Last days of summer 2012

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.

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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.

Weather extremes in Ambleside

17th to 19th August 2012

We weren’t planning to go away this weekend, the intention being to have the school holidays off.  But itchy feet are itchy feet, hence a last minute trip to the C&CC site at Windermere.

Friday

First thing we noticed on arrival was how empty the site was.  There were at least half a dozen empty pitches in the bit we were in, although some were waterlogged!  We expected it to be full, and it did get a bit busier on Saturday.

Usually at C&CC sites the wardens take you to your pitch and help with reversing, but not this time.  D did ok, although he had to abort the first attempt and start again.

It was raining when we got there but it stopped just long enough for us to set everything up, then started again.  No awning this weekend.

It was only light, drizzly rain so we decided to brave it and walk across the fields to Staveley.

Had a drink under a canopy outside the Eagle and Child, beside the River Kent.  Then a visit to the Hawkshead Brewery Beer Hall for beer tapas, before finally settling in the other pub in the village, the Duke William.  We ended up staying until about 10pm and had to walk back across the fields in the dark.  Luckily it had stopped raining by then.

Saturday

Awoke to the sound of heavy rain and discovered that some had got in through an open window and the corner of the bedsheet and duvet were soaking, although we didn’t notice it in the night.  It was due to the positioning of the aerial lead that we feed into the caravan through the window.

The original plan for today was to tackle Bowfell, but we got up far too late for that – there is very limited parking available in Langdale.

Instead we headed to Ambleside to climb Low (508 metres) and High (656 metres) Pikes and High Bakerstones (about 700 metres).

It was still raining a bit when we got there so we wandered around the shops for a while, hoping it would stop.  We finally set off around midday.

This was a longish walk for us, about 8 miles in total, and was very much a walk of two halves.  We soon entered the clouds and it was wet and damp to start with, followed by blazing sunshine on the way down.  Very wet underfoot on the way up.  The pics below tell the story.

J at the summit of High Bakerstones – not much of a view today!

A natural shower for D on the way down!

Picked up a couple of geocaches on the way.  Geocaching is becoming very much a part of our walks now.

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Because of the late start we didn’t get back to the site until 7ish, which we thought was a bit late for a barbecue.  Instead we had a barbecue without the meat…and a barbecue – so really it was just salad and quiche outdoors!

A fabulous sunset, which we all but missed because we were in the laundry room drying our bedding!  We rushed up into the fields around the site and D managed to get a couple of pics, the best of which is below.

We planted a geocache under some rocks at the base of a tree and said farewell to Captain Jack Sparrow, who we picked up on our last trip.  I wonder where he will go next?  We have a trackable geo-coin which we are going to send off soon, but couldn’t find any way of attaching it to him, so I guess we will never know!

Sunday

It rained a bit in the night but was bright and sunny by morning.  Packed up and headed for home, a very uneventful journey.

Coming soon…

Castleton, Derbyshire.

Coniston

3rd to 6th August 2012

Day 1

The CC Park Coppice site is a great site but there are too many pitches to choose from, so we always spend ages driving round and this was no exception.  The first pitch we chose wasn’t very level but we noticed an empty one just behind it, which was much better, albeit a bit shady.

After setting everything up we headed into Coniston and had a couple of drinks sitting outside the Sun Inn.

D could have managed more, but instead we decided to head back to the site and have a barbecue.

Day 2

Today’s walk, a low(ish) level one around Tarn Hows and Black Crag (323 metres), with the added incentive of a geocache at the summit.

Tarn Hows

The summit of Black Crag

Windermere in the distance

‘Black Crag Delights’ geocache, we took some flower seeds and left a travelbug

Tarn Hows is quite touristy but once we got onto Black Crag we only saw a couple of people.  Good views of bigger fells at the top.  There are more pics in the gallery.

Got back to the site earlier than usual and spent a while relaxing outside the caravan.

After dinner we walked into Coniston and sat by the pier for a while.

We were about to leave when a little girl who was paddling in the lake stepped in some mud and her shoe got sucked off!  It was nowhere to be seen.  After much swearing and shouting, they sent the kids in after it, rummaging around in the mud.  Then the mum had a go.  Eventually the dad managed to find it.  More entertaining than it sounds, especially with their dog Oscar running around.

Excitement over, we headed into the village and had a couple of drinks at a couple of pubs and then headed back to the caravan.

Day 3

Drove to Hawkshead for lunch, then another walk in the afternoon.

Our first outing to the east of Coniston, but no summits of note.  Good views of the lake and Coniston Old Man, but lots of grey cloud.

Best pic of the trip?

Another geocache at the summit of Brock Barrow.  In it, was a figure of  Captain Jack Sparrow.  D really wanted it, but written on the front of the log book was ‘Ninja Pirate’ so we thought it was meant to be there guarding the cache so didn’t take it. 

A few minutes later we realised that it was actually the cache owner’s username so D ran back and took it out. We will attach a travel tag on to him and send him on his travels some time soon!

D rescuing Capt Jack!

Afterwards, a quiet night in.  We were going to go to a pub quiz at the Church House Inn but the walk was tougher than we thought it would be and we were too tired. 

Day 4

Awoke to the sound of rain and had to don waterproofs to put everything away, including the awning.  Well, D did – J did the inside jobs and stayed very dry!

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Coming soon…

Nothing booked until the beginning of September, a three night trip to Castleton, Derbyshire.  Might try to get away before then but everywhere is sooooo busy during the school holidays.