MONDAY 16-9-24
It was a very peaceful night until about 07:00 when the 'rush hour' started. But by then we'd managed a few good hours of sleep.
We were in no hurry to get up because we had nowhere to go until late morning, the reason being the Caravan Club campsite at Warwick won't take arrivals until at least 13:00.
When we did finally surface our meal was truly a brunch. I didn't make any effort to empty everything because we would be able to do that once we arrived at the campsite.
I think we pulled away about midday for a journey of twenty-nine miles. First we were going to pop to their Tesco store for a few bits and pieces. On the way we nearly bagged ourselves a trophy. Having taken a left turn off a roundabout at the end of some dual carriageway we had a blue estate car in front of us. Suddenly it swung off the road in to a side road opening and with a right turn of the steering wheel proceeded to attempt a 'U' turn right in front of us. Fortunately I had anticipated the move and was able to bring us to a half before she experienced a classic 'T' bone collision. I even had time to take my hands off the steering wheel and shake both fists at her. I think it frightened the crap out of her. I can only assume she'd taken the wrong exit off the roundabout, got annoyed about it and decided to swing the car round without giving any thought to vehicles behind her. If our 3500kg had rammed in to the side of her car she'd have been seriously injured. Most annoying of all was that I hadn't turned the dashcam on before we left, so that would have failed to provide us with evidence of her actions should we have needed it. But she was only the first if a few stupid drivers we experienced as we made our way across town to Tesco's. I was becoming quite concerned about the standard of driving around here.
After Tesco's it was off to the campsite (N52.279823° W1.5963°) on what has turned out to be a glorious sunny day.
After getting set up on what is in fact nothing more than a car park, though there is a section with proper grass pitches, we got the chairs out and sat outside for lunch followed by a nice snooze.
It couldn't last forever because I needed to get the housework done whilst The Chef continued to rest, though thank goodness she was now able to do so outside in the fresh air enjoying the warmth of the sun.
The Caravan Club book does say that the site has poor TV and Wi-Fi signals and it looks as if they're right because the telly couldn't find any channels at all.
The Chef is currently creating this evenings gastronomic masterpiece in the small electric oven which sits on a small table outside. It's the first time she's been able to use it on this trip because this is the first electricity we've had since we left home.
Tomorrow we're going to be doing some hand washing first thing before then making our way in to town for a wander round. Reception did tell me there is a bus service from here to Stratford upon Avon and it's not very far. It would give us another option should we decide to stay an extra day, but I don't think my darling Rosina is fit enough yet to drag herself round another town so soon, but we'll see how she gets on tomorrow.
SUNDAY 15-9-24
My darling Chef took herself off to bed early yesterday evening only resurfacing again this morning. This left me having to fend for myself. So last night's meal was lots of egg noodles with a smothering of Chow Mein sauce washed down with lots of white wine which I'd managed to squeeze in to a full fridge.
We had a very peaceful night here in our layby (N52.400036° W2.10485°) and awoke to blue sky and cloud, though that didn't last long at all before it clouded over only to rain yet again at lunchtime.
This morning has been spent reading and feeding before lunch after which we went online to find out what's happening in the outside world. Whilst online I ran The Chef through our options for tomorrow and beyond thanks to Google Maps. Our next intended destination is Warwick, but not the castle as we've already visited that. It was a long time ago, in fact we took Rosina's granddaughter, Charlotte with us for a weekend away and she thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of knights jousting. Charlotte is now the mother of a teenager. My word, where does the time go?
We've decided, very grudgingly, to book a couple of nights at the Caravan & Motorhome Club's site on Warwick race course. We managed to get the only available hard standing pitch available until Wednesday. It seems they've got an event on at the moment, which is another way of them saying they've got a jamboree or rally of saddo's on at the moment, it could even be the 'Samaritans Sad Sods Camping Club (Northern Division)' renowned throughout the Mental Health industry for their love of sack races, knobbly knees contests, cup cake decorating and the always popular 'Guess who's Forgotten Their Medication?' competition. Maybe I'll just strip naked and run and join them in the hope of winning a prize in their infamous 'Todgers in Bloom' contest.
Never mind. I'm trying to forget that on top of our annual subscription fee to rub shoulders with such people we're having to pay £79.00 for two nights. I can only assume they felt charging forty pounds a night was just a little too cheeky. Thank The Lord this is our last venture around the UK, and whilst I will be very sorry to part with 'Freddie Fendt' next year, I'm just gonna love cancelling my Caravan & Motorhome Club subscription.
So here we are on a Sunday afternoon. My darling Chef having tested herself for Covid 'cos she's felt so bad and getting a negative result, she's having now to console herself with only having a 'Ferocious Cold'' as she describes it, has taken herself off for a lie down, which is the most sensible thing for her to do. I, in the meantime shall upload this nonsense and put the telly on and watch a film on telly. We don't have a very good television signal here, we keep getting bits of interference, but I reckon if I keep blinking my eyes I won't notice it.
A Polaris ICBM missile, as carried by RN submarines before being replaced by Trident.
Vulcan
Victor
Valiant
SATURDAY 14-9-24
It was a peaceful night, but The Chef wasn't feeling very much better this morning. There was no point in our remaining in the pub car park as she wasn't up to doing any kind of activity and so we moved on. Firstly it was a stop at the Tesco store a few miles down the road for a few bits and pieces, then off to our destination. Not too far down the road we came across a garage which sold LPG and so we were straight in. These days LPG costs one pound a litre, it doesn't seem so long ago that it cost half that, but then I suppose there was a time when Woodbine cigarettes were three pence a packet.
It felt so good to be stocked up again with gas. We carry two large cylinders and we've only used one so far which is pretty good considering it's powered the fridge 24/7 except for the hours we've been driving, provided us with all our hot water and central heating as well as the cooking. It now means we won't have to worry about getting any further down the road (my Plan A was to fill at the Morrisons supermarket in Stratford upon Avon).
About half an hour later we arrived at the RAF Cosford Museum (N52.645174° W2.312840°) an air museum next door to RAF Cosford, which I think is used for training apprentices. It has a runway but no aeroplanes which is the way of things these days. As a pig flies, it's about halfway between Telford and Wolverhampton.
We were blessed with some glorious sunshine today which warmed the vehicle's interior up naturally. As The Chef wasn't feeling too well I went around the museum on my own after lunch whilst she took herself off for a lie on the bed.
It was rather a good museum, and I thought the 'National Cold War Museum' hanger was excellent. They had all three types of 'V' bomber together, the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant and it was even possible to walk under the Vulcan and see the bomb bay.
I think it took me just over a couple of hours to walk around it all, and whilst it was a pleasant experience I was keen to get back home to see how my darling Chef was getting on. I was pleased to see she was up and reading the TV guide, so that was some improvement.
As it was such a lovely afternoon I took advantage of my £6.50 parking fee (the museum was free) and deployed the large solar panel to top up our leisure battery, as well as sitting and having a read with the door open for much of the time.
The cunning plan for tonight was to park at another pub participating in the BRITSTOP scheme, but The Chef said she really could face eating a full meal, and so Plan B was to find a suitable layby and park up for the night. We may stay here tomorrow as well as it's supposed to be a wet one, and with Rosina not feeling well that would be preferable to paying through the nose to camp on a Caravan Club site among lots of boring old farts.