Bideford Riverbank Carpark - £8 per day inc overnight
Bideford Riverbank Carpark – £8 per day inc overnight

We are loving Torridge District Council’s car park policies. They allow up to two nights parking in five of their larger car parks. It costs just £3 for the day and £5 overnight. We spent two nights at the Riverbank Car park in Bideford which is right beside the River Torridge. We had a nice spot sheltered by some trees and great views across the river. Just a few minutes walk in to the little town of Bideford. Close to the car park is the Burton Gallery and Museum which was really interesting. It is hard to beleive that this small town was once (1699) the third largest port in England specialising in tobacco from the new American colonies. It is still a working port and we watched a ship being loaded with ball clay bound for Spain. The MS Oldenburg that sails to and from Lundy is also based here.

River Torridge at Bideford at the Riverbank Car Park where we spent two nights
River Torridge at Bideford at the Riverbank Car Park where we spent two nights
Bertie at the Bideford Riverbank Car Park
Bertie at the Bideford Riverbank Car Park

The weather was against us here – in fact the bad forecast was partly what made us select this sheltered spot. Even so on Friday and Saturday nights we were rocked to sleep by the gales battering the South West. We walked in to the little town and had a look around on Thursday despite the overcast skies and threat of rain. On Friday all we managed to do was take the washing in to the laundrette and we got well soaked walking back to Bertie! Very few photos here as not really camera weather.

We are getting short of water – it is four days since we last filled the water tank and I could see nowhere around to get water. It poured with rain most of Friday and all that night. Here we were worrying about water and it was hammering down all around us. In the end we put the bucket under the front corner of the van just where all the water runs off the roof and it filled in a few minutes. We used this water (boiled in a saucepan) for washing up and other non-culinary uses. It worked well and we will use that again when we are parked up in heavy rain in areas where tap water is hard to come by.

Mileage reading tonight: 119013 kms
Mileage today: 31kms
Mileage from home: 819kms

34th and 35th nights on Bertie

Get Directions

show options hide options
Carpark heaven in Bideford
Tagged on: