Basil spent a quiet night on the car park in Winchester, with only one other motorhome for company. For anyone else wanting to use this facility, be aware that “DialaRide” coaches park up here for the night, so unless you get on the car park before about 6pm, you may not find space.

We had paid to stay in Winchester until 1pm and so we had a slow start to the day. We needed to do some shopping and, shockingly, Winchester is too posh for LIDL and so Aldi it was. Being a Saturday morning there was no place in the car park to squeeze Basil’s large derriere and so I drove off to find somewhere to wait while Sarah shopped. As soon as Sarah telephoned Basil and I swooped to pick her and the shopping up while trying not to block the road.

Today the plan was to go to a CL between Winchester and Salisbury for the night so that we are poised for an assault on that latter city tomorrow. For those of you not familiar with motorhoming acronyms “CL” stands for Certified Location. Both the Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravan Club, have small sites limited to 5 vans. These are usually farmers fields or some such and the 5 van limit presumably gets around planning laws. Some have electricity and even showers but many are just a grassy field. I think the two compulsory elements to get Club approval is to provide fresh water and somewhere to empty the toilet. They are all usually quiet and mostly rural and suit us very well. They are also cheaper than full blown caravan sites.

Basil on his CL

After shopping we drove the short distance to our CL, which is a farmers grassy field in the village of East Winterslow, Wiltshire (51.092989, -1.645029  £13 a night – hook up only). The farmer had left a note on his door that he wouldn’t be back until later so we were to go and pitch up. I think we are the only one staying tonight. He had a couple of rough and ready hard standing pitches, which is just as well since there was still snow on the road as we approached the village and the ground is sodden.

After lunch we decided we needed to get some exercise and so I plotted out a 3 miles walk on the Ordance Survey. I should add here that because we are travelling extensively in the UK this year I have subscribed to an Ordnance Survey service for £20 which allows me to download as many Ordnance Survey maps as I wish, onto my phone or computer, for the next 12 months. A bargain since each map usually costs £6 to £9.

Green lane

A muddy walk

The walk turned out to be one of the muddiest we have done for a while. We slipped and slid along a green lane to where I thought, from the map, that there would be a good view over Salisbury Plain. Unfortunately trees obscured most of the view and what we could see was somewhat obscured by the overcast conditions. We chose a slightly less muddy route back. Part of it was on an old Roman road, but if the Romans suddenly materialised they would be outraged at its shoddy condition! The dogs need a good hose down on our return and much the their annoyance were put in the towelling dog bags that Sarah has made for these occasions.

Salisbury Plain

I have had a bit of a wander around the farm yard and I think I can safely say our host is a bit of a horder. There are several vintage tractors, including an old Fordson, and all manner of old, discarded farm and other equipment lying about the place.

Another tractor. The farmer has since told me that this and all the others still run!

All manner of equipment and a Fordson tractor.