Kendal

 22nd to 24th April 2022

Our first visit of the year to the Kendal C&MC site, which has become one of our favourites in recent years.  It's easy to get to, has a nice pub nearby and the pitches are nicely spread out.

Friday

A traditional Friday start.  Hopes of getting dream pitch no. 21 (known as the honeymoon suite by the wardens!) were dashed when the journey took a lot longer than it should have due to traffic, but there aren't really any bad pitches here.

Our new hitch cover, ordered by D...J is not impressed!

It was a nice afternoon so we sat outside the caravan for a while and then headed to the nearby farm shop and then the Strickland Arms for a couple of pints. We sat in the beer garden which is very slopey and had to keep hold of our drinks!

Then it was back to the site for our first barbecue of the year.  It was just about warm enough!

We sat outside for as long as we could, until the cold drove us indoors!

Saturday

Something a bit different today.  A walk from Grange-over-Sands along the promenade and then the "beach" to Humphrey Head.

Blue sky most of the time, but quite windy, and we had to rush a bit to get a train back to Grange-over-Sands from Kents Bank station at 13.20.  The alternative was a two hour wait for the next one or walking back!

We came to Humphrey Head many years ago with the kids, pre caravans, whilst staying at the nearby Haven site, but didn't get any further than the car park.  We found it a bit disappointing, we weren't into walking and outdoor stuff then.  It's actually a pretty nice place.  Apart from the savage dog that cornered us and wouldn't let us pass until it's owner intervened...eventually!  She did apologise!

Our walk was pretty inconvenient for the local sheep, we even interrupted their picnic...!

We made it back to the station with about ten minutes to spare.  In the distance we saw what looked like a group of people walking across the bay.  Too risky to do on our own, we think, but apparently there are guided walks from Arnside to Kents Bank.  Something for another day.

In the afternoon we had a look around Grange-over-Sands and then headed back to the site for an evening in.

Sunday

A very uneventful journey home.

Coming soon...

A three night trip to our favourite site...the C&CC site at Ravenglass.  We are very excited, we haven't been for three years due to covid.

Keswick

 1st to 3rd April

We were originally going to go to Kendal this weekend, and had a walk worked out and tickets for a film at the Brewery Arts Centre ("A girl walks home alone at night"...an Iranian vampire western!) but for some reason we did a last minute search for availability at Castlerigg Hall and hey presto...several pitches available.  We booked pitch no. 51 immediately.  We usually go to Keswick around this time of year and thought we couldn't due to lack of availabilty.

Friday

Keswick is a long way to go for a two night trip but we managed to get there for just after 1pm  and were shown to pitch no. 51, which is a new part of the site for us.  A pretty good pitch, mostly due to the fact that most of the surrounding pitches were unoccupied.

We took our time setting up and then headed down the hill into Keswick for a look around the outdoor shops and then dinner and drinks in the Wainwright, which is our pub of choice in Keswick these days partly due to the fact that it is almost impossible to get in to the Dog and Gun!

Hope they didn't miss us too much at the Brewery Arts Centre.  Last time we checked there were 6 tickets booked for the Iranian vampire movie and two of them were us!

No taxis available in the square so we had to walk back up the hill to the site, at least it wasn't dark this time!

There used to be an on site restaurant but it closed a couple of years ago and has been turned into a campers lounge.  A nice, cosy place to be on a cold night.

Quite a cold night but we'd come prepared.  The newly purchased mini electric oil filled radiator worked a treat.  The blown air heating in this caravan is rubbish unless you have it on maximum and then it's too noisy!

Saturday

The plan for today was a walk to the summit of the wonderfully named Great Cockup and three other wainwrights, but the walk lived up to its name.  A great cockup on the parking front!  We got up late and there were no spaces available when we got there!

Luckily we had a plan B, which was to tackle the isolated, outlying fell...Binsey.  A wainwright, but just one summit bagged instead of the planned four.

We parked at Over Water and then most of the walk was along a quiet county lane.  The weather was excellent throughout.  Lots of cute lambs en route.

We saw a couple of dogs off lead and feared the worst...

The walk wasn't as strenuous as originally planned so in the afternoon we had enough energy left to walk back down into Keswick for more drinks!

Then we got a bus back to the site and had dinner sitting outside the caravan.  It was pretty cold!

Afterwards we popped in to the nearby Crag bar.  Well, a trip to Castlerigg Hall wouldn't be the same if we didn't show our faces...

Sunday

A long journey home and we didn't leave particularly early!  The man at our storage site has been very friendly on the last few occasions and this was no exception!

Coming soon...

That's it for a few weeks.  We are busy next weekend and don't usually go away at Easter because everywhere is too busy!  At least we have managed to make the most of the nice spring weather.

Windermere

24th to 26th March 2022

Our third trip of the year is to the Windermere C&CC site, which is actually in Staveley, about half way between Kendal and Windermere.

Normally a site we would come to for the Hawkshead brewery beer festivals but alas, no spring one this year, presumably thanks to the legacy of covid-19.

Thursday

A Thursday start so that J could be at home for mothers day.

The journey took less time than we thought and we arrived about 15 minutes early and had to park up in a layby near the entrance so that we didn't fall foul of their strict 1pm earliest arrival policy, only to watch several caravans and motorhomes sail past.  Even more annoying when we saw them setting up on our first choice pitches!

Our nearest neighbour was a massive tent, which is quite unusual, but they were no trouble.  The site was very busy.

Just phone pics this trip, we forgot the camera...again!

Nice weather so we sat outside the caravan for a while and then headed off across the fields to Staveley.  Stopped to check on  our geocache on the way and left a trackable in it, a laminated pic of our much missed cat. Sneaky the cat trackable

First a pint of Loweswater Gold sitting outside the Eagle and Child, by the river.

Then another pint in the Hawkshead brewery beer hall.  We didn't stay long because they close at 7pm on a Thursday, so we headed back to the Eagle and Child which we'd booked earlier.  We stayed for their quiz but didn't win anything!  Don't think we came last!

Then a long walk back across the fields in the dark, thank goodness for torch app.

Friday

Even better weather today, so we were up early for a walk from Sadgill to Skeggles Water, near Kentmere.

The tarn was teeming with frogs, doing what frogs do in the spring!

The phone pics are ok but would have been so much better with the camera.  What a day to forget it!

Lots of cute lambs near the end of the walk.  At one point we had to retrace our steps and take a detour of about half  mile because a mother sheep and her lambs would not budge from a gate we had to go through.  We didn't have the heart to move them!

Lounged around the caravan in the afternoon.  Despite being pretty much full the site was very quiet and peaceful.

Then we headed back to Staveley for a couple of drinks and food in the beer hall.  They are not doing hot food at the moment, so we had to make do with a massive cheese board and a scotch egg!

We got back to the caravan quite early for a game of Cluedo, which J had never played before!  A victory for D.

Saturday

We left early and were home before 11.

Coming soon...

Hopefully another trip next week, then we will stay at home until after the Easter madness!