It only seems like last week I was in my fifties and now I have hit the big 60. Did I feel any different when I woke up, no, did I start to wear different clothes, no, have I finally grown up. Don’t answer that if you know me. Growing up is optional and I opted out a long time ago.

I got up in the morning early as normal and the camper had been decorated with banners and balloons just so I didn’t forget how old I was supposed to be. Thanks Nikki. A nice big bag of assorted chocolate and a couple of boxes of real ale which I really like and can’t get around here were there for the taking.

We had planned to have a BBQ with Gerry and Debra the other wardens, it was there anniversary also. the weather was not looking to good but was supposed to get better in the afternoon. So fingers crossed and yes it did Brighton up. While chatting at the BBQ we were discussing what you get when you reach 60. So I can get free travel in London, that’s useful I never go there. I can get a free bus pass in Wales, that’s good I don’t live here. I can get free prescriptions, that’s good I very rarely go to the doctors. So all in all not a lot. We ate and drank until the sun went down and the bugs came out to feast on us, then it was time to call it a day. Debra made me another chocolate cake. If your reading this Bill, i know you follow my blog, I was going to save you a bit but because of lockdown I decided to eat it myself. Sorry. This picture is for you. This is what you could have had.

This lock down is starting to get in my nerves now. Not because I don’t think it’s a good idea but because there is no general rules which apply to everyone. We are in Wales for the season and our rules are different to peaple in England. We are way behind. In England now you can go out and about as long as you return home at night. Here we can go out for shopping and only essential trips. From the first of June here in wales you can go and meet family but only travel five miles but we travel ten miles each way to go to the nearest supermarket. The beach car parks are closed down in Devon but you can go to Tesco and Sainsbury’s and park in there carpark and go in the shop with other peaple about. None of it makes sense. We are allowed out to exercise and luckily we can go out from the site to walk or I can go on my bike into some beautiful scenery and not see anybody.

The reason I am more frustrated is that before my birthday, you know that big day, I decided I was going to have a big present. Normally birthdays are just another day to me and Nikki but we do celebrate the big ones. I wanted a new bike so I started doing my research etc and found the one I wanted. Found a shop with one in stock which was really hard to find because not a lot of shops stock the one I want and being here in the middle of nowhere everything is miles away. We don’t even have a village shop here. Rang the shop and put a deposit on it. So it’s secured and waiting for me to collect. I was hoping that the welsh man who runs Wales and makes all the decisions Mark Drakeford was going to lift the restrictions so that we could go out and about like England. But no he never. He obviously is not a mountain biker and does not understand. So it looks like my new bike will just be sitting there in the shop waiting for the day I can go and pick it up. Until then I just look at it online and dream of the day I can get it and go off to the bike parks and play. That’s in between working of course. In the meantime I can’t even sell my old one because no one can come and look at it.

So that’s us up to date still in lockdown and still furloughed. The sun is still shining with this wonderful spell of nice weather. My garden is doing well, the car and camper are shiny on top of shiny so alls good really.

Being in Wales we are still in lockdown, while England is allowed out to play to a certain degree. I really hope wales lift some restrictions soon. The next update from them is 28th May. We are lucky that we can walk from the site and see beautiful views of mountains and forests, lakes etc and not see another person. A couple of days ago I went out on my bike around the lake and it felt so good I went around again so all in all I did 20 miles and only saw one other person from a distance.

We had heard about a waterfall in a woodland not far from the site so yesterday me and Nikki decided to go and find the gate which takes you to the trail. I have passed the spot before but was on my bike and could not remember seeing any gate. ( probably going to fast ). When ever me and Nikki go out for a walk it’s a standing joke that I say just round the next corner because I always want to go further just to see what’s around the next corner. So we set off to find the gate. Where we thought it was it wasn’t so I turn to Nikki and say come on just around that next corner. It still wasn’t there only sheep in the road. Just as we were about to turn around there it was. It was around the next corner. Most gates have springs on so they shut behind you so the sheep can’t get out. I love this old gate with a block of concrete suspended as a weight and pulley system.

