Eunos 1.8i. A Jap import. Yes, I like my imports due to the fact you get a load of extras that the UK cars just did not have.

We had been looking for one, and luckily came across this little stunner. She was built in 1994, imported in 2004 and with only 2 owners since then, (1 the importer, 2 the enthusiast) has full history with it being serviced every 6 months.

A new Mohair hood, 12 months MOT and 6 months tax for £1400.00 - Bargain.

We have had a couple of days out in her and she drives lovely, even had the roof off over last weekend - glorious!

So there you have it, that's us about up to date. I'm sure I've forgotten loads that has happened, so will try and write more when I can!

Till later.......................

The British Army - Confused?

IT IS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE

Dumb civilian, I said to myself, but openly I said, “The system is really quite simple.” You see, all people in the Army are soldiers, all privates are soldiers, but not all soldiers are privates. Some are officers who are commissioned, but some are officers who are not commissioned. Obviously if every private was called private it would be confusing, so some privates are called things like trooper, driver, gunner, craftsmen, sapper or signaller. Not all of the drivers actually drive because some of them cook, but we don’t call them cooks, for that matter, not all drivers are called drivers – some of them are privates or gunners. Gunners as I’m sure you know are the guys that fire guns, unless of course they are drivers or signallers in which case we call them gunners rather than drivers or signallers just to make it clearer. All gunners belong to the artillery, except that in the infantry we have gunners who are called privates because they fire a different sort of gun, for the same reason we call our drivers and signallers private as well.
A Lance Corporal is called Corporal, unless he is a Lance Bombardier then we call him Bombardier to distinguish him from a full Bombardier, who is just like a Corporal. All other ranks are called by their rank for the sake of simplicity except that Staff Sergeants are called Staff, but they are not on the staff, some Warrant Officers, who are not officers, are called Sergeant Major although they are not Sergeants or Majors. Some Warrant Officers are called Mister which is the same thing that we call some officers but they are not Warrant Officers. A Lieutenant is also called Mister because they are subalterns, but we always write their rank as Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant, and second comes before first.
When we talk about groups of soldiers there obviously has to be clear distinction. We call them Officers and Soldiers although we know that officers are soldiers too, sometimes we talk about officers and other ranks which is the same as calling them soldiers. I guess it is easiest when we talk about rank and file which is all the troops on parade except the officers and some of the NCOs – and a few of the privates – and the term is used whether everyone is on parade or not. A large unit is called a battalion, unless it is a regiment but sometimes a regiment is much bigger than a battalion and then it has nothing to do with the other sort of regiment. Sub units are called companies unless they are squadrons or troops or batteries for that matter. That is not radio batteries and don’t confuse this type of troop with the type who are soldiers but not officers.
Mostly the Army is divided into Corps as well as units, not the sort of Corps which is a couple of divisions but the sort which tells you straight away what trade each man performs, whether he is a tradesmen or not. The Infantry Corps has all the infantrymen for example and the Artillery Corps has all the gunners. Both these Corps also have signallers and drivers except those who are in the Signals or Transport Corps. Both these Corps provide a special service and that’s why the Transport Corps provides cooks. In fact the Signals Corps is not a service at all because it is an Arm. Arms do all the fighting, although Signals don’t have to fight too much, rather like the Engineers who are also an Arm but they don’t fight too much either.

Hope that clears up any misunderstanding!

Certo Cito!

Curing Damp

Last Sunday we or rather "M" set about trying to remove the damp spores that have set up home in our static.

"M" started off by using a "Glixtone Mould and Fungal Growth" solution, which was easy enough to apply to the areas which needed sorting out.

This got rid of all but one area, the other thing with this stuff is that it did not smell. Usually these cleaners smell strongly of bleach.

So for the tougher area we used "HG Bathroom Mould Spray". This worked like a treat, all you do is spray on and wipe off. But, the down side is a strong smell of bleach!

Out of the two the best result's came from the HG spray. Ok, it did wiff for a bit, but it was pretty rapid.

The real test now is to see how long it keeps it away for.

By the way the area's are as vented to fresh air as they possibly can be, but how can you vent behind the headboard of the bed without having it a foot away from the wall, which in our case is not possible due to a shortage of space!

Time will tell how well they work, the dehumidifier is working away, with one little accident as it decided not to shut itself off once the water container was full! At least all the moisture was in one place!

Apart from that nowt much else has happened.

Oh, if you haven't all ready seen the film The Sweeney at the cinema then it is now out on DVD and well worth watching.

No Ford Granada's and the action was not quite up to being realistic, none the less still enjoyable!