Sunday 29th July
“And we’re off” is a phrase I frequently mutter when watching a murder mystery and the first body appears. Appropriate too as, having loaded the last of the gear into Patsy, I departed the storage yard at 10:30am for the run up to Cambridge.
There was the inevitable queue approaching the Dartford tunnels, back to the A2 turn off, and I was glad of the A/C. Once on the M11 the overhead signs warned of 30 minute delays from J9 – where I was turning off. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t backing up and I arrived on site around 1:20pm, with just a short queue in front of me. My bladder heaved a sigh of relief as the only open layby on the A11 was full – like said bladder.
There were only two pitches left available of the type I had booked and both at the far end of the site. I opted for the one that seemed to offer the most shade – given the forecast this was important. Whilst I could have potentially reversed in, I was already frazzled from the heat and humidity so the new motor mover was put to work and did a sterling job. Legs down, leccy on and it was time for an unwinder which went down rather too well.
No rest for the knackered though, a quick wipe with the flannel and a quick run over the chops with the razor, fresh t-shirt and swapped the sweaty joggers for (soon to be) sweaty leather trews. I'll never learn but standards you know, I'd already eschewed the usual shirt, tie and waistcoast for a t-shirt. Black, obviously.
I had to run – yes run – for the first bus that would take me into Cambridge so I was already a dripping mess by the time it came to swap buses – and stone me I had to run for that one too. The bus service here is nothing like what I’m used to in Brighton and on Sunday the timetable is even more sparse. I really didn’t want to miss it.
The bus deposited me a short walk from the recently re-opened Rose & Crown, by the village green in Histon, where I grew up. Having been shut for a while it was bought by Milton Brewery, located in the neighbouring village of the same name. My chosen ale was much paler than I’d usually go for but it was cool and refreshing – and much needed.
After necking it even faster than usual I felt suitably fortified to head down the high street and the reason I was here – the fun fair. There it was again, the Waltzer of my childhood and I felt a broad grin form as I approached.
Three goes and it was time for a break. I sat on the steps to regain my balance, upload some photos and also check the bus app for returning buses. It revealed I had plenty of time for another go on the Waltzer and another pint too – well the pub was on the way to the bus stop so why not?
Somewhat
refreshed I headed to the bus stop, checked the app which suggested the next
bus would be about an hour away. There was no way I was hanging about that long
so fired up the Uber app, narrowly avoided a coronary at the quoted price and
pressed to book.
The car was there a few minutes later and whisked me in air-conditioned comfort back to the site in about 20 minutes. It was worth every penny though, when extracting myself from the car it was apparent that my right knee had taken exception to the earlier short bursts of running. How I dare I attempt to use it for its intended purpose!
I limped back to the ‘van, peeled off the leathers, extracted yet another t-shirt and prepared dinner.
Monday 30th June & Tuesday 1st July
Two hot and uncomfortable days in which I did very little, aside from enjoy the cooler early mornings, occasionally fiddling around with fans trying to help Patsy’s ageing fridge out – with little success. However I wasn’t overly concerned as the heatwave was apparently coming to an end.
I did manage to catch up with a friend for coffee and on the evening of the Tuesday met up with another for our habitual curry. After, we sat back at the ‘van for a bit enjoying the fresher evening weather. After the last few days it was bliss.
Wednesday 2nd July
Much cooler and even some rain. No matter it was time to get tidying up as my companions for the rest of the trip would be joining me later, namely Sandra and her two gorgeous Westies: Iona and Skye.
They arrived soon after lunch. Sandra had grabbed some lunch on the way down from Chester so that meant two ciabattas for me. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
Sandra:
He looked so hard done by to have to eat two of them!!
A nice and easy nuked dinner of batch cooked corned beef hash saw us struggling to keep awake in front of the telly.
Sandra:
Richard had suggested earlier in the year that we might spend some time over the summer break in the IOW and combine it with a tour – which we are currently on. We made all the necessary checks and found that we could take the girls on the ferry quite easily and the site was very accommodating too.
