Friday 9th
July. Since 2019 this will be our first multisite trip. Today we are
heading for the CMC Centenary Site at Bransgore in the New Forest. We
needed fuel so a quick stop at Tesco in Buckingham, which was en route.
Interesting to note that prices have increased by 10p a litre in two
months! Perhaps one of the penalties of travelling on a Friday is that
traffic can be heavy and that was certainly the case from Bicester
south. Not stand still, except for a few areas, but heavy nonetheless.
We made our usual stop at Sutton Scotney for a lunch stop. M3 and part
of the M27 quite slow. We had to override the sat nav to avoid being
taken around the houses and taken down narrow roads so against my better
judgement I decided to go via Lyndhurst which is renowned for traffic
queues. There was a queue but not that long and the delay was quite
short. Another eight miles and we arrived at the site.
The CMC
Centenary Site at Bransgore in the New Forest is a large site, 275
pitches! Disappointing that
less than half the pitches are hardstandings which meant we ended up on
a grass pitch. Fortunately, it seemed quite firm. Interesting site, very
large with not a lot of character. I suspect a destination for those
that want to stay a couple of weeks rather than a couple of days?
Saturday 10th
July. Today we were being treated by my sister to celebrate her 70th
birthday back in November 2020. Her and Neil had arranged to pick us up
at the campsite. Although no visitors were allowed on site, I did clear
it with the warden that they could come as far as reception. We were
heading for a restaurant called Pebble on the Beach at Barton on Sea not
that many miles from the campsite. This was the first time we had been
to a restaurant since my sister in laws 80th birthday in
January 2020! Whilst spacing had been meticulously worked out we were
far closer to more people than we had been in all that time. The meal
was very nice with good service and it was good to catch up in person.
This is our last day in the New Forest before moving onto the IOW
tomorrow.
Sunday 11th
July. Our ferry to the IOW was due to depart at 11.00am from Lymington,
so we were up fairly early.
In fact, a bit too early as we had to wait around to make sure we didn’t
arrive too soon at the ferry terminal as we were once turned away at
Southampton for doing that! Just as well we had a bit of time in hand as
somehow, I had got the A35 mixed up with the A337. The built in sat nav
was telling me to go one way but I was so fed up with it being wrong I
ignored it!!! After a few false starts, including turning round in a pub
carpark, we eventually found the right road. We got to the ferry
departure point with plenty of time to spare and we were allotted the
first place in one of the queuing lanes! Plenty of time for a coffee and
to watch the incoming ferry unload. Some cars went on ahead of us as
they were going on the higher deck but we were on pole position on the
lower deck. The crossing is just over half an hour. The exit down the
Lymington River is quite narrow and twisty and there was just about room
for the incoming ferry to pass. Somehow, we managed to navigate our way
across the Island to Newchurch where the Club site is situated.
This was our
first time using the Wightlink crossing to the Isle of Wight. Whilst it
was interesting to use a different route, I think any future crossings
will revert to the Southampton – East Cowes route. It is a bit longer
but generally it is also cheaper. It is difficult to understand why
ferry fares to the Island are so expensive, even more difficult to
understand why the shorter routes are even more expensive!! You almost
imagine the ticket clerks wearing balaclavas and a sawn-off shot gun by
their side!!! About time for a Bridge or a Tunnel?
I knew that
Southlands CMC Site had more grass pitches than hardstandings so wasn’t
hopeful that we would get one of the latter. Luckily there were still a
handful of hardstandings available to choose from. We must have tried
three or four to check for level just as Margaret was bagging our final
choice, we seemed to have competition from a caravanner. Fortunately,
they didn’t seem too bothered so we set ourselves up. We obviously
didn’t upset them as not long after the lady from the couple came across
and said they were going shopping and wondered if we needed anything,
which was exceeding nice of her and the first time I can recall that
happening.
Monday 12th
July. The morning after the day before. Despite much anticipation the
English Football Team failed in its bid to win its first major title
since the World Cup in 1966. They came close, managing to get to the
Finals of the Euro’s. They were up against an Italian team of
considerable renown. It all started well. Within two minutes England
were ahead but then began a two-hour assault by the Italians which ended
in a draw by extra time but ended in tears after a penalty shoot-out.
Gareth Southgate has a young team excellently groomed for better things
so who knows what will happen in the years to come?
Putting the
frustrations of the football behind us we had an important date today.
