23 Thursday Mar 2017
Posted in Sites
Tags
camc, caravan and motorhome club, Christopher Macgowan, Ferry Meadows, motorhome, motorhomenews, Nene Valley Railway, peterborough
Am spending time at the Caravan and Motorhome Club site in Peterborough – Ferry Meadows – and I’m enjoying super weather, the country park next door and, for me, the restored seven and a half miles long Nene Valley Railway with one of the stations actually at Ferry Meadows.
Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews
18 Saturday Mar 2017
Posted in Travel
Tags
arctic, articadventure, bailey of bristol, camc, caravan and motorhome club, Christopher Macgowan, finland, john rawlings, Lee Davey, Martin Dorey, millbrook, motorhome, motorhomenews, Nigel Hutson, simon howard
So the Arctic Adventure team has returned home. It was such fun following the group all the way from Millbrook to the Arctic Circle in Finland and back home again. Lee Davey, Martin Dorey, Nigel Hutson, John Rawlings and of course Bailey Mastermind Simon Howard (Marketing Director, Bailey of Bristol), together with a supporting cast. And all done in association with The Caravan and Motorhome Club
There were many high spots for us Groupies but watching the team drive across the Oresund Bridge from Sweden into Denmark was certainly one of them for me as a fan of the TV drama series The Bridge. Also memorable were Martin Dorey’s amazing skills at conjuring up meals under less than ideal circumstances. Artistic Creativity Award went to the photo of the Thetford toilet cassette in the foreground of a stupendous snowy arctic scene.
There was of course a very serious purpose to the venture which were the cold weather tests carried out by Millbrook’s operation in Finland; insulation materials and heating systems are getting ever more advanced and they are tested under rigorous climate conditions reproduced in test centres in the UK – but there is no substitute for a gruelling long haul run in the coldest possible conditions encountered in the Arctic.
It was fun following the trip; it must have been some experience to have been actually part of the trip.
Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews
11 Saturday Mar 2017
I was talking to a fellow Caravan and Motorhome Club friend the other day and remarked that I am more of a tourer than a rallyer to which she rather tartly remarked “Well, Christopher, that’s your loss then.” That could be but I think I am likely to stick with my touring and this week has been a case in point.
A few days came free in the diary after an extremely serious bout of man flu which required a great deal of help and TLC to get me through – believe me it was touch and go.
For some time I have been wanting to visit a couple of the peace parks built near Ypres post WW1 and also see Prowse Point where the famous Christmas Day football match was played and where a faithful reconstruction of the trenches shows that just a few metres separated the opposing forces. Disapproved of by the generals at the time, it has become something of a focal point.
When in Ypres I usually drive the clearly signed Poppy Trail coming across all sorts of interesting history. Thursday night’s attendance at the daily Menin Gate ceremony was primarily attended by children many of whom were on school trips from the UK so that future generations never forget.
Whilst I may not be much of a rallyer, there can scarcely be a better way of touring the Somme battlefields than in a motorhome.
Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews
