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 March 29th 2016 - Sunshine, showers, and packing up

I woke that morning to - yes, you've guessed it - yet more rain; just what I didn't need when I had to pack up later and take the tent down. I wasn't in a rush though, and by the time I'd taken the dogs for a short walk and had breakfast the rain had stopped, the clouds were clearing and the sun was shining - great, the tent should be dry by the time I had to pack it away. My optimism was short-lived however as the sunshine didn't last long, the clouds came back and dumped a heavy rain shower on the camp site. And that's how it was all morning - short bursts of sunshine followed by heavy showers, meaning that packing all my gear into the van was done in fits and starts during the brief fine spells.

 Now in the three years I've had that tent I've never yet had to pack it away while it's wet, so far I've always been lucky that way, but there's a first time for everything and it seemed like this was it. None of the sunny spells lasted long enough for it to dry out properly before I dismantled it, and even though I shook most of the rain off it was still quite damp when I finally bundled it up and stashed it in the van. And that wasn't a moment too soon either as the next rain shower hit just as I closed the van door.

 It was 1pm when I finally left the site and as I had nothing to rush home for I decided to drive to the Rhug organic farm along the A5 just out of Corwen. There was a herd of wild bison in a field bordering the road and though I've passed them several times over the last few years I've never stopped to see them close up. Leaving the van in the farm car park I walked back along the road but unfortunately another rain shower hit just as I got to the field so I didn't linger, and the two shots I got were the last ones of the weekend.

Driving back along the A5 the rain lasted until I got onto the A539 at the far side of Llangollen, and the further away from the town I got the better the weather became. With the clouds finally cleared it was blue sky and sunshine all the way, making for a very pleasant drive, and with no hold-ups on the roads I was back home by 3.15pm. It was a pity that the long weekend had been blighted by rotten weather but I'll be going back to stay at Felin Uchaf again soon so hopefully then I'll get blue sky and sunshine for the whole weekend - I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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