Lower Wyburns Farm, Rayleigh, Essex

We delayed our departure from Abbey Wood, enjoying the television programmes that BBC offer to the Sunday morning viewers; current affairs and politics are always fascinating, particularly during the build up to the British June elections.

Our trip was relatively uneventful, this time crossing the River Thames via the Dartford Tunnel, but still incurring the same toll charge, easily paid this evening by internet banking. We remembered to tape up the fridge door so there was no mess to face us when we pulled onto the shoulder of the road to lunch before proceeding to our camp. The directions as to which exit from the A127 we should take were ambiguous and we ended up leaving it too early and having to make our way along winding urban roads through the township of Rayleigh before eventually finding our way to the CS (Camping & Caravan Club Certified Site). We were pleased to find it relatively deserted of fellow campers, and while the woosh of nearby traffic can be heard, the birdlife in the surrounding hawthorne hedges are more audible. A few horses graze in the adjacent railed field, and we can almost pretend we are in rural Essex despite the highway and nearby densely populated area.

The tariff here is £11, less than half we paid at the Club Site in London, but then the facilities are less. There is a toilet available for campers just inside the farmhouse porch, and the usual waste and water facilities one finds in all of these kind of camps, and space and privacy less available in more commercially run establishments.

It occurred to me when I was Whatsap-ping my mother this morning and discussing vehicles, changes and satisfaction levels, that I have not filled in the gap left in my blog postings as we left the UK last year. We had had problems with the Sorrento’s engine simply cutting out, in the most inopportune places and had left with a diagnosis of the fuel tank having delaminated, all rather serious. The “motor” (a rather convenient generic English word for car, van, vehicle) had been left in the care of Chris’s brother who dealt with all of this in our absence. We were delighted and relieved when Kia came to the party, and covered the replacement of the tank accepting this was a manufacturing defect. So we returned this year to our wonderful vehicle, not only a pleasure to ride in and to pull our caravan, but also in a renewed healthy state.

And speaking of health, Chris rose this morning with no sign of gout, and again we were pleased we had travelled with our own pharmacy “trunk” to deal with these niggles that arise from time to time. 

Checking through the posts since our arrival, I have also noted the contradictory comments regarding drought and annoying rain; the fact of the matter is that all comments are correct, however the rain that has fallen in England since our arrival has been too light and too ineffective to significantly relieve the dry hardened earth. Farmers in this part of the country are already lamenting their failed crops; a very sad state of affairs, but from a summer touring perspective, the prospects are looking brilliant!