First Trip in Penny

After a very long wait, today was the day that we finally set off in Penny the Campervan for our first trip.
We had planned to get up, finish packing up and set off really early.
Obviously that didn't happen but we did set off at about 9am which for us is like leaving at the crack of dawn!
Packing went very well and we had a surprising lack of all the last minute crap we normally throw in. Mr K found a use at last for the bungee cords he inexplicably bought a couple of years ago!!
First stop was McDonalds just outside Oxford. Nothing says camping trip like a Sausage n Egg McMuffin!
Then it was down to Dorset following the route I took so many times as a child when we went to Weymouth most weekends.
All went well until Salisbury. My advice to them would be to build a bloody bypass!!
And when we finally crawled our way out the other side Miss L announced that she needed the toilet.
We pulled off the road down a pretty lane and all got out. Miss L then announced it was the wrong sort of toilet stop and she needed a garage. Bloody child!!
We carried on to Blandford (no garages between Salisbury and Blandford!!), stopped at a garage and took Miss L in to discover there were no toilets. Bloody Blandford!
So we carried on again and eventually came to a garage halfway to Poole. They had toilets, chocolate and an enormous road atlas.
From there we thankfully tootled quickly to Corfe Castle (aided by my fabulous new road atlas!!) and the fabulous Norden Farm Campsite.
I loved it from the minute we arrived! A gorgeous little garden centre by the reception and incredibly well stocked shop, peacocks wandering around, ramshackle old farm buildings and shepherd huts, barns full of old machinery, agricultural implements and every tractor they've ever owned!! It was like a cross between Thomas Hardy and the Darling Buds of May!!!
Within twenty minutes we were all set up and enjoying our first cup of tea in the glorious sunshine.
This is why we bought a campervan!!!
After a few hours lounging around (us) and playing (the Little Misses) we headed off to the beach at Swanage. As it was later in the day we were able to park right on the promenade and the Little Misses had a wonderful couple of hours on their body boards and digging "sand systems"!
Miss E made friends with a girl with a giant unicorn float and had a brilliant time.
I would have made friends with the girl's parents - in the campervan parked next to ours - but I didn't dare get too close for fear of being overwhelmed by the fug of weed emanating from their van!!
Honestly, these hippy campervan types!!
Eventually, once they'd turned blue, we made hot chocolate (another reason we bought a campervan!!!) and headed back to the camp. Fish and chips for Mr K and Miss E, curry and rice for me and Miss L.
The Little Misses were giddy to finally get up into the roof and settled down surprisingly quickly. 
Mr K made up our bed (which looked horrifically narrow!!) and bought Archie's bed inside. Archie was having none of it and kept trying to get out and into the tent. He obviously couldn't understand why we were getting into the car when there was a perfectly good tent to sleep in.
He wouldn't stay in his bed and insisted on jamming himself up between our heads - in the horrifically narrow bed - panting like a lunatic and generally making me want to call Battersea Dog's Home!!
We kicked him off a few times but it just made him more anxious and frantic. 
Throw in the fact that it was freezing and the bed was about 10cm wide it wasn't boding well for a good night!!