A Regal day and a weekend in the Peak District

Wednesday 22 April 2015

We'd previously arranged for Regal Furnishings to cover the cab seats plus make curtains and a bench cushion.  They're very popular as they do it all in a day at their workshop in Ilkeston, so we had to book 6 weeks in advance.  We also met them at the National Motorhome Show last weekend and chose the leather. We had also arranged to stay overnight locked in the yard on EHU, as they start work at 0700. 

Once home from work, we loaded up Cathy's car and drove up to the storage site.  When all was loaded up and I'd topped up the fresh water, we headed off.  Traffic wasn't too bad and we arrived at Regal at about 2015 (that's the time not the year!).  We were the only ones there and it seemed a bit strange to be sleeping on an industrial estate!  But we were safely locked in and on electric hookup.  We cooked sausages, onions and the first of the season's asparagus in the Remoska cooker, known as 'Oska'.  Well fed and washed up we turned in.

Thursday 23 April 2015

The alarm went off at 0600 and we got up,to a chilly, foggy morning.  Breakfast was tea and toast and we put everything away, ready for the Regal team to turn up.  There was a knock on the door at about 0715 and Mick came in to discuss our requirements.  At the same time another guy was already unbolting the cab seats to take them out to be reupholstered and covered.  We headed inside to see the 'Prussian Blue' (ie grey!) leather we had chosen and Cathy the chose the fabric to go with it (I'm colour blind - my job's not to choose, it's to pay!).  After that she also chose the curtain fabric.  The Managing Director - Barry - is very hands-on and he took charge of making the bench cushion and backrests.  He identified how close the driver cab seat was to the bench and suggested a way to shape the cushion so that the cab seat didn't catch when swivelled - it worked for us.  Once all was measured, agreed and sorted out, we sat in Reception until Mick dropped us off in Ilkeston.  

Ilkeston is a small market town which has suffered from the decline of local industry, but we managed to fill our day.  After a drink in Costa, we popped into the shops for a few items, plus some lamb chops and sourdough bread.  We also visited the free Erewash Museum in the town and particularly liked the old fashioned sweet shop - lots of memories in there!  By now the fog had burned off and it was a warm, sunny day.  We wandered around a little more before having lunch in Wetherspoons.  At 1400 I called Mick and he picked us up. Back at Regals they were almost done and just needed to know where we wanted the 4 pouches they had made.  Once that was done we were taken in to inspect the job.  We were completely amazed by how Nido looked - completely transformed, like a new van.  The quality is top-class and they had even made some matching cushions.  Regal are a small firm who focus on delighting their customer - we couldn't have been happier.  There was a friendly, family buzz inside the workshop, with everyone knowing their role and quietly getting on with it.  We can't recommend Regal highly enough.

With Nido looking very smart inside, we headed off to our overnight stop at a Britstop.  If you're not familiar with this concept, we paid an annual subscription and for that get a book of over 500 places to stay for free.  Many are pub car parks with none of the usual campsite facilities, but if self-sufficient (and we are) it's a great way to visit new places.  There's no obligation to purchase anything from the host, but most do.  Originally I had planned on staying at Britstop 522 but on the way decided on the spur of the moment to go to 523 instead.  The stops are referred to by their number and not name and location.  This is to ensure Britstops aren't abused by those who haven't joined.  On arrival I parked us into the far corner of the car park, as requested in the book and popped in to let the landlord know we were there (no advance booking is needed).  We had lovely views over the Derbyshire countryside and sat in the sunshine with a brew.  The pub had a lovely south-facing sundeck overlooking the valley, so we sat in warm sunshine and enjoyed a couple of drinks.  Back at the van I cooked chicken thighs with peppers, garlic, ginger and noodles - very tasty.  Washing up done, Cathy headed off to bed to read while I wrote up my blog post for last weekend, before turning in myself.

Barry - the MD - is very hands-on

Transformed

Comfy bench seat

Wonderful view from Britstop 523

Tiglet with a birds-eye view!

Chilled - and I don't mean the beer!

