Camping in Wales

One of my friends had noticed I had not blogged for ages and got in touch using other means !

This has spurred me to sit down and mash the keys 😊

So current state of play, I am not too happy at work at the moment, so the weekdays are a bit of a low point. Weekends are not so bad, I usually have things to distract me.

Got blood tests on Friday morning, I am keen to see what my levels are, I am possibly expecting my Oestrogen to be too high now that I am on testosterone blockers.  We shall see !

I do think i've had a bit of a boob-spurt too, seem to be less finger room in the bra's - not a scientific method, but a method at least :)

 

Adventures !!!! 

It's been a fun filled month since my last post.

Wales was the high point, it was a 'Womens Drivers Social Club' meet, we were all mostly in classic or at least old cars.  Camping for four nights at 'Bryn Ffanigl Ganol Caravan and Camping Park' 

I was taking my friend Charlotte, she had not been to the group before, or been camping in many years, or done long distances in Josephine, so it was a bit more of an unknown for her !

Wales Day 1

We had planned to leave on the Friday morning, stopping off for lunch in Chester, then on- wards for a quick detour to see her father who lives near Chester. It seemed rude not to pop in since we were so close.

The journey over the Pennines was very good, we had nice weather and although we had gone a fairly non-motorway route using Woodhead pass we made good time.

On arrival in Chester we had a lovely lunch in a nice cafe - had originally looked at the posh food places in the market, but they were too fancy for my simple tastes. How hard is it to do a jacket potato !!!

Spent an hour or so with her father and partner, consumed some nice fruit tea, then on-wards towards the campsite. I think we arrived at 5ish , the traffic was pretty bad with it being rush hour on Friday.

After getting the keys from the nice site manager we drove up a steep hill to the end of the site where the non-electric pitches were.

Then came the fun of putting up the tent - a brand new one never been out of the bag. It was a 'bell tent' design with a long central pole that facilitates standing in the centre of the tent - at least if you are a heffalump like me, Charlotte is taller 😆

It only took us about 30 minutes, which I thought was good considering we were researching knots, and trying to figure things out as we went.

My friend to her horror did discover that the toilet block had loud piped music blaring, which was a bit of a downer.  We assumed it was to stop people sleeping in them ! - we had decided to use the disabled as per my previous po
st. It was at least very modern and clean.  

I had brought cooking equipment and a selection of easy to cook food, so we did that next - I think it was a pasta and sausage affair. 

After unpacking the car and getting the airbeds blown up we were not feeling particularly energized and had a quiet night. Some of  the other ladies did have a bit of huddle and socialized for a bit, but figured we would get chance the next few nights to do that. 

We didn't sleep too well, although it had been a sunny day, there was no cloud cover and it got rather cold !  The sleeping bags we had brought were sadly lacking, way too thin. The pillows were bad too - so we vowed to go shopping for some additional warmth the next day.

Wales Day 2 - Anglesey

Breakfast was consumed, with hot beverages - I had to boil a saucepan of water as my
tiny kettle was not sufficient.  Charlotte had brought some biscuits she had made, and also jam. I had not had chance to buy eggs on the way, but they were a nice alternative.

The plan for the day was a group drive to a motor museum in Anglesey , were we would stay for most of the day, then a scenic drive back to the campsite. 

I spent some time getting my 360 camera attached to the back of the car, then we sort of formed a formation to get going.  The instructions were a little vague, but i was meant to be following a white beetle, so I did that :) 

The drive was fun, lots of tunnels which do sound good when you go through them, although we were keeping to a steady pace so nobody got left behind.

We arrived at the museum  at 11:30ish , and managed to mostly park together. 

The museum was fab, lovely staff and cafe, and plenty of exhibits.  I won't bore with all the photo's I took, there was a lot to see.  We had lunch first, then wandered around with some of the other ladies, and spent a good few hours there.  

We decided to forgo the scenic drive back, and go our separate way as we needed to find better sleeping equipment. So we headed off before the rest. First to a farm shop to buy eggs for my standard breakfast :)  - also got some real apple juice and some Welsh bread, i I forget the name. 

Then we set the sat nav for Dunelm !  figured this would have bedding, our aim was a duvet to go over the top of us and provide more insulation. 

We got that, and also some pillows and some throws to put over us while sat out on an evening, then headed back to the site.  We were the 1st to arrive by some time, some of the other girls had mechanical issues and a puncture, and had been helping each other out to get back ! 

Wasn't much we could do, so we had some food - there was meant to be a communal cook later on, but we were hungry and wasn't sure if there would be a delay so we did some rice and sausage.

The others did eventually get back - aside from one car which took a long while to get fixed !  Food was cooked, and we ended up sat around with everyone in a big circle. 

We had a few beverages with the food, and spent a while chatting with everyone, it was really nice.  The throws were not that warm though, and as it got colder we did decide to head off to the tent - we were not the 1st though.  I think if i do camping again in May I need an oodie !

Wales Day 3 - Llandudno

This would be a day where no driving of Josephine was required. There was a big transport event in Llandudno - which has terrible car parking. So the plan was to take everyone to a nearby train station in as few cars as possible. Then we would get the train in, spend the day there, then train back etc.

We ended up in Tashe's mum's Mazda 2 :)  which had been borrowed for the day. 

After the short drive, and short train journey we ended up in the town centre, and were given instructions on where to meet later. There was a vintage bus ride around the Great Orme, and we had to be at the transport festival to meet the other ladies for that. 

There were lots of things we could do during the day, but I had always fancied going up the Greate Orme on the tram, and Charlotte is a fan of these too, so we decided to go get some lunch, and then ascend the headland ! 

I found us a vegan cafe that did intresting food, and we had our fill, and a beverage. Then we walked along the front - there were some supercars doing a bit of a show along the front so stopped and watched these for a while.

Upon arriving at the tram station, it was clear there would be a bit of a wait. I think we ended up waiting about 30 minutes.  The ride up was fun, you have to stop half way and change, which broke it up a bit.  

At the top, the cafe was a bit disappointing, and it was very windy, so wasn't feeling too great about the plan - but we stumbled on a food van doing really nice food and drinks in a very out of the way location - and also two other members of the group using it !

We sat on a bench and had a nice natter with them, it was out of the wind too, so very pleasant.

After this I decided i didn't want to queue for ages at the top tram station, so we walked downhill , past the mines to the intermediate station. This meant we were nearly at the front of the queue when the next tram was coming up ! 

We trundled down on that, and then made our way back into town. My gas had run out, so we nipped into an outdoor shop to get some more bottles too.

Then along the front all the way to the vintage transport showground.  We paid to get in, found some more food - pulled pork sandwiches !  then met up with the other ladies. 

After this, we did some waiting for the vintage coach that was to take us around the town, and then around the Great Orme.  It didn't seem like we waited that long.

The coach was fab, it had air ducts, which were very pleasing, it had been a hot day.

The trip around town, and around the Great Orme was really fun, we were all in a group at the back of the bus. We were very near the front of the convoy of vehicles and we could see it stretching miles behind us.  

By the time we got back into town, we actually crossed paths with the tail of the convey which hadn't even made it to the Orme yet !

We got off in the town, and did spend a while watching the tail of other vehicles go past, which was fun.  Then we headed into a nearby large pub to get some food until it was time to get to the train station and head back to the campsite.

The food wasn't bad, and had a few ciders.  The train back was good, and we got a lift back in the same car.  Unexpected conversations about octopus bum holes were had  😂

There was a gathering when we got back, but it was dark and cold and we just ended up saying goodnight fairly early.

 

 

Wales Day 4 - Home time

The others were going to the zoo - I hadn't bothered booking this part of the weekend, as I wasn't that fussed about trailing around while worrying about getting home.

So we were going to head back to Yorkshire via Chester and have a little explore and find somewhere nice to eat instead.

We ended up at a pub near the river 'The Boathouse & Riverside Rooms'.  We arrived shortly before they were doing food, which was very good, as it got busy very quickly and we were able to get our orders in first :)

After a really nice meal, we did some walking along the river, and along the walls, and a nearby park to help settle the food.  The walls were fun, we only managed a short section of them.   

Soon we were back on the road heading mostly the same way as we had come.  Traffic wasn't too bad and we made good time !

 

Then the adventure was at an end - well for me, Charlotte had to drive home to Hull !

It was a really good weekend , and I am glad it went so well.  Had been looking forward to it for months. 

 

 

Women Drivers Social Club

 

Saturday the 17th was my first meet up with the club. I had learned of it's existence when I had posted a picture of my car on the Morris Minor Owners Club Facebook page.

The trans flag grille had got mostly positive comments, but a few negative ones that people challenged on my behalf.

Anyway the largely positive reception had given me confidence to join the Facebook page for the WDSC, and I received a nice welcome on there to my introductory post.

There was a southern meeting of the group, which involved camping and a bit of a drive around to some motoring attractions earlier in the year, but I had already made plans for that weekend.

So when a northern event was planned I made sure to book tickets for that one.  The itinerary was
officially a Saturday/Sunday event, but it seems that quite a few people turned up the day earlier - so I did miss out on one evening.  

The meeting point for the Saturday was the NY500 café near Pickering ( https://ny500.co.uk )

I had been packing the day before, so was mostly ready to get going, just needing to gather up my makeup and mirror and wash bag.

I didn't have any breakfast, as the plan was to eat brunch there.  The drive over was pretty uneventful,  I did video snippets of it, in case I wanted to do a video later.

NY500

I arrive bang on the 10:30am meeting time, to find I was the 1st there - there were plenty of bikers
around, I got a nice comment on the car.  I decided to have a sausage sandwich and a tea while I waited.

I think it was around 10:45 before everyone else turned up, they were in convoy as had come from the camp site.  They had clearly seen the car, I had parked right out the front, and when they parked up they had left a gap for me to move mine into, so we had them all arranged in a line, which was nice.

They were quite a friendly bunch, and I did manage to talk to most of them.  I sat with a number of them while they ate their breakfasts indoors.  Another group sat outside, it was quite a nice morning so was still pleasant out there. 

One of the girls was trans, which I had known about before I came, and was nice that there was
someone else there - although I didn't really want to get talking to her about that aspect, as I didn't want to throw up a divide between ourselves and the rest of the group as such,

The café itself doubles as a showroom for a small number of classics, and also a bit of a museum. There are chopper bicycles arranged around the upper walls of one part.  It was quite a nice place, and friendly staff too.

We were intending on leaving the café for a drive around the moors, towards Goathland, where we were supposed to go for a wander and more refreshment.  However one of the attendees had not yet arrived, and there was news they were limping in to the café shortly.

The straggler was in a Hillman Imp, which had a potentially disastrous petrol leak.  After it arrived and promptly died in the middle of the car park, it was pushed into a space, and the ladies got to work on disassembling and re-assembling the carburettor.  Other than spotting and picking up a gasket that had made an escape attempt, I didn't do much to help.

A lot of them were very much more experienced than me, some doing it for a living. They eventually stopped it pouring petrol in the ground, and converted it back from an external combustion engine to an internal one :)  , and it was able to start.

Saturday Drive Out

We headed out in convey shortly afterwards.  The drive was fun, lovely scenery, the roads were a bit
more vertical than I remembered, we did some 30% hills, both up and down.  There were a few fords, but unfortunately dry so no fun with the water.

Unfortunately there was a village fair at Goathland, which meant the place was packed and nowhere to park. So the refreshments and village tour was skipped, and we drove on continuing the senic route. We stopped for some photo's briefly.  

The route took us back to the NY500 café, where we re-grouped, as had got a bit fragmented in traffic on the way back.  We got a few more photo's then headed for the camp site.

Camping

We were staying here:  https://www.valeofpickering.co.uk  which was a really nice place.  It had it's own café and shop, and really good toilet blocks.  Would definitely go back again.

After checking in, and setting up my tent , I joined the others who had gone to the fish and chip van which visited the site on certain evenings.  Ended up holding a place for a lady who needed to get her toddler back to her caravan, we had a short but nice conversation - everyone seemed very friendly.

We gathered our camping chairs around and ate the food together, and then we sat around with what alcohol we had all brought along and talked.  

The organiser Becca had brought a friendship bracelet kit, and was sat making one, didn't realise everyone had one, and she was making one for me :)  - I was most touched
by this !

It was getting a bit cold , so I was eventually sat with leggings, a dress, a hoodie and a jacket on by the end of the night :) - was also quite tired.

I think it was about 11pm when I said goodnight, I wasn't the first one to head off, and I don't think they stayed up much longer.

Sunday 

I didn't sleep too well, I was quite cold, had a thick nightie on, and my hoodie in the sleeping bag.

I ended up needing the loo at 1am, which didn't help.  Did manage to sleep a bit at least.

The on-site café opened for breakfast at 9am, so I had got up around 8am to get ready - made a cup of tea on my camping stove and did a cold shave in the tent, and put on my makeup.

The breakfast was really quite good, high quality ingredients - I had a full English of course.  I had made sure to be there as soon as it opened, as it didn't have many tables, so was served pretty quickly.  Most of the other ladies seemed to join us over the next hour or so.

Had a nice chat with a few of them over breakfast as well.

Those that were heading home that day , myself included packed up our tents as best we could and got them in the cars.

Group Photo

Before we set out on the days drive to the coast, we were going to do a group photo with all the cars arranged in a bit of a semi-circle, and us all stood around. I lent the nominated photographer one of my 3 meter selfie sticks to help with this. They turned out pretty good !

Coastal Drive

We were going to Filey , then back inland to stop at Thorton-le-Dale to explore and visit the famous Mathewsons Auctions - ( from Bangers and Cash TV show) , and get some food.

The drive to the coast was nothing special , the one the day before was a lot more fun - but it was still good to be in convoy and enjoying the cars.  We pulled up on double yellows along the seafront for a cheeky photo, and then drove back out of there - which was a shame, I thought we would get an ice-cream at the least :)

At Thorton-le-Dale we did the same illegal park to get a picture of us outside the auction house, and then found a car park.  

We had a look around some trinket shops, and a chocolate shop, and then onwards to the gift shop at the auction house. I got a mug for my dad who is a fan of the show :)

There was a nice picture of us with our friendship bracelets outside there too.

I had only put an hour on my ticket which had expired by the time we had left there, and was quite
tired. So instead of heading with them to a tea room, I decided to call it a day and start the drive home. It was only 1hr 30 mins away, but I also needed to find E5 petrol, as I had heard rumours the local garages only had E10, and I don't want that muck in her !

I had popped back into the chocolate shop to get gifts for my wife and kids first, was worried they might melt on the way home, but was assured if I kept them out of sunlight they would be fine.

I got back just after 4pm, feeling very tired indeed.

In Summary

 A really fab experience, and so lovely to be accepted as one of the group, it felt so nice. So glad I joined, and made the effort to go !  

There is another meetup in September although don't think there will be camping at this one. I am looking forward to going to this too.