CAMrPA Tour 90
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Gifts for all occasions at
2009's tour will be from Friday 3rd July to Sunday 5th July; here's some details to help you find it.
The excuse...
There needs to be a good excuse for a CAMrPA tour, after all it's not just about the drinking is it...
My high speed dash towards the grand old age of 50 in late July just didn't seem to be a good enough reason, we needed more. In an attempt to provide a bigger, more rounded excuse for a tour, I've spent years manipulating things up here at BAESystems until the company finally decided the only answer was a massive redundancy programme. As we firmly believe that this will coincide with a gloriously hot summer, the end result of all of that effort is that the end of July 2009 sees me redundant and formally leaving work at BAESystems, a week after my 50th birthday and two weeks after I've actually left the company assuming I save enough holiday. It's grand when a plan comes together, shame it's taken this long to organise :-) . Now I just need a way to keep from getting in Karen's way all day long, probably something to do with helping her to run HoneyPotGifts so that she can get some sleep occasionally.
The tour...
As we're intending to go off and do something disgustingly private to celebrate the birthday / redundancy thing, we thought early July would be a great time for CAMrPA 90, "The OAP experience". It's not actually necessary to be a pensioner, all are welcome regardless of age, it'll just make me feel better if I'm not surrounded by spritely young things with full time jobs.
After much painstaking research (internet and telephone, fuelled by beer), we've picked out a camp site with some nearby pubs. Having worn out our welcome in Oxfordshire, all camp sites being either full or too far from a pub, we've moved our search slightly this year. The plan is therefore to go to Greetham near Rutland Water for the weekend of Friday 3rd July to Sunday 5th July. It doesn't clash with any festivals or race meetings that we can discover. There's a golf club not far away, but they probably can't hit balls that far. Oh, RAF Cottesmore is quite close but even the RAF get weekends off. Contrary to anything you may think, I'm not trying to be near aeroplanes to alleviate withdrawal symptoms, I'm sure I can live without them. :-)
The camp site...
The camp site is fairly modern as far as we can tell and they were very friendly and helpful on the phone today. There are three pubs within walking distance which seem to get good reviews and all do food apparently. For anyone too wimpish to camp, some of the pubs apparently do that indoor thing, with soft beds and solid roofs. However, as we're planning for beautiful sunny weather, you don't need to do that, do you?
The camp site address is Rutland Caravan and Camping Park, Park Lane, Greetham, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 7FN Tel: 01572 813520
Depending on whether people want electric hook-up or not, prices will be around £12 to £15 per night for tent plus 2 adults, £5 per extra adult and £2 for children over age 5. They have a couple of fields we can use, the family field is closer to the facilities and should be available if we book in time, otherwise it's the rally field which is further away from the facilities.
I said I'd get back to them to confirm numbers in a couple of weeks so I need people to confirm by Sunday 19th April if possible. Also let me know whether or not you want electric. After I've confirmed the numbers and sorted the deposit, I'll confirm it's all OK. After that, if anyone decides they can make it after all, you'll be able to contact the site directly and they'll try to put us all together.
Campsite's
website - Their own website
Campsite's website - Their website on RutNet
Campsite reviews From ukcampsite.co.uk
Map of location From Google Maps
List of the pubs From 'Beer in the Evening' (Page may have pop-ups according to my browser)
The Black Horse From restaurant-guide.com
The Plough From Rutland and Stamford Mercury ! (I'm Getting desperate for info now...)
Couldn't find any information about The Wheatsheaf but it looked pretty on the one picture I found
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