I'm a believer

A still bright night lit by a full moon, all was still and I could feel the mystery all around, something special was happening.
My human came outside and hid with his camera and took a picture of a larger than life character calling himself Father Christmas. Father Christmas saw my human and with great power and a scattering of magic dust he wiped my humans memory clean of this event.
But I have the proof and here it is Father Christmas delivering presents to children and believers all over the world.

Merry Christmas to VW campers all over the world, long live Santa.

Son et lumière

The Three Sisters illuminated to music in a 30 minute show of imagination and magic on an unnaturally warm December evening.

Lichfield Cathedral lit with stunning projections by acclaimed local artist Peter Walker and Luxmaralis.
Human Wilfrid loved Christmas lights often driving around towns to see them and shop window displays, he would have enjoyed this magical Christmas show and would have taken his children. My human went with his children and granddaughter Phoebe who at 3 months watched it spellbound.

I am still not sure what all this excitement in my humans is all about, I feel it all around me. Something big is going to happen I can feel it in my chassis.

Humbug

What are my humans thinking? Leaves fall, then my dark winter evenings are disrupted by them covering bald bushes with bright tacky LED lights.
Better if they replaced my dim driving lights with LEDs instead.

Autumn terminated

A November night of snow, my first brrrrr.

Mr B

What joy, a trip to Tesco, vibrating body parts and the magnificent 7th symphony. I see why human Wilfrid loved Ludwig so. When first played Mr B conducted and this was said of him "he tore his arms with great vehemence asunder..." A bit like human Wilfrid did when conducting with a knitting needle.

Bangs, Flashes, Mud and Memories.

Rain, rain and more rain equals a very muddy field in Derbyshire. I slipped and slithered onto camping spot 219, then settled in to slowly sink over the weekend. Why had my humans ventured out in these conditions?

Apparently each year on November the 5th my humans Uncle Eric would build a bonfire in his backyard which was not very big, and Wilfrid would take his children over to let off many fireworks and eat a supper of baked potatoes and beans. This was one of the many highlights in the childhood of my human. This is my human and his cousin Bryan in Uncle Eric's backyard.

How things change, my humans family travelled to see a huge firework display and stayed on the campsite. These are some of the fireworks, yet amazing as I thought they were my human still reckons they are not as exciting as the Jumping Jacks, now banned from sale, that were let off in his uncles back yard, it must have been some firework. They did have baked potatoes, chilli and beans after so some traditions remain.

Golden days

A short jaunt with my humans and their grandchildren to the Wildlife Trust and moulting trees.

Ducks squabble, this scrap was with real malice. A real Halloween horror scene.

Swans swam in pools of golden liquid.

Water turned into abstract water colours, inspirational!

My human feeding Swans in 1956.

Human Wilfrid would have enjoyed the water and reflections. He loved Wales because of the many mountain streams and lakes that run down mountains, he also liked taking my human into parks to feed the ducks.

All around the Wrekin

An Autumn jaunt to hills built by Giants.

Human Wilfrid would always recount the legend of The Wrekin and The Ercall whenever he passed them, which was often.

Fist things first. I have my own tea rooms who needs this fine Ladies?

A lovely spot for a relax before exploration.

Now if I had a pop up top like this one that would be something!

Leaves are falling

Just like embers.
In colours red and gold they set us on fire.
Burning Just like Moonbeams in our eyes.

My humans enjoyed a dull but colurful autumn walk over Cannock Chase.
Human Wilfrid liked kicking up dry fallen leaves.

Imaginative editorial

Impressed! I did not realise how famous my human was. I will not moan about taking him and his bikes Mountain Biking ever again.

Show Time

My humans went to a show.

And I lusted after a very pretty thing. My humans pointed out she may be a bit old for me and would probably not be interested. I don't care, she was sure looking good and I'd happily spend a night sharing a campsite with her.

A small procedure

Today I went back to my creator to be fixed. Better now!

66 years on

My human had a birthday the 12 of October and so I took him to Barmouth where human Wilfrid used to go every year with his family for two weeks holiday. This is me at the end of the prom near Llanaber where Wilfrid used to hire a wooden shack (challet).

