Castleton

17th to 19th June 2016

The Castleton CC site is hard to get in to, it's almost always fully booked at weekends, so when it popped up in late availability we booked it straight away.

Friday

It's not as far away as some sites, but the journey on the A6 through Stockport can be a bit unpleasant, and so it was today!

We arrived early, though, and after driving around the site for a bit we settled on somewhere new...pitch no. 9.

It turned out to be not a good choice. Quite near the main road, which seemed busier than usual.  It also backed onto a road leading to the Castleton YHA, which has a cattle grid, so we heard cars going over that all day.  It was also near the bottom of a slight incline which was popular with children on scooters, and there were a lot of them around!

This isn't a quiet site!

We keep coming here because it is almost in the village of Castleton, which has several nice pubs, and that is where we headed after setting everything up.

After a few drinks we hardly noticed the cars, motorbikes and scooters as we had dinner in the caravan.  Then it was back to Ye Olde Nags Head for their pub quiz and bingo.  Scored 30/50, same as the other couple whose sheet we marked, so respectable.  Free pizza and chips halfway through the quiz.

Saturday

A series of disasters today.  First J dropped a carton of milk and had to spend ages mopping it up.  Then we headed to Ladybower reservoir, to catch the 222 to the end of the reservoir and then walk back to the car.  But the 222 was cancelled today, due to a breakdown!  We got another bus halfway, but still had to walk an extra three miles to do the route we had planned...

...which was to visit Alport castles, an unusual rock formation caused by an ancient landslip.  Looks a bit like a collection of castles.

 

Some pics from the walk...

Pics have been pretty poor recently, partly due to the weather...time for a new camera?

Back at site the scooters were out in force, but we sat outside the caravan for a couple of hours anyway toying with the idea of having a barbecue.  We decided against it and had dinner in the caravan instead.

The village was very lively later, with groups of young and old men roaming around, and a very civilized hen party.  Ye Old Nags Head was our pub of choice this weekend.

Sunday

Up early and on the road before 10am.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, it depends on whether or not we give up touring and buy a static.

Coniston

8th to 11th June 2016

Our first visit for about a year to the Coniston CC site, one of our favourites.

Wednesday

A couple of days off work for D, so a mid week start.  We like mid week starts...no traffic, lots of pitches to choose from...roll on retirement!

We got a nice,quiet pitch at the top of the site, the downside being that the walk through the site adds about half a mile to the trip into Coniston.

We didn't head for the nearest pub, as we usually do.  Instead we had a go at putting our rarely used porch awning up, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster.  After struggling with the poles and getting it into position we realised we had left the pegs at home, so down it came!  One t-shirt soaked through, it was a bit of a struggle for D on a very hot day!

After that we needed a drink, so walked into Coniston and had a drink or two, followed by dinner sitting outside the Black Bull.  We just managed to finish in time before it started to rain, but the rain didn't amount to much.

Thursday

A very hot day.  Too hot really for a long drive and a walk to Seathwaite tarn, but we had a go anyway.

In the evening we had a barbecue and sat outside the caravan until it got dark, which was after 10pm.  It was very quiet, there was no wind at all and all we could hear was the sound of birdsong, which we identified using a really good app on J's phone.  Lots of midges, a total of 7 bites for D over the three days!  None for J.

Friday

Not as sunny today, but still really warm.  We drove to Ulverston and had a look around the town.  A new place for us, and we really like it.  In our top three of Cumbrian towns, our ranking based on  pubs, tea rooms and outdoor shops.  No outdoor shops in Ulverston, but the pubs more than made up for it.

J's dad used to go to school in Ulverston, so we had a go at finding it but couldn't.  We also had a go at walking to the monument which overlooks the town, but didn't make it to the top because a wedding was in progress and we didn't like to interrupt it.

In the evening it was back to Coniston for a few drinks in  three of the four pubs.  We usually favour the Black Bull and Sun Inn, but we also tried the Yewdale hotel and it was nice too.

Saturday

Stay or go?  We were thinking about staying for another night, but it was raining heavily when we woke up and the forecast didn't look good, so we headed home for Wales v Slovakia and England v Russia.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, we are still toying with the idea of buying a static.  We actually agreed to buy it, but changed our mind, and now we might be changing out mind again.  It's probably sold to someone else now...!

