It’s Friday October 2nd, Lulu goes to Salisbury, and Marley meets Alex!
The day dawns bright and early for Kev, as does every day! Kev is an early riser, his body clock always has him up before his 5:45 alarm does! In fact it’s fair to say that every holiday we’ve been on in our twenty years of wedded bliss has seen Kev take at least 4-5 days to unwind and sleep in to the late hour of 7:00 am! He has seen more sunrises on our travels than I could shake a stick at. From The Maldives to New York City, the Isle of Wight to Great Shunner Fell, Kev has seen the sun rise over all of them. Me- not so much!
Today the plan was… Up early- barbers by 9:00am when they open, so naturally he is up at 5:30! He leaves for the 10 minute drive up to town, and is back within the hour. While he is out I finish loading Lulu with the necessary van food, and van clothes.
Question! Does anyone else have “van food and van clothes” or is it just us!? Vanlifers excepted, of course, all yours is van food and van clothes! We just miss our 10 o’clock deadline and are on the road by 10:30, via a local service station for fuel and LPG (£7.00!).There is a small whoop of joy as we set off, when Kev realises we had refilled the diesel tank at Newtown on the way back from our Yorkshire trip- BONUS!, you just have to embrace the small victories in life!
Best Laid Plans and all that!
Looking at the weather forecast last night, we discovered that we are in for a wet and windy weekend in Salisbury. Not being lovers of motorway driving at the best of times (and this was patently NOT going to be the ‘best of times’) we decide to use ‘A’ roads for our journey. Travelling via Brecon, Monmouth Gloucester, and Marlborough will add just 45 minutes and 25 miles to our journey. No problem, we have plenty of time!
However! Best laid plans and all that!
Our journey includes:-
Torrential rain the whole way
A police road closure due to an incident on the A4077 at Crickhowell
An ongoing programme of roadworks on every road, or so it seems, from Gloucester to Marlborough
Literally the worst pot holes we have ever encountered from Marlborough to Salisbury (side note Wiltshire you are an incredibly beautiful county, with some iconic historical sites but what is with your roads!?!?)
We finally reach our site for the weekend at about 3:30. One of the wardens meets us at the gate and shows us to the pitches which are available. By 4:00 we’ve pitched up, plugged in, and have a brew in our hands. Phew!
Old Sarum- a quick historical round up!
The site is overlooked by Old Sarum, the original settlement pre Salisbury, dates back to around 400BC, although there are indications of a prehistoric settlement from around 3000BC!When Salisbury sprang up around the site of the new cathedral in the 13th century, much of the original settlement of Sarum was pillaged for timber and stone and in 1514 Henry VIII sold of the ruins of the hill fort.
Today the structure of the hill fort is still very much visible, so we decide to walk across the football and rugby pitches at the base of the mound and investigate it for ourselves.
It has, thankfully, stopped raining by the time we reach the top of the mound but, unfortunately with our usual aplomb, we arrive ten minutes after the visitor centre closes. We wander the vast banks and ditches of the settlement, and head to the highest point to check out the views. The views over Salisbury and its imposing cathedral are stunning! On a clear day they would be magnificent!
The last member of English Heritage www.english-heritage.org.uk staff is locking up for the night, and we had a lovely chat with her. She has a wealth of knowledge about the site, Salisbury, and the nearby stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury, and is a credit to the organisation she represents!
We make our way back down to Lulu for beer and curry. As we settle in for the night the rain starts again, along with the wind! The storm has arrived and Lulu meets Alex! After two wet and windy walks with Marley, we settle down and it’s lights out at around 11:00
Salisbury Cathedral and a lovely lunch
At 5:30am Marley pees on the floor! At 5:40 Kev and Marley are doing laps around the football pitch, and at 7:30 they are doing them again!
This is a running theme for the next couple of hours, interspersed with regular hot coffee and our customary bacon rolls!
