June 2024 Days out in the camper van

We visited Brighton the middle of June to attend my Uncle's funeral.

We stayed at the Caravan and Motorhome Club just up from the Marina. If we're staying away for more than one night we like to be within walking distance of a town or on a bus route.

Our first pitch had no 3G signal but we just put up with it for the night as the following morning we had to pack up to drive to the crematorium and attend the wake afterwards. If we hadn't had to leave the site by car, we'd have just stayed and put up with it.

 The van looks so small in the pitch.

We haven't seen another Westfalia Ford Nugget conversion yet. All the vans we've seen as so different.

Our first pitch also had no evening sun, so we didn't sit outside for long.

I love the fact the roof pops at its highest at the back, where the kitchen is, it gives us so much more room than the vans with the kitchens along the side. Plus we get two sliding doors.

The day after the funeral, we caught the bus into Brighton and back and enjoyed a day exploring.

I also spent a night on my own in the Forest of Dean at the beginning of June. Once we got to grips with setting everything up and packing it all away, it is a one (wo)man job.

I travel with my milk brother and espresso machine so I can make a latte on the go.

We discovered this month that the grey water tank hadn't been emptying and we'd been driving around with a full tank, having mistaken it emptying with draining the fresh water tank before leaving the previous site.

It was easily remedied with a cable tie to push debris out the way. We discovered a snail shell in the tank. It was a dirty, smelly job. 

A day in Brighton

I spent a few days over Easter with my mum and her family in Sussex. I stayed in Seaford with my cousin, aunt and uncle, while mum stayed with her sister in Hailsham. My mums siblings are all in their mid-late 80's and my uncle is 90. Sadly over the past few months we've travelled down for funerals so I thought it would be nice for mum to spend time with her siblings on happier occasions.

Whilst the trip was family based, I did manage to spend 2 days out on my own, catching the bus first into Brighton and a second day in Eastbourne.

We spent a lot of time as children in the holiday times in Brighton and Peter and I have taken the kids camping in Sussex a couple of times, visiting the Eastbourne airshow and exploring the English Heritage sights. Whilst a lot has changed over the years, the Palace Pier still remains although the West Pier has since burnt down.

I spent some time wandering the lanes, took a walk on the beach, played the 2p slots on the Pier, enjoyed fish and chips and visited the Worlds Oldest Sealife Centre.

Exploring the Lanes

Coffee and Gluten Free cake stop.

The Royal Pavilion Gardens

Beach front walk.

Old time amusements.

Playing the 2p slots

The Worlds Oldest Sealife Centre

I visit saline centres wherever I am in the world, I could spend hours in them.

I spent £4 return on the bus. £7.95 for coffee and cake. £22.50 (cheaper if you book in advance) on the sealife centre and £2 on the 2p slots on the Pier. I took a pack lunch with me.

Post Comment Love 21st - 23rd April 2023

Welcome back to #pocolo with Stephanie from Lifeat139a and I.

I hope you all had a good Easter and Ramadan Kareem whatever you celebrate. We were in Dubai for Ramadan and Easter. Then I took mum to Brighton for a few days to see her family. Easter isn't a big affair in Dubai unlike Christmas and Halloween, but there are still chocolate eggs and decorations for sale in the supermarkets.

It's been two years since I've been in Dubai and as you can imagine there have been huge changes. The construction and development seems to double in size every year.

It was lovely to visit the Worlds Largest Aquarium in Dubai and then the Worlds Oldest Aquarium in Brighton over the holidays. 

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week and all we ask is that you leave a comment on either mine or Stephanie's post which you linked up through and at least one other post. We'd also love it if you could RT us on Twitter when we tag you to help us reach a wider audience.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

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Week 15 One Daily Positive and Project 365 - Brighton

It's been a long week and involved a lot of driving from Heathrow, collecting mum then down to Brighton for the week. I'm exhausted and I ache all over. GP called on Tuesday to say I have no folate, no B12 and after 2 months on Via D tablets my levels have dropped further. The haematologist also phoned to arrange bloods at the hospital on Tuesday.

100 Sunday Up early, checked out and at airport for 7.30am, fight delayed by an hour but we still have silver status so made the most of the lounge hospitality. Flight home was good, suitcases in hall on arrival, but sadly car damaged when it was dropped off.