Across the field we go towards the start of the trail, through beautiful woodland. The nature reserve is called coed Llennyrch nature reserve and is a rare Atlantic oak woodland. There are lots of trails through it and they will be walked on another day. We heard a cuckoo but didn’t see him. We walked over this rickety old bridge, no safety net on the sides etc, no health and safety going on here.

We could hear the waterfall and then it came into view through the trees. Now don’t get too excited we’re not talking Niagra falls here it’s just a small waterfall in Wales after a very dry spell but it’s in a beautiful location and right on our doorstep.

The climb down was quite steep and slippery but worth the effort when you got down to the bottom. Like I said not Niagra falls but beautiful anyhow. I can see myself going swimming in the pool on a hot day. I will let the pictures do the talking. You have to imagine the sound of the water cascading down, the birds singing in the trees, the cuckoo doing what he does, cuckooing and at the same time so silent with no one else around. Enjoy the pics.

So glad we went around the next corner and found the gate. We will go back there and explore more. On the way back we pass a nice old stone archway and Nikki always has to have a look in, its only a field with a horse in but she has to have a look.

So that’s us up to date. Hope your all safe and well and we can all get out and about more soon. One final thing, I decided to have a haircut so Nikki got the clippers out and did the deed, I thought it was still too long so got a razor out and trimmed it back to the bone. It will grow. I was eating a squirrel when this photo was taken.

The campsite is not open for business but the bug hotel is up and running. Plenty of rooms with different themes and views. Ground floor is a hedgehog house complete with personal tunnel. Would be nice to think a hedgehog would curl up in there for the winter hibernation. I have filled it with dry leaves, just the sort of thing they like. The rest of the hotel is furnished with bamboo, old wood, slates, tiles and various branches. The whole thing was made using recycled fencing, screws and some slate for the roof from the old bug house.

The rest of the site is looking better everyday with a real good variety of colour. As some flowers die off others appear so it’s constantly changing everywhere.

The bees are busy flying from one flower to the next and so important in the life chain. Wasps are important also so I am told but I don’t like them after being stung by one at Cirencester last year and my whole hand swelling up and starting to travel up my arm. So as long as they leave me alone I leave them alone.

Yesterday me and Nikki had a stroll round the site and when we got back we could not unlock the door so had to get in through the drivers door and somehow I managed to unlock it from inside. Then the fun started taking it all apart and trying to discover what is wrong. I can open and close the door but can’t lock it. So at least we can get in and out. More internet research and no doubt more expense and it will be fixed sometime soon. In the meantime we have a open plan door panel.

Yesterday was VE Day so we decided to have a BBQ and beer with the other wardens on site. We took everything up to a sunny spot on the site and had a good time. Played some old 40’s music, ate chicken, sausages and pork, with a bit of salad and potatoes. Nothing was rationed. We drank beer and wine and enjoyed the evening sun. Debbie made a winston Churchill fruit cake which was a old recipe. I don’t like fruitcake so she made me my own chocolate cake. Lilly their springer spaniel was enjoying running around like a mad thing.

So that’s us up to date. I know every blog post seems like Groundhog Day but hopefully soon we will be able to get out and about and have some pictures of the surrounding area to show you all. In the meantime stay safe and dream of having a piece of this loverly chocolate cake. Shame you can’t have any but I can tell you it’s loverly. Now put your tongue away and stop dribbling.

The jacks on the motorhome need refurbing, I know I have mentioned it before and it was booked in on more than one occasion to get them done but the company let me down so I told them to forget it. Or words to that effect.

The guy that looks after the camper MOT and servicing etc is now going to do them when we are back down in Devon. I thought it a good idea to send him some photos so I was crawling about under the camper, like you do when you have nothing better to do taking some photos of the jacks and just having a look under there. When to my horror I noticed some wires that had been chewed. Not by me while I was under there although it was near lunch time. But by squirrels I think. It would not have been a mouse because of the way the wires were hanging down.

