Kendal

11-13 April 2025

We only really go to two CAMC sites now - Coniston and Kendal, and we chose the latter for a quick two night trip for the Easter madness starts.

Friday

A bit of traffic on the way meant we arrived a bit later than we wanted, but we wouldn't have got either of our first choice pitches (21 or 22) because they had both been occupied for a few days according to the warden.  Not a great start!

We settled on pitch no. 8 before noticing a path leading from it to a footpath across the fields to the local farm shop.  Oh well, how  many people would walk through someone else's pitch when other means of getting to the footpath were available?  You'd be surprised!

We took the path across the fields to the farm shop but didn't spend as much as we have done in the past.  Just a couple of beers and three bags of game crisps.

Then we headed to the Strickland Arms and D was delighted to see Swan Blonde and Loweswater Gold.  One wouldm have been good, but two...  He tried both.  A nice Shiraz for J.  This is an excellent pub to sit outside on a sunny afternoon but we didn't stay into the evening and resisted the temptation to have dinner there.

Back at site we had our first barbecue of the year, and very successful it was.

Saturday

An early start because we thought parking could be a problem at Sadgill, Longsleddale, and it was.  We got one of the last spaces and set off to tackle two Wainwrights - Grey Crag and Tarn Crag.

Excellent weather for walking.

This time of year we always try to get a pic of a cute lamb...

In the afternoon we popped back to the Strickland Arms and then had another very successful barbecue.

Sunday

We thought about staying for another night but decided against it.

Coming soon...

Nothing over Easter, it will probably be mid May before we can get away again with Ravenglass the likely destination at the moment.

Keswick

 28-31 March 2025

Castlerigg Hall, Keswick, is one of our favourite and most visited sites in recent times.  We tend to come here early and late in the year and this year is no exception.

Friday

It's great being able to book a specific pitch, so no nasty surprises on arrival.  We have been on pitch 24 a few times and apart from it being a bit hard to get in to it's an excellent pitch.

Normally we rush down the hill into Keswick and drink as much as we can, but not today.  We had a table booked at the Pheasant Inn for 7.30, so we didn't head down until later, not wanting to drink too much before dinner, and our plan worked.

On the way down we passed some goats, including a very young, playful one...

The Pheasant Inn was very busy and we had to wait a bit on arrival, but we eventually got a good table.  Dinner wasn't so successful, we didn't get any vegetables and had to make do with peashoots which are really just for decoration.  Karma was looking after us though, and we didn't get charged for a £32 bottle of wine.  We would have said something if it wasn't for the lack of vegetables, all we got was an apology after the event, not even an offer of a free dessert.  It was a very nice bottle of wine, and the pheasant and lamb were nice too.

We got a taxi back to the site.

Saturday

The worst day, weatherwise, so we just walked back into Keswick before it started to rain and made up for yesterday's lack of drinking!

We managed to get into everywhere we wanted to go, which isn't always possible in Keswick.  A man in the Wainwright Inn had a really cute puppy which he left tied up at the bar while he talked to his mate.  We've never see anything get so much attention and he seemed to enjoy it.  We saw them again in another bar later and the same thing happened.

We didnt stay out late and had dinner in the caravan.  It was a very windy night with 40-50 mph wind gusts.

Sunday

It was still very windy in the morning so we postponed a longish walk that would have bagged us four Wainwrights.

Instead we went for a short walk up Maiden Moor, which is the next hill along rom Catbells, which we did a while ago.  One Wainwright is better than none, I guess.

We were sheltered from the wind until we got to the top, by which time it had died down anyway, and with hindsight we probably could have done the longer walk.  Still, it was a nice walk after not doing much in the winter.

In the afternoon we walked back down into Keswick but didn't stay out late.  We had dinner in the caravan.

Monday

No problems getting home.

Coming soon...

Hopefully Coniston or Kendal before Easter.