Monday 27th July – Saturday 1st August 2020
Monday 27th July
As the motorhome moves more slowly, we set off separately on our Devon Adventure. I left the storage just after 7.00 a.m., stopping briefly at Reading services for a ‘Greggs’ – you can’t fault their motorway prices – tea and a croissant for very little money.
Em and Teddy are now in hot pursuit on the M5; ironically when they eventually pass me just before Exeter, I completely miss them!
We meet up, as planned, at Exeter services and brave the service building wearing face masks. The staff are doing pretty well to manage the thronging flow of people; services on the M5 during Summer Holidays are always a challenge, let alone dealing with the Coronavirus social distancing situation too. Well done Moto! We purchase M&S food and return to the motorhome to enjoy our lunch.
It is agreed that Ted will ride in the passenger seat of the motorhome for the last 45 minutes of our journey. We begin to move his car seat over when there is a moment of horror – while we are distracted, Ted is playing hide and seek outside behind the motorhome in the lorry park and not inside the motorhome toilet as I had thought!! 😱 After a small discussion about safety, we set off to The Caravan & Motorhome Club Site at Hillhead, near Brixham.
After circling the site a couple of times, we find a great pitch with a view of the sea.
A bit of unpacking and organisation; Em – now 17 weeks pregnant – gamely on hands and knees vacuuming the carpet to clear up some bits and bobs possibly left from Spain!
Early evening we venture into Brixham for some fish and chips out of paper. Slight problem in that there is a downpour which means all the benches are wet and there is nowhere to sit, so we eat-in at Simply Fish who are also doing a great job in the new Coronavirus world. Then a stroll along by the harbour and marina whilst Ted eats his Strawberry ice cream with blue bubble gum sprinkles – yum! We’ll check out that pier and sunset later in the week.
Mileage – Storage to Hillhead Farm = 270 miles
Tuesday 28th July
Uh oh – not good, a while back I asked my dealer to change the external motorhome grey waste tap (washing up / shower waste) to make the exit larger. This they did but they fitted an ugly thing which stuck out a few inches from the edge of the vehicle. I do remember some leaves brushing the wing mirror on the Devon sized roads near the site, so I’m guessing, at the same time, I must have knocked off my waste tap. So now, if you put something down either sink, it simply pours straight on to the ground – definitely not allowed! Another, now somewhat connected issue, is my collapsible bucket which has recently become more collapsible than one might like; its other failing is that it seeps (rather than leaks). For those who don’t know, from time to time, you would normally drive the motorhome to a dedicated service area on site, turn your tap and dump your grey waste down a drain.
Motorhome duties – Ted helped with banging in pegs and putting up the outdoor table and chairs – I definitely tightened the wing nut under the table, however, I did not check the two table legs Ted extended. The upshot was somewhat messy!! We laid out all the breakfast stuff, sat down, filled our cereal bowls and then Ted leaned slightly on the table, a leg gave way and there was a tidal wave of milk, simply everywhere!!
Not to worry, we cleaned all that up, tightened the leg extensions and started again; then Ted knocked his glass of juice over. We laughed!! Finally, as I put a slice of toast and marmalade near my mouth, I totally missed and created a wasp-attracting marmalade stain on my top. In less sticky news we did have our first breakfast visit from ‘Rob’ the robin.
We made a packed lunch and set off for our first visit to the beach – looking for the best option we tried Broadsands, then the south end of Goodrington Sands then the main part of Goodrington Sands, where I had taken Jamie and Emily when they were small. It was a bit of a walk from the car park carrying the windbreak, chairs, towels, bucket, spade, lunch etc. On our return we used the drop off point, much better. Lovely sunny day, Ted was in his element. We spent some time learning to skim stones and he spotted a jellyfish! The trains on the Dartmouth Steam Railway run along at the back of the beach offering a waving opportunity every 30 mins or so.
I attempted to fill the ‘Banana Bed’ thingy with air. After spinning round many times and making myself quite dizzy I think I can safely say I do not have the requisite skill-set to get sufficient air inside the bag to create a bed or even a chair!! Ted tested it out and almost totally disappeared from sight! Exhausted I sat on my brand new £10 beach chair wearing my Tilley hat and was immediately dive-bombed by a large seagull who left a spattering of poop all over my hat, my clothes and my new beach chair!!
Back at the site …….. Teddy did learn to ride his bike a while back but, without practice, has lost the skill. After a few goes with support up and down the road by our pitch, he has cracked it again; it is so good to see him riding and gaining confidence. ‘Harry’ from a neighbouring caravan came out with his Dad to give Teddy some sound advice about starting off on the little slope to get moving more easily.
Drinks and dips with our sea view – Tuesday night was BBQ night.
The motorhome habitation door handle is still broken since Spain; I have a new handle but now the dealer doesn’t have time to fit it! So, if you’ve been out, you need to climb in through the cab doors, but if there is someone already in the motorhome they can let you in. After Ted was in bed (quite late!) I went off to have a shower, on my return I tap quietly on the door to be let back in “Em” – no answer, I tap slightly louder “Em”, no answer. I stand around a bit outside in the dark in my dressing gown and then give it another go “Em!”. Third time lucky, Em opens the door …….. “oh I thought I heard something earlier!” 🤣
Wednesday 29th July
Lovely start to the day – Ted and I are in the single beds adjacent to each other. I watch him wake up and then we have a wonderful whispered and detailed conversation about crabs and lobsters, oh yes and his current favourite thing …….. Ninjago – there is nothing Ted doesn’t know about the characters, their abilities, the TV episodes and the Lego models. Brilliant ‘best bit’!
Harry, comes out with his bike and he and Ted have a happy time cycling back and forth on our little cul-de-sac. Harry is giving Ted even more confidence. Sadly, his family are going home to Chorley in Lancashire tomorrow, but it’s been nice, Ted’s first campsite buddy.
