Monty's English Invasion

Bouydog said:
Good luck with the rest of your trip Dave, we enjoyed your company especially on our cretinous mission for food. 👍🤣
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Cheers Dave. It was like an episode of Mission Impossible wasn't it :D
Want to make easy money? sell food in Stratford on a Sunday!

Now with these pictures in the Media showing how badly people who go to festivals leave the place, I thought I would share the absolutely appalling state 1,000 odd campervans and motorhomes left Stratford Race Course by this morning.
Well, that will make the news I'm sure ;)
 
Left Stratford around noon. Battery bank needs a bit of a recharge after taking out 400AH after a week off-grid. No great surprise really as I don't really ration power useage (still using the Microwave yesterday ;) ) so booked a nice campsite in Henley-on-Thames for tonight and tomorrow.
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Decided to have a bit of a treat and booked an Full-Service pitch with dedicated Fresh Water Supply and Grey Waste Disposal.
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With easy refill of the Water and easy waste water emptying be able to have a nice long hot shower without any stop/start messing around (and with EHU heating the water, free hot water as well :) ).

The Pedestal has TV Arial connections as well, but I don't have an external TV input, so that is not that useful really. Made me wonder if it might be worthwhile fitting an external connector though?

Won't be moving the van tomorrow at all, but will be going into the town and maybe have a bit of time in a rowing boat if the weather is good (y)
 
Quick rewind to Stratford ICS .... watching a Youtuve 'creator' (namely Campervibe), I see that I and a few other Motorhomers are famous! should we get a cut of the Youtube earnings?

This must have been early on Friday I think?
1632231125309.png(I can't remember the Forum names of the other guys in the 'dave enclosure', so sorry about those not ID'ed (more money for us though :D )
 
The insert is just about blocking out where Biggarmac was parked. On the proper campsite with an ehu; so no battery problems and a fridge that worked! I found food in Stratford on Sunday on one of the stalls at the food fair. That was early afternoon.
 
Biggarmac said:
The insert is just about blocking out where Biggarmac was parked. On the proper campsite with an ehu; so no battery problems and a fridge that worked! I found food in Stratford on Sunday on one of the stalls at the food fair. That was early afternoon.
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We tried to find a pub with food for a sit-down meal later afternoon and no luck. the pub were were at had a kitchen but no chef. the next one tried had a chef but no kitchen.
All worked out well though .... ended up at the "Cafe Chutney" Indian Resturant that you can actually see as you exit the racecourse from the main gates and the food was excellent (y)
 
Left Swiss Farm campsite at lunchtime to meet up with middle brother and sister for lunch in a local pub (one I used to go to at lunchtime when at school!). That was following supper with eldest brother at a wetherspoons the evening before (and was in one at lunchtime as well for a wee half a lager).
And now parked up in a pub carpark near the south coast tonight - I think I have been to more pubs in the last 10 days than I have in the previous 5 years!

Continuing my Red Panda safari tomorrow at one of my favourite animal parks (https://www.marwell.org.uk/), then heading towards London to Walton-on-Thames for a few days (y)
 
wildebus said:
Left Swiss Farm campsite at lunchtime to meet up with middle brother and sister for lunch in a local pub (one I used to go to at lunchtime when at school!). That was following supper with eldest brother at a wetherspoons the evening before (and was in one at lunchtime as well for a wee half a lager).
And now parked up in a pub carpark near the south coast tonight - I think I have been to more pubs in the last 10 days than I have in the previous 5 years!

Continuing my Red Panda safari tomorrow at one of my favourite animal parks (https://www.marwell.org.uk/), then heading towards London to Walton-on-Thames for a few day. Dave did I read right. You used to go to the pub for lunchtime at school. ? Your family had money. The arse was out my trousers. And it was school dinner. And there was no choice. You had to eat what you got. Do you still have your silver spoon;)
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"Dave did I read right. You used to go to the pub for lunchtime at school. ? Your family had money. The arse was out my trousers. And it was school dinner. And there was no choice. You had to eat what you got. Do you still have your silver spoon"

Actually, used to get free school meals due to family income levels if you really want to know.
You never ever went to a pub as an underage school kid? obviously not a daily occurence, but more last day of terms and occasional other times.
 
After leaving Marwell, headed over to Walton-on-Thames. Perfect timing driving into Greater London in the evening rush :( Not driven in this area for maybe 15 years and actually never in the vehicle the size of my Motorhome, so that was fun!
Ended up exiting the M25 and went on the local roads due to the traffic.

