4 from 2020 Freedom in the west country.

[Ocean Spirit]

Day 1 of 4
Burrow Hayes Camping near Porlock.
On the road to Porlock Hill (A39) coming from the East a sign post to West Luccombe appears on your left.
When you enter the site the hills provide a nice screen to the North and a small river runs to the south. No through traffic noise whatsoever.
The Hard standings are new (at least they are by the reception). There is a small shop, large clean toilets and shower blocks and a pot-wash station all enclosed. Dog and child friendly. We will return.
The weather is only a smidgen removed from the mini beast from the east that they all but promised us and once we were checked in we took off to Porlock Wier & Porlock Hill. What an experience!!!
You can see from the photos once at the top the weather was about as bad as it gets for March in the south of England so we haven't given the area much of a looking at.
We are snug in the Cali though the heater is on 5 with the top raised and Cali topper in place.That was no fun for a novice fitting that in this weather I assure you. It's all very pretty and I can tell you that in more clement weather it would be a superb experience. Tomorrow we'll move on.

The River


The New Hard Stands with Tap and Electric


The Cali dog chauffeur (Henry)


The Cali Topper


The mini Beast from the east 3 at the top of Porlock Hill. I don't fancy your chances 1 hour later on the steep twisty bits!!


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[motacyclist]

Wow is that snow today?

 

[CampervanTime]

Looks like a nice site. That snow reminds me of a few weekends ago at the Dorset meet!!

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Wow is that snow today?

Yep... a couple of inches off the edges of the roads before we turned back because people were getting stuck.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Some more to get the feel before we leave.....








Some other vans

 

[Pete_Hampton]

Thanks for the travelogue @2020 freedom I hope that your inaugural road trip is going well. It looks like you are finding nice places to visit and stay, fingers crossed for some sun & blue sky for you all.

Where is the next port of call & how well is Kylie performing weighed down with Easter eggs?

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Actually the difference between my commuting weight and going on a trip has been very noticeable. Currently sat in a dog friendly bar/restaurant for lunch in Woolacombe.
Then down the coast to padstow area.
Since leaving home it has not stopped raining except when it snowed lol
That is until we got here and it’s chilly but pleasant. Kylie has just the one egg as far as I know and it’s not for me .

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Day 2 of 4 (precedes and supercedes the last post)
We finally sussed out that when the rain has the last say and refuses to stop, any short dashes to the amenities are much better dealt with using a brolly instead of getting your coats wet and dragging them back in the Cali. Just a shame we thought the idea a bit late.
By the morning the rain had eased a fair bit but the river had swollen considerably since the photos and I assume the snow on the hills had something to do with that.
So biggest task upon leaving was to shake off the water as best we could from the topper. We piled it into a large ikea shopping bag and headed off. Back up Porlock hill and most of the previous snow was gone even though we did see it starting again. A little further on the hills and scenery in clearer skies were beautiful. Woolacombe was dry but chilly, a welcome break from the rain.
We moved on and browsed a few places all with the idea of returning at some point in the future by staying locally (Never had to pay to visit Clovelly when I last went there last ).
Arrived at Treyarnon Bay about 6 in the evening and along with many other small coves en route it was lovely to look at. The campsite was a bit unloved for want of a better description but served us well enough regrading the pitch and hook up. But no wifi and never fancied a shower i'm afraid which had precious little to do with the fact you had to pay £1 for 7 minutes. Potwash and toilets were fine. Plenty of space to throw the frisby for Henry. The weather was kind to us and we didn't even put heating on until the early hours of the morning. We trundled down the coast when we left (day 3) and this time putting away the cali topper was no issue at all. Back in its bag in 5 minutes nice and dry. Met the hospitable Mr & Mrs ITGuy for a quick cuppa en route, nice to put some faces to names and had a lovely time. I'm sure we'll meet again.

Moved on from Newquay with some planned visits in Plymouth and and finally arrived at Hillhead Caravan & Motorhome Club near Brixham. Guess what ?more prolific rain and I can't see more than about 40' in front of me right now.
So no photos or anything attempted yet.
Now I hate to cop out and sound unenthusiastic but the rain 'yellow weather warnings' are set for a while so in the event that we are confined to the Cali for too long we may head home a day early and make this 3 from 2020 freedom instead of 4. It would be different if only it would stop for 5 minutes here and there but it's really got a hold of the whole trip so just seems pointless to stubbornly sit in. We'll see, we could stick it out but I'm not going to do it just to be stubborn.

Just West of Porlock Hill


Woolacombe


Treyarnon Bay


Campsite in the morning

 

[motacyclist]

Now I hate to cop out and sound unenthusiastic but the rain 'yellow weather warnings' are set for a while so in the event that we are confined to the Cali for too long we may head home a day early and make this 3 from 2020 freedom instead of 4. It would be different if only it would stop for 5 minutes here and there but it's really got a hold of the whole trip so just seems pointless to stubbornly sit in. We'll see, we could stick it out but I'm not going to do it just to be stubborn.

We all know the feeling.

No point in persevering in the rain with no hope of improvement, you're supposed to be enjoying yourself!

 

[CampervanTime]

Great to meet you all today, thanks for stopping by and for the free lift back up Porth hill!!

