After we'd parked up for the night we had the chance to have a little stretch of the legs. The rain had stopped now but we'd been warned that the river Severn was known to flood in this area so we went to see how high it was.

Think we'll be OK for the night but it was interesting to note that it must happen with some frequency such that they actually have a sign warning people!

As far as car parks go this is quite a pretty one next to the river and a rather majestic looking railway bridge above us.

We all slept well, and Al enjoyed his toasted hot cross buns for breakfast, as much as there are downsides to the bigger moho compared to our camper having access to an oven and grill are very useful. We checked out the river in day light and it's clearly higher than it should be but boy at the stage we'd have been flooded.

Having refilled for supplies (including more hot cross buns) we have 90 minutes drive ahead of us to Church Stretton. Al's auntie Adele lives there (hello since I know you enjoy the travel blogs!) so we're popping in to say hello before heading to Carding Mill Valley.

We parked down in the town as we weren't sure there would be space for Mario at the house and walked up. The children were on their very best behavior thankfully and were gifted some lovely things, including a bible each and 2 hand carved wooden German figures. Liliya was asked to name them and she chose Charlie and Lola 😂

On our way back into the village I had spotted a rather grand looking antiques store so we decided to pop in.

This place was eclectic, there was also a sadness about all the once personal items that had been picked up from numerous house clearances. One was a silver pocket watch with an inscription of Father of the Groom, it got me wondering if the Groom was still alive or how many generations this could have passed down through (it was only £18 and didn't look that old so probably none). Despite the children finding so many 'interesting' and must buy things we left without accumulating any of the tat, I mean treasures.

It was past lunchtime now and I'd seen a bakers with a little sit down area so rather than make sandwiches we decided to eat here. Robert had already eaten several hot cross buns from Auntie Adele but still had room for cake! Liliya of course wanted chocolate cake and got chocolate and insisted on a picture for grandma's (and now her) friend Margaret.

Tummys full it was time to enjoy a walk around Carding Mill Valley, as national trust members we do enjoy using our perks to get free parking. Al described it as an outdoor adventure area, thankfully it wasn't raining at this point but I can see it being much more fun in the summer with the kids getting to splash about in the streams but mine didn't let the lack of sunshine get to stop their fun.

Within about 30 seconds Robert was soaking as his welly must have had a leak but even that was fine by him. Liliya and I took things a little more carefully as I would seriously not be impressed to get wet feet right now.

After some fun playing in the streams we decided to go for the reservoir walk.

Supposedly a gentle 1km walk we figured this wouIt's 7.50pm and we're off, the weather is hideous, we're heading to Wales so my expectations for it getting any better are low. It's our first trip in Mario the moho since we discovered we were in a leaky rotting box on wheels! I didn't really share the full drama of everything we went through as there was a point we thought we might end up in court. I could write a whole post just about the insanity but trying to keep it short not only was the moho not fit for purpose and therefore we were covered by the consumer rights act it turns out we didn't even own it as an investor had a mortgage on it. If I wasn't married to an ex forensic investigator we'd have never found out but the company who sold us the van were as shady as they come!

There were several email exchanges between us where they claimed that they weren't bound by the consumer rights act which is illegal in itself so after getting some legal advice and sending one final letter in writing they completely folded and decided they would pay for all the repairs.

When the rotten panels were taken off it was pretty scary to see how bad things were given its only 4 years old.

I feel like this week will really put things to the test though given the amount of rain we're driving through at the moment.

Typically my first blog post would also involve me sharing an overview of the route but this time the spreadsheet planner within me has had nothing to do with organising the trip. Work has been rather full on and I've not had the headspace come the evening so I'm mostly in the dark other than I know there's going to be castles and we're visiting Snowden! Just one hour into the trip and the kids are already fighting, I've had to threaten to ban all Easter eggs which seems to have done the trick for now. We won't get to Wales until tomorrow apparently so tonight we're staying in a car park in Worcester, living the dream 😜ld get fresh air into us all before heading off to Wales.

Once at the reservoir Robert really wanted to strip down to his pants and go for a swim, Al was having none of it (I said go for it thinking he'd likely chicken out after putting his legs in but honestly you never know with him).

Instead the pair of them just sat at the edge with their wellies in until Liliya decided to get up and have a bit of a splash then tripped backwards and sat in the water up to chest height. The tears began but after we'd picked her up and got her out I'm amazed that she just took it in her stride, I would have lost it if that were me and given the little things madam can have a tantrum over I was seriously impressed with her.

Back at the moho both kids stripped off, somehow Robert was also soaking from his thighs downwards, and got into their PJs.

We had a 90 minute trip to our overnight stop in Denbigh, Wales. Whilst the kids were listening to Roald Dahl Al and I tried learning a few key Welsh words with the help of duolingo, the very first word was Dragon which OK is very Welsh but I'm not sure will really help us out in the shops. We did spot a super bright rainbow however, so far in less than 24 hours I've needed my wooly hat and my sunglasses!

We've got the next 2 nights in a field next to a glider air field but given the weather I can't imagine we'll get to see any. It still feels odd not knowing what we're getting up to so I asked to see Al's spreadsheet. Hmm I better get back on my A game for our summer trip as it's not up to my high standards, turns out he's not actually finished planning the trip yet either 😂