It's been a while........

Yes it has been a while since I have posted anything on this blog.... But I have had reasons which I will try and update you with as concisely as possible...

My last post was made when we were still at the Verwood site....

From there we moved to the CandCC site at Moreton...... 

While we were at Moreton I attended my annual MRI scan with a follow up appointment with my cardiac consultant due a few days before we were due to head off back down to Devon....

About two weeks before we were due to leave Moreton we were informed that the arrangements we had made for winter had fallen through due to over running building work where we had planned to stay.... 

This left us with a bit of a problem as we now had nowhere booked for our winter season.....

Obviously there are sites open all year round but I didn't want to be moving on every few weeks over the winter as there is nothing worse than packing up and setting up when the weather is bad like it is as I write this post. Even worse is travelling in snow and ice which is always a possibility.....

This really had created a bit of a headache for us over our winter plans......the first time since we had started touring throughout the year.....

In the end we decided that we would book in at Tavistock for 28 days while we looked for an alternative winter pitch....

The next thing that happened was at my appointment with the cardiac consultant I was informed that I have been diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiocmyopathy (HCM).

This is a genetic condition that can be passed on in families and is often the cause of sudden death in younger sports people and others who have shown no previous heart conditions...

I was told that I needed to inform my 'bloodline' relatives of the condition and advise them to get tested to see if they also have the gene mutation themselves.....

This could have an impact on both my grandsons if it is eventually shown that they have the condition as they are both very keen on sport....

For my part I have been told that I must keep my heartrate within strict zones and must not allow my heartrate to exceed 85% of max HR at any time. 

I have also been told that I must not attempt another cycling ride like the 10in10 and no more riding over the Alps...... This is a great pity as I had planned a trip for 2020 to do just that... I will now have to come up with something much easier...

I have also had to update my cycling heartrate monitor to one that has flashing coloured lights and beeps and buzzes all the time in order that I am made aware exactly of my HR at all times....

This is going to have a huge impact on my passion of cycling as I will have to stop all forms of competitive riding from now on and that includes riding against my own times......

As if the above wasn't enough.... I was just a few miles down the road after we had left Moreton on route to Devon when I glanced in one of my rear mirrors only to see that the pop top had 'popped up' at the front...

I pulled over into a layby to investigate and found that both of the clips that hold the roof down had snapped causing the front of the roof to rise up and the whole roof was jammed solid in this position.

I couldn't pull the roof back down at the front as it was totally jammed solid....

Result was that most of the journey to Tavistock was made at 35 miles an hour as I didn't want to cause any damage to the roof structure itself..... 

The journey took a good hour and a half longer than normal as on top of my slow speed I had to keep pulling over to allow traffic that was behind me to pass. 

Luckily there was no wind that day as that could have also added to the speed of the air hitting the roof and causing damage even at the slow speed of 35 miles an hour.
It really was the worst towing journey that I have ever had and it didn't do much for my heart rate either..... 

I was so glad to finally arrive at the Tavistock site where eventually I was able to access the correct tools to undo the rear clips and release the roof.....

Automotive Leisure sent me replacement front clips which arrived the very next day but the price was £135...Ouch!!!!
Interestingly I had to cut the hook part of the new clips down by a few mm in order to get them to fit.....this had apparently been done with the old ones at the factory before delivery of the van. Wihout cutting them down they wouldn't be able to be hooked under the fittings on the van. You can see what I am talking about in the second image below...
They told me to hold on to the broken clips so it can be investigated as to why they both snapped as this is something that just shouldn't happen. They will be chcking this out when the van goes in for it's next service in April.....

After spending four weeks at the Tavistock site (which just isn't the same since the previous managers Craig and Caroline moved to Canterbury) we have now moved to our new winter pitch at a site at Crapstone which is only about 4 miles from Tavistock.
Actually that's what the past couple of months have been...Crapstone without the 'stone'.

Anyway.....hopefully things will get a bit more back on track now and  I should get back to posting on the blog more frequently....

One of the broken clips...

New clip on the left...one of the broken clips on the right. 

Where we are now.....says a bit about the last couple of months :-)

Bling...Bling......Riding On Gold.......

