Getting the hang of it!

Posted on May 17, 2021 by mrdked

We do seem to be getting the hang of this ‘weekend warrior’ / quick getaway thing at the moment. We work every other Saturday – Kev ’til 12 and I work until 2PM. So the rest of those weekends always seem to be full of grass cutting, shopping, housework and laundry. The Saturdays when we are off are a different kettle of fish.

Kev has been shopping on a Wednesday or Thursday after work. We prep clothes on a Wednesday. We then pack Lulu on a Thursday and hook her up to the 240v to charge her leisure battery and turn the fridge on. On Friday, we are away from the office at 17.00 – not 17.01 (or in Kev’s case 17.30). Home by 17.20. Cup of tea, shower and fridge packed – we are away by 18.00! Professional van lifers now!

Arriving at Tyllyn Lakeside

35 minutes and 18 miles later we were pulling onto a CL at Pencarreg, Llanybydder. Just on the A465, Tyllyn Lakeside is a usual CL of just 5 well spaced out pitches. The pitching area is in an enclosed paddock with elevated views across Llyn Pencarreg. The owners also run a horse rescue centre at Tyllyn. The setting would be glorious – if only the sun was out!

Unfortunately, true to Lulu Van Travellers style of late, we were in for a real mixed bag of weather this weekend. We were promised light to heavy showers, light breezes and sunny spells. ALL bloody weekend!!

I gave Marley a quick pee walk around the perimeter of the paddock, which didn’t take long. So we went around again. While Marley and I were rambling, Kev got Lulu set up.

We are the only ones here this weekend so we had our choice of pitches. On a couple of pitches, chocks would be needed. Kev found the flattest pitch available and parked Lulu side on so that her sliding door opened to give a full vista of the gorgeous lakeside views. With his little levelling gizmo he checked our level…….we were spot on! We are getting the hang of this!

Marley loves nothing more than being within 2 feet of ‘his’ people, lying in the open doorway and watching the world go by.

Closing Lulu’s door at about 21.30, we settled down to devour leftover butter chicken, rice and naan bread washed down with a couple of cold ones. We watched an hour of our favourite YouTubers before turning in for bed.

Kev did Marley’s perimeter walk while I made the beds up. Apparently, the adjacent paddocks were full (10 or 12) of rabbits and the only visible lights for miles was from a roof light window in a nearby house and from Lulu’s own skylight. I didn’t see either rabbits or lights when I took Marley out at 03.30 and it was daylight when Kev took him back out at 06.30. I slept in until 08.30 when Kev declared that it was almost time for breakfast.

The bit where we almost when we went home

Time for breakfast! OMG!!!

Of all of the things that we could have forgotten. We left the bloody bacon in the fridge at home! Kev was considerably calm and reasonable about this state of affairs – he only cried for about an hour!

Image showing a child crying because there is no bacon!
I don’t believe it!

The rest of the morning and early afternoon were spent talking, writing blog notes and various to do lists.

Our previously mentioned ‘grand plan’ remains on track so far and this and our pending 10 counties tour formed much of our conversation over the course of the afternoon.

A lazy Saturday afternoon

We did feel quite guilty as the day wore on, that the weather had kept us inside and that we had not at least gone for a walk or popped into the village of Llanybydder. The guilt soon passed though. Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is just fine and dandy. So that is exactly what we did – nothing!

We watched the rescue horses being led on a longe line and after training, being let out into the adjacent paddock.

Rescue horse on a Longe line

Marley had two or three laps of our paddock. We took a call from the vicar who will be officiating at Kev’s Dad’s internment later this week. We watched ‘MIB International’ and a couple of episodes of ‘Motherhood’ on Netflix. We sank a couple of beers and a glass or two of vino collapso. What a bloody lovely afternoon!

We poured ourselves off the seats to prepare a supper of fajita pockets stuffed with veggies and plant based shawarma strips. We followed these with a dessert of a plant based cherry & chocolate pudding. The plant based theme ended here as pudding was accompanied by a dollop of sour cream!

Waxing lyrical about the night sky

Before we turned in, we took a stroll down to the lake waters edge. The dark clouds that had rained on us all afternoon had parted and the sky was clear and starry. With the moon shining on the lake surface, it was really magical.

Geese on a moonlit lake

We saw numerous rabbits, a couple of foxes legging it across the paddock, a heron, a gaggle of geese ‘sleeping’ and just bobbing on the water or on the jetty. It was like being in a Beatrix Potter novel! We do seem to be getting the hang of this!

Reasons to be Cheerful!

Fanfare of Horns! Declare a national holiday!! Arrange fireworks, jugglers and jesters!!!

Picture showing a fanfare of horns to celebrate Marley sleeping all night.
A Fanfare of Horns

‘Why?’ I hear you all ask? – MARLEY SLEPT ALL BLOODY NIGHT – that’s why! Woo Hoo!!

Kev took him out for a lap at about 07.30 while I dismantled the bed (got to get a fixed bed upgrade). After a quick breakfast (still no bacon!) and a shower, the CL owners popped up to check if everything was OK and to tell us that we didn’t have to rush off as there was only one other van due in today.

Kev and Marley on a pee walk around the paddock
07.30 tour of the paddock

We left Tyllyn Lakeside around 11.00 but we took a small detour on the way home.

Old friends

Between 2008 and 2011 we lived not too far away from here. Our local hostelry was The Alltyrodyn Arms in Rhydowen run by the lovely Russell and Sarah Patterson and Sarah’s mum, the equally lovely Christine Sneath. So, we thought that we would pay them a surprise visit on the way back.

Shortly before we moved, they took the decision to close the pub . Russell trained and became a paramedic and Sarah and Chris reopened the pub building as an antiques centre.

Picture showing the exterior of Alltyrodyn Antiques in Rhydowen
Alltyrodyn Antiques, Rhydowen

Alltyrodyn Antiques is thriving and has developed a good online presence, especially since lockdown in 2020. The building is full of Victorian and Georgian furniture – pieces of all sizes, object d’art and all manner of wonderous delights. If you’re in the area check them out – just tell them that Mags and Kev sent you!

We spent a pleasant hour around their farmhouse kitchen table with a cup of tea, just catching up with old friends and leaving with an invitation to park Lulu in their carpark and join them for some whiskey tasting around the fire pit. If I remember rightly – that could get quite messy!

Well, that was our weekend. It was calm, relaxing and cheap!

We are not planning another trip until our 10 counties tour in 6 weeks. Kev has a whole list of bits and pieces to do on Lulu before we go and I’m working on Bank Holiday Monday.

We’ll update the blog before we go and maybe even get some camera / video practise in before we bite the bullet on YouTube.

Until then, you lovely people, we wish you safe & happy travels,

Mags, Kev and Marley

X

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A bank holiday weekend in Llandovery!

Posted on May 3, 2021 by mrdked

Well, after 2 weeks of the usual hell in work for the both of us and after 2 weeks of virtually rain free days, we all ground our way to a bank holiday weekend in Llandovery with open pubs! We were off on a three nighter. Yay!!

Lulu gets a check up

Lulu had been booked into the local MOT station for 8.30 on Wednesday for her annual and first with us) medical. Kev took the day off work and rolled up at the garage at the prescribed time. Oops! Lulu won’t fit on the ramp – even after being told how big she was and how heavy she was when we booked her in.

