The initial focus of our annual two week September holiday was to coincide with a weekend at Blackpool Sands for the ‘Vans on the Sands’ campervan beach hookup. This meeting was in the best location, and always proved to be excellent, as it included ‘the best’ ingredients you would ever want in a camp over. It’s never disappointed!

However, with a potential five hour drive from Derby, we thought it would be prudent to split the journey in two by leaving on the Wednesday after Mandy finished work. We stopped at Gloucester Services and had a coffee, which, by this point Mandy had started to tire as she was in the driving seat. We agreed that we had made good progress and looked for a stop over referencing the Park For a Night app on our phone. We found one a few miles away at Stroud.

It had just started to get dark when we arrived at the location which we knew to be along the canal a couple of miles out of the town centre, so we secured the van and went to bed after a snack.

Stroud

Knowing that we were ahead of schedule as far as the travel south was concerned, and the fact we couldn’t really set up camp at Blackpool Sands for the meeting there until later on that evening, we had time to kill. Mandy suggested that we investigate Stroud, and having the bikes on the back of the van gave us the perfect way to get there.

We woke up and had a peek out of the window to see the early morning sun attempting to get through the trees that surrounded the parking bays. We could also hear the noise of the A road nearby, but it was just a gentle reminder how easy it was to get to this location the night before.

The cycle route mainly consisted of canal paths, so this was really nice, and to put context to the time of day, we locked the bikes up and had to wait for the Curio Lounge to open for a coffee at 9am 🙂 . We were both in a really good space knowing that we had a couple of weeks to sit back, chill and enjoy the time away in the van.

We found Stroud to be a great (unexpected) location to have had the pleasure of visiting. The shops seemed to have had a biased amount of shops selling indian style, boho retro hippi clothing. We thought that might have had something to do with Glastonbury, but realised it was maybe a stone’s throw too far. Suffice to say we both brought items of clothing.

Blackpool Sands

Well this was the whole reason to head ‘down south’ for the annual September vacation, and this year was not going to be a year to disappoint. The weather was excellent, and, for me I felt much more connected and engaged with the whole experience, than I had done since I had first attended the event back in 2016.

We arrived late afternoon on the Thursday, moved into position alongside the beach fencing, and this is pretty much where our home was for the next four days. We spent time chilling in the sea, on the beach, and at Dartmouth via a short bus ride. Many of the people that attend this event do it yearly, so it’s always nice to catch up. It may sound elitist , but it’s really a case of, if you haven’t been before you have to be recommended by an existing member to stand a chance of getting a place.

The whole extended weekend was a massive success, and we couldn’t have wished for a better start to our holiday.

Tiverton

We had consulted the overnight camping app for a location to stay on the way to Croyde Bay. Staying for a campsite wasn’t really something we usually do for financial reasons, as they always seem to be really expensive, and we have solar for electricity, and a boiler for hot water / a shower. However, we did manage to get a good deal mid week at Croyde, so that was our next location.

Tiverton is a busy market town situated in the middle of Devon and a convenient centre for both coasts, the moors and the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. The name was originally Twyfyrde, meaning town of two fords, and Tiverton stands on two rivers – the Lowman and the Exe. It was thought to have been a Saxon settlement founded in the 7th century.

We took a walk around the town later that evening and retired early. We didn’t have a great deal of mobile phone coverage at Blackpool Sands, so both Mandy and I caught up with Youtube and social media. In the morning we had a walk into town for a coffee at the local Costa, and planned the next stop on the way to Croyde..

Knightshayes

For the last 8 years or so, since owning a campervan, we have had National Trust Membership. We spotted Knightshayes during our research planning our route to Croyde Bay.

Knighthays was literally less than a couple of miles from where we stayed in Tiverton. We got there early doors, and soon realised that it would have been a real loss to the holiday if we had decided not to visit this amazing space.

Croyde

Croyde was a place we had explored before getting the campervan as it was close to Woolacombe. We found ourselves at Woolacombe camping in a tent on a few occasions, and it was one of those times back in 2014 that instigated the purchase of Wolfgang Jnr. Wolfgang Senior with the luxury of a shower and off grid gas and electricity is perfect for wild camping. However, in the narrow roads of north Devon meant that we would inevitably have to commute to the coast from a more inland parking spot, making for an inconvenience that would create a little unwanted stress, on a holiday that we really didn’t want to feel needed at the time. We looked at prices for the days we wanted at the campsite, and to be honest they were more than reasonable being mid week, late season. So we just decided to bite the bullet and enjoy a pre-booked spot on the coast.

The stop at Croyde was made all the more enjoyable due to a visit from my Uncle (Trev) who spent the day with us after a commute from Plymouth.

Barnstable

This stop over was courtesy of Park For the Night app which led us to a quiet parking spot next to the local park. It was blissful in as much as there was plenty to see in terms of people dog walking, exercising and generally enjoying what was available to them. But it was also only a short walk into the town, which held everything you could want.

Reasonable shopping outlets, coffee shops, Wetherspoons for budget dining, and the weather wasn’t too bad either. Even managed to take a cycle across the river to check out the fairground which was an attraction at the time we were there, and timed it nicely to have a ride along the cyclepath to catch the sun going down as the tide went out.

It was our time to move on, and the weather was taking a bit of a turn for the worst as we pondered our next destination. We planned to continue our holiday locations to move north towards home, but the general consensus was that we had already had the best of the weather, and we just needed to make the most of what we had on offer. Stable View farm was a place that had good reviews and met our needs regarding price and location. So we headed in that direction.

We found a Park for a Night at a community centre about half an hour from Weston-super-Mare. This gave us a free camp over, after a very wet and windy drive from Croyde. The location saw us trundling down some very dark, narrow lanes in woefull conditions. Suffice to say both of us were happy to retire that evening.

Weston-super-Mare

Our next stop was planned after waking up early in the morning. Weston-super-Mare wasn’t necessarily on the list of places to visit even though we were in the vicinity. However, we thought that it was worth a look as we were so close, and we couldn’t check into the campsite so early.

As with so many seaside towns, the weather really has an impact on the visitors perception of a place. We made our way into the town to get away from the blustery conditions of our exposed location on the seafront.

Not wanting to judge a place, I tried to battle the elements, and the distinct lack of tourism after the school holidays. In general, the wet and gloomy weather, and the homeward bound situation for both Mandy and myself, got the better of me. I hope to return with the sun out and, and a skip in my step 🙂

Stable View

Mid afternoon we arrived at our pitch at our next stop. It was a ‘Stable’ with horses. A little isolated as far as wanting to go for a walk, but it was very secure and the services were great. No shower, but EHU and ELSAN.

The second day I was surprised to hear Mandy wanting to use her new ebike on a local trail called the Strawberry Line.

Even though the weather wasn’t particularly brilliant, we made our way to the nearest access point to get on the trail. The day was pretty amazing to be honest. We rode in the wind, rain, and occasionally we had sun. Which was nice for me to see my better half enjoying the outdoors.