Slinfold

Sunday 28/07/19

Yesterday morning Bokkie grabbed all her things and left the seashore - and not a moment too soon judging by the traffic we passed on the way inland.  Miles and miles of cars all heading to the seashore for the summer.  We travelled the 123 miles in around four hours, I know Bokkie isn't the quickest but this was crazy!

The campsite we're in now is quite full, a combination of caravans and motorhomes and quite a few yappie dogs.  We miss the tranquility of Kimmeridge Bay.

Crossing the river Arun

One of the few steep sections of the Way

The site borders on the Downs link which links the South Downs Way (which we used to walk the dogs on the Alresford sit) and the North Downs Way.  It follows the route of a now-dismantled railway so is nice and flat (in most parts), and great for walking and cycling.  Today we got the bikes off and headed to Cranleigh, halfway to Guildford, to do some people watching.

A Victorian double bridge over the Arun

Cranleigh

This afternoon we took a walk through Slinfold village which is quite lovely, a pity about the airliners constantly overhead but that's the price for living under Gatwick's flight path, I suppose.

Saint Peter's Church in Slinfold

Slinfold village hall

Tomorrow we will head off to do some shopping before going on to our next sit near Hartfield for a handover, before taking over from the owners on Tuesday morning.  We are looking forward to some four-legged company again, but have had a lovely break and it's been great to do proper 'motorhoming' in Bokkie again.

Kimmeridge and Corfe Castle visit

Friday 26/07/19

Yesterday Bokkie battened down the hatches to repel the fiercest heat Europe has ever seen but it turned out we had chose our hideaway well - the heat never happened in our spot.  While the rest of the UK and most of Europe sizzled with record-breaking temperatures, we were dodging showers and running out to sit in the sun every time it came out.  I even commented at one stage that I had goosebumps while sitting in the sun in the second hottest day the UK has ever seen - bizarre.

We went for a walk in the evening but spent most of the day reading, relaxing and playing Scrabble.  It has been lovely to be able to live outdoors a bit more, and we have done most of our cooking outside.

This morning, with cooler temperatures forecast, we got the bikes out and pedalled to nearby Corfe Castle.  It is pretty hilly around here and we were seriously out of breath when we arrived - definitely need to get on the bikes more!  The town itself was very busy with a lot of traffic, as we are in peak summer holiday in England.  We had a lovely time exploring the town, and even had ice creams to celebrate summer. 

For those who are interested: Corfe Castle was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, and is one of the earliest castles to be built at that time using stone, rather than earth and timber. It's played a strong part in the history of England, and is currently a scheduled ancient monument, owned by The National Trust. 

No rest for the farmers, as the harvesting needs to be done

Corfe Castle in the distance

The lovely village of Corfe

Corfe Castle in the distance, surrounded by the village and beautiful countryside

It looks like the weekend parties are starting up in the campsite, hopefully not too rowdy.

Tomorrow we will uproot and move to another campsite closer to our next house-sit due to start on Monday.

Bonus pic: the local wildlife is amazing with pheasant walking through the campsite, and Toni also saw a pine marten just outside camp (sadly she did not have the camera with her). 

Kimmeridge

Wednesday 24/07/19

Bokkie is in her element again, camped in a grass field along the Jurassic coast.  Yesterday was an absolute scorcher and we are trying to cool her down after a sticky night, unfortunately the spot we are in has no shade but we are hoping today is a little cooler.

We finished off our sit in Amersham, looking after smaller dogs is definitely less work than bigger dogs although the walks are lot less exerting, except when Lotti would get the zoomies.  The owner's flight was delayed so we ended up looking after her son's dog for an hour - he's a cross between a Ridgeback and a Staffie, and managed to get the best features from both.

Max, wondering who these strange people are.

We left Amersham quite early and braved the M25 traffic; luckily school holidays meant it wasn't too busy.  We had a minor scare when Bokkie wouldn't start after a stop a Winchester services - we think it was the immobiliser kicking in as we had her disabled in Amersham, but we managed to get her going again.  We stopped off for groceries in Poole and headed off to our destination, the roads getting narrower as we went.