I mentioned in my last post the fact that my winter bike....Tiffany the Tifosi was back from the workshop after having had a new cassette and chain fitted.....

A few years back when I swapped out the original saddle and bar tape for a matching set of Brooks leather saddle and tape in that gorgeous warm honey colour I also added a gold coloured chain......
When I replaced the chain this time I naturally made certain that only a gold chain was fitted.... 

I think that the gold chain matches the Brooks honey colour really well and also gives the bike a bit of bling....
The other thing that I find the Brooks colours and gold chain seem to go with are the Autumn colours...
As it is always Autumn when I start to ride this bike again there seems to be a bit of balance to the whole thing which I find almost comforting....

Enjoy your Autumn bike rides.......

Tiffany the Tifosi

The New Gold Chain

Another View of the Autumn Bling...

Time to Swap Bikes.....

We have now been back at the Verwood C&CC site for two weeks.....

Since arriving here my time has been spent catching up with family....getting my car serviced.... getting me serviced by way of my regular scans at the hospital.... watching the Vuelta and the Tour of Britain on TV and getting out riding my bike.......

It has been a good year for me as far as cycling goes..... I really enjoy getting out around the country cycling in all different areas.... It was good when a cycling buddy of mine Peter Calcutt met up with me a couple of times when Anne and I were in Suffolk.....

Throughout the summer I tried to improve my cycling abilities in various disciplines so that when we got to the area of the Surrey hills I would be able to produce some reasonable times over mixed terrain....

A couple of snapshots of my bike computer figures are shown below....
The first one is of a 20mile circuit from the campsite we were staying at over quite a lumpy course........18.4mph avg speed..... wind speed approx 12 - 15mph.

Fiona the Felt on her last ride of 2018

The second set of figures was over what I thought would be a 100mile route. I actually completed 94.18miles.
I had miscalculated the route a little but when I finished I really didn't feel the need to do the extra 5+ miles... 
Years ago I would have gone back out and topped those miles up but at my age now I feel that it doesn't really matter to me so much.....
16.32 avg speed with a similar wind speed as above....Time taken was 5hrs 46mins.

Watching the pros at the Vuelta and the Tour of Britain makes my efforts look a bit feeble but as Anne is always quick to point out to me I am now over seventy years of age and I am not a pro.......
The average speed that the pros manage to achieve is just mind blowing I would love to be able to get close to their efforts but sadly that will never happen no matter how hard I try......

The third photo above is of my summer bike the Felt on the last ride that I will use it on this year......
My winter bike...the Tifosi.... has just come back from my favourite bike shop after having a full service and a change of chain and cassette so it is time to swap bikes and pack the Felt away for the winter.....

The Tifosi although being my winter bike is also the bike that I used to cycle the Ten Countries in Ten Days ride finishing with an ascent of the Ghisallo from the shores of Lake Como back in 2013..... I have a real soft spot for the bike.
It is my go to bike for most occasions and if I could only keep one of my three bikes it is the one that I would choose even though it cost a fraction of the Felts price tag........

Back To Normal.......

Yes.....Everything seems to be back to normal on the weather front.....
The recent bank holiday was in the full UK tradition of wet and windy..... 
All the good weather that we enjoyed for the past couple of months seemed  long gone as we hunkered down on Bank Holiday Sunday and like most other people on the site stayed within the confines of our awning and caravan........

Our view from the awning can be seen below.......

Traditional Bank Holiday Weather

One of the benefits of the bad weather was that all the kids on site were also confined to their tents and caravans/motorhomes.
Now don't get me wrong......it must be hugely disappointing for both the kids and their parents when they go for a weekend camping and the weather is really bad but I am looking at it from our perspective......

We have spent a lot of the summer on an adults only site and coming back to a C&CC site is a real shock to the system......

The privately owned adults only site was peaceful at all times..... All of the site rules were followed and if not were enforced...everyone knew where they stood..... 
The facilities were kept clean by both the owners and the campers as was the site......
All of this made our stay more enjoyable.

Our current C&CC site is a very nice site and has first class facilities and like all club sites everyone is given a leaflet setting out details about the site and a few rules such as the quiet times on site etc.....

