Beautiful Day Painful Night

Monday morning and I had promised Rhys that today we would go fishing, so off we went (Kay as well to give me a hand) to take our chairs and fishing gear up onto the canal side looking for a favourable spot, which was harder than you might think as most of the cleared areas were occupied by long boats and pleasure cruisers. Eventually we found as small area clear of rushes and weeds, apart from some nettles that stung my hands and legs as I trampled them down. 

Once in position they both trundled off leaving me with the task of setting everything up as the Munchkins patience span is very short to say the least and can be more of a hindrance than a help.

They returned thirty minutes later just as I had finished setting his rod up and trying out the other one with a spinner and surprisingly landing a very small perch. 

So Rhys and I sat down in the glorious sunshine to do a spot of fishing while Kay went back to the RV to do some chores.

After an hour it soon became apparent that Rhys preferred to bury his head in his book and only occasionally bothering to watch his float, yet even then he still managed to land two small Perch now beating his Bamps by one fish as I’d still had no further luck.

After Munchkin had finished the packed lunch that Kay had provided us with he decided he’d had enough this was boring, so I phoned Kay to come and collect him so that at least I could have a spot of me time.

Bliss, peace and quiet, it was great watching the different boats sail by but luck was still not with me as I'd not even had a nibble. I had sat there for ages waiting for even a small one to take the bait as I still trailed the Munchkin by one fish and he’d never let me hear the last of it if I didn’t catch another.

Right time for a change of tactics, instead of maggot I hooked up a feeder with a two 10mm bollies broken in half and tied them next to the hook. In it went and I sat back to see if there was anything decent in the swim to take a bait of that size.

Three minutes later bang the rod bent over; I grabbed the rod and hauled in the biggest Bream I'd ever seen just as three visitors had stopped by to watch me land this monster. 

I managed to get the landing net under the fish with my left hand while the right held the rod and it was one huge strain to get the fish up onto the bank. 

I roughly estimated it would weigh around 5Lb but I think I greatly underestimated the weight of the fish it was a beauty. 

I totally forgot that I had a set of weighing scales or that my mobile had a camera, I was more concerned with getting the fish unhooked and safely back into the water.

It soon became the talk of the canal bank as my visitors went to tell all the other anglers of the huge fish I’d landed.

Well it all went quiet again and soon I was telephoning Kay for her and the Munchkin to come and help me carry the fishing gear back to the RV. 

He was miffed that I’d not saved the fish for him to see and the other anglers we passed on the way back totally blanked me, I think they were having a bad day too.

Anyway that night the pain in my left shoulder and neck was terrible, I realized I had strained a muscle or the tendons when I was landing the fish one handed as the weight must have been multiplied by the length of the landing net handle, I must learn to use it better next time. 

So last night I really had trouble sleeping until I finally took some pain killers.

Today we had promised the Munchkin a trip to the Aquarium in Bristol. It was overcast but dry so we headed off down the M5 to Bristol and used the towns Park & Ride which dropped us off right outside the Aquarium.

Aquarium web site http://www.bristolaquarium.co.uk/

Inside there was a huge IMAX cinema showing 3D movies of sharks and Sea reptiles from the Jurassic period. Rhys loved it all, we spent ages viewing all the tanks of fish and afterwards we had a lunch at the Aquarium before heading off to see SS Great Britain on the other side of the docks.

For extra info go to this site http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/

Taxi over the docks

Is that it Bamps

SS Great Britain

Below In the Dry Dock

Rhys at the stern

The1st class Galley & Food

How the other half lived

Bamps this ones a dummy

SS Great Britain

By 5.30 we were whacked out and headed back to the Park & Ride and the drive back up the M5 to Slimbridge. Pity that this was of course the time of day when all the workers were heading home, the bus was packed and so was the motorway. Still were back now safe and sound and settling down for the evening Oh and the pains have nearly gone at last.

More Anon.

It’s a Bank holiday! what do you expect?

It’s Friday and true to form the weather is at its usual Bank Holiday best as we sit here with the rain beating down on the RV’s roof, its hammering so loudly that it’s hard to hear the TV with thunder & lightning flashing and rolling around the camp site.

I had noticed earlier today as Kay & I cycled the footpath (before the rains came that is) with the munchkin leading the way that the water level of the Sharpness canal was very high, which worryingly for us is situated above our heads atop a bank in front of the RV, I just hope the builders of the canal built it well and strong.

