Dawlish Warren

I really dislike big campsites. This is based on nearly 40 years of camping, I wrote a blog on it here . Well in the last 2 year my view is starting to change. Cofton campsite is huge, it has a couple of swimming pools, restaurants, shop etc. even yoga classes. What I am finding is big sites in winter can be good. Cheap rates (£20), decent facilities and none of the disgusting behaviour you normally find on these sites. You still are parked in rows of vans with no views which seems normal in big sites, but having a swimming pool or some pool tables on a long winters evening is rather nice. Dawlish Warren is nice in winter, with a pub looking out to sea and nice walks. We have done our usual cycling and walking, the bike paths in the area are excellent! We cycled to Exeter and had a great guided tour of the cathedral. We cycled to Budleigh Salterton, Haldon Forest, and Exemouth. We walked to Haldon Forest, to the nature reserves on the Exe and saw tons of birds new to us, and we got a train to Paignton. I am fed up of cold UK, so we have rather naughtily been spending on food and drinks in cafes rather than braving more salads sat on a sea front bench beaten by the wind. The weather has been kind to us, we have not had any rain but we did have minus 5 one night and around zero a couple of times.

The van always has issues when we go away, it’s just something I accept now. This time it was the radio, this proved to just need a reset following some work we had done on the van. Also one of the blinds on the windows broke, luckily John and I are happy wielding screwdrivers. The only other issue is the vague smell of rotting mice when we put the heating on but I’m sure that will pass with time. The other thing we did while here was book a ferry to Spain! And a campsite in Valencia to see Las Fallas. And agree when we go to Israel to see Matt. We may not be able to tour Europe like we used to be able to thanks to Brexit but we will make the most of what we can do.