A little while ago we embarked on a nine day camping roadtrip starting in Northern Germany. We made our way through five countries in one day and spent a whole week driving along the English South Coast all the way down to the Cornish North and up to Nottingham for a quick pit stop to see family before returning to Germany. Not only did we cross five countries, we also crossed twenty UK counties and saw countless amazing places, some of them new, some long time favourites.
It was our first long term camping experience and first actual roadtrip, a truly great adventure! We got surprised by a storm halfway through our trip and had to retreat to a hotel for fear of being blown off a cliff! But let me start at the beginning...
On a Saturday morning we climbed into our little car, squeezing ourselves into whatever spaces were left between all the camping gear and made our way to Dunkirk, France.
You may or may not agree with me that car journeys aren’t the most exciting thing, so we’ll skip the part of how we got to the ferry port although I will say so much as that Belgian petrol stations are very confusing, not only because they seem to have free roaming chickens, however this is a long story and I'm digressing...
After a long, tiring day of driving and a ferry crossing offering all the incredible views of Englands beautiful white chalk cliffs, we arrived in Dover and continued on to Freshwinds Farm Camping in Pett, a tiny village near Hastings. We got a little nervous when the narrow single track lane which led to the farm just didn’t seem to end, but we eventually arrived safely and even managed to set up the tent before dark. The little campsite is very back-to-nature, compost toilets and all! They also rent teepees and do yoga classes - they even have a therapy yurt! I would recommend this to anyone looking for a civilisation escape, it really is small and you don't have to worry about other campers bothering you too much. We enjoyed the peace and quiet and as we figured throughout the rest of the week, although it can be chilly and wet in September, it's still worth choosing this time of year as almost all campsites are virtually empty. The only downside to our Freshwinds experience was that they weren’t offering any yoga classes during our stay. I guess we’ll have to come back!
Our very first night in our brand new tent went well, we managed to stay warm thanks to our incredible Outwell sleeping bags (no, I'm not being paid for advertising, just genuinely love these, because they're warm and super cosy!) and immediately learned some very valuable lessons for the rest of our trip, such as: ALWAYS USE THE EXTRA RAIN SHEET!
The next morning there was no escaping the morning dew whilst we were packing down our camp and we ended up absolutely soaked, but also quite refreshed. We managed to get back up the muddy lane we’d been sliding down the previous evening and although I had to push the car a little bit, we were back on the road soon and ready for a new day of adventures.
Our obligatory breakfast stop was Eastbourne. I love the charme of Victorian seaside towns and I wished we could have stayed longer. Quirky shops and markets, artists and creative people, pebbled beaches, piers which even after decades of being battered by the elements still manage to keep some of their grandiosity. We couldn’t help ourselves and had to stop at Beachy Head later on - it’s definitely one of our favourite spots on the South Coast and what is there better than standing on a clifftop, over 500 ft above the waves with the wind in your hair and a tiny looking lighthouse beneath?
The final destination for the day was Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck (it's a peninsula, not an actual island, but it has a nice, solitary island feel to it), a part of England I’d never been to before. It was raining, but that didn’t stop us from exploring the castle ruins which tower on the highest point of this idyllic little village. Corfe Castle beams with pretty cottages, good pubs and features a heritage railway operated by a nostalgic steam train.
Day two was a long and fun day of exploring and after treating ourselves to a Sunday Roast (man, how I’ve missed Britain!) it was time to set up our tent again at Woodyhyde Campsite and snuggle up inside...
If you would like to find out how the rest of our roadtrip went, keep your eyes peeled for part 2: Dorset to Cornwall - in this episode we get to Tintagel, one of the most beautiful places on earth!
In the meantime, why not visit my own website / blog on https://nomadrituals.wixsite.com/blog
Also, I would like to thank everyone who commented on and upvoted my previous post about our trip to the Bavarian Alps. It even got featured on #traveldigest! I couldn't believe it when I logged on and saw all your feedback. Thank you so much - really appreciate it!
Lisa x