Lulu outside Station Motors, Llandeilo
http://www.stationmotorsmot.co.uk/

A quick phone call to another local garage that has a 5 tonne lift and she was booked in for 11.30. Phew!

Kev dropped Lulu off with Derwydd Garage, Llandybie at 11.20 and toddled off for a bacon roll and a coffee at the van on the edge of the industrial estate. Suitably refreshed he wandered back to the garage where he paced up and down for 30 minutes like an expectant dad to be!

Lulu up in the air on MOT ramps
http://www.derwyddgaragellandybie.co.uk/

Then the moment of truth came. As the MOT inspector approached him, Kev’s heart skipped a beat as the inspector said ‘what a lovely van, cracking condition underneath….give me two minutes and I’ll print your certificate!!’

Lulus MOT certificate
Lulus New, Shiny MOT

So with a shiny new certificate in hand – Kev’s telling anyone who’ll listen – we packed up Lulu on Thursday evening for a quick escape after work on Friday.

Here we go!

Friday comes around and we battle through yet another frustrating, soul destroying day. We leave work at 5 and are home by 20 past. A very quick cup of tea and a moan about our respective days later and here we go! We have a mammoth drive ahead of us.

Erwlon Caravan and Camping Park

20 minutes and a 14 mile blast up the A40 towards Brecon and we pull onto Erwlon Caravan and Camping Park, Llandovery.

Entrance signs at Erwlon Caravan & Camping Park
Entranceway to Erwlon Caravan & Camping Park

We checked in, completed the Track and Trace paperwork and rocked up onto our prebooked pitch – SP12. The pitch was perfectly level as shown by Kev’s clever little levelling gizmo and we hooked up Lulu. I took Marley for a quick walk after such a long journey and Kev got us set up and put the kettle on.

A cup of tea and a cheeky cherry Bakewell later and I took Marley for pee break number 2. We then spent an hour or two literally doing nothing as all the crap from the last couple of weeks was washed off by the sounds of the river and the birdsong and by the deep pink of the early evening skies.

A beautiful pink sky sunset over Erwlon
Red sky at night………………

Wow, it’s a busy little site but in a beautiful setting along a babbling river bank. The site is about half a mile from the historic market town of Llandovery and its many popular watering holes.

A busy Erwlon Caravan & Camping Park
Erwlon Caravan & Camping Park

I knocked up some meat free fajita pockets while Kev scoured this months Practical Motorhome (looking, not buying!). We ate supper, drank beer and were in bed for 11.30 – exhausted.

A disturbed first night

There was something up with Marley on Friday night / Saturday morning. He would not settle at all and was whining and whinging all night. I got up and took him out at midnight, 02.30, 04,00 and 05.30. For the 05.30 pee, Kev got up and took him out while I crept into Kev’s nice warm bed.

A bright, sunny but cold start

We were all fully awake and dressed (well, Marley was as dressed as he ever is!) by 8.30 and we breakfasted on the usual bacon rolls, pain au chocolat and strong coffee. We left Lulu a bit later for the 20 minute walk into Llandovery town.

First port of call being The Castle Hotel where we managed to secure a front table under a gazebo structure. I went to the bar and ordered drinks. I brought the drinks back to the table and as I approached the table, Kev’s little face was beaming. It had been so long, so very long!

An almost empty glass of lager
That didn’t touch the sides!

Needless to say, I was very quickly back at the bar – this time returning with menus as well!

We settled on Nachos fully loaded with avocado slices along with a basket of garlic fries – and more beer.

After lunch, we gathered our things and walked 50myards to port of call number two. Following a refurbishment by it’s new owners, The Bluebell Inn opened after the second lockdown – only to be closed again just before Christmas. They have a lovely beer garden and are a very dog friendly pub. The lager was good – well kept, crisp and cold. I must admit wimping out at pint number 4 and having a good old Americano coffee! Suitably refreshed, we made our way back to Erwlon around 4.30.

Kev attempts his ‘Spielberg’ moment

We arrived back at Lulu to find that we hadn’t locked her when we left earlier!

I made a cup of tea and then promptly fell asleep on the side sofa. Must have been my disturbed sleep last night (rather that three quick pints of falling over juice!). Kev let me sleep for a couple of hours and when I woke at about 7, he took Marley out for a wee walk. While he was out, he had a practise with our DJI Pocket 2. He shot about 11 minutes of video which we viewed while I was cooking supper.

It was ok for a first attempt at ‘walking and talking’ to a camera. The video quality of the DJI was outstanding and even Kev’s running commentary was good. He does sound very, very ‘Kaairdiff‘ in the recording! That’s Kev’s accent and something that I only ever heard when he was talking to his dad. It is something though, that he has lost (or hidden) over the past 30 years since he moved away from Cardiff.

We managed some Richmond meat free sausage ‘hot dogs’ for supper and got an earlyish night.

Sunday, Sunday…..so good to me

After a much more settled nights sleep (Marley only needed to go out at 03.30), we all woke up at about 07.30 to a bright, sunny, warm Sunday morning.

With our fully serviced pitch at Erwlon, we had a water tap. So Kev refilled the onboard tank and I attempted my first ever shower in Lulu’s tiny bathroom. I did get molested by the shower curtain a few times, but it wasn’t as bad in there as I was expecting and the water was a lovely temperature.

Lunch in one of Llandovery’s pubs was on the cards for today so we wandered into town at about 12.00. We walked in warm, glorious sunshine. It had been a delightful Sunday so far.

Piles of old rubble!

One of the accounts that we avidly follow on social media is Life Beyond Bricks. From this, we know that Tash is very fond of a pile of rubble (we don’t mean you Jon!). So we set about climbing up to Llandovery Castle and photographing its majesty to tag Jon & Tash in as a taster as to what West Wales has to offer.

Views of Llandovery Castle

Thought to have been originally built around 1116 by a Norman knight, the castle was lost to the Princes of Deheubarth over the next century or two. Between 1159 – 62, the castle was improved and fortified by King Henry 2nd but was recaptured by the Welsh. It fell to the English, was retaken by the Welsh a few times. Henry 4th visited the castle in 1400 and it was besieged again during the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion three years later. The castle was burnt, in yet another rebellion, by Hywel ap Rhys in 1532 and was never rebuilt.

History lesson over…………lunchtime!!

We ended up back at The Castle Hotel. I ordered lunch and we seated ourselves in the sunny beer garden at the rear of the hotel. That didn’t last for long! Two thirds of the way through our homemade fish finger burger and carrot & beetroot burger and the heavens opened.

There were only two or three tables without any cover of any sorts. Who do you think sat at one of these uncovered tables? We were both soaked to the skin! Finishing up our soggy meals we drank our watered down beers and legged it back to Lulu.

Drying off in Lulu

Kettle on, vanilla slices out, movie on, heater on and we hunkered down for a very pleasant afternoon as the rain continued outside, unabated. Absolutely zonked after his walk, Marley slept and snored all through Escape from Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe.

Early evening brought about a parting of the clouds and bright, blue skies. But South Wales had been given a typical bank holiday weather warning for the next couple of days. With this in mind we decided to leave fairly early in the morning for our trek home before the worst of the weather was due to hit.

Like about twelve million other followers, we tuned in to watch the last episode of Line of Duty.

What a complete let down. That is all……………I’ll leave it there!

Wet and windy Monday morning – happy bank holiday!!

