A Scolding in Southport

Southport is our destination this weekend. Yet more delays on the journey through Lancashire. Queues at the end of the M57 lead us to try the back roads, along with everyone else it would seem. It did give us the chance to see an overseas lorry driver get himself into and out of a mess whilst attempting a u turn.

Dark and wet when we arrived at the town. There are two sites in the town and, of course, we went to the wrong one. A courtesy call from the correct one directed us to the gatehouse. We're given a map of the site and the marshal highlighted our pitch. In the dark, it proved difficult to see the posts so Paul had to leave the van look for the pitch. He was helped by a kindly man who stood in front of the pitch until Paul returned with the van.

We walked into Southport to find something to eat. Quite a choice, we settled on a meal deal at Prezzo. A shared starter, an individual main course and a shared dessert, plus a bottle of wine and a bottle of water and we were ready for the walk back. Morrisons is open 24 hours a day so Rosie has to take a look at the baby clothes before we're allowed back to the site.

On Saturday, Paul walks the 2 miles to Hesketh Park to take part in the weekly parkrun. A twisty route around the lake but one that retains the interest. Fortunately, the rains stays away.

For the first time, we cook the breakfast in the van, delicious. We also take the opportunity to test the cooker using the gas rather than the electricity.

We're due offsite by midday. At 11:55 the marshal appeared. We assumed that he was checking that we were leaving. He was OK with that. What he had a problem with was that Paul had parked the van the wrong way. He'd followed everyone else around by backing into the space. In doing so, Paul had created a fire hazard. He should have parked side-on to create a fire break. A study of the map later graphically showed what we should have done. We made a hasty retreat!

A gentle four mile walk around Thornton, Ince Blundell and Little Crosby on the way home. Traffic was much kinder to us on the way home.