Some Bonnie Peak District Camping

In May we went camping a grand total of three times! And each time it was sunny! Now those are two sentences you don't really expect to write when you're talking about England in May. We have been exceptionally blessed and it has been wonderful to actually enjoy our troublesome van. We have decided she's sort of on her last chance - if we don't use her this year we can't really justify having her. After a new (for her) engine and a bit of work in a garage she is on the best form we've had for a while so we have really made the most of it.

Trip 1 - First Bank Holiday

For our very first trip in nearly 2 years we headed off to Shallow Grange Farm near Buxton, and couldn't recommend it enough. It is a working farm with a pleasant campsite, nice facilities and we had a lovely stay.

We did a lovely walk from the campsite, which took in some of the nearby countryside and then ended up on the Monsal Trail. We did cheat and get a taxi into Buxton for some beers, but definitely had a good long walk to earn it.

Trip 2: 19th May

For our second trip we stayed at a farm closer to Ashbourne, it was fine but more set up for touring vans rather than rag tag campers like us. While we were there C ran the White Peaks Marathon in the sweltering heat, as you do. Here he is near the finish.

The day after the marathon we did some walking along the High Peak Trail. Soothing for the soul.

Trip 3 - Second Bank Holiday

It's great having so many bank holidays in May isn't it?! This time we went back to Shallow Grange. A very chilled out trip with a little walking, but lots of time in the sun, and Bonnie even got accesorised for the first time in a while.

We're currently planning an escape to Snowdonia for July - if Bonnie van manages to behave herself that is!

A Bonnie Weekend in the Peaks

Your eyes are not deceived, you didn't misread the title - we really did take monster van off for a weekend, and she actually behaved herself (!) allowing us a very bonnie weekend indeed :) This is the first trip in Bonnie where we haven't had some mishap or other, you do expect it with older ladies such as B, but it just felt like a continuous ordeal before - culminating in last year's fire of course....

Anyway! Pastures new, refurbished, and well-behaved Bonnie - here she is.

We drove up after work on Friday night, and after a night camping outside one of our favourite pubs  we headed further north on the Saturday to Castleton with the aim of climbing Mam Tor. Now I'm not particularly great with heights, or particularly fit, so was a bit apprehensive but the whole walk was just incredible - here are some of the highlights.

Then to top it all off we stayed in the most beautiful campsite that night, looking up at Mam Tor (the pointier peak on the right below). We sat in the sun and cooked fajitas with a bottle of wine - perfect. 

The blanket I made for such outings got its first outing - we certainly needed it as it was rather nippy in the night!

The next day we packed up and headed south, to the Staffordshire part of the national park. This was heading back to my roots really as my Mum's family are from this area. We did a walk not too far from where she grew up, which was really nice, starting off in the village of Onecote and enjoying a circular walk through the noticeably quieter Staffordshire fields - more overgrown and livestock filled, which added to its charms of course. We did nearly get eaten by the very hungry sheep in the picture below...

And we finished the walk visiting the church where my parents got married, nearly 35 years ago. This was a really special moment for me - I've seen pictures of all of my family lined up around this church and visiting it with my own husband did make me a little bit teary eyed. I'm a bit soppy really!

My proudest Ta Dah: The Bonnie Blanket

How is it June already? I'm not quite sure what's going on with the time at the moment but it seems to be permanently on fast forward, I'd very much like it to slow down a bit so I can catch up!

Thank you for the lovely well wishes on the last post, I have comments from one supervisor now and it's mostly tweaking, and adding bits to the thesis here and there, nothing fundamentally wrong which is a relief! So while I await the other comments I'm having a bit of a ploddy along type week, trying to get back into it all but being rather distracted by the sun...

Today I wanted to share with you my finally finished blanket for our camper van Bonnie. Sadly as I wrote here, Bonnie attempted to self destruct two months ago so until she has her visit to camper van hospital won't be taking us anywhere. She's a very awkward van as you can probably guess!

The sun is out for once so I'm not going to complain about it being too bright for my photo shoot ;) I think my neighbours thought I was slightly mad marching up and down the washing line clutching the blanket. It's pretty heavy so it didn't really drape properly!

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get a decent picture of the edging without it looking warped. I just did one row of double crochet in a dark navy to finish. I'm pleased with its simplicity.

I used mostly Hayfield Bonus Chunky and some yarn donated by my MIL. It's pretty heavy due to the yarn weight but I wanted something nice and warm for chillier nights in the van. In the winter it will live on our bed as a cover. I really like the chunky yarn in a blanket actually, I might make another one for the spare bed one day. But in the meantime I have a gazillion WIPs to crack on with...

