July 26th-28th. Dartmouth

This time we headed to a campsite in the Dartmouth area as I'd heard that nearby Salcombe Sands has a decent beach, that is dog friendly.  Nearby to the site there is also a section of beach called Blackpool Sands. 

Now...when my youngest son was two years old, one afternoon we took him to Blackpool Sands. After and hour or so of watching him throw small handfuls of pebbles into the water we walked slowly along the sand, with each parent holding one of our sons hands as he toddled along happily, enjoying the occasional arm 'swing' as we went.  I was walking closest to the water, but was at the time more than 6ft away from the waters edge as we were heading towards the back of the beach, where we had noticed some dunes.  The water was calm and our son had been paddling in the tiny wavelets a short time before, with myself beside him holding his plastic bucket and spade.  As we walked along the beach as described, in my free hand I was carrying my camera...when suddenly an unexpected wave crashed to the shore, knocking me sideways and taking my son and my camera away with it!  Both of us grabbed our child out of the waves, with sand already pouring from his mouth and nose.  It was one of the most terrifying times of my life. 

Badly shaken, we had immediately returned to the guest house where we poured out our distress to our host...who told us that her husband had been walking on this same beach several years prior, when he had been suddenly and forcefully hit on the chest by a wave...which was akin to what we'd experienced.  He had afterwards been off work for months and could still feel pain in the affected area now and then.  He and his family hadn't visited that beach since, and nor will we.

On our way to Dartmouth we stopped at Trago Mills.  This is a massive shopping arcade, surrounded by ice cream, fudge and bagel places. All of it rather tatty.  The only things I could find of note were three male peacocks...one of which stood to face-up with me.  I took this as being a potential photo opportunity, so asked him to fan out his tail for me.  He refused...so I explained that humankind can make a small fortune for flashing their tails to the camera...in the hope that he'd get my drift.  He did.  He clearly indicated that he wasn't prepared to flash his peacock for peanuts...and that was the end of the matter!

Upon our arrival at the Dartmouth campsite we found it to be clean and tidy.  It was near a coastal path that led down to Blackpool Sands, and soon after our arrival we took the dog for a walk along there...whilst choosing to avoid the beach itself.

I've visited Dartmouth many times, but on this occasion we were able to park (free of charge) right on the quayside (at 9am).  The town was clean and very pretty, with lots of interesting buildings, fresh fish shops, cake shops and bakeries.  I could've stayed there all day...but after stuffing our faces we decided we'd best find a stretch of beach where we could walk off our excesses.

Next stop...Slapton Leys.  This is a gritty sandy beach with interesting pebbles, blue-green cloudy sea and very few people about.  Roxy loved it and she got quite a tan too!

Then on to Tor Cross...which was a dead and alive hole, but with a fairly good duck pond.

Kingsbridge was a nice place and worthy of a wander.  We then drove on to Salcombe, but wish we hadn't bothered!  It was like a typical Cornish town, that had slipped across the border into Devon.  Narrow streets, too many tourists...and it took us absolutely ages to get out of there!

The next morning we woke early, having slept well (as we also had the previous night in fact)....then  after a lazy breakfast drove towards home. One the way back we stopped whenever the mood took us...finally arriving home mid afternoon.  All very leisurely!  The weekend now lies before us, so we feel that we're still 'on holiday', which is nice : )

July 5th-7th. Wye Valley.

We'd first visited this site in September last year.  It's actually the only site we've re-visited, and in our opinion it's the best we've been to so far.  Last time we'd stayed here the weather had been wet, so we'd been unable to explore the surrounding woodland...so this was the first place we headed upon arrival in the afternoon.

We began our adventure by following a sign to 'The brook' and soon found this lovely cooling trickle of water amongst the trees.  Having arrived at this glade sooner than expected we decided to follow another path, hoping for a circuitous route back to camp.  Thirty minutes later, having taken various paths through the woods, we felt ourselves to be lost. 

Alan decided to check his phone in the hope that it would trace our position, and sure enough it did. He was able to confirm that we were indeed standing in a forest.  I found this to be a most helpful.

We were without compass, first aid kit, water supply, sleeping bags or tent.  Nor did we have a St.Bernard with a brandy barrel around its strong neck.  Instead we had a Jack Russell crossbreed whose excess fluid had been regularly released during our woodland walk.

Are you coming?

I think I can see a bear!

I think it's following us!

Imaginatively considering the depth of the forest to be a dangerous place to be in if lost at night, we sought to find our way to safety (I've read far too many children's stories!).

When we'd returned to camp we enjoyed ice cream from the site shop (locally home made) before heading back to the shade offered by Julian.  After awhile of such relaxation (the weather was still particularly warm) I felt sick and had stomach cramps.  Being unwell like this wasn't a pleasant experience it has to be said.  It took awhile to recover and even then I felt extremely tired and from 8pm slept like a log for ten hours without waking.  At the time, I blamed the ice cream...though later wasn't so sure.

I felt fine when I woke next day so we decided to browse around Lydney, Coleford and Bream, and spent between-times walking within woodland shade, having taken a picnic lunch with us.  Again, we returned to camp in the early evening and once more, after a few hours of sitting in the heat, I felt unwell.  This time my stomach cramps were more severe, and were accompanied by faintness, sweating and a rapid pulse rate which, to be honest with you, I found quite scary.  At this point my husband recognised my condition as being heat exhaustion. 
As with the previous day, we found it wasn't easy to manage being unwell whilst in the campervan. I had no choice but to lay sardine-style between vomit bowl and portaloo while my husband tried to channel the air vents to create draughts to cool me down.  When I could stand up again upon wobbling legs I glanced in a mirror and saw that with my lightly tanned skin and green face I was beginning to blend in with the green tones of the surrounding woodland...I thought I was probably suffering from a human version of Dutch Elm disease!

Upon returning home next day I noticed that the greenhouse needed watering and the rest of the garden was dry...but this just had to wait.  In future I'll be staying in the shade until the temperature has dropped.  I will also have a medical check up as my blood pressure has been rising recently.

In all, an enjoyable few days...but certainly with safety-first lessons learned.

June 2nd. Uphill.

The high tide was due at around 1pm so we took ourselves to Uphill for a few hours.  Roxy even had a swim...although this was unintended by herself.  Hopefully we'll be able to repeat her paddling-to-swim experiment when we've got the camera in hand!

The afternoon was a pleasantly warm and breezy one, with sails seen on land as well as in the water.