And so the season ends.................

We ended our Pucking year with a quick trip to the C & CC club site at Ashbourne less than an hours drive from where we live, for the last w/e in September, aside from being glorious weather it gave us a chance to try out the Khyam Motordome Classic we bought in the end of season sales, finding one online was a struggle but eventually got a good deal from Lightening Leisure.
It goes up as easy as it claims with only one person. There is a bit of pegging but nothing too arduous. The link canvas to the Puck does sit a bit low and would fill with water if it rains, but I have a cunning plan to literally prop it up which I will try in the spring.

The picture shows us cooking and eating breakfast in the late summer sunshine on the Sunday morning. The site is very pleasant and friendly about 3 miles above Ashbourne on the Heanor road with great walks and bike riding in the area and Ashbourne itself is a good place to visit.
Le Puck is now tucked up under its cover and will at some point get new foam under the seats as the springing is long gone, and Mr Happy is due major open heart surgery (engine rebuild!) in the next month or so

"Tracks to the Trenches"

Sunday 14th September saw us head off in Mr Happy to Apedale in Stoke on Trent to Apedale Heritage Centre in Apedale Country Park where the Narrow Gauge Railway there were hosting a WW1 event.
Now I am self confessed Narrow Gauge geek, but this was much more than just trains which were,granted, superb. There were other WW1 transports as well as re-enactments by the WW1 Society. The group had built a trench network complete with a simulated gas attack and evacuation.
There was also a cavalry demonstration.
It was a great day out even if Milo the dog pretty much had  a nervous breakdown with the gunshots and explosions, and was only happy when we headed for the exit.

A Belated Bank Holiday Report

August Bank Holiday saw us make a return visit to Cannock Chase for a quick break before the return of school for Alison and college for Zoe

Aside from the usual walks and a stagger too & from the excellent Park Gate Inn for lunch the highlight was a visit to the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust at Westport Lake Visitor Centre. It is a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hour walking by the lake on the banks of the Trent complete with Kingfishers a resident Terrapin, and a great boardwalk.

Monday night saw an absolutely torrential downpour with no wind at all which all but overwhelmed the Gazebo and which saw me shoving water off the roof at 2 am & 4 am!
This made me determined to find an alternative quick erect awning. We thought about an AirBeam type thing but these tend to be a tunnel type which previous experience has told us are restricted in available space.
So we opted for a Khyam Motordome Classic in the end of season sales. It certainly erects quickly and we now need an opportunity to try it out before the real autumn sets in.

Spot the Difference!

Well the AA repair lasted as long as it took to get here before the nut and bolt fell out fortunately without causing any damage. So I ordered a new pump from vw heritage and in the meantime we pottered around locally with a full tank of fuel so the old one didn't have to work too hard.  It arrived today and a local garage fitted it this afternoon as I didn't have the required tools to do it. So now restored to full health.
Hopefully the after and before pics show what was missing. (just to the right of the fan belt roughly in the middle)

Mr Happy Goes West

Well a week into holiday and it is time for a review of events so far.
The journey down proceeded well until the camper decided to stutter when cruising at normal speed , slowing down seemed to help bring things back under  control, and with lots of holiday traffic round Bristol speed was not an issue!
We duly arrived at Acacia Farm and pitched up.

Acacia Farm is located near Axbridge just 5 minutes from the M5 on the A38 in the village of Rooks Bridge. It is a C & Cc 5 van site and is quite frankly superb. It is kept tidy and we pitched on a hard standing around the edge of the main field. There were two fully self contained toilet / washrooms which each had a shower, and a separate washing up room. These were kept immaculate, and we will certainly return as Gary & Sharon were great hosts.
Sunday we end for a walk up the Strawberry Line Footpath from Axbridge up to Sandford. This is a old railway line so it was a good even surface and about 3.5 miles each way.
We realised that Mr Happy needed to be looked at and it transpires that Gary who ran a Jaguar repair business on the same site previously ran a  hire fleet of Vw Campers so agreed to have a look for us on the  Tuesday.
As the vw had pottered around OK on Sunday we decided to to Taunton to the West Somerset Railway. This was where our luck ran out!
We got 5 minutes onto the M5 and he camper decided enough was enough and spluttered to a halt. Bugger!