One of the rules here is that Ball Games, Frisbees and Kites are not allowed on site.
However, even parents have been seen kicking balls about with their kids..... perhaps they can't read or for some reason they feel that it doesn't apply to them.....

If you look at the picture above you can see that it is quite a reasonable rule as the units are quite close to each other with no open space on which to kick a ball about.
A kicked ball can cause damage to a caravan or even a car........

There is a 5mph speed limit on site but for some reason this doesn't apply to kids who race around the site at breakneck speed.....
They are not supposed to ride around the toilet facility buildings.... but I stepped out of the building yesterday only to be slammed into by a future Mark Cavendish on his little toddlers bike.....

Lukily I escaped without any lasting injury but it could well have been a different story with an older and more frail camper....... Parental supervision??? 
That seems to be left at the gates of the site.....

Toilets not flushed....toilet paper everywhere..... noise till late at night..... I could go on...

Now kids will be kids and that's fine but it seems that when on sites the parents are quite happy for their kids to go off and play with no supervision at all as long as they play outside someone else's unit......  
A lot of parents don't seem to know...or don't care what their children are up to as long as they don't bother them.......

The attitude seems to be they are away camping so that they can do whatever they want with no thought for any other campers on the site......

The above is not just my opinion either....talking to other campers on various sites over the past few years this seems to be a widespread observation......

Now we knew that it would be like this as we were obviously aware that our two weeks stay here was still within the school holiday period but as I said above it is still a bit of a shock to the system.......

It is a pity that the Camping and Caravanning Club don't have an adults only area on sites like some commercial sites......
We have decided that as from next year we will be seeking out more adult only sites on which to stay.........

Now that I have written this post I will ride my bike at 5mph out of the site for a peaceful evening ride....

View across the lake at our current site...

Fifty Six Days.....Gone!

Tomorrow we move on from Suffolk....
We have been in Suffolk for fifty six days and now those fifty six days are gone......
We can't believe that our two month stay in this part of the country is now over...... the time has really flown by.
What has helped of course in making the time fly by was the brilliant weather that we have all enjoyed this summer.....
One of the reasons I have not been posting on the blog as often as I have in the past is because I have been enjoying myself  so much..... If truth be told I would rather be out riding my bike in the good weather than sitting at the computer hitting the keys.......

During the latter part of our stay here my friend Peter Calcutt was also visiting the area and we met up a couple of times for a bike ride..... I always enjoy meeting up with Peter and what can be better than a cycle ride.....a natter with a mate.....and a coffee and cake stop........

Obviously in the time spent in the county Anne and I have visited lots of different interesting places and to make up for my fewer blog posts I will be telling you more about our stay in Suffolk over the quieter winter period.......

So where are we heading tomorrow...?
We are going to spend a couple of weeks in the Surrey hills/North downs so I can do some cycling in that area......
As a youngster I used to spend a lot of time cycling from my then home in Feltham and heading for places such as Dorking.....Leatherhead etc.....
One of my regular rides used to be out to Box Hill and back. I have not ridden up Box Hill for well over fifty years so it is about time that I rode up the hill again.......

Reflection on my Summer.......

Eribatastic......

Earlier this week we enjoyed the first rain that we have had since we were at the Osiers campsite back in May......
Since then with all the lovely dry weather I have been managing to get out on the bike almost every other day. It has certainly been a great summer so far for getting out and about on the bike......

One of the things that I really enjoy as we travel around the country staying at various campsites is meeting up with other Eriba owners...
It is really interesting seeing all the different models of Eriba that have been available over the years and most owners are happy to show you around their pride and joy.....

Below are just a few of the Eriba Touring vans that we have seen on our travels this year....
Eribatastic...........

Eriba Familia from the 1980s with matching awning.

A 2015 Eriba Triton

A 1983 Eriba Troll (An early cousin to my own Eva the Eriba)

A visitor from the Netherlands - A Puck.

A 1985  Eriba Familia

A very sharp Eriba Puck....

Who Needs an Estate Agent...?

 We have now re-located just 35 miles from Polstead to Hollesley which is East of Woodbridge in Suffolk....
Our stay at Polstead was first class the same as when we stayed there last year.....
A lovely site and really helpful owners.....

