Day 27 - UK Trip

21 April 2011

We left Lindsey’s and I insisted we go back via Bramshaw Commons in the New Forest so we could see if the pigs were there.

Score! Not only were there pigs but heaps of donkeys.

I patted and scratched and took photos and then reluctantly got back in the car.

We spent the day getting to London mostly via motorways.  We dropped off the Camper and the manager/owner very kindly dropped us off at the closest train station. From there we caught a train which seemed to go for miles, and then hopped on a bus to get us to close to Heathrow Terminal 4.

We were short on money and still needed to buy lunch and dinner so we decided to walk the mile or so to EasyJet Hotel. We looked at the map at the bus stop we were dropped off at and as it meant diddly squat to me Aaron pointed us in the right direction. 10 minutes into the walk I was starting to struggle with the big, heavy backpack on my back and the smaller backpack on my front and Aaron’s intuition was bugging him.

“I need to check the map again at the next bus stop. I’m not sure we’re going the right way”

Sure enough, we weren’t!

We turned around and headed back the way we’d come, then hung a right and walked until we found a pub.

We stopped for lunch and ordered burgers and chips, a cider and a beer. It wasn’t anything special, and of a similar quality to Wendy’s but we were hungry and tired.

The manager was complaining about the publicity around the forth coming royal wedding. He was no royalist and I didn’t have the heart to point out I was gutted I wasn’t going to be in the UK to see it in person.

We ate and left and started our walk again. 500 metres up the road we discovered a much nicer looking pub but it was too late for lunch. We decided to go there for dinner though.

Another 50 or so meters on the other side of the road was the street we needed to go down to get to the hotel and within 10 minutes we were holed up in a windowless box at the EasyJet hotel. We were as close as we could get to Heathrow without spending too much.

Our room at the EasyHotel Heathrow was a rather hideous orange and white shoebox and I wouldn't have minded so much except I don’t think it’s value for money. The cost covers a bed with linen, an ensuite, 1 towel, a ¼ roll of toilet paper and just enough shower gel for 2 people to have a shower

There’s not even a kettle and a couple of mugs to make a cup of tea. You can ask for extras but they all cost.  If we come back to the UK I wouldn’t stay there again.

It was an incredibly warm, sunny and very boring day overall.  

Day 26 - UK Trip

20 April 2011

Today was our lazy day. We cleaned the van inside and out, packed our bags and did all our washing.

It reached 24 today and we didn’t see a cloud all day.

Aaron spent a lot of the day playing basketball with Reece. Connor and Nathan spent a lot of the day out with friends.

Some time in the afternoon we went up the road to Marchwood Village pool club as they have WiFi. We bought a couple of drinks each but their connection had crashed and didn’t come back up again. Seriously, this free WiFi gig here in the UK is proving to be pretty bloody expensive!

Late afternoon Aaron and I went for a long walk into the New Forest. We weren’t anywhere near the ponies unfortunately. Aaron didn’t want to drive, which was fair enough so we just made do.

While we were walking we got a phone call from Lyndsey to let us know someone had found our wallet at the pool club. Unbelievably we'd left it behind and someone had found it and figured out it must have belonged to Lindsey’s friends.  Lindsey went and picked it up and when we caught up with her a couple of hours later she had the wallet and it wasn’t missing a single penny! We were so relieved. I dread to think how we would have coped without that money.

Day 25 - UK Trip

19 April 2011

Today we had no idea what to do for entertainment so we went to the campground office and looked at some brochures. We discovered there was a large wildlife park in the New Forest so that was where we headed.

This was the best wildlife park we have visited so far. It was huge. It also turned out to be the sister park to the Chestnut Centre in the Peak District. The enclosures were huge and well designed and everything in them was about mental stimulation for the animal. 

The otters were absolutely cool. (I want one!) They also had wolves and a family of Iron Age pigs and their enclosures were absolutely massive. Once again I took heaps of photos of things we could do at home.

We were there a couple of hours and it was definitely money well spent.

Lunch we had in a large pull in area in the New Forest somewhere. Unfortunately there were no ponies around but we did manage to accost another couple with a dog!

