Surprise Trip

This trip was rather a surprise. We had originally decided that we were not going away for any more weekends because we are going for a week away in October.
However, we have both had rather stressful weeks at work and home and we thought it might be good to go away.
We visited Olney on Saturday and came across this small site which we rather  liked. So we shot home, rang the site and booked in for Saturday evening!
We quickly filled the ‘van with water, I won this time! I had changed the connection so that the pipe could not fall off the tap, and prepared the toilet cassette. After getting the motorhome out of the drive Helen drove all the way on her own and I followed in the car.
We arrived before 5 and received a really friendly welcome at the site at Ekeney house. It is a very small site but has electric hook-up and hard standing and we parked in a spot with beautiful views. We tried one of the walks which had been suggested to us on Saturday afternoon after we had the ‘van sorted. It was a pleasant walk through woods but we tried to extend it thinking that if we went a particular way we would be able to cut through, we could not! We had to return from our extra section and follow the marked path. still we had a decent walk and exercised both ourselves and Sugar the dog. It was good to get away from the cares of the week. It was quite strange that so few people were on the site, there was just one occupied caravan there on the Saturday. It was just so quiet and peaceful.
Sunday dawned quite dull but not cold, after getting ready we decided to try a different walk, this was through the woods and then to a small hamlet of Petsoe End. Unfortunately we did not have an map with us so we tried to go in one direction, but although the footpath was marked it seemed to peter out in a field that was set out for horse jumping. We then walked in a different direction and discovered a place where country pastimes were conducted. We returned from there and went back through the hamlet.
Gosh, it was such a surprise that a place so close to a large conurbation could be so rural.

We came across these pigs very close to the small road we were walking on.
Shortly after this a chocolate Labrador ran out of a drive and stayed with us. It was a little bit of a nuisance as it was very boisterous and kept jumping at Sugar and Helen and I. It was not long until I had to carry Sugar.  The dog managed to follow us all the way back to the motorhome however hard we tried to turn it back!
Sometime after this I was about to put the shoes outside. I opened the door and there was a hen quite near to the door. Unfortunately Sugar managed to jump out of the doorway quicker than I could react. I ended up chasing Sugar round the field in my socks while she was trying to catch the hen. She nearly succeeded because there were a lot of feathers all over the field. What she would have done we do not know, but think she might have enjoyed a tasty snack! Fortunately the hen took refuge under the car, Sugar could not follow and Helen managed to catch Sugar. Blimey was I worn out from chasing Sugar.
After a well deserved sleep we discovered that a small aircraft was taking off from what seemed to be a local field.



At sometime later we set off to take Sugar on another walk.

There were really good views of Olney and the local wildlife!

 

We stayed on site on Sunday night and I went to work on Monday after visiting home to get changed. It was really strange waking up in a field and being at work a little while later. Helen stayed for some time enjoying the countryside and being able to be on her own.