101 Monday Off to Gloucester to collect child 1 then met up with DIL and grandchild at a car show, took grandchild on the tea cups, then we had to leave as child 1 wasn't coping with the windy weather, the people, noise and in general just being out. Took her to mum for lunch which she refused so after packing mums cases, we took child 1 back to her home before taking mum back to ours for the night. I spent the evening with the neighbours children being bounced and jumped on.

102 Tuesday Mum and I set off for Brighton and surrounding area, she's staying with her sister for the week in Hailsham, I'm with my cousin in Seaford. A straight forward drive, a coffee stop, then a phone stop for GP update, still no Bit D in my body after 2 months of meds and booked in for B12 injection 3 a week for two weeks, a blood testa at 6 weeks then every 2 months for ever.

103 Wednesday Collected mum and her sister to visit their brother, I popped out for some shopping, then collected them to take to another brother, then took them back. It was a 2 hour and 45 minute round trip over 66 miles. I popped down to the Marina and called in at a garden centre. Evening spent with cousin.

104 Thursday Caught the bus into Brighton for the day. Sadly a young man had been swept into the sea and his body washed up on the beach in Saltdean, which was a bit of a shock to see from the bus. I walked round Brighton, visited the Lanes, Pavilion Gardens, walked up to the West Pier then along the beach to the Palace Pier, played on the 2p slots, visited the Sea Life Centre, then bus back.

105 Friday Off to Eastbourne for the day. Bumped into a cousins wife, who just assumed someone must have died for me to be in the area. Very windy and wet, walked along the sea front, went all in at the Pier and spent £2 on the 2p slots to win thousands of tokens to exchange for a pencil and some sweets for grandchild. Fish and Chips for tea.

106 Saturday Said my goodbyes and collected mum, dropping her off on route then home via a quick visit to grandchild. Car and bag unpacked, bath and sofa then an early night.

On the blog this week:

What I'm reading in April

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Week 8 2023. Project 365 and One Daily Positive

The building work started on Tuesday, they're working really fast.

Child 4 is away with work for a couple of weeks. Grandson has been a bit under the weather with coughs and colds and sickness. Due to grandson being poorly from birth and have had a couple of surgeries he is more prone to stomach and bowel problems. 

My mum is from Brighton and is the youngest of 8. There are only 5 of them left and one spouse. There's only 2 aunts by marriage on my dad's side, but I've not seen them or my 3 cousins since his death in 2017. We attended my Uncles funeral back in November and caught up with 4 of my 14 cousins. 4 cousins are in America and 4 in Australia. I've 2 cousins I've never met, but do keep in touch with most of them on Facebook and quite a few of their grown up children. You could say this is where my travel bug came from as many of my cousins and their children live or have lived and worked abroad. This has also meant that over the past 10+ years with us living abroad ourselves we've not seen each other for a long time other than funerals.

It would be lovely to meet them all again soon and I fear we will with general ill health. I hope we do all meet up still when we are the 'next' generation.

50 Sunday A lazy morning and off to Hillsborough to walk the dogs. Molly found the biggest mud puddle she could to lie in. Home and a quick turnaround to meet the in laws for a Sunday lunch.

51 Monday I spent the day with DIL's mum and our grandson. He was busy all day. He took a tumble just before his mum took us home and bit a chunk out of the coffee table.

52 Tuesday Home alone today, grandson in nursery and DIL in work. I did some cleaning then caught the bus into town for coffee and a walk round bus. I picked up my new laptop and the in laws collected me and took me and grandson home.

53 Wednesday A day spent just chilling at home. We popped out to buy new wipers for the car. When we got home our grandson was still unwell with sickness and diarrhoea he was admitted to hospital to be monitored. We left for the ferry around 8pm. Once on board I had a shower and went straight to bed before we set sail. Bob spent the night in a kennel.

54 Thursday We docked in Liverpool around 6.30am and home by 9.30am to drop the dog off, put some washing on and repack. We drove down to get mum then onto Brighton, driving past nans old house and ups old stomping ground. We had dinner and were in bed early.

55 Friday After breakfast we headed off to Brighton crematorium for my Aunts funeral, it was lovely to see all the family again and catch up at the wake. The service was lovely and a fitting tribute. After the wake we spent time with my cousins daughter and in the evening we took a walk along Brighton Pier, played the 2p slots and went to my cousin, aunt and uncle in the evening for dinner.

56 Saturday After breakfast we headed to visit another aunt and cousin on our way home. We dropped mum at home around 4pm and we were home by 5.30pm. The house took forever to warm up.

On the blog this week:

Travels with our dog

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