There was lots of pleasure craft navigating the canal both large and small and I overheard a fisherman on the bank complain that the fishing was poor today, no doubt the excess water and the increased movement has had something to do with that.

We had planned to eat out tonight as yesterday was Kay’s birthday and I wanted to treat her to a night off cooking, sadly the rains put pay to that. I know you’re going to say why didn’t I cook? If you tasted my culinary delights you would know why.

Loads of caravans and campers have arrived on site for the weekend but it’s the ones in tents I feel sorry for, they are in for one wet weekend.

Saturday morning and the weather has been kind-ish we promised the Munchkin (Rhys) a trip into Gloucester to see the Tall ships festival so off we went to Quedgeley to use the Park& Ride into the Gloucester Quays.

It was packed with people loads of boats on display with people going round in period costume and it turned out to be a great day out. 

We visited the ‘Kathlene & May’ the last wooden hulled three masted top sail schooner. See this link http://www.kathleenandmay.co.uk/ about her history. Rhys enjoyed meeting Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew on the dockside.

This was the schooner we saw pass our RV as it navigated up the canal.

Do eee want him hung drawn and quartered?

What happens Bamps if I ring this eight times?
Ok where's everybody gone!

Overboard Bamps!

The next ship was the Pheonix a two masted Brig here Rhys met with loads of people dressed in period costume who took time to explain how things worked, he liked the armourer explaining how a brown Bess worked I think he was hoping to fire it.

The  Pheonix

No you can't shoot your Bamps son!

I've got the gun, can I shoot
Bamps Now?

Keep me out of it!

After a trip around the Gloucester regimental museum the Munchkin started to moan a bit, so I called over two likely lads who happened to be Peeler's to arrest him for being a pest the look on his face was priceless until they told him they weren't going to lock him up.

Off to the lock up.

Is this loaded Bamps?

He got his own back by demanding to go on a Twirler at the fun fair and of course I had to go on with him, I’m too old for this stuff I soon found out as I felt most of my breakfast coming back up.

Behind the smiles is a
breakfast just about to appear!

A quick visit to the Pizza Hut for lunch (something to steady my innards) and then it was back to the RV to rest our aching feet.

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Wild Camping at Malvern

OK! I know it’s been a few days since our last blog input but much has happened since our stay at the Briarfields campsite came to an end. 

We departed the Briarfields site on the 18^th leaving the toad with the trailer & cycles stored with them as we would be travelling past the site at the end of the show anyway, so it seemed silly to tow them all the way there and back. 

We drove up the M5 to the junction with the M50 and then onto the A 38 through Upton on Severn following one of our friends in their American RV to the Three counties show ground at Malvern.

The drive over the narrow bridge at Upton on Severn and through the narrow roads of Hanley Swan was interesting as they were packed with other European & American Motorhomes heading for the show, not counting the hundreds of caravans as well. But the organisers at the showground were on the ball, the flow of traffic was quite steady and without any major hold-ups.

We pitched up on a grassed area marked out for the ARVE group (American Recreational Vehicle Enthusiasts) of which we’re members and were amazed at the amount of American RV’s were there, there was literally hundreds of them old, new, large and small all shapes and sizes.

RV's on Site at Malvern

Our rig with the others

More RV's

and More

There were no Electric hook-up points so it would be four days and three nights surviving on the two 110 volt batteries and a 120wat solar panel, hence the reluctance to hook up the laptop.

We filled the water tank and levelled the RV as the ground sloped off to one side making the first step up into the RV a bit of a challenge.

We decided that we would use the toilet facilities on site to the maximum to save on water and waste usage as there was only one RV dump point and that was some distance away, one that everyone would probably use only once on the last day of the show creating a large tailback.  

The toilet & shower blocks were archaic and most of the times dirty but it were wild camping after all, so we had to grin and bear it. At lunchtime our daughter turned up with Kay’s mother and our grandson. They both left after lunch leaving Rhys in our charge for the next two weeks so that in its self would be a challenge.

Keeping the munchkin happy

On Friday the show was great as there were loads of stalls, yet we still never managed to get everything we wanted on our wish list (typical). The western re-enactment camps were fun for our grandson with the cowboys & Indians but the food stalls were hellish expensive, don’t the vendors realize there’s a recession on?

In the evenings the music was good with three halls full of C&W music, this was something that our grandson had never heard before especially played live so he really enjoyed it and watching all the people parade in full western regalia.

Easy

How?

