Tim and Heather were part of ‘Team Shimshal 2017’ when they spent their summer sailing with us in Greenland rather than relaxing in their new Somerset home. A visit to their little bit of rural paradise was long everdue and so, for the May Holiday, we plucked up our courage, charged up our batteries and pointed our shiny new eCar south on it’s longest journey yet.
163 miles would be right at the limit of our range and it didn’t take us long to discover that the 5 star Gloucester Service Station was exactly half way. We knew that there we would find a high speed charging point so that our batteries could suck some electrons and speed us on our way. In the time that it took to scoff a bacon bap and sip a latte 18 kwatts of lovely electricity were shovelled on board.
At Bilbrook we paused to visit Eileen who was a great friend of my parents. Her garden was gorgeous in the early summer sunshine and we had a lovely afternoon tea with her reminiscing.
With half a battery to spare we slid into the Old School at Yarde and met up with our crew of 2017, Tim and Heather. They live in lovely contyside and it was displayed at its best on a clear day in May. Picture perfect villages nestling in snug valleys lined with oak, ash, and chestnut. Thatch cottages, medieval churches and the odd grand house pepperied the rolling green hills. All gorgeous.
We got whisked off on a series of walks. All of them took in narrow, ancient lanes, disused railway cuttings, and rolling parkland. Finally we ended up on a Quantok summit gazing out over the Bristol Channel to South Wales and Hinckley Point.
Rudi, a rare breed Exmore lamb, was served up for supper and we had a fine time relaxing in the company of friends with so many interests in common. Thank you Tim and Heather for a lovely weekend.
As I write the satellite girl says we have 48 miles to go with 80 miles of battery left so we should make it but we are wrapped up with down as the heater would, most likely, leave us in the lurch!
