Van club rally, Wareham & Swanage RFC

26th Aug

We left Abingdon Vale and headed for our chosen park up, Poole RFC car park, ///bars.sticks.exchanges a free overnight stop, stopping for a tuna roll on the way.

Eventually we pulled into the car park and chose a spot. Andy shot the videos and we settled down for the evening. 

Later on some young chaps turned up and started to ride their super charged ebikes and crossers around the car park and the van.

We stood it for an hour or so but Andy decided to move to our second choice which was The Halfway Inn, ///rushed.protester.trudges 10 miles away, so off we went and drove in the dark, (first time we have driven in the dark for ages).

We pulled into the large gravel car park and chose our spot and then went in to introduce ourselves and get a couple of pints, (stout for Andy).

Back to the van for a reasonably quiet night, no boy racers, but the road was busy until about midnight and then again from 6am.

27th Aug

We left the Halfway Inn and drove the 2 miles to the Swanage and Wareham RFC, ///arrival.gazes.teardrop The 'Swans' home ground, and Ade met us and directed us to a pitch.

We filled with water and parked on our pitch and said hello to Ade and Claire who we had only just left at Abingdon yesterday!

We set the van up, canopy, chairs and table and wind break and then headed into town for a walk around the charity shops.

In the evening we went down to the quay where the was live music by 'That brit pop band' who we had seen before at Van life 2024.

They were really good and after the gig we introduced ourselves to the front man and got a selfie.

Then we watched the fireworks before heading back to the van to watch the stars and satellites before getting the diesel heater fired up for half an hour and then bed.

Thursday 28th

Rain to start and a cold wind. Shower and breakfast and then a bus to Poole quay. It was about 40 minutes on the 35 bus which we picked up from The red lion pub. It terminated outside the Dolphin shopping precinct and we wandered around in there for a while before stopping for brunch at the Costa. We were careful not to get in the way of the robot cleaner!

Then off to the quay itself and checked out some of the lovely boats before sheltering from the bitingly cold wind in The Poole arms which was painted green and served 'Blue moon' at £7.50 a pint !!!

We sat outside and listened to the blues band for half an hour before the cold wind beat us and we walked back to the bus stop, walking across the railway crossing on the way.

We had a half hour wait for the bus bus it was nice and warm when it arrived and we were sleepy when we eventually got off at the post office opposite The red lion. It was a short walk from there back to the van where we joined the circle of van clubbers for a chat and a drink before retiring to our warm van. 

Friday 29th

We had a storm over night, thunder and lighting too but it cleared by the morning.

Andy got up and walked to Sainsbury's for some milk and that was about as interesting as it got until the evening when we all met in the club house for a game of 'Beetle drive' which we had never played before. It was fun and it was helped along by a few beers and wines.

We didn't win and went back to the circle for 30 minutes and then bed.

Saturday 30th

What a day! Heavy rain and strong winds all day. The 'Swans' were playing at 3pm and Andy walked over to the touchline and watched for less than 20 minutes and got drenched. 

It was a duvet day today at least until the evening when we all went back to the club house for a 'Back to school' quiz which was won by Sue's team!

This was more fun than it looks here...🤣

Andy finished his Doombar and said that he was going back to the van. Sue said that she wouldn't be long but didn't get back to the van until around 2:30am! Dirty stop out...

Sunday 30th

We sat around in the morning and then decided to go down to the Horse and groom for a Sunday roast. A short stroll to the pub and we ordered a couple of pints and the pork dinner and cheesey leaks as a side dish.

We took ourselves out to the garden area and met a couple from the rally, Valerie and Nigel who recommended the food.

The roast was spectacular and very filling so no deserts for us today.

Back to the van and Andy got a notification that his Amazon order had arrived at the co-op pick up point, (rubber seal for the large skylight and a ceiling lamp for the kitchen area) so off he went to collect them.

Once back to the circle we all played silly games under the guise of 'Back to school' sports day. I'll leave the following videos here to explain how that went!

We then sat and chatted for a while before returning to the van where Andy watched F1 and put the new light up in the kitchen.

Monday 1st Sept

We will be leaving here today, this rally is over!

We got the van road ready and said our goodbyes to 'Swifty', Collette, Claire and Ade and drove down to the tap to fill the tank and then off to Cerne Abbas where we will have a look at a car park at the view point for 'The Cerne giant' (or rude man of Cerne).

See that story on the next page.  😊

Off to Cerne Abbas where we were going to park at the viewing point of 'The giant man of Cerne' and spend the night getting over the last few days that we have enjoyed with the Van Club.

We arrived and parked so as not to take up too much space and then Andy sent the drone up to get some video of the chalk giant but it was too far away and he decided to trek up the hill to get closer. Once he got to the giant he met a chap with his son and they were trying to fly their drone to 'map' the giant but they said that it was too windy. And sent his drone up and managed to get some good video.