Well, it's been a little while since the last post... nearly six months in fact. That's just long enough to (i) pack Rosie into a container along with all our other worldly possessions, (ii) ship said container from California to England, (iii) Get her insured and pick her up from a warehouse in Enfield, (iv) Reunite her with the rest of the Bridges family (a tearful affair, partly due to the insurance bill) and then get her through the UK MOT test and registered at the Portsmouth DVLA office! Thanks to UK requirements, she now sports white side-lights, a rear fog light, English plates (F-reg for '89 of course) and new front brake hoses (regulations here seem to worry a little more about our short-term safety, unlike in California where anything goes as long as the emissions are in check).
Anyway, we have just completed our first camping trip this weekend, so, in true form, we felt it was time for an update in the Bridges-Rosie experience blog:
Annoyingly, our first observation was that Rosie doesn't seem to like English unleaded, either that or (more likely) she didn't enjoy being cooped up in a ship-container for 7 weeks: She'd developed a spluttering cough when warmed up, thereby having a good stab at tainting our normally enjoyable journey time by providing us with that unsettling experience of being close to breaking down... including a particularly nail-biting moment when we thought she might refuse to start at all following a short ferry hop (maybe it conjured memories of her longer voyage!?) to the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset.
Despite Rosie's sulk, we made it to Woodyhyde Farm campsite near Corfe Castle Village near the sea. We found the site in a recommended book, Cool Camping for Kids, which claimed to guide us to 'simple, beautiful, safe sites', and 'away from the crowds' (though the mutually exclusive conditions of it being both a successful book AND helping us avoid the crowds is now clear to me). Despite sharing the site with more folk than we expected, it was all very chilled out and we had a fantastic time. The boys spent most of the time joining a collection of kids and got into playing cricket, exploring the local hide-outs amongst the nearby trees, playing football and so on. When out and about we mostly explored Corfe Castle village and the local castle ruins - having just joined the National Trust - and there was an interesting moment when Sam asked the increasingly uncomfortable guide very detailed questions of how the Parliamentarians ultimately beat the Royalists and exactly what type of gruesome deaths they might have endured..!
The good:
- Exploring the castle and the stunning Studland beaches
- The best cream tea in a long while
- Great to be camping again
- Hearing and seeing an old steam train pass by the campsite regularly (we'll take a ride on it next time)
- Great to be waved and flashed by fellow VW van owners again... (sad and geeky, I admit)
The less good:
- Got a bit busy at the campsite on Saturday
- Rosie's sulk was wearing very thin on the way home (she's booked into the local garage now)
- We're still waiting for our other possessions, including proper camping gear etc, so we can do this properly (though some friendly neighbours lent us a load of gear)
Photos:
A Corfe Castle village home (some of these were constructed from the remains of the castle ruin... cheeky villagers!):
The weather is surprisingly good (still) and Mae enjoys a refreshing break from running around:
Kids screaming around, ahem, 'exploring' Corfe Castle:
Mae spontaneously ballet-dances on the spot (why? why ask?):
Much to the frustration of the photographer, the little monkies won't pose nicely for a picture in the perfect frame:
We all enjoy ice-creams and a proper cream tea (yum!):
The children are asleep in Rosie (Quiet at last! Check out Rosie's new plate and side-lights):
A mist rolls in to cool us all down from the heat of the day:
