Malibu Molly

This is the destination of the Autumn trip this year. It's the same as last year but a week later in the year. In my head I had planned to go earlier, in September, and staying over to include our wedding anniversary.  Firstly, my brother and Phil embarking on a three week bike tour for most of September meant that we might have to ticket exchange our Arsenal season ticket seats if all three of us were away at the same time. Phil and I share my seat 50/50. Secondly, my old workmate and friend, John, who lives in France is having a 70th birthday party. I'm 70 in December.  Probably have a takeaway from the Chinese.... So instead we are here, in Alcossebre, from the 11th October.  I had a look on RCI to see where we could go "dog friendly" next year. Not wanting to tempt fate..... Reggie is 15 in September this year.  There's not a lot available that fits the bill. It's a shame to waste the timeshare before I can sell it or dump it back to the current owners, Hi...

To try and take some of the thinking out of the first part of the Autumn trip I tried ChatGPT. I was a little amazed at what it could do and how quickly it did the job...  The overnight stops might not be what I am looking for and until I see the route on a map I can't tell if it is what I want to do. I print it looks feasible. 🚐 Day-by-Day Route Plan 🗓️ Day 1 – October 1, 2025 Depart: Eurotunnel Coquelles at 14:00 CET Route: D943 ➜ Saint-Omer ➜ Arras ➜ Cambrai ➜ Saint-Quentin ➜ Laon ➜ Reims (all via N roads) Distance: ~220 miles / 350 km Overnight Stop: Near Reims Suggested Campsite: Camping au Bord de l'Aisne (Berry-au-Bac) Quiet riverside site, suitable for campervans. Dog friendly ~15 min north of Reims, easy N-road access Coordinates: 49.4271, 3.7882 🗓️ Day 2 – October 2, 2025 Route: Reims ➜ Châlons-en-Champagne ➜ Vitry-le-François ➜ Saint-Dizier ➜ Chaumont ➜ Langres ➜ Dijon Distance: ~215 miles / 345 km Overnight Stop: Near Dijon Suggested Campsite:Camping du Lac Kir L...

We had just got back from the Campers & Coffee event on Sunday and with the weather forecast leaning heavily towards "climate change disaster", i.e. sunny and temperatures around 20°C, so I booked a longish weekend away. I had a look on several sites to see what was available.  A few of the sites we like and that are independents, were fully booked. With overnight costs at two of them almost £50 a night, I wasn't that sad they were full. Good for them, but that's a lot of money. Another we like is a Premier Parks  site at East Fleet Farm near Weymouth. I actually booked through Pitchup.com and overall it was £37 a night. THis is for a pitch with EHU and fresh water on the pitch, hardstanding, full facilities and on top of that they have a bar/restaurant and a well stocked shop, not nly food but lots of camping essentials.  It was £6 cheaper than the Caravan Club site at Wyatt's Covert a few weeks before, and that had metered electricity! Wyatt's Covert has...

We have been before a couple of times but the first time in Malibu Molly. The drive to East Fleet Farm Touring Park is around 3.5 hours according to Google Maps and the TomTom Camper Max. Of course, but will be longer as we will have a few stops along the way for us and for Reggie to stretch his legs. The site isn't cheap and for some unknown reason dogs are charged extra. It's not as if they use the facilities like the loos and showers... I always opt for hardstanding as I really never trust the English weather enough to want to park on grass. This time for three nights it will be £113.  When I think of the nights we stay on paid Camping-Car Park aires in France this is probably the equivalent of ten nights! It's the UK for you. We don't have the same attitude to motorhoming as they do in France and wider Europe. After all that we needed to get away.  It would be cheaper to look for a Caravan Club "certificated location" or CL as they are known.   With the...

Another chance to get away in the van after the aborted holiday plans. Feeling much better whilst I am on the third course of antibiotics I booked us into Campers & Coffee. As I was late booking, we could only book for the day visit on Sunday.  As it turned out that was probably for the best as there was torrential rain on Saturday afternoon and into the evening. It seemed that the weather put a lot of people off and they appeared on Sunday as well. We set off about 9am and the TomTom calculated it would be about 90 minutes on the road.  The route chosen included some of the most pot holed roads in England, or so it seemed! On arrival what we thought would be an idyllic village was in fact surrounded by massive housing estates still being built.  It seems that everyone needs four bedroomed houses nowadays. What happened to "affordable housing" so that youngsters can get on the property ladder or afford to leave home? We checked in. I had printed our tickets as I don't...

This trip was a chance to get away after the disappointment of cancelling our holiday to France.  Another reason was that I was determined to attend the National League Promotion Final at Wembley Stadium.  With the London Underground system in chaos for the weekend and the Mayor being his usual belligerent self and refusing to intervene, capacity at the Stadium was reduced to around 50000 of the possible 90000 capacity. In the end I got a ticket.  I was still not fully fit. Looking for an alternative way to get to the Stadium I saw that Chiltern Railways had a service stopping at Wembley Stadium Station! Tracing back along the line I saw Denham. Opening another window opened and the Caravan Club had a site at.... Denham. I booked two nights. The site is alleged 25 to 30 minutes walk to the station. Much it seemingly on a road with no footpath.  Given my health. I decided on a taxi. We had a reasonable drive up on Saturday with our lunch and coffee stop, plus comfort ...