Basic site with no toilets or showers, but that suits me fine as prefer to use my own facilities anyway.

Nice Roomy pitch and it is a very handy "park and settle" - totally level and the TV aerial needs no positioning or even raising up to get a 100% signal - never had over 100 Freeview channels before :D
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Right by the river - this was a 10 second walk from the van ...
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Not bad for £7.
 
Did a short ~5 Mile drive to the Brooklands Museum yesterday (see https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/ )
I would highly recommend visiting Brooklands. A lot of interesting exhibits there, both Automotive and Aircraft (I think most people - including myself - think primarily of motor racing when they hear the name Brooklands, with its famous banked track, but the site has a massive history in Aviation - both research and production (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklands) and at one time was the largest Aircraft manufacturing centre in Britain).

You can also have a drive around the original Race Course, including the full banked section, as it was in 1907 when first opened :) Sadly, just in a Simulator, but the simulator in a Show 2007 McLaren-Mercedes F1 Car ;)
May have just been a simulator but it did get the heart going 🫁 (>100 BPM). Times weren't too bad either. Apparently sub 44 is good but usually needs quite a few goes over time to get used to the simualator.
So I was well happy with my 45 seconds and change :D
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Part of the Attractions is the London Bus Museum, which offers something quite different to the Motor Racing exhibits of course but is still very interesting in its own right.
Hard not to look at the buses and think of how they would convert to a Motorhome (blame Cliff Richard and 'Summer Holiday' for that!). This little combo would have made a very nice British "5th Wheel Trailer" in the 1950s ...
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This was actually a London Transport mobile Canteen.

And this Airport bus would have made a very stylish conversion to a Motorhome as well ...
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Could make a very interesting conversion at the rear (looks like might have room for a bathroom and loft bed on the top? :)
 
Not done anything today - recovering from last couple of busy days and getting ready for another busy - and expensive! - day tomorrow. Bought 6 tickets to Legoland to take Sister, her daughter (my god daughter), her two boys (Great Nephews) and fiancé (plus me of course :D ).
Then some hopefully driveway surfing Sunday Night before heading north towards home (with insufficient fuel to get me there right now :( )
 
You are very close to my home turf now. I shared a flat with four mates in Walton on Thames and went to Brooklands technical college on day release for my apprenticeship. Spent most of my time in Addlestone and Weybridge before the flat.
 
My late kid sister went to Brooklands College.

Being me, I kicked against the traces and went to Eel Pie Island, to 'Cut a Rug' and watch Ginger Baker, the Cream, the Yardbirds, and other little known groups.

I think I had more fun. :D
 
Woke up this morning at my usual stupid o'clock time of 4AM to very heavy rain :(
With not enough fuel to get home and uncertainties of refuelling, plus horrible weather and batteries a bit low after 4 more days off-grid, decided to stay put for an extra day on the driveway and plugged into house to get batteries recharged and try and refuel locally later today before hitting the motorways.

On the plus side, had a good time at Legoland :D never been there before and definately a place for younger kids, but there were some fun rides even for adults :) And so good that the weather has only turned overnight and not before so Saturday was great with all sun and nice and warm (annoyingly I parked right by a big pillar for identification, but that turned out to kill any decent solar harvesting due to the shadow cast)

(Look for the Big "B")
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Didn't do a lot today. Drive around wasting fuel trying to get enough fuel to get me home! After a limited volume allowed fill, trip computer says enough range but I am not so sure :unsure:

Might be able to get more as I set off tomorrow but not a good feeling to think you have a 400 mile drive home and not confident of getting refuelled enroute :cry:
At least the battery bank is refilled - and also refilled the Gaslow bottle at Fleet Services on Thursday night (annoyingly I had not heard the news about refilling problems otherwise I could have filled the diesel tank at the same time :rolleyes: ) , plus plenty of food and drinking water on board so if it comes down to it, there could be worse vehicles to be stuck in :)
 
Goldthorpe had deliveries to both stations yesterday, though empty over the weekend. So fuel deliveries are making their way here.
 
Silver sprinter said:
Hi Dave hope you get fuel and get home safe
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Thanks.

Left the driveway at 6AM this morning and got £20 worth in at the local garage, and that with the £30 from ASDA yesterday got me virtually full - which is needed if driving from Berks to Scotland with a reasonable if small buffer. Also got another £30 from ASDA in Rochdale today after leaving Alpha Batteries so all sorted thankfully until hopefully this daft situation is over (only one journey planned in next fortnight of around 130 miles and could just about manage that).
Done 266 miles so far since this morning. Only 141 to go :D
 
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