Caravan Travels

1.05pm – It’s lovely and warm here at Looe today and we’re having quite a lazy time of it. I say that, but poor Helen has spent the morning going over numerous options for the next few days, and the outcome is that we’ve altered our plans yet again! The forecast temperature for Looe over the next three days is quite a bit less than at Tewkesbury, where we’re due to relocate to today. As things currently stand we’re staying here two more nights now and then having our final two nights at Tewkesbury by which time the worst of the heat should have past.

I have to admire Helen’s tenacity and doggedness to amend our plans for our best advantage. The problem is that other caravanners around the country are almost certainly doing the same as us and adjusting their plans accordingly to cope with the current heatwave; the caravan club’s online central booking system is constantly changing its pitch-availibility as pitches are either booked-up or cancelled and then become available again.

One of the complications is that not all caravan site pitches are the same. Ideally, we always prefer to book a fully-serviced pitch with both electricity and mains water hook-up. Some pitches only have electricity hook-up, and some have no services at all. As long as we have electricity though, the rest we can cope with.

1.30pm – We took our awning down yesterday because we were originally due to leave here this morning. Now, of course we’re going to be here two more days and it’s very sunny. Consequently, Garry and Jacquie very kindly suggested we borrow their roll-out sun canopy, which took less than five minutes to install and deploy on our caravan. I’m sitting under it as I write this post, enjoying the shade and just perusing similar systems online. I rather think I’ll be ordering one; the convenience and simplicity is marvellous.

We only tend to put up one of our two air awnings if we’re going to be staying somewhere for at least three nights (5 in the case of the big awning). It takes quite a bit of work to erect an air awning, drilling the pegs into the ground once it’s blown-up is quite the hardest job (as I’ve mentioned before in a previous post!). From start to finish it takes about an hour for the little one and rather longer for the large one, depending on any extensions we also put up (we have a sleeping extension, a side wing and a front extension).

Garry and Jacquie’s stand-alone, roll-out sun canopy, however, can be deployed at the drop of a hat and would be perfectly convenient to use for even one-night stays. Every time we’ve previously said that our caravan kit is finally complete, we find something else we need to buy!

2.10pm – Helen and Jacquie have decided to brave the weather and have gone into Looe to do some shopping. Once they come back we’re all going up to the on-site swimming pool at around 3pm. I’m sure it’ll be very busy today, however, but all I want to do is get in the cool water!

5.17pm – We’ve spent an hour or so in the swimming pool. It was heavenly being in the lovely cool water on this hot day. I did a few lengths, but mostly I just luxuriated in being in the water. Helen is more disciplined and did about twenty lengths. It’s a great facility having an on-site swimming pool and I just wish many more caravan sites had them too.

It’s bbq time shortly and the plan is to go down to the beach for ice-cream later. It’s not too bad this ‘being on holiday’ lark!

7.25pm – The ‘ice-cream run’ is off – we’re all far too comfortably-stuffed with food to move! It’s blissful sitting-out by the caravan listening to the birds singing and watching butterflies flying around us, and I for one don’t want to move an inch!

Talking of butterflies, on the day that we left home I noticed a Painted Lady butterfly on one out bushes. It’s not a commonly-sighted butterfly for me so I was pleased to see it. Sitting here at Looe three weeks later I’ve seen many more of them. After a bit of Googling I’ve learned that once a decade or so we have a ‘Painted Lady Year’ when tens of thousands of them migrate to the UK from Northern Africa (I know, amazing eh?), and 2026 is just such a year. It’s amazing the things you can learn when you’re immobilised as a result of excessive eating!

10.07pm – We’re in for the night and it’s now quite dark outside. We still have the main caravan door and several windows open (fly-screens are down!) because of the heat. Our table-top Meaco fans are permanently on-charge at the moment – they’re a godsend overnight when it’s hot!

At about 9pm, Garry, Helen and I went to help some of our caravan-pitch ‘neighbours’ who were having trouble erecting their air awning. They had only put it up once previously and were really struggling with it. The awning in question was identical to our big Dometic one (a Club Air 330), so Helen and I were in a good position to help them. However, I’m not sure they believed me when I told them it took us four and a half hours to put it up the very first time!

Like we had been, this couple were struggling to identify which were the doors and which were the windows – all of which are separate zip-in pieces. They were very grateful when we’d helped them sort everything out and attach them in the right places. It’s now a couple of hours later and I can still hear the chap hammering-in tent pegs – in the dark! Perhaps our four and a half hours doesn’t seem quite so incredible now!