A call to the AA saw us first rescued to the nearest services. A patrolman then turned up and the bl**dy thing started and he couldn't find a fault
He then suggested following us down the M5 to see if it happened again, which we did and it did!
He then stripped the fuel system down on the hard shoulder with traffic roaring past
and discovered the pin on which the pivot which works the mechanical fuel pump  had disappeared meaning the pump was barely working. He fixed it it using a nut and bolt and health was restored. Much respect to this guy as he could have just recovered us. He suggested ordering a new pump when we got home "just in case" but there shouldn't be a problem
Having lost our train trip and most of the day, we headed to Weston Super Mare for an Ice cream . we decided it was full of remarkedly old people most of whom seemed to be bussed in and out.
The next day I got my steam train ride to Minehaed, which was very enjoyable and we broke the journey back by getting off the train and walking into the little village of Dunster, which is very pretty and has an impressive National Trust property overlooking it.
Wednesday I had a major senior moment . I had decided it was moving day so we slowly packed up as theM5 was closed and headed off mid afternoon . It was only when I and Polmanter  to tell them we would be late and they pointed out I was not due to arrive til the next day the penny dropped . So back to Acacia Farm where the owner wondered why we had left a day early. My humiliation was complete!
To cap the day Alison tripped and fell coming into the awning resulting in a very sore nose.
The following day we made the trip to St Ives without incident, and had one of the most spectacular thunderstorms I have ever experienced . this left the dog utterly traumatised and he did not settle til 2 am. I thought small kids were hard work!
Since then we have chilled except for discovering that the AA man's repair was a little more temporary then either of us expected . So a new fuel pump is on order. More of that later .

Camper Jam 14

We have never managed to get to Camper Jam before largely because it is generally the weekend before we go on our main holiday and the thought is that it was too much hassle. This year we thought that we would give it a go.
When I booked the tickets I booked into general camping and left it too late to change to club camping with Late Bay entirely my fault!
We were joined by my son James in his t25 van on its first trip since he fitted a new front panel and he travelled down on the Thursday night convinced it would breakdown at some point. His main hope it would be on the way back to save fuel!
Friday lunchtime we were ready for the off:

We arrived just before 3 and I was amazed how many vans were already there as the gates had not opened until 2 pm. We also arrived just as it started to rain, whoopee!
Found a  level spot near a road way just in case it got muddy and set up between showers.

Complete with my son behaving like an arse with his sister looking disdainfully at him!
This is the view across our camping area the following morning

We made our way down to the entertainment area later and had a couple of pints of really rather good real ale from the Hobson's brewery mobile bar and some donuts before listening to some of the ABBA tribute.
It chucked it down over night which was worst for my son sleeping in a tin top with no roof insulation.. The dog didn't like it much either! We also discovered the Gazebo may be showerproof but it not storm proof, there is work to do with the Fabsil  at some point!
Saturday dawned dry and using footwear as the judge went from wellies to trainers to canvas to bare feet over the course of the day and the weather remained great for the rest of the weekend.
The remainder of the weekend consisted of amounts of shopping, drinking, eating and mooching in various quantities before heading home mid afternoon on Sunday.
Nothing broke although the little fridge definitely works better on leccy than gas. Even James got back to Scarborough without breaking down much to his disgust.
So would we go again?
Well its a good show with a pretty chilled atmosphere more so than the bigger Busfest/ Vanfest. The catering was good not being controlled by the venue and there was lots of space to camp if you didn't want to be packed in.
The trade is not huge if you are looking for parts or autojumble buts there is a good variety of the more general stuff.
I can't really comment on the evening entertainment, as with my wife being deaf and partially sighted we tend to give it a miss, but it sounded good and it was certainly loud.
The "festival style" toilet facilities just about coped and they worked hard to keep them serviced but more would be good.
So yes we may go again but would definitely use club camping next time.
Now there is lots of cleaning and repacking to do before heading for the south west next weekend!

A choice of gas

Historically we have always used Calor gas in our other caravan bbq etc . The Puck and Camper come equipped for camping gaz . This is of course nearly twice the price of calor but has the advantage of being widely available including France .
Changing from one to the other is a real pain as the regulator needs to be changed .  With Camper Jam coming up we will need to run the fridge on gas for the weekend so a switch to a small calor cylinder which I already had sensible.
I came across these quick release connectors on the internet and they seemed a good idea

so with the aid of the requisite jubilee clips I can now quick change gas cylinders between both Puck and the Cadac BBQ

Job done!

The Final Analysis

The journey back was pretty uneventful with a good meal at L'Ecailler in Ouistreham before getting on the ferry. Speedy boarding got us both on and off the boat first which was great although parking up against the rear gates in the open on the ship is a bit scary

The run home from Portsmouth was trouble and delay free.

So would we go again? Well Pors Peron was a good site and a very possible location for the main summer break.

The Normandy beaches are pretty well "done" and worth a visit.

The Puck was pretty much faultless through the week and Mr Happy also performed pretty much faultlessly over just under a 1000 miles. The only issue being the fridge relay failing meaning that we had to unplug the caravan when we stopped otherwise flat battery, as we discovered at Pegasus Bridge, at least it didn't happen on the boat!