The heat this week has been absolutely cranking it and today was possibly the hottest so far. Honestly, you would think it was the middle of summer.

Mid afternoon we arrived at Lyndsey’s in Marchwood. She’d very kindly agreed to put us up for 2 nights.

Day 24 - UK Trip

18 April 2011

We were very lazy this morning. I didn’t want to get out of bed and in fact I spent a good hour in bed with the laptop, making use of Fiona’s WiFi.

We sat and chatted over breakfast and then eventually left just before lunchtime.

We drove out of Bath and then last night's news hit me with a wallop. The thought of losing Whisky absolutely floored me. I felt so upset it was everything I could do not to throw up.

We drove through Bradford-on-Avon, which was just lovely. Strangely, one of the signboards outside some shops was for Piha Surf shop (I wonder if the owner’s a Kiwi?). We didn’t stop to find out. We drove onto Trowbridge where we stopped at the supermarket. It was a pretty average place in terms of character so we shopped and left. We drove on until we found a little woodland pull in and made ourselves some lunch.

Once again the weather was glorious, so we stood outside as we ate and soaked up the sun. There was another car parked when we arrived and at some point the owners appeared out of the woods with their dog. As per usual we cornered them so we could play with their dog.

Every dog that walks past us has to be patted by us and the owners just have to deal with us. And boy have we patted a lot of dogs!

After lunch we drove through the Salisbury Plain towards Stonehenge. The road to Stonehenge was closed off except for people wanting to visit the site. We’d had more than 1 person tell us it wasn’t worth the entry fee as it could be seen from the road so we weren’t that interested. However, I suggested we drive as far as we could and then turn around. We did just that but we could only see the top of it. Ah well, too bad.

We turned around and then took the diversion road. There we found ourselves coming to an almost standstill on the motorway only a couple of hundred metres or so parallel to Stonehenge. There were massive roadworks down the road and with all the holiday traffic we came to a virtual halt in exactly the right position to view the henge. I didn’t take photos or buy a t-shirt but I didn’t have to pay to see it either. Sweet!

And then we spent what I swear was the next hour crawling along the highway. Crazy, crazy having major roadworks on a motorway during the school holidays.

Our trip for the day was to visit a Rare Breeds Farm in Chalderton, just on the other side of Salisbury Plain. We arrived to find a packed car park and lots of signage aimed at kids. We were a little unsure of whether it was going to be a good spend of money but it was our trip of the day and so we went inside and asked the young girl behind the counter. She said that it was basically aimed at kids but there were lots of baby animals and educational signs about.

We have an interest in rare breeds so we paid our money and went in.

Wow, what do I say? It was nothing like what we’ve seen so far. The animal areas seemed quite run down and shabby and the enclosures only average size and very basic. It certainly wasn’t animal cruelty but there seemed to be no thought given to animal mental welfare.

Plenty of money was being spent but all on the kids play equipment. From playground, to ride on diggers and tractors. There were numerous play areas for the kids and yet the animals had nothing to stimulate them. The enclosures were bare empty spaces of either dirt or concrete and virtually nothing else.

It was little more than a child’s petting zoo of days gone by. There were kids everywhere so the place was making good money that day.

I honestly didn’t like the place but I guess it didn’t help that I had been feeling down in the dumps all day.

I did however discover one new interesting fact, Tamworth pigs only have 5-7 piglets per litter. I never knew that. This would explain why our dear Phyllis never has more than 7.

We left and made our way south. We drove through Salisbury and then down the left-hand side of the New Forest.

The first week of our holiday the spring growth had not yet sprung in the south. Now we’re back, it’s our 4th week and the trees and hedges are lush with bright green growth. The place looks completely different.

We drove into Ibsley Common and discovered cattle, donkeys and ponies wandering the roadside. One juvenile donkey wandered up to the car window and let me give him a good scratch. We might have stayed longer had there not been a car come up behind us.