We all slept straight through to 08.00 this morning and had done everything necessary and left the site at about 10.05. Kev pulled up outside our front door at 10.28! We had driven through some torrential rain in that short time but the worst of the weather was still to come. 60 MPH gales were due for the afternoon and as I type this at 19.00 we now have sun and bright blue skies!!

Well, that was our trip to Llandovery for the bank holiday. Back to work tomorrow. We’ve booked a sneaky two nighter at a CL near Lampeter very soon so we’ll fill you in on that one when we come back.

Thanks for sticking with us & safe travels guys!

Love,

Mags, Kev & Marley

x

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OUR FIRST TRIP OUT WITH LULU THIS YEAR-AND BREATHE!

Posted on May 3, 2021 by mrdked
Our first trip out with Lulu this year is to the Brecon Beacons seen here through Lulu's windscreen
Our first trip out with Lulu this year is to the Brecon Beacons seen here through Lulu’s windscreen

On April 16th 2021, we have our first trip out with Lulu this year- and BREATHE!

After the first quarter we’ve had this year we can’t wait to get back out and about, away from work, away from home, away from incessantly ringing phones.

We head for The Brecon Beacons, (there are currently still some restrictions in place in Wales, and it’s less than an hour for our front door to the site).

Unusually for us, we are pretty organised! The cupboards are stocked with food and goodies, we have just the right amount of clothes (not our usual going for two nights let’s pack for eight!), fuel tank is full, and Marley can’t wait to get in the van, I think he’s missed Lulu as much as we have. Just time to fill the fridge and the water tank and we’re off!

DISASTER!?

Everything is great! The sun is shining, Marley is snoring, the traffic is light, and then…

“Oh my God! The temperature gauge just went through the roof!” “What do you mean!?” “The engine temperature! Look at the gauge, it’s all the way up!” and 19 minutes into a 47 minute journey we pull into a layby to see what the ‘eck is going on.

Any time the van stops the dog has to wee, so I’m doing turns around the layby with him, while Kev gets the bonnet open on Lulu. “I don’t see how it can be overheating, we haven’t driven far enough” says I with, all my years working as a mechanic behind me (NOT!) “I know, but look at it!”. As soon as we restart the engine the temperature returns to “molten lava”. “We’ll give it a few minutes and see what happens”. Nothing in the engine seems to be amiss, it’s not hot, the expansion tank is so cool we can touch it, there is no steam or smoke, all the hoses look intact, there are no drips or leaks.

Closing the bonnet we decide to carry on, whilst keeping a close eye on the rogue gauge etc. The temperature starts off fine, shoots back up to magma, hovers between balmy and earths core for a while, then settles on normal for the final 28 minutes of the drive. Go figure!

PHEW! AND BREATHE!

Arriving on site at around 7:30, we call the number on the closed reception door and are met by a member of the C&MC team. After choosing our pitch, we make our way around the site and get set up on pitch 79, which is almost dead flat. Lulu is safely installed, the kettle is on, Marley has assumed his favourite position, nose out of the open van door, and peace descends like a comforting, sunny blanket. Phew, and breathe!

I get dinner on, while Kev takes Marley out for his pre-dinner walk, and we settle in with veggie hot dogs and a couple of beers, and catch up with some of our favourite youtubers.

IT’S A COLD ONE!

It’s an interesting night!

Marley gets me up at 1:30, then again at 3:30 and it’s COLD! I always take my trusty Croc flip flops for out night forays, their easy to slip on and I don’t mind if I get wet feet, it’s better that wet shoes, but by the end of our second walk I can’t feel my toes! I creep back into bed, only for Kev’s regular Saturday morning work alarm to go off at 5:30 AAARGH! Back to sleep again, only for Marley to get me back up at 6:30!

Now fully light, it’s a bright, crisp April morning. As we reach the dog walk, me in my fleecy PJ bottoms, tee shirt, sweatshirt, padded jacket, and flipflops, we meet another dog walker dressed only in shorts, a tee shirt, and flip flops! I feel a little overdressed, if I’m honest, but it turns out the overnight low was -6, so maybe not! No wonder my feet were cold!

Second breakfast, pain au chocolat & good strong coffee
Second breakfast, pain au chocolat & good strong coffee

It’s a beautiful day, and we’re in no hurry. We have our usual breakfast of bacon rolls, followed by a second breakfast of pain au chocolat and good, strong coffee, (because why not!?), and get ready for a stroll into town.

BRECON

After a slightly hair raising dash across the A40 (yikes!) we reach the Brecon & Monmouth canal path. It is an easy pleasant walk into Brecon along the path, the route is lovely and, obviously, flat, and busy this morning with cyclists and walkers, couples and families, and something about it all just makes it feel as if the world has slowed down, calm and peaceful.

Reaching the centre of town, it all suddenly becomes quite peopley! Thinking about it I realise that we probably haven’t been in a busy town since our Yorkshire adventure last year. Before Christmas last year we went into Carmarthen (our closest large town) to do some shopping, but had to cut it short to get something over to the guys servicing Lulus Webasto heater, so we didn’t really see it at it’s busiest. I’m not sure I like it!

There is a bit of a scary moment when Marley gets one of his back feet stuck in a storm drain without Kev noticing. Luckily I’m behind him, and stopped them before they went any further, or it could have been awful.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Having decided that’s more than enough excitement for one day, we make our way to The Hours bookshop, on Ship Street, our favourite café in town and grab a couple of take away coffees to drink on the canal side. When we got there we spotted the Moon & Back coffee truck. Apologising for having bought our coffee elsewhere, we opt instead for a couple of her cappuccino brownies (YUMMY!), and a pack of ground coffee for the van, and sit for a while, watching the boats and ducks meandering up and down the water. Bliss!

With an equally relaxing stroll back, meting most of the same people we’d passed on the way in, we make our way back to the site and settle in for the rest of the day.

By the time we get back to Lulu the temperature has risen enough for us to sit outside. Awning out, Marley tethered on the grass, and a couple of cold ones, and life really can’t get much better. Marley is getting a little hot and fractious, so we pop him back in the van, where he happily sits watching the world go by, unit the evening cools and we return to the comfort of the van, and settle in for dinner.

With the veggie fajitas scoffed, we have another quiet evening, and an earlyish night, following the disturbances the night before. Marley, shattered from his walk, sleeps through until 7:30, a first I think!

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE

All in all this was a close to the perfect weekend as we’ve had so far and, to top it off the WAVING!! We had more waves in a two night stay, less than an hour from home, than in most of our 10 day, 600 mile trip last year. One van even waved at us first! I will continue to wave at all and sundry, motorhomes, horse boxes, delivery vans, you name it I’ve waved at it, and it still makes me childishly happy when they wave back.

Our next trip is two weeks from now, over the Mayday bank holiday. Still close to home, but three nights with a (hopefully) open pub or three in easy walking distance!

Until then, thank you for sticking with us, and safe happy travels to you all!

Love Mags, Kev, and Marley X

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Really letting the side down

Posted on April 27, 2021 by mrdked

For a fledgling travel and van blog couple, we have really let the side down this year with our lack of posts and Lulu updates!

6th February 2021

This was the date that we last hit the ‘PUBLISH’ button and that blog included NO travelling at all! Well, not unless you count Tesco and LBS Builders Merchants…………which we don’t!

In the last six to eight weeks though, so much has happened in our lives – not all of it good, but all of it has changed our lives (like so many others), forever.

We seemed to get through the crappy month of February and its cold, wet, dark days pretty much unscathed. That is until it all started hitting the fan on 23rd.