A nice glass of Shiraz

Dinner time

Friday 24 April 2015

We slept well.  It was warmer last night, but this was helped by the curtain that now cordoned off the bedroom from the rest of the van.  We had a lazy start; I had a brew the cooked bacon sarnies, which we enjoyed sat outside at one of the pub benches with a pot of tea.  Washed up, cleared and and 'secured for sea' I popped into the pub to thank them for allowing us to stay (one of the few Britstop 'rules').  I'd also looked up and found a local National Trust house and gardens - Ilam Hall and country park.  With the satnav coordinates set, it was only a short drive before we pulled into their car park.  This located in the beautiful area of Dovedale, next to the Thorpe's Cloud hill and with lovely walks all around.  We also unexpectedly found a NT campsite next door, with all the usual facilities and reasonably priced - one for the future as the walks from here are amazing.  We walked around the grounds and had a look in the lovely little church, before walking alongside the river Dove, with masses of wild garlic.  It was a still, warm, sunny spring day - beautiful, and all the better that most people were at work! It was here that Izaak Walton did a lot of fishing and wrote his famous book 'The Compleat Angler'.  On the way back we picked some wild garlic flowers for tomorrow's salad.  Back at the van, Cathy made lunch while I got out the chairs and small wooden table.  

Great view over breakfast

Ilam Hall gardens

River Dove

Load and loads and loads of wild garlic

Back on the road, we made a short hop to our stop for the next 2 nights - Whitehouse Farm CL in Heathcote, near Hartington.  This 5 pitch CL was next to the owner' working farm with great views over dry-stone wall enclosed fields and hills - very peaceful.  Cathy pottered inside and I went over to 'check-in' and say hello to the owners, who were very welcoming.  Back at the van, I emptied the toilet cassette and grey water.  Before filling up with fresh, I filed down 'Nid', a grey waste pipe that I could fit into the fresh water filling point so I could easily fill up with a 10L container - this works a treat and means I won't need to use the hosepipe too often.  Fresh tank full, I also filled the loo flush tank too and by then Cathy was done, had tidied the garage storage and had tea and coffee.  We sat outside but by then it was windier, cooler and overcast, so we sat in the van.  Some ex-Navy friends, Dave & Angie Walsh, are staying in their caravan nearby.  We'd already been in touch and Dave suggested booking a table at the Royal Oak in Hurdlow, to which we readily agreed!  We both enjoyed piping hot showers and, changed and smelling clean again, we ready for them to pick us up in their car.

Great CL, great pitch

The iBoost performed brilliantly

True to form, as ex-matelots, Dave and Ange (plus Fudge the dog) arrived '5 minutes before'!  It was good to see them again and they looked well, having spent the past few days walking the Peaks in good weather.  Dave drove to the pub and he took Fudge for a quick walk while we piled in.  I could see Doom Bar was on tap, so 3 pints were ordered, except for Ange who as Duty Driver, was on soft drinks.  The pub had a lovely atmosphere, buzzy but with no TVs or machines.  We sat at our table and our waitress ran through the specials.  Apparently pies are a speciality, so Dave and I had the pork and chicken pie, Ange had Fisherman's Pie (which included shell on prawns and scallops) and Cathy had salmon.  We chatted away, catching up, until our food arrived, which soon shut us up!  It was all very tasty, wholesome and filling.  Mains done, Ange & Cathy ordered Banoffee Pie, which was large and rich; Dave and I had cheese - we could have easily shared one portion.  At this point Fudge came in to join us and lay very patiently, nose twitching due to all the foodie smells - plus other dogs.  It was an excellent meal in a friendly, country pub.  Ange kindly drove us back through the pitch dark lanes and we said our goodbyes.  Good luck to all three of you as you soon head off to walk the Pennine Way.  If you want to follow them and their walks - their website can be found here.  It wasn't late and we were in bed reading by 2200.  All was very dark and very quiet.

Saturday 25 April 2015

We both slept very well - full 8 hours.  There's a pattern emerging; despite the limited space we sleep much better in the van than at home.  I made us a brew, Cathy had hers in bed while I sat on the bench looking at the view.  Breakfast was poached eggs and the remaining sourdough bread toasted. Then I made our sandwiches - the usual tuna, onion and mayo - while Cathy sorted out a flask of tea.  All washed up and stowed away, we headed off for our walk.  

