So after a nice weekend it was time to come home. Getting packed up and ready to move off was definitely easier than with a tent (last summer it took us the best part of a day to pack everything up!).
On the way home we ignored what the Satnav wanted us to do and came back via the coast road and Chester - a much better experience.
The high winds made things a bit exciting at times but other than than - an uneventful journey. Now looking forward to the next adventure.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Caernafon Castle and the Seaside
Sunday morning and, after breakfast, off to Caernafon Castle and then the seaside. Being new to this motorhome lark we didn't have much idea where to park in Caernafon - so after a brief look at the coach park (free for coaches - but no indication as to whether anything other than coaches can park there) we followed signs for the castle. This meant negotiating a tunnel with an alleged clearance of 3 meters although we seemed to clear it by a fair margin.
The harbour car park was shut - so we ended up doing a couple of laps of the castle before deciding that we could fit in a parking space on the road outside the entrance to the castle (no restrictions on Sunday - 30 minutes on any other day).
We had a good look round the castle, (www.caernafon.com) it is definitely well worth the visit, although our daughter was upset that there was no princess living there.
We then headed towards the coast and found a great parking place overlooking Foryd Bay at the Y Foryd Local Nature Reserve - it looked like a great place to wild camp but there was signage that suggested no overnight camping - actually, the text said something about not launching boats and the graphics seemed to have something to do with not setting fire to tents - your guess is as good as mine.
It was a great place to stop for lunch made even better by the fact that we were carrying our own kitchen with us!
Lunch and playing on the beach over we headed back to the campsite at Beddgelert to try and produce a Sunday roast, a touch ambitious maybe but it all worked well.
Read books for a while and then bed.
The only problem so far is that the bed made out of the rear lounge is incredibly hard (or so my wife tells me - I could probably sleep on a concrete slap and not notice), this problem is likely to be solved by investing in a couple of Raskelf Duvalays.
The harbour car park was shut - so we ended up doing a couple of laps of the castle before deciding that we could fit in a parking space on the road outside the entrance to the castle (no restrictions on Sunday - 30 minutes on any other day).
We had a good look round the castle, (www.caernafon.com) it is definitely well worth the visit, although our daughter was upset that there was no princess living there.
We then headed towards the coast and found a great parking place overlooking Foryd Bay at the Y Foryd Local Nature Reserve - it looked like a great place to wild camp but there was signage that suggested no overnight camping - actually, the text said something about not launching boats and the graphics seemed to have something to do with not setting fire to tents - your guess is as good as mine.
It was a great place to stop for lunch made even better by the fact that we were carrying our own kitchen with us!
Lunch and playing on the beach over we headed back to the campsite at Beddgelert to try and produce a Sunday roast, a touch ambitious maybe but it all worked well.
Read books for a while and then bed.
The only problem so far is that the bed made out of the rear lounge is incredibly hard (or so my wife tells me - I could probably sleep on a concrete slap and not notice), this problem is likely to be solved by investing in a couple of Raskelf Duvalays.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Off to Snowdonia
And now for the first trip ...
Our first trip started inauspiciously with me realising that I had left the hose for filling the water tank at the dealer in Bury necessitating a quick phone call to get a refund and a visit to Don Amott's Leisure Kingdom (www.donamott.com).
Then off to Beddgelert; the Garmin Satnav contrived to take us via the most ludcrious route possible which took forever and meant that we arrived at Forest Holidays Beddgelert (www.forestholidays.co.uk) a lot later than we had wanted. Thankfully it didn't take us long to get pitched.
The site was very good, although with it being early in the season it was a bit of a trek to the only facilities block that was open - good thing that we were largely self sufficient. There is also a good motorohome service point. The bit of the site we were on was decidely sloping - not surprising given that the site is on the side of hill - so I was glad of having the levelling ramps.
All pitched and ready we had dinner and had an early night, after promising to take our daughter to see a castle and the seaside the next day.
Our first trip started inauspiciously with me realising that I had left the hose for filling the water tank at the dealer in Bury necessitating a quick phone call to get a refund and a visit to Don Amott's Leisure Kingdom (www.donamott.com).
Then off to Beddgelert; the Garmin Satnav contrived to take us via the most ludcrious route possible which took forever and meant that we arrived at Forest Holidays Beddgelert (www.forestholidays.co.uk) a lot later than we had wanted. Thankfully it didn't take us long to get pitched.
The site was very good, although with it being early in the season it was a bit of a trek to the only facilities block that was open - good thing that we were largely self sufficient. There is also a good motorohome service point. The bit of the site we were on was decidely sloping - not surprising given that the site is on the side of hill - so I was glad of having the levelling ramps.
All pitched and ready we had dinner and had an early night, after promising to take our daughter to see a castle and the seaside the next day.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Day Has Arrived!
We collected our new Autoroller 600 on Friday; for reasons that would take a long time to explain she's named Hettie, although driving away from Emm Bee Caravans in Bury I was starting to think that Golliath would have been more appropriate. She is definitely the biggest thing I have driven for a while.
As we left I noticed the average MPG was a rather alarming 13.4 but it did improve steadily throughout the journey.
After a slow and uneventful journey we arrived home ... apparently by the time we got home I was driving like an old pro (I thing that was a compliment!?). Hettie just about squeezed onto our driveway for the night ready to head off for Snowdonia the next morning.
As we left I noticed the average MPG was a rather alarming 13.4 but it did improve steadily throughout the journey.
After a slow and uneventful journey we arrived home ... apparently by the time we got home I was driving like an old pro (I thing that was a compliment!?). Hettie just about squeezed onto our driveway for the night ready to head off for Snowdonia the next morning.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
One week to go
One week to go until we collect our new motorhome and we’ve spent the day collecting together all of the camping bits and pieces and weighing them to make sure that we don’t exceed the maximum payload. Standing outside the garage weighing things with a set of bathroom scales did get me a few odd looks from passers by.
The first (tame) adventure is booked for Beddgelert next weekend ….. and we’re all really looking forward to it.
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