The reason for meeting in Cambridge was simple, we needed somewhere to park my car for the duration of the trip to the IOW, it obviously did not make economic sense to pay for both cars to go on the ferry and so we had arranged to leave it parked up for the time we were away.
The pitch Richard had chosen was superb – maybe not for everyone but the tree cover and lack of passing traffic made for a very quiet and cooler stay. Sleep came quickly for all of us that night, bearing in mind that we had a trip to the coast the following day and we were still in the low 30C.
Thursday 3rd July
On the road again, down to the south coast, to Warsash near Southampton for an overnight stop. Roadworks on the M11 were avoided and apart from the inevitable traffic on the M25 it was a straightforward journey, with stops at South Mimms and Winchester services, the latter offering much better caravan parking.
I’d stayed at Dibles Park before, with Trev back in 2014, again prior to crossing to the Isle Wight. It’s a pleasant little site with some pitches near the front specifically for ferry catchers.
Sandra:
It was certainly a pleasant site – could have done without the floral overkill on scent in the ladies!! Pitches were lovely and you could, if you wanted, leave yourself hooked up to the car overnight. Some good business thinking on the part of the owners. Of course not only IOW ferries go from Southampton, so there is a potentially large market to tap into.
Set up was swift and after dinner we had a run down to the quayside so the girls – and us – could stretch our legs.
We watched as a huge car carrier – surely one of the ugliest ship designs on the planet – weaved its way through the channel towards Southampton docks.
Sandra:
Yes indeed – I would certainly not want to be in a choppy sea in one of them – ugly indeed. We were to see them closer up the following day when we were on the ferry. Nope – not even better close up!
Friday 4th July
A trouble free run to the Red Funnel ferry terminal in Southampton, about half an hour away. Once checked in we restored caffeine levels to something approaching acceptable and sat waiting for our ferry to arrive. We were loaded promptly, right by the lift as requested and proceeded to the doggy friendly lounge where we splashed out on sarnies and coffee.
Sandra:
Check in was smooth and I managed to get the girls out for a little walk in the shadier part – the tarmac was absolutely scorching and their paws would have been burnt in no time at all. As an aside, during the hot spell I have been incensed by the number of people walking their dogs in the heat – cruel beyond words. Anyway, winge over. I was very impressed with the Red Funnel – being by the lift enabled a swift removal of Iona’s pushchair and we were soon on the lift to the doggy lounge. It was such a pleasure to be there – every dog was behaving, owners were in control and yes, no one was dying of food poisoning. I so wish the Channel Ferries were more up on this. I know some are but they could do a lot better.
I sat and smiled as Southampton disappeared from view and very soon East Cowes was coming into view. I had arrived at the IOW for the first time in my life. I have spent a lot of time in Jersey in the Channel Islands as I have friends who live there, so was kind of expecting something similar. Well, yes in someways it is – but there are some major differences. More of that to come later….
The crossing got me thinking and I was soon tapping away at the Calculator app on my phone. The cost of the short crossing to the Isle of Wight – generally acknowledged as notoriously expensive – worked out about the same per minute as a ride on one of my beloved fairground Waltzer’s. Something the island sadly lacked, as it turned out.
Sandra:
We docked promptly and were soon disembarking. We had arrived, yes the weather was as scorching as on the mainland. Richard, having been before made quick work of getting out of East Cowes and off south down the road towards Ventnor. We found the site quite easily and after check in, we were soon pitching up in probably one of the best pitches on the site – certainly in the heat we were enduring. It was right in the corner of a row, they were not using the first pitch in the line, so effectively we had two to ourselves. We opted not to have a fully service pitch as they were in full sun all day. Two elderly dogs and ageing adults ☹ and full sun do not make for happy campers. We settled down for our 10 night stay discussing what/where we might visit during our stay.
We’d booked a Red Funnel ‘deal’ – 10 nights at a campsite on a standard pitch, and a ferry crossing. On route we’d decided we’d upgrade to a fully serviced pitch – if possible – and when I checked in I enquired if it was. It was – and for very little money but the available pitches were in full sun all day. We decided to stick with what we had booked and I’m glad we did.