The first section took us through Biggin, then south on to the Tissington Trail, an old railway line. About 2.5 miles later we took a footpath down the hill into a valley, with a wood on our right and a steep slope on our left.  After about 1/2 mile we reached the River Dove and turned north to follow the river through the valley of Wolfscote Dale.  It was sunny and warm and we were soon shedding layers. Further up we stopped to have lunch by the river, sat on a tree trunk.  A while later the sky darkened, the wind increased and soon it was raining hard.  I broke out the survival bag which sheltered us from the worst of the rain, although our trousers ended up very wet.  Back on the trail, we contined through sunshine and the occasional spots of rain, until we popped out of the end of the valley and walked into the village of Hartington.  We stopped off to buy some milk, bread rolls and biscuits before walking back over the hill to Heathcote.  On the way Cathy picked up a load of litter to dispose of and tweet as part of her 'Litterati' campaign.  

River Dove

Future wild swimming spot?

Some of Cathy's 'Litterati' collection

Back at the van, we drank some fizzy water & orange juice followed by a cup of tea. Cathy then had a snooze while I prepared dinner - lamb chops marinated in garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, orange juice and olive oil.  This was accompanied by penne with wild garlic flowers, chilli and spinach.  It was very filling and very tasty!  We also enjoyed a bottle of champagne to celebrate our first solo trip in El Nido.  As we ate at our dining table, we watched a beautiful sunset over the hills and went out to take some photos - truly wonderful.  Once the washing and clearing up was done, we crashed out again, tired but very content.

Lamb chops, purple sprouting broccoli and pepper in 'Oska'

Freshly picked wild garlic flowers for the pasta

Who says you have to slum it in a campervan!?

I got the portion control wrong again

Stunning sunset from the campsite

Just......wow!

The final flush of dusk

Is Tiglet after the champagne or the mug?

Sunday 26 April 2015

It rained early in the night; I heard it but Cathy was fast asleep, unusual for her.  We woke to blue skies, warm sunshine but a chilly breeze when in the shade.  I got up and made us a brew, before we dressed and walked across the fields to pick up the other end of the Tissington Trail.  We came across the Hartington Station car park, £4.50 for all day parking with a water tap and toilets - a great day stop for the van.  Reversing the route, we returned to the van and ate breakfast outside in the warm sunshine - bacon and scrambled egg rolls.

The rest of the morning was taken up with sorting lockers and cupboards, plus the usual emptying of tanks, recycling rubbish and preparing to head off.  We really enjoyed our two days at the Whitehouse Farm CL and highly recommend it.  We left around midday and drove past Buxton to stop at Tegg's Nose country park.  Parked up, we walked around and up the hill, looking at the panoramic 360' views.  It was very sunny and clear, but chilly in the wind.  Back at the van Cathy made lunch and we sat in the cab enjoying the view.

This morning's view from the galley

Panoramic view from Tegg's Nose

Lunch view - who's that photo-bombing!?

Back on the road, we were soon at home and spent a couple of hours emptying, cleaning El Nido (inside and out) and, finally, he got a name on his heart (or at least on his top rear end!).  With Tiglet tucked up on the bench, I drove the van back to storage and so ended our first proper trip away.  We started the long weekend with sorting out his furnishings and ended completely chilled, walking from the van and eating great food.  We can't wait to head out on the road again.

Cleaned and named

Nido comes home!

Thursday 16 April 2015

Well, today was a good day - Nido came home!  It's been a long journey from delays, being ripped off, finding someone to fix it and starting the journey of two court cases, which remain ongoing. But after a few false starts he was ready for collection.  I was home early from work and we went down to the unit at 1600.  As we drove in we could see Nido outside - his awning was out and under was a table, two chairs, a bottle of Prosecco and two glasses! Roger and Gary met us and we knew it would be good as they were wearing beaming smiles.  With a small glass of bubbly in hand, we inspected the outside of the van, including the garage area and everything within it.  Inside the van they'd laid the table and, with EHU attached, Gary showed us how everything worked.  The whole refit had been done really well and it showed in the quality of the work.  We are really happy with it.  Inspection done, I went in to pay up and talk to Roger about booking in for the last few jobs, including (most importantly of all!) fitting the bike rack.  And with that we took El Nido home.