The area is just made for cycling and I was out on the bike every other day covering between 40 to 60 miles each ride.
The weather has been very hot like most of the country although listening to the forecasts and news it would seem that East Anglia has 
had the hottest weather of all....

Riding in the heat is OK as you have the breeze moving over your body to help to cool you down..... it is when you stop that you can really feel the heat so I always try and choose to stop in the shade.

As I have already said the Suffolk area is great for cycling  and I have seen lots of other riders out on the roads.... Not just 'Roadies' either....  Lots of Touring and MTB riders as well.

Our move to our current site went well and in just over an hour of leaving Polstead we were setting up the caravan and awning again.
We are only a mile and a half from the coast here and it is a wild section of coast with shingle beaches and marshes which are ideal for bird watching and wild coastal walks.....

The day after we arrived Anne and I decided to walk to the coast and explore the coastline a bit. 
We were climbing down a small bank to get to a lower footpath when Anne slipped and twisted her ankle..... 
It was now proving difficult for Anne to walk properly as it was quite painful for her. As luck would have it we met an old local couple who were also out for a walk and they suggested that they would drive us back to the campsite....
They were full of information about the area and even took us to see a 'Martello Tower' a mile down the road before dropping us off back at our site....
Things like that help to restore my faith in human nature......

One of the things that I enjoy as I cycle around the Suffolk roads and lanes is checking out some of the really lovely houses in the county.....
It made me think that you don't need an estate agent if you are looking for a house just get out on your bike and ride around and you will see some really nice properties...
A couple of my favourites are shown below....

Getting a Clearer View......

We have been in Suffolk for three weeks now and like most of the country the weather continues to be stunning.....
I have been getting out on the bike every other day usually going out in the morning and getting back about 1300hrs just in time to have a shower  grab some lunch (and over this past week) settle down to an afternoon of watching the Tour de France......

Doing a lot of regular riding and also seeing all the pro riders taking part in the Giro d'Italia some weeks ago got me thinking again about riding/sunglasses....
Over a number of years now I have kept promising myself a pair of Oakley glasses....

Up to now I have used Tifosi Eyewear riding glasses..... Although they have had some quite good reviews in the cycling press my reason for choosing them was because they had the same name as my training bike the 'Tifosi' silly I know but I am being honest here Ha...Ha...
Although they seemed to do the job I always wondered whether Oakleys would be better,,,,,

The Tifosi glasses were mid priced and I must admit that every time I thought about a pair of Oakleys it was the price that put me off.... I felt that I just couldn't justify spending somewhere in the region of between £120 to £200 on a pair of sunglasses...
I didn't believe that the gain (if any) would be worth the expense....

Anyway when we were back in Canterbury I passed an independent optician and they had a large selection of Oakleys on display in their window....

Now independent shops I like rather than a national chain.... the display in the window was really eye catching too so I ventured in...

I tried on a number of different styles but the pair that I really liked was the style that I have being thinking about for a couple of years..... the Oakley Jawbreaker.
Apparently Mark Cavendish had an input into the design of these.... they are slightly higher above the eyeline than a lot of glasses so that when you are sprinting down on the drops (as Cavendish does) the top of the frame does not obscure any of the view.... not that I intend doing any sprinting down on the drops very often....

The jawbreakers have the 'Prizm Road' lenses which according to all the advertising blurb are supposed to help you spot subtle changes in the texture of the road surfaces.... did I believe all that...no I didn't but I did like the glasses.... I'd been thinking about a pair for a long time so I treated myself and splashed out and bought a pair.....

My Oakley Jawbreakers

So are they any good...?. Are they worth the wedge of cash spent on them....?
Well surprising to say...Yes and Yes.

First of all they our beyond comfortable to wear.... 
The Tifosi's would always seem to press down on my nose no matter how much I adjusted the rubber nose piece and every so often I would have to push them back up my nose a little as they always seemed to slip down..... 
The Jawbreakers have been comfortable from day one with no adjustment required and I have not experienced any slippage on the nose at all.....