Two of Kev’s colleagues phoned in sick with Covid symptoms, on the same day. The company fogging machine was deployed, very quickly being squirted around the office and the business of the day carried on. Both colleagues tested positive,

Coronavirus
Here it comes…………………..

On the 25th, Kev and a further 4 colleagues also tested positive. Over the next few days this tally went up to 14 either positive or isolating cases………..out of a staff of 29. The branch and Kev’s remaining colleagues soldiered on, dragging staff from other branches to cover the needs of the business.

A good job we’ve got two sofas

I obviously had to isolate at home while Kev was sick. I took a test – negative! Phew, dodged that one!!

I started feeling ropey on day four of isolation and by day 6, I too had retested and this time tested positive! Bugger!!

For both of us it was a fairly mild experience compared to others. We had headaches, mild fever, coughing and tiredness. Our two sofas became our best friends for 10 days. We were like a pair of bookends watching YouTube, Netflix or just sleeping!! Six weeks on and the lethargy and tiredness is still with us. We are improving day by day but it is a slow process.

Kev returned to work three days before me, at the end of our isolation periods. At the time of writing this we have both now had our first jabs and are looking forward to getting our second jabs in a few weeks.

Kevs world falls apart

On the third day of Kev’s isolation, on Sunday 28th February 2021 at 11pm, his phone rang and his whole world started to fall apart.

It was the call that we had hoped that we wouldn’t get. It was Llandough Hospital informing us that Alan, Kev’s dad, had taken a turn for the worse and that we should come to the hospital straight away.

We obviously couldn’t go. So Kev spent a frantic 30 – 40 minutes trying to get hold of our son, Jack, to ask him to bomb down the M4 to Penarth, to be with Alan. We just could not get hold of him

At 11.50PM Kev’s phone rang again. Private Number. It was Alan’s doctor informing us that Alan had just passed away.

Kev's Dad, Alan at his nieces wedding

A few years ago it was found that Alan had developed COPD after a lifetime of inhaling wood dust and a smoking habit that he only kicked five years ago. In the past two years he had had a shunt installed to drain fluid from a growth in his brain. This fluid drained straight into his stomach – something that he said had ruined his appetite and his sense of taste. He had a fractured pelvis from a fall before Christmas and while in hospital since New Years Eve had contracted and beaten both Covid-19 and Pneumonia. In the end his heart just failed. It was just too weak to go on and he just peacefully slipped away. Alan was 84.

A whirlwind couple of weeks

The days that followed are a bit of a whirlwind. A constant blur of funeral directors, emails, phone calls, pension providers, banks, building societies, ministers,, long lost family members and bereavement services. On top of his dose of Covid, being an only child, all of this fell on Kev’s shoulders.

Alan’s funeral was held at Thornhill Crematorium, Cardiff on 23rd March 2021 and due to lockdown restrictions was a very low key affair with just 16 mourners attending. Kev had also written a very moving eulogy for his Dad which the minister read on our behalf. We had arranged for three of Alans favourite pieces of music to be played during the service:

The music pieces were tough choices but Kev did well.

We now have to arrange the internment of Alan’s ashes so that he can be reunited with his beloved ‘Ginny’ – Janette, Kev’s mum, who we lost 16 years ago.

Mum & Dad Reunited at last

Plans and Changes

So now, with our lives altered forever, we are more focused on life being too short and also well aware of the fact that we need to make small but significant changes (for the better as far as we are concerned).

A yacht, sailing off into the sunset

We do have a plan formulating that we can’t say too much about yet, but we do not think it will involve full-timing in our van (yet!). It does involve Lulu though. We’ll tell more in a future blog – so watch this space.

We will be adding more and more content to this blog as we go and we promise to not neglect Lulu for so long ever again!

Boys and their toys

This years performance related bonus from work was very welcome at the end of March.

Kev treated himself to a new toy. He is (we are!!) now the proud owner of a Mountfield ride on lawn mower. I think he thinks that he’s back at Pilbach Holiday Park where he would be lost for hours when cutting our 15 acre site.

Kev's new bright red, ride on lawnmower

Kev can now get the lawns done in an hour, instead of 4 – 5 hours with our old, borrowed push along petrol mower. I haven’t used it yet. Come to think of it, I never got a look in at Pilbach either.

We have also updated / invested in some new camera equipment and we are just spending some time getting familiar with how to use a Canon G7X Mark 3 and a DJI Pocket 2. Our aim is to start our own Lulu Van Travellers YouTube channel.

As we’ve mentioned many times we subscribe to and enjoy watching, many fellow vanlife followers and enthusiast’s channels. Each one has their own personality, style of delivery, outlook and each one has something to say. We’ve been watching for nearly two years and we’ve thought – we could do that!

We don’t know if we’ll be any good, any different or if we’ll get any views but then again, we don’t know if anyone reads this blog – so who knows!!

Couch to 5k to Couch Potato

Something else that we need to rekindle is our albeit very amateur attempts at running.

In 2016 I competed in a ‘Survival of the Fittest‘ 10k obstacle course in Cardiff. I have almost 30 ParkRuns under my belt and I also took part in the Swansea Half Marathon in 2018. In 2019 we ran the 10k Invincible course, with colleagues, in Pembrey.

Kev has also taken part in a few ParkRun events but started running properly in the summer of 2020. He figured that it was a whole lot cheaper that a monthly gym membership. He attended a Couch to 5k course held by Amman Valley Harriers. I joined him on the course a couple of weeks later.

We became ParkRun regulars and marshalling volunteers – well, as much as working every other weekend will allow. Both Kev & I entered into a couple of local 5k events and in February 2020 we competed in the annual Longleat 10k race. We joined Amman Valley Harriers and were regulars at the clubs regular run nights and twice a week we were doing between 4 and 6 mile social runs. Not always coming home last, I hasten to add!

Then we all know what happened in March 2020.

Furlough fitness (or unfitness!)

During my seven week long furlough, I ran nearly every day. The club were organising weekly virtual challenges which kept us all on our toes. At the time, treadmills were the new toilet paper and you could not get one for love nor money. We did find one but it had a 4 week lead-time on it. So, we paid our £600 and waited. We now have the worlds most expensive clothes horse in our spare bedroom! So, apart from a little treadmill work and a couple of 2 milers, that was the last time I ran.

Kev, on the other hand had not laced up a trainer since Lockdown 1 began. He would be the first to admit that the weight has piled on again and he has become the proverbial couch potato. We need to find our running mojo again, before Kev’s Cardiologist finds out what a ‘lard-arse’ he has become!

Travel Plans Amended…..AGAIN!

Our planned, amended, re-planned, re-amended mini tour to France now looks like it will be in 2022. Once again we are going to do a tour in the UK. It will be bigger than last years Yorkshire tour. Kev, ever the planner, has managed to book sites for virtually the whole two weeks or so. We will be taking in Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire and Herefordshire. We are looking forward to that one.

In the coming weeks we also have trips booked / planned to Brecon C&MC site and Erwlon in Llandovery. We’ll also try to fit in a couple of CL’s and Britstops as well, along the way.

We have a hotel booked in Tintagel for Kev’s birthday in September. We’ve booked a couple of localish CL’s for late September / early October. We’ve also booked a cheeky four nighter in the much lauded Willow Fields, Haxey in October.

When we return from our tour in July, our son Jack and his fiancé, Ebonie are finally going to be able to tie the knot!!

