How can one day be so different I ask myself. You may remember me saying that we were going for promotion.

My phone rang in the morning at 9.30, it was the area manager to say we had got our promotion and to congratulate us. This means we could have our own site possibly next year. A scary thought.

Later that day we had to go out to a tyre shop to get a slow puncture mended. As the guys were working on the car my phone blipped with a message from a friend. A friend of mine had died suddenly at the age of 65. I have known this guy for nearly forty years and you could not wish to have met a nicer guy. So sad. RIP Dave.

A day off so we decided to go for a walk. I wanted to take some photos under the aqueduct. I have walked across it many times and even rode my bike across it but never been under it. It’s a nice walk across some fields and through the woods all beside the river.

Building work started on the aqueduct in 1796 and it opened in 1801.It’s 21 metres high and 220 metres long and the architect was Thomas Telford. And is still used daily by the narrow boats and the viaduct next to it is used by trains daily. I took some pictures in black and white to compare because back then all photos would have been in black and white.

A trip out to another national trust property the following day. Powis castle is only a short drive from us. The weather was looking a bit dodgy but we decided to go anyway thinking if the rain did come we would be in the house anyway.

The grounds to Powis castle are very impressive and the castle stands up above them so you get a good view from above and below.

As we arrived to park up a deer wandered across the carpark which was a good start. A short walk to the castle and through a grand entrance and the sound of a peacock could be heard. All in all we saw about five peacocks around the property.

As we walked around the gardens you can’t imagine what it would have been like to live in such splendour, all the space and so many staff to keep it all up together. We sit here in our camper van and think we are lucky. Some of the plants must have taken years to cultivate and get them to the way they are now.

A favourite part of the garden for me was a small wild flower section next to a lovely old house. If I ever had a garden this is what I would like it to look like. Plenty of bees and butterflies around enjoying it.

We ended up back at the tea room for a slice of cake and drink. Sitting outside with one of the peacocks roaming around nearby. The inside of the house / castle was very impressive like all national trust property’s. Just the fact everything is so old and has been looked after for hundreds of years. The national trust do a great job looking after all the these properties.

Nikki found some grape vines and I saw her holding the grapes hoping they would turn into a bottle of wine. It never happened but she got some wine later.

So a great morning spent at the castle and just as we were leaving the rain started, so good timing on our behalf. We left there and went to a big garden centre that also does bbq’s camping stuff, food etc just down the road which we had been to before. It has so much nice stuff and if we had a house and some money we could have spent a small fortune in there. As we have neither a house or lots of money we came out of there without buying anything.

Last week we altered our rota at work with our managers to enable us to go to Dave’s funeral back in Barnstaple. A five hour drive for us with a couple of comfort breaks. We went on the Wednesday and Nikki had booked an air B&B for a couple of nights.

The room was great and the couple who owned the house were really nice. We went o a local pub early evening to have a beer and some food. Living in the area for a good few years we knew of the pub and it used to be really nice. How times have changed. The beer and wine were good but the food was mediocre and the toilets etc were disgusting.

The service for Dave was very good ( if that’s the right words) and attended by so many people. He was such a popular guy and there was not a dry eye at the service. After the service there was a wake in Barnstaple at one of the hotels. We drove back to our room, parked up and walked down through the woods and into Barnstaple and had a drink to celebrate his life. I saw so many old friends there who I have not seen for years and we all said the same. He was too young to go at 65.

The next day we left Barnstaple at 9am because we had a long 5 hour drive. We had an appointment at South Molton on the way at a care home for Nikki’s mum and we needed to stop nearer home to get some shopping.

Five hours after leaving Barnstaple when we should have been home we were stuck in traffic in Bridgwater about an hour and half away from Barnstaple on a normal day. There was a bad accident on the M5 motorway. It’s the first time I have actually been in a traffic jam that big where everyone is out of their cars just hoping for some movement. Apparently the traffic was tail backed for eleven miles.

We didn’t bother getting any shopping and instead went to the takeaway and got back to our base at half past six, nine and a half hours after leaving Barnstaple. Work the next day for half past eight.

We are now away in Bertie the camper for a couple of days up at the Wirral and plan to do nothing. In fact last night I slept for twelve hours. Today it will be nice to do nothing and then have a rest afterwards.