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| Saw this houseboat in Port Elgin on Saturday - what a brilliant name for a party boat! |
Up with the lark, or rather up with the hound; seventy pounds of greyhound doing a good impression of a sack of potatoes on the bed is enough to push anyone out from the covers. Still, as I sat semi-dazed outside and watched through half closed eyes, I did get to see the early risers rushing around and packing up, hoping to get off their site before eight. I've often wondered why there's this indecent haste to leave after a long weekend, especially as most people don't travel far. This morning, though, I overheard one fellow say that he wanted to get home early as he needed to clean his trailer up - fair enough I suppose, but not worth giving up the best of a fabulous day for in my (ever so) humble opinion!
Anyway, as the fug in my head cleared I set to on the morning routine (lazing about and/or taking the hound for a walk) and watched the camp ground empty. I always feel quite deviant sat there making no move to pack up whilst others are scurrying about but, as the weather was marvelous, we were rushing nowhere.
We ate a leisurely brunch of croissants and jam and, when we did start to pack, were on our way in about half-an-hour - or rather we would have been if the power connector between car and trailer hadn't decided to play up. A few unbent prongs later and we were off.
Wind is the enemy of trailer folk. Towing into a head wind makes your car work hard and the fuel consumption scary, even with a relatively slippery Airstream in tow (I suppose the clue is in the name). On Friday we seemed to be battling an unusual and gusty north-easterly and on the return trip we met with the usual south-westerly, only it was blowing very, very hard. Add the high air temperature and the poor old Toadmobile had a torrid trip home. If I remember correctly, though, these early and late season trips can suffer a bit from the wind and anyway, we managed to get home on a single tank of fuel. Just!
So, the first trip of the season went well. The weather was great, the tadpoles were absent and the hound was the only hindrance - she's bloody heavy when lying on your legs at five in the morning! Now our trailer needs cleaning, inside and out, perhaps I should have left earlier...
