FAMILY  HOLIDAY  AT  EYPE
5th to 12th August 2022

Route map. Our 2022 holiday was our first since we lost the use of our own motor vehicles.  It was initiated, organised and largely financed by Lisa and Tom.  A family celebration was planned to mark Mike's very recent 90th birthday and Leila's up-coming 60th.  So Leila and Dave were integral, Sophie and Olly essential; by happy coincidence, Ellie was home from New Zealand, newly engaged to Ben who would be able to join for most of the week before they set off southwards together again.

With so many facilities to transport, Tom hired a large van for the week: Mike and Dougall shared the passenger seat while Lisa chauffered Callie, Ellie and Margaret ("G-G" = Great Grandma in the context), with Tess and Woody in the back.  With no motorway or obvious main road route, the drivers followed the directions on their phones as practised previously.

The travel day proved to be of sun with modest cumulus.  The seven-day forecast was of blue skies and heat-wave temperatures: it proved to be correct!

Layout at Eype. The principal facility at Eype is the Clabon family chalet.  In deference to age and infirmity, that comprehensive and sophisticated accommodation was allocated to us - Mike and Margaret and Dougall.  All the others were to come equipped with tentage, bedding and utensils to be set up in the top (and it was truly the steep TOP) seaward corner of the adjoining Holiday Park campsite.  Main meals were to be cooked in the mess-tent, or in the chalet's kitchen and shared on its patio.  Setting everything up occupied the remainder of Friday.

So next morning we were able to explore.  Like this, our new home territory seen from the South West Coast Path up the matching eastward hill.
Eype area.

Zooming in on the campers, and some minor local wildlife -
Our campers.

Then it was a day on the beach for many.
Preparing the vessels.
Preparing the inflatable canoe and paddleboard.

Lisa, Tom and Callie in thr canoe..
Lisa, Tom and Callie set sail in the Tahiti.

Leila, Sophie and Olly in the canoe.
Leila, Sophie and Olly take a turn.

Using the paddleboard.
Sophie and Olly try out the paddleboard.

View from camp: evening meal.
View from camp.       Evening meal in camp: G-G, Leila, Olly, (Dougall & Tess), Dave, Tom, Lisa, Ben, Sophie, Ellie.

The coast path west.
On the cloudless Monday Leila and Mike followed the South West Coast Path westwards and upwards to the Thorncombe Beacon, via the livestock spring-fed water supply.  (They returned by a slightly longer but less steep route, further inland.) Thorncombe Beacon.

The chalet patio.
With the sea horizon guaranteed level, the hill really was at that angle.    Evening barbecue cooked and eaten on the patio.

Visit to Uncle's.
On the Wednesday we all went across to Durdle Door but, finding it too crowded and the heatwave too oppressive, returned via Uncle Andy and Auntie Deborah's, where cousin Sam assisted in the provision of an impromptu lunch for us all in the interesting and shaded garden.

Final dinner.
Our final full day, the Thursday was marked by an evening dinner out, just up the road at the New Inn, Eype.

The Clabon field.
Another of the Clabon Clan Possessions is a field close by the New Inn.  Tom and Lisa gave us all a conducted tour as the sky lost its blue and the evening began to close in.

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