I woke that morning to blue sky and sunshine; thankfully the rain had cleared but the wind was still blowing strong enough for me to temporarily abandon any thoughts of putting the tent up. Apart from the sound of the trees rustling in the wind there was no noise anywhere and as I walked round the site with the dogs a while later I realised that there were no other campers or caravanners there at all - I had the whole place to myself. And to give an idea of just how much land that is here's a site map - I camp in the cottage field marked with an E, top left.
With breakfast made and eaten in the front of the van I climbed back into the middle and opened my birthday cards and gifts then settled in for a relaxing morning watching tv and reading my book. This was followed by a lunch time walk with the dogs through the site and down to the beach, returning via the village where I called in at a couple of shops to get a few bits and pieces, then it was back to the van for some more chill-out time.
It was 9pm before the wind finally dropped to a slight breeze so with another hour of good light left I decided to put the tent up while I had the chance, though by the time I'd finished I didn't really feel like setting everything out inside. Instead I just unloaded it all from the van and left it piled in one of the bedroom pods - I could deal with it all the following morning. After the last dog walk of the day I made myself a brew, retrieved my book and the tv remote, then climbed back into the middle of the van - I didn't mind sleeping in there for another night, and at least with everything moved off the bed I had a lot more space.
That morning saw me setting out on my second visit in a month to Anglesey, this time for a longer break of nine days. The sun was shining and the sky was blue until I reached North Wales where I ran into grey cloud, and by the time I was going along the A55 coast road it was raining - and that's when I got that groundhog day feeling. Just like my previous trip to Anglesey the rain had started at almost exactly the same place along my route and looking across to the island I saw that yet again it was covered in a blanket of dark grey cloud.
By the time I reached the camp site it was raining steadily but this time I was prepared for it. No getting soaked to the skin putting the tent up like last month - when I'd packed up the van the previous day I'd taken the precaution of making up the bed in the middle so if it was raining when I arrived I had somewhere to sit/lie/sleep until such time as I could deal with the tent without getting wet.
There was no sign of the warden or anyone else on the site so I let myself in with my barrier pass and drove up to my favourite field hardly daring to hope that I would still be lucky enough to get a pitch with electric, however the caravan which had previously been on the end pitch had been moved and the pitch and hook-up point were vacant. It wasn't the best of pitches and it wasn't exactly level but it would do, so I reversed the van onto it then connected up my hook-up cable, running it through one of the front windows so I could plug in the cool box to keep my food and milk chilled.
With most of the camping stuff packed on one side of the bed there wasn't a lot of space left but there was just enough room for me to sleep and I managed to fit my tv between the two front seats so at least I could relax in relative comfort. The only downside was if I wanted to make a brew or something to eat - I had to get out and get in the front to do it, but it would only be until the rain stopped so I could cope with that.
Apart from taking the dogs for a couple of short walks round the site I never left the van all day. The rain finally stopped as I was getting ready for bed but it was soon replaced by a wind strong enough to rock the van; I wasn't unduly bothered by it though, and as I snuggled under the duvet watching tv I felt rather pleased with myself for having the foresight to make up the bed instead of packing the van as I usually do. It might be a bit tight on space but at least I hadn't got wet!
