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!
