Our caravan blog

18 Nov 2014

Third time lucky in Hawkshead

14th to 16th November 2014

The Croft, Hawkshead. We’ve been to this site a couple of times before and were troubled with noisy neighbours on both occasions, but we thought we would give it another go.

Friday

The site has gone upmarket since we last visited, with lodges where the touring pitches used to be and hardstanding pitches in the field that used to be set aside for camping. A big improvement, we think. The facilities have been improved too, with a couple of unisex shower rooms as well as the usual ladies and gents toilet blocks. There is even a room with a spotless bath in it, but J’s excitement quickly turned to disappointment when she found there wasn’t any hot water for a bath.

Plenty of pitches to choose from when we arrived.

That’s us right at the back – anyone would think we were antisocial!

Hawkshead village is literally across the road from the site, and that is where we went after setting everything up. Bought a new pair of walking trousers each from one of the outdoor shops…Craghoppers Kiwi Pro Active. Very stretchy and water repellent - about time we had some decent walking trousers! Also a trip to the Hawkshead Relish shop for the customary jar of Westmoreland chutney and some nice crackers.

First pub of the weekend was the Kings Arms Hotel, which is nice but has a very small bar area. Luckily we got there just at the right time and managed to get a great table in the corner. D pleased to see Loweswater Gold on offer, not surprising really as Cumbrian Legendary Ales brewery is just down the road!

When it started to get really busy we relocated to the The Sun Inn. We were about to leave when plates of fish and chips were delivered to the table next to us, and we just couldn’t resist...Bang goes our promise of eating in the caravan this weekend!

We spent the rest of the evening in the caravan. There was some noise from a cluster of motorhomes on the other side of the site, and a lot of noise from one of the lodges or static caravans, but neither really bothered us. A much quieter site this time, which is what we like.

Saturday

A disastrous walk today. What we thought were tracks on the OS map turned out to be private roads, so what was supposed to be a circular walk in the hills around the village turned out to be an out and back walk to Moss Eccles tarn. Still better than sitting at home, though and the rain kept off.

Wise Een tarn, on the way to Moss Eccles tarn

Not a great day for pics, especially disappointing for D as he has just bought a new camera!

In the evening we headed back into the village and tried the Red Lion Inn, which was our least favourite pub of the weekend. We quickly moved to The Kings Arms Hotel and managed to get the same table as yesterday. The same group of people as on the previous day ended up sitting next to us again.

Steak and chips in the caravan, followed by another night in. We had intended to go back into the village but we were tired after our walk which ended up being 8.5 miles, and the three pints we (D) had had earlier had taken their toll.

Sunday

Left early. No bacon butty today when we discovered our gas had run out. Oh well, it had to run out sometime, it’s lasted a few years. Will have to exchange it when we go away next.

Coming soon…

Nothing planned but we hope to get at least one more trip in before Christmas.

12 Nov 2014

Castleton in the rain

6th to 8th November 2014

Back after a break of three weeks, it’s almost as if we waited for the bad weather to return! We’ve been really lucky with the weather this year, but it had to run out sooner or later, and it ran out this weekend in Derbyshire.

Actually, not a weekend. A Thursday/Friday trip, due to the Castleton CC site being fully booked every Saturday for the rest of the year. A victim of it’s own success.

Thursday

The site was pretty empty when we got there, so plenty of pitches to choose from. We’ve been here a few times and usually opt for the same area, but we decided to try a pitch at the back of the site this time. There aren’t really any bad pitches here.

Castleton is only a short walk from the site. There aren’t many shops in the village and most were shut, so there wasn’t much to see. Instead we had a couple of drinks in a couple of the pubs, followed by dinner. A mix up with our Tastecard at Ye Olde Nags Head meant we had to pay full price. Apparently there is another Ye Olde Nags Head in nearby Edale!

Friday

It rained quite a bit in the night, but when we got up it was relatively okay, so we set off for a walk up Win Hill (462 metres). At the top lies Win Hill Pike, locally known as the Pimple

A couple of heavy showers to start, followed by a spell of continuous heavy rain, and a race against time to get the waterproofs on!!

We made it to the top…

Not a good day for pics, so not many here!

