19 Munich

Tuesday 28th

Today I finally lost patience with the fact that the cupboards and drawers were all so full of the things I couldn't possibly live without, and that had never been used, that I made Ray take me to the local hard ware store and get storage boxes and drawers that would help tidy everything up, and surprisingly we threw out a lot more rubbish.  It has taken a while to adjust to our new life and strangely it is very cleansing.  After a long night doing the sorting out, we are far more efficient and lighter.
I had to take Leon to the vet's to make sure he was completely ready with all his jabs and stuff, as we have decided to go to Europe as of Thursday.  We are totally fed up with the weather that we have chased around and are going sun hunting.  The vet described Leon as the youngest and healthiest 14 and a half year old cat she had ever seen, so we are off on the ten 0'clock ferry to Dunkerque on Thursday morning.

Wednesday 29th

Ray bought Leon  a disc with his name a phone number on it. He looks cool.
We are getting visitors today, so I did all the house work and made sure we looked like we take care of the place other than do a pub report for the blogg.  My brother and his partner Tim came down to Ashford to see us and our motor home, as life had prevented the time being right before.  It was a fantastic night.  Tim drove us into Ahsford and we were searching out a curry house via Ray's Zumo sat nav.  We ended up asking a little Indian chappie, sat in the street if he knew where the curry house was, and apparently he said, Curry Leaf and started to walk along the road, beaconing us to follow, John and I were bringing up the rear and thought he said, I'll give you a lift to which we both thought no way am I getting in a car with him. John and I started shouting to Ray that there is one over there as Ray and our little fellow turned into a door way.   As it turned out, there were two Indians within a nats of where we stood, and I have to say the other one looked far better, with old beams and listed building style, and our little fellow took us into a more modern building that had only half the character of the other.  However the food, drink and company was brilliant, and I have to say a good time was had by us all.

Thursday 30th

Thursday morning we were up and off to Dover for the ferry.  The weather was glorious and we had a lovely trip over to France, then, began our long journey to Munich for the Oktoberfest. We drove through a bit of France, Belgium,  Luxembourg and into Germany. We were aiming for a little place called Trier and landed at about 8pm our time, 9pm by theirs so it was a long day.  We weren't at a campsite as we know it, but a hugh car park for an industrial estate. There are no fee's or services but there was a huge McDonalds and it was just a short walk into town.  I'm not sure what Leon thought of his first steps on European soil, however he still went off exploring. I should add that having left a glorious day in Dover, by the time we hit Germany, it was raining again, I could begin to start taking it personally. We needed to go into town for the bank and do a wee bit of shopping so off we wandered, managed the bank and then found a lovely little German pub. We popped inside, the air was thick with cigarette smoke and the bar was a bit of an international affair, with, German, Russian and Polish people in there and then there was us.  For both Ray and me, Germany is like a pair of comfortable slippers, Ray served here when he was in the Army, and I lived here as a child, when my Dad was in the Army. We both have a smattering of German words, so soon became involved in conversation with our new best Polish Friend, Darek.  It did help that he spoke a little bit of English. It was quite surreal, because the Russian joined in, Darek also spoke that and we were having conversations in 4 languages.  Having popped in for one, 2 hours later and the shopping forgotten, we headed off to bed.  It was a great way to start the European jaunt. The bar was run by a lovely woman called Sandra.

Darek, Sandra, Ray

The bar...

A drunk cuddling the cat

The public "campsite"

Friday 1st October

Another early start, and on down to Munich for the Oktoberfest.  We hadn't booked a campsite so headed for one that we found in our trusty tom tom.

I am gonna get you back for this, I havent been out all day

It was another full day of driving and on reaching our first choice, it was completely full, however they did direct us to one over to the west side of town.  We had to negociate the centre of town, I use the term "we" loosely, I sat very quietly thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't driving. Ray did a great job and we arrived at the recommended one, which again was only for MH's and covered a vast amount of ground.

