One word? When seven would do…

As Ady dubbed it.

Not far from home, just one night, minimal packing, no planning at all!

On about Tuesday I realised we didn’t have anything at all planned for this weekend. This is incredibly unusual for us and actually had only come about because I’ve swapped Saturdays for a while so should have been working. We decided if the weather was nice we’d chuck the tent and sleeping stuff and a change of clothes in the car and head off. We decided Dorset would be good – Ady had in mind some fossil hunting, I had some dolphin spotting. We toyed with the idea of the Bristol Balloon festival which is something I’ve fancied doing for years but we only wanted to go for one night really and I was fretful all campsite in the area might well be booked up for that.

In the end on Saturday morning I slept in, as did the children and then at 10am my Dad turned up. We all sat about drinking tea / coffee and chatting for an hour or so and then decided actually yes we would go. So Dad agreed to pop back over in the evening and again in the morning to tend to cat and chickens and headed off while we literally chucked the small tent, sleeping bags and camping mats, a change of clothes each and ourselves in the car and were away within the hour.

We were on the road by 12. By 1pm we’d barely cleared Chichester (20 miles) thanks to dreadful traffic. We debated turning back but took some rat runs and eventually got ourselves to the Dorest borders by 2pm. Traffic was still bad so we went for ‘nearest campsites’ on the satnav which turned up several within half an hour all requiring a ferry trip. We assumed it was the chain link Swanage ferry we’ve used before so went for that and turned off the motorway onto the New Forest road, which we’ve never been to before despite living only an hour away.

We were immediately transfixed by all the horses and ponies just wandering around everywhere. I’d always assumed they’d be on the grassy bits but distant. Actually they are there meandering about on the roads, near the shops, inbetween people and their picnics. We passed a campsite which looked fab but had no facilities so you needed your own toilet, which we’d not brought (microcamping remember?) but will definitely think about for another time. We kept following the satnav right the way to Lymington where it became clear the ‘ferry’ was not the Swanage chainlink but a proper main ferry to the Isle of Wight. We debated it but it is pricey, there was a long queue and actually it was Cowes week so not the best time to be arriving late on Saturday afternoon looking for campsites without a booking.

We stopped for something to eat and debated a plan. Eventually after much circuitous driving round Poole area we decided to head for Weymouth with a worst case scenario of fish and chips on the beach for tea and driving home again and a best case scenario of finding a campsite on the way. We tried about five and found them all fully booked and then eventually at Wareham there were 3 all on one road within a mile of each other. The first was full (it was turning into a Microcamping out of season nativity) but the second had space. So finally by about 6pm we were pitched and installed at Birchwood Tourist Park. Very clean, excellent toilets and showers (not that we actually used the showers), a playpark and paddling pool, waterpoints at every corner and surrounded by woodland. Also very busy and a bit caravantastic! But perfect for what we wanted which was a cheapish pitch for the night (£23.50).

We got set up, Davies and Scarlett went off exploring together and once the tent was up and bedding sorted we headed off for something to eat. There was some debate but the popular vote was for KFC – I later learnt this was Davies and Scarlett being lovely to me as they know it is the only fast food I like. In this instance they were actually slightly misguided as I’d probably rather have had fish and chips but it was a lovely thought. So we shared one of the buckets of chicken in the Weymouth branch and then headed for the beach.

It was about 8pm and Weymouth is quite a party town with a pub on every corner (I know, I once spent a wild weekend there, although Em, who knows even better may well come along and correct me with tales of the peaceful side of the place ;)) so I was slightly conscious of it being Saturday night in a town centre and guided us away from the actual beach towards the harbour area. We parked up and had a nice walk all the way round having noted that the bridge was due to lift at 9pm which is always worth standing and watching.

We chatted to loads of people crabbing along the walls and admired their catches before heading back to the bridge to watch the road split in half and lift right up so a tall boat could go through.

It was 915 and dark by then so we made our way back to the car and headed for the campsite. After a wrong turn we got back about 10pm and having returned to the tent via the loos for teeth brushing etc Davies and Scarlett got into bed while Ady and I sat outside for an hour gazing at the stars and enjoying a glass of wine /bottle of beer. It was a beautifully clear, very warm night but we were both tired and were also in the tent long before midnight.

There was some level of noise from a party of youngish people nearby but they either shut up by midnight or we were tired enough to sleep through them as they certainly didn’t disturb me.

This morning I woke about 8am and Davies woke at the same time. We got up and went over to the toilet block together before coming back to get dressed. Ady got up too and went to see if the onsite shop sold hot drinks. They didn’t 🙁

We do have a little single burner stove which clicks onto a mini gas cannister but we didn’t have any gas. We definitely need to add that plus cups and hot drink ingredients to our microcamping list as a bedtime hot drink and a morning cup of tea are just essentials however light you’re travelling I’ve decided.

I sat and read for a while which was lovely. We’d pitched right next to the patch of woodland which was beautiful and also shady which meant we didnt wake sweltering too early in the morning in the tent. It did mean we still had dew as we remained in the shade past 10am but I think that needing to air the tent when we got home was a small price to pay.

Davies and Scarlett headed off to play while we took everything down and packed it up. Those of you who have camped with us will know who did most of the taking down and who did most of the packing up ;). We left about 1030am.

Some debate ensued about where to go and what to do so we headed for Bridport and got breakfast / lunch / brunch / two cups of tea at the Morrisons there. That Morrisons always reminds me of Jax after she had to yell across at me when we were there Hesfesing and I was wondering gormlessly along not expecting to know anyone and therefore ignoring the calls of ‘Nic!’ that I could hear.

Suitably refreshed we decided to go to West Bay beach where we’ve been various times before and always more or less had to ourselves. Not today!

It was heaving and it took us ages to find somewhere to park. We finally found somewhere and the person who’s space we took kindly gave us their ticket with 90 minutes left on it too :). We didn’t think that would be long enough but actually the beach was so packed and it was so very hot I instantly declared myself to not want to stay there very long. We do have a beach under a mile away from home and I was wearing a black top and jeans so not remotely dressed for sitting on a beach anyway. The other 3 all had a paddle and then 2 of them spent some time fully submerged in the sea 😆

Eventually we did walk along the cliffs for a while hoping to find ammonites like Helen’s but failed. We did find a dead mouse and a dead rabbit though which millions of years from now could well be fossilised…

We had half an hour left so declared it Ice cream o’clock and had quite the most delicious authentic West country ice creams ever. Ady and Scarlett had ‘chocoholic’ flavour with huge chocolate chunks, Davies had ‘toffee fudge fiasco’ which had big toffee chunks in it and I had honey and stem ginger with enough ginger flavour and chunks to make my tongue spikey with the heat – divine :).

We decided as it was now nearly 3pm we’d start heading for home and stop in the New Forest. So that was what we did – two stops in two places with a wander around in both. We saw loads of people who had set themselves up for the day with their barbecues and decided that’s definitely something we’re going to do.

We finally got home about 730pm. I bathed and fed the children while Ady unloaded the car – another advantage to microcamping -it only takes minutes to unload everything. We also had baths and food and now as I am very tired and the photos are taking ages I’ll publish this and add them in tomorrow.

A really lovely family weekend – we all loved it 🙂