We are so excited and happy for them and for Elva, our granddaughter. We are still unsure as to where it is happening, we just know that wherever it is, we’ll be there – in Lulu!

Enhancing Lulu

We have been tinkering and tidying Lulu during this last lockdown, She now has a fully insulated sliding door and it’s ridiculous vent has been sealed up. So no more cold back for me!

Also to keep out the cold, I have bought and butchered (lovingly altered!) a pair of thermal blackout curtains to block off the cab area overnight.

To free up some much needed space inside Lulu, we have bought a Fiamma 320 rear storage box. It will fit onto our bike rack and provide storage for our boots, rucksacks, silver screens, Cadac and laundry.

Kev is also planning to install an external BBQ point somewhere on Lulu. He just needs to figure out the run for the gas pipe.

Lulu has also had all of her faded, 16 year old decals removed with the assistance of my hairdryer and a plastic blade. She looks much smarter now just being silver and black with a, not too intrusive, red ‘Trigano’ flash on each side.

Also, in May, we have the annual Tax, insurance and MOT due – s’gonna get expensive over the next couple of months.

Webasto woes

We are still having Webasto heater issues though. After its full service in December, we refitted it and it was pumping out the heat. Kev started it up every couple of weeks and all was fine. Until last weekend. Kev started it and ran it for an hour. He then stopped the heater to come inside for food and then went to restart it about an hour later. Nothing. All we had was a green light on the dial and the noise of a struggling fan. Not really knowing one end of a multimeter from the other we are going to have to take Lulu back into Shorts in Swansea. They will have to diagnose the fault and repair / replace the heater.

Happier times ahead

As we are all out or about to come out of this never-ending lockdown, we can all look forward to, hopefully, happier times. We can go camping, we can visit beauty spots, national monuments, historic buildings, museums and pubs! Lets just hope that everyone remains sensible. That the numbers do not spike again and that we can all breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy our travels this summer.

Oh! And just remember……………..take your naffing rubbish home with you, or just bin it!!!

Take care all, thanks for bearing with us & happy travels.

Mags, Kev & Marley

xx

Posted in April 2021, Extras, Misc. Ramblings & Moans, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Really letting the side down

Our first year of Lulu Van Travellers comes to and end and a new year starts!

Posted on January 3, 2021 by mrdked
Lulu arrives in Wales
Lulu arrives in Wales

Well! Here we are at the very beginning of 2021. Our first year of Lulu Van Travellers comes to and end and a new year starts! After years of Kev trying to persuade me, we finally bought Lulu, our first ever motorhome! Boy did we choose a doozy of a year to dip our toes into vanlife! Little did we know when we paid our deposit in March, the world was about to be turned on it’s head! There has been more than enough discussion on the state of the world. In this post we’re concentrating on some of the positives and negatives of our first year of van ownership.

First forays with Lulu

Having taken ownership of Lulu in May we set about getting her ready for our needs and wants and waited, not that patiently(!), for an opportunity to actually get out on the road.

With some careful planning we were able to get out more than we expected. When we started looking for a van it was our express intention to use it as much as possible. Between lockdowns, and within all the necessary local and national guidelines, we managed to get out eight times. From two nights at Rhandirmwyn, just twenty minutes away from home, to nine nights around Yorkshire and her surrounding counties. We did our best to make the most of the travels we could.

I must say that, during the eight months or so that we have shared with Lulu, there have been more than a few ups and downs. Thankfully, the ups outnumber the downs.

I confess- I was wrong!

Yes, I confess that, during the nineteen years Kev had spent trying to get me to agree to a camper van or motorhome, I had completely missed the point. Whenever you read a new vanlife blog, or watch a vanlife YouTube channel, the recurring theme is ” Freedom”. This just didn’t make sense to me. I had freedom. I could travel anywhere I wanted, any time I liked. There are, it turns out, different levels of freedom!

The glorious Yorkshire countryside
The glorious Yorkshire countryside

A van give you so many more options. You can literally go anywhere you like, any time you like! There are virtually no limits to where you can drive. We have seen people drive from the most southern parts of Europe, to the far North, from Eastern Europe to the western coasts of France and Spain. The Med, the Baltics, the Nordics, North Africa, nothing is really off limits.

Although we haven’t been able to leave the UK, we’ve stayed on sites just outside town and in the middle of nowhere, sites with pools, bars, and every conceivable facility to sites with nothing but electricity and water.

The negatives

These great new freedoms don’t come without their problems, mind you!

We have yet to leave on time! How long, I wonder, does it take before you know what and how to pack efficiently?!

So far we have completely failed to make the correct clothing choices! We really should be used to the vagaries of the British weather, and yet somehow we never have enough warm clothes, wet weather clothes, tee shirts and shorts, SOCKS for goodness sake! How hard can it be?

Lulu is just about big enough for us and Marley, our lovely old border collie cross. When the weather is good. When it’s endlessly raining the van suddenly gets very small! Another of our aims was to travel with Marley as much as possible, he’s getting too old for kennels – as much as he loves going! We will persevere obviously, we can’t afford a bigger van yet, but it’s certainly another challenge to overcome.

Marley in his favourite spot!
Marley on the beach with his favourite person!

Every problem we have is a new problem. Never having owned a van before, we don’t really know how a lot of it works!

Maintenance stuff!

When water started pouring out from underneath Lulu, our first instinct was to pack everything up and head for home. We didn’t, and in the end it was an easy fix, just needing a nice fat grommet to make sure the valve closed at the correct point. It didn’t, unfortunately, need the shiny new valve we purchased from the internet, before removing the old one and realising we’d purchased the wrong one :/ !

The heating hadn’t worked from the start, but it hadn’t been that cold, and we’ve always booked pitches with EHU, so we’ve been using our little fan heater. For our planned New Year getaway we needed the Webasto unit. As mentioned in our post, Lulu’s First Christmas, we had this all under control. Except we hadn’t expected to need a new fuel pump. We sent an image of the old one, to check whether it was salvageable. Not only was it basically scrap, it was actually the wrong one in the first place. Good job we didn’t get the same one we’d seen on eBay! See! We are learning!

There is a leak in the roof somewhere we haven’t been able to find. It may be something to do with the fixings for the roof bars. We haven’t attempted to take them off yet, that will be a job for longer, warmer days.

2021- the future is an open book!

So far, we have only been able to travel in the UK. We have had beautiful sunny days, driving rain, and howling gales. Lulu has taken us to beaches, on long country walks, to historic towns. We have visited medieval settlements, and a great cathedral.

France is definitely a big feature of our plans this year, and who knows where else.

There will, no doubt, be many, many more ups and downs to come. We will deal with them as best we can. This year we will make the best we possibly can of our new found, long awaited freedom.

In the meantime Happy New Year to everyone! Enjoy every minute of every trip you can, and make the most of 2021, goodness knows we deserve it!

Mags, Kev, and Marley X

Posted in Extras, January 2021, Misc. Ramblings & Moans, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Our first year of Lulu Van Travellers comes to and end and a new year starts!

Our First Christmas with Lulu

Posted on December 31, 2020 by mrdked
Picture of a Christmas Garland

We had been looking forward to this for months and months – our first Christmas break away in Lulu!

