12 Oct 2015

Ravenglass

9th to 12th October 2015

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Still our favourite site, we were looking forward to our visit to the C&CC site at Ravenglass, and it didn’t disappoint.

Friday

Ok, it’s a long journey, just under three hours, but no problems towing the longer caravan on twisting A roads.

We arrived around 1.30 and discovered that all of the pitches we had requested when we booked were taken! No problem, the very helpful new wardens said we could take our pick of what was left and we settled on pitch no. 32.  A part of the site we have not been on before, but it was nice and secluded.  Nearer to the road than we are used to, so a bit noisier, but it’s not a busy road.

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The bird feeder wasn’t a great success this weekend, with only occasional visits from the usual birds...coal tits, blue tits, great tits, robins.  Plus a great spotted woodpecker, identified thanks to the recently purchased RSPB book of birds!

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I wish I could say I’d taken this pic, but I can’t, it’s an image from Google!  If we weren’t so poor after buying the new caravan, the search would be on for a better camera than the Canon S120, which only has a 5x zoom…okay for landscapes, rubbish for wildlife photography.

As usual, we headed straight into the village and ended up outside the Inn at Ravenglass, overlooking the estuary.  Excellent beer, but no sunset tonight.  We did think about eating there, but it was fully booked, so we went back to the caravan for dinner and had a night in listening to the radio.

Saturday

Lots of white cloud about today, but pretty good conditions for a walk. We drove to Wasdale Head to tackle Illgill Head, 609 metres.

Illgill head route

Out and back the same way, we usually prefer circular walks but couldn’t figure out how to turn this into one without making it too long.  Anyway, another Wainwright ticked off.  Not a great day for pics, with washed out skies, but great views down into Wasdale Head.

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On the way up we noticed a steady stream of cars heading along the road below and gradually realised that something was going one.  It turned out to be the Wasdale show.  We had no idea it was on.  We didn’t hang around at the top and descended in record time so that we could catch the end of it.

The usual stuff…best sheep, best walking stick, fell race…and a display of classic cars and motorbikes.

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Afterwards we managed to get a table in the Wasdale Head Inn and had a lamb hotpot each.  No need to ask for the wi-fi password here…

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We had to walk past a field of sheep on the way back to the car, so tried not make make eye contact after eating one of their own!

Back at site, we had snacks in the caravan and then went to the Ratty Arms for a couple of drinks, after admiring a slightly better sunset than yesterday.  Sometimes the Ratty Arms can be too quiet, but tonight it was just about right.

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Sunday

A less strenuous day today, we went for a short walk around nearby Devoke Water, the largest tarn in Cumbria?

Devoke water walk

We haven’t explored this area before, but we really liked it and will return for a longer walk in the future.

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It’s not far from Boot, so we drove there afterwards and had a look around the old mill and then dinner in the Brook House Inn.

Got back to the site quite early and lazed around for a while, before heading off into the village.  We ended up sitting outside the Inn at Ravenglass until it got dark, then retreated inside for more drinks.  It was unbelievably peaceful and relaxing sitting outside, nothing but the sound of birds, the distant sea and a small girl trying to teach her younger brother to do a cartwheel.  Best pub experience of the year?  A good sunset, too.

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We were back in the caravan by 9 but couldn’t stay awake, so went to bed early!

Monday

A long journey home after possibly the best trip of the year?

Coming soon…

Nothing booked, we will have a weekend at home and then decide where to go.

5 Oct 2015

Castleton

2nd to 4th October 2015

Our first visit of the year to one of our favourite sites – Castleton Caravan Club site.

Almost always fully booked at weekends, we had to book this one months ago, long before we started looking at statics and other caravans.  Not being able to visit Castleton (and a couple of other places) is one of the reasons we decided against getting a static.

Friday

Nice and sunny today, and we chose a sunny pitch, only to discover it was too hot to sit outside, even with out of date sun tan lotion on!

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Lots of big caravans in our part of the site, but we can hold our own in this caravan.  Our first caravan, the Abi Sprinter, was about half the length!

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Apart from it being in a good area for walking, the main attraction of this site is how near it is to Castleton and its six pubs.  We headed straight for them!

The Castle Inn and the Cheshire Cheese are our favourites, and we booked a table for dinner on Saturday at the first.

But tonight it was dinner in the caravan (the temperature dropped too much for a barbecue).  There isn’t really anywhere to put a microwave in this caravan so we are having to cook proper food again.

After dinner we headed back into the village for  more drinks. We like the Cheshire Cheese as its a very old pub dating back to the 1700s, and they have a good selection of beers and board games.  It also seems to have had a bit of a refurb. 

The names of all the landlords have been added to the beams over the years

Saturday

A completely different day today, weather-wise, with mist and low cloud instead of blue skies and sunshine.

Undaunted, we decided to have a car free day and got a bus to the northern end of Stanage Edge, the plan being to walk to Hathersage and then get another bus back to Castleton.

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Stanage Edge is very popular with rock climbers and we saw lots today.  Not great weather for photography, but a couple of pics to set the scene.

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Got to Hathersage around 2pm and had tea and cake and a look around the shops.  Picked up an impressive geocache just before the village

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Then a very hot bus ride back to Castleton (heating on full).

Back at the site we discovered our bird feeder on the ground, and a couple of suspects caught red handed?

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They turned out to be not guilty.  A man in a neighbouring caravan fingered the real culprit…a grey squirrel.  Oh well, squirrels have to eat too. D caught him a few times shinning up to pole to get at the treats (the squirrel not the man next door)

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An excellent dinner in the Castle Inn, which wasn’t very busy.  Probably because everybody was in other pubs watching England get knocked out of the rugby world cup.

Only six pints for D this weekend,he usually drinks much more when we visit Castleton!

Sunday

An uneventful journey home listening to the Archers.

Coming soon…

Three nights in Ravenglass, another of our favourite sites.  Looking forward to some great sunsets…