It's been the best part of a year since the Triton last left our garden on a largely forgettable trip to Cornwall that ended in our bringing our grandson home from Stalagfalmouth that due to Covid restrictions bore not the slightest resemblance to a university campus. It was a wise move as he starts at the University of Surrey et the end of this week studying the course he was aiming to do before the government's spectacular mishandling of the A level exams initially ruined his prospects. Fingers crossed that things will work out better this time.

As regular readers of this drivel will know, I hate planning holidays having lost deposits with C&CC in the past due to sudden illnesses on site, break-ins at home and family emergencies that have necessitated early return. This year I couldn't have chosen a worse time to leave things to the last minute. The plan was to start off in Salisbury for two nights in order to attend a friend's birthday barbeque and then head north west into the dark and yet to be explored country of Wales. But it was not to be. Despite sitting for ages at the laptop trying to find vacancies at C&CC and C&MC sites on the way to or in Wales we hit a brick wall. Everywhere was booked solid apart from C&CC Cheddar that could offer us three nights which we gladly took.

Arrival was odd; stay in the car and chat with a masked warden who led us to our pitch, the balance of the fee being taken from our credit card automatically. We ended up in a small field with five or six other units plus a warden's van on a nice sunny pitch backing onto a field in which a dozen or so cows were grazing. We were soon pitched and had the full awning up (guess who had forgotten to pack the sunshade) without having a 'domestic' - a divorce in a bag? Pah, we're old hands at awnings now. We needed the shade as it was a scorching day.

There was no phone signal on site for my network and WiFi that cost £6 for three days could only be organised by phone using PayPal which made things very difficult. In the end we managed it as Mrs C's phone (Tesco) had the faintest of signals but we had to go off site to phone home to ask our son to look up her PayPal password so we could return and pay for it. Why is life so complicated?

I had asked the warden if there was any chance that we could stay for a few more nights. Not a hope; they were fully booked but if they had a cancellation they'd let me know. As we were desperate, we got online and found one night at Longleat (C&MC) followed by three nights at Ilminster (C&MC) without awning so we booked them.

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Chez Calder

As our granddaughter will be moving to Bristol shortly we wanted to have a day in the city to do a recce of how to get to her flat so we drove there the next day and used the Park and Ride to get to the city centre. While we were on the bus I received a call from the Cheddar site manager advising me that they had had a cancellation and could now offer me three additional nights. Did I want them? Well, yes but I'd since booked another four nights with the rivals and I didn't want to be blackballed by now turning them down so I declined. Bloody typical. From the city centre we walked to Montpelier passing through the notorious, scruffy and graffiti-ridden St Paul's area on our way. It was hellish hot so we wandered back and found a 'spoons where we had lunch. The bus back to the P&R took us past the Baltic Wharf site which always seems to be on the verge of closing yet tenaciously clings on. Its days must surely be numbered now. Seeing the place made me think of Agger. I wonder how he is?

The following day we drove to Wells which is a lovely place to visit. It is the smallest city in England due to its having a cathedral. We baulked at the idea of paying £15 each for admission to the Bishop's Palace (have these people never heard of the law of diminishing returns?) and contented ourselves with a walk in the gardens.

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The Bishop's Palace, Wells

We wandered into the cathedral but only managed to access the cloisters and a garden as the main body of the building was being used for Millfield School's start of term service so we had to content ourselves with browsing an art exhibition that held little interest for us. Philistines.

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Wells Cathedral

Behind the cathedral and through an arched gateway we came across the Vicars' Close, terraces of lovely 14th century houses with ornate lantern chimneys originally used to house the cathedral choir.

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Cheddar Gorge is only a couple of miles from the site so we drove through and back a couple of times finding it surprisingly busy on each occasion. Pictures don't do it justice so I won't bother.

The C&MC handbook says no arrivals at the Longleat site before noon. It's a mistake as the barrier stays down until 1pm and all you can do is queue until they let you in. Surprisingly, the reception was open and payment was taken by use of a card reader. This really is a first rate site with huge pitches laid out in extensive, wooded parkland. Throughout the day we could hear monkeys calling to each other in the trees on the far side of the hedge and from time to time there was the sound of a tourist train in the safari park complete with commentary but the sound was never intrusive. We'd like to have gone for a walk in the grounds of Longleat House but there is no access without a full ticket. I should have expected it having visited Center Parcs, Longleat a couple of times but again there was no phone signal on site. Very frustrating.

On the way to Ilminster the next morning we saw what is commonly referred to as 'a police incident' on the opposite carriageway of the A303. An armed response unit had forced a car off the road and police were everywhere. A diversion was in place and the tailback was horrendous.

The Ilminster site was rammed full but I have no idea what the attraction there is as getting anywhere interesting involves quite a lot of driving. Chard is pleasant enough with a Tesco and Lidl at the bottom of the town but Ilminster itself was a disappointment as was Honiton.

We headed back home on Sunday via the A303 and A37 to Dorchester which was a great improvement over using the very busy A35.

On two sites we saw people with mobile homes who had also brought the family car, not a small vehicle towed behind as is quite common but a large saloon. We also saw a few more caravans sited with the jockey wheel up which we've only previously seen among Dutch caravanners in France. Beats me.

Well, at least we got away for a short break and by chance had some glorious weather. All the sites we visited were far more crowded than we like and if this is what caravanning in the UK is going to be like in the future I think we'll have to reconsider our options.