Lots of room and thousands of noisy Italians

 
We had electricity here so it was slightly more user friendly, however, it was one of the more expensive, presumably because of the festival.  It was a little bit hectic here for Leon, but again, off he went, I can't believe the change in this boy, he is really enjoying his new life.
After setting up, it was off to quaff some steins of beer and eat curry wurst.  We managed to get to the "fest" with some help from our new best, Swiss, Italian and American Friends. They helped us get the right train tickets, told us what station to get off at, and if that wasn't enough, bought us our first beer of the night.

One of those bottles was Ray's ...honest

Just like the London tube escalators...not. Smiles and happy people...oh and bosoms...

There are some very nice people out there.
We had a wonderful time, the atmosphere was brilliant.  The only thing I would say was the last time we were here we were able to get into the tents and join in the fun, this time it seemed to be more corperate and by reservation, but we were able to stay in the beer gardens and enjoy.

 

We actually went into the funfair this time and went on the big wheel to take some pictures to try and let you see the scale of the place, and then just for fun we went on a  water log flume, and were lucky not to get too wet, but had loads of fun.

Just let me sup up will you....

Let the action begin....

How an I doing so far....

It all closed down at 11pm so we were hoarded onto the U Bahn, (Germany's equivalent of the tubes in London, except everyone is happy, absolutely nothing to do with the beer).  It was a bit like when we'd policed the football games and concerts in London, it was weird being on the other side.
We both slept well that night, even with all the parties going on around us, and the Italians laughing loudly and telling jokes at shouting level.

18 Even More Cornwall

Monday 20th September
The weather has stayed cloudy and windy, and we decided to go to Falmouth and have a look around. I remember it being quite prominent in programmes like Poldark and the Onedine Line, ( showing my age here). It was not as interesting as I thought, so we headed on out along the coast and came across a beach called Swanpool, where Ray had a night navigation diving exam a very long time ago.  We had a wee snifter in a beach restaurant called "Ondabeach" which is what it says on the tin. There were some water sports going on and some very brave older people actually having a swimming session.  We haven't been brave enough to get into the sea yet, maybe next year.......

Tuesday 21st September

Today was brighter, but still not all that warm, we went to Penzance and I was quite taken with it.  There are lots of little streets with interesting little shops, all very pretty and quaint.

Competition time, Can you spot Ray?

We tried to go out on a boat which takes you around the coast in search of wildlife, but apparently it was too windy at sea.  Spot of retail therapy and then to a really old pub, steeped in History,(the sacrifices we make so that you have a good Pub guide).  The place is  called The Dolphin Tavern and is down on the harbour.  It dates back to 1585 and is where a man named Sir John Hawkins employed Cornish men to fight in the Navy against the Spanish Armada.  Sir Walter Raleigh smoked the first bit of tobacco brought back from his travels, (he's got a lot to answer for). Apparently the centre of the pub was the local court room and Judge Jeffries, who was known as the hanging judge, presided there on several occasions (we could do with some more like him)  Lastly, but not least, they have 3 resident ghosts. One is an old sea captain, one a young man who died in an accident on the premises and the third, an old woman, who nobody knows much about.  We didn't see any of them, but we did only stay for one drink.

Where are the ghosts?

Wednesday 22nd
Most of the day was spent at the MH, doing chores and then in the evening we went out for dinner at The Whitehouse Pub and Lodge.  We caused quite a stir turning up on our trusty steed as most of the clientel were older than us and were very impressed by the motor cycle.  Ray crept up on one older lady as she was touching the bike, shouted at her, "What are you doing to my bike" she nearly passed out having jumped 3 feet in the air, the paramedics stated it was only a mild heart attack, anyway we then listened to her and her husbands tales of their travels on different types of motor cycles 40 years ago.  Does this sound familiar?


