31st August to 3rd September 2012
The last day of summer 2012 (what summer, I hear you cry?) finds us in Castleton, Derbyshire.
Friday
We arrived around 2pm to find the site quite full, probably of people left over from the bank holiday, so not many pitches to choose from. The one we ended up in was not great as it had a path right next to it, so not much privacy this weekend!
Set everything up, including the awning, and then strolled into Castleton to have a look around and sample the local ales, of which there are plenty. No fewer than six pubs to choose from!
- Cheshire Cheese Inn – a nice quiet pub with an excellent selection of real ales. Some of the seats are a bit uncomfortable. Lots of games scattered around, we played backgammon here once.
- The Castle Inn – more a hotel and restaurant than a pub, but a great selection of real ales.
- Ye Olde Nags Head – also a great selection of beers. Not much to choose between these three.
- The Peaks Inn – didn’t really like this one.
- The George – have never been able to get inside this one, it’s always too full. Must be good!
- The Bulls Head – haven’t tried this one but looks okay.
We popped back to the caravan for dinner and then returned to Ye Olde Nags Head for their Friday night pub quiz. We didn’t come close to winning but did okay…34/50. We were reminiscing about the first time we came here and free food kept coming round, when all of a sudden, the barmaid appeared with a tray of sandwiches, then came back again with hot sausage rolls and chips, hurrah!
Saturday
It was overcast when we woke up so we didn’t rush to get out. The forecast was for an improving day and it was spot on.
The objective was Kinder Low (633 metres) from Upper Booth, via Jacob’s Ladder, but when we arrived at Upper Booth there was nowhere to park so we had to start from Edale instead. This added a couple of miles to the walk, making it about 8 in total.
Jacob’s Ladder
We made it to the summit.
Got chatting to a family with a couple of small dogs about the merits of handheld GPS’s after they saw us playing with ours. One of the dogs got left behind when they left and we saw it running round in circles looking for them, so D marched off in the direction they had gone while J tried to grab it. Luckily they came running back and Cracker was reunited with them.
We set off in a different direction, heading for the Woolpacks and Crowden Tower before returning to Edale. Lots of interesting rock formations here. More pics in the gallery.
Popped into a pub in Edale before heading back to the site for a barbecue and an evening in and around the caravan.
Sunday
Awoke very early to the sound of drip, drip, drip, drip….! The sound of water dripping from the front of the awning onto the storm flaps. Storm flaps in or out? that is the question. We always have them out, but probably wont in future!
It remained grey and overcast all morning but didn’t really rain again, so we went for a stroll to a crushing circle and wheel just outside Castleton. Yes, a crushing circle and wheel. Here it is.
The circle is made of metal and was very slippery. J slipped and fell but no pic or video record of it and luckily a soft landing.
We dropped off our first trackable travelbug here…Kitty Tag. We should be able to track it as it gets moved from cache to cache around the country.
Dinner at The Castle Inn…a very reasonable two courses for £9.95.
In the evening we went to the Cheshire Cheese Inn for their weekly pub quiz and couldn’t believe it when the quizmaster started reading out exactly the same questions we had had on Friday! We started fretting about how we were going to drink the gallon of ale first prize in the hour or so before last orders, but we needn’t have bothered. We only managed 18/20, as we forgot 2 of the answers, and there was an element of luck involved because it was Blockbusters style and you had to get the right answer in the right order. We didn’t win the bingo either, or the picture round, or the best team name competition!
Monday
Left early and noticed an annoying bump from the caravan when braking or slowing down. A quick look on google suggest it is the damper in the tow hitch, but it’s booked in for a running gear service later in the week. Hopefully nothing too expensive or the search for a new caravan will start up again.
All in all a really good trip, perhaps the best of 2012.
Lots of beer got drunk this weekend, so…
- Best beer of the weekend - Brother Rabbit from Thornbridge brewery.
- Worst beer of the weekend – Chatsworth Gold. Think there was something wrong with this one because D has had it before and quite liked it, but this time...urgh! Of course, he didn’t complain to the barman!
Just as well we didn’t win the gallon of ale!
Coming soon…
Despite D being off work for a week soon, nothing booked. It depends on the results of the service I guess.
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