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

Thursday September 14th 2017 - More rain, a bargain, and a drive to Gorleston

It was another day of on/off heavy downpours though the wind had lessened considerably from the previous day. By late lunch time I was getting fed up of staying on my pitch so I went down to Asda in Yarmouth to get some supplies and a mop and bucket then drove round to one of the out-of-town retail parks. There was a large Sports Direct store there and as I needed to get some new tracksuit pants I went in to have a look. At first I couldn't seem to find what I really wanted but after a bit of perseverance I came across just what I was looking for and at a bargain price too. Luckily I'm still just about slim enough to fit into children's sizes and I found some age 13 Slazenger ones in the sale, priced at £7 a pair or two pairs for £11 - that was a good price so I picked up two pairs, but when I got to the till I was only charged £10 so that was even better.

 By the time I came out of the store the weather had done a complete about-turn and there was now lots of blue sky and sunshine, so as I was on the south side of Yarmouth I decided to drive the few miles to Gorleston and take the dogs for a walk along the promenade and gardens. To be honest I think Gorleston is a bit of a boring place and why anyone would want to go there for a holiday is beyond me as there's very little there, but at least the parking near the beach is free. 

 I walked for quite a distance along the promenade and back along the cliff top gardens and the place was so quiet that in all that time I only saw six people. Right out to sea was a big ship with four tall things sticking up from it so just for curiosity I put the camera on zoom and snapped a couple of photos - it was called Sea Challenger, and later information told me it was a jack-up vessel specially designed for installing off-shore wind turbines.

Back at the van I made a quick phone call to my son who was just about to set off on his latest journey back from Ireland, then as there was nowhere else I wanted to go and it was late afternoon by then anyway I headed back to the camp site. I did think about mopping up the puddle in the tent but then decided against it - with the probability of more rain and another puddle before the end of the holiday I might as well let the weather do its worst and mop the whole lot up at once. So with that decision made I settled into the van and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

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8 comments:

  1. nashvillecats225 September 2017 at 06:52

    Pleased the weather decided to be kind, it's awful being away from home when the weather is bad as I know only too well from my caravanning days.

    Yvonne.

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    Replies
    1. Tigermouse25 September 2017 at 10:24

      The afternoon turning out so nice after a really wet morning was quite unexpected, though I think bad weather is bad weather wherever you happen to be.

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  2. Eileen H25 September 2017 at 08:17

    I don't blame you for leaving the puddle as you don't want to be spending your holiday mopping up! You certainly did get a bargain with your tracksuit pants and looking at the sky in your photos, what a difference from the previous day.

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  3. Tigermouse25 September 2017 at 10:28

    It was a difference from only an hour or so before Eileen - it was cloudy and grey when I went in Sports Direct but I came out to blue sky and sunshine, that's how quickly it changed. The tracksuit pants need to be turned up before I wear them, even at age 13 they are still too long! :)

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  4. Anabel Marsh25 September 2017 at 21:29

    Hmm, I agree Gorleston doesn’t look very interesting but at least the sun is shining. Ok, hardy soul with an eye for a bargain! (Building up a picture.....)

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  5. Tigermouse25 September 2017 at 21:41

    The main street has a few interesting shops but there's very little round on the sea front. The road to it runs alongside the end of the harbour with lots of industrial buildings across the river so the approach isn't terribly attractive; there's a hotel, a theatre, a small row of about three cafes and a couple of gift shops, and a small amusement place, then up in the gardens there's a putting green and a couple of tennis courts, and other than the boating/paddling pool on the beach that's about it. The beach is a blue flag one and great for kids but with very little else there I can imagine they would soon get bored.

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  6. Bag End Gardener3 October 2017 at 12:02

    Your offshore rig is similar to the one we saw at St Bees recently. Don't get me started on wind turbines, either offshore or on land ......

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  7. Tigermouse3 October 2017 at 14:22

    I have mixed feelings about their usefulness and 'attractiveness' but they seem to be cropping up in more and more places so it looks like they are here to stay whatever anyone thinks of them :(

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