Two blogs for the price of one

7th to 12th September 2014

A week off for D, so two back to back trips – three nights in Ravenglass, two nights in Garstang.

Sunday

Ravenglass is still one of our favourite sites and this was to be our second visit this year.

 

A Sunday start, so very little traffic on the roads.  We arrived quite early, expecting it to be deserted, but it was actually pretty full.  We managed to get one of pitches we had requested, number 20, but quickly regretted it as D struggled to reverse the caravan up a slight hill, hampered by a parked car opposite.  After a bit of a struggle he managed to get the caravan onto the pitch and we used the motor mover to position it.  A very strong smell of burnt out clutch, which was to be a feature of the entire week.  Also a nasty scratch to the front of the car – D must have hit a pitch marker!

Headed into Ravenglass village for a much needed drink or two, then back to the caravan for a barbecue.

Sunsets were to be a feature of this trip, and today’s was probably the best of them all.

Monday

Up early and a short drive to Wasdale Head to climb Kirk Fell (802 metres).  A pretty strenuous walk in unseasonal heat, but another Wainwright ticked off.  We thought about carrying on to Great Gable but decided against it, wimps that we are!

   Great Gable from the summit of Kirk Fell, just a bit too much for us today

A drink in the Wasdale Head Inn, then back to the caravan for dinner, followed by another great sunset and more drinks in the village.

 Tuesday

Drove into Whitehaven, and had a wander around the town and the harbour.  We have been there before, but in the rain, so it was good to have time to look around without running from shelter to shelter.

On the way back we stopped off at Drigg and had a walk along the beach.  It was pretty warm by then, so we didn’t walk all the way along to the estuary, but we will next time we visit.

  Very artistic, can you make out what it is?  We didn’t do it, it was already there.

In the evening we had dinner in the Pennington Hotel.  D was looking forward to wood pigeon followed by duck, having looked at the menu the day before, but of course it had changed.  Still, the food was well presented and very nice and we had 50% off due to our Gourmet Card, so we couldn’t grumble.

Another pretty good sunset before dinner.

Wednesday

Relocated to Bridgehouse Marina, Garstang, a new site.  We purchased our new caravan from a dealer about two miles away, which is how we found out about this site.  No problems with the journey, despite the still strong smell of burnt clutch material!

As the name suggests, this is a marina on the Lancaster canal, with a caravan park attached.  Mostly statics and seasonal tourers, but plenty of vacancies mid-week.  Toilets and showers a bit dated, but ok for a couple of days.

No problems getting onto the pitch this time.  There was a grassy play area immediately behind us but all we saw playing in it when we were there were rabbits…lots of them!  And ducks…

…so many ducks, and so greedy!

Walked along the canal to Garstang in the afternoon, for a couple of drinks in a couple of pubs.  Th’Owd Tithe Barn was our favourite, right on the canal.

Pretty good sunsets here too…

Thursday

A walk along the canal and then back to Garstang via the river, which turned out to be a lot longer and more hazardous than we thought.

 

Hazardous due to a herd of cows blocking our way…

We waited a while and eventually they started to amble away from the gate.  We seized the opportunity, but they seemed very interested in us as we squeezed past them, (one of them drooled on J)   Luckily we had a good internet signal on the phone, and a google search ‘ how to get past cows’ suggested waving your arms about as it scares them away, and it did work for a few seconds, but they kept coming back.  Anyway, we made it to safety.  Good job they weren’t bulls!

The grass is always greener on the other side. 

We got a bit lost on the way to Garstang and a 6 mile trip turned to 9 and a half! Arrived in the town on market day tired and hot. After a sandwich in the park we picked up some meat from the butcher’s and had another barbecue back at the site.  Part of today’s walk was through a cornfield, and we couldn’t resist grabbing some sweetcorn on the way, but it didn’t turn out too well on the barbecue, although the ever greedy ducks seemed quite interested.

 

Afterwards we sat watching the rabbits for a while, and then walked along the canal to Th’Owd Tithe Barn for a couple of drinks.

Friday

Homeward bound.

Last trip for the not much loved Vauxhall Insignia, which has now been replaced by a Skoda Octavia.  Nothing to do with the clutch problem of the last few days, the final straw was squeaky brakes which we could not get fixed despite replacing all of the pads, discs and one of the callipers.  D swears it was something to do with the electronic handbrake, but we will never know and It’s the car dealers problem now!  Hopefully the Skoda will tow the caravan ok, despite being less powerful than the Vauxhall, and the Ford Mondeo we had before that.

Coming soon…

Chipping, Lancashire, although it’s not booked yet.  Depends how quickly we can get a towbar fitted!

New caravan, new site

29th to 31st August 2014

Our ageing Avondale Dart 440 has gone, replaced by a 2005 Swift Charisma 220.  We got what we thought was a really generous part exchange for the Avondale, only to find out that the dealer is now selling it for £1,000 more!  We are still pleased with what we paid, though.  The new caravan is more modern in appearance, inside and out, and we particularly like the L shaped kitchen.  Here are some pics…

   

This week’s trip was something of a fact finding mission.  We found lots of things wrong with out last caravan on the first trip, but not this time.  Everything works.

