We collected Daisy on a Friday afternoon in October and headed down to Durdle Door in Dorset. I’ve never driven a campervan before, and although this was one of the new Brazilian ones, it was still quite a different experience to driving our normal car. In fact, if I recall correctly I drove us to a Service Station just off the M3 and then Richard took over to drive us into Dorset. We turned up at the Durdle Door Holiday Park without reservations and got ourselves a pitch with no problem at all and proceeded to try and work out where everything was stowed (the van was really well stocked, it was just a matter of being organised and trying to work out where everything had been hidden) and then had a fight with the thermal window covers which were a total pain. We got dinner from the on-site pub but had to eat outside as they weren’t dog friendly indoors – this wasn’t great obviously but fortunately it was dry and not too cold.

The following day we headed out for an explore of the beautiful Durdle Door and walked down the coast to Lulworth Cove. Durdle Door was another of the beaches mentioned in the Top 10 dog-friendly beaches list (we’d already done 4 of them).

When we got back to the van we discovered that we’d gained a huge van next door, it was truly a case of little and large. At least ours was easier to manipulate, although I suspect their one had more home comforts.

We headed back down to Durdle Door in time for a beautiful sunset.

Skitters settled herself down for the evening, choosing to sit at the back in amongst the bedding and blankets.

On the Sunday we packed up and left Durdle Door and headed towards the New Forest via Lepe Country Park (another beach mentioned in the dog friendly beaches list) where we had a lovely long walk along the sea edge, and grabbed some lunch before driving on to the New Forest.

We spent the night at the Holmsley Caravan Park and Campsite which was basic but fine, and to be honest, as we had to have the van back at 11am on the Monday morning, we didn’t need much in the way of facilities.

Renting a campervan isn’t a cheap option but it was fun. By October the season is coming to an end, so a lot of the facilities at the caravan sites were closing or closed (for example the New Forest one only had one toilet block open). It was also starting to get quite chilly at night by October so the early mornings were a bit of a shock. We learnt after our first night that we needed to be pretty organised to not get in each others ways and to make sure that our early mornings involved freshly made tea without a large amount of swearing. All in all, a fun adventure, and one that I’d like to do again, but probably in June/July time instead.

10 years ago, we posted this.

Blogger did rock then, but we finally gave up on it about 18 months ago when we finally moved over to wordpress

We don’t post very much any more, twitter and delicious (or pinboard) took our short comments and links to remember, leaving this for mainly travel related goodness.

The films they show vary depending on your venue, but we got to see:

• The Swiss Machine – awesome film, really incredible – watch the trailer here
• Wildwater – this went on a bit too long for me, but then I’m not a wildwater fanatic… So, decide for youself after you’ve watched the trailer
• Eastern Rises – when the lady introducing the video used the phrase “trust me” whilst telling us fly fishing was a great subject for a video I feared the worst, but this was a really well put together and, dare I say, interesting film which was utterly engaging – watch the trailer
• Follow Me – lovely mountain bike footage – short version of this film
• The Longest Way – a fast and furious look at photos and occasional video as Christop Reharge walks from Beijing to Germany (well part of the way at least)
• Azadi Freedom – part skiing film, part travel documentary about Kashmir, totally absorbing – watch trailer (also inline below)
• Parking Garage – a suitably silly way to end the evening

I think that Azadi Freedom ended up being my favourite of the evening, so I’ve embedded the trailer here for you to take a look at

This was only the 3rd date on their tour, so there are still plenty of opportunities for you to go and see some of these films, and I’d recommend it.

During 2010 I walked 1282 miles in almost 675 hours (that’s 28 days) – there are traces for some of them here

Almost all of these (with the exception of the first 2 weeks in January when we were in Sydney and Tokyo) were as a result of taking Skitters for a walk. Richard will have done a similar amount – I still do the morning walks, he does the lunchtime/evening walks and we both do the longer, more explorey, weekend walks.

I can’t believe that I spent almost a month of 2010 outside walking

We found ourself a lovely house to stay at in Lower Fishguard and spent our week exploring the area, making the most of the mostly dog-friendly beaches, and enjoying the beautiful view from the balcony.

As I mentioned in a blog post a while ago, Traeth Llyfn, could be my favourite beach of all time. Other beaches we visited were Newgale sands, Porthmelgan, Abereiddy, Musselwick – all of which were charming and beautiful in their own way. The Pembrokeshire coastal path is well maintained, and well marked, and has some stunning views along the way.

The house was very dog friendly, and the garden was pretty secure too. There was at least one dog friendly pub in Fishguard itself and a few more in Pembrokeshire itself. The kitchen was well stocked (although if there had been 6 or 7 of us, there may not have been enough pots and pans). The bed was incredibly comfortable, and I spent many a happy afternoon in the living room, reading my book and looking out across the harbour.