I had the camping field to myself a spot 100m from Barmouth Beach. The site was well maintained and clean, excellent! The Hendremynach Caravan and Camping site is two miles out of Barmouth and close to the beach so I could hear the sea.
On the Sunday my humans cycled to Barmouth along the Mawddach Trail from Penmaenpool. The trail is 16 miles round trip from Penmaepool and runs along the coast crossing the Barmouth railway bridge. Views are tremendous and the riding easy. These are pictures of my Humans on the trail. That's me going over the toll bridge at Penmaenpool it cost a whopping 70p.
On the evening the sunset was amazing and at high tide the sea splashed over the prom. My humans walked back after eating fish and chips in Barmouth, They walked two miles in the dark dodging huge waves. Human Wilfrid often took his family to see the waves splashing over the prom.

On my humans birthday they walked over the mountains to the Panorama walks above the Mawddach Estuary, human Wilfrid used to walk the lower slopes with his young family but today my humans went higher. This is a view looking across to where Wilfrid and Peggy were ceremoniously carried away on a wild Welsh wind, almost a year ago.
This was an eight mile walk with some steep climbs but the views were well worth the excersise. On the way back the tide was out and so my humans enjoyed a long walk on the golden beach at Barmouth.

The evening became very tropical and my humans sat and had Fish and Chips on Barmouth Harbour. Human Wilfrid often took his family to fish for crabs from off the Harbour Wall.

Cader Idris with no clouds on, what a view when eating Fish and Chips.
Me on the way home with a magical sunset behind Cader Idris.
P.S I am worried about my humans unhealthy camping diet, fish and chips twice! Oh dear and I have all they need to cook on.

Human Wilfrid with two of his family on Barmouth beach near Llanabar in 1956

From Grit Stone to Limestone.

The plan was to take my humans to the Staffordshire Moor Lands to walk to Three Shires Head, on arriving it was so misty, damp and cold they decided not to stop and I had to navigate my way back to the softer White Peaks of Derbyshire. They left me in a warm picturesque location and set off along the Tissington Trail toward Dale Head.

My humans walking along Tissington trail, looks very warm.

They dropped into Millers Dale and then climbed out via Iron Tores.

My human walking out of Iron Tores, a great sunny day in the end.

P.S out of interest Three Shires Head was one place that human Wilfrid and his wife Peggy walked to with their cousin Tom and his wife Freda when my human was a young lad. my human remembers trying to dam the stream (River Dane) with Freda and her sons Jeff and Ian.

Autumn Mists

I carried my human's Mountain Bike to meet his friend Dave for a 20k ride. Today is the first ride they have done this year in a very damp mist, I guess this is autumn. Human Wilfrid enjoyed autumn and would often arrive home with a brown bag full of conckers for my human to use in the many concker battles that filled autumn days.

This was one of their Tuesday rides and part of their route took them along the Trent Mersey and Staffordshire and Shropshire canals so that they could improve their cadence. I though canals were flat so where is Dave in this picture?

Seeing Red

Wilfrid the original, human of course, always woke my human to see great celestial events. My human is now programmed to never miss these and joined me at 1.30am and 2.30am to see the red moon and total eclipse. He muttered something about light pollution and I though he was going to take me onto Cannock Chase for a better view but he didn't. It really was not very red! I watched it all and the eclipse bit was impressive until it became misty.

Scree slopes and cheese

I enjoyed the dramatic scenery as I transported my humans to The White Peaks, Moët,a dog named after Champagne, also came in some strange crate to protect my interior. A rare hot summers day in late September and my humans had planned to walk 7 miles over hill and Dale.

They parked me up for 4 hours, they are going to have to get a move on, the view they left me with was pretty and the village bustling.
Human Wilfrid often walked in this area with his cousin Tom and wife Freda. Wilfrid seldom ventured far from the honey spots of Dove Dale stepping stones, Mill Dale or Hartington, all then much quieter than they are today. Wilfrid preferred to explore by car than on foot.

My humans left the village on the path behind the WC, not taking the well trod path to Wolfscote Dale but climbing high between narrow walled unsurfaced lanes to Biggin. Then dropping into Biggin Dale which is wild and dramatic as it drops to Wolfscote Dale and the river Dove.

Approaching Wolfscote Dale and its huge white cliffs. I didn't have to serve them refreshments on their return as they found a great Coffee and Cake shop at the end of the trail.