Darn Indians

We met with loads of other RV’ers over the next few days, re acquainting with some that we had met previously and making many new ones. 

Sadly though the show didn’t quite live up to our expectations as we would have liked to have seen more American RV specific stalls. The bands were OK but I’ve heard better and for the main attraction in the Severn hall on the Saturday night it was baking hot, pity the poor lasses dressed as below complete with bloomers.

Very dear!

Howdy Ma'am its hot

We left the show ground on Monday morning to retrieved our trailer & toad from the Briarfields site on the way down the M5 before heading down to our next stop The Tudor Caravan Park near the Slimbridge Wetland centre.

The drive down was fine but the road through the village and on down to the caravan park is very narrow for an RV especially the last half mile.

Rhys leading the way

The site is a great place for RV’s with excellent water and dump facilities and with a brand new shower & toilet block.  It has neatly kept lawns and picturesque trees with new hard standings for the largest RV’s right alongside the Sharpness canal where this morning we watched one of the tall ships sail right past us on its way to Gloucester docks.
It was strange to look out of the RV's window to see huge tall three masted ships pass you by.

Tall Ship

Tall Ship

Big pitches

So now it’s down to finding something to keep the rug rat occupied and out of my hair for the next twelve days, will we survive?

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Caption Competition

OK
Let's see who comes up with the funniest caption for this photo below.
Our Little Japanese Toyota IQ decided to pick on a big boy

Add your caption to this photo

The red monster

Use the comments box for your caption.

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Back home and Back

Kay and I spent a lot of time working out the pros and cons of having the LPG System re-done, would the cost be worth it or would it be better just to use the money on fuel and run on petrol alone, we decided in the end that it was better to be safe than sorry and have it done for these reasons.

The two rear 100ltr LPG tanks had been fitted crossways and far too low with the possibility of the rearmost tank possibly grounding when driving on or off a ferry. The strapping holding the tanks was far to flimsy for the weight of them especially when full of fuel and the shut off valve system was of a of poor design. To quote the Anglo American it appeared as if the work had been a DIY job.

The strange fact was that the two tanks were dated as 2011 yet we had purchased the RV in December 2010 so that was a bit weird! 

We can only surmise that the tanks had been added as an afterthought to extend the range of the RV after the initial LPG conversion had been done some years previous.

We would have had to pay the extra cost to have the tanks re-fitted or removed so we decided to go with the complete rebuild of the LPG conversion and arranged with Steve to have the new Romano ‘N’ system LPG Conversion done.

 

So last Monday morning we left Briarfields, drove up to junction 8 of the M5, then down the M50 and A494 to Newport. Here we left the RV in the capable hands of Steve & Tony at Anglo American Auto’s to complete the work and then we caught the train back home to Port Talbot.

A crowded train

Kay looking Forward
to seeing the girls

We couldn’t stay at our granny flat with Kristina & Gav as Gav was laying a self-levelling floor in the living room and then re plastering the walls. Thankfully they loaned us Kristina’s car which was a great help which enabled us to get around.

Samantha had gone to stay for the week in her caravan near Tenby so we had the use of her flat for the time it would take Steve & Tony to do the work on the RV.

On Tuesday Kay met up with some old friends in town while I nipped down to our financial  advisor to do a bit of financial reorganising and then we both visited some of our ex neighbours. 

Wednesday we drove to Samantha’s caravan in West Wales where we spent an enjoyable day with her and our grandson. 

We visited the Cwm Deri vineyard where we had a sample of their wine and some of their fantastic pork pies & chutneys and then we then drove to the tiny village of Lawrenny where we strolled on the beachfront and had lunch at a pub overlooking the estuary.

Samantha

Rhys showing the way

Lawrenny Estuary

Bamps & Rhys

Tarzan NOT

Lawrenny Church

That evening we dove back to the flat and the following morning came the news that the RV would be ready by that afternoon. We packed our bags and nipped back on the train to Newport to collect the RV and to check out the conversion.

Steve & Tony had re-fitted the tanks fore & aft and also much higher up under the chassis, a pair of strong 2” steel bands now secured them in position and the whole system had new 8mm pipework. Under the hood was the new Romano N system conversion. 

They had also replaced the leaking pressure relief valve on the Atwood water heater and also fitted the ExtendaStay valve on the domestic Gas tank.

The drive back to Briarfields was trouble free and the RV pulled up the inclines with far more power than we had previously.

So here we are back on the pitch at Briarfields getting the RV spruced up for the Western Motorhome Show this coming Thursday. 

