Thursday 31 May 2012

Back home.....

Arrived at Cheltenham through the rain and grey skies without any dramas and easily found the lovely site   http://www.briarfields.net/ Our planned stay was for a few weeks so we set up camp like the seasoned travellers we have become. Within half an hour the water and waste plumbing was sorted, outside essentials of flooring and furniture in place and the kettle was on! We were able to surprise some friends on site with our unannounced arrival, so good to catch up with these four fellow motorhomers. That's Rosie Whizz, Big Nige, Suzie and Oscar. First time we have seen each other wearing arctic clothing and without blazing sunshine. It continued to rain for days but when the sun came out so did we, exploring the wonderful surroundings of Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Cotswolds. A big thank you to Rosie and Nige for their hospitality, taking us to visit places of interest and giggles along the way.     




Big Nige and Mr H have resumed their pratting about and fishing expeditions making the most of sunny days. I am informed that Mr H is back on form, his latest trips resulting in landing carp from 6lb (below) up to 18.5lb and not a carrier bag in sight. 


Whilst the lads were fishing Rosie and I cycled in the sunshine to the racecourse to join thousands of locals young and old to witness the arrival of the Olympic torch. After several hours of very loud and varied entertainment our backsides became numb but we didnt care. At one point we considered crowd surfing into the mosh pit in front of the stage but decided we would need better underwear to pull it off gracefully.  We cheered and whooped with the masses as the torch arrived held aloft by Zara Philips on her Olympic champion horse! Would have been even more impressed if she'd managed to get the horse up the steps and onto the stage.


Stuart and Kay arrived at Briarfields as planned to hand over their RV to it's new owner before returning to Spain to live. After a few manic days of polishing and locker-emptying activity we all went out for an indian and the odd beer just so they could sit down! When their RV bounced away with its new owner we waved Stuart and Kay off in their car with plans to meet up in Spain. 

Despite the bad weather we hired a car for a week and enjoyed visiting family. The big boot was a godsend as we took several layers of clothes! Very cold but the sun did come out eventually. Returned with posh, manicured hands, a new handbag and no washing or ironing, result!!

Managed to catch up with Dave and Di from Wolverhampton before they went on holiday and planned to meet up again in Spain later in the year. On to Wolverhampton for a night of forecourt squatting. This is always dangerous as we got to look around the new ACE! mmmmm....... Nice to see the Signature lads again even though I had to bleach the works toilet before daring to use it and Mr H left with a lighter wallet.

With the Bus all sorted we headed cross country to a site near Wisbech http://www.virginialake.co.uk/  where we stayed for a few nights expecting to pick up our new trailer. As 'luck' would have it there is a fishing lake on site and Mr H had a bumper day catching dozens of fish including 12 carp. Never seen so many hungry fish willing to throw themselves on the hook!


I even landed my first carp, couldnt touch it though!!  :0