We carried on to Rockford Common and saw more ponies and then left the New Forest and drove to the Forest Edge caravan park just out of Ringwood.  Once we’d paid and parked we discovered the place was packed full of families with young kids. It wasn’t really my thing and my mood didn’t help but in the end it was a stunningly warm day and so we spent the evening sitting outside until the sun went down.  

Day 23 - UK trip

17 April 2011

We left the campground mid morning and made our way to Whitehorse Hill via Highworth. We drove through a lot of flat farmland, shielded by hedgerows. There were numerous fields of rape (canola) and they are a stunning bright yellow. Very pretty but I couldn’t help but think ‘Ooh, evil monoculture. Rape seed plants sprouted on verges and between cracks in the pavement.

“I really hope they’re not GE” I commented as we drove past.

Terrible isn’t it? What probably looks beautiful to others disturbs me. Monocultures are an environmental disaster waiting to happen. And what if it was GE rape? It was sprouting all over the place.

Eventually we headed upwards into the hills and made our way to the White Horse Hill carpark.

It was a Saturday so the carpark was busy. Made me feel better about all the ‘Warning, car thieves!’ signs everywhere. We walked the gentle climbing path to the horse and what can I say? 

‘So what?’ springs to mind. 

It was much smaller than I imagined and apparently only completely visible from the sky. It’s protected of course so you can’t get near it, only look down on it so in fact you only see parts of it.

There were people there sitting above it on the grass with their cameras. It seemed a bit pointless to me. Perhaps they were contemplating the age of it, around 2500 years old. For some reason I don’t have it in me to be able to contemplate such a time span. Aaron apparently doesn’t either. It was more a been there, seen that , bought the t-shirt type moment for us. (Except of course we didn’t buy the t-shirt. (As if!)

We carried on up the hill to Uffington Castle. Hmmm. How do I put this nicely? It was a hill with raised earth surround. Apparently the castle had been wooden. We stood there looking at a large circle of grass and the sign that warned of a stiff fine to anyone caught damaging the site and basically that was all there was.

Don’t ask to see the photos (there aren’t any).

Ah well, at least we got some exercise and some fresh air. Had to pay for it of course, with it being another Pay and Display carpark.

We left, we had more important things to do, namely PUB LUNCH!

We meandered our way through country lanes to Swindon. Ooh yuck. What a grotty place and we only went around the outside of it. We didn’t go to the Magic Roundabout, although if I’d seen a sign directing us towards a Dougal and Zebedee shop I would have insisted we stop. We did however have to go through 22 (or thereabouts) roundabouts just to get around the outside of it.

“Oh my god. I never want to see another roundabout again” I said as we departed.

We were really hungry by then.

“Lets stop at a nice English pub” I said. And so we drove through town after town and every pub we came across had a near empty carpark. “No. Not there. Not popular enough!” I kept saying.

As we came through Langley Burrell there was a sign pointing off to the right “Hit & Miss Inn”.

Aaron swung a right and I didn’t complain.

There were only 5 or 6 cars parked outside. Hmmm. But then I noticed the peacock standing proudly on one of the outdoor tables. It appealed so we parked and went inside.

The cooking oil smelt very strong through the pub. I had a bad feeling about this.

We grabbed menus and took them outside to a table in the sun. It was an extensive menu but suddenly I didn’t feel very hungry. Aaron decided on the beef bourg… (something French) and then I thought, ‘This is stupid, I’m being petty’. I decided to have the mushroom omelette with chips and salad.

We ordered and then sat in the sun and drank and read the Sunday paper.

At some point the peacock took off from its picnic table and flew right over us and landed on the roof of the pub. Like a guard dog he seemed to be intent on checking out everything and everyone.

Lunch arrived and what can I say? It was the best tasting mushroom omelette I have ever tasted. I have not tasted mushrooms like that since I was a kid. As for the chips, light, crispy and perfectly cooked. I enjoyed lunch so much I ate it all, despite there being way too much for me. My stomach felt like it would explode but sometimes it’s worth it!

Straight after lunch we went to Bath. We had organized to spend the night with a friend and weren’t due to arrive until after 4pm. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the centre. I wanted to go visit the Roman Baths in the centre but at £12 per person for entry I lost enthusiasm pretty quickly.

