We've done a couple of Tribby trips back to Graffham, mainly for a lazy weekend to recharge the batteries and for me to catch up on some reading. I'm really struggling with the reading challenge I'm doing so some downtime with no distractions is great.
I haven't done much in the way of cycling - a handful of 10/11 mile out and backs to Seaford on Doris and I've tested 3 second hand bikes. The first one was a Giant Liv commuter which has gone back to it's owner after Shaun did some work on it and she wanted it back. It didn't fit me properly although it would've been great for going to work on occasionally.
a Fuji MTB (Flossie) which we've kept so I can go out with Shaun on some trails
and a Pendleton Initial road bike (Poppy).
We've just come back from our 2016 Tribby road trip - I used up 4 of my precious annual leave days for a week over the Bank Holiday.
Saturday 27th August - Newhaven to Salisbury
Salisbury Club Site is by far one of our favourites and it was great to return. We got up early to hopefully miss most of the Bank Holiday traffic. We knew where we could park up until 1pm so when we arrived mid-morning we were able to take a walk into the City. There is a lovely market on a Saturday so we headed there to buy some food for the next few days. We checked in at the site at 1pm and spent the afternoon watching a thunderstorm roll in over the valley.
Sunday 28th August - Salisbury
Woke up to rubbish weather so had a late breakfast and then walked back into the city. We stopped at the George & Dragon as they were holding a cider festival, and then decided to stop and have Sunday lunch. We can thoroughly recommend the George & Dragon - the food is excellent and they are dog friendly, which Archie was very impressed about. When we got back to the campsite Shaun went out on to Hudsons Field to fly his kite and walked Archie up to Old Sarum.
Monday 29th August - Salisbury
Much better weather wise today. Shaun walked Archie the long way round to the City and I wandered in on my own to do some shopping. I was almost at the cathedral when Shaun rang me to say he was almost at the George & Dragon and we should meet for a drink!
Tuesday 30th August - Salisbury to Corfe Castle
Up and off the site by 11am - we didn't realise how busy it would be as the Dorset Steam Fair was packing up after the weekend. The traffic through and out of Blandford was horrendous and it took us a couple of hours to get to Corfe. We did stop to get some shopping as there were no local supermarkets near Corfe Castle. It also didn't help that Shaun hadn't set up the GPS correctly and it took us the wrong way (read very narrow country lanes). The hardstanding we were placed on was fairly level but unfortunately it was right by the children's play area.
We'd arranged to meet some friends at the New Inn, Church Knowle for dinner. It was only about a 20 minute walk over the hills to the village from the site. We had a lovely meal and spent the evening chatting. It was lovely to see Steve and Christine again, and we've arranged to meet at the Bike Show in Birmingham at the end of September. When we got back to the site it was a very clear night and looking up into the stars you could see the Milky Way, which I can never recall seeing in the UK before!
Wednesday 31st August - Corfe Castle
Up and off site by 11am for our walk into Corfe which is along a lovely footpath from the site.
We had a walk around the village
and then went into the model village garden and had a cream tea (Shaun had a baguette).
Thursday 1st September - day trip to Swanage
Chuffer train day - walked to Corfe to catch the steam train to Swanage. Had a wander round the town, including a visit to Hayman's Bakery for a coffee. Bought some Lardy cake for Shaun on the way back and a sponge & Fruit slice for me for later
Lovely day with some nice warm sunny weather. Archie wasn't overly impressed with the train rides, especially the one coming in the opposite direction and the train whistle!
Up and on the road by 10.15am. Transfer day to Chichester. We only decided to go to Chichester because we thought it would be too far for Archie to do the whole Corfe back to home in one go. Wish we hadn't - the weather was awful and the site has no atmosphere. The only good thing was that we missed ALL the traffic from Chichester to home which according to the radio was awful too.
Saturday 3rd September - Chichester
Rained most of the day - didn't get out for a decent walk as I didn't feel well so stayed at Tribby and napped and read.
Sunday 4th September - Chichester to Home
Come Sunday morning we were pleased to be going home, although we wanted to carry on and have some more holiday. We do love our Tribby trips, apart from when we pick the wrong site! We won't be going there again. Don't get me wrong, it's a very clean site and has all the facilities, just no life!
