Static 19 at Hedley Wood

So after our very pleasant stop in Okehampton (I think we'll be going back in the summer time to explore the touristy things properly) we headed off for Hedley Wood, only about an hour away...

...where we took posession of our new home for the next (almost a) week, the rather frosty static number 19 -

- immediately closing all the doors and windows (goodness only knows why they were wide open!) and lighting both the gas fire and the oven (which we left both open and on until the whole place was warm enough to allow us to stop seeing our breath and remove our coats)...I did a quick ninja mission to swap the TV in our static over with the (unoccupied) one next door, as the one we had was missing a SCART slot (and I had all these new games burning a hole in my Xbox), then we settled in (dumped most of our stuff in the second bedroom, filled up the fridge) and then nipped down to the clubhouse for some supper (deep fried scampi and chips) -

- which was looking every bit as festive as ever, quite the most wonderfully garish display! That night we shunned the bedroom (as the heater in there was woefully inadequate at combating the distinct lack of heat outside in the darkness) instead snuggling up with a sleeping bag, hot water bottle and 4 blankets on the sofa-bed in front of the gas fire in the living room...(Flyingpops even kept her wooly hat on)... ;)

The next morning we discovered that the hot water didn't work (never got above tepid), so abandoned any thought of showers (and put in an emergency call with the owners via Flyingpops' dad), boiled the kettle made hot tea and coffee and contemplated how we were going to spend the day...it was so icy outside that it actually looked like it had snowed, so we decided to make a start with the most logical place to go in such circumstances...yes - the beach -(obviously)! :)

Cornwall 2007 Holiday

Okay, here we go, took *loads* of pictures (as I already mentioned), getting happier with the new camera now (even though I am missing the Mavica), still, this has to be the first time I have ever got anywhere near 2Gb of pictures on *any* shoot (urm, holiday, sorry)...

...took this one at stupid-o'clock in the morning on the M25, shortly before I fell back to sleep with my head on the passenger door window, and at the first stop (for fuel) I woke up (feeling most uncomfortable) and clambered into the back...

...and the rest of the journey (even though my head was over the bass boxes under the bed during "Starlight Express") I slept until Flyingpops awoke me in Launceston...I caught some shots of the glorious sunrise...


...we got set up nice and quickly, then helped out Flyingpops folks with their rather challenging caravan awning...

...got our electrics set up and after a bit of trouble with the fridge in the gazebo (just needed levelling up), we got the fridge working in the camper (for the first time ever) after a little burning smell from the dusty workings, which was to prove to be a real life-saver, staying freezing cold even after 7 hours unplugged in the blazing sunshine on the beach...very happy with that... ;)

...and the beach was packed and hot, and wonderful...

New Years Update!

So, getting up rather early on the 29th of December, we opted to pack up the Golf rather than Colin the Camper (for fairly obvious reasons), dived around the (slug-like) M25 and onto the usually reliable M3/A30/A303 (urk!) -

- this was shot from the window when just approaching the roundabout before Stonehenge (at almost a standstill) -

- lacking a TomTom-style companion for this voyage, I took the novel step of looking at a map, and quickly found a swift route around the loggerjam via the local bus route through the army barracks, got us back on track fairly quickly -

- journey in total took about 5 hours (bleugh) but got our static caravan right away (minus microwave, fridge and door key), unpacked, borrowed next doors fridge for the cold goods and then down to the club house for some grub -

- (check out the amazing decorations!) scored the key-

- and had scampi (otherwise known as langoustine) for tea, which was jolly nice -

- picked up our tickets for the New Years party, buffet and sit down meal, had a few drinks and then retired to bed, next day was spent doing very little apart from walking around a *very* wet bude, didn't even dare get the camera out of my bag it was that bad(!), sorting out party costumes in the charity/costume/pound shops, then had home-made cottage pie for tea (very nice this time, much more filling, as you can see) -

- New Years Eve we went back to Padstow, which was full of elderly coach tour folk, and half the car park and most of the harbour wall was full of lobster pots (which goes to show precisely how many they normally have out in the Camel estuary -

- we wandered around the shops buying up flood damage bargains, dodging the storms, oh and I scored a medium-gauge "Microplane" for the kitchen (bloody sharp, almost grated my finger off last night) awesome tool (but more on that later perhaps)...

