Belper Bank Holiday
The brilliant thing about dame Shirley Bassey is that we can now jet off whenever we fancy. We fancied a short jaunt over the bank holiday weekend. Looking at the club sites we found The Firs at Belper. Less than an hours drive away meaning we could go to the match before heading on down there.
On the Friday of the Bank Holiday weekend Samwise arrived. Kathy and Einar were heading off to Oxford for Renchins graduation leaving us babysitting. Sam is a lovely dog, but he is just like a baby, needing the same time and attention. My favourite part was the Saturday morning when I let both dogs out. ‘Whatever you do mum, don’t let Sam eat his own poo!’ Were Kathy’s departing words as her and Einar headed for the hills. As soon as they were out the door both dogs squatted down. The dilemma! Which steaming pile to shovel first in order to stop Sam devouring his own, or another dogs, mess. Thankfully I am a super speedy shoveler and all was well.
It was another hot afternoon at the New York Stadium, and another outstanding victory for the Millers. 2-0 over Birmingham City, and we missed a penalty. As we came away, delighting in the knowledge that we were up to 5th in the championship, and dreaming of how we would get to Old Trafford next season, my phone rang. ‘Hi, it’s the site warden at The Firs camp site. Any idea what time you will be arriving?!’. ‘About 7, just like I put on my booking form’. They are very keen to get off for the night these site wardens.
Soon after arriving home we were waving goodbye to baby Sam, (Misty was waving particularly hard) and heading for The Firs in Dame Shirley. At 7pm preeeeecisley we pulled up to the arrivals gate. Turns out the man was so insistent on a time as we were the last arrivals, and indeed the last space on the site. He instructed that we must park between the two posts, Ian overheard someone complain that they had been told off for being squiffy, and pointed out where pitch 39 was on the site.
The Firs is a very nice site, although the units (MH speak) are closer together than we have had before. Indeed both our neighbours had encroached slightly to the grassy bits on either side leaving us with just the gravel. Seeing as we hadn’t paid (extra) for the awning, and were only there two nights, we didn’t kick up any fuss. The pitch was nice and level and serviced, meaning there was a water pump solely for our use, although we had to squeeze behind the neighbours encroached deckchair to get to it. The dog walk area was nice too, although a bit of a walk. And I have never seen so many dogs on a camp site. Maybe because it was jam packed full.
After setting up we got out the outdoor furniture, made a quick tea, and sat outside to eat. After a nice bottle of red to toast two goal Richard Wood, I retired for the night leaving Ian to do last minute dog walking and baton down the hatches.
We slept really well until Misty starting scrabbling about. Ian fed, watered, and walked her while I lazed in bed. Then it was time for the full English. It was a beautiful morning so we sat outside in the sun eating bacon and eggs and watching birds high overhead, on our sliver of gravel. Lovely!
See how this side have the chairs and humongous awning and the far side has the car. But we are not bitter.
After a very long sit and chill we decided on a walk into Belper, about two miles the bumph said. Weather was perfect, around 22 degrees and sunny. After a mile or so we came to a problem. Vicky said she thought Misty had put weight on!
This was easily solved though.
Once in Belper we were hungry and thirsty, and Ian spotted the perfect place for lunch. Nourish. It had a brilliant beer garden, free dog treats, and an amazing Sunday dinner.
We lingered at Nourish to replenish our energy levels before taking a stroll around Belpers famous river gardens.
After a stroll through Belper Cemetery we arrived back at The Firs
It was still lovely so we sat outside a bit more on our sliver. The Nourish Sunday dinner had been so big we weren’t really hungry but forced a sandwich for tea. Some TV watching and a stroll to the dog area later we were ready to turn in.
Bank holiday Monday arrived but, alas, it was time to depart The Firs. We sadly missed the five minute time slot for using the toilets, showers, and washing up, and so had to use Dame Shirley’s facilities. Thank god we are self sufficient. Emptying the waste water proved a pain as there were two other MHs in front of us. Eventually we muscled our way in behind a very pleasant couple who patiently explained to Ian that the huge, open grille was just for dumping fresh water. The waste, or as us MHers like to call it, grey water had to be expelled down a tiny grate under a manhole. They departed and Ian shuffled back and forth and back and forth until we were positioned exactly over the top. Ian then had to lie down and somehow remove the cover. Just as the flow was coming to a stop the Site manager came over and asked why we had felt the need to use the grate when the grille was so much easier. We live and learn.
We soon completed the short hop home and were very pleased to meet Einars lovely mum, Annalise. We now have a whole three weeks before our next trip in Dame Shirley, to Northumberland.
Strava watch
As usual I forgot to start my Strava straight away, although the orange gap is getting smaller!
New! - Notable neighbours
Looking around at the other units I realised that there are often interesting neighbours who ought to be remembered in a blog. So here are this times NNs
Directly across we had a couple of middle aged gentlemen. Very pleasant and chatty, from Harrogate. They had a lovely spaniel who seemed ancient but was only two. Every morning one of them put him in the car boot, groomed him, and cleaned his teeth thoroughly.
Either side, the encroachers, we had little to do with, on account of their encroaching. The chair side had every kind of cereal under the sun on the table in their massive awning for breakfast.
Next door to the nice men was a couple where the woman was an absolute harridan. She screamed at her husband from morning till night and never cracked a smile. Poor man.
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