Tuesday 13 April 2010

2 Go Mad in Dorset

Last week saw us heading to Dorset for 4 nights. On arriving at the site we were told we could use any grass pitch with EHU so we headed for the pitch with the prettiest view. On the way we passed loads of motorhomes on flat grass pitches with no view and couldn't understand why nobody had nabbed this lovely picturesque pitch at the bottom of a very gentle hill... (you’re groaning already aren't you?). Well the inevitable happened. We got down to the pitch and it was indeed beautiful, however if we hadn't engaged the services of the site Landrover then we'd probably still be there. On the bright side it did provide much needed entertainment for all the site kids, all the smug tuggers and the rows of MHs on the flat grass pitches whose combined tuts almost drowned out the sound of the winch... 
View from Delores

We decided to take the van out and about this time and discovered that Dorset has fabulous car parking for MHs - a section of special bays in many car parks and usually only £1 a day to park. Lulled into a false sense of security we headed over the border into Devon - big mistake! It may be very pretty but it's not MH friendly! 

Saturday will go down as the day we didn't do things. Here's a brief list of the things we didn't do. 

* We didn't find the correct route to Beer (the place not the beverage - I've never knowingly taken the wrong route to the beverage....). 
* When we got there we didn't go to the quarry/ mines as it was £12.50 to get in and they didn’t take credit cards. 
* Next we didn't go to the ornamental gardens at the top of the 1:4 hill because they were closed on Saturday afternoons. 
* Then we didn't go to Beer Head because although we followed the signs we ended up back in the middle of Beer. 
* Then we didn't go to the cliff carpark at Beer because the width restriction was 6ft. Which they very handily told us at the far end of a one way street. 
* Following that we didn't go to Seaton. Well we did, but we left again because there was nowhere to park Delores. 
* We also didn't win the lottery. Which is a shame because we could have used the money to pay for the fuel and new clutch we'll need after doing 5 laps of Beer's 1:4 hill! (Some locals began to wave & cheer as we passed for the fourth time...) 

However we DID have a barbecue and we did discover that the coals stay hot overnight. We found that part out when we put them in a plastic bag to throw them away the next morning. Or rather through a plastic bag. We also discovered that grass can catch fire even when it's soggy and we additionally discovered it takes approx 4.3 seconds to get a glass of water from the van. 
(I just *know* someone is going to tell me off for that one!). Good job it wasn't a CC site or we'd have been excommunicated by now! 

We also discovered that there's no moon in Dorset. Or at least we don't think there is. We certainly didn't see it on any one of the 4 consecutive clear nights we were there and we're now wondering if it's because we were only on an economy pitch. Next time we'll fork out for the luxury pitch with water, EHU, TV aerial and assorted celestial bodies.