Thursday 23rd
Now would be a good time to tell the saga of the awning by Ray Hall QPM. (as we put it up today) :
We needed a new awning as the one that came with Lizzy does not fair well in wind and has to be taken down every time the weather turns for the worse. 
So we searched the internet and found a suitable one that is designed for high Motorhomes and has a steel frame, a Dorema Highlander 2.
We found a supplier in Ilfracombe and we factored in a trip to there whilst on the way to Cornwall. We paid for the last one of its kind in the UK and waited for it to arrive. Four days later the supplier called us up and stated that the item did not actually exist and we had to have our money refunded.
We contacted another supplier in Sudbury near Colchester on the off chance that he hay have one in stock. He said no, there were none left but offered us an alternative, a Eurovent Coachman, this was also the last of its type in the UK.
We had no internet access and could not confirm the suitability but took his word for it and paid it and then waited to be delivered to the Treamble camp site at Perranporth. We waited about 4 days and then phoned up to enquire as to its whereabouts.
Lost in the Parcel force post system was the reply. Luverly.
We at this time had to move camp sites as the one we were as was closing.
Anyway, the dealer said that the supplier had put in a claim to Parcel force and would we like the next model down which was very similar with a different type of door on one side, a Eurovent Autovilla.
OK we said, and gave him the address of the new camp site.
3 Days later we phoned to enquire about the location of this awning only to be told that no one knew. I then received a voice mail from the courier stating that they had tried to deliver it but as we had left the campsite they would not take it. They tried to deliver it to the wrong campsite !
I phoned the courier, asked him wher he ewas and then drove the 15 miles to Crambourne to collect it on Wallace. Brilliant, at last we have our new awning.
The next morning, like a good little camper I set the awning up only to find that it was about 18" too small and we could not open our motorhome door if the awning was attached.
F**k, F**k, F**k !!!
Now we have the problem of sending it back. Not easy when you do not have a proper address.    

Friday 24th

Again really windy, but mostly dry, and off to the Lizard which is the most Southerly point of the UK.

Views from The Lizard, you can see the difference in the light just in the short time we were there.

  It was beautiful and after enjoying the views we headed back towards Lands End, however on route, we came across a Cider Farm which was in fact just a shop selling local brews, so we obliged, and that then becomes another story.  However, back to our touring and we ended up in Lands End.  We did the touristy bit and had our picture taken by the sign and complete with "Wallace".  There was a bloke on holiday with his 2 year old child, he turned out to be a complete knob. The area by the sign is actually rented by the photographer, so unless you are prepared to part with your hard earned dosh, you cannot take your own picture. This idiot wouldn't understand that and was declaring that England was a free country, all of this in front, of his kid, Well he was crying, the wife was crying, the in-laws were walking off, I thought I was back in Harringay, and Ray was surprisingly calm. You just cannot believe some people.  Anyway, photo posed for and off to the pub.

Says it all really

As we were leaving, we saw a group of people having their photo taken, all were wearing the same fetching outfits, so being nosy we went down to take a look and discovered that they were a group of Police Officers from Liverpool, who were about to embark on a cycle ride to John O'Groats for a children's charity.  Good luck chaps...

Liverpudlian Coppers

We drove along the coast to a place called Sennen Cove, it was very pretty and apparently Ray and the boys from the TA had a boys day out, trying to drown each other and practising their caveman skills.  Its been very nostalgic for him.

Sennen Cove

We headed back to Penzance to get a  photo of St Michaels Mount.

St Michaels Mount, minus the Germans

Back in World War 2, when the Germans were confident of a win, one of the Generals wanted to live there when the war was over. He believed that if he did his job well, then Hitler would give him most of Cornwall as well, thank goodness that we won, I doubt we would be visiting it now if things had turned out differently.  I needed to get a new camera, (mine having been covered in Cider when a bottle broke in the back of the motor cycle), and to finish off the evening we had decided we would go to  the Whitehouse for a quiz night.

Reason why Camera needed replacing

Whilst we were there, Ray thought he recognised a man he'd worked with in the Met whilst on the search team. Turned out he was an ex inspector from the met, Chris Sevier and he retired seven years ago and moved down to Cornwall.  I was left answering the quiz questions alone whilst they caught up. The marking went ahead, and apparently Chris and his family normally win, I am pleased to say that this night they didn't, we did. I think we put a few local noses out of joint. You just can't teach it can you.


