Pub Stops.

We travelled down from Bewdley yesterday.  We stopped over night at a little village called Turweston, the local pub was in the Britstops book and what a little gem it was.

There was one other motorhome in the carpark, the landlord was super friendly and was soon out telling where the 240 hook up was and water etc if we required it.

The village was delightful but I forgot my camera when I went walkabout.  In the evening we popped in the pub for a few pints of Doombar and a couple of pizzas.

The Stratton Arms, a really nice pub. 

Today we headed towards Luton, but went via Milton Keynes to drop a load of washing off at my mum's house.  She loves doing our washing!

Tonight we are parked up at The Fancott Arms just outside of Luton, once again free 240 v etc.

Tomorrow we will pick up my mother and head off to Devon.

Steamfest

Today was a day of much excitement as we were going for a steam train trip on The Severn Valley Railway.

Its about a mile walk to the station, we even managed to get a prom walk in along the River Severn.

Bewdley is certainly a lovely little town. 

We had a bit of a wait for out train, so Elaine played with the period luggage. 

Whilst I checked out the pissoir. 

Very luxurious. 

And here comes our train. 

Firstly we headed for Kidderminster, where they had veggies growing on the platform plus an air raid shelter! 

It is a superb old station. 

The booking office. 

Love the station master checking out his laptop! 

We took the next train to Bridgenorth, which is at the end of the line.  The train passes Bewdley safari park, where we spotted a rhino.... 

And some elephants. 

We had some locally brewed rail ale on the train, all bought to us by a lovely waitress!

The line passes some lovely scenery. 

Bridgenorth is another delightful town on the River Severn. 

We had a good wander around for a couple of hours. 

Another first for the dogs, we took them up the cliff railway. 

I can't believe we found such a lovely place just by chance. 

Back at the station I checked out one of the big diesel engines. This one was built in Crewe in 1963 and taken out of service in 1976. 

Bridgenorth station. 

Waiting for our train. 

And here she is 34053 Sir Keith Park, built in 1947, withdrawn from service in 1965 saved from the cutters torch in 1984 with the restoration finished in 2012! 

We had a lovely leisurely trip back to Bewdley. 

We passed no 43106 steaming away, it is the only survivor in its class. 

We finaly got back to the van at about 19.00, it had been a most wonderful day, even Elaine loved it, I'm not joking!

Severn Valley...

We had an undisturbed night's sleep last night in our deserted field.

After a brief chat we decided to head off to a riverside town.  Bewdley sounded good so off we went.

Straightaway we ran into a big jam and were held up for an hour.

It's a lovely little site.  Basically it's in someone's garden, but we do have 240 power, water and an Elsan.  It is pretty cheap too at £12.00 a night (plus £1 each for the dogs).

Elaine was feeling tired after 5 days of running the mothership so stayed in the van with Bombo whilst Sammie and I went exploring.

Bewdley is a lovely little town.

It sits on the banks of the River Severn.

Very nice.

As an added bonus the Severn Valley Railway passes through the town, so I went off and did some train spotting. 

I wasn't dissapointed. 

After a couple of hours of steam excitement I returned to the van and picked up Elaine and we went for a walk to the closest pub.

The Little Packhorse is a very old and quaint little pub, with an odd old bar!

Can I have another pint please?

Nice sign at the entrance. 

Tomorrow we will take a steam train ride.

Drama Filled Day!

But first back to yesterday.  After the horsey jumping had finished we all relaxed with a few drinks, the horses came to join us for a while.

Kimberley did some horse planking. 

We also had a game of cricket, which was fun, then later in the evening we went for a walk around the arena.

Someone decided that we would attempt all the jumps! 

Us older and unfit ones weren't up to it. 

But the young uns flew... 

Niece Kimberley, Elaine and the four doggies posing on our bed.  

So to today....

The first drama happened about 7.30am when the two girls went over the stables to get the horses ready for today's jumping.

Kimberley rang Elaine hysterical that her horse was missing from the stable!!  Within a few seconds Elaine had woken our camp up and everyone was rushing around getting dressed.

A few minutes later she rang to say that he was in another stable!  Apparently he got out in the night and was wandering around and someone found him so put him in a stable a few rows away!

We all stood down and had a cuppa.

Tiff was the first one jumping today and qualified with a clear round, then went on to come fourth in the final. 

It was a great result and she was well pleased as were we all. 

Next up was Kimberley who qualified with a clear round then came 8th in the final after clipping a pole. 

Another good result, there were 51 riders in Kimberley's event and 26 in Tiffs.

Next Kimberley was competing again at a greater height, which was going great until she got to jump no 8.

Things went a bit pear shaped as the following pics show.

After she landed the horse panicked and as her foot was caught in the reins she was dragged backward through the jump, luckily she soon became untangled and horsey didn't run too far.

It was the first time she has come a cropper in a competition.   Neither Kimberley nor Neeko the horse were hurt, but it was certainly a scary moment.

After that it was time for all the others to pack up and go home (in the pouring rain!)

We are now completely on our own and, having dried out from being drenched we are hoping to stay here the night.

We actually don't know where we are going to go tomorrow!