- had an average rib-eye steak in the Old Ship Inn (queue at Rick's was too long to want to sit it out in the rain) -

- and when the weather really did turn (literally rivers running down the streets) we made a mad dash back to the car before the whole of Padstow vanished into the sea -

- (nothing to do with me pictured above btw, just a silly family who forgot their umbrellas looking rather bedraggled). Anyway, back on site we had a lazy afternoon, donned our costumes (Prince Charming, Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother and an Ugly Sister respectively), glugged down a quick glass of Asti (yik, too sweet for me!) and then to the party -

- where we danced the night away, ate from the extensive buffet -

- sang and cheered and drank and laughed, until the lateness of the hour (or should that be earliness?) led us back to the static and collapse...zzzz...

New Years Day, somehow hangover free (how?) we got up late, showered, and took a walk around the site, Alan - the owner - has installed his own sink hole and thus is now free from paying for running water, and as a bonus, the run off has created a nice fresh water stream tricking down through the site -

- I would consider doing something similar but the filter would take up my entire back garden I recon... ;)

- worked up an appetite walking past all the vans in storage (something over 700!) in various states of decay and then up for lunch (130 covers!) -

- (that's me in the pink top on the right, only joking!) ;) -

- the meal consisted of (very slow cooked) roast turkey, beef *and* pork -

- with a good selection of roast/boiled/cheese sauced veg, served with a complimentary glass of wine, the only muck up from the kitchen being them running out of the Pate starter half way around the room *after* taking everyone's orders (whoops!) -

- after lunch we somehow managed to conjour the energy to nip down to the beach to catch the sunset (which was 100% worth the effort) -


- spent the evening eating crackers and stilton, drinking port and watching tripple bill Eastenders followed by "Waterloo" on the Shinco (through the TV), then yesterday after another brief stop over at the beach (to be sand-blasted by the wind) we zoomed back home (in record time) past Stonehenge -

- no doubt we'll actually manage to stop there one day... ;)

Back to work today, but I'm going to do it from home (as it were) it being a Wednesday...

Camping toilet leak

...can't believe I forgot to mention this before...hehehe....back to the 30th Aug (yes, sorry, back onto the holiday *again*, work *should* have started to simmer down a bit now, so I might actually be able to find some time in my evenings I'm not either working or completely exhausted to catch up a little bit!) - I had the distinct pleasure of watching the occupants of the number one noisy tent in the field (the second most noisy had a higher volume, making their own music (with bongo and sitar) but only managed to keep it up for very brief sessions (before they collapsed into dope fuelled stupor) or so I speculate)...the slightly quieter, but *prolonged* party tent which had been rather irritating to Flyingpops' Pop (being used to a nice quiet field, apart from his party awning of course, which is excempt ;) had a *little* bit of an accident...

Namely a noisy and rapid *emergency* tent evacuation caused by pungent effulgent forming a river through (and over) the occupant's feet and possessions from a malfunctioning camping toilet stored in the trailer tent (slightly uphill)...cue much screaming of children, panicked running adults with sorbent paper and leaking plastic sewerage containers, the elderly holding their noses and mouths and retreating across the field...and me, pretending to continue to read my book but keeping half an eye in their direction, and a straight face, gently, but uncontrollably rocking with internal hysterics... ;)

Cornwall update - Bude and Books...

So, first Friday of the holiday (25th August) saw a lot of reading taking place (finished Marching Powder by Rusty Young, which is just an incredible story of what it's like to be a black "Inglés" stuck in a Bolivian Prison on drug smuggling charges, and the answer is - absolutely *nothing* like you imagine, trust me! Have a go, great story... ;)

We nipped into Bude for a bit more shopping, and to see how the place had changed, but it was much the same (cyber-cafe is gone, but the Library provides free access to all, so no suprise there really)...saw this guy who looked suspiciously like a Postie leading his Donkey and dog entourage around town (loaded with post bags)...no idea what he was up to though, might have been emptying the parking meters... ;)

Enjoyed a spectacular sun set that evening while enjoying a few drinks with Flyingpops' folks, think I might get this printed out large for the living room wall...Tesco do a bargain basement "Canvas printing" service now, check it out here...tempting neh?

Then had (as I mentioned before) a slightly overcooked steak in the clubhouse for tea, but I covered it in horseradish anyway (being in that kind of mood), so all was well...