The length of the arms can be adjusted in three different positions if needed.
 I have mine on the longest length and they fit perfectly....

As for the claim about spotting subtle changes in the road surface.....well that seems to be true.
I have found that  the clarity of these glasses is superb. I have now used them over about 450 miles of mixed riding and actually look forward to putting them on......

Were they worth the money I spent on them ?
Well from my perspective yes they were.....

The only question I have is why did I leave it so long before buying a pair??

My Oakley Jawbreakers with 'Prism Road Technology' lenses

**NB: I have received no payment or incentive regarding my mention of this product. 

A Short Visit to Canterbury....

Following our stay at Crowborough we then moved on to Canterbury...
Our main reason to visit Canterbury was to visit Craig and Caroline who until January of this year had been the managers at the Tavistock C&CC site where we have spent the past three winters.....
They took over as managers of Canterbury C&CC site in March and we were eager to see them again and see how they were getting on in their new site......

The Canterbury site is very busy with units booking in in large numbers every day.... It tends to be a bit of a transit site with people using it as a starting point for the ferries to mainland Europe..... Also visitors from the ferry use it as their first site before setting off on their tour around the UK.

It was nice to see both Craig & Caroline again.... plus two of their assistants at the site had also been at Tavistock the winter before last,,,,nice to see them all.

Anne and I walked into Canterbury from the site...it only took about 30mins.... and we had a good look around the town which is very interesting and full of history...
As far as the Cathedral goes it really was the Church of England in full retail mode.......

You cannot even get into the Cathedral grounds without paying a substantial admission charge even more to actually see the Cathedral .
The only part of the building that you could see from 'outside' the wall of buildings surrounding it was part of the roof and spire which seemed to be covered in scaffolding anyway...
From outside the Pilgrims gate where lots of Tourists were lining up to hand over their entrance fees you could actually hear pneumatic drills and other building work coming from inside the cathedral so it was not actually selling itself to us as a place of peace and tranquility....
Needless to say we passed on this tourist hotspot...!!!

The Cathedral shop was something that you could access from outside on the street.... from what I could see it was full of typical tourist rubbish.....as I said..... the Cof E in full retail mode.....

We have visited numerous Cathedrals on our travels and at almost all of them you can view the outside of the building from the Cathedral grounds without payment. Some of them have an entrance charge and others request a donation for the upkeep of the building which we have always been happy to pay but a visit to Canterbury felt like the entance to a Theme Park...

What we did find just outside of the city was St Martins church.
This was the first church founded in England......the oldest parish church in continuous use and the oldest church in the English speaking world....
It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is well worth a visit.
A picture of St Martins is shown below......

St Martins Church- Canterbury

 Another place we visited was believe it or not...Ramsgate.
We had a really enjoyable visit to the town with a visit to the Ramsgate Royal Harbour Marina.. The Royal Temple Yacht Club overlooks the marina....
It's quite a cosmopolitan feel to the area around the marina which seems to set it apart from others that we have visited in the past....

While we were there we also walked out to the end of the harbour wall followed by a very nice meal before we set off back to Eva and the site....a journey taken by bus of course..

Part of Ramsgate Royal Harbour Marina.

 We only stayed at the Canterbury site for one week which for us is the shortest time that we have stayed anywhere since we set off in 2015..... But is was a very enjoyable one week.

The day before we left a number of trucks arrived at the site loaded with tents and equipment....
Craig told us that it was an advance party of German youngsters over here to set up a summer camp for more youngsters who were due to arrive the day that we were leaving.....

We watched these youngsters set up the camp...errecting over 25 bell tents plus other tents for kitchen....meeting place....etc...
It was really impressive to watch all these tents go up in double quick time.... each of these young people knew exactly what they had to do with some puttimg down the groundsheets...others laying out the tents....others putting in the centre poles and still more pegging them out. 
It was just like a military operation and as I said it was very impressive to watch all these young people working together as a team..... It reminded me of when I was their age and in the Scouts something which I really enjoyed....

Mind you....with 80 plus youngsters all arriving for their summer camp I was pleased that we were on the move again....

Just half of the full circle of Bell tents for the Summer Camp

Pantiles and Photos.....

