We decided to let Basil off easily this weekend with a trip of only 26 miles to Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire.

Clumber Park is park of the Duke of Newcastle’s old estates and is a beautifully wooded remnant of Sherwood Forest. The Caravan Club site is beautifully located and surrounded by trees.

On Saturday it was forecast to bucket it down, so we set off on our walk with trepidation. The gods smiled on us and it stayed more or less dry as we walked 7 miles around the estate, with the dogs off the lead for most of the time. Perhaps because of the forecast we hardly saw another soul. We did finish the walk with a sneaky scone at the visitor centre cafe!

Sunday morning dawned dry and Sarah nipped off to take the dogs for their morning constitutional only to return half an hour later revealing a badly swollen ankle where she had twisted it while jogging with the dogs.

We hastily packed up and headed back home

A later visit to A&E confirmed that Sarah had fractured the same ankle as she had broken in Cuba 8 years ago. We have to go back to the fracture clinic, but A&E didn’t think it would be put in a plaster cast.

We’re not sure how this will affect Basil’s forthcoming outings. We will see how Sarah’s ankle feels later in the week.