Some Bonnie Drama

When you own a vehicle that's over 40 years old you're kind of aware it's not going to be the easiest of rides. In the few years Bonnie has been on the drive we've had all sorts of adventures and mishaps, I may share them in more detail at some point, but just to paint a picture these include

- Ending up nose dive in a ditch off the A1 at midnight because the electrics decide to completely stop working.... no engine, no lights, no hazard lights. Thank heavens for a passing ambulance, but that's another story.
- Being unable to start her at a tiny village fete in the back end of no-where where we just happened to park to go on a coastal walk. We became the star attraction - the very kind village folk pushed us round the car park twice to try and jump start her before giving up and taking us to the garage next door. People are so kind.
- The gear box falling out in a car park in the pouring rain in a car-park in Bodmin. Cue hubby spending quite some time under the van and me trying to work out whether being broken down counted as parking by the ticket machine.
- The break lights not working for our Peak District camping trip - my parents followed us home so no-one drove into the back of us.

She did however get me to my wedding in one piece and not too late!

Oh Bonnie.

But now we've had a more dramatic mishap - a fire - which only thanks to the quick thinking of C and our ex-fireman next door neighbour (lucky, huh?) didn't destroy her completely.

She was stationary on the drive, C had started her up and run back to the house to get something and when he came out - flames! With the help of our neighbour he managed to get it out before it caught too much, but the engine's pretty damaged and the paint work is peeling, upholstery burned at the back.

We're waiting for the insurance to sort out where she will be taken and when - we think it will be fixable but no idea how long it will take. We are not complaining though as it could have been so much worse, I can't even bear to think about what it would have been like if he'd been on the road. He's safe, if a little frustrated, Bonnie's intact, if a little worse for wear, and I am glad C is ok, but a little disappointed there won't be any camper adventures this year.

I hope you're all well and have no dramas whereever you are :)

Camping in Cornwall (and Devon!)

Back home sweet home after my travels, it's always so nice to be back regardless of what adventure it was that took me away.

We have had a lovely (sometimes adventurous thanks to Bonnie) trip down to the South West, with a few nights in Cornwall and then one in Devon on the way back. We are based in Lincolnshire, so rather a lot of driving for poor C, but as long as it is not raining, and as long as Bonnie is behaving, he seems to not mind it too much.

An old family friend of hubbie's family got married near Padstow on Saturday, which was the catalyst for our trip. It was a lovely wedding, and as a bonus we got to spend a few days with ma-in-law, pa-in-law, my two brothers-in-law, sister-in-law and niece. Hubbie's family is a lot bigger than mine! It was lovely to see them all for a bit longer than usual, as we live a fair bit away from them. Little niece is growing fast at nearly 3 months and I got lots of smiles and cuddles which was great. As we had a lot of family time I took less pictures than normal, but I will share a few snapshots any way :)

We lucked out and had an amazing view from our campsite. The first morning was a little grey, but I thought that made for some nice lighting!

That morning was the morning of the wedding, so we had a sneaky trip to Padstow, just to the harbour before getting ready and heading off.

That night we had the luxury of a hotel room and the following morning we headed back into Padstow, walking up to the head. A bit of a mission with a pram, slightly grumpy baby, two golden retrievers and a group of people who were split in half regarding what they wanted to do! We made it up nevertheless and enjoyed the sunny views over the town and bay.

This was followed by fish and chips from Rick Stein's fish and chip shop. C is rather a big fan. He had the plaice which he said was good, my Cod and Chips were ok, the cod a little dry though.

We then went to a BBQ on the beach with the rest of the wedding guests, camera safely tucked away due to the combination of aforementioned Golden Retrievers, sand and sea.

The following morning we had a sunny view and had a lovely brekkie sunning ourselves

I love camping in Bonnie, it's great fun! We made our way north after a final lunch with the family, and stopped for the night at West Middlewick Farm in Devon, between Nomansland and Witheridge. It's a working farm, and wonderful for kids. We popped into Witheridge in search of some afternoon tea, it's a lovely village.

The village tea rooms was sadly closed, but we found an amazing afternoon tea in one of the pubs....

We had it in the traditional Devon fashion: clotted cream then jam. Apparently Cornwall is the other way round!!

After that we headed back to the campsite, and cooked dinner for the first time overlooking fields and beautiful countryside.

We had veggie fajitas - a highly easy and recommendable camping meal :)

Now sadly it rained that night (Monday), and Bonnie wasn't very happy the following morning. Her electrics were a bit hit and miss, so rather than stopping again we decided to head for home. We made it home, and although I was sad to miss out on a night's camping, it is SO good to be back :)

Hope you're all well, I'm looking forward to catching up on my missed bloggy reading ;)