Today is a getting ready day. We pack up and leave the house at about 12.30.
A camping trip in my mind was always about a speedy house exit. Throw things in the van and live simply for a couple of days.
Why is it never like that?
It seems to take forever. Duvets, clothes, food, cameras, iPads.
Awnings, BBQ, gas bottles, etc. the list seems to go on. And on…..
I guess we only have ourselves to blame.
However, we made it out on time and before the 2hour or so journey to the campsite we have the small matter of a hospital trip for Suzanne. I won’t go into too much detail. It does involve having an injection in the eyeball so I will save you the details!
The drive is uneventful. Mainly motorways, or large A roads. As a result views and vistas were limited to those through the window on the campervan.
And there are some. If we angle our view correctly, and squint just ever so, we enjoy the rolling hills of the North Wessex Downs as we barrel along the M4.
Highlighted on Google maps as an AONB (area of outstanding natural beauty) I am sure it is, but it doesn’t give that impression from the 3 laned concrete we are snaking along.
The recent hot, rain free weather ensures the green leaves of the trees stand out against the scolded, dry yellow of the grass.
It would’ve made an even richer colour pallet had the sky been just a little bluer.
Without incident we arrive at Burford Caravan and Motorhome Club site. We follow the signs to the new arrivals lane and pull up behind a caravan that is finalising it’s check in.
To our left is the reception area which is our first stop. Just beyond a small car park to our right is a food truck. Tough to tell from our current vantage point but we would later learn it is a fish and chip truck.
A fish and chip truck we would indeed be sampling in a couple of hours time.
But first, set up. Now our VW California campervan is great from going to arriving to being set up in a little under 20 minutes.
Pull onto pitch. Raise roof. Plug in. Spin seats round.
Finally: boil kettle/open fridge for beer (delete as appropriate)
However, that is before we decided to buy the Awning from hell. The Awning from hell we painstakingly chose. We have erected this awning twice before. It took us 3 hours the first time and 2 and half the second.
Today though, we open the zip bag and unfurl the rolled up lump of canvas with a steely determination.
20 minutes later it is up! We can hardly believe it. I am not going to sit here and wax lyrical about it, but 20 minutes!!!!!
The reason? We were less precise, less exact. Attach it to the van, peg it out, inflate it. And it sits here, proud, tall and looking no worse than it did when we spent over 2 hours trying to make the perfect shape.
It was at that point we trundle over to the fish and chip van I mentioned earlier. We order, and 15 minutes later we are huddled around our campervan table, eating tea from cardboard boxes.
There is a little something more satisfying knowing, that when you finish tea, you only have cutlery and glasses to wash up!
For desert, out comes the toastdkits marshmallow melting kit. Marshmallows, chocolate to melt, and sprinkles. We prepare it over over a burning candle.
The sun is setting ahead of us over the campsite.
The motor homes and caravans around us turn from white boxes to lit up units scattered around the partially full site.
Some have warm, sunburnt orange glows. Others, like the VW camper next to us have soft neon lights in the pop top.
Ours ends up looking like a see through igloo with a small fire lit inside, such is the set up we have.
The sun dips behind the trees that overlook the campsite. Unfortunately, as the sun goes down, the temperatures follow.
It is time to retire to the cosy awning, for fun and games, although it isn’t long before the even cosier campervan was calling. With Max up top, and us snuggled up below, we doze off.
Our bedtime thoughts shift to thinking about tomorrow, the wildlife park, and the next stage of our Cotswold adventure.
But that, is a story for another day.
Goodnight.