Home Again!
7th July, 2000
| We caught the 05:30 shuttle and arrived back in UK, determined to get past the Dartford tunnel and M25 before rush hour. We had the sense to stop at the garage in the Eurotunnel Terminal to get UK currency - otherwise the Dartford Crossing toll would have to be paid in French Francs. We stopped for breakfast at South Mims - disappointing but enough to plug the gap until we arrived back in the Midlands at our container where we had a sandwich. We dumped our excess baggage from the car and caravan and set off to find storage or a campsite for the caravan. We ended up at Cosgrove, which is not far from where we live, but on a pitch with a severe slope. |
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We were far from happy with it, but had little choice as by then we were short of time (getting on for 18.30) to get to our daughter's for dinner. We phoned ahead to arrange a fish and chip supper about 20:30 and made our way back down M1 and M25 to Billericay.
8th July, 2000
After almost a year, it was strange to be back in a house, but we welcomed the added comforts. After a late start, baths and hair wash, followed by shopping (a welcome return to Tesco's) we had a lazy day, followed by an evening concert by Cantabile and sax quartet, followed by strawberries, cakes and tea.
9th July, 2000
Another leisurely start, then an afternoon trip to Battle Bridge, Old Mill Antique Emporium to see stacks of furniture, ornaments, fireplaces, etc. David was amused by the exhibition of old telephones, which included one or two famous quotations, including one from a Post Office Official advising his bosses that the telephone 'would never catch on'.
10th - 16th July, 2000
As our daughter was working during the week, we returned to our caravan at Cosgrove and went into Northampton to attend to some of the minor distractions that had obliged us to return early. Over the next few days, we visited our neighbours, accountant, estate agent, doctor, dentist and optician, before returning to Billericay for the weekend and taking our daughter to Heathrow for her flight to Detroit.
19th - 24th July, 2000
As we still had a couple of weeks before we regained our house, we decided to spend some time at Mother's, in South Wales where a long list of jobs was awaiting our attention. We were, however, well looked after and very comfortable. After a week, we needed to get back to the Midlands to complete various arrangements and get ready to move our furniture back into the house. We took a round-about route and called on David's Aunt Mary in Somerset.
25th July - 1st August, 2000
We spent the week looking up old friends and running various errands. The weather for much of the time since we had been back, was wet and the camp site at Cosgrove was inconvenient in the dry and a nightmare in the wet. We have come to realise that the continentals have a different - and in our view superior - idea of what camping and caravanning are about. Cosgrove was more like how we remember camping from our childhood: long, wet grass, and a route march to grotty toilet blocks. It was almost half a mile from our pitch to where we were supposed to wash up. The setting is idyllic, with beautiful lakes. However, an invasion of Canada geese on weekdays made a trip to the loo at night a chancy affair. At weekends the geese were chased away by the jet-skiers, who took over the lakes. When we had arrived we were assigned a particular pitch as being the only one available (with electricity) for the month that we needed. For most of the time, however, the place was nearly deserted, but this week a religious festival had filled the place up - placing even more stress on the grotty mobile loo blocks.
We have done very little caravanning in the UK, but from this experience and reading the Club's site guide, we get the feeling that UK caravanners tend to be self-contained rather than using the communal camp facilities. We are surprised to find that quite a lot of Club sites do not have loo blocks, whereas we never came across a Continental site that wasn't well equipped.
2nd - 6th August, 2000
Our tenants moved out and we visited our house again to see them off. The next day, at last, we were back in our home and at mid-day our furniture arrived. One of the various reasons for our rapid return was that our nephew was getting married at the following weekend and Mother and David's sister needed beds for the occasion. The furniture moved in on the Tuesday, and Mother on the Thursday. In between, our daughter returned from Detroit, but we had organised a taxi to take her home. The wedding went well and, on the Sunday, to our relief, the weather was dry and we pulled out of Crosgrove and took the caravan back to its storage compound.
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Last updated: 18/03/01