Saturday 25th
Today we tried to get on the boat trip, as it was the first time that the wind had calmed down, again there was no joy but the man we had been trying to get out with, did suggest we try a place in Newquay, where his friend had a different type of boat that would be able to go out.  Before we got there, we met up with Chris again who works part time in an outdoor type of shop, so for a change, Ray spent loads a money on clothing,(this has been recorded in my diary in preparation for the next pair of shoes I want).  Once in Newquay we realised that there was a slight problem with our boat trip plan as the tide was out and the harbour was completely dry, apparently they had gone out hours earlier, just one of the details that we weren't told. 
On route back to the motor home, Ray decided that he had itchy feet and instead of leaving Cornwall on Sunday, he wanted to up sticks and do the trip over night so that we would be there early for our next campsite. I was quite pleased because there was a full day of motorcycle and motor vehicle racing on, so I would get to watch it. We had a couple of stops and I have to say one of the funniest things I've seen for a while, was Ray and Leon going for a walk around the huge car park of the service station.  Leon walks along beside you with his tail in the air, making sure that you haven't gone too far away and he meow's at you if there is something he wants to spend a bit more time at.
Male bonding at its best.

              
The trip from Cornwall to Ashford.
This normally boring 350 mile trip is worthy of mention.
We intended to do this trip on Sunday the 28th Oct but Karen said that she would miss the World Superbikes, the British Superbikes and the Formula 1 Grand Prix as these are all broadcast during Sunday. I decided it may be a good idea to travel overnight on the saturday to accommodate Karens screaming engine addiction.
So after arriving back home Saturday evening, we loaded Wallace on the back, struck camp and set off at about 7pm with TomTom leading the way. At about 8:30 I was driving and intending to pull in for a coffee at Exeter. Karen mentioned that she was about to miss Mick Hucknall and Simply Red on their final concert being shown at 9pm. Me being the obliging chap that I am decided to drive a bit further on, stop at 9, put the Satellite up and watch the program. (Aren't I wonderful ? - Don't answer that)
We set off again at 10 and eventually, with the tank showing a quarter full, pulled in near Swindon for petrol. I was surprised that the tank only took £50 but paid and set off again. A short while later Lizzy started to feel like her engine was misfiring, nothing serious but noticeable. We discussed the problem and decided that we had bought some dirty fuel and would get some injector cleaner. We drove to Windsor and decided to stop to take a look at the engine. As we got to the red lights at the bottom of the off ramp, the engine cut out. We got it going again and limped into Windsor looking for a garage or somewhere to pull over. When we eventually did, we could see and snell a small petrol leak from the area of the filler cap.
This was a very big "Oh S**t" moment. Not because of the leak, but because Lizzy runs on deisel !
I had shoved about 40 litres of petrol on top of about 20 litres of deisel. We had driven about 80 miles like this. How we were not stranded at the side of the M4 I do not know.
On top of this, the "engine Problem" light had now come on.
We decided to drive to Heston services, drain the tank, which was fortunately (?) lower than it would normally be by now, fill up with the correct fuel and see what happens.
I took the gas hose off of the BBQ and cut the gas fittings off. I had a spare 25 litre plastic can in the boot (as you do) and spent an hour or so with a mixture of petrol and diesel in my mouth but managed to siphon enough out to get the fuel light to come on at the dash. We then filled up and the engine ran perfectly. However, the "Engine Problem" light was still on so we had no idea how much damage has been done to it.
By now it was about 5am and I was knackered.
Having no real choice, we drove to Ashford, Kent, where we had booked our next campsite and as we turned off the M20 we found a McDonalds and decided to have breakfast. As we pulled up, blocking our usual 6 car parking spaces, I decided that there must be a way to clear the fault codes on the engine. so....
Ignition off, grab hold of and pull indicator stalk, ignition back on. Hey presto, "Engine Problem" light extinguished.
A massive sigh of relief from a silly old tw@t.
After McDonalds we drove the final 3 miles to the campsite, pulled in blocking most of the entrance and climbed into bed. What a horrible night.