Following our trip to Brighton another trip was planned by bus...this time just a few miles up the road to Royal Tunbridge Wells.....

I had never been there before and neither had Anne... I particularly wanted to visit the Pantiles area which is at the lower end of the town....
We decided that we would start at the top of the town and work our way down and finish with the Pantiles.

The town is really like two small towns in one... The upper part is more modern with all the usual shops that you expect to find in any British town. 
If shopping is your thing then you would enjoy a visit to the  Royal Victoria Place Shopping Centre. 
It is not a huge shopping centre but it does have some very nice shops including a branch of Fenwick that also has a nice Terrace Restaurant......`

Working are way down the hill we couldn't resist checking out the various jewellers shops which all had some very nice watches and unusual jewellery on offer......

One thing we noticed was that there are some very nice parks in and around the town and they seem to be very popular with local office workers taking their lunch there..... It's nice to see the parks well cared for and also being enjoyed.......

Eventually we had worked our way down to the older section of the town and the Pantiles.....
Still lots of high end jewellery shops indicating both that this is quite a wealthy area and also that it has a high number of wealthy tourists......

A view of the Pantiles

 The Pantiles has a number of coffee shops and small bistro style businesses as well as pubs and is very much a popular 'cafe culture' area in the town.
I went back to the Pantiles a few days later on a Saturday and the whole area was packed with people sitting outside drinking coffee and much stronger beverages

Another view of the Pantiles

 One of the shops in the Pantiles was an independent camera shop that I couldn't resist visiting...
For some time now I have been thinking about getting a high quality compact camera.....
Over recent years I have gone from DSLR to CSC and a Fuji X-Pro but although each change has given me in the main a smaller camera I still find that due to their size I don't carry them with me on the off chance of a good shot often enough......
These days most of my shots are taken with my phone camera and although ok for the internet the quality is not there if I want to print out a larger print....

Years ago I had a Rollei 35s film camera that I used to carry around everywhere with me. It was a very neat little camera and it was capable of some very good quality shots......
Part of that quality was down to it's Zeiss Sonnar lens..... 

What I was looking for when I entered the shop was something similar in size to the Rollei but digital of course and capable of producing really good shots......

Over the past few moths I have been checking out 'Best Compact Travel Cameras' online and the Sony RX100 series keeps coming up time and time again.

Over the past five years or so Sony has updated the RX100 a number of times and the latest model is the RX100 VI. The thing though with Sony is that when they bring out a new model they keep the previous models still available....

The guy in the shop had a flow chart with each model on it and I used that to highlight my requirements and the model that would suit me best.....
Whichever way I used it, it kept bringing me back to the same model....the RX100 III so I bought one....
4K video and long telephoto were not high on my requirement list and the newer models have improvements in those areas hence the reason the RX100 III kept popping up as more suited to my needs and photographic style.....

I won't bore you with all the technical specs except that it measures just 101.6 x 58.1 x 41.0mm and it weighs in at 290g.
It has 20mp and a 1 inch sensor....... 
I have a little Ricoh CX1 camera that I have had for a number of years and the RX100 III is really no larger than that but a lot more advanced with the larger sensor and higher pixel count and many more fuctions and controls....

A number of the reviews that I have read online that were posted two or three years ago rated the Sony RX100 III "possibly the very best compact camera currently available".
As I said that was a few years ago and things move on rapidly in the photo tech world but I am pretty certain that it will still fullfil my requirements and needs pretty well.

It has been said that the best camera is the one that you have with you.... so with it's small size I am hoping that I will be carrying it everywhere just like I did with my old Rollei 35s....

Retro style camera case for the RX100 series

The two panels on the top plate are Flash in the middle & Pop Up EVF on the right.

Zeiss Vario Sonnar means a quality lens.

**NB: I have received no payment or incentive regarding my mention of this product.**

Trying to Catch Up......

We are currently at the Polstead C&CC site in Suffolk....
We stayed here last year for a couple of weeks and really liked the site but felt that we could have done with more time here. 
This year we have come back to spend 28 days here.... The cycling in the area is first class and with nice walks and a selection of pubs close by it has a lot going for it.....

