Windy Miller Tour Blog

So we got ready and started the 15 minute walk down to East Cowes Marina (where Paul’s boat is moored) when suddenly there was a BEEP as Maria & Sophie drove past on their way back from shopping in Ryde !!!
They stopped and gave us a lift and we bibbed into Waitrose to pick up some alcohol then boarded “Blinkbonnie II”…
We hadn’t seen them in person since Mum’s funeral on 16th March so it was lovely to finally catch up. Sadly there was no Mike as he was recently knocked off his bike and has a wrist injury making it impossible for him to sail or fish ☹️
But after yummy olives, meats, hummus & crisps to accompany bubbles 🥂 it was then a stone’s throw to The Lifeboat pub for dinner…
I really enjoyed my ham, egg & chips (washed down with a few Sauvignon Blancs) and we also benefitted from the “Eat Out Mon-Weds” deal !!!
Back onto “Blinkbonnie” with each of us having a turn on Spotify to pick a tune – accompanied by yet more bubbles for the girls and Fuggle beer for the boys – Dave & I finally disembarked gone 1:30am…
For once (as I’d also been drinking water) Dave was more “the-worse-for-wear” than me – and the (supposedly) 15 minute return journey – trudging uphill in the drizzle – seemed to take much longer – with Dave asking “Are we there yet ?” every few seconds !!!
But a good time was had by all 😊🛥 🍾 🥂 🍺 🥘 🎵🕺💃 🥴 xxx 💗💋

• Location: 50° 45′ 8.69″ N 1° 17′ 28.32″ W

We got up, showered, breakfasted, packed, loaded up the motorbike and then locked up The Van ready for our few days in my beloved Isle of Wight 💗

I’ve been visiting since I was a child and love the place so have been really looking forward to this part of the trip… We WOULD have come across in The Van BUT – as Dave informs me – “it’s the most expensive strip of water in the world” – and a 40 minute crossing from Lymington to Yarmouth would have set us back around £250.

So THIS trip we opted to come over on the motorbike 🏍 for 1/5 of the price…

My sister Maria, Paul, Sophie & Mikey are also here this week – using their yacht as a “floating caravan” moored up in East Cowes so I booked (the only available) B&B in East Cowes and we arrived a little while ago and it’s directly across the road from Osborne House (former residence of Queen Victoria) – aptly named “The Prince of Wales” !!! 👑
AND – take a look at our room – HRH Princess 👸🏼 Helena – yes !!!
And private bathroom opposite…

I think I might get Dave to put named brass plaques on our rooms at home !!! 😂😂😂

My Dave’s had a little nap (whilst I’ve been updating the blog) but is awake now so we’ll get ready and wander off to meet Maria for pre-dinner drinkies on the boat 🛥🍾 🥂 …

Laters 👋 💗💋 xxx

• Location: 50° 44′ 6.76″ N 1° 33′ 10.19″ W

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…”

• Location: 50° 45′ 31.75″ N 1° 32′ 12.29″ W

• Location: 50° 43′ 23.64″ N 1° 36′ 2.15″ W

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 💗💋

• Location: 50° 45′ 27.47″ N 1° 32′ 54.77″ W

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 !!! ⭐️ 🪐 ⭐️🪐 ⭐️

• Location: 50° 23′ 45.82″ N 3° 30′ 45.8″ W

• Location: 50° 28′ 45.11″ N 3° 30′ 45.24″ W