Back at the house, the next couple of hours were spent bringing box after box of stuff down to load into the van.  We didn't worry too much about where it went for now, as we knew it would take several reorganisations before we had everything where we wanted it.  It had been a long day and much stress had been relived and relieved.  Van loaded up, at least as best we could, we cracked open a bottle of champagne, cooked a quick pasta meal and headed off to bed.  We had a busy weekend ahead of us.

Friday 17 April 2015

We didn't sleep much last night - too excited I guess.  After breakfast we loaded up with clothes and food, checked everything was secured and headed off on our first proper trip in our very own campervan - off to meet Myrtle's Mates at the National Motorhome Show in Peterborough.

We arrived at about 1230 and, despite the efforts of the marshals who kept insisting we did circuits of the show ground, we turned into the MMMMU pitch and parked behind Nellie, Julie & Bob's campervan.  Most people were already over at the show, although Christine, Alan and Maddy the Labrador were there so it was good to catch up with them. Eventually most of the gang returned and it was lovely to see them all and show them around Nido.  After settling in and a brew we wandered off to take a look around the show. We had a shopping list of items and found most of these, plus some extras!  Back at the van we had another sort out (I said we'd do this a few times!), before fetched some fish and chips for our first proper meal in Nido.

That evening we took our chairs and some booze across to the Myrtle Marquee.  It was a cold and windy night but the banter and laughter was as good as always.  We also got to meet Ali & Mike Kingston, who have full-timed in their Citroen Relay for a few years and blogged about it on their very informative website.  Ali has also written a couple of books about full-timing which I already had on my kindle.  They had some interesting tales to tell.  Cathy headed off quite early to bed as she was shattered and I followed about an hour or so later, ready for our first night sleeping in the van.

Friday fish and chips

Lovely cake made by Julie

Edwina Currie visits the marquee

Saturday 18 April 2015

We slept well, although it was a chilly night.  We were awake early and enjoyed a brew with the heating keeping us very warm and toasty.  Breakfast was granola and we started to finally think that this was real - we had a campervan!  It was a sunny day, clear blue skies, but with a strong, cold wind.  Cathy christened the shower - lovely hot water! After breakfast we popped into the marquee for a catch up, before again heading out to look around the show.  We popped over to the Regal Furnishings stand as we're booked in for next week to have cab seats covered, plus cushions and curtains made.  Reading their pamphlet later, we realised we needed to pre-order the leather, so sould need to chat to them tomorrow.  

The rest of the day was taken up with prepping food for the MMMMU BBQ.  This time I was cooking jerk pork loin with rice & peas.  I'd prepared the jerk marinade at home and the pork was left to soak it up for the day.  I was cooking this on the Cadac Safari gas BBQ, running off the external LPG point - another first in our new van! With it still blowing a hooley, we moved the van to provide more shelter, which allowed us to sit in the warm sun for a while with a glass of red wine.  By now I'd set up the flagpole, with the smiley windsock plus a Royal Navy battle ensign!   Cathy now wants an LED light to strap to the top!  With the pork cooking and the rice & peas on the hob, we had a chat with the gang.  The MMMMU official photo was taken outside Nido this year - a great honour!  As usual there was plenty of lovely food, including some potent Reesies' garlic and paprika sausages!  Tonight was much colder and we were all feeling it so, most people headed off to their vans quite early.  In our case we had some hot chocolate before turning in.

Myrtle's Mug Shot!

Battle Ensign flying

Jerk Pork prep

Chilling in the sun

BBQ Bob!

Scran Time!