Sunday 26th

McDonalds breakfast, sleep and motor racing, it doesn't get much better than this.

Monday 27th

Chores, I get to play with my washing machine, wearing thin already, too much like real life.

17 More Cornwall

Wed 15 Sep, the weather wasn't so good today so we hung round the site and I fed the ducks that wandered around, it's all excitement here.

Make with the dough luv

The weather did pick up eventually and off we went for another gentle stroll along the cliffs of the beach and headed towards Perranporth.  Originally we were just going to stay on the cliffs, Ray was in is element due to there being an abundance of mushrooms growing wild........and in our unique style, there is a tale to tell of Ray, a mushroom and the motorhome keys.  To take his artistic mushroom photo, Ray decided that to show the real size of the Fungi, that he would put the MH keys beside it, he did his David Bellamy bit and then carried on walking.

closed cap mushroom, abandoned keys!

I suppose we had gone about a quarter of a mile when he suddenly realized that the keys were still keeping the mushroom company, and then had to run all the way back to retrieve them, I was my usual helpful self, raised the eyebrows and kept on walking.
We decided once we'd got to the top and could look down on the 3 miles of golden sand, towards Perranporth that we would carry on,  through the Oyster Catchers and mile after mile of sand, sand buggies being dragged along the beach by kites.( they can reach some speeds).

3 miles of golden sand

Where is that beach?  Turn around, go the other way!

Here it is

Yeah, cool dude!

Oyster catchers, doing what they do best, catch oysters, honest.

Fast route along the beach

At the end of the beech, in Perranporth was another great pub, with tables outside, but the sand was being blown about so much, instead of ice cubes in our drinks we had sand dunes, so being wimps  retreated  inside and enjoyed our drinks.  The next excitement of the day was catching a bus back to the MH.  Neither of us could remember the last time we travelled by bus.  It was very pleasant and very cheap.

Again Thursday started off very dull, and in the afternoon we went for a ride,(on Wallace) to Falmouth and had a wander round the town , quite pretty but not quite as bubbling as Newquay or Perranporth.

Friday we loaded up and moved onto our latest site, Treamble Valley. Unfortunately there is no internet signal or phone signal, but the site in its self is nice.  I drove the MH and Ray led the way on the trusty Wallace, a total of   2 miles.  Once parked up, Leon explored his new surroundings and unfortunately has met his first cat of the journey.  I still can't get to grips with cats who growl like dogs.  Anyway, I'm sure he'll meet worse on our travels.
Sad as it is, we decided that we would get all the house work done, and I got to play with my new toy, a mini washing machine, I never thought I would ever enjoy doing chores, but it is still very novel for me.
However, I managed to get over the feeling and on Saturday we ventured back into Newquay to find somewhere we could use the lap top and do a bit of shopping.  We really struggled with that, and when we did eventually find somewhere, the charge on the laptop ran out, we are good at setting ourselves up.  All was not lost though, we made our phone calls and got in contact with friends and family.

Sunday, after a slow start, well I had to watch the moto GP first, we have updated the blog. Just for a change, we are in the pub, and they have a pub singer.  In a truly romantic moment, he has just sung Wet Wet Wet's song Love is all around. That was the song we had our first dance to at our wedding.  He completely demolished it.

16 Perranporth Cornwall - woohoo

A quick (relatively in a 5 ton motorhome) 4 hour drive landed us in Valhalla. Cornwall is an awesomely beautiful place with rugged rocky coastlines interspersed with beautiful huge sandy beaches and lots of surf.

We were camped about 1/2 mile from Hollywell bay, the next small bay North of Perranporth. We sorted Lizzy (the name we have given to our motorhome, its short for The Queen Elizabeth the 3rd because its the size a of a ship - I am sure I have said this before - do I care - not at all - I'm a pensioner) and made off for the beach.