Unfortunately I am running behind in my posts to the blog and I am trying to catch up so as we are here for a month I hope to be all up to date by the time we move on.

Following our stay at the Osiers CS near Chichester we moved on to the C&CC site at Crowborough....
Now I think that it is fair to say that there is not a lot at Crowborough but our main reason for stopping off for a couple of weeks there was to enable us to visit Royal Tunbridge Wells and also have a trip to Brighton.

I did venture out on my bike when we were there but the condition of the roads was terrible... There were pot holes everywhere and that plus narrow roads and a high volume of traffic made me decide that I wouldn't go out again on the bike during our stay....
So from then on it was walking everyday rather than cycling.......

When we visited Brighton we travelled on the bus.... I find that if I drive I tend to miss out on a lot of the views of the countryside and you can see so much more from the upper deck of a double decker bus..... also when you arrive at your destination you don't have to bother with finding a parking place......

We had a good day out in Brighton visiting the Lanes...the Pier and the Royal Pavilion...
The lanes were packed with lots of small Jewellers Shops with some very high end items for sale. 
Our visit to the pier consisted of having some lunch and a beer and watching some of the braver youngsters taking rides on some of the scary rides..... 
Years ago I might have had a go on those rides but not these days.......

After lunch we then visited the Royal Pavilion.....
It is certainly a very interesting building and Anne had been wanting to visit it for some time....
Some images taken during our visit to the Pavilion are shown below.....

East Marden YHA....A Full Circle....

Last year I told you about my visit to a water mill near St Ives Huntingdon that had been a Youth Hostel that I had visited 55 years earlier while I was on a cycle ride with one of my childhood mates....
Well when we were staying near Chichester a few weeks ago I visited another of the Youth Hostels that I had visited as a youngster.....

This time it was the YHA at East Marden West Sussex.....
I remember the ride quite well...
Leaving home at Feltham Middx which is where we were living at the time the ride consisted of Milford YHA.... East Marden YHA.... Portsmouth YHA.... Southampton YHA.... Hindhead YHA and then back home.

This ride was really like a tester for the ride we did the following year when I visited the Water Mill near Huntingdon and although I remember all of the YHA's we visited on that earlier trip it was the one at East Marden that I remember the most....

I think the main reason for that was because we had met a couple of girls that happened to be staying at the youth hostel when we stayed there and Paul and I were a bit reluctant to have to move on.....
I remember taking a picture of my bike under the old thatched well in the village and also stopping at a bend in the road as we cycled away from the village and looking back at the Youth Hostel.... 

As Anne and I were reasonably close to the village when staying near Chichester I decided to cycle out there for a visit...this would me the first time that I had been back to the village since I was thirteen......

The House That Used To Be East Marden YHA

 The ride out to the village was really enjoyable and it seemed to have hardly changed....
Happily it doesn't seem to have grown at all... no new buildings and everything just as it was all those years ago....
Standing looking at the building that used to be the Youth Hostel that first visit all came flooding back to me.......

East Marden Village Church

 I remembered sitting outside the church eating a 'Fry's Five Boys' chocolate bar while we waited for the Youth Hostel to open on the evening of our arrival. The seat outside the church was still there......

East Marden Thatched Village Mill

 As I sat there eating that chocolate bar we could see the village mill opposite us.....
An image of the mill was used as an ink stamp that you had stamped in your YHA membership card when you visited the hostel.....
It was also used on a badge that you could buy to add to your collection of hostel badges and I remember buying one on the morning that we left the hostel......

Bike Lean Image at the Well...

As Paul and I sat there all those years ago we decided that it would be a good idea to take a photo of each of our bikes under the thatch of the village well.....
In those days the photos were of course in black and white......

On this my 2018 visit to the village I did the same thing..... my current bike is worlds away from the heavy bike that I was riding on that trip as a youngster but I stood it in the exact same spot for the colour shot taken on my phone....

I would never have thought as a thirteen year old all those years ago that I would be re-visiting the village as a seventy year old riding a bike and taking pictures in those same spots......
I really enjoyed my return visit and as I rode away I came to the bend in the road where I had stopped and looked back towards the hostel... I stopped and looked back... the only thing that had changed was that view...the trees have grown and now obscure the hostel...

