Cheddar Gorge and the Gower

This was our very first ‘real’ caravan trip I and Bella had ever undertaken. We started with a couple of farm sites near home to test out the caravan and iron out any faults that cropped up. So if anything happened, or i was missing anything, I could pop back home easily. As it happened I needed to keep going home in the evening to feed the cat anyway. It also gave me the chance to get to know what to do when I get to a ‘proper’ caravan site with regards to setting the thing up without looking a complete idiot. So from that point of view, it was a worthwhile exercise. Now for the real thing.

I have to say before we start, and which might have become obvious, is that I am a complete newbie to caravaning. I acquired the caravan, my first ever, in Jan 2017. A two berth thingy with all mod cons. A couple of trips early March and a towing course by the Caravan club in Feb, and here we are a few weeks later ready for the real thing. And I must say I absolutely loved the trial run.

Cheddar Gorge was my chosen destination. I have never visited Cheddar before and it was on my list of ‘things to do’. So what better place to start. Only a couple of hours from home and down the M4 and M5. I was staying on the Caravan and Mobile Home club site in Cheddar. This was to be my first experience of staying on a proper site. The pitches were huge. You had to put your caravan in the middle of the pitch with the car parked one side and the awning the other. I put the knowledge I learned on the towing course to the test, and backed the caravan into the pitch without much difficulty. More by luck than judgement. In between the pitches was a grass strip, so you never felt crowded in. As it turned out the site was only half full anyway, so plenty of space. The standard of the facilities on the site were good. A nice clean toilet and shower block, a place to do your laundry, a place to do your washing up and all the usual waste water, drinking water and chemical disposal points. All you need for a comfy stay. All pitched had electric hook up and booster TV points. I couldn’t get the TV to work, so I bought a 25 metre co-axle cable and plugged it into the TV booster point and then into my TV and still couldn’t get it to work. So I re-tuned the TV and hey presto it worked. So I thought, would it work off the ariel in the Caravan. So I unplugged the new cable I just bought and plugged in the original one and the TV sprang into life again. So I learned a valuable lesson, that when you go to new locations you have to re-tune your TV. Know anyone that wants 25 metres of co-axle cable?

But this caravan milarky has made me think though and come up with this comforting thought that wherever you stay you know what the accommodation is going to be like as you are towing it right behind you. What could be better than that.

I did learn a couple more things through experience on the trip. If a strong wind is forecast then take the awning down and when you go into a loo cubicle, check to make sure it has enough loo paper. Both of which I didn’t do and both of which I suffered the consequences. Enough said!

However, Cheddar turned out to be a pretty location to visit. plenty of coffee houses and tea rooms as well as Jacobs ladder to climb, going up the 274 steps to the top. And with Cheddar caves and of course, the Gorge itself, well worth the visit and many a good photo opportunity. Bells and I visited both the Gorge and the caves and frequented a number of coffee and tea establishments and had a great time.

The Caves were really good and there were impressive light displays and staged scenes of men caving. The whole experience lasted around one and a half hours.

Another place to visit is the city of Wells. About a half hour drive from Cheddar and England’s smallest city. It has a beautiful Cathedral and lovely cobbled streets. Twice a week it holds a farmers market which is well worth a visit.

On the Sunday I traveled down to the Gower peninsula to the Caravan and Motor-home club at Gowerton. It struck me that when I arrived there was a feeling of Déjà vu. It looked strikingly similar to the last site, even down to the tiles in the washroom. The pitches were the same, the building looked the same and even the pitches were the same size. But the outlook was lovely. I was only here a couple of days to see family and a flying visit to the Mumbles. The pics below are of the Mumbles and Mumbles castle. Mumbles looks to be going through some kind of regeneration, and I think, in my opinion, it needs it. From my brief visit it didn’t appear to be a dog friendly place, but there are nice parks and walks along the sea front to the pier.