Sorry for this week's posting being three days late but like the rest of the UK last weekend saw the arrival of storm Ciara and our internet connection disappeared..
We were forced to stay in the van for a couple of days..
Living in a small tin box is one thing but when you are forced by the weather to stay inside a space that is smaller than a prison cell for more than 24 hours you really do start to comprehend the term 'cabin fever'.
Our 'Jolly Roger' flag flying on the front of our A-frame was beyond flapping..for most of the time it was blown absolutely straight.
As I have mentioned before, our pitch faces SSW overlooking the Tamar valley so we were getting the full force of the storm..
Luckily with the pop-top roof closed and the aerodynamic shape of the Eriba the wind seems to blow over the van quite well and if the direction of the wind does change we are well protected by trees from all other points of the compass ...
One morning I was looking out of the front of the caravan when a porch awning came flying over the dividing hedge and started to roll over and over between the caravans in our touring van section ...
Next thing I saw was the owner of the awning come running around the hedge trying to catch his awning.
Luckily a couple of of campers managed to catch it and managed to tie it down to a service bollard.
The strength of the wind was such that the owner found it impossible to get it back to his van and had to leave it tied down in a spare pitch and retrieve it later when there was a slight lull in the wind .
I managed to get a picture of sorts of the goings on but it is a bit blurry due to being taken through a front window of the Eriba ....You can see the awning being caught and tied down in the lower left of the photo ..
Looking at the forecast for this coming weekend I can see that we could well have a replay of last weekend with another storm coming in so it could be more 'fun' on the horizon.......Maybe next week's posting could be delayed as well..
We were forced to stay in the van for a couple of days..
Living in a small tin box is one thing but when you are forced by the weather to stay inside a space that is smaller than a prison cell for more than 24 hours you really do start to comprehend the term 'cabin fever'.
Our 'Jolly Roger' flag flying on the front of our A-frame was beyond flapping..for most of the time it was blown absolutely straight.
Luckily with the pop-top roof closed and the aerodynamic shape of the Eriba the wind seems to blow over the van quite well and if the direction of the wind does change we are well protected by trees from all other points of the compass ...
One morning I was looking out of the front of the caravan when a porch awning came flying over the dividing hedge and started to roll over and over between the caravans in our touring van section ...
Next thing I saw was the owner of the awning come running around the hedge trying to catch his awning.
Luckily a couple of of campers managed to catch it and managed to tie it down to a service bollard.
The strength of the wind was such that the owner found it impossible to get it back to his van and had to leave it tied down in a spare pitch and retrieve it later when there was a slight lull in the wind .
I managed to get a picture of sorts of the goings on but it is a bit blurry due to being taken through a front window of the Eriba ....You can see the awning being caught and tied down in the lower left of the photo ..
Looking at the forecast for this coming weekend I can see that we could well have a replay of last weekend with another storm coming in so it could be more 'fun' on the horizon.......Maybe next week's posting could be delayed as well..
9 comments:
I dont envy you stuck in the van as I find it hard enough being confined to the house. Luckily I was able to get out last Saturday for a ride as there was a lull and it turned out to be a fine day. But then came Sunday, a different story. This weekends forecast isn't good here either. Stay safe.
PS if you're stuck in the van I can recommend Emily Chappells book "Where there's a will there's a way"
@Dave
Yes Dave I see that storm Dennis is on it's way to entertain us this coming weekend.
In actual fact we had bad weather last night with very strong winds and thunderstorms overhead.
Thanks for the book recommendation but I have read her book (very good) and also her book about life as a courier, 'What goes around' I think it was called.
I spent my enforced confinement in the van studying an advanced course in digital photography so that I can then break all the rules in my own images. 🙂
I've always been scary of storms.
Glad you've managed to stay safe during the Ciara.
Wishing you no replay of the storm!
@Duta
It's the wind that I am always concerned about more than anything....
We are now waiting for another storm to arrive ... Storm Dennis is due to arrive sometime overnight.
Sorry to hear you've been stuck inside, I was wondering how you were getting on in all the storms. Are you managing to sleep at night?
@Peter
Hi Peter....
We are managing OK with the storms... I am pleased that we no longer put up an awning during the winter months as that would just push stress levels into the red zone. Seeing that awning come tumbling over the hedge just brought all the stress of winter awning use come flooding back :-)
Anne manages to sleep through all the storms but I do get woken by the noise and buffeting of the wind although after five years full-time touring and a lifetime of small tent camping I am pretty well used
to it...
Good to see you spent your time nicely tucked up inside your van with a camera while the others battled to save his awning lol. I suppose someone had to photograph it for posterity! We too were worried about the winds, moving off of our pitch (under a huge tree) and parking in between the office and a large conifer hedge. kept us safe and out of the winds. Back on the pitch now and should put the awning up and set ourselves up for the summer early next week. can’t wait for this rain to stop so that the site can dry our a bit, it is so boggy underfoot.
@Gids...
Ha..ha... I was about to go out and grab it (honest!!) when I saw other people already grabbing it. A photo seemed to be the only way to go plus as you say I was tucked up nice and warm and dry in the van
😊😊😊
A sensible move to get out from under a large tree. I never like to park under trees ... When we were at Devizes once a branch fell off a tree and almost hit the van next to us but the owner heard the noise and managed to pull it away from his van as it fell avoiding serious damage.
We won't be putting our awning up until we leave here in mid April it gives me too much stress with an awning up in these huge storms .. When did you arrive back on site??
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