Day 65: Thursday 22 May – Swanage to East Horsley, by Ken

Smarty was booked in to Smart Car Specialists in Guildford at 9:00 tomorrow morning. We needed to get to within striking distance today and booked a pitch at the Camping and Caravan club site at East Horsley. We knew the site, having stayed there the day we returned to England from France on our 2012 trip.

The forecast of heavy rain overnight was correct and, while it had largely cleared by dawn, we  were pleased we had packed away all our outside gear last night.

Captain Perrott At The Controls (Satnav In Place Of Rear View Mirror)

Our trip was only approximately 90 km so we opted for a leisurely start to the day and didn’t get underway until nearly 11:00. It rained on and off and was quite heavy at times as we headed north eastwards. We stopped for our usual campervan lunch of bread, cheese, dip and fruit in a service area on the M27 motorway. Just as we were finished a thunderstorm broke with extremely heavy rain, we decided to stay put until it had passed. Setting off again we soon caught up with the storm and were forced to drive at not much more than a crawl through torrential rain.

Rain At Lunch Time

A Wet M3 Motorway

By 15:00 when we reached the camping ground the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Camping and Caravan Club sites seem to be staffed by two couples. The men at East Horsley were taken by Mabel and wanted to know how long we had owned her, two weeks came as a bit of a surprise to them. As is the norm at these sites one of the men led us to our lakeside pitch on his bike where we unhitched Smarty.

Back at the ground’s entrance we met our guide again so he could show us where we could fill the fresh water tank. I asked about the grey water facility to be told their wasn’t one but could use the unofficial point if we liked. He proceeded to lift a manhole cover and then directed Mabel over the hole. We talked while grey water was coming out and fresh water was going in to Mabel. The man was from Solihull, very close to where John and Phil live. He had spent the winter in Spain and was preparing to spend the summer in a very nice part of Surrey. Like us, he was retired and it seemed he had a good life and not a particularly demanding job helping to look after a camping ground.

Once Mabel was positioned for the night and the electrics hooked up, I took Smarty into Guildford to do some grocery shopping.

It was my turn to cook the evening meal and I had chosen a courgette and sweetcorn risotto. At least I thought I had, on opening the tin of corn I found it contained chickpeas. A simple mistake I thought, the can had a bright yellow label just like that of a can of sweetcorn. Jane thought I was an idiot, she had told me to use half a packet of frozen corn in the fridge. The risotto was, well ……. different and I wouldn’t recommend it if you were cooking for someone you didn’t know well, or even someone you do know well come to that.