For the first time we are hiring a car whilst away in the motorhome. We
had arranged for Enterprise (they have a deal with the CMC) to pick us
up at the campsite to collect the car from Newport. We hired a fairly
new Vauxhall Corsa which whilst would not be a car I would buy it will
do for our four-day hire period. Given that the Isle of Wight has a
population of less than 150,000 there seems to be a lot of congestion on
the Island! Fortunately, I knew some of the roads from previous visits
so we headed for the Waitrose at East Cowes once we had extracted
ourselves from the labyrinth that is Newport. We returned via Ryde and
Sandown spotting some useful shopping locations en route. Weather thus
far on this holiday has not been brilliant but not a complete washout.
Tuesday 13th
July. At long last a day where we didn’t have to get up early for
something. Not that we stayed in bed to an unrespectable hour but it was
more like normal! This is the first full day with the car to explore the
Island. Our choice for today was Carisbrooke Castle which is quite near
to Newport. Unfortunately, Newport is in a terrible state due to road
works so trying to navigate your way around is troublesome. We
eventually woke up our, now, ancient TomTom
sat nav to rescue us from some large housing estate! We managed
to find the Castle carpark and the machine seemed to suggest you could
use cashless payment but this did not seem to be the case, luckily, I
had some coins.
Given the
strategic position of the location it is possible some form of
fortification existed during pre-Roman times. But it seems that it was
during the reign of Elizabeth 1st that serious work took
place because of the threat of a Spanish invasion. As castles go it is
in pretty good nick. You can walk round the walls. If the knees can
stand the climb! You can also get up into the Keep but we called it a
day once we had been around the walls. Carisbrooke Castle does have a
café although under covid it is restricted to takeaway. We had a
sandwich and a weak coffee! Ancient TomTom managed to get us out of
Newport ( which is almost impossible to avoid going anywhere on the
Island) and take us to a Morrisons which we discovered was fairly near
the campsite.
Wednesday 14th
July. Lovely and sunny today and getting hotter. The plan was to visit
Shanklin and Ventnor and then the south/western side of the Island.
Arrived in Shanklin and nowhere convenient to park but it looked lovely.
Similar with Ventnor. Some of the roads up and down to the beach would
put Alpe d'Huez to shame!!! Not only this but roadworks seem to be
everywhere, peak holiday season as well!! Thinking we would be due for
more of the same we changed plans and diverted to Godshill. A decent cup
of coffee this time! Just across the road is the famous Model Village
which is quite fun to look round and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Apparently, it was set up in 1952 and based on the real Godshill, there
is even a model within a model. On the way back we stopped at Arreton
Barns which is a collection of arty, crafty outlets and a pub. Not
really our sort thing.
Driving around the Island I noticed that Hydrangeas seem to thrive here. They appear in gardens everywhere. Even on the campsite there are a couple of really good examples. They seem to tend towards the blue/lilac/purple colouring. I don’t know if it is an old wives’ tale but I have heard that the minerals in the soil can affect the colour. I have a couple at home, in pots, but they tend towards the white/pink spectrum.
Thursday 15th
July. Our last full day with the car so we thought we would drive out to
the east of the Island. First, we had to fill up with fuel so we stopped
at the Morrisons not far from the site. The condition of hire is that
you return the car with the same amount of petrol as you started with,
in our case three quarters full. Thus far we have driven about 80 miles
so it has not gone down that far but I decided to top it up to full. 22
litres when the tank was more than half full, how big is the tank!!!
Full of confidence that we would meet our contractual requirements, we
set off for Bembridge. We even managed to find somewhere to park but
other than a view of Bembridge Life Boat Station and the beach there did
not seem much there. Although the day started nice and bright it was now
dull but still warm. Did we want to return to the van or continue to
Ryde. As we had already been to the latter on a different holiday, we
made our way back but called into the supermarket to stock up for our
final few days of our holiday.
Pros and cons
of car hire. As a motorhomer you either take the van off site or you
make use of other options like public transport. Others will chime in
and say what about bikes but our view is that we are getting too old for
that to be a worthwhile option. Having seen the roads and the lack of
options, in certain places, to park a motorhome, we decided that the IOW
would be the ideal spot to hire a car to get around. Our four days
has cost in the region of £200, so not the cheapest option by any
means. The hire company pick you up from the campsite and do the
opposite when you return the car so all very well organised. The
arrangement with the CMC and Enterprise gets you a small discount. The
car gives you the freedom to decide your own timetable so there are a
lot of pluses. In the past we have been spoilt by using public transport
which drops you off in the middle of everything so no need to worry
about parking. One thing I regret is not doing more research beforehand
on the parking options because I think we have lost out a bit by not
knowing where easy and available parking was. Two of the places we
visited, Carisbrooke Castle and Godshill both had good parking.
Unfortunately, the seaside towns did not. Would we hire a car again?
Wouldn’t rule it out but would balance the options more carefully. If we
found a campsite on the IOW with a good bus service from near its
entrance, I think that would have been a better option. Still looking
for that site!!!
