Good Bye 2020 - Hello 2021
Good Bye 2020
Hello 2021
Well, what a year 2020 has been, the Covid-19 pandemic has effected us all, two national lockdowns, hospitality closed, campsites closed, our movements have been severely restricted, all our lives have changed, some have been very ill, some have lost loved ones, our thoughts and prayers are with all those effected.
It may take us all a long time to get back to normal but back to normal we will get.
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| Paignton Park up |
Our year started quite well with a lovely trip down to South Devon in February for half term, we visited Torquay and Paignton, we had a great day at NT Greenways, Agatha Christies home on the banks of the river Dart, we went to Brixham, Dartmouth, Totnes and Salcombe. We had a great week away to start the year. On our last day 'Vera' our benivan 120 sprang another water leak from the hot water system for the fifth time, we contacted Marquis on our return who booked us in for the beginning on March, they changed the water pipes again and importantly put inserts in to the end of the pipes to prevent the pipes distorting when they have hot water in them, they also replaced all the interior LED lights, we were due to pick it up at the end of March then Boris called the first national lockdown.
It was June before we were able to pick up the van. We now had to make the decision on IF we should go away and IF we did where to go to, after much thought and discussion we decided that we would go, our first trip would be to Foy in Herefordshire, we would use cs/cl sites where we thought we would come into contact with less people, we chose Marthas Meadow a CCC cl, there was only three other units there and was very clean with plenty of sanitiser about, the area was very rural so we could take walks with little chance of meeting anyone, a great start to post lockdown camping.
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| Foy, Herefordshire |
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| Thorham Old Harbour |
Again we stayed on cs/cl sites trying to stay away from crowds which, on the whole we did, if we arrived at an area that seemed to have too many people we just moved on. The only issue we had was that a hired MoHo came around a corner on a narrow lane and smashed our door mirror, I did manage to tape it back on as a temporary repair but it cost over £300 to replace.
Towards the end of the trip we had parked up at Walberswick, just across the estuary from Southwold, a lovely sunny, hot day, I had to take a conference call from work only to be told that they were closing down and we were all being made redundant, not a total surprise but upsetting all the same. We were not going to worry about it for the moment and continued our trip.
In August, still on furlough, we went to the Brecon Beacons National Park, again, another great area somewhere we had only passed through before, we spent a few days driving around taking in the spectacular mountain views, we had planned to move on to the Gower Peninsular but found it very difficult to find the small sites that would or could take us so we re-planned and made our way to Pembrokeshire.
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| Manorbier Beach |
We booked into Middlehill Farm CCC cl site at Manorbier, we spent the days pottering about, having been to this area many times before it was nice to just relax and in a way just laze about.
We started to leave the sites early in the morning to find park ups with great views to have our breakfasts, we parked overlooking the bay at Manorbier, we parked right on the waterside at Pembroke castle, next to the lake at Carew Castle and on the beach at Wisemans Bridge, it made a great start to our days.
Tenby was lovely as always, we walk the promenade on the north beach, we sat in Castle Gardens overlooking the castle beach and down at the harbour watching the world go by, we had a leisurely stroll from Wisemans Bridge to Saundersfoot, Izzy loved running on the beach.
The weather for this trip has been a little mixed to say the least with a massive storm which saw winds of over 70 mph but it didn't spoil our time away although we did have to move the van to shelter from the buffering winds.
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| Wisemans Bridge |
September saw a few weekend trips away to Ludlow and Stiperstones in Shropshire and to Eardisland in Herefordshire again on cs or cl sites, all of which were covid secure with really good sanitising procedures.
Ludlow is always a great place to visit, we both enjoy the town and look forward to taking the Castle walk, the path that goes around the outer walls of the castle and down to the weir on the River Teme, they have a traditional market in the town square which is always worth a visit.
Stiperstones was a real surprise, a mass of scree and rocky tors rising to 1759 ft above sea level with stunning views out across Shropshire.
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| Stiperstones, Shropshire |
Eardisland was another pleasant surprise, a beautiful picturesque village with lots of black and white houses sitting along the River Arrow. There are a couple of pubs and a tearoom, with took refreshment in all three. The local ales were great.
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| Eardisland, Herefordshire |
September was also the month were I officially was given notice of redundancy, my final day being Friday 20th November some 43 years since I started.