I needed to find WiFi so we wandered back and forth through the streets trying to find a pub with free WiFi. In the end we could only find a bar. It was over £8 for 1 beer and 1 cider and in the end the WiFi didn’t work for us. Damn, damn, damn.

Friend Fiona and family live 2 km from the centre of Bath in a little cul-de-sac. I was surprised to find they had off-street parking for 2 vehicles as well as a good sized garden out the back. Being so close to town I wouldn’t have expected it. It was a lovely big house with plenty of space for their 2 young boys to run around.

It was great to see Fi after not seeing each other for probably 7 or 8 years. We had a really good evening catching up and discussing politics.

Fiona is very much into international human rights and welfare and a bit of an activist so although we fight different battles we have common interests. Good really as we were nothing like that when we met back in the 90’s.

The only downer to the evening was a call from home letting us know the vet wants to do more tests on Whisky for suspected kidney failure. I felt instant panic but had to put it out of my mind. 

Day 22 - UK

16 April 2011

We awoke this morning to clear blue skies. Although it was cool it warmed up quick and it was t-shirt and shorts weather yet again. We’ve been extremely lucky this holiday. Even though it’s spring and UK had a bad winter, the spring days have been a mixture of either very autumnal-like days or summer-like weather.

It seems I packed well. I packed for a NZ spring and brought a padded winter jacket and it’s worked out perfectly. The Brits we have talked to have said we’ve been exceptionally lucky to have so much good weather. It really has been summery 50% of the time so yes I think we have been lucky.

We sat outside this morning and had breakfast and coffee and it was very pleasant with the sun shining down on us.

We decided to drive through the Cotswalds today. We set off from Stratford and a few miles out of town stopped at Oxhill. There they have the Redwings Horse Sanctuary, an equine rescue centre. It’s free entry but they rely solely on donations so of course we paid. What a stunning place. It’s fair to say neither Aaron or I are fans of horses but we do like donkeys and we’ve quite fallen in love with Shetland ponies as well. Mind you, you can’t help but like the horses here too. 

All of the animals are rescued, most of them from the most appalling conditions and occasionally extreme cruelty and they are all taken to 1 of their 3 rescue centres. The Oxhill centre is enormous and these animals now all live in absolute luxury, getting as much food, care and medical treatment as they need to heal.

Quite a few of the animals will live the rest of their lives at the centre but the younger, rehabilitated ones will be found new homes. The great thing is that the centre retains lifelong ownership in all the animals that come through their centre, so even if adopted out to new owners, they keep in contact to ensure the animal has a good life.

They do have interactive displays with some of the animals but these were later in the day. We were fine with that. Several of the donkeys and horses came up to us for a good scratch and there are information boards everywhere to educate visitors on all aspects equine.

There was also a huge display of before and after photos and the associated stories about their most abused rescued animals. It was, as Aaron put it “Pretty rough”. Seeing the after pictures of some of them was amazing. It was enough to turn the stomach to see the abuse some of these poor animals have been through.

Overall it was a wonderful place to visit though and it really makes you feel good to know there are places out there like this that will let these animals find out just what a good life can be like.

From there we meandered our way to Shipston-on-Stour. I think I can honestly say that the area within a 20-mile radius of Stratford is just stunning. The houses are quite beautiful, the properties are a good size, there’s large tracts of farm land and lots of well established trees, hedgerows and flowering spring bulbs. I could definitely live there!

We stopped at Shipston to buy bread rolls for lunch. Although not huge the place was absolutely bustling. Their streets are so small it was a pain to get in and out but needs must. The only supermarket they have is The Co-operative and I have to say I do not like this chain. It’s all own-brand food and quite frankly it’s what I call non-food food, Highly processed and full of man-made ingredients. Sometimes that’s all there is though so that’s all you get.

The idea from there was to meander our way to Cheltenham. We found a little country lane with a stunning view and stopped for lunch and then we carried on.

We passed through an absolutely stunning town called Chipping Campden in The Cotswalds and it was packed with people, a lot of them in hiking gear. Had it not been so busy we probably would have stopped for a wander. Instead we drove straight through. 

