December in Bude - Home!

We arrived home from our 4 nights Winter camping on New Years Eve and boy was it cold. Travelling back from Truro we hit a hard frost and very icy roads at Camelford and the frost at home in Bude didn't clear all day. Maybe we had been very sheltered/lucky in the South of the county?

On New Years Day we walked Paddy along Bude Canal. The Canal was still frozen at lunchtime. It was strange to see the ducks and swans 'walking on the water'!!!!

Our next booked trip is March (we're off to the Minehead CC site) but we are hoping to get away for a quick trip in February if the weather holds out!

Thanks for reading our blog over the last year (where did it go?!). We wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope for a great Summer in 2009!

December Camping: Day 4 in Truro

We spent Tuesday morning walking into Truro from the campsite. It's approximately 4 miles and most of it is flat and along the old railway track which is now part of the National Cycle Network. Again it was cold but dry so no complaints from us. The views of the cathedral were stunning from the estuary on the outskirts of the city and the sun came out just as we arrived - perfect timing!

We met up with some friends for lunch in Truro before returning, via the same route, back to the campsite. We were going to wimp out and catch the bus back but it was dry so we decided to walk off some of the Christmas feasting we'd done!!

This was our first taste of Winter camping and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We never once felt cold and the weather never stopped us doing anything we would normally do when we are away. In fact, the weather was probably better than we had on Dartmoor in August, just colder!!! We have decided to go away over Christmas this year. So many people do it these day so I guess we'll have to book very early?!

December Camping : Carnon Downs CC (affiliated) site, Truro

On Monday morning we awoke to cloudy skies, but again no frost and it was dry. We had a long, leisurely breakfast, walked Paddy, then packed up and headed for Truro.

Again, the site was really busy. It doesn't look it from my photos BUT we were given what they call their super pitch. It is in fact the gravel/hard standing drive that is used in the Summer for one complete section (8 or so pitches), which, for our 2 nights there, we had all to ourselves!!! The rest of the sites hard standing pitches were full of Christmas campers - fully illuminated for the festive period - inside and out!!!!

We spent the afternoon walking down to the local village for much needed supplies before returning to our cosy, warm camper!

December Camping: Day 2 in Looe

We had expected to awake to a hard frost on the Sunday morning but nothing! It was still very cold and the wind was biting but it was dry and sunny again. Just right for our walk from the campsite down into lovely Looe. There were plenty of people wandering around in the morning sunshine and lots of shops open (to get warm in!).

After lunch in our favourite doggie friendly pub in Looe (the Ship Inn) we headed back uphill (!) to the campsite where we spent the rest of the day/evening just chilling out (well it was still Christmas after all!). On our way back we were surprised to see that the daffodils had flowered early this year!!

December Camping : Looe CC site

For the very first time we decided to try some Winter camping as we were both off work for the whole of the festive period!

Time off work = camping time - NOT to be wasted!!!!

We discovered that plenty of people do it.......so book early!!! Consequently some of the sites that we had chosen to stay on were fully booked in October! Anyway, we managed to get onto the Looe CC site (one of our 'local' favourites and regularly visited sites) for our first 2 nights.

We arrived on the Saturday in glorious sunshine and pitched up on one of their large hard standing pitches. We had sea views over Millendreath from our camper window. The sunset that evening was wonderful too.

We didn't venture out very far that afternoon, just snuggled up in our very warm motorhome!!!!