So firstly, as always, the apology. I realise it’s been a while, but genuinely nothing of any interest has happened. There are only so many photos of my tomatoes I can post.

I’d fancy going camping on Friday, but something called storm Lillian was thrown in my face by a few friends. It didn’t really look like it was gonna hit our neck of the woods but in the end I decided to stay in. However, Sunday came around and weather was good enthusiasm levels were high so off I pottered to Chichester.

The walk by the canal is stunning, no avoiding that conclusion, but did seem to be a longer walk than I had planned for. I didn’t hurry, but took ninety minutes to get to campsite. When I got here, wind had got here first and was making itself at home. First time I’ve ever been worried about losing the tent whilst pitching, but finally got it set up. Didn’t have enough pegs to put out guy ropes, so fingers crossed.

Rain is incoming, so at least I’m pitched up, with a pot noodle and a hot chocolate inside me.

If I wake up tomorrow I’ll share how I get home, assuming that I do. The clouds have rolled in so I’m rolling into my sleeping bag.

Well I had decided yesterday that I would go camping and try out this little campsite just south of Chichester. Seemed like a fairly doable walk from the train station, so booked the pitch and the train. After work when I had leisure to check out the route to the site, it occurred to me that a section of this walk was gonna be on a country road with no pavement.

Having had a bad experience with rucksack and country road, I decided that I would see how much a hire car would be for the weekend. Long story short, expensive, but what the hell.

Picked up my Vauxhall Crosslander this afternoon and headed home to pack. Realising that weight is no longer an issue, I packed two solar panels, a 300wh power bank, a 12v fridge, two tents, and my usual sleeping kit. What I didn’t pack was hatchet for chopping wood, or bottle opener or the tripod grill I was intending to cook burgers on.

Traffic wasn’t too bad, although finding the place was near impossible as the w3w address they gave was actually for a back road, across a field, to a church. But finally got here, got set up and basically burned to death in the 30 degree heat.

When it cooled down to below the temperature of the surface of Venus, I made a fire and then chilled for the evening.

Also experimenting with having the head end of the tent open to the elements, might be cooler but also might be a nightmare. We will see.

See you in the morning.

So I had what is probably the best night sleep I have ever achieved whilst camping. Not a single sound all night, no rodents mugging me for biscuits, no military aircraft flying republican riflemen to Pennsylvania, just silence and sleep. It was a little rainy through the night and the morning, but did not stop me from getting up and making porridge. Got all packed up and managed to blag a lift across the island with my bags. Got some more peacock feathers, and a nice new bag from the national trust shop.

The ferry back was exceptionally weird, as I was the only passenger returning to the mainland. Journey home was fairly uneventful, but just for the sake of completeness, I will add a couple of pics so you get the idea.

Anyway, back to the real world, so until next time.

So when I got up this morning to make breakfast, seems someone had been waiting for me.

This may not have been the dude from yesterday, although, they are all under suspicion for the nighttime mugging I experienced. Sooo, about 0100, I was awake and kept hearing some weird rustling noises from just outside the left tent door. I bashed the side of the tent, thinking that if it was an animal, that should just scare it off.

A little later it happened again. I got up and shine torch out there, to no avail. No movement, no sound of scampering away, I decide it must just be wind playing tricks on me. After an hour of this, the noise is unmistakable, so I’m up, torch in hand, and done bugger has got my ginger biccies out of my rucksack that I’d left outside the tent.

In the cold light of day, turns out he chewed the packet out of my bag. Anyway so I had to get up to dispose of biccies and topped up water bottle, but damn it was freaky.

One, some, or more of these pics may be replaced when I get home and can see them better, but it’s a quick photo summation of my day here. I’ve walked a lot, taken a few hundred photos, and now I’m in bed hoping to sleep until dawn.

So, if only I realised that this would be the start of a problem.

Okay so obviously I realise that this looks hilarious. However this pearlescent nutter followed me to watch while I cooked, and then came and harassed me for half an hour until I managed to wolf down my nasi goreng, when he wandered off. I have now eaten 66% of my rations and it was not a peaceful meal. Fuck peacocks, they are bullies.

Well, I’m currently on an island that is way bigger than I thought, in my tent, with way less food than I need. I have packed very light, at least that’s what I thought. I have a front and back pack, so that I can wander around the island with some supplies without having to take a full pack. However, as it’s quite warm, being sandwiched between the two bags has been incredibly hot and uncomfortable.

Train journey was uneventful, and when alighting at Poole station, I tabbed to the dock to catch the ferry. There were a lot of people waiting. Decided that queuing was the best plan rather than going to buy supplies. Got onto boat, boat floated, boat arrived.

When I got to the island I dropped my big bag off to be taken across the island in a cart. I then started my walk to the campsite. Everything here is just stunning. So I meandered off course a few times until the campsite had to call me to check I hadn’t fallen off a cliff.

Got to campsite after ignoring their instructions and getting lost again. Picked a pitch, met Noisy Nigel, pictured below, and got settled.

I had food, one third of my supplies, so now chilling in my tent, listening to nothing but birdsong.

I will update later or tomorrow, peace all.