21 June 2020
Here we are, Sunday morning, the shortest day. I know the coldest weather tends to come after the winter solstice but, ever the optimist, I feel buoyed by the thought that from tomorrow on, the days will get longer and nights shorter until, before we know it, it’s the summer solstice.
Last night did indeed seem a very long night. We weren’t cold. The van has a diesel heat pump that keeps us toasty warm. But there were strong winds buffeting us at intervals, which made the camper shake as if there were an earthquake. Even though I knew it was the wind, first thoughts were of all those signs around the campgrounds saying ‘If it’s long and strong, be gone’. So, a somewhat broken night’s sleep. There was rain also overnight but I never heard it, masked as it was by the rumble of the waves and the shaking from the wind.
Sunday morning in a camper van is not so very different from Sunday morning at home but with better views and less housework – reading, writing, coffee, another coffee. . . The rain has so far kept away this morning and soon we’ll be off on a walk to the lighthouse. The sea is stained muddy brown from silt washed down the Castlepoint Stream but there are clear views across to the lighthouse to the south and the bluffs to the north.
And now we are back in the campervan after a walk to the lighthouse. We stopped for a takeaway coffee along the way from the shop café, where I also bought myself a rather nice ceramic keep cup to replace my current chipped one. The new one is taller but narrower, so easier to lift in and out of the coffee holder in the car. But I digress.
Predictably the weather closed in as we started up the boardwalk but it was more low cloud than actual rain. It was blustery, although the raincoat and waterproof trousers kept out the wind. Bracing, but not unpleasant. It was good to be out in the fresh air. By the time we got back, the clouds had lifted, giving us clear views once again to the north and south.
Off Highway One 