Slinfold – THREE GO TRAVELLING

Back in Blighty… Chores and Family

When we returned from Europe, we knew we had a few things to sort out. Arriving back at Gatwick Caravan Club Site, we made arrangements for Reg’s annual vaccinations, and more importantly the Motorhome needs it’s first MOT! We’ve been on the road for nearly three years – how time flies. So far, we’ve travelled to so many places in England and the UK as well as in Europe, survived the COVID lockdowns in our first and second year and have slowly but surely become more efficient in the way we do things – a shower for example when we’re in the motorhome is far quicker than one in an unmetered campsite (luxury), we have adapted more and more to being off-grid, although power is lovely, it’s not essential.

Next, we arranged to have the brake discs and rear tyres changed – in our last post you’ll remember the issues we had with the brakes, well it’s all sorted now! We haven’t yet had to change the rear tyres but after 43000 miles, they were beginning to show signs of wear and while still legal, we didn’t want a recommendation on the MOT advice note. We were also able to get the part for the chassis, we’d been waiting so long for, you might remember from a post, last year, we were waiting for the part to materialise from Italy, but it never did, this year though we only had to wait ten days, luckily we have a very good friend who is a mechanic and can sort all our little issues (except a post COVID Italy delay)!

While we waited for all these to be completed, we’ve stayed at a number of local sites – some we’ve been to before, some very new to us, but now very familiar:

Gatwick Caravan and Motorhome Club Site;
Goffsland Farm Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Certified Location;
Slinfold Caravan and Motorhome Club Site;
Slindon Camping and Caravanning Club Site; and
Brighton Caravan and Motorhome Club Site.

Gatwick CMC Site, is very close to the runway – if you don’t sleep well, we wouldn’t advise it, but it’s handy for us to get a curry from our absolutely favourite Curry House – you have to order via Just Eat but…. Ric has been eating from this handy takeaway for over 40 years and me for nearly 20. Thank you The Raj Tandoori http://www.rajtandooricrawley.co.uk/. It is also close to our Vet, mechanic and family

Goffsland Farm CL – an absolute gem of a CL, with a shower and toilet along with a washing machine! Located between Southwater and Shipley, we found it by accident and have been back twice in the month! It’s a Cattle Farm, primarily and also sells fresh produce – home reared lamb burgers, pork sausages and eggs as well as jam, honey and cheese sourced locally. There are footpaths all around so Reg was kept out of mischief!

Slinfold Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, one of our go to favourites, no shower block, but electricity, a local village within walking distance, the Downs Link cycle and footpath, numerous footpaths and a laid back atmosphere – we do have to call ahead as we are quite long – the site has an 8 metre maximum length and not all the pitches are over 7 metres! BUT, they’ve always managed to accommodate us. It is staffed by volunteers.

Slindon Camping and Caravanning Club Site – located within the National Trust Slindon Estate, nestled in the South Downs, there are so many walks and things to see. There is a thatched railway carriage and a house once lived in by the Writer and Poet Hilaire Belloc and his wife, we walked up to the Folly, which you can see from the road outside the campsite, it was built in 1814,to impress the Countess of Newburgh, who would take her four horse drawn wagonette there to take tea with her friends – as you do (or did back in the day)! We liked this little gem so much we went back here twice too!

Brighton Caravan and Motorhome Club Site – what is there to say, close to the city, the sea and the Downs. The Marina is walking or cycling distance, there is a bus stop nearby which will take you into the city centre and beyond. I love it as it is close to my hairdresser and appointments are always made when there is availability on site! It is also close to more of our family and meeting up for birthdays, dog walks or just to say hello is ideal.

We’re heading off on another tour on Sunday, this time to Wales, before we decide when and where we go next – Europe beckons but no decisions yet. First, we have goodbyes to say, hopefully we’ll be keeping you up to date with our tour of Wales very soon. As always thank you for reading, we hope you and your families are safe and well…

Back on the Road – Week 5 Sussex: (East and West)

Not a lot to write about this week, but we have sorted a variety of things!

