South-West coast UK trip / meet Slimbridge

[leightonjthomas]

Wim- we live in Bognor Regis, half a mile from the sea. You’d be very welcome to stay overnight with us on Sunday, either on our drive or indoors- we’ve got good facilities! Leighton

And we’ve got a lovely bottle of Nowack champagne!

 

[GillianC]

We are looking for a overnight sunday - monday after we will be leaving Bridport , was thinking about the New Forrest .
And a place to spent the night close to Dover on monday evening
Tips welcome.

Lymington, go to Lymington

We are looking for a overnight sunday - monday after we will be leaving Bridport , was thinking about the New Forrest .
And a place to spent the night close to Dover on monday evening
Tips welcome.

Lymington, go to Lymington. As @Trebor suggested stay at Hurst View and you can walk to Milford on Sea (great fish and chips) then walk along Hurst Spit and get the boat back it Keyhaven. Or you could walk to Lymington itself and enjoy the cobbled streets leading to the quay. Most of the shops are dog friendly.

 

[Hotel California]

@Martin , been to Hollands woods few years ago so be picking anotherone if we go to New Forrest

Thanks for all the kind offers to come over and spent the night at all who offerd!

@daz60 , yes Polmanter site , good site !

Some light rain overnight , dry for now but clouds.
Looks good weather so far , taking it slow today and a walk later .

Cominging back on the site/price ....
After seeing/using the sanitairy block (the one closest to our field guess the one you guys used at the meet ) the price is not matches the comfort imo.
If you ask high price i'm prepared to pay the standard must be equivalent .

 

[Hotel California]

Just had a chat with @calimera , who is also on the site and spotted me...

 

[Hotel California]

Went for a walk on the Coastal Path straight fom the campsite up untill Seatown and back . Took us 3h stops included and we walked 8km in total .
Now enjoying the view from the Cali with a glass of rosé.


Spot the Cali

 

[Hotel California]

Again we had luck it stayed dry the whole day....

 

[daz60]

Again we had luck it stayed dry the whole day....
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Hi Wim, that is where we were last week in the nice weather, lovely place. Did you walk into West Bay. ?

 

[daz60]

The nature is so divers here then say the French coast just opposite.
Very beautifull Succulants (hope i translated it correct)
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Aren't we cute in the back seat ....Kathy made me post thisone as she did some fotoshop
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Mieke sure is knocked out....
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Looks like you all are having a great time

 

[Hotel California]

@daz60 , not walked to West Bay but the other direction to Seatown .
All the way down my feet in the picture and up on to the hills...

Now relaxing

 

[MattBW]

Golden cap campsite at Seatown used to have amazing sea view hard standings but now they are filled with cabins. Still a good spot and a good place to find fossils in the stones!

Looks like a great trip Wim, keep those pics coming.

We are at Slapston sands tonight


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[Hotel California]

Golden cap campsite at Seatown used to have amazing sea view hard standings but now they are filled with cabins. Still a good spot and a good place to find fossils in the stones!

Looks like a great trip Wim, keep those pics coming.

We are at Slapston sands tonight


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All the campsites seem to run on big static caravans now a days ...
Soon campervans will have no place at sites....
Just waved at you

 

[Hotel California]

Dicided to drive to New Romney campsite tomorrow to spend the last two days of our UK trip . Seems the weather is poor everywhere on the Jurassic coast so might as well drive close to Dover to be in short distance to the ferry.
We can be very happy with the weather overall during our trip doh !

 

[SimonB]

Golden cap campsite at Seatown used to have amazing sea view hard standings but now they are filled with cabins. Still a good spot and a good place to find fossils in the stones!

Looks like a great trip Wim, keep those pics coming.

We are at Slapston sands tonight


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That's a lovely area. We have spent many a weekend there. Have you been to the Tower Inn at Slapton and also the Tradesmans Arms in Stokenham? I asked for a whiskey there, many years ago, and they gave me a menu option with about 90 whiskies to choose from.

 

[MattBW]

Dicided to drive to New Romney campsite tomorrow to spend the last two days of our UK trip . Seems the weather is poor everywhere on the Jurassic coast so might as well drive close to Dover to be in short distance to the ferry.
We can be very happy with the weather overall during our trip doh !

