Travels in Rosie May: April 2013

How lucky we are to have such lovely weather for our crossing. We are about half an hour out of Portsmouth and have settled in the boat by a window, watching the sea. The Isle of Wight is beginning to recede in the blue distance. I can see a lighthouse and some cliffs, but after that, just the profile of the tip of the island as we pass it.
We travelled here easily from Longleat, stopping at Cley Hill (National Trust) to look at the Roman fortifications. Even better, we saw six hares, one yellowhammer, a whitethroat and some linnets. It has been sunny all day and is a glorious evening now.
The boat is huge, but even so, two rather posh ladies managed to find Chris and get him to log their ipad mini onto the wifi network. He told them he had a magic finger, when they asked how he did it, but they said that was b******s. Rude but accurate.
We have sampled the bar, a Stella and an Earl Grey, and will go in search of supper. We have spotted the self service area and have earmarked a salad in celebration of the sunshine.

Tuesday. On board Pont Aven.

Blue skies and calm seas.

Longleat Caravan Club Site

We travelled the usual route through Brecon and Abergavenny, crossed the Severn Bridge, headed for Bath and arrived at this impressive site in time for lunch. It is peaceful here, with tidy lawns and mature trees. It has good play areas for children and quite a lot of resident wild life. Three mallard ducks came to our door after our lunch. They gobbled a Jacob's Cream Cracker shared between them. One dabbled his share from my hand but the others would not come so near. We saw a pair of pheasants here, the male muttered to himself as he ambled along, quite tame, and there are fat wood-pigeons feeding on the grass. Chris spotted what we thought was a peregrine, being mobbed. It circled and we saw its jesses and heard its bell. It was from Longleat, next door, being flown to entertain the visitors. So, not sure if it was a peregrine, do falconers fly peregrines or was it the more usual Harris Hawk? Our walk took us through a wood along the boundary of the Longleat Safari Park. We admired primroses and looked at beeches coming into leaf. Next, a little way off, we saw two giraffes peering at us as we passed along the path, and, oddly, a group of rhinos came into view, grazing, looking completely at home. We heard sea lions barking, again, strange, in this very English woodland park. The rhinos reminded Chris of Reggie Perrin, who saw a hippopotamus in his mind's eye whenever he thought of his mother-in-law; this was brought about by a visit to a Safari Park.

Location:Longleat Caravan Club Site