Time to Face The Music

RelievedSheff

The clouds are starting to build again after a sunny spell. We could be in for another downpour before too long.

enthusiasticsaver

Can you send some of that rain down to the SW? It is so close here and hardly any breeze. Going to be an uncomfortable night especially as I seem to have picked up a summer cold

alt80

Missed your sub-£39k post this morning, well done mate. As @warby68 says it's so much less not counting the van which is just going to tick away over the term - don't really need to think about that one (iirc it is just a hp deal no balloon - sorry if I'm wrong).

RelievedSheff

alt80 said:

Missed your sub-£39k post this morning, well done mate. As @warby68 says it's so much less not counting the van which is just going to tick away over the term - don't really need to think about that one (iirc it is just a hp deal no balloon - sorry if I'm wrong).

It is both the car and the van are on HP deals. No balloon payments at the end.

RelievedSheff

Not a no spends day today. We have a home shopping delivery coming later.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be from stores though. Breakfast was toast, the other half has taken his packed lunch to work, I am having a jacket potato for my lunch and dinner tonight is steak, baked sweet potato, beer battered onion rings, grilled cherry tomatoes and corn on the cob, cooked on the BBQ if the weather behaves itself tonight.

Last night's rain has not done much to cool things down. It is roasting hot again this morning.

The other half has decided he wants to go to the Isle of Wight next summer with the van. Having a quick look at site availability for next summer on the island it looks like we had better get booking quickly so my job for today is booking the ferry, coming up with a quick route and booking a few sites. Will stick these on credit card 4 so if there are any problems later down the line it will be easier to sort out.

Today's jobs include:

• working from home
• vacuuming the house
• dusting the house
• sorting and putting away the home shopping delivery
• booking ferries and campsites
• walking the dog

joedenise

@RelievedSheff - the Isle of Wight is definitely not a good motorhome destination!  We were over there a couple of weeks ago and sites seem to be down very narrow roads and away from bus routes.  We actually only stayed overnight as I had a bad fall on the ferry going over.  You will need some other form of transport.  The site we were booked on was over 1.5 miles to the bus stop along a very narrow road with no pavements.

We've decided we'll do the same as we have in the past when we go again and rent a lodge or caravan near a bus stop (we stayed at a Hoseason's lodge last time at Rookley Park which was just a few minutes to the buses which ran regularly every half hour.

RelievedSheff

joedenise said:

@RelievedSheff - the Isle of Wight is definitely not a good motorhome destination!  We were over there a couple of weeks ago and sites seem to be down very narrow roads and away from bus routes.  We actually only stayed overnight as I had a bad fall on the ferry going over.  You will need some other form of transport.  The site we were booked on was over 1.5 miles to the bus stop along a very narrow road with no pavements.

We've decided we'll do the same as we have in the past when we go again and rent a lodge or caravan near a bus stop (we stayed at a Hoseason's lodge last time at Rookley Park which was just a few minutes to the buses which ran regularly every half hour.

I won't be driving then

The sites we have book marked don't seem too bad for access. Kite Hill Farm is very close to the ferry terminal at Fishbourne and walking distance to the town, then the CAMC site at Southland and finally Waverley Park at Cowes again walking distance to the town and very close to the ferry for coming home. We will be pub stopping and car park surfing for the remainder of the nights on the island.

The other half wants to do this one, so I won't say no. He likes a challenge  

Next years two week trip will be Devon and Cornwall so he can get some practice in with the narrow roads on the Isle of Wight first!

enthusiasticsaver

Good idea to  get some practice on the narrow roads on IOW before coming down to the West Country.  Lots of motorhomes ended up stuck and blocking lanes this summer so far.  Good on you doing the research first.  I love Isle of Wight.  The idea of a motorhome sounds wonderful to me but I don't think I would like to drive one.  I have reversed down lots of narrow lanes in my car when doing my coastal walks if meeting someone coming in the opposite direction but the idea of doing it in a van sends me into a cold sweat.  

alt80

Steak sounds on point. 

I've always wanted to visit the Isle of Wight (no idea why ha) and the Channel Islands too. I'm sure you'll enjoy it when you get there.

RelievedSheff

enthusiasticsaver said:

Good idea to  get some practice on the narrow roads on IOW before coming down to the West Country.  Lots of motorhomes ended up stuck and blocking lanes this summer so far.  Good on you doing the research first.  I love Isle of Wight.  The idea of a motorhome sounds wonderful to me but I don't think I would like to drive one.  I have reversed down lots of narrow lanes in my car when doing my coastal walks if meeting someone coming in the opposite direction but the idea of doing it in a van sends me into a cold sweat.  

We had a couple of moments in the Lakes where we had to reverse on narrow lanes to let buses and bin waggons through and it had me on edge. The other half just took it in his stride and got on with it.

The first time we went to Cornwall we took the Sierra. The insurance had only just switched over so that I could drive it. The site we were on at Boswinger was on a very narrow single track road and we came across a car towing a caravan coming the other way. I made such a mess of trying to reverse the 50 yards back into a field entrance that the poor guy with teh caravan reversed probably 1/4 mile into a field for me

No way am I driving the van when we get on the country roads. I don't mind doing the motorway and major A road driving but I'm drawing the line (for now) at narrow lanes.