Monday 20 August 2012

Bunking up in Devon

Just back from our first proper outing in Trevor this year - I know it's late but better late than never, eh! Besides, who'd want to have been beside the seaside with the wet weather we've been having?

There is basically no news for this blog post - in that, Trevor got there and back without incident, minor mishaps or roadside assistance - amazing, is this a first?! Having said that, as you know, all of our trips whether big or small, come with a few stories of their own....

1. Baby in the bunk
Our nearly two-year-old son made the move from the coffin sleeping arrangement to the bunk bed on this trip, without too much of a grumble. This felt like a major achievement as I was paranoid he would either roll out, climb out or sleep badly up there. None of these fears really materialised - although he did make a bid for freedom one night when he was adamant it wasn't bedtime yet:
Dangling!
We managed to persuade him otherwise (i.e. Husband refused to catch him when he was dangling over the edge and told him to get back up) and soon enough he went back up to his bunk, peered through the window and dropped off to sleep once he got bored enough. Amazingly we also managed to cook a meal and socialise "downstairs" round the table one night with him asleep above! That felt like a real achievement.  Weirdly though, rather than be tucked up in a nice sleeping bag or with covers over him, he seemed to much prefer sleeping straight on the 39-year-old nylon bunk itself with no covers on, and found it hilarious that he could just about see through the fabric to say 'peep-oh' to us in the morning. Cute!

These covers didn't stay on very long. But look - aaaaaw



2. The natural foot coolant
Driving down to Ilfracombe, we went straight into an amazing lightning storm which although majorly spectacular to view, brought with it a bit of an issue at a local level.  The near-horizontal rain seemed to sneak itself into a gap in the van's outer shell and create a spray/drip effect on the accelerator area. I was wearing flip flops so basically spent a half hour or so getting a very wet right foot - not nice at the best of times to be honest!  But that was the only little leak we had and it didn't re-occur despite heavy rain later in the week - it was obviously something to do with the angle of the rain, our speed and the ferocity of the downpour!

3. What a view
We stayed at Napps campsite at Berrynarbour near Ilfracombe for the week and it was a good site with swimming pool, cafe, kids play area, clubhouse and the most fantastic views (when the weather played ball):
beeeeeautiful!
Our pals came along with their camper van and an awning which, although it collapsed once in very high winds, convinced us we could do with the same extra bit of space - it proved really useful for putting chairs, tables, pushchairs in overnight. So now we're on the look out for a decent awning which might suit the van - any suggestions from CF owners out there?