Week 18: Sun, Sea and Kent
- Jan 3, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 10, 2022
Our stops this week were:
-2 nights Little Norwood Farm-CL near Sittingbourne
-1 night Rides Caravan Park-CL near Leysdown-on-sea
-1 night Canterbury Motorhome Aire
-2 nights Norlands CL, in Staples
-1 night Blackhorse Caravan and Motorhome Club site in Densole
In my Week 16 blog, I said it does not look like we will have a January heat wave...but it has definitely been warmer than it was; enough to venture out without hat, scarf, gloves and my staple of 2 pairs of socks. It has made Mo Ho-ing a lot easier and for us, this is classed as 'nearly' a heatwave.
After leaving Wickford we headed to a CL near Sittingbourne. We have struggled to find campsites open at this time of year and especially ones to the east of Kent. Little Norwoods has only opened this year. Unfortunately, the area was quite wet after a lot of rain on Christmas Eve and the 27th. The CL had a number of walking paths nearby but we avoided them on this visit due to the muddy/sodden ground-there would definitely be plenty of walks in the Summer. Although busier and noisier, we stuck to the pavements and still managed to walk 7 miles, heading in to parts of Sittingbourne. The fury beast was left in the van, this would be too far for him to walk and he would struggle with the traffic and other distractions.
Bear taking over the van! Difficult to watch the iPad with Bear's head in the way. Bear taking over driving. Bear helping to program the SatNav.
Heading to Sittingbourne and around the area, to us, it was noticeable how busy it felt and how 'pushy' the other drivers were. It's funny how one County can feel so different to another. It was a nice CL but we did not feel enamoured with the area. For us it was too busy, too many cars, too many people! (Although we did 'dash'-we are still trying to avoid indoor places- into a M&S Food and bought a chocolate panettone in the sale, so not all bad.)
We then headed to the Isle of Sheppey, we had booked to stay at Rides caravan park for 2 nights but quickly decided to make it 1. The caravan park was quiet, clean, had hard standing and well laid out but the area was one of the oddest places we've been to. Sorry if people love the area or have fond memories of holidays (my mum went on holiday there from Hackney, with her family, when she was a child...) but no...definitely not keen. To be honest it felt the closest I've ever been to staying in/on a swamp! Everything was very very wet, muddy, unkempt, litter laden and muddled. It was unclear where one garden started and another finished, the roads were cracked and full of pot holes with hardly any drainage or pavements, everyone seemed to have either half a car/spare tyres or 'stuff' outside their house. We saw one man walking his goat on a lead-it seemed to be doing better than Bear though! When speaking to my mum about her holiday there as a child, she said that they used to make toys/figurines out of the mud to play with...I think this summarises it really!
We then headed to the Canterbury Aire. Steve was very excited. This was one of the first aires in England, there are still not many. Aires are far more common place in France. The Canterbury Aire is next to the Park and Ride and is in a separate fenced off area, that motorhomes can camp overnight in. It's basically a carpark but with bigger spaces to fit the Mo-Ho. There is some security with barrier access to the location, which allows no entry past 8.30pm. There is access to fresh water, bins and chemical waste. It's only £8 for 24 hours and includes use of the park and ride bus into Canterbury. It was perfect for us as it was secure, we could leave Bear for a bit, and it was a short cycle into Canterbury. Also, even with our 'nearly' heatwave, it still wasn't warm enough to sit outside so having in effect just a parking space to camp, was not a problem! When crossing on the Euro Tunnel, we usually stay at a campsite nearby but would definitely look at using this instead in the future. It was one of the busiest places we've stayed at recently, with about 10 Mo-Ho's staying the night, everyone was very friendly. It also worked perfectly with Bear as he likes to follow a path and when the Park and Ride was empty, we were able to walk on tarmac (avoiding mud), in a well lit place that was quiet and he loved walking up and down the rows/paths between where the cars would normally park-we have finally found the optimum location for walking Bear!!!
Canterbury itself was quite busy... but we skirted around the edges, avoiding people. We have been before but it is still a pretty town with lots of character.
Margate
A visit to Margate before heading to Norwood
We decided to get some nice food in for New Year's Eve and to watch a cheery/positive film, unsure if we would make it to midnight. We spent New Year's at Norlands CL. A really lovely location, in a pretty village with lots of local walks. The plan for a long time, had been to be in Spain for New Year's Eve, starting a new year with the European leg of our trip...but this was not to be! However, New Year's Day was lovely with it being a warm day and full of sunshine. We had a great walk in the village of Staple with Bear and then cycled to the sea front through Sandwich and Deal-both lovely towns. This was definitely the best part of Kent we had visited so far. It was even warm enough to have the van door and some windows open-we haven't done that since probably Cornwall.
Around Norwood
The next day we headed to Black Horse Farm campsite and managed to fit a couple of walks in, both in Staple and the area around Black Horse...but suddenly the weather picture changed and a weather warning for a storm was put in place! Luckily we seemed to only get a little of this and it was much milder than predicted. Phew.
Bear relaxing...
And to finish, some irony. Our Plan B-without having previously considered this- seems to involve being as close as possible to the channel crossing but without being allowed to cross!!
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