Hi from the New Forest

[GrahamBland]

Bought our Cali a year ago - one of my daughters has named it 'Dobby' - a free elf
Toured Spain, Brittany and Ireland with it last year - taking sea kayaks and bikes - found some stunning wild camps along the way.
Back off to Spain in a couple of weeks

If you see us on the road any time - give us a toot and a wave

Graham

 

[calikev]

Hi graham welcome along
Great pics by the way

 

[Calinicki]

Hi graham. You will find a real friendly bunch on Here. I am a complete novice but have found out
Loads by reading people's posts on here. You can even save money.

 

[Martin]

Welcome Graham, the Cali is an excellent bit of kit for kayaking

 

[Iain&Shani]

Hi Graham, welcome to the forum. No doubt you will have lot sto offer which is great. Love the picture.

Iain

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Graham, and to echo others, welcome.
I love the photos, and have to confess to a weakness fo Fresco Green at the moment. :mrgreen:
Luke

 

[CannellWalker]

Hello and welcome. Don't suppose you know any good pubs New Forest way where we could get a meal and overnight on our way to Dorset?

 

[MKRW]

Welcome Graham, the Cali is an excellent bit of kit for kayaking

Hi Martin,

I'm not sure it floats?!

 

[GrahamBland]

Thanks for the warm welcome all

Hello and welcome. Don't suppose you know any good pubs New Forest way where we could get a meal and overnight on our way to Dorset?

Well there are loads of pubs in the NF but it is a bit close to home for me to have tried overnighting at any of them. Having said that,

Abbotswell Car Park at Frogham http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1653580 sometimes hosts a discrete camper - and the Foresters Inn is 100 metres up the road. I am guessing this would be ok if you were aiming for a quick overnight with an early start the following morning. During the summer there is a camping field next to the pub

The Red Shoot - nice pub with camping http://www.redshoot-campingpark.co.uk/

There is a camping field at Godshill near the Fighting Cocks Inn Chapelfield Campsite, Godshill, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, sp6 2ll Telephone: 07807 471621

And there is the huge campsite at Sandy Balls if you want all the facilities http://www.sandyballs.co.uk/

Good luck

 

[CannellWalker]

Hi. Thanks for the gen. I would say the same for Lincolnshire. Too close to overnight however we might ask at the Green Man at Norton Disney.

 

[joeaguilar]

Hi Graham,
Spooky but we also bought our cali last year and toured the Brittany and Spain! (twice) in addition we also toured the new forest but sadly not Ireland (yet). Did some kayaking but havn't bought one yet. Still saving up! Oh yes! we did quite a bit of wild camping in Northern Spain - Great! Bit jealous you are off back to Spain in two weeks - not fair.... :-(
Have a great trip!

 

[John]

Hi Graham,

Just a quick post to say I have been enjoying your BLOG. http://rollalot.org/

Looks like your Cali will be a real asset to you and your travels.

Also your Karitek roof rack looks a great solution for getting your Kayak's loaded up onto the roof do you have any pictures of it in action in its loading position.

RGS John

 

[GrahamBland]

Thanks John
Unfortunately I can't lay my hands on any images of the loading process of the Karitek rack - but it has proved and excellent bit of kit see http://www.karitek.co.uk/ELRRIntroMulti.html - the video says it all. I have brackets for 3 kayaks but I have never loaded more than two sea kayaks. The three are essentially for river for boats (lighter) but haven't used the Cali for river trips yet. My wife would prefer that I didn't have a load of smelly kayakers on a road trip and so I have avoided that so far . It does work a treat with two sea kayaks though. Takes only a few minutes to load / off load.

Off to Spain tomorrow and so can't really offer more advise at this moment
Cheers
Graham