Wendover Wood

Wendover Hill and area is mainly deciduous woodland on rolling hills and there are lots of nature reserves so generally a nice area. We did lots of walking and cycling. Red kites are everywhere around here and we have seen lots of deer. The grand union canal is a walk away. The site is on the edge of the wood. It’s a 5 unit site, nice owners but to me expensive (£20 a night). Wendover wood is a well used woodland, great views from the view points, lots of activities including go ape, dens, playgrounds and cafe. Also an iron age fort. Nice place. Not over commercialised but fun nature for the family.

Aylesbury is basically a dump. Let’s start with the nice bits. The Kings head a 13th century pub, serving drinks (hot chocolate for us) in a cobbled courtyard surrounded by old stable buildings and rooms, now owned by the national trust is well worth a visit. It also sold some of the nicest bread I have had in the UK. The main square has a nice town hall building, a clock tower and a few statues. Alas the square is ruined by traffic. The approach / exit to the city was well marked cycle ways mainly through housing estates but it meant we were not mixed with multi lane traffic. But the whole town had a run down feel despite having two modern shopping centres in the middle.

The van always has issues on the first outing of the year, this time the whole hot water system. Ice issues. The filter was smashed, the kitchen tap pushed apart as well as the tap connection and the washbasin tap also destroyed. We spent a lot of evenings plumbing. The hot water boiler doesn’t seem to be working correctly either, but we only had one cold shower. The alarm didn’t deactivate a few times either so we woke the campsite twice by the alarm going off (if you can wake the campsite at tea time). And to add to that John’s electric bikes stopped working on a 14% hill, we think it was actually the old battery that is starting to pack up. The internet is awful but then we are in the UK but it didn’t make my Spanish lesson go well. Despite the issues it was good to be away again and we had a great time.