Disaster- 2020 Holiday Plans scuppered– twice!
After 2 weeks of lazing around the hotel pool in Skala https:/tarabeach.gr, Cephalonia last year we decided, almost as soon as we came back, that this year we were going to do a hotel tour of an as yet undiscovered, (by us!) region in our beloved France. Sadly, our holiday plans were scuppered-twice!
We booked an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen and then, via Booking.Com, arranged a series of overnight stops south to Sarlat la Caneda, where we planned to stay for a week before driving north to Ste. Mere Eglise and our favorite restaurant ‘Un Monde Sans Faim’ www.unmondesansfaim.fr.
We had planned to go for Mags birthday in April! Disaster! Cue lockdown, ferry rearrangements and hotel cancellations!
We hastily rearranged almost everything to coincide with Kevs birthday at the start of September, only to be thwarted again by regional lockdowns, imposed quarantines, etc.
Since rearranging our plans the first time, we have become the proud owners of Lulu, our 2006 Trigano Tribute, so we have taken the opportunity to move our ferry booking (again!) to June 2021, and update our vehicle details to Lulus. This will be Lulu’s first continental tour in the van and come hell or high water, we will be in France in 2021.
Anyway….back to 2020…
It’s a ‘HOLIDAY’………not a ‘staycation’!
After multiple evenings ferry juggling , we have joined the millions of fellow Brits who have embraced the ‘staycation’ this year.
Surely staycation means ‘stay at home’? Vacation means ‘vacate home’? Or…………go on holiday!! Perhaps its just that I have had enough of the raft of new words that 2020 has brought to the English language so far, Who knew what furlough meant way back in February?
Cue Lulu’s First Tour!
We have therefore decided to take Lulu on her first extended UK van tour. We are heading cross country to the North Yorkshire coast before turning around, recrossing the country and coming home straight down through Wales.
Using a mixture of CLs, club sites, small independent sites, Britstops and Park4Night stops, we have sites booked or planned at:
1. Whitchurch Marina, Shropshire
2. Chatsworth Park Caravan and Motorhome Club site, Bakewell, Derbyshire
3. Hebden Bridge Caravan and Motorhome Club site, Yorkshire
4. Foxholme Touring Caravan Park, Nr Helmsley, Yorkshire
5. Marfit Head Caravan and Motorhome Club CL, Pickering, Yorkshire
6. Barnard Castle Caravan and Motorhome Club site, Barnard Castle, County Durham
7. Acre Hill Farm, Clitheroe, Lancashire
8. Beaconsfield Holiday Park, Upper Battlefield, Shrewsbury
Two’s company…………
We have decided (Kev has decided!) that 10 days, possibly 10 wet days, cooped up in a van with Marley this early in our vanlife adventure, would be too much for us (him!) to bear. So Marley is off on his annual holiday, once again with Linda and Jim at Pawsawhile boarding kennels www.pawsawhile.com.
Being a super intelligent border collie, just as soon as we indicate right to turn into Pawsawhile, he knows where he is, and can’t wait to get out of the car to see Jim. He loves it there and we know that he is well looked after – we have been using Pawsawhile for eight years or so now. A quick visit also to Teilo Vets www.teilovetsltd.co.uk for his annual booster jabs, and Marley is good to go.
Van and Equipment updates/ upgrades
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been updating/upgrading some of our previous spontaneous, purchases for Lulu. These will be reviewed as we go, but include- new chairs, Cadac barbecue, yet another screen cover, a Lagun table, 25m hook up cable (not getting caught again!). We have changed the handing of our wardrobe door, removed the hanging rail, and added shelves, we have also installed LED striplights over the sliding door and along the cab step.
Leaving Marley behind will also give us the opportunity to take our old Land Rover bikes with us, and to hopefully use them. We’ll have to see if we can find some quiet cycle paths or country roads, for me to gain a bit more confidence. Before we go the bikes will be given a little service, a bit of a clean up, and new inner tube for my front wheel. No doubt we’ll let you know how we get on (or fall off!)