If I Had A Bike Shop......

If I had a bike shop (not that I'm ever likely to have one) I think the choice of name would be pretty important....

Often as we travel around I see various independent bike shops with interesting names but the one I saw last week in Dawlish in Devon has to be my current number one.........

I would be interested to hear of your favourite bike shop name.......

More Moor........

Within half an hour of Gids and Angie leaving the site another friend turned up for a stay with us......
Peter Calcutt who I have known for many years from our connection with the Backpackers Club drove down from Bournemouth for a one night stay sleeping in his Hilleberg Akto tent.....

He shared the entire tent field with just one other tent......mind you having the entire field in which to choose a pitch doesn't make life any easier as we spent a good ten minutes trying to pick out the most level and smooth part of the field on which he could pitch his 6'x3' shelter......

We had a good time...catching up on the latest gossip....downing a few beers and eating lots of food prepared by Anne.....
We even managed to fit in a couple of walks on the moor.....
One up to Pew Tor which overlooks our campsite and another to Great Mis Tor.

Great Mis Tor has been called one of the grandest hills in Devon and lies above the River Walkham about four miles north-east of Princetown.....The Tor stands at an elevation of 538m (1,765ft). I had actually walked up this Tor with Gideon just a couple of days before...

Pew Tor sits high on Whitchurch Common and can be seen from all angles on this part of the moor...The summit is made up of three large granite stacks plus a number of smaller stacks.
Although sitting at a lower elevation than Great Mis Tor at 317m (1040 ft) it provides outstounding views all around ......

It is always good to have friends come and visit us on site and I look forward to meeting up with Peter again when Anne and I visit the C&CC site at Verwood in April......

I have posted a few images below taken on our Tor walks together.......

At Last ...Caught up again...

Some twenty six years and more ago I had a walking buddy who I did quite a few long distance walks with...
We did the Pembrokshire Coast Path.....The West Highland Way.... The SouthWest Coast Path...and many more trips of various distances....
As time went on and pressures of work and family grew we saw less of each other and about fourteen years ago we lost touch completely....

Well the other day my buddy Gideon tracked me down via the internet leaving a message on this blog and also google+.

Well I was really amazed to find out that he and his partner Angie have followed a similar path to the one that Anne and I are on ie: fulltiming in a motorhome /caravan and living life to the full.
The big difference is that Gids and Angie have decided to do it whilst still relatively young Gids being just fifty one years of age....

They sold their lovely four bedroomed house and stepped away from the pressures of life and work (he was an Estate Agent) and are now doing seven months of seasonal work with the Camping & Caravanning Club in order to help fund the five months of touring that they will be doing each year over the winter months...

Last Wednesday Gids and Angie arrived here on site for a three night visit so that we could catch up with each other and I must say that we had a fantastic reunion meet-up.

Gids & Angie with their Motorhome & Smart Car that gets towed behind.

During their short stay down here we managed to down a few beers including some gin & tonics for Angie and also managed to fit in a great takeaway chinese meal which was consumed in the luxury of their motorhome.......

It was great having this unexpected meet-up with a really good old friend and we had plenty to catch up on as well as looking back at some of those great walks that we did together years ago...we even managed to fit in a short walk together with Gids dog Molly as well.....

Like me.... Gids is posting a blog and you can catch up with his travels at :-       gidsandangieontheroad.wordpress.com

I will add his blog to my 'purple blog list' on the right hand column here at purpletraveller.....

Anne & I have promised to drop by for a short stay at the site that they will be working on towards the end of the summer season.... Obviously that visit will be reported on here at PT. 

Rumours Of My Death........

Yes...To (roughly) quote Mark Twain....

"The rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated".

We are still here on Dartmoor alive and just about kicking.....

In my last post way back in early December I said "As soon as I can... I hope to be back out on the bike and do just that".

The 'just that' was referring to improving my hill climbing abilities.

Well that has just not happened.....

Since that post we have been back and forth to the Bournemouth and Wimborne area attending various medical scans....tests and check ups. 

Due to all the medical rubbish I have not been able to get out on the bike at all...

When not travelling I have had to take things a bit easier than I normally do.....

With all of the above I have not had anything to report on this blog..... I really didn't want to bore you all with all the medical stuff and as that has really dominated our overwinter stay down here on Dartmoor I decided to take a break from the internet.......

However we are now into our last five weeks down here before we hitch up and hit the road again for the upcoming season....... 

Although I have to have yet another scan in April plus having a medical procedure carried out

it does seem as if we are seeing some light at the end of this gloomy tunnel....

So I am back and will start to blog again as more and more interesting things start to happen....

It's good to be hitting the computer keys again...!

I have missed it and all my regular readers.......