Back at the site we put our soaking clothing in the very handy drying room and settled down in the caravan. We had to wait until about 5.30 for the rain to stop but we got to the Cheshire Cheese Inn just in time for their earlybird special menu. Unfortunately we didn’t fancy anything on it, so ended up paying full price for two massive meals. We didn’t really need the bread basket side order that J asked for, but you can’t have fish and chips without it!

As we were finishing our meal a massively overweight couple waddled in, and as the only remaining table was a tiny one in the corner right next to us, we decided to leave before the embarrassment of watching them wedge themselves in.

There are six pubs in the village. We’ve been in four of them. One we have never been able to get in because it is always full, and one we have always avoided because we thought it didn’t look very nice…the Peaks Inn. It’s had a makeover, so we decided to give it a go and it turned out to be really nice. That’s at least five good pubs out of six in the village now. It amazes us how such a small place can have 6 busy pubs no matter what time of year

A quick game of scrabble back at the caravan, then bed (D lost again)

Saturday

Just managed to pack everything away before it started raining, then a long journey home. We can’t recall ever travelling with the caravan on a Saturday before. We would certainly have remembered the huge volumes of traffic!

Coming soon…

We are hoping to get at least one more trip in before Christmas, weather permitting, and the frontrunner at the moment is The Croft, Hawkshead.

15 Oct 2014

Hawes, North Yorkshire

9th to 12th October 2014

Our last visit to the CC site in Hawes was over two years ago and we have been looking forward to coming again. We had to cancel a scheduled visit last year – can’t remember why.

D was particularly looking forward to the Green Dragon in nearby Hardraw, a pub we really liked on our previous two visits.

Thursday

A Thursday start for a change, so when we arrived there were plenty of pitches available.

A fairly quick set up, including levelling left to right. How ever did we manage without a motor mover and levelling block? We were just relaxing with a cup of tea when the warden’s face appeared at the window and told us that they had had to turn off the water due to unforseen circumstances – a burst underground pipe. Quite a serious problem for us, as we always use site facilities and don’t even know if our cassette toilet works!

It won’t take long to fix, we thought, so we drove into Hawes (it was raining heavily by now) and had a look around the Wensleydale Creamery. As on previous occasions, it was the wrong time of day to see cheese being made!

Got back to the site armed with cheese, crackers and local beer around 5pm to find the water still off!

After dinner we asked the plumber who was repairing the pipe how much longer it would take to fix and he guaranteed 100% the water would be back on that night. Good enough for us, so we headed for the nearest pub in Hawes.

Got back to the site after a couple of drinks around 9.30pm and the water was still off. Starting to panic a bit now! Only a fool would drink pints of lager knowing there may not be a toilet to use later on!! The water actually remained off until about 11pm. Could have been worse!

Friday

Not a great weather forecast today, so no serious walking. Instead we drove to Aysgarth Falls and had a wander along the river. Not sure what they are normally like, but the waterfalls seemed pretty impressive after the heavy rain of yesterday.

In the afternoon we visited Bolton castle. Lots to do here, including a maze and falconry display. The castle was ok too.

Woody the harris hawk

Heavy traffic on the way back to the site!

In the evening a much anticipated walk to the Green Dragon, Hardraw. About a mile and a quarter along pitch black country lanes, good job we had our torches. When we got there we discovered an Irish music “gathering” in full flow, so nowhere to sit and a long wait to be served. We have nothing against Irish music, but the reason we really like this pub is that it is nice and quiet, so we didn’t stay long. Also, there were three different rooms and each one had different music playing and we were sat in the centre of the pub so it was just one big noise!

Saturday

The best day weather forecast wise, so we drove to Ribblehead to tackle Whernside, the highest peak in Yorkshire at 736 metres.

The start and end of the walk was the impressive Ribblehead viaduct on the famous Settle to Carlisle route and we were hoping to see a steam train going across it, but no such luck. Not close up, at least.

J watching a steam train crossing the viaduct from near the top of Whernside. She had to wear her coat around her waist all day as she tore a hole in her trousers on the last trip and didn't realise till she got out of the car!

It really brightened up as the day progressed, so much so we were just wearing t shirts by the time we got to the summit. Really good paths all the way and no chance of getting lost. Lots of other walkers about.