I remounted my bike and headed back in the direction of Chichester.....

As I rode away the phrase 'Full Circle' entered my thoughts.... I thought of all the rides that I have done since that trip as a youngster and here I was again cycling that same route...In cycling terms it really was a 'Full Circle'

Around Bosham.....

During our stay at the Osiers CScs site we chose to have a little wander around Bosham...
It was quite a few years since I had last been there and Anne had never visited the area ....

Bosham Quay

We walked down to Bosham quay where everyone is told not to leave their car due to how quickly the tide can come in....
The tide was actually out when we were there and as we had walked we had no problems with leaving a car parked on the quay.....

Bosham Mill

 We looked a Boham Mill House... This is a grade 2 listed building which was listed back in 1973.
The Mill is quite an attractive L-shaped building. Timber framed in the north end and largly re-faced with red bricks...
I really love old Mill houses and this one is in very nice condition....

Holy Trinity Church Bosham

We then carried on to view Holy Trinity Church..... The church has a long history dating back to the seventh century it is Saxon in origin.. it is even mentioned in the Bayeux Tapestry...
Anne and I took some time to sit in the churchyard and take in the peace and quiet..... A very tranquil place......

Drive Slowly...Ducks Crossing....

On another walk we headed across the fields to Funtingdon....
On the way we passed a sign warning drivers to go slowly due to Ducks crossing the road..... Not something that you see everyday.... 
`

Funtingdon Church

The route took us through yet another churchyard...this time it was Funtingdon Church....
It was a blazing hot day and we were headed for a pub/restaurant for lunch.....
We had a very nice meal plus a couple of pints of beer for me (Anne just has soft drinks) and then we headed back the way that we had come.....

It's funny how it is always a bit harder walking back after a couple of pints and a meal but we did eventually arrive back at the site where I spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the sun....

A Real Gem......

For the past two weeks we have been staying at The Osiers CS near Chichester.....
We decided to try this little site because the C&CC site at Chichester has building work nearby and this has been causing both noise and dust so that meant we crossed the site off this years list......

The little Osiers Site has won the C&CC best CS as well as the best Hideaway site for a number of years so with the C&CC Chichester site crossed off our list it seemed the obvious choice for us in this area.
I also wanted to try a small CS as although I have stayed on them whilst cycle touring and backpacking I have never taken Eva the Eriba to one......
The middle weekend and following week of our two week stay was a Bank Holiday and half term holiday so we were hoping that the little site would be a haven of peace and quiet and not crammed full as a lot of the larger sites are over the bank and school holidays....

Hideaway can mean tucked away and this site is although it was not difficult to find....

Looking down the Drive to the Entrance from the Road.

 There is a small entrance off the road with an automatic five bar gate and a long narrow drive from the road to the site itself.......
The owners John and Jackie are a really lovely and friendly couple and Jackie was waiting at the end of the drive to see us on to our pitch.......

The little Facilities Block....

 The facilities were situated in a small and attractive building at one end of the site......
There are a couple of toilets and a shower and as this is a five van site these facilities seemed perfectly adequate..... 
There is a small washing up area set into the building as well....

At no time during our stay were the facilities overwhelmed and we never had to wait to use them......

The rear view of an old stable block...Eva and Awning is just to the left.

 The little site is well looked after and John and Jackie have done lots of things to encourage wild life and during our stay we saw many types of birds.....We spent hours watching the birds going in and out of the numerous bird boxes scattered around the site and the swallows swooping around the site gave us hours of pleasure.... 
In the evening the birds were replaced with bats swooping around.....

At the far end of the site there is a small meadow where Jackie keeps the grasses long in order to encourage insects and small creatures like field mice etc......

As well as the pitches for caravans/motorhomes and tents there are also a couple of Yurts setup in a small area of their own.....

This site was a Real Gem of a find and we really enjoyed our stay there.....
As for our desire for a quiet and tranquil site over the bank holiday and school half term break.... well it could not have been better....

It was quiet......
It was tranquil....
It was perfect......
Just see the image below of how uncluttered and quiet the site was.......

Perfect...!!

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.......