You did well I just admit there is a cold wind today but the sun is out. Feels like summer in the van but outside brr


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[Hotel California]

We came up the campsite in New Romney .....closed due work.
So needed to find another site near Dover and as the weather is predicted lots of wind/rain tomorow paying the two nights on a campsite has ended up in a ticket re-booking witch is 57£ and now we are having this view

Leaving the UK on the 6pm ferry today meaning we will be at home arround 11-12pm

 

[SimonB]

We came up the campsite in New Romney .....closed due work.
So needed to find another site near Dover and as the weather is preficted lots of wind/rain tomorow paying the two nights on a campsite has ended up in a ticket re-booking witch is 57£ and now we are having this view
View attachment 32580
Leaving the UK on the 6pm ferry today meaning we will be at home arround 11-12pm

Very nice to see you both at Slimbridge. Hope you have had a good trip around Devon, Cornwall and the South Coast. Thank you for the badges, an excellent idea.
Shame the weather has turned bad, but better to be on dry land before tomorrow, the weather looked 'exciting' then.
Hope to see you again at one of the future Meets.
Simon & Helen

 

[SusiBus]

Sorry that the weather after Slimbridge was not that kind to you, nice meeting you both, and thanks for all the work you put in on the forum.

 

[motacyclist]

Sorry to lose you from the UK Wim (for the time being), hope to see the three of you again soon!

 

[Hotel California]

As expected home at 11.30pm almost 36h earlyer then planned....
Rain during the whole ferry trip , rain during the ride Dunquerke - Home , rain now at home....

 

[motacyclist]

As expected home at 11.30pm almost 36h earlyer then planned....
Rain during the whole ferry trip , rain during the ride Dunquerke - Home , rain now at home....

Well, we really appreciate you taking the rain with you, how did you do that?

 

[Amarillo]

We came up the campsite in New Romney .....closed due work.
So needed to find another site near Dover and as the weather is predicted lots of wind/rain tomorow paying the two nights on a campsite has ended up in a ticket re-booking witch is 57£ and now we are having this view
View attachment 32580
Leaving the UK on the 6pm ferry today meaning we will be at home arround 11-12pm

What we do during an afternoon like that is pop up the roof, all four of us snuggle up together, and watch Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Paddington.

You need to get a telly!


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[Hotel California]

After beeing home now allready 24h need to update the report on our final day in the UK.
As said above we did shortend the trip by about 36h . On one side ashame but on the other hand staying two nights on a rainy campsite was not the thing we hoped for to end our trip.
Maybe i must have gone in to one of the offers from members to come and spent the night on theire drive but in the end did not wanted to be dependeple on others.

We had a good final night (sat-sun) at Bridport and packed up , leaving the site by 11am .
Drove near the coastline heading to Dover in what was at first still nice and dry weather , planning to stay at a New Romney about 1h from Dover for our ferry on the 1st may . Witch ended up the site (just picked out from the ACSI book) beeing still closed due renovating opening soon for the season .
Thats the risk you take when like we don't book up front
There where other campsite options nearby but the weather made us change plans.

Ended up rebooking and taking the 6pm ferry on sunday , last minute . We arrived at 4.30pm at the check in and they said we could get on the 6pm ferry with a additional fee of 57£ .
So my 15% discount witch i got on the original booking got vanisched but hey , you can't have it all !

Done 570km total on that final ride including the Dunquerke -home ride in horrible weather....


We where 11days away from home
10nights in the Cali , one night of this sleeping below at Minehead.
Done 1830km
Used about 168 liter diesel
So 9,5liter /100km is normal for me , allthough i've done better.
The Cali again preformed outstanding as usual , i will go to CCN Amersfoort next week for a service (been almost 2y since last oil change) . "Only" 53d km now and turning 6y soon so need to get out more!

The UK for us we find very nice to visit and travel thru , even driving on the opposite side than beeing used to does not bother me (with Kathy as co-pilot keeping an eye on things)
In general most drivers are very gentle and behave better than the French drivers or even here in Belgium .

Glad we got the tip from @SusiBus with the place to have a night camped up in the free as to me in the UK it seems not that easy to find those or maybe i don't feel that comfortable parking up just anywhere in the UK as i do a lot when in France (France the country where you have so many free aires)

Overall campsites are very good as camping offcoarse is popular in the UK.
More expencive than say France but beeing just two of us and usual taking some food from home for the first 4-5 days we can usual travel on a pretty low budget.

But most of all we enjoyed the meet as that was our goal on the UK trip.
Our 3th meet in the UK so far , not included the factory visit and the champagne meet .
Meeting new and old friends and enjoying the group-feeling irl. instead using the forum.
Meets are great and as i said before if we where living in the UK we would join more meets.
Big thumbs up for all those who try and organise all these meets , everyone seems loves to come ....

Thanks to everyone giving tips , and offering a night on theire drive !

Next UK trip might be a trip to Scotland ....at least thats the plan.

One final picture to end....

 

[Hotel California]

Maybe some would like to see what was parked up next to us on the ferry yesterday.
Thisone ....

 

[motacyclist]

I'd like one like that!

 

[SusiBus]

Great following your trip, it was amazing the amount you managed to cram in and still find time and energy to do all those postings.

If and when you go to Scotland, be aware of the midge season, I mean, be very aware!
We're off next week to Scotland for the rest of May and have previously found on the west coast they arrive by the first week in June, but it's weather dependent.