Hedley Wood - campsite review

Right, let's start playing catch-up (again!), this time set your wayback machine for the 24th August, destination "Hedley Wood Caravan and Camping Site, Bridgerule" (put on Trip-a-Tron proof shades before clicking that link btw ;)...

Now, Bridgerule is a funny old place, postcode-wise it's in Devon, but you don't get the "Welcome to Devon" sign until after it, and you don't get the "Welcome to Cornwall" sign until you leave it going the other way, so officially, I guess, it's in a kind of "no-mans-land" lurking on the front line between the two counties...it's a nice location too, very quiet, great views down to the awesome surfing beach at Widemouth, and a short drive to Bude, (the beautiful) Boscastle and (the historic) Launceston...there is also a fairly well appointed farm shop, stocking local produce only a short drive down the A39...so all very good, we have spent many, many peaceful and happy holidays on this site (and as such probably (and I must warn you) qualify as "old lags" rather than proper customers, I guess)...

We set off just before 5am, zoomed down the A303/A30 and then cut North through Launceston arriving on site in record time (about 3.5 hours), Flyingpops' folks were playing scout and had already set up base-camp on site, so we radioed ahead and supplies were waiting for us in the form of tea/coffee and bacon sarnies/toast when we arrived, a request was sent to the site authorities to bring up our mobile quarters ASAP and then we settled down to try and get into the holiday spirit...

EIGHT HOURS (and *three* phone calls) later the caravan finally appears on the horizon...now, I'm perfectly well aware that "life moves at a different pace in the South West", and from thence comes *much* of the area's attraction, however, to spend nearly the whole first day of your holiday sat around with a ludicrously overloaded car was frankly, well, a little bit annoying for us, so, the nice (but stressed) looking guy props it all up and drives away thinking "job done"...Flyingpops and Dad enter the caravan and -

• It's not exactly clean (so, no moans, as we are unofficially renting it, the cleaning products come out, and the dead insects and grime are rapidly removed)
• The bed is broken (so another phone call, several visits with tape measures and various bits of wood, and *finally* we have somewhere to sleep!)
• Hurrah(!)

...anyway, moan-stick down for a minute...we put the gazebo up, unpacked all our stuff into the caravan, turned the car back *into* a car and were good to go...phew...so we nipped to the local Morrisons to grab some supplies, got the fridge up and running and finally settled down to some decent relaxation...

...Since my last visit (as I said, we've been there a number of times before) the dreadful, spider filled toilet/shower block has been totally revamped (although not quite finished at time of writing) -

- with at least a 50% functioning rate on the washing up facilities(!) -

- for supper, being a bit on the sleepy side after our early start we headed down to the club house...

- I went for the Cottage pie which was 15% cheese, 45% mashed potato and 40% mince, so, alright, but not up to the standards I had come to expect having eaten here before and be aware you can't count on the steaks not to be rather overdone (even "rare", in my experience, seemed to come to table verging on the "well done", tut...) (chips are flawless though) -

- there are also signs, as the site begins it's "Lebensraum"-style expansion over local farmland, that bigger isn't necessarily better, one immediately obvious incident of vandalism, what is wrong with some of these new people? -

- and we heard tell of one (totally out of character) robbery on site via camp grapevine, but again, this is unpreciedented in any previous experience -

- back to the positive side, the new fields are lush and huge, circled by a wonderful "dog walk", which doubles as an awesome mountain bike off-road course, the headgerows were full of lushous blackberry, ripe for the picking, the lower bar area sports probably the largest sea-water fish-tank I have ever seen outside a proper aquarium(!) full of waving polyps -

- and exotic fish -

- the charm *definitely* hasn't left the place, but it's starting to look like a bit more harsh management might be required (as the place grows) to keep it as perfect as it has been all these years... ;)

It's a dog friendly site (as long as owners are prepared to clear up after their little darlings), and kids are free to run riot, it's probably the most family friendly site I have ever stayed on, and also one of the most relaxed *and* relaxing places to spend your time in the South West...the staff are largely genuinely caring, laid back (for good *and* for bad!) and the surf is just minutes away...

You could do a whole *lot* worse...definitely check it out... ;)

Arrived and set up

Been a bit of a nightmare thus far, air turned distinctly blue when my finger got knocked earlier and had to wait HOURS for the caravan to materialise...none the less, we are set up and the caravan is ready for habitation... ;)

Looking forward to pre-chopped steak for tea... ;)

update - remote blog posting not working, updates will be sparce..