Another wet weekend!

Ravenglass 15th to 18th June 2012

Ravenglass C&CC site, one of our favourite sites.  We both really like the sleepy village of Ravenglass, although it’s probably a bit too quiet for some people.  A couple of pubs, a desolate beach and not much else.

Friday 15th

Arrived early afternoon and allocated pitch no. 42, which we’ve been in before.  The very helpful wardens wouldn’t dream of letting us try to reverse into the pitch, instead they unhitched the caravan and pushed it into place.  We like this idea and wish more sites would adopt it!

First time we’ve used the awning this year…the storm straps were absolutely necessary!

After a quick stroll around the village we ended up in the Holly House Hotel.  We got a good seat near the TV (and a big black cat) and decided to stay for something to eat and then the football.

A bit of a fracas between two locals…women, not men…almost ended in a fight.  More funny than scary.  Even the fights here are nice!

Lots of locals in for the football, so a good atmosphere.  J not too impressed with the match, but the cat reappeared and sat on J’s lap for a while, which cheered her up.  TV quite small, but managed to make out which team was ours.

Saturday

Appalling weather!

The Ravenglass & Eskdale railway is a bit expensive, but not when you have Tesco clubcard vouchers,  so we took it to the Boot Beer Festival.

There are three pubs in the Boot area and they all get together to organise a beer festival once a year.  Lots of beers to try, but lots of people too!  Tried 6 (halfs, not pints).  D not that keen on the beers as he prefers Lake District breweries.  Probably better off going to a festival outside of the Lakes as they will  more than likely have them there!

Back at site we decided to do a bit of geo-caching and found two! The first one was very near the site.  Took this badge but didn't have anything to put back so left 50p.

The next one was in the sand dunes a few miles away.  We had a good idea where it was, but missed the main path and had to traipse over the dunes for a mile and a half, dodging  dog poo and praying the rain would keep off.  Thankfully it was rated easy to find.  Again, nothing to put in, and  J didn't want to part with the badge so we just signed the log book.  Was interesting reading the entries of other people who had found it.

Sunday

A slightly better day, weather-wise, so we got up early and headed off over the Hardknott pass to climb Great Carrs, Swirl How and Grey Friar.

The Hardknott pass is an experience in itself and not for passengers of a nervous disposition!

However, the weather didn’t look good so we came straight back again and walked up Green Crag instead.  Much lower, 489 metres.  Here’s the route…

The summit of Green Crag

More pics in the gallery.

It really brightened up later in the day, so much so that we got the barbecue out.  We seem to be the only ones who don't have a gas one, and sometimes we wonder why,  but thanks to switching back to easy light bags of charcoal it was a great success.  Afterwards we went for a quick drink outside the Holly House Hotel, watching the sunset. The black cat was sitting on the wall but we couldn’t lure it over.

 Monday

Homeward bound.  Thankfully the awning was dry when packed away.  Journey back uneventful, took about 2.5 hrs back to the storage site.  As usual,  glorious weather!!

Ravenglass 062012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Coming soon…

Nothing booked, but we will be back!

Wild weather!

8th to 10th June 2012

Not far to travel this weekend, to the CC site at Thurstaston, Wirral, a new site for us.  A typical CC site, with excellent facilities, spacious pitches, friendly wardens etc.

Friday

We set off in the rain and it was raining when we arrived, so we didn’t bother with the awning.  One of our better decisions, as it turned out.

As it was raining, we drove to West Kirby, a few miles away, and sat in the car watching wind surfers on the marine lake like a couple of OAPs.

Walking on water?…actually the submerged walkway around the marine lake

On the way back we popped into the nearest pub to the site, The Cottage Loaf, to see what it was like.  It was ok, so the plan was to walk back later and have dinner…when it stopped raining.

But it didn’t stop raining, it got worse, with gale force winds, so instead we had dinner in the caravan and stayed in all night listening to the radio.  Forget Euro 2012 and the Olympics, it was the punk rock world cup final on BBC 6 Music…The Clash vs Buzzcocks.  The Clash won.

Then a couple of games of scrabble, both won by J…but very close!  If only D hadn’t got stuck with the Q!

Saturday

The bad weather continued throughout the night – we can’t recall a windier night in the caravan - but at some point it stopped raining.  In the morning it was just very windy.

We decided to walk to Parkgate and back, along the “beach”, about 9 miles in total.  Fleeces and waterproof coats on, we set off.

