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

Sunday September 11th 2016 - The holiday starts here

It was 6.15am and only just about daylight when I left home for my annual holiday at California in Norfolk, and as I hit the motorway fifteen minutes later the last of the night time cloud disappeared to be replaced by blue sky and fluffy pink cotton wool - hopefully a sign of good weather to come. Three hours later I made my breakfast stop at the 'no tea, no pee' Cheerio Cafe near Sleaford on the A17, then after a good plateful of eggs on toast and coffee and a dog walk along the edge of the nearby field I set off once more, though I made another more unscheduled stop a while later.

Somewhere along the A17, and in place name terms I haven't a clue where, is a large bungalow with lots of flowers and brightly painted vintage tractors on display near the roadside, and though I stopped there a few years ago and took several photos I thought it was worth stopping again to take a few more. The tractor collection seemed to have grown since the last time I stopped there and it included a few newer models; painted in their correct livery and surrounded by masses of bright flowers the whole lot made a really colourful and eye catching display.


With several photos taken the rest of the journey was completed with no further stops and I arrived at the camp site just a few minutes before noon. I knew I would be on my favourite pitch, No.47, so I drove straight round there and parked up then walked back to reception to pay the site fees for my ten day stay. With just one small camper van in the far corner of the field that part of the site was otherwise deserted so I was able to put the dogs on their tie-out cable on the next pitch, and with no wind to hamper the proceedings I soon had the tent up and pegged down, but it was while I was setting up the inside that disaster struck.

Carrying a couple of pillows from the van which was parked at the side of the tent, and not having closed the passenger door, I tripped over a guy line. It happened so suddenly that I couldn't put my hands out to save myself and I landed heavily, full length on the hard ground with most of my weight on my left shoulder. It sort of hurt, but after cursing myself for being so careless I carried on with what I was doing and thought no more about it. After all, I don't think there's a camper anywhere who hasn't tripped over a guy line at some point in their camping life and yes, it probably looks funny to anyone watching, so I was rather glad there was no-one around to see what I'd just done.

The good weather had followed me all the way from home and it had been hot thirsty work sorting out my home for the next ten days so I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sun with a couple of cans of Coke, then just after 5pm I took Sophie and Poppie for a walk through the nearby heath and back along the beach. As I walked along the sea wall above the sand I noticed a movement just up ahead and when I got closer I saw that it was a rabbit on the beach. Now I know there are lots of rabbits in the heath and I've seen them on the camping field many times but that's the first time I've ever seen one down on the beach; I watched it for a while and eventually it hopped across the sand and back up the nearby slope to the heath.

It was later that evening that my fall of earlier on made itself fully known; pain had settled into my shoulder and as I lay in bed I didn't know where to put my arm to relieve it. Luckily I had some cheap paracetamol in my bag so I took a couple of those and eventually managed to find a reasonably comfortable position to settle down, though I had my fingers metaphorically crossed that my shoulder would be okay and I wouldn't be needing to pay a visit to the local A & E department the following day - that really wouldn't be a good start to the holiday at all.




6 comments:

  1. You're right about that house being 'eye catching', no-one could miss the colours of those plants:)

    Hope in your subsequent posts about this holiday we do not find you actually did hurt yourself - much sympathy for any shoulder injury :( I've had more nights than I can count "not knowing where to put my arm" to try to get comfortable.

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  2. My shoulder was fine thanks, the paracetamol and a good night's sleep worked wonders :)

    The place with the tractors on display is very strange, there are so many flowers it looks like a commercial flower-growing place but there are no business signs anywhere to say that it is. It's very colourful though, and whoever owns it has certainly invested a lot of money in restoring all the tractors.

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  3. That certainly is a very pretty garden and bold-coloured house!

    So pleased to read in your comment to Jayne that your shoulder was fine. Having recently recovered from a frozen shoulder, which was painful for about twelve months you have my sympathy. When I fell at Gwrych castle my only thought was oh no, not my shoulder again, thankfully it was OK and I got away with just a bruised leg.

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  4. I didn't even collect a bruise when I fell. I'm glad I didn't have the camera round my neck though, if I had it would most certainly have been damaged by the force from my landing. I think a painful shoulder is probably cheaper than the cost of a new camera :)

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  5. Hope your shoulder was ok. Excellent photo's and a jolly good read.
    Yvonne.

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  6. It was, and still is, fine thanks - no lasting damage thank goodness. Glad you like the photos, the flowers and tractors are certainly very colourful.

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