September – October 2023
I guess you could say the best made plans never go according to plan. But as I am not on any fixed schedule I am lucky enough I can simply adapt and change them.
So as I had time to kill I decided to do a tour of Dorset and Devon in September visiting many old haunts and lots of new places as well.
First I headed to Wareham the place I spent my teenager years and went to school. If you have not been there its a lovely town surrounded by old Roman walls with a river the Frome flowing through it.
It felt very strange sitting down at the Town Quay at exactly the same spot in 1981 we sailed off to the Caribbean when I was only 16. I took a walk down the tow path to the marina were our boat was fitted out. The only thing that had changed was the security cameras everywhere now.
From Wareham I then headed Weymouth way to Portland and found a great park up for the night overlooking the famous chesil beach.
Next stop heading West was into Devon and stopping at Seaton. Another town council that allows you to Park up for the night right on the seafront. Unfortunately there are not many locations like this left to stay overnight in Dorset and Devon due to the few people that abuse the rules and ruin it for everyone else.
From here it was a short hop to Exeter where I was to stay for 3 nights visiting my brother-in-law Nigel, who was a fabulous host. He put me up in a hotel for a few nights which was wonderful to take a break from the van. We had glorious weather and I got to explore may areas of Exeter I had never been before.
On leaving Exeter I headed to Totness to a Wellness Center, where I was going to volunteer at for a few days. It was an experience in itself that I thoroughly enjoyed and met some interesting characters. It seems there are a lot of these types of places now. The idea being you can park up for free in exchange for working a couple of hours per day or more if you choose. We didn't do much work but it was great having evenings around the campfire. I definitely plan to do this more often especially when I get to Southern Europe as its a great way to meet people.
On leaving Devon after a quick trip to Dartmoor I headed back to my brothers in Dorset. His planning permission was through so the plan was to help him build his new workshop whilst still waiting for my van document.
So that brings me to where I am still in Dorset. But great news I have the ownership document. So just got to finish this building and then France here I come.
Here is just a quick reflection on my thoughts so far. I am loving the freedom of this type of travel and not having any time frame to worry about. I have already seen some amazing places and done some fantastic walks. There are challenges particularly in England in finding suitable places that are safe to parkup for nights. But I'm getting better and more confident at doing it. Perhaps the biggest downside it would have been wonderful to share this adventure and not do it alone, but perhaps that all adds to the challenge.
A sample of Photos added in the movie clip below.
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