Blown Away At Beaulieu

Checking the weather prior to VW T Chill, things looked ominous. A summer gale was on the way and the event was going to be right in the middle of it

- Adam Howard

As it happened, I’d planned to visit family in New Milton on the Friday en route to VW T Chill and deciding to stay home wasn’t an option, so I packed up Tonks and headed south. Tonks is SWB and not a high top, but even so being buffeted about on the A34 with big lorries being blown towards our lane was a little intimidating. Being the middle of the summer holidays, it was also very busy. We queued down to the A34/M3 interchange, crawled along the M27, and finally made it across the New Forest – looking resplendent in purple heather – to New Milton, where I squeezed Tonks into the available parking space and went to run my family errands. By early evening I was heading towards the event and arrived at Beaulieu to be greeted by the friendly staff at the gate and the cheering sight of a number of dubs already set up on the grass.

There was a lot of space to choose from to pitch upon, as it was clear quite a few had decided to give the Friday night ‘camping in a gale’ experience a miss! Most vans were pitched either side on to the wind, protecting their awnings or shelters, or nose/tail to wind if they had their roof up. Most ‘pop-top’ vans kept their tops firmly closed though! Being a solo camper, with no essential need for an awning or a raised roof, my pitching involved turning Tonks nose to wind to minimize the buffeting, putting the kettle on and settling in for the night with supper and a good book.