We have been meaning to visit Lady Margaret’s Park, Chirk for a while, the main attraction this time being that it was reasonably close to home.  It’s a typical Caravan Club site with massive hard standing pitches and good facilities.  Chirk is a short walk away, as is the Llangollen canal.  We didn’t, but it’s possible to walk along the canal to Llangollen.  The only negative about this site is noise from a nearby factory, but it didn’t bother us.

Friday

Arrived dead on noon, because the journey took much less time than we thought it would, so we had our pick of pitches.  We chose one in Primrose Dell, a nice quiet part of the site.

Aren’t motor movers great?!  Our new caravan has one.  All D has to do now is reverse the caravan onto the pitch, anywhere will do, and the motor mover does the rest!

We played with the caravan for a while, but nothing needed fixing so there wasn’t much to do.  D fixed a bin to the inside of one of the cupboards (still no door bin) and ran an extension lead under the seats so that we could have a lamp at the front of the caravan, but that was it.

It was still early so we decided to walk along the Llangollen canal to the nearby Bridge Inn, through a long tunnel and over an aqueduct.

Luckily we had a torch!

 

A nice enough walk, but would have been nicer if the pub had been open!

Spent the evening in the caravan listening to the radio, drinking wine and playing scrabble (J won, as she always does).  A bit of a shock when we found the fitted sheet was too small for the new bed, but we managed to get it on somehow.

Saturday

Woke up quite late – the bed is more comfortable than the last one, with less ridges where the cushions meet. There is also a blackout screen on the rooflight – we used to have to insert a piece of cardboard!

Chirk castle is about a mile and a half away, so we walked to it, grabbing a couple of easily found geo-caches on the way.  Admission is free to National Trust members, which we are.  We have been members for about 8 months now and this is only the second time we have used our membership card.

Statue of Hercules (he’s a big lad!) with the castle in the background. 

One of his arms is not made of stone but you’d never know.

 

J sitting on a medieval toilet inside the castle!

We got back to the caravan mid afternoon and lounged around, before heading into Chirk for a meal in an Indian restaurant.  The only Indian restaurant we have been in where our waiter was not Indian!  Great food and a lot of Cobra beer.  At the end a red carnation for J, which she lost on the way back to the site.

Sunday

No problems packing everything away or getting home.  The only thing we can find wrong with the caravan is that one of the tyres is about 10 years old, so back at the storage site D took the wheel off and replaced it with the spare.  We will get a new tyre before our next trip.

Coming soon…

D has a week off soon, so a midweek trip, probably to Ravenglass.  We are aiming to use the new caravan as much as possible before winter sets in.

Ludlow touring park

8th to 10th August

Our first visit to Ludlow and to this site.  We have been to Morris Leisure’s sister sites in Betws y Coed and Shrewsbury and found them to be excellent, albeit a bit expensive.  This is a new site, it’s only been open two years.  The trees and bushes are still establishing themselves and in few more years it will be even better.  As it is now it’s hard to fault – spacious hard standing pitches, an adults only section, excellent facilities, a short(ish) walk into Ludlow.  The only downside for us is getting there…

Friday

We left the storage site at 10.30 and arrived just before 2.00!  On paper it looked like a fairly straightforward journey down the A49, but we didn’t bargain for roadworks, accidents, general traffic.

It was a relief to (expertly) reverse the caravan into pitch 103.

After a super quick set up we walked into Ludlow and headed straight for the castle.  We had it almost to ourselves, which was a bit of a surprise.

  A ghostly J!

View of Ludlow from the castle keep 

Dinner in the Church Inn.  Wobbly Grunter for D, Fidgety Bottom for J.  Types of pie, two of forty, although our first choices were not available on the day.

On the way back we stopped at the Charlton Arms Hotel, a nice pub/hoitel by the river.  Sat outside for a while before moving inside, and managed to just about miss a pretty good sunset…

Saturday

A short drive from the site to Overton and a foresty walk up to High Vinnals.  We were glad of the shade, it was another hot day.

  

Afterwards we drove into Ludlow and had a look around the shops.  We didn’t have time the day before because we wanted to visit the castle.  Bought some cheese.

To barbecue or not to barbecue?  We decided against it because it was clouding over.  Just as well because it started to rain late afternoon.

In between showers we walked to a nearby bus stop and got the last bus into Ludlow.  Had a couple of drinks in the Feathers, a really old pub/hotel in the centre of town.  Hobson’s Old Prickly for D, Pimms for J.

Old Prickly – 5p of each pint to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society – that’s 10p from D

An excellent weekend for D’s beer mat collection – five new ones!

 

Whilst enjoying his pint, a lady approached D asking would he take a photo of their family reunion!…

 

Sunday

Awoke to the sound of heavy rain, but luckily it eased off a bit just in time for us to put everything away.  The return journey was much better, about two and a half hours.

Coming soon…

Nothing booked, we are going to take a break until the school holidays are over.  Will probably go somewhere early September.

PS…

We haven’t got it yet, but it looks like we are getting a new (to us) caravan…a Swift Charisma 220.  So the next trip will be a bit of a fact finding mission, when we will discover all the things wrong with it that we didn’t notice before we bought it!