With our planned ‘Twixmas’ departure for Church Farm Cottages Caravan Site, Lower Gresham, Norfolk (www.churchfarmcottagesnorfolk.co.uk) only two weeks or so away, we decided to treat Lulu to a full service of her (not working!) Webasto diesel heater. We thought it worth splashing out as the heater has probably never been serviced in its 14 year life,

It is probably something that Kev could do over a weekend with the help of YouTube, dry weather, tools and beer! However, for some reason, the designers of our Trigano Tribute campervan had decided that the best place to install said heater was in a stainless steel box under the van itself!

To make the job just a little more interesting the box is then bolted to the chassis directly above the handbrake cable and also in the dead centre of the van.

After siting and working under jacked up static caravans in all conditions, Kev is wary about working under an ‘unsupported’ vehicle. Ideally we would need a garage with a pit or 3.5 tonne ramps or our own, drive on ramps so he could wiggle his athletic frame under the van. Decent weather would also be a winner. Not a lot to ask for really?

As the weather forecast was against us, Kev booked Lulu into the only local Webasto engineers available to us for the following Monday.

All for saving some £££

In the meantime a fellow member of the Facebook Trigano Tribute Owners Group (www.facebook.com/groups/tribby/) posted that they had had a similar issue. They had made their own ramps from 38mm x 225mm scaffold boards. Genius!

Kev is a builders Merchant. Scaffold boards to him are about £9 each! He bought two boards, cut them into 1200mm, 900mm, 750mm and 500mm lengths. Screwing the different lengths on top of each other he made two ramps that would raise Lulu about 175mm of the ground.

Picture showing Lulu raised on homemade ramps made from scaffold boards.
Lulu on homemade ramps

This gave Kev plenty of room to work underneath Lulu safely.

All for saving some cash, if Kev managed to get the heater off himself it would save about three hours garage labour charges! He planned to remove the heater on Saturday afternoon once he had finished work. Once the heater was off he could take the heater into Shorts Auto Electricals on Monday AM for the service.

True to form it lashed down all day on the Saturday and three hours laying on his back on our farmyard was not going to happen!

Kev goes for it!

Sunday morning dawned cloudy but dry and cold. Kev set to work. Reversing Lulu onto the ramps and chocking the front wheels, he crawled underneath. After two hours of swearing, banging, fettling and swearing, the heater was off.

Websato heater tucked behind handbrake cables

He did remember to take plenty of photos along the way so that he could remember how it all went back together though!

We dropped the heater into the engineers on Monday morning and headed off into Carmarthen for our annual Christmas retail therapy session.

Not two hours later we received a call from Shorts. They also needed the Webasto fuel pump off Lulu. FFS!!! – they could not have told us before?

We were back home, Lulu was on the ramps again and the fuel pump was off by 12.30!

To be perfectly honest, the fuel pump looked beyond any help at all so we called Shorts and sent them a couple of photos.

  • Webasto Fuel Pump
    Our beyond help fuel pump

They agreed that the pump was indeed shot. We told them to supply a new pump as well as to complete the service on the heater. Good job we saved those labour charges – Kev’s eyes were starting to water!

A couple of days later, the unit was ready to collect. Kev popped down during his lunch break and parted (grudgingly) with £600 and collected the heater and pump.

Plans fall apart at the very last minute

We planned to re-fit the heater to Lulu either on the Saturday or Sunday. At the very least, our first Christmas in Lulu would be a warm one! This would also leave us three of four days before Christmas. Plenty of time to clean and pack Lulu in readiness for our trip on the 29th. Then Mark Drakeford (First Minister of Wales) appeared on TV that afternoon.

The Grinch
Not Mark Drakeford – but you get the picture!

With two or three hours notice, he put the whole of Wales into tier 4 – effectively shutting us all in for the foreseeable future.

We tried to think of all ways of ‘sneaking’ across the border (think ‘The Great Escape’….Tom, Dick & Harry…..) but two days later Norfolk was also placed in a tier 4 lockdown. So that was the end of our festive adventure to the East coast and our first Christmas in Lulu.

Photo of black christmas bauble stating that 'Christmas is Cancelled'

The site owners at Church Farm Cottages were obviously really understanding. They offered to either refund our deposit or hold it for a further booking for next year. Looking forward to whenever we can get there – been wanting to go to that coast for a long time. Maybe our first Christmas with Lulu will be next year?

Photo showing a tree lined entrance to Church Farm Cottages Caravan Site, Lower Gresham, Norfolk.
Church Farm Cottages Caravan Site Entrance

Time not wasted though!

We have managed to do a couple of jobs on Lulu in the meantime though.

Kev refitted the heater on the 30th. It works and has a shiny new exhaust!

Serviced and shiny unit with sexy exhaust!

The leaking boiler dump valve (https://duncombesroaming.com/category/travels-with-lulu/november-2020/) is now fixed with the help of a new ‘O’ ring

The dodgy dump valve – that lever should be horizontal!

We have also insulated our fresh water tank with some Superquilt offcuts that Kev had lying about in work https://www.superquilt-insulation.co.uk/.

Insulated fresh water tank

There was also an area of bare metal roof in Lulu’s over-cab locker. This was always covered in condensation in the mornings. So we treated that to some brick insulation https://www.lbsbmonline.co.uk/fillcrete-brickfill-movement-expansion-joint-filler-roll and more Superquilt and hopefully that has fixed that issue.

Insulating the bare metal edge in the over-cab locker

We have received some great new stickers from Marianne and Chris of Tread the Globe (TREAD THE GLOBE – Travel Responsibly Eat Adventure Dive). The first lot were lost in the post between Turkey and Llandeilo!

New stickers for our wall!

We’ll add these to our sticker wall asap! Thanks guys!

That’s all for now folks!

Hopefully, we will all be back to some form of normality soon – please!

Until we do –

We hope that you had a happy Christmas and we’ll see you on the road in 2021.

Stay safe all,

Mags, Kev and Marley

XX

P.S

Heater was reinstalled today – 3 hours – and it works!!!

Posted in December 2020, Extras, Misc. Ramblings & Moans, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Woody Kiln Farm CL- Herbrandstone- Pembrokeshire- SA73 3SJ

Posted on December 28, 2020 by mrdked

13-15th November 2020

It had been our intention to spend a couple of days this weekend, at a site in Minehead. That was not to be. We look for a site closer to home and land at a CMCC site- Woody Kiln Farm CL, Herbrandstone, Pembrokeshire SA73 3SJ http://woodykilnfarm.co.uk.

///sisters.regrowth.shorts

There isn’t a lot you can say about Woody Kiln Farm site, but that’s no bad thing! The site is small, just five pitches. Pitches are large, gravel surfaced, and, mostly, flat. All have electric hook up, water supply, TV connection and waste water outlets, if you can connect directly to them. They have a black waste disposal point, and grey waste disposal for a cassette system.

The site has no toilet or shower facilities, however there is a hair and beauty salon which is open by appointment only.

At the entrance to the field there is a small outbuilding. This houses a small stock of essentials- van steps, Bloo, washing powder, buckets, and various other bits and pieces. There is also a fridge freezer for customer use.

The owners Dean and Sharon are friendly and helpful, always with time for a chat or any information you need. At a cost of just £13.00 per night, it’s one of the cheapest sites we’ve stayed at.

As it stands this site shouldn’t be anything special. It’s small, it has little in the way of facilities, and it sits in view of the Milford Haven refinery. But it has something indefinably special! Situated on the edge of Herbrandstone it is surrounded by open fields, where you can let your dog run free. It does get pretty wet underfoot so wellies might be a good call. The Doubly Thankful village, a title it proudly bears as explained in our last post http://lulu gets wet and windy and marley goes to the beach , is really pretty, and in easy walking distance of a lovely beach.

