Saturday, 21st October - home to Coleshill

A quick bit of packing and we set off at around 9:15am. After an uneventful and steady journey round the M25, up the M1, and across on the M6, we arrived in Coleshill just after midday. We easily found Wheeley Moor Farm, our first experience of a Camping and Caravanning Club Certificated Site. It was very similar to a Caravan Club CL – small field, a few vans, electric hookup, and a toilet. All we needed. The only downside was the traffic noise. On one side, we had the dual carriageway which bypassed Coleshill, and on the other side, we had the M6 toll motorway. Annie suggested that we were camped on a larger than usual traffic island. The noise was fairly relentless, although much of it was white noise ‘whoosh’ sounds.

I phoned my eldest brother, and although we were offered ‘a bite to eat’, I didn’t like the look of the weather forecast, so we decided to stay in. We did manage to get a stroll into the centre of Coleshill (taking our lives in our hands by crossing the busy A446 dual carriageway). Despite my body twitching every time we passed a lovely-looking pub (to qualify to be a “lovely-looking pub”, it has to pass a stringent test … it has to sell beer – nothing more, nothing less), we strolled through the small market town. At the main church Annie spotted a notice about walks in the local area, so we followed the directions up the side of the church, through the graveyard, and enjoyed the view across the Blythe Valley. The view wasn’t particularly magnificent, looking back on the photos, but compared to Ilford, it was jolly fine.

It was late afternoon by the time we got back to the van, and we had some tea, split a bottle of wine between us, and hunkered down for the night. We watched an enormous Lunar Star-something or other back quickly in, and the poor driver get out in the pouring rain to hook up, and then to wind down his corner steadies.

Rear steadies – they’re a strange thing. If you don’t have them, you need them. If you have them, you don’t use them. We used them once – our very first night, and haven’t used them since. In the night, however, I wished I had. The wind howled, and the van rocked from side to side. Annie was a bit concerned, until I told her that it was rocking me to sleep. Either she was happy with my lack of concern, or she realised there was no point talking to me about it. I slept on.