October saw us with two trips away, Adele was laid off for a couple of weeks and with me still being on notice gave us extra time, our first trip was down to the South-West, staying at Broadwoodwidger, a CCC cl site right on the Devon - Cornwall border, we started our tour at Bude which was a bit of a surprise, I don't know why but we were not expecting what we found, a lovely seaside town but also a smashing beach and great walks, we also called into Widemouth beach, again a great walk although here it was blowing a gale.
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| Rail Sands, Bude |
The following day we went to Lydford gorge, again another lovely walk, we had to pre-book this with the National Trust to control the amount of visitors due to covid. We continued our trip via Exmoor National Park, the weather closed in and it was quite eery with the mists rolling in across the moors, we stopped off at Porlock and had a nice walk along the beach before being soaked by a cloud burst.
Our final trip in October was again down to the south west but this time the most southerly point in England, to an area around the Lizard point.
We stayed at Tregunwith, a CAMC cs site at Mylor Creek, we had seen on some YouTube channels , especially, 'campervan hygge' that there was a great walk around the creek, we were not disappointed, its a great area with some lovely walks, we must return to this area again.
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| Mylor Creek, Cornwall |
We made the trip out to the Lizard, an easy drive from where we were but we did have a problem parking on the NT car park, we were told by NT car park assistant that there was no room for us (us meaning campervan) even though there were clearly spaces available, we returned to the Lizard village car park and parked with no issues then walked back to the point, we had chosen a day where the wind was so strong that we had to be careful especially near the edge but it was probably the best day to go to see nature at its wildest.
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| The Lizard Point, Cornwall |
We spent another lovely day at NT Trelissick Gardens, again we had to book our tickets but was well worth it, the weather wasn't at its best, we walked around the lovely gardens dodging the rain showers.
We took the short drive down to Falmouth, here the town was very busy but we found parking out at the beach which was quieter, we then bought pasties for lunch from a local shop that made them on the counter in front of you and parked up at Pendennis point above the old fort looking out across the estuary made a very pleasant lunch spot. The pasties, by the way, were probably the best we have every had.
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| Pendennis Head, Falmouth, Cornwall |
November saw 'Vera' return to the Autotrail factory for them to have a look at the floor, there is a couple of places where the wooden floor joints 'squeak' but as the van left on the transporter we were all put into the second national lockdown.
November saw me officially unemployed, I had to find out how to 'sign on' as I have never been without a job my entire working life and start to look for another job, we kept in contact with Marquis and Autotrail about the progress of the repairs but as lockdown wasn't lifted until the beginning of December all we can do was wait.
Autotrail called as promised at the beginning of December, lockdown has ended but we are all now in a tiered system, Autotrail are in an area that's in Tier 3 so we are expecting to get the van back after the next tier assessment on the 16th, hopefully Vera should be back home for Christmas.
Hello 2021
What's in store for us in 2021.
Hopefully we will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as regards to Covid, at the time of writing, the vaccinations have just started, people generally are being more positive about an end to the restrictions placed on our daily lives.
We hope to be able to get away in Vera more often and to get to the continent this year, probably France, the UK has now left Europe so there may be more bureaucracy to deal with, the continent is set up so much better for campervans & MoHos, most towns and villages have aires to encourage people to stay, enjoy their area and spend money, attitude is so different towards us, it will be well worth the possible extra paperwork.
We will, of course, have trips in this country as there is so much to explore, the north of Scotland looks stunning and is definitely on our 'to do' list and hopefully many weekends away enjoying what our local area can offer, great finds that will only be an hours drive from home.
I feel that life in 2021 will still have restrictions on our lives that we will have to deal with, but hopefully much better than we have had in the past year, so to end with there is lots to look forward to in the year to come, so for now
Happy New Year to you All
nige & adele
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Annual Trip Details:
Miles: 3747
Ave MPG: 26.9
Fuel Cost: £ 701.95
Fuel Cost: £ 701.95
Car Parking: £ 54.30
Nights: 56
Camp Fees: £ 610.00
Camp Ave per night: £ 11.07
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We put our holiday photos in to small videos & slideshows and are uploaded on to our YouTube Channel, benivanadventures, they are not professionally produced but give a feeling of the area and places we visit - Click on our logo below:
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