We left Slindon Caravan and Motorhome Club (CMC) Site and headed north to Gatwick CMC Site. Gatwick is close to our home and we knew we can get a decent curry here, along with the fact that Reg needed to have his booster vaccination. We can’t believe it’s been a year since he was fully vaccinated and nearly a year since we could start to walk and socialise him! In addition, we have a repair to carry out on the motorhome which, our friendly local mechanic can sort out for us; but true to form, the standard part you can order, is not the one we need, so we’re awaiting news of the part’s delivery!

After Gatwick, we headed south to Brighton CMC Site. A well earned and overdue haircut was on the cards!

Next we headed east to the Norman’s Bay Camping and Caravanning Club Site. What a lovely site! It’s a walk over the road to the beach, which although stone and shingle, has a great walk to the little village of Pevensey Bay, with a few shops,restaurants and the train station. A walk in the opposite direction takes you to the railway station at Norman’s Bay, passed the restored Martello Tower.

Walking Reg each morning was great as it was low tide and he still loves the water, he does go a little more nutty than normal but… He was able to be off lead, as the only restriction on the beach was to be under control – but with no other dogs or people around he was as good as gold (or as good as a 15 month Border Terrier can be!) Our only restriction was as the tide was still going out, the sand was a little quick and the rip looked a bit too strong. I didn’t fancy a cold early morning swim to rescue him!

We’re heading off to Kent, next week for a tour around and hopefully being able to see some sights we couldn’t the last time we wanted to (when the country went into the November Lockdown and the Kent variant of COVID-19 had just been identified. We’ll let you know how we get on and where we get to soon.

As always, thank you for reading. We hope that you and your families are safe and well.

Back on the Road: Out of Lockdown 3 (at last!).

We’re back on the road! We’ve left our Lockdown spot, much to the joy of one neighbour and the disappointment of others! After a weekend of cleaning and preparation (the last two times we left Lockdown, we left it to the morning of our departure and the heavens opened both times), we were ready – this time we awoke to snow!

Incidentally, 13 years ago, this week, we took our first camping trip together to the Lake District. We had a few days to spare and I (Sarah) was between jobs. We were slightly under prepared, we bought decent (but heavy) rucksacks, more for style than practicality, mummy-style sleeping bags, which we’d never tried before and subsequently didn’t allow us to move too warm up on the cold nights and an equally impractical Bivvy tent. Our next trip away camping, we were more prepared and thankfully, as you can tell, it hadn’t put us off!

Heading off we arrived at our first stop, Slinfold Caravan and Motorhome Club Site. We have cycled passed this site, before but knowing it had no facilities, we weren’t able to stay in our last van. We were looking forward to being local and enjoying the location. The site is right on the Downs Link – a 36 mile cycle and walking path, following two disused railways from St. Martha’s Hill (near Guildford), Surrey and Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. During our stay, we walked up to the Double Bridge – a brick arch bridge with an iron girder bridge on top. The iron girder was added as the original gradient for the railway line was too steep for trains. We also cycled up the track to Cranleigh, passing the old restored station at Baynards.

After a three day stay we headed south to Worthing, and Northbrook Farm Caravan and Motorhome Club Site. We have never been here before either, but again another local-ish site. On the first day a long walk to the beach at Goring, made us realise we had headed slightly in the wrong direction to get there and Gloria Google Maps helped out on our return to the site. We also took a walk up to the South Downs, for a picnic lunch at Highdown Hill, just a short walk from the site, but with amazing views along the coast to Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters and to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

It’s been a great week, we’re heading off again tomorrow, along the coast. We’re trying to stay local-ish as we’re waiting for our second COVID-19 vaccinations. We have plans for this year, fingers crossed and Coronavirus permitting, we really hope we can get there!

As always, thank you for reading. We hope you’re all safe and well. We’ll be back to share our trips soon…