Old git spoiling the beauty of Hollywell Bay

We decided it would be a good idea to do some handstands, you know, like we all did when we were 12. However we are a bit out of practice but we surely score points for effort....

Mussels and wimps !

Karen pretending to be a barnacle - it'll end in tears.

Told you so......

Mon 13 Sep. The next day the weather had turned windy and overcast. Perfect excuse to go find a pub. We jumped on Wallace and drove to a small spit of land called Pentire Point. As we pulled in we were joined by another couple of bikers who came over to look at Wallace. Me being the show off that I am let them have a sit on it and I even laid it on the grass to show how easy it was to pick up - something that I need to practice anyway as I am sure it will happen a lot in the future. Karen says I'm such a big head ! She is of course right, as always,

The view westwards, the bikers, whoi were also surfers,  came to chack out the surf on this beach.

We noticed a smashing little pub on the other side of the spit with awesome sea views and this on tap...

Ray said "ooh - a beer named after Mick Hucknall", Karen punched Ray !

The view from the pub veranda.

We then rode the 3 miles into Newquay which was a quaint little holiday town slowly closing down after the holiday season and found a Greek restaurant so we partook in the food and justified it as practice for next year when we go there.

Bored with looking at tourist junk shops and T shirt printers - it seems everyone needs a T shirt with their name written under the words "Life Guard", (does that make the beach safer?), we leapt on Wallace and drove to Watergate Bay. By now the clouds were clearing sun was on it's way down

Ray wishing he could surf.

The tide on its way in.

We then decided to visit the bar on the beach (not a difficult decision).

Perfect location for a bar.

The downside of this bar was the cost. BLOODY HELL. £8.45 for a small wine and a glass of fresh orange. Needless to say, we did not stay long.

The last surfers in the sunset. It was darker than the photo shows. We could only just see them with our eyes.

15 More Weymouth

Sun 05 Sep.  We stayed in Weymouth for longer than expected. We had a few things to sort out mainly domestic stuff added to the fact that we liked the place and I had a dose of "Man Flu", OK a cold, but Karen called it "man Flu".
Karen was also struggling with the washing with there being no laundry facilities at the site we were on (or anything else for that matter - but it was peaceful). As a result of this I was despatched back to Southampton to buy a washing machine, a "Whirlygig" drying frame and a second sattelite dish so Karen could watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix whilst recording the World Superbikes etc at the same time on Sky. You could'nt make it up could you !

So on my return this is what presented itself back at the motor home 4 hours later.

Ray on Wallace with a twin tub washing machine, a drying frame and a portable satellite unit.

Leon Looked a bit bored with the subjct though.

That afternoon Karen was dancing around chirping happily about her new washing machine whilst washing my smalls. She is easly pleased.

Mon 06 Sep. We jumped on Wallace and drove into Weymouth. It is a very pleasant place and we liked it. Lots of good bars and even an arcade that catered for our new fad, racing each other on head to head motorcycle racing simulators - the sort where you sit on the bike and lean it over. We must look like an odd couple, over 100 years between us and still playing arcade games. On that note, I hate to say this but Karen beat me. End of subject !

We ran into the Mad Hatter having tea with some other pasty looking wierdoes.

There were some nice toys in the harbour.

We then drove up onto Portland and looked back on Weymouth, the view and weather were fantastic.

Looking north with 18 miles of shingle beach, namely Chesil Beach, on the left.

In the middle is this....

This is the Royal Engineers holiday camp at Wyke Regis, where I as a young Sapper, learned how to pilot power boats, military tugs and small military ferries.

Later that evening we rode back to Weymouth and whilst demolishing a shandy they decided to open the swing bridge next to the pub.

We stayed for a few more days to allow this silly old sod go get over his "Man Flu" and finally packed up on Saturday night (11th) ready for the 150 mile trip to Perranporth, Cornwall the next morning.