We took a couple of left turns and then found ourselves at an intersection, with one sign pointing to a hamlet called Ford. There was no option really but to drive there so Aaron could get a photo standing next to the village sign. Unbelievably we arrived to find their sign missing! We drove out the other side of the Hamlet and that sign was still there so there was still a photo opportunity. Whew!

I suggested we stop at the pub the Plough Inn so Aaron could say he had a drink at Ford. The pub was hugely popular and there were lots of expensive cars parked in the carpark. Our kind of place really! Although we only called in for a drink it turns out it had been named pub of the year so no wonder it was popular.

From there we drove a few kms until I saw what looked like a picturesque walk. We parked the car on the side of the road and then started our walk. 5 minutes into it Aaron put his hands in his pockets.

“Where’s the car key?!”

“How should I know?”

“No seriously, I can’t find the car key” he checked all his pockets again and again. “Check your bag”

“Honey you didn’t give the key to me. I don’t have it”

“I must have left it in the car. I don’t think I’ve locked the car” and so we walked back up the hill and got to the car to find it completely locked up and no key to be seen. We’d already scanned the footpath and verge on the way back and seen nothing.

“We’ll call the AA” I said. Then I discovered that the AA phone number isn’t displayed on the pouch on the windscreen like in NZ. “Oh great, we can’t call the AA unless we can get in the car to get the number. How dumb is that?”

We searched the grass around the car.

Aaron looked inside my bag but as I predicted there was no key there.

We walked back down the road and down the path we had walked. Part way down Aaron had jumped off the path into an ankle deep pile of dried leaves so he could have a pee.

“You peed there. I’m not looking” I said unhelpfully. So Aaron got down into the large pile of leaves and sifted through them all. The key wasn’t there.

We walked back up to the car. Fortunately it was a sunny day. We sat by the car as Aaron cursed our bad luck and I text Alex and Tristan to see if they could text me the AA number.

“Damn, they’ve gone on holiday haven’t they?” I then text Val, completely forgetting she too had gone on holiday. We sat there waiting for a reply and then Aaron asked for my bag. He unzipped a small pocket at the front and pulled out the key.

“What the?”

“Don’t ask me”

“I didn’t put it there”

Aaron didn’t think he had either.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t put it there”

“It doesn’t matter. Get in the car while we still have the key”

And so we did and we left, not getting our walk but by then we were both so relieved we didn’t much care.

We drove off, admiring the stunning scenery as we drove to Cheltenham. Cheltenham proved to be another big, very blah looking town and so we carried on to Cirencester. There was a cheapish campground, Mayfield Park in the AA guide book and it had laundry facilities and that’s what we needed.

It was only 3ish when we arrived at the campground and we debated whether to book a site and then go for a trip into Cirencester. In the end laziness won out. It was a sunny afternoon, perfect for bringing out the table and chairs, the alcohol and our books.

I had a shower and then did the washing and then we kicked back for the rest of the afternoon.

A family in the caravan next to us provided our entertainment for the afternoon. The father came outside to kick a couple of balls around with his 4(?) year old daughter. Presumably mum was inside making dinner. They had great fun as dad kicked a ball up the hill and the little girl in pink gumboots and purple dress went running up the hill to kick it down again. Meanwhile dad kicked the next ball up the hill and she’d go running after it. She was all smiles and giggles.

“You wait, it’ll end in tears” I said

“No it won’t. She’s playing with dad”

 5 minutes later the sibling appeared; An older brother by perhaps a year. Sure enough things went sour. Despite there being 2 balls the arrival of big brother was not appreciated. The little girl threw herself on the ground, wailing and sobbing until daddy went up to her and suggested she could still play ball. 

Quick as a flash she was up and giggling and running after a ball. Then big brother shot past her in pursuit of the other ball. Down she went again in howls of despair. The drama was first class and we were laughing ourselves silly. Over and over the scene repeated itself as the wee girl sought desperately to eject her brother from the scene. Alas it was not to be. Dad, bless him was extremely tolerant and neither ignored nor pandered to the drama queen in front of him.

