View From Our Doorstep!

We left Sutton today and set out for our next stop, but first we wanted to say goodbye to Bryn and give him a Guardian Euro magazine that David had saved for him.

We just missed him, as he had gone shopping at Asda with his carer and housemate Rob. So we drove to Asda to look for him, but it is a huge hypermarket and there were a lot of people shopping, so we didn’t see him. So back to Bryn’s house, in case we had missed him on their way home.
He wasn’t back yet, so we went back a second time to Asda for a better look in the food aisles, as we didn’t realize he was helping with the weekly food shop.
This time we found him and he wanted to go have a drink at Costa Cafe with us instead of helping with the shopping!
Bryn is very self aware and after trying to engage a complete stranger on the next table into a football conversation he said, “Me talk too much!”
After a coffee and scrumptious lemon tart for me, we took Bryn back to his house. But was informed as we arrived that the other carer there was about to leave with Ellen, another of Bryn’s roommates (his girlfriend), so he wasn’t allowed to be left there alone, necessitating a third trip to Asda to reconnect him with his carer and Rob. Bryn soon spotted Rob sitting near the checkouts, so we just had to find his carer, who was checking out. So we said our goodbyes and finally set out on our drive to East Wellow.
After all that back and forth with Bryn we didn’t have time to stop at Hotter in Solihull for me to try on boots, so I decided I can make do with what I have till next year.

We did stop in Chandlers Ford for some groceries though, because we knew our next camping site was going to be quite remote - almost “wild camping”, so we wanted to be prepared for the next four days.

We arrived in time at “Windwhistle Fisheries” before they close their gates at 5pm. It is quite small and situated by a beautiful fishing lake with lots of wildlife. Our allocated spot is in fact just 10 yards from the lake and we have a great view!

The amenities on site are pretty basic - one shower, one toilet each for men and women - but there is electric hook up for the BK. The fresh water outlet was situated too far away for our water pipe to reach, so we had to drive the van over to it to fill our water tank. We have been rather spoiled by our previous facilities!
But we are here for the peace and quiet, and we are supposed to be self-contained anyway!

Once we had settled in, David cooked us a delicious meal of breaded sole and served with a delightful Viognier (white wine) supplied by Kevin before we left.

I ventured into the one shower before bed and despite the cobwebs around the corners of the cubicle, the water was hot and I felt quite refreshed! Glad I thought to take our lantern with me though, as I could not see anywhere to turn a light on, so it would have been a shower in the dark!

It’s cosy in the BK with the rain outside and I’m going to sleep now!