Who says that you have to travel a long way to find a good campsite? We decided to try the Camping and Caravanning Club Site in Chertsey as it was not too far from home, the reviews were good and the site was situated right on the River Thames. The thought of some nice long walks by the river with a selection of nice pubs to try out along the way was too tempting to resist.
We faced our fears and wound out the awning for the first time since purchasing the camper van. It was very straight forward but we found that it flapped around in the wind quite a lot. After a bit of research on the VW California Club forum we discovered that if you wind the awning back in a bit then it tightens it and stops the flapping around. We laid a groundsheet down underneath to catch the mud from our shoes and the dogs' paws (can't believe we hadn't thought to do that sooner) and quite liked the look of our set up with the roof up and the awning out.
Feeling very satisfied with ourselves for finally winding out the awning we also thought it would be a perfect time for us to try out our new Cadac Safari Chef Deluxe and do some cooking under the awning. We are still not brave enough to cook inside the van and also don't fancy the idea of sleeping in our kitchen. I guess that when the time is right we will use it but until then we are happy to cook in the great outdoors.
We pre-made a chilli con carne at home and brought it with us to heat up on our first night at the campsite. Nice and easy! However, showing our usual signs of cowardice, we totally wimped out of using the Cadac and instead took out the old reliable Outwell Appetizer Single Burner cooker. Well, this turned out to be an epic fail as it was quite chilly outside and there was a particularly chilly breeze coming from the river so after about 25 minutes on the cooker our chilli was lukewarm at best. We tried to ignore our rumbling stomachs and keep it cooking for another 10 mins but in the end hunger got the better of us and we ate our slightly chilly chilli. Lesson learned.
Since our last camping adventure my husband had the rear windows limo-tinted so this was another new thing to get used to. I am personally not entirely keen on this as I find it makes the interior too dark. At night time it is lovely but during the day I miss being able to appreciate the blue sky and sunshine from inside the van. It is great for privacy and I'm assured that during the summer months it will prevent the inside of the van from heating up too much when the sun is shining on it but for now I remain not overly enthusiastic about this.
Despite the chilly riverside air, the weather was nice and dry so we managed to get and about with the dogs and enjoyed some lovely long walks along the Thames.
You can walk along the towpath to Shepperton in one direction or towards Laleham in the other direction. We decided to walk towards Shepperton and found a lovely pub to go for a bite to eat and a couple of pints called The Thames Court.
The pub was around a 25-30 minute walk from the campsite and you can either walk along the road before picking up the towpath later on or walk alongside the river the whole way. Needless to say if you walk along the river you are probably adding another 15 minutes onto the journey but we found it to be very enjoyable and it certainly wore the dogs out!
This campsite had a very homely feel to it. The facilities were excellent with a heated toilet and shower block, which was kept very clean and the washing up facilities were good too with plenty of hot water. There is a BP petrol station over the road from the site with a Spar shop - perfect for the essentials, topping up with a few treats or buying a morning newspaper.
We are looking forward to coming back to Chertsey. Maybe next time we will be a bit braver with our cooking?
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