Friday 16th
July. A lovely hot and sunny day today, in such a contrast to the
terrible and tragic weather they are having in Germany and surrounding
countries. We returned the hire car to Enterprise in Newport today. The
old TomTom helped us find the location but not without going around the
houses a few times!!! Perhaps time to invest in a new sat nav? We were a
bit early so had to hang around a bit before our lift was ready.
Interesting young lad who drove us back. He had finished his degree but
decided to stay on the Island, at least in the short term. We explained
how busy we were finding everywhere and he said that the Island is a lot
busier than normal for obvious reason. They even have difficulties
getting additional cars across from the mainland because of how busy the
ferries are. We covered a lot on the eight miles journey back to the
campsite! He mentioned that during COVID the Islanders were very opposed
to visitors but it seems this position persists whether there is a
medical emergency or not. It seems that many Islanders want to keep
things as they are and the thought that I suggested of a bridge he felt
would go down like a lead balloon!!! Currently the Island only has one
Member of Parliament but because of the population it really should have
a second seat which depending on who got elected could liven things up a
bit!!!
Saturday 17th
July. Our last full day on the IOW and a pretty lazy one at that. It has
been very hot and sunny. Two of our neighbours departed today. They were
soon replaced. Unfortunately, the motorhome that parked next to us
decided to pitch nose in which meant (being a UK side door) that when
they sat right opposite us so we had no privacy. I appreciate that they
may have wanted to face the sun but surprised they were selfish enough
to do that without due regard? In the afternoon we watched the new
qualifying system for the Sunday Silverstone GP. To liven things up they
have decided that qualifying is on the Friday and then teams have a
second bite of the cherry by taking part in a sprint race on the
Saturday which decides the final positions for the GP proper on Sunday.
There are a few more points available but only for the top three places.
As it happens Lewis was on poll after the Friday qualifying and Max,
second. For the Sprint race
Max out dragged Lewis to the first corner and won the three points and
is now on poll for the race. All a bit off but no doubt something we
will have to get used to?
Sunday 18th
July. A day of many journey segments! It was also very hot today. We
left Southlands at around 10.20am, our ferry was at 12.05pm so we didn’t
want to arrive too early. We arrived just before midday to find the
previous ferry had already left so we got in the queue of motorhomes and
caravans. Even on deck there was little rest bite from the heat even
with a pleasant Solent breeze. Once ashore we had to find our way out of
Lymington as we were going by a different route from our journey here.
We found the road to Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst and onward to the M27.
Edging through Brockenhurst my nearside wing mirror
clipped something, probably a parked car, but it was impossible
to stop. Looking at the mirror a while later there seemed no massive
damage so hopefully the same can be said of the vehicle I hit?
The queue
coming into Lyndhurst from the motorway was massive, so glad we were
going the other way! A short stop at Rownhams Services which was
absolutely crowded. The final part of the journey was to a site near
Stockbridge. This site is not open to the public but is part of a large
farming estate owned by our former employer. There are holiday lodges
and ready erected tents plus a camping site. The access road was a bit
hairy, nearly two miles of one-way road although there did seem to be a
few passing places, we were lucky in that we didn’t have to put it to
the test!
Monday 19th
July. Still very hot and difficult to sleep with daytime temperatures of
around 30 degrees which does not offer much chance of cooling down
overnight. Most of the time we have been managing with the MaxxAir which
has been very good but even that has its limitations as the only two
options are to extract air or draw air in and if both sets of air are
hot you get my drift!!! We do have an additional small tower fan which
we also bring into operation on really hot days. Pretty lazy day here
today, mainly watching other campers dismantle their tents and new ones
set up! The trouble with nice weather is that everyone wants to BBQ and
with very little wind the stench of smoke gets everywhere. The site does
have a restaurant which last night we used for a takeaway and tonight as
a sit in restaurant.
Tuesday 20th
July. Time to make our way home. Escape from Leckford was fine until we
got to the village where we found a large lorry delivering something,
fortunately there was just room for us to squeeze by. We re-joined the
A34 a junction further north than where we left. The rest of the journey
was uneventful and there wasn’t even a queue south of Bicester to get
onto the M40! The last few times we have come this way the sat nav wants
to take us to the west of Bicester but we have always stuck to the
bypass to the east. This time we turned left just as we were entering
the built-up area which took us on a good road all the way around the
outside of Bicester so we will certainly try that again. The original
Bicester bypass is a bit awkward in my view as you can get tangled up
with traffic for Bicester Village and the large new Tesco supermarket.
Our final task was to fill up with fuel at Wolverton before the final
two miles to home.