Our time at South Molton was a contrast of Blue skys and grey skys, of warm weather to bloody freezing weather. The first weekend was so nice, almost like a summers day with blue skys.

We went out for a walk at Croyde to Baggy point which is a headland jutting out to sea. On one side is Croyde bay and the other side is Putsbourgh beach which is part of a three mile beach, the other end being Woolacombe.

For many years this area has been home, surfing, mountain biking, hiking. It’s a popular destination for surfers and on its day is a world class wave. You get a lot of wanna be surfers with their Audi’s, BMW’s etc all loaded up with boards. They talk a good surf and I am sure when they get back to the office on Monday they are telling all their workmates how big the waves were and how good they were. In reality they are known as all the gear no idea brigade.

The amount of buildings that have changed over the years is amazing. Again not locals but city folk buying up the properties and rebuilding them. One in particular on the point between Croyde and Saunton is up for sale at Ten million pounds I don’t think a local will be buying that.

We parked up in the national trust carpark and headed out for Baggy point. It’s not a long walk but really nice with views across the bay. And with blue skys it could have been a summers day. The only down side was that a huge section of the gorse bushes were black because of a fire at the end of August caused by a disposable bbq. So inconsiderate and I doubt it was a local.

We sat on a bench at Baggy point and just took in the view and silence and the unspoilt spot which I hope never changes. Good memories.

The second weekend on the site in South Molton could not have been so different. We knew some cold weather was coming in and if there is any snow about South Molton will get it and it’s always colder there. I kept saying to Nikki it’s going to snow. No it’s not was her reply. Well I won that one.

On the Friday night while we were all tucked up in bed in the warm it snowed so Saturday morning we awoke to a covering of snow and below freezing temps. The heating was doing overtime. I got up and had to go out to take some photos while Nikki stayed wrapped up in bed. She always is so sensible.

So now I was checking the forecast daily because we were supposed to be leaving on the Monday. The conditions got worse because although we never had any more snow it was starting to thaw then would freeze again making all the roads on the site like a skating rink. It was bad enough trying to walk around but the thought of getting our 30ft five ton camper down the roads and round the bends was going to be a challenge.

We booked an extra night to play it safe and as we were only going to Minehead from there we could leave late morning. I checked out a second route to get out and with Nikki stood in the lane to make sure nothing was coming down the lane I drove across the lane turned around and headed of down hill. No stopping me now I was committed. Not only going down hill but on a narrow lane and no turning space until the end.

Made it and got to the main road and headed off to Minehead. The main road A361 was clear and looked loverly with all the trees covered in frozen snow at the side and all the fields covered in a blanket of snow. As I reached the M5 the snow was disappearing and the rest of the journey was fine.

So now we are at Minehead. The site is really quite which we like. We will be here until the new year before heading up to North wales to start work. That’s if we don’t get more snow. Fingers crossed. Plans while we are here is to bike up the woods, hike some coast path, that’s my plans while Nikki will join me in other activities like checking out the pubs and small walks.

Our first full day here yesterday so we headed out for a short walk to the beach in a very cold north easterly wind. To warm up a bit we headed for a pub right down by the harbour. A nice hot chocolate and a coffee with a piece of chocolate brownie and cheese cake on the side went down well.

Nikki was glad to get back to the camper after the walk back being cold. But on the way back we diverted a different way. Last year we saw a real old school barbers in Minehead. All the staff had black trousers, white shirts and black bow ties on. It just looked like a proper old barbers. Now I don’t need a haircut because every week I shave my head but I did need my beard trimmed so I decided to go in and have a chat.

Take a seat sir. A couple of minutes later the owner a guy in his seventies came out and said what can I do for you. He could see I didn’t need a hair cut and we joked about it. He started telling me about that he used to have a huge beard and a Harley Davison and then started to show me photos. I said I often get asked what motorbike I have and although I don’t have one I would love one. I told him about my Hot Rod that I used to own and he wanted to see the photos. It was so good in there, just proper old school. And my beard was trimmed really well. Nikki was impressed.

So that was a good day. Today it’s -3 out there but I am going out on my bike. Nikki is catching up on washing, phone calls etc. so the last two weeks have gone from Shorts and T-shirt in the sun to shorts and Tshirt in the snow. Like I said Nikki is the sensible one.