“That’ll be Troy” Aaron said. “He’ll be a good parent. Hands on parenting. ”

We had our usual pasta for dinner. It tasted really good for something so simple. Maybe it was the alcohol we were drinking? I have to say though that with a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, a bottle of apple cider vinegar and a tin on tomatoes any pasta dish can taste amazing. 

We stayed outside until the sun disappeared behind clouds and the heat vanished from the day. It was after 8pm though so all in all a thoroughly pleasant day weather-wise.

Day 21 - UK

15 April 2011

That morning we made our way to Stratford-Upon-Avon, going through stunningly picturesque villages and hamlets such as Barton Under Needwood. We also drove through Tamworth, which for some reason I thought would be a sh*t dump but turns out they have a bit of money and it’s not that bad. I was disappointed not to see a single tamworth pig or a sign pointing to a tamworth pig museum or some such but there you go!

We then drove through Warwick into Stratford Upon Avon. We parked on Waterside Rd just past the Royal Shakespeare Centre. We then went into town to find the Info Centre and they gave us a list of camping sites.

Next we went to the money machine to draw out the rest of our money. We estimated (and hoped like hell) we had at least 200 pound to last us the next 9 days. We’ve tried to budget well but this country is horrendously expensive to tour around and we knew we would be cutting it close. For a laugh we put in 500 pound and of course got the “You do not have sufficient funds” message. So then I put in 400 pounds. Unbelievably it spat out the money.

“You’ve got to be kidding?!” we both laughed in shock

“Should I ask for some more?”

“Might as well. It can only say no”

I requested 50 pound and out it spat

“No way!”

“Do it again! Do it again!” Aaron said.

Suddenly it was like playing a slot machine

I put in 40. Uh-uh.

30. Uh-uh

20. Uh-uh.

10. Yes. Woohoo!

Suddenly we were rich.

“Pub lunch!” we both said excitedly.

And so we left and drove to Dodwell Park campground 4kms out of town.

It was nice enough and the showers were included. Hallelujah(!) as neither of us had showered for 4 days. They didn’t have clothes washing facilities but we could deal with that for another day or 2.

We were both starving hungry but I needed a shower so bad I made Aaron sit and wait for me.

Although there was a bus stop outside the campground we decided to walk in to town to work up the appetite even more.

What can I say about Stratford Upon Avon? It is just stunning. The houses, the riot of colorful flowers in everyone’s front garden and of course the town architecture. Nearly every building was old Tudor and it was certainly a town I could live in.

We decided to have lunch first at The Garrick Inn. The oldest pub in Stratford, opened in 1596. We both really enjoyed lunch and it would have been cool just to sit in there and drink and eat more but we had some touristing to do.

Just down the road was Tudor World on Sheep Street. We paid our fee and then spent a good hour walking around. It was interesting enough with quite cool displays but there was a huge amount of reading involved and by the time we got to the last 2 exhibits my brain was refusing to absorb any more information.

Next stop was Shakespeare’s Birthplace. Very luckily for us the campground wardens lent us 2 annual tickets for this. They saved us £22 in entry fees! Quite frankly we’d have never gone in if we’d had to pay that much.

As it was we were only in there for about an hour. It was interesting enough and they even had a live play you could watch but neither of us are Shakespeare fans. Let’s be honest, I can’t understand a word they’re saying and I’m not into theatre.

We wandered around the shops a bit more and I found a huge Christmas store.

“Wow! I’m going in”

“Absolutely no way. I’ll wait outside for you.“ was Aaron’s reply

There were lots of very cool ornaments and door hangings and stuff but amazingly I managed to leave without spending a penny. Of course that may have had something to do with Aaron coming in to find me and steering me towards the exit. Was I really in there for that long? I would have said 3 minutes max. but obviously Aaron thought it was long enough.

We started to head out of town. I was quite sore so decided we should catch the bus. We hung around the bus stop for a few minutes and then I got bored. It was a sunny afternoon as well.

