Tuesday 25th May and time to set off. May has been an
exceptionally wet month and no doubt will prove to be one of the wettest
on record so we had both fingers crossed that the last days of May might
be better. As we were ready to leave it still seemed pretty damp but
once on the road out towards Buckingham there were encouraging signs of
it brightening up. En route we made, what is becoming, a regular coffee
stop at Buzzy Beans mobile coffee shop between Adderbury and Deddington.
We arrived at the site about quarter past midday. Due to COVID
precautions check in was a bit more complicated than usual but well
organised. Margaret didn’t like the first pitch so she set off to find
another! We are in a little cul de sac of eight or nine units. There
have been many complaints about the size of the pitches on this site but
it seems this little section, at least, has been refurbished. They have
also added some service pitches as well. One thing that was bothering me
was that we I went to restart the engine at reception the engine
management light remained on. The handbook just says to contact an agent
when you can so we will see what it’s like on the way home!
It seemed strange setting the van up as it’s so long since we have
done so. Had a bit of trouble with the TV connection as the F socket to
Co-Ax was missing. Obviously, a regular thing as the lady in reception
produced a bag full of the connectors and gave me one to repair the
bollard. Thinking we had everything sorted thoughts turned to dinner but
we have a menu malfunction. The food we had planned, despite having been
in the fridge and so should have defrosted hadn’t. We did have a tin of
baked beans but that hardly seemed enough for a growing lad! As luck
would have it there is an onsite Pizza seller on a Tuesday so Margaret
trotted along to the site entrance armed with a £10 note to buy an
Italiano Pizza. This turned out to be very nice and I think the red wine
went with it more so than the baked beans!!!
Wednesday 26th May. The improvement in the weather has
continued although far from hot it was a nice temperature for wandering
around Moreton in Marsh which we did today. For those that worry about
how far they have to walk it is half a mile from the site to the High
Street and circuit of the town to the railway station and back to the
site is two miles. Plenty of options to take a rest en route. There
seemed to be a few empty premises although some where having work done
on them. Another change we noticed was that the Co-Op have moved from
the High Street to what used the be the Budgens at the north end of the
town. Fortunately, they have retained the coffee shop so we enjoyed a
coffee although I got the wrong one but it was so noisy that it was hard
to hear yourself speak! I am not a lover of milky coffee but it was OK.
After gathering a bit of shopping, including some Elastoplast
as we discovered we had none in the van. We made our way down the other side of the High Street. We
looked at the bus times for Stow on the Wold which appear to be every
hour and a half. A possibility for tomorrow? Mind you we have not been
on a bus for well over a year! On the way back to the campsite we
stopped to look at the lambs in a field. One must have been very newly
born as there were signs which I won't go into but I have
obviously spent far too much time watching Call the Midwife!!!
Thursday 27th May. Dawned another nice day and if
anything, a bit warmer. Decided against a bus trip as Margaret was a bit
concerned about frequency of service for getting back and probably also
concerned that we have not been on a bus for so long! So decided
on a lazy day although we did have a wander around the site to observe
the changes since our last visit two years ago. There has been quite a
lot of change. Both motorhome service points now have open grill
disposal points. They have introduced some serviced pitches and some of
the other pitches have been reconfigured to upgrade them. There are
still some of the older smaller pitches around the site but I imagine
the upgrading is a rolling programme. The Club had previously added some
static accommodation and this is being augmented by the addition of what
looks like four Safari Tents.
I am sure I am not alone when checking into a CMC site that the
wardens seem to go into more detail about parking to the peg than
discussing COVID precautions! Whilst I am happy to oblige and always
park to the peg, after all I have been doing it for 40 years, many of my fellow travellers seem to totally ignore the
instruction. Given the time and effort to explain any sort of
enforcement seems totally missing! I suppose what I don’t understand is
why some seem to totally disregard what they
have been told, usually at length!!!!