About Me

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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Tuesday June 14th 2016 - Going home means leaving Anglesey twice

After the previous day having been so dull and grey I woke that morning to brilliant sunshine which was rapidly turning the tent into an oven. After the first dog walk of the day the tent door and the fly screen were rolled up to let some air through then breakfast was made and consumed al fresco. With nothing to rush home for I took my time clearing things away and packing up the van, then with only the tent left to take down I took a photo to remind myself where I'd been pitched then took the dogs for a walk down to the beach and back.



It was well after mid day by the time the tent and peg box were safely stowed in the van and I was ready for leaving, but dismantling my home in the hot sunshine had been thirsty work so I chilled out for a while with a can of Coke from the coolbox before finally driving away from my pitch for the last time.

Across on the mainland the sunshine deserted me and grey clouds started gathering, however on the spur of the moment I decided to make a stop at Conwy marina. It had been a few years since I was last there so it would be nice to spend a short while wandering round. Nothing had changed since my last visit, and after walking right round to the beach overlooking the estuary and back I returned to the van to continue my journey homewards - except I didn't.



Now I don't know what suddenly made me think of it, but as I put the dogs back in the van I realised I'd not packed my hook-up cable - I'd left it lying on the grass back on my pitch at the camp site. Now had this been a small relatively cheap item I probably wouldn't have bothered but the cable is a substantial piece of kit and would cost almost £40 to replace, so there was nothing for it but to go back to the site and retrieve it. Thank goodness I hadn't gone any further than Conwy marina!

There was just over twenty six miles between Conwy and the camp site and the drive back to Anglesey was done in record time though it wasn't particularly enjoyable as it had started to rain, but back on the island there was brilliant sunshine - if I hadn't got work the following morning I would have been tempted to stay another night. Back at the camp site the cable was exactly where I'd left it, snaking along the grass near my pitch, so I rolled it up, stashed it in the van and set off for home once more.  

My second stop was at Pensarn beach near Abergele - by then my lunch time can of Coke had long since worn off, it was 5.30pm and I was feeling quite peckish. The cafes at either end of the car park were both closed but the one in the amusement place was open so I got a coffee and cheeseburger from there - the burger was nowhere near as good as the ones from Pete's Burger Bar at Penrhos but it was okay-ish and would stave off any hunger until I got home.

The rest of my journey was done with no further stops but it wan't very pleasant as the further north I got the harder it rained - the windscreen wipers were going at full belt but at times it was difficult to see through the torrential rain and the spray being thrown up from other vehicles. The wet weather lasted until I was about three miles past the Manchester airport turn-off then all at once it stopped - it was as if someone had drawn a line across the sky with wet weather on one side and dry on the other. Things got brighter from that point and when I finally reached home it was a lovely sunny evening. 

After what seemed like a long day and an equally long drive I didn't really feel like getting all my stuff out of the van so I just took out what I immediately needed, took the dogs for a short walk then spent the rest of the evening relaxing, and vowing to make sure that at the end of any future holidays I do not leave my hook-up cable lying on the grass - next time I may not be close enough to go back and get it!



18 comments:

  1. What lovely pictures. I have been to Wales but not to that part.
    Pleasedyou enjoyed your trip......plenty more to come?
    Yvonne.

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  2. I should have been away this weekend at a steam rally in Derbyshire but I got word earlier this evening that it's been cancelled due to the show ground being waterlogged. It's a shame as the show is a good weekend and I was really looking forward to it. My next official holiday isn't until September but I may manage an impromptu weekend sometime between now and then if the weather behaves itself.

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  3. I salute you by being brave enough to continue your camping & caravanning escapades. It makes interesting reading, and a great education for the reader not familiar with your area. Thank you.

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment Carolyn, I'm glad you enjoy reading about my camping adventures. The UK has some really beautiful areas and I love exploring new places - it's just a shame we don't always get the beautiful weather to match!

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  4. That was an eventful day. I'm glad you realised you'd left your cable behind when you did and managed to retrieve it. Shame the weather was so bad for your journey home, you're right it does not behave itself :)

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  5. I'M glad I realised I'd left the cable behind before I got any further north. I will often drive home from Anglesey without stopping at all, so if that had happened I'm not sure what I would have done. Luckily there was no-one on that part of the site and probably wouldn't be until the weekend so the cable could have laid there untouched for several days before someone found it (and not knowing who it belonged to may very well have claimed it) but thankfully I realised in time. Not an experience I want to repeat though!

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  6. You mentioned petes burger bar on several posts if ever im around that area I will be tempted to buy one. Or two or more as my appetite is endless especially in the open air

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  7. Definitely get one if you're ever over that way John, I don't think you'll be disappointed. The burger bar gets consistently good reviews on Tripadvisor and all well deserved imo.

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  8. I'm glad your cable thingy was there for you. Thanks for sharing your holiday, Eunice. I enjoyed it a lot.

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  9. Thanks for all your lovely comments Susie, I'm glad you enjoyed reading through my holiday.

    Since I finished writing these posts I've been reading a blog being written by a lady who is walking all round the UK coast in stages and it seems that she was on Anglesey at the same time as me. I'd previously thought that I'd seen and been to every place on the island - some more than once - as I've been there so often, so I was considering going elsewhere next year, but her blog has shown me there are many places and things around the coast that I haven't been aware of so I guess I'll be going back there a few more times yet :)

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  10. Glad to hear you found that cable. And just realised that I reached Conwy the day before you visited. Am just about to write up that particular walk. :)

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  11. Thanks for visiting and commenting Ruth, I hope you get to read some more of this blog as and when you have time.

    No doubt you've read my comment above in reply to Susie - thanks to your walk and your own blog I've found several more places to explore on Anglesey so can't wait for my next holiday down there :)

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  12. Thank goodness you remembered your cable in time, they're not cheap to replace :(

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  13. I wouldn't be able to get a cable exactly like that anyway, it's a one-off. It was originally used on a building site so is a heavy duty one and thicker than the ones you get from camping shops. I do have another one but I still wouldn't like to lose that one, so I'm glad I remembered it while I was still close enough to the site to go back for it.

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  14. We love Wales Eunice but Anglesey is one of the areas we've not done. Your beautiful photos make me want to change that!!! :-) x

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  15. You really should go sometime if you can, Anglesey is a very green and beautiful island with many lovely beaches and hidden deserted little coves and it's also very unspoilt commercially. I don't think you'd be disappointed if you went.

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  16. Oops, hi, human, Eunice...thought I'd better drop back and let you know I did read this pawst to my human dad, Gary. Oh, how I love Wales but I've never been to Anglesey. I do, however, recall some really fun times with my humans camping just outside of Aberystwyth :)

    Hope you have a lovely rest of your weekend, my kind human friend.

    Pawsitive wishes,

    Penny :)

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  17. It was indeed an 'oops' situation Penny, though fortunately it turned out okay. I think you would love Anglesey if you went, there are lots of lovely dog friendly beaches there for you to play on.

    Have a lovely weekend yourself, and say 'Hi' to Gary from me :)

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I really appreciate good comments - who doesn't? - but due to a recent tide of spam from anonymous readers all comments will now be moderated, and only those with a direct bearing on this blog will be published. I'm sure my regular blog readers/commenters will understand the need for this - and to anyone whose comment isn't published, you know why.