Lymington…

So Tuesday we had a lazy morning then bibbed off on the push bikes to Lymington early afternoon.

As we entered the town I realised that we’d left the face masks in the bag I’d used for the pub the night before so we stopped at a chemist and I went in (with my cardigan tied around my face looking like a special person about to rob the place 😐) and it was £7 for 2 masks (they didn’t have disposables) and the girl was really nice & advised me to go a little further down the high street to Poundland – where I purchased 2 for £1 !!!

Lymington is a pretty, little market town with cobblestones and a quaint harbour with nautical-based tat shops. So we had a wander then cycled over the bridge to the IOW Ferry ⛴ then stopped at a pub on the way back f Continue reading “Lymington…”

Milford-On-Sea…

So Dave couldn’t keep his eyes open last night & tucked up just after 9:30pm.  As it was Sunday (and the WiFi wasn’t strong enough at Richard’s last week) I watched a re-run of the day’s usual Mass that I normally attend online 🙏 accompanied by Dave’s snoring 💤 😴 😂

I turned the light off at 11:15pm but was woken in the night to see Dave moving into the lounge area, & pulling the sliding door to… I thought as he was just having a bad night but it turned out he’d forgotten to lock the electric bikes 🚲 – and after he’d gone outside to lock them- THEN he apparently had a bad night and couldn’t get back to sleep !!!

Anyway we eventually surfaced, and I went to book the ferry to the Isle of Wight for Wednesday (but the morning crossings were full so it was either 5:30am or 2pm… we selected the afternoon crossing…)

Brekky outside then bibbed off on the push bikes to Milford-on-Sea.  Last night as we came back into the gravel entrance of the campsite, I skidded so this made me a little wary (and slow 🐌) on the (mostly gravel) path to Milford-on-Sea today so Dave went ahead and kept stopping for me to catch up (and at one point I lost him altogether and had to ring him to see where he’d gone 😐)

I think it took all of My Dave’s strength not to just yell at me to man up and JFDI !!!  Mind you – as it is our 24th wedding anniversary today – then that was a good move !!!

Milford-on-Sea is not what you’d call “buzzing” – there was ONE (open) tea ☕️ shop – doing takeaway (somewhat chaotically) and I waited (a long time) for our order whilst Dave bagged a bench on The Green…

We tried NOT to order too much (and thus be full tonight for the meal I’ve booked for us at Chequers Inn) – but My Dave is like Joey from Friends and doesn’t share food…

So one (very nice) chicken mayo & tomato sandwich 🥪 on brown, one (small – thankfully) slice of banoffee cake & a tea (and Dave had a cheese & onion panini, a very large, rich millionaire’s shortbread (which he didn’t eat all of) and a coffee) and I’m hoping we’ll be hungry again by 7:30pm…🤞

We cycled the return journey via Hurst Spit (124 tonnes of massive boulders brought over from Norway in 1996/97 – which protect the marshlands (with rare species of wildlife) from flooding. So that’s a photo with me sitting on one of the boulders with The Needles (Isle of Wight) in the background…

Travelling Day…

So we got up, packed up, showered and set off from sunny Totnes this morning.

We thought we’d (possibly) find a campsite in between Totnes & Lymington (where we were ultimately heading – for tomorrow night) but when we stopped for lunch on the way and rang a few – they all seemed to be closed or full 😐

So we rang the place we were booked in for tomorrow and they had space so we headed straight there…

No electric hook-up available (but as Dave has sooped up our Van so much with solar panels, inverters (so I can dry my hair with a 13 amp hairdryer when we are “solo”), etc. – it is fine.

So Dave went off to fill up with water and I chatted to Daisy in the camper van next to us who knew the area really well.

Dave returned and we (finally) bibbed off on the (pedal-assisted) push bikes into Lymington.  It was a nice (safe) ride and we ended up at The Sail Inn in the Beer Garden lapping up the end of the sunshine ☀️

2 Wayfarers (or whatever the local beer was called !!!) and 2 pink gin spritzer cocktails later – we did the return journey and I made Slimming World Corned Beef Pie with leftover sausages from last night’s BBQ (instead of Corned Beef) with beans & fresh bread and it was bloody luvley. 😊

Here we are with WIFi (woo hoo – the last site was sh!te AND we paid for it but it didn’t work) so we’re now listening to “da tunes” as we have a little drinkie (it’s not a bad life, is it ? 😊)

Oh and Dave made me put on the photo of me washing the £5 note as I (absent-mindedly) put it in the bin and the only reason we found it was because the bin bag split as we took it out of the bin…

Never mind PRE-senile-dementia – I reckon I’ll get the full blown one before long.. xxx 💗💋







Brixham, Boules & BBQ 🍗 !!!

Today we thought we’d check out Brixham – which is basically all set around the harbour-side. A replica Golden Hind and lots of tourist shops, cafes and bars encircling boats galore set to the backdrop of pretty coloured cottage staggered up the hillside…
We parked up, had a little wander and sampled a tiny pot of the local cockles. Then wandered a little more and bagged a bench. Dave fancied a pasty & I wanted chips so I did the honours AND got us a tea & coffee – and we settled down and watched the world go by…
Still cemented to the bench a while later, we indulged in an ice-cream (Dave had a Mr Whippy and I had a “proper” raspberry ripple in a posh cornet – they cost a fortune but were very average 😐
A last wander back to the bike, we then returned to the campsite and My Dave practised his sax whilst I had a G & T… We then had a game of boules – it was close (NOT) but Dave pipped me at the post !!!
We then had a drinkie outside, then had a late BBQ and listened to music whist we put the world to rights…
I love the sky when it’s In “twilight-mode” with items silhouetted… and when the clouds cleared, I reclined my chair (like at The Planetarium) and My Dave pointed out “The Plough” to me (which I had never seen before !!!) and then brought me up to speed on stars, planets and light years in general – very informative !!! ⭐️ 🪐 ⭐️🪐 ⭐️

And Then Babbacombe…

After Cockington, we got back on the bike and went to Babbacombe.