The rain started pretty much as soon as you left and it’s still going now. We went to Padstow for a wander around and got totally soaked!! Ahh well. Cali was nice and warm quick enough when we got back in.

Hope the weather improves for you a bit now and you enjoy your site tonight.

 

[Cali-on-Camping]

Looks like you’re following the route we took back in November @2020 freedom. It’s a lovely run through North Devon to Padstow. Had never been to Clovelly but my wife too was horrified at the fee to visit. We elected to proceed further along the coast. We lived Linton and Lynmouth and can highly recommend Appledore.

Hang in there, weather looks good around Thursday onwards.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Looks like you’re following the route we took back in November @2020 freedom. It’s a lovely run through North Devon to Padstow. Had never been to Clovelly but my wife too was horrified at the fee to visit. We elected to proceed further along the coast. We lived Linton and Lynmouth and can highly recommend Appledore.

Hang in there, weather looks good around Thursday onwards.

I think we are. You posted a video didn't you? If so we took a lot of inspiration from that as it was around the time we were starting to plan. Realising how much you crammed in we thought lets do a route like that and to try the Cali out and see what we'd need to do milage-wise in future visits to actually stay in one place and enjoy the places surrounding it.
So thanks for the inspiration but you went in the cold autumn/winter time so we saved our trip for sunny spring

 

[Cali-on-Camping]

I think we are. You posted a video didn't you? If so we took a lot of inspiration from that as it was around the time we were starting to plan. Realising how much you crammed in we thought lets do a route like that and to try the Cali out and see what we'd need to do milage-wise in future visits to actually stay in one place and enjoy the places surrounding it.
So thanks for the inspiration but you went in the cold autumn/winter time so we saved our trip for sunny spring

Yes, had just purchased a GoPro and that the first Cali video, happy to hear it helped with your planning. We were the same when we got our Cali back in July, it was hard to judge how far you can/want to go: do I book a site or don't I? Are we trying to do too much and end up not enjoying one place? Sounds like you're having a longer break than we had and i'm sure you've learnt that, whilst you can plan and plan, once you're on the road, the feeling of the Cali freedom takes over and it all changes.

We're currently planning our first European tour for the end of May and fighting the urge to over-plan as we know it will change when we land on Calais in the Cali. Slovenia/Croatia is the target with everything in between a potential game changer!

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Enjoy the European trip @Maverick ! I hear everything you are saying

Day 3 of 4
Weather-wise Treyarnon Bay (day 2 pm) & down to Newquay (day 3 am) had been a brief god send as we woke on day 4 following an awful night of weather at Hill Head C&MCC. (night 3) Mist ? rain? wind? have you seen american werewolf in London?
I'm so glad it was a great site. A choice of large gravel pitches had left us choosing one that was overlooking the sea between the hills and close enough to the amenities without being disturbed by anyone. Of course initially we got no benefit from the view at all but in the morning the rain had subsided and there were moments when the view was clear and dry enough to enjoy the sea view. We enjoyed long awaited showers in pristine warm facilities. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
After Brekkie we packed and went but the cali topper was obviously very wet from being put on when the Cali was already wet, so despite being dryish on the outside we didn't squeeze it into its bag once again.
Down into Brixham for a quick mooch around then via a trip into Dawlish we were off to Eype near Highlands End that so many of you enjoyed a little while ago (its the campsite down the hill to the west).
Now this is where it all came unstuck....
Having a much more favourable weather update than the previous one we decided we'd give our last destination a go.
We arrived at Eype in fairly nice weather and it was another grass pitch like Treyarnon bay but a completely different challenge. Treyarnon was firm and not even muddy in the slightest.
The guy on reception at Eype said "you can have any of these pitches but they are slippery especially 25 because we had to tow someone out yesterday"
So we went up what they'd described as the concrete road which was more accurately 2 tracks with grass in between. It was pretty steep and the advice was, to drive past the chosen pitch and roll back into it leaving the Cali at an angle where it faced down the hill.
Great idea sounds perfect.
So I rolled back and turned the back end towards the pitch. Each time I did this the back end just slid back towards the 2 concrete tracks no matter what angle I tried and no matter how quick or slow I tried to change direction . Several pitches later we conceded we weren't going to get in let alone out, so we were refunded our fee and left. A shame really, a nice enough location and helpful staff.
Decided it would be worth making an enquiry at Highlands end to see if there were any late cancellations that we could pinch but oh no...as we drove in it was heaving. We couldn't book there for a single night when plannijng the trip which is why we ended up chosing Eype.
So sadly that was that and we made our way home a night early. Luckily I know the weather has been poor here too but on arrival its been the best we've had so far. So a nice welcome to ease the disappointment.

In summary,
We actually enjoyed every moment but didn't wish to sit in the Cali for so long. We've learned a lot and got some good tips too. Stating the obvious, the weather plays a big part so a back up plan is useful. We've sussed out a better balance between driving and stopping than this trip, we'll pack less next time and swap things around so we don't make so many trips to the tailgate (not fun in the rain). When we unloaded the Cali at home it took ages and it was like....never needed that or that or that..whats more how on earth did we get it all in there?
The essential extra???
A Cali Topper by a mile.
But also the waterproof seat covers and 2 cheap mats in the living area took a lot of weather related stress away.
Happy Camping everyone

Hill Head pitch


The view of the sea was great when the clouds broke


As close as we got to our last stop