Today we set off for Paignton via two motorhome dealers to see if we can find a fix for the dodgy waste – we come back with a piece of waste pipe, it doesn’t fit!
Paignton is the busiest place I’ve been to during the pandemic, we had some elevenses, strolled along the pier, Ted really enjoyed the enormous slide at the end. We went into a few shops to buy some beach shoes for Ted and a sun hat for Em. Ted spent some of his pocket money on a pirate set.
The tide was in so, having decided the beach was too crowded for us, we moved on to Broadsands beach. We had lunch on the nice large grassy area between beach huts. It is near the car park so we didn’t have to carry the lunch to the beach and enjoyed the added bonus of sand-free sandwiches! At that time we had a full complement of Ted’s new pirate set – a hook, a patch, two pieces of eight and a pirate’s pistol.
We found a spot at the back of the beach to start with but were able to improve our position as people left for the day and the tide withdrew.
The great mystery of the lost pirate pistol will forever remain unsolved. It was definitely on the top of a bag after lunch but is no longer with us. Considering we had lost something which Ted had only just purchased with his own pocket money, I think he was very understanding!
Wednesday night is our on site takeaway night. It turns out you can order your takeaway, then sit at a table, order your drinks and then eat your takeaway. It seems like a restaurant to me but let’s go with it! The weird thing was the tape on the floor, once you’ve sat down you absolutely must not leave your square!!
Thursday 30th July
Today we are off to Babbacombe Model Village – https://www.model-village.co.uk – it really is an excellent place to visit with a night time visit option in normal times. The clever names of venues, shops etc. are really funny and entirely wasted on children! Wombley football stadium below and the ‘Pear’ shop, rather than the Apple Store and many, many others.
I think Ted’s favourite bit was the Super Hero Mansion – who can you spot?!
After lunch at The Cliff Railway Café at Babbacombe, which magically appeared out of nowhere and was exactly what we needed, we decided to go down on the cliff railway to Oddicombe Beach and back up again, just for the ride. The lady in the ticket office did mention watching the queues on the way back up; we didn’t really listen. So we got down there, Ted bought a second pirate set, we took a photo or two and then queued for half an hour to get back up again – doh!
On the way back to the site we went to the village of Stoke Gabriel, which is famous for crabbing. I had also taken Jamie and Emily there years back. We arrived at 4.50 p.m. and the very nice car park man said we could park for free – £5 saved!! We set up and, with helpful advice from some fellow-crabbers, Ted was soon hauling them in. I think he got about 15 or so in total. One climbed out of the bucket and threw itself back into the water, another fell into a crack in the pavement as we tried to return him – we couldn’t get him out so left him for a bit. He’d obviously used this trick before as, once the coast was clear, he levered himself out of the crack, looked both ways and made it straight back into the water – how does a crab know which way it is to the water?!
We have been so busy we haven’t topped up the groceries – things are now desperate so we had to make a stop at a Sainsbury’s Local for some milk, bread etc. Em is on catering this evening.
Friday 31st July
Our last day on the beach – we tried to get into the car park at the south end of Goodrington Sands but it was already full, so we returned to the main area of beach. It was the hottest day of the year back home; it was quite warm to start with on the beach, then a bit cloudy, then a bit misty/damp, then a bit rainy, then a bit medium. The slight rain cleared the beach a bit so that was a bonus! We all went in the sea, yes me too. I can’t remember the last time I went right into the sea in this country.
Em went off to get the car while we waited at the drop off. Ted is in this photo, honest!
Ted bought himself a boomerang and was pretty good at throwing it back on the open area back at the site. There he is in the distance, there was a lot of running involved.
We had planned to eat out on our last night but our first choice, Rockfish, had not yet opened after the lockdown. Our second chosen venue, The Prince William gastro pub in Brixham, – https://theprincewilliam.co.uk – was full inside and you just had to take pot-luck with the outside tables. We turned up and were told we could sit and have drinks and wait for one of the 8 outdoor tables on which they were serving food to become free. We sat for a bit and then thought we should start searching for somewhere else, but the kindly waitress bumped us up the line and gave us a table. The subsequent rain did not diminish the lovely lemon sole I had at all – yum!
And then, what I think maybe one of Em’s best memories of the holiday. We walked along Brixham pier and arrived at the harbour lighthouse (which we’d been able to see from all three beaches we had been on) just in time for a perfect golden sunset – beautiful.
Saturday 1st August
Packed for our journeys, we both left the pitch and drove up to the motorhome waste point to empty the loo. Em and Teddy went off to the toilet block but returned very quickly as it was being cleaned. Their unexpected quick return could have been an expensive mistake. As they arrived, I simply swivelled round in my chair and drove off, not realising I’d left the habitation door wide open. On the one way system on site we had to drive down a very, very, very steep hill with high grass embankments on either side. As the motorhome went down the door must have swung open and embedded itself in the grassy bank. Fortunately Em saw what was happening and stopped me from going further. A kindly gentleman helped me, the surprised driver (who didn’t even get up from her seat to see what the situation was!) by telling her which way to turn the steering wheel to release the door. It needed a lot of ‘revs’ to reverse those few inches, alerting half the site to my stupidity. There was also a moment when I realised Em, now very pregnant, was climbing the huge grass banking to get a better view!! 😱 Initially, there didn’t seem to be any damage – it could easily have ripped the door right off – but I later found three little marks on the inner side of the door to remind me of my mistake!
We should’ve said our farewells before we moved off as, once we’d gone through the barrier, the world and his wife turned up behind us so all we could do was wave and go – a weird end to a wonderful holiday.
Where to next?!
TiddleyOmPomPom on Tour 