We parked down a side street, chatted to a local lady who suggested the Cliff Top Railway so we wandered down to it and got a return BUT when we got out the other end (at the beach) the queue to come BACK was phenomenal and they were only letting 3 peeps in the carriage at a time…

So – after a walk along the rocks/path from Oddicombe Beach to Babbacombe Beach, Dave then convinced me to walk back up via the road…  And I cannot TELL you how steep it was but – believe me – it WAS !!!  And was I puffed when I got to the top…

We chatted to ANOTHER local lady back up at the top who had been born there, had some interesting stories about Babbacombe but who Dave seemed to think was part of a cult “pushing” the place !!!

Came back and the weather wasn’t brill so had marinated Nando’s pork, rice & pineapple inside then watched the last “The Crown” – #sadtimes 🙁 (but also had a few drinks, crackers & cheese and got over it 🙂 !!!)

A Little Walk…

After the cream tea, we saw a sign for a woodland path leading down to the sea front so got our steps up (!!!) and took a wander – and then wandered back…
It had been cloudy (but still warm) earlier so we hadn’t brought our hats but it cleared and was really hot – so we were grateful for the bottle of water I’d brought – and the shade of the trees 🌳… 💋💗

Cockington !!!

So today we bibbed off on the bike to Cockington today – a quaint, historic village mentioned in The Doomsday Book !!!

Thatched cottages, beautiful grounds of the court, (church closed 🙁), visitor centre describing times gone by (hence the photo below of Dave with the water wheel),  gift shops and tea rooms !!!

So we had a lovely cream tea in The Weavers Cottage then I always like to pick up a Christmas deccie wherever we go so was delighted with my glittery, wooden star 🎅🎄⭐️ Xxx 💋💕

I Want One !!!

So we were sitting there – eating a (small) bit of tea – after our enormous fish dinner and we noticed this flashing flagpole !!!
When we looked around – ALL the tents and caravans seemed to have one – a bit like the things lightey-up speaker that we have – you can choose an individual colour or go for the rainbow 🌈 effect – like this…

RainbowCaravanPole

🌴 Torquay – The REAL English Riviera 🌴

Had a lay-in, showered (in The Van with the bleedin’ shower blocks being closed 😡 it should be a reduced 💰 rate – don’t get me started !!!) and had brekky outside in the glorious Devon sunshine ☀️ 

Got on the bike and today ventured to Torquay – which is the REAL English Riviera !!!  Truly – today – with the temperatures and the surroundings – I felt like I was in Europe 🇫🇷 – not the UK 🇬🇧 

So we parked the bike, I took off my leggings & fleece (needed for the bike) and we wandered along the Victorian harbour side – it was idyllic 😊 Children catching crabs, adults and children fishing, and some wonderful street music – a guy on a small square electric guitar and another on a didgeridoo – it was tremendous and I was bopping along 💃 

Lunch was in a fish & chip restaurant in a prestigious position on the front – so fish & chips twice and 2 ciders cost £42-something (Aunty Et will be turning in her grave) but it was SO worth it – best fish & chips EVER and lashings of tartare sauce & mushy peas. Dave (just about) managed it but I left a few chips & peas – YUM 🤤 (bang goes tonight’s BBQ – we can’t manage it !!!)

I wanted us to go on the “Torquay Eye” but Dave wouldn’t 😐 (if I  had been truly fussed, I would have gone on my own)…

Then we went on the Land Train (which you COULD apparently “hop on and hop off” but – in true English style – we hopped on at 3:45pm and were duly informed it was the last loop of the day !!!)  Ah well, you win some, you lose some !!!

Bibbed back, got a few rays in (Dave said he felt like he’d had a bit too much soon but I gave him a squash and some paracetamol and he’s playing his sax (beautifully) as we speak…

So for now – “That’s all folks !!!” Xxx 💋💖 

So close…

So we leisurely packed up and then headed in the direction of Devon via The Boddinick Ferry in Fowey to cross the estuary (having rung in advance to ensure It could take motor homes).
The lanes got really narrow & lairy and we kept having to pull over and drive into the hedges (Dave was fine and he was driving – it’s me that stresses) but we eventually arrived at the ferry – which was really picturesque (see below)…
I took some piccies whilst we waited for the ferry and chatted to a nice local man originally from Sheffield and then the ferry arrived…
There was another nice (ferry) man who brought the ramp in really close and tried to direct us on but the tow bar hit the ground and the back wheels of the motor home were off the ground and Dave thus had to reverse back off – which was great entertainment for all the foot passengers waiting to board !!! My Dave (as usual) took it all in his stride and chatted to them all out of the window as he carried out his manoeuvres !!!
We then had to drive BACK up the narrow, lairy lanes and go the long way around the outside of the estuary…
… where we encountered a toll bridge anyway and My Dave was not impressed that because he had the bike on the back, they charged us £4.90 instead of £2 😐