(2,250 km)
We left Exeter later than planned after spending time with everyone who turned out to wish us well. Getting as far as The New Forrest we found a small car park and settled into a corner across from another large camper and a tiny car type camper van. We were surprised to find the owner of the tiny van outside at around midnight moving it about. We twitched our curtains and watched as she reversed the back of the van straight into the side of the larger camper! The manoeuvring carried on for a goodly while until the driver was satisfied that the rear door could not be opened. She then locked the small van and climbed into the larger one. We can only assume they thought we were going to try to rob them in the night!!! Did they think we were travelling folk out to relieve them of all their possessions? We will never know! They did however wave us off in the morning with a friendly smile.
Yesterday John, Mena and Janet, with Wedgie the dog, welcomed us to Prima Awnings and set about fixing us up with side and a front for the Mog awning. We chose a wonderfully sunny, bright material and with John and Mena's expert eye and skill it was completed in no time.
A big thank you to all at Prima Awnings for the wonderful awning, cups of tea and good company. (To enlarge the pictures just click on it).
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Oz punches the eyelets into the edges of the sewn material. John designed the sides to allow them to be laced up to the front and pegged down to the floor. |
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John marks the angle for the top of the side curtain before using the hot knife to seal the edge. Then Mena sews the pocket for the tube. |
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Our lovely new awning (showing one side and the front piece). This is fully adaptable allowing us to put up just one side or both sides, with or without the front. The front can be reefed so we can have shade at various heights or the whole thing. |
It's off to Dover this afternoon to hopefully try and catch a ferry tomorrow - we haven't booked anything but I don't expect that it'll be a problem mid-week at this time of year.
And so, the time has finally come ... we will leave the fair shores of Blightly tomorrow and head for Germany after briefly taking in the delights of France and Belgium.