Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

A few dark clouds about this morning. 

We had breakfast a bit earlier as we were having afternoon tea later. 

Oxford

Once again it was a bright sunny morning. We were up early as Shar and Maddy were doing an open water swim in a lake nearby. Maddy had to give up after 120 metres because it was so cold it took her breath and she had difficulty breathing. Shar went on to complete the course but this is something she does on a regular basis. 

We went back to the van for our usual cooked breakfast, before donning the cycling gear for another ride along the river to Christ Church College. We did the tour of the college before heading back to the bikes to cycle to the Oxford Botanical Gardens. 

We cycled back down the river and called in at the pub by the Thames for a nice cider before heading back to the van to partake of fish and chips from the mobile van which came to site. 

Once again it was a pleasant evening so we sat outside the van until it started to drop cooler around 9pm.

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

Cloudy with sunny spells

Watched Rams v wba

Chilled for rest of day

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

Next morning we woke up to sunshine, but it was quite windy with a bit of a nip in the air. After breakfast and showers, we donned the cycling gear and got out the bikes. 

We cycled through the park down to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal up to Fazely Junction where it joins the Coventry Canal. We cycled alone the Coventry Canal, across the aqueduct over the River Tame and then followed the River Tame down to Dotshill Country Park when unfortunately the path came to an end so we had to re-trace our steps back to the caravan. We cycled 13.3 miles in all. 

After a relaxing couple of hours at the van we headed off in search of a local Aldi. I had left the blue toilet fluid in the garage and Aldi had some in their weekly specials.

On the way back from Aldi we found Boldmere Harvester at Sutton Coldfield, so we stopped off for dinner. 

We then Headed into Tamworth to the Odeon Cinema to see Long Shot starring Charline Theron and Seth Rogen, an enjoyable romantic comedy. 

We didn’t get back until gone 11pm so had to park in the visitors car park as the gates are locked at 11p m. 

Kingsbury Camping & Caravanning Club Site

We left Mirey Lees around 3:30pm. We had a nice motorway free journey with no hold ups and arrived at Kingsbury Camping and Caravanning Club Site for our second visit around 5pm.

Just as we arrived it started to rain and we put the awning up in some quite heavy drizzle. Then as if my magic it stopped.

We had a nice cuppa and waited for the Fish and Chip van. There were people queuing in the rain well before it arrived. We gave it a while until the queue had reduced considerably before going out but still ended up waiting half an hour. They were worth the wait though and filled us up nicely. 

Due to the way the van was sitting the caravan door was catching on the caravan step, so we decided to use the small plastic step. Unfortunately the second time I stood on it, my foot went through it and I ended up with some nasty lacerations on my ankle and below my knee. 

After some first aid from Maddy we settled down for the evening. 

Oxford

Another beautiful sunny day. After breakfast we had a walk to th park and ride and went into town. 

We walked to Balioll college and had a nice walk around the gardens. We popped into the chapel before looking going into the Hall before heading off in search of Costa Coffee. 

The we had a stroll to the castle but unfortunately didn’t have time to do the tour as we had afternoon tea booked for 4:00pm. We decided to have a couple of beers in the sun on the rooftop terrace at the slug and lettuce. 

We went for afternoon tea at Malmaison. A lovely hotel in what used to be Oxford Prison until around 1996. It was very impressive the way it’s been transformed into a hotel whilst still being obviously a former prison.

On the way back to the bus we had a quick stroll into the gardens of Christchurch College, before heading back to the caravan for a chill outside the caravan. Another pleasant evening until it dropped cool around 9:00pm

Oxford Camping & Caravanning Club Site

We woke up to a nice sunny morning. After breakfast we had a walk to Go Outdoors and then chilled for a while before getting the bikes out and going for a 15 mile ride. 

We stopped and had a beer at Shaldon Locks. The lovely weather had bought everybody out and the place was incredibly busy. 

After a further few miles of cycling we had another beer at another Thameside pub before heading back for a relaxing evening sat outside the caravan. It was a pleasant evening but dropped cooler earlier than last night.