So upwards and onwards, next stop Camperjam.

Chateau de Martragny

This was our second site and is a 4 * Castels site just outside Bayeux. It has a variety of good sized pitches both regimented in lines and more informal amongst the Orchards, and has the full range of facilities you would expect pool, shop, bar , bistro.
We arrived just before reception closed on a fairly damp evening and were directed to our pitch which was not the best but reception disappeared after we left and I wasn't in the mood to move the following day.
We went hunting for the loo found these and went into instant grumpy old man mode

At over £30 a night call me a snob but I expect something better!
Then I went stomping off round the site and found these and all was instantly forgiven

This was one of the best toilet blocks we have encountered and I think was new last year.
The site overall is pretty good the shop was expensive but no surprise there and the bar and bistro looked good although we did not partake. It also was not pool weather!

Normandy and D Day

Pointe du Hoc

This is a fascinating place to visit and there is a definite "spin" to this site. Whilst it is difficult to ignore the fact that it was a strategic and logistical c**k up you cannot take away the undoubted bravery of the 225 rangers who scaled an impossible cliff face under fierce machine gun fire because they lost the element of surprise to capture a heavy gun position where the guns had already been moved. Over half lost their lives defending what they had won as reinforcements were sent elsewhere and did not arrive until the following day, but  again I stress their bravery was immense as you see the cliff face and the moonscape they found.

The American Cemetery

I have repeatedly been told that is a must see place and is deeply moving. We undoubtedly picked the wrong time to go, with a combination of the French public holiday, the hugely increased visitor load as the D Day anniversary approaches and the fact that the place was a building site getting ready for the Presidential visit on the 6th. Like anything set up by the Americans its a beautifully laid out and regimented place, we avoided the visitor centre as you were being herded through, and just as at the British cemetery in Bayeux we visited last year, the effect of walking through rows and rows of graves brings home the loss that occurred. We felt it lacked the personal touch we saw at Bayeux even the floral tributes left on individual graves seemed pretty identical.

Pegasus Bridge

This was another memorial described to us as a must see, and it did live up to its billing.
The museum was good value and the guided tour excellent . What made it especially interesting was the focus in the exhibition on personal stories from those involved not just on the invasion itself but also their background their families and their careers both before and after, fascinating.
It also underlined just what an amazing operation it was with some great stories such as the glider that landed 12km away from target the troops found a bridge and "took it" as was their instructions then realized they were in the wrong place and marched for a day to join the colleagues.
It is only when you see it in full scale do you realize just how close the gliders landed.
The visitor centre itself was designed to mimic the shape of the glider and also a parachute, and is the exact distance from the relocated bridge that the first glider landed.
The replica glider is also a highlight, the ultimate disposable airplane and also the famous Café Gondree the first house liberated in France.
I really good place to spend a moving yet uplifting 3 hours and only 15 minutes from the port!

Pont Croix and Quimper

Pont Croix about 3 km form Pors Peron is a small medieval town which climbs up the hillside from the banks of the river Goyen. A lot of the houses and architecture are 13th century and lead up steep cobbled streets to the main square. formally an ancient inland port it makes a delightful walk round for a couple of hours but eating opportunities are  limited.

Quimper about 25km away was the nearest "city" again with a great ancient heart centred around the Cathedral area, itself a magnificent gothic edifice extended over the centuries with tremendous stained glass windows.
The little squares and streets hosted lots of bars and restaurants and I imagine its a great place to while away summer evening

Camping Pors Peron and it's surroundings

As we come to the end of the first part of our Adventure,  time for a few reflections.
Firstly Pors Peron,  a brilliant site. OK it helps it stopped raining 10 minutes before we arrived and hasn't rained since but that is beside the point! The location is near Quimper in the far south West of Britanny which is not as developed as some parts but is great for walking and cycling on quiet lanes and is ringed by a coastal footpath. It's owned by an English couple who keep it spotless. Pitches vary in size with and without 10 amp electric and are generally screened from each other by hedges

The toilet block was rebuilt last year and is immaculate

For those who  don't camp there are a number of mobile homes to rent

There is also a kids playground and a small shop with bread and croissants to order. There is no pool or bar but we missed neither and there is a great little beach 250m down the lane which is great for bodyboarding (apparently ;-))

Out and about we visited Pont Croix on Sunday and Quimper on Monday. Unfortunately all the pictures are on my camera and the cable I bought at vast experience expense from EBay (£1.99) to transfer pictures to my tablet doesn't work, serves me right for not checking So I will edit the post when we get home and include more detail suffice to say that they were both interesting and historic places to wander round. (Grr....)
Anyway tomorrow we head back to Normandy. To be honest if we had not paid for the site we would probably have stayed put for the whole week.