We do have squirrels around here and a lot of other sites we have been on have them and rabbits which like to go under the camper so it could have happened while here or at another site. So that was another job to do not on my list but had to be done. I also noticed the brackets that my extra alarm speakers are on were very rusty so I had to do a temporary repair on them while I was under there. The speakers will have to be replaced but at least they are not going to fall off now. I believe in the saying everything happens for a reason and in this case if I had not crawled under the camper I would not have noticed the chewed wires or the rusty brackets and something could have happened while out on the road.

Another day in my life last week I spent five hours cleaning the car, only the outside. I know what you’re thinking …..it must be a bloody big car. It is an estate car. When we bought the car it was supposed to have a paintwork treatment done on it. I was not happy with the way they had done it, or not done it so I contacted the firm. They were very good and sent me out some free products, about forty five pounds worth. As it happens the products are ones I use anyway and have done for years so I was happy. But they sent them to our home address 300 miles from where we are now. Another email to them and they say sorry and post out another forty five pounds worth of products to where we are.

Weather conditions ok, water temp ok plenty of time on my hands so I start the deep clean process. Stage one. This involves washing the car, drying the car. Stage two. spray affected areas with product leave to soak wash off and dry car. Stage three rub a tar remover over affected areas, wash off and dry. Stage three. Wash the whole of the car and towel dry. Stage four polish whole car and buff off. Stage five wax the whole car and buff off. Stage six. Stand back and admire all my hard work. Luckily I actually like looking after my vehicles. Stage Seven wipe the bit of bird shit of the roof from the bird that was sitting up in the tree waiting for me to finish.

I have mentioned the bird feeder in the last post. The feeder is about a metre away from the window of the camper where I sit so I have a great view and they are used to me staring at them. I am sure sometimes they stick their tongue out at me. There are all sorts of characters. The tit family consist of Hoppy tit. Because he only has one leg but he does a good job of hanging on the feeder. Tatty tit named because he looks like he has been on the beer as well as the peanuts and flown through a hedge backwards. Freaky tit, he is weird, something wrong with him he is all puffed up and sits around trying to breath, the other birds pick on him. Think he should have self isolated. Tiny tit because he is so small, he is not getting enough nuts.

The welsh have bought out new rules for exercise, now if you go out on your bike you are only allowed to go as far as a reasonable walk would be. The route I take through the woods and around the lake is twelve miles but includes about a mile of that is on the road. So I have stopped doing that one now. Don’t want to upset the locals even though I never see anybody on that route. I will still do the woods and lake bit but just not go out onto the road. I very rarely see anyone and if I do it’s always at distance.

My bug house is nearly finished and should be in place next week. I built it all from what materials I had laying about. Bugs don’t do new and shiny. When we moved into this compound the whole of the gates were like fort knox covered in wood on both sides, the previous peaple had dogs so didn’t want them getting out. To be honest I don’t think Houdini could have got out. And you had to have arms like Popeye to open the gates. So I took off about 75% of the wood, kept all the screws and that is what my bird house is built from. I am no carpenter but the bug house is supposed to be rustic, that’s my excuse anyway. The bottom part is like a shed which is for hedgehogs to sleep in and hibernate through the winter. There are hedgehogs on site so will be nice if they use it. The size of the bug house is 45 inches high, 15 inches deep and 26 inches wide. It has different compartments with various materials in. Cones, bamboo,slate, twigs and hay etc so it caters for all sorts of creepy crawlys. I will post pictures when it’s in place. I have put a coming soon sign on the location so the bugs are informed and seem to be getting a lot of interest.

We have heard a cuckoo around us the last week or so that’s a good sign. And my garden is coming along nicely. One area on site has a great swathe of bluebells which look so nice amongst the trees. That’s us up to date and we only have two months to go before the site opens on 1st July, that’s if the government let us. We will see. And remember that if you have a little argument with your wife, kids, partners because your all together all of a sudden because the way the world is at the moment. It’s not their fault. Stay safe.