“Let’s start walking”

And so we did. In the end we stopped to buy some beer and cider and in the process spent our bus money so we walked all the way back to the campsite. By then I was really sore but it was lovely and sunny so we set up the table and chairs on the grass by the van and had dinner and read until it got too cold and dark to be outside anymore.

There was lots more to see and do in town but I’d made my hips so sore from walking into town  that I didn’t actually want to walk around the town. And then of course I was stupid enough to walk back. It can be difficult when you’re faced with tough decisions. Bus or cider? Bus or cider? It was another rough sleep because I was so sore but there you go. I’m obviously a slow learner!

Day 20 - UK

14 April 2011

In the morning we hung around for a couple of hours checking emails, having breakfast and enjoying not being in a car.

Eventually we had to get on our way though and Alex had her hands full with a 9-month old who’d not wanted to sleep that night.

Our main stop for the day was the Peak District. We meandered our way down to the Peak District, starting at Stocksbridge and then driving through Castleton. We dithered about stopping at Castleton as that was the place to go for walks and check out underground caverns but for some reason neither Aaron or I liked the Peak District. 

I can’t tell you what it was but both of us agreed it was just blah and not worth the stop. Perhaps it was because it was very cool and a heavy grey sky hung above us. I’m not sure.

There was a sign pointing to the Chestnut Centre just out from Chapel-en-le-Frith and I suggested we go there. What the hell, we could try some roasted chestnuts right? I figured that would be an very English thing to do. 

And so we arrived at the Chestnut Centre only to discover it was absolutely nothing to do with chestnuts! Instead it was a 50 acre wildlife sanctuary with a focus on others and owls.

I decided that I definitely wanted to have a walk that day and if it involved seeing wildlife then that was all good. We were there a good 90 minutes and would have been longer but half the park was shut off due to it being spring and a number of animals needing to have quiet time due to breeding programmes.

We saw plenty of really cool otters in quite picturesque surroundings and came away with more ideas about things we could do on the farm. Not to do with otters mind, more along the landscaping theme and providing homes for bugs and hedgehogs as part of a permaculture system.

Bug Housing

We left the Chestnut Centre and carried on south through the Peak District. I have to say, the southern end of the Peak District is much more picturesque and we quite enjoyed the scenery. 

We came out the bottom through Ashbourne. We spotted a camping ground as we came in and made a mental note to come back. The petrol light had come on and so we asked the GPS to find the closest one. We managed to get ourselves stuck in a long queue of peak time traffic, eventually extricating ourselves only to find the petrol station was now non-existent. Damn! Aaron asked the GPS to take us to the next one, which it did, except it too was gone. Crap! We tried a 3rd time, finding ourselves several kms out of town and suddenly on a motorway and the GPS saying “You have reached your destination”. What the??!

Aaron managed to get a side road off and we headed back into town. Now we were dangerously low on fuel. I made Aaron pull over and asked for directions. Fortunately one was only ½ a mile away.

When we had a full tank we decided to pop into the supermarket for a couple of things and then head back north to the camping ground. When we got to the camping ground we discovered it was closed for the winter season, due to open tomorrow!

We headed south again and decided we’d camp rough again that night. I was hoping we’d find somewhere close so we could wander back into town the next day, but it was not to be. We spent the next hour going down every country road we could find. We found nothing and so we continued south to a camping ground near Carsington Water. We pulled into the one suggested by the GPS but it was in fact a B&B. We went to a camping ground but it was now after 5, the owners were offsite and the showers were extra. We left and went to the next one. This one looked expensive but this too was closed and they didn’t answer their buzzer.

We were back to looking for a country lane. An hour later we found a truck layby off the side of the motorway at Little Cubley. It had partial tree cover and we were so over looking by then that we both agreed it was the best place.

Across the road was another truck stop with a caravan selling kebabs. We weren’t the slightest bit interested in shopping there but it did provide us some entertainment watching numerous trucks pull over and seeing truckies all standing around having dinner.

The caravan was still churning out the kebabs as we turned the lights off and snuggled into our sleeping bags for the night.

Amazingly, despite the busy road, we both had a really good night’s sleep.