Ravenglass

20th-23rd May 2016

Our first trip of the year to the sleepy village of Ravenglass.  It takes almost 3 hours to get there, the pitches are tiny, there aren't enough toilets and showers...but it's still our favourite site.  We never do a 2 nighter here as it takes us a day to get over the journey!

Friday

The journey took about three hours, with a short break.  We actually left home early for a change but it backfired as we would have arrived before the strict 1pm check in.   So we pulled over and had tea and a mars bar

When we book this site online we always give a list of pitches that we would like, and we got one of the ones we requested, so we couldn't really complain that it was too small.   It was supposed to be the first outing for over a year for our porch awning, but it stayed in the back seat of the car because there just wasn't room for it.  The door being near the front of the caravan didn't help.  Still, a pretty good pitch at the top of the site.  

After setting everything up we had a spot of lunch including some homemade cakes from the site shop, bought a raffle ticket to win a bottle of wine and a tin of biscuits, then strolled into the village.

First stop was the local post office to drop a few ebay sales off, then a couple of drinks sitting outside the Inn at Ravenglass, watching the clouds thicken! Sure enough, the rain arrived when the forecast said it would, so we headed back to the caravan for a night in.

Got site WiFi for £2 for the whole stay - a bargain.  This is essential to our trips as we need to tell our facebook friends exactly what were doing at every opportunity and what we are having for our tea...

 ....and also to check the BBC weather app every 10 minutes just in case the weather changes and we get caught without our waterproof coats

Saturday

It wasn't raining when we woke up, but that didn't last long.  Undaunted, we got the steam train to Boot (thanks to Tesco clubcard deals)  Sat in an inside compartment trying to see through the steamed up windows but thankfully it stopped by the end of the journey.

Had lunch in the Brook House Inn, a stilton and pear sandwich for D and something equally tasty for J. (He was so excited with his own sandwich he can't actually remember what she had)

The rain stopped and we managed to sit outside for a while, watching the world go by.

We nearly got on the wrong train on the way back, it turned out to be a private hire one full of wedding guests, including bride and groom.  The bride in a white dress and wellington boots, the groom in a yellow waistcoat and jeans. They were all staying at the Pennington hotel, which we found out when we tried to go in for a drink later only to find it closed to non residents.

Arrived back at site to find a continental van in the pitch next to us, with the door on the wrong side. Don't you just hate it when that happens.  They spent the weekend very close to us!

It was nice in the evening, so we had a wander around the village and more drinks outside the Inn at Ravenglass.  A pretty good sunset, but pretty cold too!

Sunday

Much better weather today.  Today's walk...Whitfell (573 metres) and Stainton Pike from Corney fell road.  We didn't actually get to the summit of Stainton Pike because there is a fence around it, and we couldn't find a way through.  We could have climbed over it, I guess, but we didn't like to...

We didn't see anybody until we were almost back at the car.  Not very dramatic, but a nice walk on a mostly sunny day.  Whitfell is really just a large grassy mound, but it has a large cairn/shelter at the top and the views out to sea were great.  We couldn't make out the Isle of Man, but apparently you can on a clear day.

We feared the worse when we came across this...

Sure enough, a few steps away...

In the afternoon we lazed around the caravan, before heading to the Ratty Arms for dinner.

Then another great, but cold, sunset.

Monday

Last time we visited this site a lesser spotted woodpecker visited our bird feeder, but the camera wasn't handy and we didn't get a pic of it.  This time we did and he made short work of our nuts!

The journey home was every bit as tedious as the journey coming, but uneventful, and we were home before 1pm.  We missed the usual Archers omnibus as it was a Monday, although Ken Bruce's Popmaster killed 15 minutes

Coming soon...

Nothing booked.  There is another static on the horizon, at Ings Hall caravan park, near Staveley.  It's a private sale and will take a lot of sorting out, we just can't decide at the moment.  We hoped this would a be a disastrous trip and the decision would be made for us!

Oh, and we didn't win that raffle!