So as we said in the previous post, it was time to bite the bullet and actually get out on the road with the Perentie.
I didn’t want to venture too far for our first trip for obvious reasons! At the time of the trip it was Mid-Summer (Although this is posted well afterwards), everyone was staycationing and everything was very pretty booked up.
However, we managed to find a pitch (via Pitch-up) on one of the many pop up sites in the New Forest – in our case in North Gorley, near to Fordingbridge.
We took our time heading for the site, calling into Fordingbridge itself on the way. Heading into the New Forest from the town I diverted past a number of Pubs that I used to frequent in the 1980’s, The Alice Lisle, The Red Shoot and the rather remote High Corner Inn – no squash court there anymore though!
North Gorley is no more than a Hamlet and the site was easy to find and not crowded. The pitches were neatly mowed into the grass so you knew where to park and there were signs to a cold water supply and toilets.
It didn’t take long to set up, we forget the table so we just removed the fridge from the inside and used that!
It was around the time of my Birthday, so glass a of Champagne was in order, together with a Posh Picnic – rattled up by Benita.
Although it was the Summer the temperature did drop quickly later in the evening, so we had to retire inside eventually. The Music system worked just fine and the diesel heater kept us toasty – a bit too toasty in fact………..
We had taken a walk around the local area after the picnic, the surroundings were beautiful and typically English. We came across a Farm Shop and Cafe, so that was Breakfast sorted.
Overall the trip went well with no issues, other than the Alucab Top caught one of the “upstairs” lights which are on stalks, when we packed it upon and broke the bulb. Just need to be more careful where we place them when packing up next time.
So on that positive note we decided to head further afield next time, and factor in a Motorway drive. Benita wanted to go to Hayling Island, but no camp sites were available, so we ended up near to Pagham in Sussex.
The journey went well with us cruising at 65mph @ approx 3000 rpm on the M27, above this and the cabin noise became uncomfortable, even with the extra insulation that I had added. Despite heavy stop start traffic from Portsmouth to Chichester on a warm day the journey went well.
The site, again booked via pitch-up was neat and tidy and was large which mean’t that the pitches were not on top of each other. There were a couple of toilets, which we avoided and a couple of Yurts at the top of the field.
Once we knew where the site was, we headed off to Bognor Regis which I don’t think I have ever visited. It was typically sea-side and very quiet for the time of year.
We then had a drive around and ended up in Pagham which is an interesting place. The village leads directly to the beach and has seen better days, now is a bit “bucket and spade”, if know what I mean. However there are many properties built on the edge of beach, with many interesting styles of architecture – it has a Dungeness feel about it and kind made you feel like you would like to live there!
We pencilled in the Cafe for Breakfast the next day and headed back to the site for a beer/glass wine, respectively.
We set up near to the Yurts and had a better evening as it was warmer than our previous trip. Some people turned up to occupy the Yurt a little way from us and proceeded to unload from a white van as number of old pallets – these were converted to fire wood over the course of the evening to fuel their impressive fire pit – they were certainly more organised than we were.
After a good sleep we headed off to Breakfast in Pagham as planned. On arrival the “Free” Parking, that we had used the previous day, which was just a piece of wasteland had a tariff of £8 and a young lad sitting on a deckchair collecting the dosh. That would have made an expensive breakfast, not to be deterred and despite lots of double yellow lines, we found a spot to park on a residential street and walked back to the Cafe.
Not the best breakfast, the “expensive” upgrade to Sour Dough bread, was not Sour Dough and it was clear the the staff had no idea what it actually was, and the extra bacon had to be chased up before it eventually materialised.
The morning was spent in Chichester which was beautiful, then we drove South to take a look at Chichester Harbour which again was lovely.
We saw a sign to East Wittering Beach and decided that it would be a good place for a walk. It was a bit of a drive, the end part of which was down a private road – it was clear that plenty of people had the same idea.
A small queue was forming at the car park entrance and then we saw the sign………………..£15 a day to park, online bookings only, show your printed code to the man in the box. Why didn’t they put a sign up miles down the road imparting this vital piece of information? It was a narrow road and some havoc was created as we turned to leave.
Anyway, every cloud; we stopped off at Itchenor on the way back to the main Road, beautiful village right on the River. By chance found a place that sold metal sculptures and a bought Benita a Laser cut Owl – it now sits on top of my Cabin and amazingly, the Pigeons that have been pooing on everything for years have vacated the premises – result.
By late afternoon is was a really hot sunny day. I had noticed that I could not hear the cooling fan when we stopped at Itchenor but the gauge was not showing hot, so I decide to just keep an eye on things for the return journey. It was a hot drive but nothing overheated.
Once home I noticed that the fan use had blown which was replaced, I just wondered what had caused it? Anyway, the good thing was that despite the heat, there had not been an issue, I guess the fact that the whole of cooling system had been replaced together with a new modern core in the radiator, had helped.
So overall, two good trips, everything worked as it should, apart from the blown fuse………..
Now we need to plan something more challenging!
48 States of Gray 