Pembrokeshire is definitely an area that deserves further exploration, possibly more towards the Southern area.

We’ve now done our travelling, and delivered all of the presents that need more than a short walk, so can start this relaxing thing that I’ve heard so much about.

Have a wonderful festive season

Since introducing Skitters into our life we’ve walked many miles, both near and far. The daily walks don’t vary much – I normally take her out along the sea front to Hove Lawns for her morning walk, Richard usually takes her out to the St Nicholas Rest Garden at lunchtime and early evenings. It is the weekend walks and holiday walks which have the promise of adventure.

We have an ever increasing collection of OS Maps now. When we’re planning a trip away somewhere, first on the shopping list is a new one. We’ve replaced our local one with a weatherproof version as we’d worn a hole through the first one due to too many rainy outings. We’ve become quite adept at spotting circular walks although still sometimes fail to work out the gradients – like on our first day in the Lake District when this nice gentle stroll we’d spotted took us up and over a fell.

Driving With Dogs is a website that Richard discovered one day. It lists dog walks from motorway junctions or services, allowing you to take a break, and take the dog for a wander in something more inspiring than a housing estate, industrial estate or service station. We’ve used quite a few of these walks, some are more “our kind of walks” than others, but they’ve all saved us the time and effort of trying to work something out ourselves.

Pocket Pub Walks East Sussex (Pocket Pub Walks) and Pocket Pub Walks West Sussex (Pocket Pub Walks) both contain walks of between 2.5 and 5.5 miles around East Sussex or West Sussex (as appropriate). All are circular and start/end at a pub. The guide also mentions whether the pub is dog or child friendly – the addition of this information is what prompted me to buy them in the first place. The books are small enough to fit into big pockets, and contain clear directions which mean you don’t necessarily need the OS Map as well. Every county needs these kind of books, especially the ones I holiday in. Finding out if a pub is dog friendly is often quite tricky, although DOGGIE PUBS and dog friendly do give a few clues but working out a walk that ties in with a good dog-friendly pub at the end is hard to work out when you’re unfamiliar with a place.

If any other dog walkers stumble across this post and have some other useful resources to share, please leave us a comment. Thanks!

We had a week in Pembrokeshire in September, of which more in another post, and whilst we were there I discovered what I think could be my favourite beach (so far!)

It is called Traeth Llyfn, and is between Porthgain and Abereiddy on the Pembrokeshire coast path. To access the beach you need to walk, and then descend a set of metal steps (which the dog needed to be carried down due to the gaps being too wide for her paws) and once you’re down there it is a really lovely place to be, and nice and safe for an explorer dog like ours.

We had the beach to ourselves for most of the time we stayed there

and most beautiful it was too

We did 2 laps of an approximately 5k walk, very approximate as it turned out as there were short cuts being taken left, right and centre – and the marshalls seemed a bit too cold, wet and grateful to force people to do the full route. We’d parked in one of the car parks in the woods themselves, so between our journey to and from the car park, and the 2 laps of the route, we clocked up 6.83 miles, or around 11km. I tracked the route on my Garmin watch, and it is here for all to check and verify.

By the time we’d finished we were rather wet, but Skitters was pretty forgiving as the lovely ladies in the registration tent admired her cute ears and gave her some treats to munch on. A nice nap (for all) when we got home was just what the doctor ordered, and certainly the 4 legged one seems as full of energy as ever and ready to head outside for more adventures.

You can still sponsor us. Oh, and there are a few more photos too.

One journey of almost 7000 miles, six new cities, eight trains, fifteen days, and every vignette, observation and fractured bitty-bit of the travelogue broken up and sent as status messages the old way. By postcard. To a bunch of random people who asked for one. Because travelling slowly is nice. And so is leaving a trail to see where we have been.

I decided I’d like a postcard, and so sent her my contact details.

On Tuesday, my postcard arrived.
Here is the front of it

The annotations are:

This is my interpretation of an artwork by Richard Serra. The real one is much bigger. And 3d. And not rubbish.

And along the side it says

the snailr project endorses Seattle

And here is the reverse of it:

It says:

When we arrive in Seattle, manage to check in even though it is only 10am, shower and get out to explore in the brighton sunshine by U, I am happy. Happy, too, are all the people who have arranged photo shoots for today. In the outdoor sculpture garden there are three brides, with full bridal parties. And a set of latino teenagers, dressed either for prom (wrong time of year?) or for the cinquicenta of the most elaborately dressed girl. They hang their tuxedo jackets over their shoulders, hard men towered over by Richard Serra artwork.

As it was a beautiful day today, I took the postcard for a walk to the seaside, here in Brighton, a place Anna knows well, and, as it turns out, is returning to soon.
So, here it is with the West Pier:

and here with the PalaceBrighton Pier:

Thank you Anna.