What a Night !!

I was woken up at 0400hrs this  morning by howling winds....
In actual fact I had been waking up off and on throughout the whole night but a major gust that slammed into the caravan from the east was the final push for me to lower our pop top roof.....
Needless to say after closing the roof I went straight back to bed.....

Getting up at 0830hrs I got up again for coffee and breakfast and at the same time I gave the awning a quick checkover..
This is what I found on the right hand side of the front panel......

Damage to the Awning...

 It's a little difficult to see properly but the wind has ripped the panel where it joins the mud flap along the bottom of the awning where there is an attachment to the rubber pegging ladders...

It will be repairable by my friendly awning repair brothers who are based in Ringwood in Dorset...
They have done repair work for me a couple of times before and their work is excellent... Highly recommended....
(If you need any work done just contact me and I will pass on their details)

In the meantime this afternoon I completed a temporary repair with the campers friend the always useful duct tape......

Looking up to the Aerial at North Hessary....

 Before I tackled that little job though Anne and I had arranged to meet her son Brian and his wife Rachel for a walk out from Princetown on to the moor.... In and around the North Hessary area along an old rail track.....

Four weeks ago Rachel gave birth to Anne's second grandchild a little boy called Harris (after the Scottish Island where there are family connections) and he came too...although I don't know how much he was aware of what was going on as he slept through the entire walk.

It's never too soon to introduce the young-uns to the outdoors life...!!

Walking along the old rail track on the moor......

 He couldn't have had a better introduction to walking on the moor as the wind was still howling away and according to the weather App on my phone the wind chill temperature was about minus 6c.

Anne.. Brian and Rachel plus Harris (No it's not a doll!)

After our walk we all retreated to the warmth and comfort of the Fox Tor Cafe in Princetown for coffee and cake.... 
Even during our vist to the cafe Harris didn't wake up at all however by all accounts he is not so sleepy when it comes to night time and he doesn't need howling winds to keep him awake as I do.... 

Those of you who have been walking and backpacking with me on Dartmoor will recognise the Fox Tor cafe in the image below...
We have enjoyed many a very tasty breakfast here over the years.....

The Fox Tor Cafe popular with both Walkers and Cyclists...

It CAN be a Fantastic place to be.......

Yesterday(Sunday)...... after what seems like weeks of wet weather we had an absolutely stunning day... 
Yes it was cold but it wasn't raining and the sun shone bright for most of the day...
Oh... if only every winters day was as good as that we could be out enjoying walking on the moor every day.....

A great winters day at the Tavistock Site (our unit is on the far left)

 The trouble with lovely sunny winter days with clear blue skies is that the nights can be freezing cold and last night was no exception.....
The night was very cold indeed with a very heavy frost this morning.

Normally we have the heating set not much above the lowest setting but last night I actually had to turn it up a bit which is most unusual for us... Mind you we were really cosy tucked up in Eva the Eriba.....
One of the benefits of having a smaller caravan is that it makes it so easy to keep it really warm in the middle of winter....... 

We woke up today to another fantastic bright and clear day...  
According to the weather forecast I heard a short while ago the temperature feels colder than it actually is due to a strong north easterly wind but make no mistake it is very bitterly cold....

I have to say when the weather is like this Dartmoor is a fantastic place to be..... however when the weather is bad it can be a horrendous location. 

This morning looking up at the moor from the 'glamping' Ready-Camps on site...

 This morning the BBC's Breakfast programme even had a feature live from up on the moor showing everyone how wonderful  Dartmoor CAN  be at this time of the year when the weather is dry sunny and cold......
However... we were told that the dry, sunny but cold weather could well change with snow being mentioned in all the TV and radio weather forecasts....

With the possibility of snow in mind we headed off to the local supermarket in the town in order to top up our supplies.....
If we do get snow we want to make sure that we are able to sit it out if we get snowed in.... not that I actually believe that that is a real possibility.

Live cable left plugged in.......

Now for a bit of a Grumpy moan.....

Check out the picture above... this always amazes me.......
I see this happening a lot on the various sites that we visit throughout the year.....

The motorhome on this pitch has gone out for the day and left his cable plugged in to the power supply allowing the 'live' end to just dangle around on the ground.....

Both The Camping and Caravanning Club and The Caravan and Motorhome Club  have a number of information sheets advising people on the best and safest way to use the electrical connections....
Two of the points they make are :-
1) Remove your cable from the power supply first before disconnecting the cable from your unit.....
2) Do not leave a cable plugged into the power supply and not connected to your unit...

Obviously this camper either never reads the safety advice or he chooses to ignore it....
I wouldn't mind betting that when he plugs the cable back into the motorhome he will leave the spare cable coiled up as well ignoring yet another point of safety advice which is:-

3) Ensure that you completely un-coil the power cable when in use on your unit.....

I won't bother to bore you all with the reasons to follow this safety advice as it seems obvious to me......

Grumpy moan over..!!