Some things to note

There is no high ground between the site and the sea, so it can, and does, get pretty windy!

There is no shop or pub in walking distance to the site, so if this is your thing this won’t be the site for you.

If, however, you’re happy to stroll along the beach, walk your dog for miles with no restrictions, and sit peacefully in your tiny home on wheels, please give this site serious consideration. It ticks all these boxes in spades!

Posted in Campsite Reviews, November 2020, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Woody Kiln Farm CL- Herbrandstone- Pembrokeshire- SA73 3SJ

Lulu Springs a Leak and Marley Gets His Feet Wet

Posted on December 28, 2020 by mrdked

We had agreed that we wouldn’t go away with Lulu again this year, until our planned visit to the Norfolk coast at ‘Twixmas’. So, on the last weekend in November, we packed Lulu up & bundled Marley in and set off for a weekend at a local site at Cynghordy! Unfortunately things take a turn for the worst this weekend when Lulu springs a leak and Marley gets his feet wet!

Friday

We take our time on a lovely Friday morning as the site is literally 30 minutes from our front door. It’s funny how doing something you love changes your point of view and on the short drive – which we have done many, many times – we marvel at just how lovely the area we live in actually is.

Entrance to Cwmcuttan Caravan PArk
Cwmcuttan Caravan Park, Cynghordy, Carmarthenshire

We arrive on site at Cwmcuttan Caravan Park, Cynghordy (www.http://cwmcuttan.com/). Finding the owner, we are directed to any of the vacant pitches available. Feeling really unsociable, we opt for the first pitch at the gate – opposite an unused seasonal caravan and next to another vacant pitch, overlooking the sites carp lake.

Lulu set up on pitch 1 overlooking the carp lake
Our pitch opposite the carp lake

We level Lulu. We turn the gas on for the kettle and plug the hook up cable in and power everything up. The water pump kicks in and we sit there wondering if ‘it always makes that noise?’

This is followed by the classic ‘just turn it off and turn it on again’ and then……..’is that running water I can hear?’

A stunning waterfall - Kev's description of our leak under Lulu
The scene beneath our van – according to Kev!

‘Yes!! It is!!……….bugger!’

Diving around the side of Lulu, Kev shouts that we appear to be losing all of our fresh water straight out of the van through a small pipe (there were other words used in his statement that I cannot possibly repeat here!).

Inside Lulu the cushions are off the seats allowing access to the fresh water tank and water heater. All of the dump valves are checked and are closed and the pump is off. No water is being discharged. We turn the pump on and it starts draining again.

Kev checks underneath Lulu again as I turn the water pump on and off. The water seems to be discharging straight from the water heater dump valve – either the heater has not been drained properly and has suffered frost damage or (hopefully) the seal has gone inside the valve. We cannot bypass the valve so we are faced with either calling it a day and heading home or using our collapsible water containers for the weekend.

Collapsible water carrier 5L & 10L
Collapsible Water Container

We bought a couple of these containers from Amazon after seeing Marianne and Chris using them (Treadtheglobe.com)………..thanks for the tip guys!

www.amazon.co.uk/Aboat-Carrier-Folding-Drinking-Container/dp/B071GZ85PP/ref=sr_1_11?crid=A9FDZNFOD0IV&dchild=1&keywords=collapsible+water+carrier&qid=1609180997&sprefix=collapsible+water%2Caps%2C213&sr=8-11

We finish our now cold cups of tea, decide to fill up one of the 10 litre containers from the site tap and see how we feel in the morning.

It turns out that, for a couple of nights at least, not having mains water or hot water on demand is inconvenient but hardly catastrophic. The kettle goes on for a hot cup of tea, we grab a chocolate shortbread (why wouldn’t you?) and take Marley for a short walk as the sun is setting.

I have to say that Marley, for all of his foibles and idiosyncrasies, has been a little star. He has sat patiently, tethered up outside Lulu while Kev and I run around like demented chickens trying to sort our water issues. So, we grab his lead and head off around the small carp lake and down the road for about a mile before heading back to Lulu for supper. We have an unorthodox meal of chicken fajitas and rice without the fajita wraps………no microwave! We do manage to wash it all down with some cold beers though. We had to have beer – no water, you see!

Saturday

After a great nights sleep, which was only interrupted once by Marley, we wake completely refreshed and ready for breakfast. Yes, I know that we are becoming predictable but we had tea and bacon rolls!

We have a lovely, lazy morning just doing not much at all. Marley gets pretty dizzy going round and around the carp lake with Kev. We refill our water container and drink copious amounts of coffee, generally just letting our brains defug after a few crazy weeks in work.

Cynghordy Viaduct

Finally, we decide to go out and find Cynghordy Viaduct. This is 30 minutes from our home and we have lived in this area for 10 years and never seen it up close. We’ve seen it from above while walking the hills and been over it on the Heart of Wales line train (www.heart-of-wales.co.uk) but never from underneath. Which always seems to be the case. You take for granted the things right on your doorstep!

The Cynghordy Viaduct is a railway bridge that was built in 1867-8. It spans over 305 metres in length and is 33 metres high, with 18 arches built on a curve. The viaduct was noted as a Grade II listed building in July 1966.

Restoration works on the viaduct began in March 2016 to strengthen the structure and to reduce the long-term maintenance costs. Refurbishment work was undertaken on the pillars and arches, maintaining the original features of the 150 year-old iconic structure. The 100ft high viaduct required extensive scaffolding to complete the works including 86,000 meters of tube and 62,010 meters of scaffold board to cover the 850ft long viaduct.

The viaduct is about a mile and a half or so from Cwmcuttan Caravan Site and it is a pleasant late autumn easy walk along quiet country lanes. We draw closer to the viaduct spotting it initially through the hedgerows.

And then, there it is and it is magnificent. Up close and personal, it is immense. Its scale, within the valley is quite breathtaking and any text that you read about the structure beforehand just does not do it justice. In its shadow is a tiny row of three cottages converted from the village chapel. Now perfectly whitewashed with the lytch gate and small graveyard exactly as they were when the chapel was built.

After photographing the structure from every conceivable angle we carry on walking for about another mile or so. The limit of Marley’s endurance nowadays seems to diminish more every time we take him out so we knew that we couldn’t go much further with him.

Kev and Mags in front of River Towy

We came around a bend and noticed a gap in the riverside hedgerow which meant that the river was accessible over a stony ‘beach’ area. Kev and Marley headed down to the river where Marley dipped his tired feet in the cool clear water and had a well deserved, refreshing drink before we headed back to Lulu.

A long walk pretty much wipes Marley out now so we get him fed and settled, then we get fed and settle down to catching up with a few of our favourite YouTube channels (John & Mandy on Tour, Camper Vibe, Life beyond bricks and The Indie Projects). We crack open a couple more beers – it’d be rude not to! We also manage quite an early night. It seems a longish walk wipes us out too!

Sunday

Marley, once again, sleeps through to about 6.30 when Kev gets up to do more laps of the carp lake with him. I obviously slip into Kevs bed and drift back off to sleep. Not for long though as my men folk come back demanding sustenance! We have a leisurely breakfast and go through the usual rigmarole with Lulu of emptying and packing. We pay our site fees, leave Cwmcuttan and pull up outside our front door 30 minutes later.

