Or at least trying to!

On 26th May we drove both the van , and the Up, over to Pembrokeshire to join a small group from the dive club. Peter had planned to dive Monday through to Friday, Sue was going to explore the local area ( a couple of days on her own and a couple of days with Wendy ( Tims wife who is also not a diver). We stayed at a fab little CL Woody Kiln CL @ Herbranston near Milford Haven.

On the Monday Peter went out with the dive group but due to the strength of the wind they weren’t able to get out of the sound, but did manage a couple of dives – ‘lots of crabs seen’. Sue & Wendy went to Colby Woodland Gardens (N.T) and have a fabulous day culminating in a walk to the beach in the sunshine.

On Tuesday the dive group were restricted again to the sound but managed to ‘just about see a wreck’. Sue drove over to St Davids and spent a happy couple of hours visiting the cathedral and Royal Palace and stopping on the way back in Solva to sit by the sea eating ice-cream.

Due to bad weather the diving was cancelled on Wednesday so We both went to Tenby fur a walk around and visited the Tudor Merchants House N.T. – probably the smallest NT house we have ever seen, interesting though.

Diving was cancelled again on Thursday so, along with a few others, we headed to Stackpole Park NT. again… we certainly got our money’s worth from our membership this trip!! Stackpole is a haven for flora/ fauna and nature located on the Pembrokeshire coastline. We moved around the estate a couple of times to take in all the different habitats – beach, lily ponds, woodland – even bumping into the rare ‘Paul West ‘ mammal in one of the car parks. Everyone got together this evening for a meal in Milford Haven, which was fun.

Although diving resumed on Friday the weather was still quite stormy so Peter decided not to go ( along with a couple of others) and have a rest day and Sue spent the day with Wendy at Carew Castle and Tidal Mill. A brilliant place to visit and very interesting. We had a pot luck dinner at a Tim and Wendy’s ‘the bunkhouse’ along with Paul and Wendy before everyone headed for home on the Saturday ( 1st June).

This was the first time we had taken a car along to use as a run around- it was a big success, especially on the small Welsh roads. We will definitely do it again when we are planning to be based in one place for quite a while.

On a cool damp Bank Holiday (3 May 2019) we headed off to one of our favourite nearby campsites, Houghton Mill in Cambridgeshire. Despite the drizzle and cold wind we had a great time exploring the local area with Ali, Alan and Helen and found a few gorgeous villages on the edge of the river that we’d all happily move to. Great break with fab friends.

On April fools day we headed of to the Peak District to stay at the Caravan and Motorhome Site on the Chatsworth Estate to start our adventures for 2019. We had a lovely walk into the nearby village of Baslow where the daffodils put on a beautiful show. On a very chilly Wednesday we set off to the Crich Tramway Museum. They had an amazing collection of trams from over the globe ( although Ruby wasn’t awfully keen on the tram ride!) stopping later at the recommended Chatsworth farm shop to replenish supplies whilst it snowed!! Our last full day was spent at Chatsworth. We spent the morning walking around the beautiful grounds and after the most expensive sandwich and cup of tea we can remember Peter went to visit the house whilst Ruby and Sue settled down in the van for a nice rest. ( Sue had been to the house before.) After a detour via Hull ( where Sue attended the funeral of a close friends mum) we headed off to the Lincolnshire Wolds where we stayed at a very bizarre Britstop pub but had the best fish and chips ever! We drove home via the Lincolnshire coast..to which I don’t think we will be returning in a hurry!