Caravanning to Clacton

This weekend we took the caravan up to Clacton. I wanted our first trip to be somewhere relatively close as I'm still inexperienced at towing, and Anna has some family in Clacton so we killed two birds with one stone.

Once I managed to hitch the caravan to the car (it took me about twenty minutes the first time) the trip to Clacton was relatively stress-free. We didn't really hit any traffic and despite struggling a bit on hills we got there OK. The caravan park was relatively quiet so parking wasn't too much of a struggle either, I was able to drive straight into the space so no reversing required thankfully.

Despite my worries about getting the water, waste water, gas, electricity etc. set up, I managed to work things out pretty well. We then went to investigate the entertainment available on site. The food at the restaurant wasn't too bad. The entertainment for the kids was as you might expect, featuring 'Sparky's Krew Club', Sparky being a giant rabbit, and it had an incredibly catchy/annoying theme song which is still stuck in my head. Nicky was in his element though, he loved running around the dance floor when the music was on, and took a real shine to the giant rabbits (and evil dog Narky).

On the Saturday I took Nicky to the swimming pool, but he really didn't seem to like the water, being content to run around in circles in the smaller pool. After that we went into Clacton itself and saw Anna's family, then went to the seafront and took Nicky on some of the rides, his favourite was the 'big train' which was a small rollercoaster which afforded views of the windmills out in the sea.


Saturday night was again spent with Nicky running around the dancefloor and getting excited about the giant rabbit. He had such a huge smile on his face that it made the terrible songs etc. bearable for us!

Sunday was a bit lazier. Anna took Nicky swimming this time but again all he would do is walk around in circles! Then we took him to the playground to play on the swing for a while (where I witnessed one classy mother encouraging her daughter, probably a bit older than Nicky, to wee at the edge of the playground). We went to the Toby Carvery for lunch where Nicky ate everything we could pile onto his plate, then went for a walk on the beach to have an ice cream and see the windmills again. The evening was again spent watching Nicky dancing and asking after the rabbits. One of the people working there, Carrie-Ann, learned Nicky's name and was really nice to him (in fact she was great with all the kids - I'm not sure how she was so enthusiastic every night!)

Coming back, I was a bit more confident towing the caravan, to the extent that I even overtook some vehicles. Pretty difficult though when going up a hill. Hopefully the new car will be a bit better despite having the same engine size...

Keane Ingram

A father of three and husband of one. I enjoy spending time with my family, staying active (especially cycling, running and capoeira) and playing video games. I also enjoy reading and watching films.

No comments:

Post a Comment