We made it to Parkgate and had lunch at The Boathouse, a really nice (but not cheap) pub.  After a couple of drinks we couldn’t face the walk back, even thought the weather was improving, and got a taxi instead.

Back at site we decided to have another go at geo-caching and after foraging for ages in nettles and ivy under a bridge we finally managed to find it.  J only got stung once!  A tiny little container with a list of names inside, but we are easily pleased.

We toyed with they idea of trying the social club belonging to the neighbouring static caravan site, but settled for another night in instead.  Anyone for scrabble?

Sunday

A lovely day…blue sky, warm.  It’s always the same when we have to leave.

Coming soon…

Three nights in Ravenglass…weather forecast not looking good!

Almost Geo-caching in North Yorkshire

18th to 20th May 2012

What has happened to summer 2012?  Or even spring 2012?  No sign of it yet apart from a week or so ages ago.

We are not ones to be put off by bad weather, so it’s off to North Yorkshire for a two night stay at the CC site near Hawes.

We came here last year, so we knew it was a good site – as is usually the case with the Caravan Club.

It’s only a short stroll into Hawes, which has a few reasonable pubs, and a slightly longer stroll the other way to Hardraw, which has the Green Dragon Inn.

Friday

The journey took quite a long time because a lot of it is on A roads, but was very picturesque with Ingleborough one one side and Whernside on the other.  We really must climb one of the big three in Yorkshire soon.  Stopped about 30 minutes before the site at a popular viaduct and had a cup of tea and some home made cakes from a refreshment van

We drove around the site a bit before settling for a pitch at the top of the site.  By the time we realised how bad the left to right slope was, we had unhitched and it was too late to move.  We got used to it after a while – one trip early in our caravanning days took us to a site that was so sloping the fridge wouldn’t work!

When we came here last year we couldn’t get any DAB stations on the radio but this time, armed with a new DAB dipole aerial, we got quite a few, including Absolute 80s and 6 Music…D likes one and J the other…guess which!

Had a go at fixing the broken awning pole and it probably would have been okay, but we couldn’t be bothered putting it up for two nights.

Instead, we headed into Hawes to visit the Wensleydale Cheese Creamery and bought some cheese and bottles of beer.  Then we had a couple of drinks in The Fountain, and ended up eating there. Very cheap burger meal for under a fiver.  Found a great pub joke book.  Here’s an example…

• Q. What do you call a woman with one leg longer than the other?
• A. Eileen.
• Q. What do you call a Chinese woman with one leg longer than the other?
• A. Irene.

Spent the rest of the evening in the caravan listening to the radio, the wind and the rain!

Saturday 19th

Weather a bit better, so we set off for Muker and walked from there to Keld and back by a different route.  About 6.5 miles, no real summits.

We had noted down co-ordinates for a geo-cache, but forgot them.  From memory, D got them from the OS map but then one of us (!) entered them incorrectly into the GPS, so we missed it.  No problem, we were coming back this way so would get it on the way back.

Grey skies = rubbish pics = no gallery this week.  Here are a couple of pics that give you an idea of the scenery.

How long has this been here?

A pleasant walk, despite the grey skies.

Had another look for the cache on the way back, and although we narrowed it down to a clump of holly bushes we just couldn’t find it. The fact it was inside said prickly bush, put us off looking too hard!

Stopped off in Hawes on the way back and had a look in a second hand book shop.  A great find for D…“Narrowboat Dreams” by Steve Haywood, which would be the subject of another blog if D has his way…and wins the lottery!

Off to the Green Dragon, Hardraw, after dinner in the caravan.  Just over a mile away, this is one of our favourite pubs from last year.

It was acoustic night, but we couldn’t squeeze into the room where that was happening.  Instead we settled for a quiet corner at the back of the pub where we could still hear the music.  It was very folksy.

We really like this pub, it has loads of character, log fires, a good selection of local beers.  And a huge, fluffy cat curled up on the bar.  No TV, no music apart from the live stuff…perfect.

Sunday

Weather much better today…it always is when we are leaving!  Left early so that J could listen to all of the Archers on the way home. Very uneventful journey, and just over 2 hours back to the storage facility.

Coming soon…

Nothing booked until a three night stay at the C&CC site in Ravenglass in the middle of June.  We might try somewhere close to home before then if we can find anywhere that isn’t fully booked.  Even the sites that never get full are fully booked around the jubilee bank holidays!