Sunday 19 April 2015

We kept the heating ticking over during the night, which kept us warm.  I had a shower this morning - hot water and a surprising amount of room in our small wet room.  It truly is just right for us.  Breakfast was bacon butties cooked on the Cadac outside and taken into the marquee to chat to everyone.  We stayed there for a while and I enjoyed some of the ground coffee brought by Julie & Bob.  Gary & Julie had to leave early so after their goodbyes we went over to sort out the leather with Regal and have a last look around the show, finding a few useful items.  We bought a couple of hot pasties and took them back to the van for lunch with a brew.  Then it was time to derig, secure for the journey home and say our goodbyes.  We'd again had a great time and were already planning to meet up at with the gang again at the Malvern show in August.  Waving as we left, we hit the road and decided to visit Mr T in Hemingford.  We parked outside his flat and I made a brew as we caught up with each other's news.  Then it was back on the road.  Back home, we unpacked and drove the van back to the storage site for the first time since last September. 

We had a great weekend.  Finally having the van was hugely exciting and meeting up with friends made it all the better.  The only thing that would have improved it would have been Steph, Ian and Marmite joining us - maybe next time.  And so ended our first weekend away in El Nido - the first of many to come over the future years.

Fancy a little walk in the Peak District......?

Saturday 11 April 2015

Another weekend without our campervan!  Those who know us will be aware of the saga.  I can't provide further details due to impending court cases, but suffice to say we should've had this van at least 12 months ago.

So we decided to take ourselves off to the Peak District for a bit of a stomp in the fresh air and to take our minds of the frustration of still not having our van.  Cathy had recently bought a booked called "Pathways - journeys along Britain's historic byways, from pilgrimage routes to smugglers' trails".  There was one particular packhorse route, starting in the village of Edale and climbing up through a valley to the top of the moors to visit Jacob's Ladder, which looked about the right distance......looks can be deceptive!

Sandwiches and flask made and rucksacks packed, we left home at about 0930 and had a steady drive to the car park on the edge of Edale village, arriving about an hour later.  Our route was taking us on a circular walk in an anti-clockwise direction.  It was a breezy and cool day but the sun was due to shine and we started off with coats packed away.  The walk took us through the village and out onto the footpath heading up and through a valley known as Grind's Brook.  This started off as a limestone path with the brook down to our left.  But it soon became a very steep clamber over large loose boulders.  Had we strayed from the path? Nope, there were plenty of people ahead of and above us climbing to the top.  This was certainly unexpected and Cathy was feeling the pace.  But we had a few water and breathing stops on the way and finally made it to the top.  It was cold and very windy up there, so we found some shelter and had our lunch (tuna mayo butties - our walking staple) with a cup of hot tea, plus a shared granola flapjack that we had bought in the small shop in Edale.

It starts easy

then....blimey do we need to go up there!

"I don't remember signing up to this" said Cathy!

Suitably refreshed and having taken in the great views, we followed the path west, heading towards Crowden Tower, the first of a series of large, very impressive gritstone outcrops, carved into all sorts of strange shapes by the erosion power of the wind and rain.  We enjoyed exploring these before heading off on the path again.  To the north we could see Kinder Scout, scene of the mass 1932 trespass to campaign for the right of public access to the moorland - thanks guys!

Great view from our lunch stop at the top

Top of the World!

It was very windy

We followed the path along the top of the ridge - man it was cold despite the sunshine.  The path swung to the top of Jacob's Ladder, a large, steep stone pathway that's part of the Pennine Way, where it joins the packhorse route running from Hayfield to Edale.  We stopped in the shelter of a large mound and stone outcrop and had another brew and shared the second flapjack bar, before descending Jacob's Ladder through another valley. This gave us very wobbly legs!  

Gritstone outcrops around Crowden Tower

Some very weird shapes

The descent of Jacob's Ladder made our legs very wobbly

Down at the bottom we were starting to flag and on approaching a farm at Upper Booth Cathy said she really fancied some tea and cake.  Within a few seconds we saw a gate and a sign for 'tea and homemade cakes'!  Cathy had hot chocolate and lemon drizzle cake and I had tea and date & walnut cake - highly recommended.  We decided not to follow the Pennine Way back to Edale but instead took the road - perhaps not a great idea as it was longer but we'll remember that next time.  Back at the car we flopped into the seats for the drive home for a hot shower, change of clothes, and some well-earned alcohol!  I cooked beef in black-bean sauce with stir-fried vegetables which went down very well.

