Post It from Caravan Club site at Abbey Wood, London, Friday 14th June 2013.
We crossed the English Channel on Thursday 13th June with strong winds after 60 days on the continent. The crossing was surprisingly good considering how strong the winds were, which I estimated at being around Force 7 from my ever such a long time ago days spent at sea as a navigator. We chatted to a friendly pair of caravaners who had done a tour through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France, that I can recall. They had been in the waiting lane adjacent to us and had noticed Smokee lazing in the sun on the settee side.
We had a blustery journey up the A2 and into London following the TomTom until the final approaches when we reverted to the Caravan Club instructions, which were clearly the better route to take. The site was well hidden in amongst mature trees on a sloping site that was absolutely beautiful. The wardens were very welcoming and guessing where our registration originated from as I went to check in. They obviously maintained the site in tip top condition with special attention to flower beds and neatly manicured grass. For the foreign visitors they will think they were in camping heaven if they had visited the not too many sites we had in France. Overall I had been disappointed by the standard of the French sites and when you arrive back on such a good site as Abbey Wood it just compounded my feelings.
We found a good pitch, number 1, hard standing, close to the toilet block and enjoying the afternoon sun which we managed to have on the Friday. The toilet block and other facilities were excellent and clean and the immediate difference we both noticed from those on the continent was the additional hooks and shelving space for hanging things in the shower.
On the down side was access to my electric point which meant I had to use my 25 meter lead for the first time all holiday and I could not access it direct due to the adjacent pitch being occupied, which is where the point was, and the camper had placed his caravan and awning right back on the edge of the hard standing so I could not get behind him. He helped me get connected as I passed the lead to him and he plugged me in.
This was our only 3rd Caravan Club site and we had never used a washing machine before so were a little surprised at the costs of the tumble drier, 70p for 15 minutes. We had hardly ever used one in Spain but when we did it was 2 Euros for one hour, a bit different!
I found I did not need to use the TV booster point, which was lucky as my cable was buried somewhere deep in the garage. I also purchased time on the Caravan Club internet service and whilst the connection was good I was a bit perplexed when I could not log off my account and had fears of the internet time being eaten up. As it happened it had only taken about an hour of time I did not actually use myself but I did email Airangels to ask why their log in screen changed after about 6 logins to their home page. The next day I noticed other instructions about logging out on my browser on a screen I could not get the night before, why have conflicting information I ask myself and this was definitely the most user unfriendly internet purchase we had encountered during our time away.
We enjoyed a visit to Greenwich on the Friday and returned to sit outside Bessie in the afternoon sun. Some caravaners from across the way, who were cat lovers, came across to see Smokee. Whilst not wanting people to visit and discuss travelling with our cat during our travels I was a little surprised that this couple were the very first ones to actually comment on the cat being with us, the lady spoke to Sharon at the showers and her husband did the same with me at the service point. They had noticed him in the window as we arrived.
Although short, our time at Abbey Wood was very enjoyable and we are already talking about a return visit so we can do more sightseeing and see our son in London at the same time. I tried to capture a photograph of the parakeets for you all but unfortunately never managed to do so, we did see them though and the foxes.
Off to visit our son tomorrow, navigating through the centre of London on our way to Leicestershire to see friends before a final drive home.
Regards, Roy