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 May 30th 2017 - A grey going home day

I woke with the dawn chorus again that morning and it was so lovely to listen to that I decided to record it. With my camera on the table I set it to 'video' and left it running for just over five minutes; there was barely any daylight so it couldn't actually film anything other than the dark front wall of the tent but it picked up the bird song beautifully. 

As I was awake so early I decided to make a start on packing a few things away in the van to save time later, then once it was proper daylight I took the dogs for a walk down the lane and back. It was yet another grey morning and looking at the clouds in the distance I could see there wasn't much hope of seeing any sunshine before I went home, although it was still very warm. After an early breakfast and a couple of hours chill out I started packing everything away properly and by 11.30 I only had the tent to take down. I'd just got it rolled up and in the van when the first drops of rain appeared, although it didn't amount to much and I was able to take Sophie and Poppie for another walk before I left the site.

Rather than go through Llangollen and up the A483 to the A55, which would be my usual route homewards, I decided for once to go up the A494 which would eventually cross the A55 and take me via Queensferry direct to the M56. It was a route I hadn't travelled before and at one point the road climbed steeply upwards and round a sharp bend; there was a great view over the valley and hills to my right and had it been a sunny day I could have got a really good photo but it was too grey to be bothered finding somewhere to stop. 

The different way of going home, although more interesting than my usual route, seemed somehow to take longer but in actual fact it took the same length of time and I was back home at 2.15pm. It was earlier than I would normally get back but in the grey weather I'd had no reason to stop off anywhere en route; of course Sod's Law decreed that as I'd got further north the day had become brighter and by the time I'd got back home the sun was shining. Sometimes I feel as though I just can't win with the weather gods but hopefully next time I go to that part of North Wales they might decide to be kind to me - come hell or high water I'm determined to get that special 'blue sky' shot at Chirk Castle in the not-too-distant future.



6 comments:

  1. Hope next trip won't be so grey, but you still have wonderful memories.

    Yvonne.

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    1. I have two trips booked in July so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will be good for those :)

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  2. It's such a shame that the weather lets you down but your photos are lovely and I enjoy seeing them. Come on blue skies, this is supposed to be flaming June and it's been like winter this week, at least it's not cold, some small consolation.

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    1. If I waited for blue skies before I went camping I wouldn't go as many times as I do! Maybe all the good weather is storing itself up for when I'm away next month :)

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  3. Hi Eunice,

    Apologies for my late arrival to your site. Of course, we've now had some very hot weather. I'm very familiar with that part of Wales. Haven't been to Queensferry in such a long time.

    Wishing you a very nice weekend and thank you for this posting.

    Gary

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  4. Thanks for your comment Gary. I've never actually been to Queensferry so don't know what it's like, I only bypassed it on the way home. I may very well use that route again as it means I can avoid a very large and confusing roundabout on my usual route :)

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