We really enjoyed the walk.  It's fair to say we're not 'walking fit' so we do need to get out more and plan to do this when our campervan's eventually ready!

Our first Trusted House Sit

A few weeks ago we signed up to be sitters with Trusted Housesitters.  The concept's quite simple - in exchange for looking after an owner's home, pets and garden, we get to stay in their house for free.  It's something we plan to do a lot more of when we retire and are travelling in our campervan throughout Europe, particularly in France, Spain and Portugal. We created our Sitter Profile and started a search to find a local house sit, so we could try it out and start to build our reputation.  We found one just a few miles away from home, a family asking for someone to look after a house, pets and animals over the Easter weekend. I made initial contact via email and we spoke to them on the phone before visiting them one Saturday, several weeks before Easter - all was set. The owners had already emailed us the details of the animals to look after - 6 cats, 15 chickens, 2 geese, 6 rabbits, 6 guinea pigs and a few chicks - plus some eggs that might soon be chicks!

The original idea was for us to sleep in our campervan, mainly because their house is in the middle of a major refurbishment.  We could plug into their electricity, use their water and facilities and enjoy getting used to having our van in slow time.  Only one problem with that cunning plan - our van conversion was still not ready, despite several promises to the contrary (this is a long-standing saga which I may blog about in the future).  So instead we needed to sleep in the house; but at least there was a room which was available to use with us sleeping on a large, L-shaped leather sofa.

On the first day of the house-sit we arrived at about 0930, just as the owners were heading off.  The cats live in the house and the owners had already released the other animals into the electrified enclosure and fed them for the day.  We spent some time familiarising ourselves with the house, garden and animals, making sure we knew what we had to do and setting up a daily routine for feeding and looking after the animals.  The house was out in the countryside and very quiet with lots of birdlife - we loved the peace and solitude.

The house also had a number of out-buildings and lots of garden and land.  We're not the sort of people to sit around and, to be honest, we wanted a project to do to keep our minds off our delayed campervan conversion.  So we took a look around to see what we could do to help the family, who were basically living in a building site inside the house, with walls and ceilings down.  We thought if we could help out in some way this would make their task seem less daunting!  So we focused on the following areas:

• Clear the overgrown grass from a large, old cobbled patio at the rear of the house
• Move all the logs from several chopped bushes and trees into one large pile
• Clear two outbuildings of old wood and cardboard
• Prune an old apple tree to give it a new lease of life

On the first day we tackled some general weeding and moved the logs; it was a cool, drizzly day, so not ideal, but at least we were outside and we really enjoyed ourselves.  On the Saturday we cleared the cobbled patio and weeded it, clearing several barrow loads of turf and soil away and doubling the size of the area.  The owners now had a nice place to sit in the sunshine and enjoy an el-fresco meal or drink.  Cathy also pruned the old apple tree, cutting out all dead and diseased wood and removing all crossing branches to open it up. On the Sunday we tackled the outbuildings, removing loads of old wood and cardboard down to the bottom of their land and starting what turned out to be a large bonfire that burned all day.  This was the most satisfying!

This was also our first experience of looking after so many animals, apart from our own family pets in the past.  All needed feeding, watering and cleaning out.  This was made all the more interesting because the geese were territorial and spent a lot of time hissing at us; we'd been told to hiss back louder and wave our arms.  This seemed to do the trick and an uneasy truce was brokered!  The chickens scratched around in the enclosure, whilst the rabbits and guinea pigs stayed in locked in their runs, although the giant rabbit (and it was huge) was allowed out for an hour or so and enjoyed the chicken food!  The cats inside the house kept to themselves but let us know when it was feeding time, although it was a bit of a free-for-all! At night the geese had to be 'persuaded' to entire their coop so they could be locked in.  The chickens, however, put themselves to bed.  They also produced our breakfast every morning - can't beat fresh eggs every day!

We also had to look after some goose and chicken eggs in an incubator, turning the eggs three times a day.  Upstairs in the house were 2 brooders with a number of chicks that had recently hatched and they had to be fed, watered and cleaned out twice a day.  On the Saturday night one of the small bantam eggs hatched out and once the chick was dried off, we moved it to the brooder - an appropriate hatching over the Easter weekend!