Smedmore house, not your average seaside cottage

The view of the distant sea from Smedmore garden

The campsite is on the Smedmore estate and is wonderfully peaceful and quiet, it has no ablution facilities, only service points so attracts more serious campers.  There are two permissive walks through the estate giving access to the wonderful coastal walking route - so we tried them both in the heat of the day!  The views are amazing and we dipped our feet in Kimmeridge Bay, I think we might have to revisit with our swimming costumes.

Kimmeridge Bay

Clifftop grazing

Clavell Tower

The clifftop pathway not for the faint-hearted

All in all, a lovely spot to relax for a few days.

Noisy neighbours

Come to the country for some peace and quiet - they said...

Unfortunately the farmer chose yesterday to separate all his lambs from their Mums - and they were not happy.  This, in turn, upset the dogs, so they bugged us until we let them into the room last night.  End result:  Chester slept on the bed, Lottie snored at the foot of the bed and Toni and I didn't sleep very much.

Methinks we'll be using earplugs tonight.

Amersham

Saturday 13/07/19

Bokkie finally had to pull up her roots from our longest house-sit so far and we headed towards London.  

Bokkie didn't like the M25 any more this time around.

We have come full circle, staying for two nights at Commons Wood caravan park where we said our goodbyes to family in the middle of November.  It struck us how one's view of things can change, when we moved out from Henley campsite (quite luxurious) to Commons Wood last winter we found it quite basic and weren't really looking forward to returning, but it suited us as it is very close to where we store our few remaining possessions.  

Now, after seven months of camping, sometimes in the most basic of places, it seemed like the ultimate haven - huge, level gravel sites with massive gaps between campers - heaven.

Remembrance garden, Amersham

It wasn't too long and we had to head off to our next house sit, almost two weeks in Amersham looking after the cutest little dogs.  Although this house is situated in a barn complex development, so has more neighbours than we are used to, it borders the farm and has lovely walks leading away from the house.  It is very peaceful.  

Meeting the neighbours

Chester, squirrel chaser and cuteness personified!

Walking Chester and Lottie

We'll be here for the next two weeks giving us time to do some admin and catch up with some friends.

Bonus pic:

We picked Flaffie up from storage as he promised to help with the driving

Seven months in Europe - a summary

Friday 05/07/19

Enjoying the sun with our 3 wonderful charges

We're coming to the end of our Winchester house-sit - it was a nice long period (3 weeks), giving us time to get used the house and the dogs and we'll really miss them.

It has also given us time to look back at our trip and analyse some of the numbers.

We spent a total of 196 nights on the continent, 48 in Spain, 60 in Portugal and 49 in France.

We stayed in Bokkie for 146 of the nights as we house sat for a total of 51 nights.  Bokkie stayed on campsites for 40 nights, Aires (both free and/or paid for) for 83 nights and free-camped for 23 nights.

Bokkie drove a total of 7,020 miles (11,232 km) and guzzled up 1,111 litres of diesel giving a average consumption of 28.72 mpg (9.89 l/100km).

We spent around €6,150 on direct trip costs (we keep our fixed costs and repairs etc. separate from our direct costs related to the trip) with the biggest expense of course being groceries at €2,233, second being diesel at €1,361.  

We also used around 200 litres of LPG.

Our daily cost was around €30.50 per night in Spain and Portugal, and slightly higher at €32.00 per night in France.  Diesel and groceries are definitely more expensive in France than the other two countries, but this was offset by the fact that we did a few house-sits and the wonderful Aire system means you save a lot on accomodation.  

We have another two house-sits to do in the UK as it works well to keep costs down while we stay and help Charmaine cram for her re-sit exams (Toni helps and I do the housework 😂) and then we have pre-house-sit, sit (it gets complicated!)  in Brittany before starting our 6-month winter sit.  

What has been interesting from doing this analysis is that motorhome travelling, combined with periods of house-sitting, has been an enjoyable and cost-effective way for us to see Europe - so we will use the 6-month house-sit to plan next year (which we hope will include an extended trip to South Africa as well.)

Stay tuned....!