We have met up with some old acquaintances from the Red Lion Phill and Meinir in their stunning RV and Rose and Nigel who are busy doing the local Car boot stall and flogging plums which Kay has just made into a nice Apple & Plum Crumble.

We have made two new friends, Mike and Paula from Merthyr Tydfil who are here in their RV and we have gained some helpful advice from them for our forthcoming trip to Spain.

We have visited the RV Spares boys up the road to replace our waste hoses as one had started to split and to get more bits and pieces to repair some other minor on going niggling jobs.

More Anon

Back at Briarfields once more!

Well that was an interesting trip, Sunday morning we hitched up the toad and hit the road out of Burnham at about 09.30, the traffic was not too heavy on the M5 which considering it was the holiday season was a blessing. One of the good things about leaving Home Farm at this time of year is that the site has now become overrun with kids as the school holidays are in full swing, not that I don’t like kids but a whole one gets a bit much to chew on in one session.

Anyway the trip up the M5 was fine until some old biddy decided she wanted to join the motorway, on she came oblivious to the traffic around her and indicating to turn right to join the motorway, she didn’t realize she’d entered a four lane section and didn’t need to pull over as her run on lane was now the forth lane of the motorway. I flashed and waved to indicate that I was slowing down to let her move over if she wished too but no she kept her indicator flashing away and drove with her head stuck firmly between the spokes of her steering wheel while keeping pace alongside.

So I had to put my foot down to pass as cars were now backing up behind me, until that point the RV had been running fine on gas when ping ! Over it went to petrol. I was tamping as this old biddy had caused me to lose the gas flow I’d been nurturing all morning. Anyway out of hope more than anything else, I hit the button in hopes that it would switch back when... whooo it switched back to Gas without a hiccup.

For the remainder of our journey the RV stayed on gas and it felt quite smooth, the extra air I’d had put in the front air assist bags (they were on 50psi now on 65psi) made the steering more positive and it was a pleasure to drive.
We arrived at Briarfields nice and early just before lunch and by one o’clock had the RV on its Jacks, the slide outs out, and the water tank full. Now it was time to sit back and watch the F1 racing and too make a good day great Jenson Button won.

Tuesday morning the sun was glorious so decked in our shorts & t-shirts we headed out in the toad for a nice day’s wandering around Alcester & Stratford.

The small town of Alcester is an old Roman town situated on the river Alne not too far from Stratford. We parked the toad in a free car park in Bleachfield Street off the Stratford Road and walked up High Street towards the 14^th Century church of St Nicholas. In the church we found that only the tower dated back to the 14^th century,  the nave being built in 1729 (Georgian) and the Chancel in 1871 (Victorian). There was an interesting looking tomb of Sir Fulke Grenville and his wife that dated from 1665.

St Nicholas Alcester

The Greville tomb

For a Roman town there was very little evidence of any Roman ruins but the old buildings still gave it a quaint air of old England. 

High Street

A small mews

We walked in and around the church of St Nicholas and then down onto Henly Street.

There didn’t appear to be anything more to view and as it was getting near lunch time we returned the other side of the church down Buttery Lane to a small bistro called Lakes Café / Bistro where we indulged in a Scrummie or two.
If you’ve never tried a Scrummie I suggest you have a go they’re fantastic, large and a cross between a scone a rock cake and a tea cake served hot with lashings of butter.

Yummie Scrummies

We then departed for Stratford on Avon where after catching the Park & Ride we did the usual tourist highlights like the birthplace of William Shakespeare and the river where we took a boat ride on a narrow boat. It was baking hot and the river was a mass of little boats full of kids and families enjoying themselves.

Kay at the birthplace of
William Shakespeare 

Once a Knight's enough Kay!

Lords & Ladies?

The Canal Basin

On the River Avon

500 year old bridge

Holy Trinity Church

We then took a walk to the grave of the bard at the Holy Trinity Church. Kay wanted to do more tomb stoning and where better than here. The oldest part of the church is the tower and the crossed transepts that date 1210 but people have been worshiping on that site from 713. At the high alter are the graves of William Shakespeare and his wife Ann Hathaway.

Monument

Shakespeare's
Grave

We then walked past the Refurbished Shakespeare theatre and strolled around the town taking in the sites before heading back to our site at Briarfields.

One fools enough!

Too True!!

That’s was enough trekking for the week as both of us had healthy tans by then so it was feet up and enjoy a relaxing stay in the RV

More Anon