We are meeting another of our daughters and her boyfriend at the cathedral at 11:00, so at 10:00 we set off on the walk into town. It rains! We get wet, very, very wet! In fact I’m inclined to think it’s the wettest I have ever been!
At least we don’t get lost, all you need to do is keep the majestic 404′ spire in view. In the end it turns out to be an easy two (ish) mile walk, and we arrive on time but drenched! Salisbury’s “Spirit of Endeavour” celebration is taking place during 2020, and the cathedral, and its grounds, have become home to 20 iconic pieces of contemporary art, from artists as diverse as Henry Moore and Grayson Perry.
After some discussion about how Marley will cope, we all go into the cathedral www.salisburycathedral.org.uk , which is very dog friendly, the “kids” and I visit the Magna Carta, and Kev and Marley wander the cloisters and wait for us outside.
Having done our tour of the cathedral we stop off at a covered outside pavement café for a couple of welcome warm drinks, as Kev, Marley, and I still haven’t dried out from our walk into town. We call into Mountain Warehouse for a couple of new gilets for us, and a new coat for Marley, along with a new chew toy, and a travel water bottle.
Our table is booked at Mauls Wine & Cheese Bar www.maulswinebar.com at 2:00pm, where we pass a pleasant couple of hours devouring cheese, charcuterie, and wine. We part company with our lovely girl, and her lovely fella, and manage to jump on a bus, which gets us back to the site within 10 minutes.
By 9:00pm Marley has been on another three “walks”, we’ve scoffed a quick mushroom pasta, the dishes are done, and all three of us more than ready for bed! It is STILL raining, and Lulu bears the unmistakably charming odour of Eau de Chien Mouillé!
It has been a day of firsts for Marley:-
1-First visit to a cathedral
2-First pee in a cathedral ( second pee in a cathedral!)
3-First visit to a restaurant
4-First coat
5-First bus ride
The end of another mini adventure 🙁
Marley wakes us up at 3:30am for his first walk of the day! Fumbling for the van keys, I manage to set off the alarm, which gets Kev up, albeit temporarily. After a short walk we return to Lulu, and all bed down until a respectable 7:30, when Kev and Marley go for walk number 2. We have some breakfast and pack up. Finally all the tanks are emptied, and we are on the road by 11:00.
This time we opt to take the motorways home, but at least the 40 miles or so to the M4 takes us past Stonehenge, and through some beautiful Wiltshire villages.
The continuing wind and rain make for atrocious driving conditions, but we take our time with Lulu, and reach home around 3:00pm via Lidl for milk and munchies.
The mood in the van on the way home is as gloomy as the skies above us. Buying Lulu was about taking to the road, having adventures, and seeing new things and places. We are taking every opportunity to do exactly that, and have firm plans for more trips this year, and a longer trip next year. We have no intention of letting Lulu go, she is with us for the long haul. What we have discovered this weekend though, is that Lulu, while great for me and Kev, gets a little cramped with Marley along for the ride. It’s not horribly uncomfortable, and we all adapt and get used to the “van shuffle” when moving from one end to the other.
Add constant rain to the mix, constant driving rain which means you can’t have the door or windows open, and it’s a different matter. Soaking wet towels, shoes, coats mounting up, a rapid wet shake by Marley covering every surface in water droplets,coupled with damp seating, carpets, bedding, all contrive to put a real dampener on the whole weekend.
It’s likely that, as long as our dear old mutt is still with us, his trips in Lulu will be curtailed to fair weather only, at the mercy of the BBC weather app. For now, our next trip will be in six weeks, to Minehead C&MC Club site. Hopefully the weather, and our mood, will be much, much brighter!
Until then enjoy your travels, and we will continue to plan ours.
See you again soon,
Mags, Kev, &Marley X
Poor old Marley. Still, I’m glad you guys had a good trip! That wine bar is great and Sailsbury is a beautiful little town. Can’t wait to hear about you next adventure.