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

Friday March 29th 2013 - Easter at Manorafon

A bright Good Friday morning saw me leaving home at 7.45am for Manorafon camp site in Abergele. I had booked the break quite a while previously but only the week before Easter the weather gods had decided to cover a good deal of the country in snow, with many areas of North Wales being quite badly hit, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there. However, a quick phone call to the site a couple of days before had confirmed it was open as normal and the A55 coast road was perfectly fine for travelling so I was looking forward to having a good four days, especially as I had a new tent which I was eager to try out.

With the sun shining and not much traffic on the road the journey was very pleasant, though I did notice that the further into Wales I got the higher the snow drifts were at the roadside. The road itself was perfectly clear though and I arrived in Abergele a bit earlier than anticipated, so rather than go straight to the site I headed down to the promenade and went in the Beach Cafe for coffee and a bacon and egg barm, then took the dogs for a walk along the beach. It was still only 10am when I got to Manorafon and after booking in and being shown to my pitch I set about putting up my new tent; it was a fairly straightforward operation and with not as many pegging points as my smaller tent it didn't take too long to do. With my bed made up and everything else in place I surveyed my new home - there was far more space than in my smaller tent and plenty of room to stand up properly and walk around, and with my blue bedding and blue accessories it looked good - I was going to like this new tent!


With everything sorted out it was time for a quick brew followed by a dog walk up to the castle; while setting up the tent I'd noticed that the castle was in full sunlight and as I hadn't managed to get any really good photos of it last year the opportunity now was too good to miss. I wasn't content just to photograph the front of it though so a bit of exploration was needed; just off the main path through the woods I found a smaller path which eventually took me above and round the back of the castle and though I couldn't get into the main body of the place, with a bit of scrambling up and down overgrown steps and through various bushes I was able to access a few of the outer parts of it, which gave me several good photos which I was really pleased with.


When I had got as many photos as I could I made my way back to the main path and returned to the tent, then with Sophie and Sugar in the back of the van I took a short ride to Tesco for some provisions. With my shopping stowed away out of the reach of little noses I went for a quick look round the town, which wouldn't take long, and that's when I had a stroke of luck. I needed a large blue storage box for my camping bits and pieces and in an animal charity shop I came across the ideal one in a corner, though it looked like it was used by the shop rather than being for sale. However, if you don't ask you don't get, so I asked, and although the box actually was for shop use the very nice lady sold it to me for just a quid - and it was new too, so I walked out of the shop a very happy bunny.

The rest of the day and evening were spent just chilling out in the tent and organising my things into my new blue box, then when my eyes decided they didn't want to stay awake for much longer I took the dogs for their final walk of the day. I hadn't made any plans for the following day but if the weather was as good as it had been then I was looking forward to getting more photos wherever I ended up going.





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4 comments:

  1. Christine10 May 2013 at 01:29

    That's a nice set-up you have there. Can't say I've ever seen a toaster in a tent before!
    I dream of one day seeing an actual, real castle someday. There aren't too many of them here in the states. :)

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  2. Tigermouse10 May 2013 at 09:25

    Maybe I should include another photo which shows the kettle, tv, fridge, convector heater, carpet and loo - I may be camping but I do like a modicum of home comforts! lol

    I always think the castle looks like something from a fairytale - it's a fascinating place, such a shame that it's a derelict ruin. If I ever had the money I would buy it, have it restored and turn it into a hotel and wedding venue as it's in a lovely location. The camp site is actually set in part of the castle estate and the walk along the private lane is lovely.

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  3. mammasam14 May 2013 at 08:37

    Hi Eunice, So glad the camping season has started again so i can read all about your adventures, our first camp of the season was last weekend when the weather was glorious :o)

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  4. Tigermouse14 May 2013 at 09:06

    I was on Anglesey over the bank holiday weekend and had glorious weather, didn't come home until Tuesday last week and it was so nice I didn't want to come back!

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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.

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