The family were due back on the Easter Monday evening, so I dropped Cathy back home to sort out our own stuff, ready for work the next day, and I returned to keep an eye on things and feed the animals before locking up and coming home.  The owners were delighted with the outside work we did as they weren't expecting any of this to be done.  We really enjoyed being outside and doing something useful whilst looking after a house and animals.  

Our first house sit was a baptism of fire to say the least, but we know we'll be able to cope with most things with future house sits and hopefully will build a good reputation.  We'll certainly be looking for many more house sits in the future, particularly when we start long-term travelling in our campervan.

Resting after clearing the cobbled patio

Resting again after moving & burning a ton of wood and cardboard

Easter Chicks

Feeding Ernie - the giant rabbit!

Feeding time

Saturday night's Easter hatchling

Those grumpy geese!

yum - breakfast!!

Winter Beach Walk

Saturday 7 February 2015

Our campervan remains in deep refit, although we hope it'll be finished within a month and then we can start to travel and live the life we've dreamed about for years.  But in the meantime the occasional sunny winter's day breaks the monotony of the cold, grey skies. Saturday was forecast as cloudy with sunny intervals, so we decided to visit the Wirral Country Park, about a 35 minute drive from home.

We arrived at about 1120 and were pleasantly surprised to find free car parking and plenty of it.  Walking boots on, we stopped off at the visitor centre then followed the steps down to the beach.  This was our first visit to Thurstaston beach and it reminded us very much of Hillhead cliffs and beach, close to where we used to live in Gosport on the south coast, overlooking the Isle of Wight.  The beach is a mix of sand, mud and a variety of rocks and stones, including granite.  The sandy cliffs are suffering from erosion and some recent falls were evident.    The beach is on the western coast of the Wirral peninsular, overlooking the Dee Estuary and the North Wales coast.

The steps brought us down to the beach near Shore Cottage.  We'd seen this place on George Clarke's Amazing Spaces, when the owners had built a contemporary and very cool creative studio, next to the cottage and beach and overlooking the Dee Estuary.  We quite often collect driftwood, stones, shells and 'sea glass' (pieces of coloured glass smoothed by the action of the tides) and have turned them into mobiles to hang from our 'Tacky Shack' or pile around the garden and deck.  It's certainly a great spot for a studio and they run some really interesting courses. 

We walked north along the beach up to the sailing club slipway, then turned around and headed south.  The tide was an hour or so off reaching its highest point, although we could see from the tideline that we'd be safe staying on the beach.  There were loads of wading birds, searching for food in the mud and sand at the water's edge.  Occasionally something would spook them and they'd fly off en-masse, skimming the sea in a display of low-level maritime murmuration, before returning to the edge to feed again before the tide was at its fullest. There were quite a few people out walking the beach, mainly dog walkers. The early part of the walk was quite sunny, although with a chilly northerly breeze, but as time went on the clouds thickened, the sun occasionally beaming through over the estuary.  

As the tide reached its maximum, local fishermen took to the water in small wooden boats. It looked like they were setting crab pots, but it was difficult to see from a distance.  A number of bird watchers were also out at the southern end of the beach, around the areas of reeds or some form of seagrass at the water's edge. With the extensive mud flats this must be a haven for nature lovers.  

On our return, we took the steps up to the cliff top and headed back towards the visitor centre, before stopping off at GJs Cafe for a hot drink and a bit to eat - tasty food and very reasonably priced.  This was our first visit to Thurstaston beach but I'm sure it won't be our last.  It's an ideal spot to spend a warm, sunny day, facing west, with lovely walks and views.  We could also pitch our campervan at the Caravan Club site very close by, so if we want to escape one weekend but not travel too far from home, this will be an ideal spot to get our fix of beach and sea, something we really miss since moving up from the south coast.

Winter sunshine and the hint of a warm spring around the corner

Wading birds feeding at the water's edge

High tide and the fishermen return

Later in the day - thicker cloud and cold, damp breeze