********************THE LATEST NEWS*****************

Whilst on our last trip we visited the Motorhome Show at
the Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet.

We traded in our Swift Sundance for a 2007 model Auto Trail
Cheyenne. We will not take delivery of our new 'toy' until
March/April 2007 so will probably not make any further
trips away (camping) between now and then. Once pictures
of the new model are available I'll post them on this blog.

The last night of this trip was spent in Glastonbury on an a site near to the famous Tor, which we walked up to in the early evening sunshine. Although it was a bit too high for me at the top the views were glorious!

There were lots of swifts/swallows flying around the top of the Tor (as you can just make out in the lowest picture) and dragonflies everywhere!

Pictures of beautiful Bath.

We left the New Forest on a very sunny Wednesday morning to head North to the beautiful city of Bath. We stayed on a wonderful site in a wooded valley south of Bath near Twerton (Newton Mill campsite). The facilities were excellent and they even had their own pub and restaurant (along the riverside) on site - which we used both nights!!!! We walked into Bath (following the site's written instructions) down a track, under a railway bridge, over a sports field, down a road and onto the Cycle Path into the city! It took us a fair while (just over an hour) but once we reached the city we knew it had been well worth it. What a fantastic place, so much to see and do. We spent 3 or 4 hours visiting all the main attractions (from the outside obviously because not many of them, if any, let you take dogs inside!). After having our lunch sat alongside the canal near to the Bath Rugby ground we decided to go on the open top bus tour of the city, just in case we'd missed anything! After that we took the long (well, we had been on our feet for 6 or 7 hours!) walk back to the site. During our evening meal (sat in the pub garden) we watched two young kingfishers enjoying themselves searching for fish. A hot air baloon also passed overhead - much to Paddy's disgust (something else he's now scared stiff of!!!!).

Here are some pictures taken in the New Forest......of the ponies and the red deer (look hard!).

On the Monday morning we left the site in Swanage and headed east to the New Forest arriving at the Caravan Club site in Brockenhurst at lunchtime. Once again, the weather was fantastic (how lucky were we for September?).The site was fantastic, right in the heart of the forest - one of the best Caravan Club sites we've stayed on. The walk into Brockenhurst, across the common, took about 45 minutues, which we did on our first day. Brockenhurst is a pretty little town - just right for a slow stroll in the sunshine. We were up bright and early on Tuesday as we'd decided to walk to Lyndhurst (4 miles each way through the forest along the cycle track) and it was well worth it. As we left the site at about 9:15am we crossed the common to join the cycle track and saw between 50 and 60 red deer running across the heathland right in front of us!!!! They were all after crab apples that had started to fall from a nearby tree. I get over excited if I see one deer let alone that many - I will never forget that morning! We were also lucky to see a woodpecker, doing what they do, up and old oak tree on the site. After spending a couple of hours in Lyndhurst we made our way back along the cycle track to the site.

Our last trip (No 6) was just last week when we travelled around a bit and managed three counties in a week........Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset. Our first 2 nights were spent at a campsite about a mile or so outside of Swanage, right next to Herston Holt, a stop on the Swanage Steam Railway. Whilst there, we walked into Swanage from the site and caught the steam train from Swanage to Corfe to see the ruins of Corfe Castle.

Picutres taken of Swanage, Corfe Castle, the Swanage Steam Railway and on site.

After 2 nights in Caernarfon we moved south to beautiful Barmouth (my personal favourite place in Wales). On the way we stopped off at Bedgellert in Snowdonia National Park to stretch our legs. The weather was glorious - very warm. On reaching Barmouth we headed for our campsite (Hendre Mynach), where we'd stayed years ago in our caravan, which sits alongside the promenade that takes you into Barmouth itself. The railway bridge that runs across the esturary is just beautiful. Barmouth also boast a pretty harbour area and a small town.

Our pictures show our stop off in Bedgellert, the camper parked in a layby overlooking Snowdonia and on site at Hendre Mynach and Barmouth views.

We moved on from Colwyn Bay after 3 nights, to Caernarfon - a lovely town with a fantastic castle and brilliant views across the Menai Straights to Anglesey. We stayed at a small Caravan Club site just 15 mins walk from the town, which also had views inland towards Snowdonia.

All pictures taken in Caernarfon.

At the end of June we went off on our 5th trip away in our Sundance to North Wales. A long 8-hour journey from Cornwall. Quite handy having your own kettle and toilet facilities on a journey of that length! Our first stop was Colwyn Bay to a site that overlooked the bay itself. We had hoped that the site was close to Llandudno, somewhere we wanted to re-visit, but it was actually 10 miles away. Good old public transport came to the rescue.....and Paddy could travel all day for just 50p!!

Whilst in Llandudno we walked up the Great Orme. Pictures above show the tram on its way up (that we could have caught......but preferred the exercise?!), the view from the top and a local resident! Also Sami Sundance pitched on site at Colwyn Bay.

During the next bank holiday (Whitsun at the end of May) we headed for South Devon and stayed at a very pretty Caravan Club site in Stoke Gabriel - a lovely little village (with 2 pubs, a church and a post office - what more do you need?) on the River Dart. We spent most evenings there wandering down to the river with Paddy and sitting outside one of the pubs drinking local cider in the evening sunshine - heaven on earth?! We decided to walk to Paignton during our time there which turned out to be 3.5 miles each way, but well worth it.

Our pictures were all taken along the River Dart at Stoke Garbriel, apart from the one of our pitch at Ramslade.

For the next bank holiday we decided to head to North Somerset and the seaside town of Minehead. We stayed on the Caravan Club site (small and very friendly) which is situated just outside the town. Once again, we were very lucky with the weather and enjoyed 3 days of mainly unbroken sunshine. We walked to the little market town of Dunster from the site, through quaint country lanes, which is famous for both its magnificient castle and the Yarn Market which sites right in the centre of the town. We also spent plenty of time exploring Minehead.

The above pictures show us on site, the Yarn Market in Dunster, North Hill in Minhead and Minehead harbour.

Our second trip was just a few weeks after our first during the Easter break, when we decided to travel a little further afield and head for the Dorset coast and Charmouth. We stayed on a site (Seadown) that was just a few 100 yards from the beach where fossils can easily be found. The coastal path takes you to pretty Lyme Regis (note: part of the coastal path was closed due to landslides and although you are re-routed the walk was a lot longer!). The weather wasn't brilliant during our short stay (typical for English bank holidays?!) but it didn't stop us walking miles.

The above pictures show the Charmouth Heritage Centre, Lyme Regis harbour and our pitch!

Our last stop on our maiden voyage was Newquay. A lovely site in Porth right opposite the beach......and the Mermaid Inn (a must have when camping!). Once again for the few days of our short stay the weather was very kind. From Porth you can take the coastal path into Newquay and all its beaches.

These pictures show Newquay harbour and bays and us pitched up on the Porth site.