Sunshine..A Rasberry and on the Road Again......

Well the past 28 days have flown by....
It doesn't seem possible that we have been here at the Verwood C&CC site for almost a month....

In the main we have enjoyed some very nice weather although our first week here was a little bit 'iffy' with some sudden bursts of very heavy rain... Since then though it has been pretty well perfect camping weather.... It's probably too much to hope that this good weather will continue throughout the summer but it would be great if it did.......

This weekend Peter Calcutt and his wife Alison came over to join us on site and show us their new caravan....
It is a Freedom Caravan......Alison bought it and also chose the colour hence the rasberry red metallic finish.

My other mate Gideon showed Peter & Ali to their pitch and then came up to my caravan to let me know that they had arrived.
I made my way down to their pitch and this is what I saw..........

Peter &Ali errecting the awning...

 Peter and Ali were in the middle of errecting their awning..... Literally in the middle of errecting it...actually in the middle of the awning. All I could see was the awning seemingly moving around on it's own... Every so often one of the panels would stick out and then another one and then the whole structure seemed to collapse in on itself before rising up again.....
Peter and Ali were both inside it and I must admit that the whole thing was very funny to watch....... 

Awning up and attached to the 'Rasberry'

 Eventually everything was sorted and I was treated to a walk through of the new van.....
The colour certainly attracts attention and I don't think that it would ever be lost amongst all the other caravans on a busy site.......

That evening Ali prepared a very nice meal which we all enjoyed together..... it was a warm evening so we were able to eat our meal sat out in front of the awning.....

Over the past three years Anne and I have seen a number of 'Freedom Caravans' on various sites but this is the first red one that we have seen. 
Apparently it is a Limited Edition for the 2018 model year and next year another colour will be introduced....

Peter and Ali ordered it at last year's Caravan and Motorhome show and I believe that theirs was the first to be delivered in the UK.....

Peter... Ali...& the Rasberry leaving the site.

Sunday lunch time came around all too quickly....
All too soon it was time for Peter & Ali to head off back home....

It had been a quick one night visit but nonetheless enjoyable.....

The next time that we hope to meet up again will be in August when we will be pitched at an Adult only site in Suffolk.........
What better place to be during the school summer holidays than pitched on an Adults only caravan site..Lol.

After Peter and Ali had left the site Anne and I started to pack kit away and take down our own awning........  Tomorrow we are on the road again. 

This time we are heading for a small Certificated five caravan site near Chichester West Sussex...... We are booked in for two weeks.
With another Bank Holiday next weekend we decided that we fancied being on a small 'Hideaway' site as we hope that it will be quieter than being on one of the Clubs main sites.....

Apparently i-net connection is not good there so there could be a bit of a delay in replying to comments and also making my next blog post.......

Tenth Birthday and Good Weather.....

Yesterday was the tenth birthday of this Blog.....
Over the past ten years 'The Original PurpleTraveller' has covered lots of different subjects such as saddle comfort.... favourite tents for backpacking....the pain endured on long distance bike rides against the clock.... caravan life and lots more.....

When it was first started I had thought that it might be a platform for friends to follow what was going on and keep in touch when I was away on some hair brained challenge either on the bike or backpacking or something else......
The truth is that has not really been the case.....

In the main friends don't drop in on the blog all that often but new internet friends have been made and some of those have been regular followers for many years and in turn I have followed their blogs with interest......

I have always made a point of answering any comments left on the blog because I feel that if people have made the effort to read my ramblings and then made the extra effort to leave a comment then the least that I can do is acknowledge that fact.....

How many more years will I continue to make posts on this blog?
That is a difficult one to answer....... 
i suppose I might wake up one morning and decide enough is enough and stop posting entries for good.....

I do go through periods of not having much to say and during those periods obviously make fewer posts and then something happens and I think to myself that I must put that on the blog.....

Anyway..... I would like to say to all those readers out there who drop by on a regular basis "Thanks you are what it is all about"

Since my last post the weather has improved no end and like almost everywhere else in the country we had a stunning Bank Holiday weekend.......

The site was quite busy over the weekend.....
The lower field was the busiest as can be seen in the first picture below.......

The busy lower field...

 By Monday afternoon the lower field was almost empty..... They had come...camped....and gone again!!

Monday afternoon and most campers had gone.....

 So what did we do over the Bank Holiday.......
We kept off the roads.....took the front panel of the awning down and sat around in the sun enjoying all the nice weather....

Good enough weather to take the awnings front panel down....

Oh..! One last thing......
I have now brought Fiona the Felt out of her winter hibernation and am now enjoying the wonders of Full Carbon & Dura-Ace rides.......

Fiona the Felt....My summer ride now out on the road......