We have had a fantastic (leaks apart) weekend. Marley has been brilliant. It didn’t rain. It wasn’t windy. Cwmcuttan was a lovely little site that is open all year. It will not be the last time we go there. I think we have found our little bolt-hole. For now, we have a couple of things to do in Lulu before we go away over Christmas – namely the water leak and the diesel heater service.

Until next time – stay safe all,

Mags, Kev & Marley

XX

Posted in November 2020, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Lulu Springs a Leak and Marley Gets His Feet Wet

Lulu gets wet and windy and Marley goes to the beach.

Posted on December 16, 2020 by mrdked
Sandy Haven Beach

Friday

Friday 13th – unlucky for some! We, on the other hand are lucky enough to have the day off work. Yay!!

Travel in Wales is now unrestricted having just come out of our Firebreak lockdown on Monday. So, we are off to Pembrokeshire. To be exact, we are away for two nights to Woody Kiln Farm, Herbrandston, Nr Sandy Haven. Home – Woody Kiln Farm

After the last three, expensive, weeks we are really looking forward to getting back in Lulu and getting out of here. The C-Max was back from the garage and we were £1300 lighter in the wallet area so we are intent, this weekend, in not spending a lot at all!

Kev’s dropped off at the barbers in Llandeilo at 9.00, while I nip into the Co-Op for some weekend provisions. We’re both home, showered, breakfasted, with Lulu packed and watered by 11.00.

We hit the road by 11.30 and pulling onto Woody Kiln Farm literally an hour later. Driving through into the farm yard we pull up in front of what we thought was the reception area, this turned out to be a spa / beauty salon. Kev hears someone shouting at him and spots Dean, the owner, hanging out of an upstairs window of the farmhouse. We could choose where we wanted to pitch out of the remaining four pitches. He would catch up with us later.

All of the pitches are ‘super’ pitches with waste, water, electricity, TV. There is also free WiFi available. We decide to reverse onto Pitch 1. This faces straight down the farmland and out to the coast beyond. Kev figured that if the wind picked up as predicted, it would be better to have Lulu facing into it. We had to pull forward and drive onto our levelling ramps as there was a slight slope to the pitch. Kev has a new toy instead of the usual spirit level!

Pitch Perfect Motorhome Level

Pitch Perfect LED Level for Levelling Caravans, Motorhomes, Campervans, Trailers | eBay Boys and their toys!!

We pitch up, drink tea and munch cake (of course!) then slip Marley on his lead and set out for a walk around the village of Herbrandston before the rains come in.

Herbrandston is a beautiful but sleepy little village. It’s 397 inhabitants enjoy a church, a village green, a sports and social club, a pub (closed) and a post office / general store (closed). There are also signs all over the village announcing the fact that it is a ‘doubly thankful’ village and neither of us had any idea what this referred to and thought that maybe it was a bit of self-promotion.

Hebrandston village signpost

After a couple of hours we’re back at Lulu just as the rain starts. We batten down the hatches’ as Marley sleeps off his exercise, have some falling over water, and eat dinner. A quick Google search showed how ignorant / insensitive / forgetful we had been earlier…

In 1936 author Arthur Mee wrote that a Thankful Village was one that had not lost a single serviceman in The Great War of 1914 – 18. There were 53 such villages in the UK. A ‘Doubly Thankful’ village is one of the 53 that also did not lose any service personnel during WW2, 1939-45. There were only 14 of these ‘Doubly Thankful’ villages in the UK. Herbrandston is one of them.

While we’re eating dinner and it’s lashing down outside, another motorhome pulls onto site. It’s a beast of a thing – well it was compared to Lulu. Then the wind starts, and it continues, and continues, and continues!

Marleys pre-bed pee run is a wet, windy and squelchy underfoot affair for Kev while I make up the beds. As soon as Marley’s back in the van he does the doggie shake so the inside of Lulu is as wet as the outside!!

Saturday

Saturday morning dawns early – with pee runs for Marley and I at 04.30 and for Marley and Kev at 07.00. When Kev gets up, I slip seamlessly into his bed and pinch an extra hour. When they return, Kev puts the kettle on. I’m out of bed around 08.30 and on breakfast duty almost straight away. A couple of bacon rolls and more coffee inside us and we are ready to face the day. Kev checks the weather – it don’t look good!!

This doesn’t look good!

We really want to get a walk in today but looking at the forecast of torrential rain and 60mph winds from 14.00, we really need to get a wiggle on! We aim to get the mile or so to Sandy Haven beach. At the beach, when the tide is out, there is an exposed causeway across to the other side of the estuary. Crossing over would enable us to do an eight mile loop arriving back at Woody Kiln Farm.

Boots and coats on, we leash Marley up and set off for the mile or so walk, through Herbrandston. We get as far as the village church when we realise that neither of us has any poo bags so I leave Kev and Marley to look around the graveyard and I hotfoot it back to Lulu to replenish our supplies of said bags.

St Mary’s Parish Church, Hebrandston

Apparently Kev got a little fed up of dragging Marley off graves in the churchyard, as Marley had made it his morning mission to liberally water everyones final resting places.

Rejoining my heroes, the easy walk takes us past the village sports and social club and along a couple of really quiet country lanes, downhill to the beach.

This is only Marleys 2nd ever visit to a beach. Previously, he had only ever been to Llangrannog and didn’t really like it much. This time, he loves it! Smells to sniff, water to drink (and add to!), sand to run on, birds to chase – well every dog can dream!

On our way down to Sandy Haven the wind had picked up to its forecast 50 – 55mph gusts and the skies were darkening (as can be seen below).

We decide not to risk the extra seven miles circular walk and spend another hour on the beach and let Marley off his lead. Being arthritic now – he is much easier to catch. We collect armfuls of rubbish and detritus from the sands and, as we make our way back up the slipway to the local bins, the rain starts.

We slowly (Marley is nearly 16 now) make our way back to Lulu for a late lunch of tomato and mascarpone soup. By the time we get back, we’re slightly moist to say the least.

The wind and the rain are the main themes for the rest of the afternoon, evening and night. So we hunker down, get the blankets out and the heater on and eventually dry off. Just in time for Marley to need to go for another pee! If we could have just hung him out of the window, we would have! We find a movie on Netflix to watch, take Marley out during a lull in the rain, and then we are in bed by 10.30 – how very rock ‘n’ roll.

Lying in bed, the van was the only thing rocking & rolling……………! It’s blowing a bloody hoolie outside. Kev is totally unable to sleep through the storm so reads until he can read no longer and then drifts off.

Sunday

Marley, absolutely knackered from his exertions on the beach, sleeps through to 06.30 and Kev takes him out for a walk. The wind’s still howling and Marley’s almost like a kite and also peeing sideways, but at least the rain’s stopped. A quick walk around the site reveals that there were only three vans on site. There had been four when Kev took Marley out last night. It seems that our neighbours in the large motorhome had left really early, or in the middle of the night. We were parked with Lulu facing into the wind and last night was bad, but they were parked up side on – it must have been horrendous all night.

We decide not to dawdle this morning. We only have about 50 minutes to drive and could be home by midday. So we dry things off, empty our wastes, pack up and leave Woody Kiln Farm. A lovely site deserving of their many C&MC awards and one that next year, god willing, we will definitely be returning to – albeit with less wind please!

Kev, Mags & Marley

Posted in November 2020, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , | Comments Off on Lulu gets wet and windy and Marley goes to the beach.