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 June 2nd 2015 - A birthday in the van

I woke that morning to blue sky and sunshine; thankfully the rain had cleared but the wind was still blowing strong enough for me to temporarily abandon any thoughts of putting the tent up. Apart from the sound of the trees rustling in the wind there was no noise anywhere and as I walked round the site with the dogs a while later I realised that there were no other campers or caravanners there at all - I had the whole place to myself. And to give an idea of just how much land that is here's a site map - I camp in the cottage field marked with an E, top left.

With breakfast made and eaten in the front of the van I climbed back into the middle and opened my birthday cards and gifts then settled in for a relaxing morning watching tv and reading my book. This was followed by a lunch time walk with the dogs through the site and down to the beach, returning via the village where I called in at a couple of shops to get a few bits and pieces, then it was back to the van for some more chill-out time. 

 It was 9pm before the wind finally dropped to a slight breeze so with another hour of good light left I decided to put the tent up while I had the chance, though by the time I'd finished I didn't really feel like setting everything out inside. Instead I just unloaded it all from the van and left it piled in one of the bedroom pods - I could deal with it all the following morning. After the last dog walk of the day I made myself a brew, retrieved my book and the tv remote, then climbed back into the middle of the van - I didn't mind sleeping in there for another night, and at least with everything moved off the bed I had a lot more space.
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4 comments:

  1. Anabel Marsh13 June 2015 at 20:02

    Belated happy birthday!
    Anabel's Travel Blog

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  2. Tigermouse13 June 2015 at 23:32

    Thank you. It was a very quiet one to say the least but it was nice to just relax and do very little, though putting the tent up at 9 o' clock in the evening may seem to be a rather odd thing to do on a birthday!

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  3. Christine15 June 2015 at 17:31

    Happy belated birthday! No, putting a tent up by yourself isn't the conventional way to celebrate a birthday, but you were doing one of your most favorite things in the world to do. (Camping, not tent building) :) I love that you saved your cards to open on your birthday. I never wait. :)

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  4. Tigermouse15 June 2015 at 20:18

    Thanks for the belated birthday wishes. I suppose tent building at 9pm isn't the most conventional thing to do on a birthday evening but at least I was doing something useful :) Saving my cards and gifts until my birthday was no problem, I've never been one for peeking until the right day.

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