Bridgnorth

18th to 20th May 2018

We've been meaning to visit the Morris Leisure site, Stanmore Hall, near Bridgnorth, for a while now.  We've been to all of their other sites except Llanberis and like them.  With no availability anywhere else (which is becoming normal) we thought we would give it a go.

Friday

Not a particularly good journey, a crash on the A49 held us up for about half an hour.  We'd booked a standard hard-standing pitch, which turned out to be in a car park like part of the site, with smallish pitches and only a couple of potted plants on paving stones to separate them...no grass borders.  Not a good start, but we let it go.  Our fault - we should have paid a bit extra for a super pitch!

The delay on the A49 meant that we really had to rush to get a bus into Bridgnorth at 3.21, but we just about made it.

Bridgnorth is a nice town, two towns to be exact - Low Town and High Town.  A good way to get from one to the other is by using the funicular railway.

We stayed mostly in High Town, where most of the shops are, and lots of nice pubs. Our favorites were the Shakespeare and the White Lion, which is home to the Hop and Stagger brewery and has a resident cat, albeit not a very friendly one!

What's left of the castle

We got a taxi back to the site around 10.00.

We haven't had a moan in a blog for while...but some things just need to be moaned about.  What is worse than a small pitch with nothing separating it from the next pitch?  A small pitch with nothing separating it from the next pitch...which has a continental caravan with the door on the "wrong" side on it...and occupants who (lets be generous) are hard of hearing and need to watch tv with the volume turned up!

They didn't bother us much that night, because after a quick shower we just went to bed.

Saturday

Lots of buses today.  First, a bus into Bridgnorth, then another to Much Wenlock, then a 5 mile walk to Ironbridge, and finally another bus back to the site.  We got our money's worth out of the day saver tickets.

Much of the walk from Much Wenlock to Ironbridge was through woodland and we were glad of the shade on a hot, sunny day.

The magnificent ironbridge...

Oh well, I'm sure it will look great when all the maintenance work is finished.  There are lots of museums in Ironbridge but we didn't really have time to go in them, instead we had tea and a pint in one of the pubs before getting a bus back to the site.

The plan was to have a barbecue and the weather was great, but we didn't fancy being watched by the people next door and having to listen to the sound of their tv, so instead we drove into Bridgnorth and had dinner in the Shakespeare.

The tv was still booming when we got back so we went and sat on a bench by the lake for a while, until they closed their door and it was just a muffled drone in the background.  J read somewhere that they were selling outdoor tv's at a recent caravan show...hope they don't catch on!  We go away to get away from the tv!

Sunday

We went home a different way, mostly on the A5, and it was a much better journey.

Not one of our most enjoyable trips.  If we return to Stanmore Hall we will make sure we book a super pitch and hopefully we will get decent neighbours.  Bridgnorth is a nice town and we would like to go back sometime

Coming soon...

We will stay at home and avoid the crowds over the bank holiday weekend, then lots of trips planned for June and July.

Kendal

20th to 22nd April 2018

A hasty return to the Kendal C&MC site, we were here less than a month ago!

Why?  There was nowhere else available this weekend, and there was only one pitch on late availability here.  Too many members, not enough sites?  The C&CC was the same...fully booked everywhere, and privately owned sites too.  The C&MC is getting ridiculous.  Castleton is fully booked at the weekend for pretty much the whole year, and Chatsworth, and York...  We prefer to book a week or so in advance, not at the start of the year.  Roll on retirement, when we can go away mid week.

Anyway, we like this site and because we got there quite early we managed to get a reasonable pitch.

Friday

Pitch no. 16.  We drove right round the site before spotting it, then discovered it was a very sloping pitch and had to spend ages leveling the caravan.

Lots of room, though, so plenty of space for a barbecue.

We drove into Kendal and got some supplies from Booths, then lounged around the site for the remainder of the afternoon.  The weather was lovely.

The temperature did drop a bit late afternoon but it was still warm enough for our first barbecue of the year.

Saturday

The plan today was to get multiple buses to Skelwith Bridge, walk from there to Dungeon Ghyll and then get more buses back to the site, maybe stopping off at Windermere on the way.

Connections were tight and we had to leave early to get the first bus at 8.30.  Unfortunately we got up too late and missed it, so drove instead!

It was a nice walk in glorious weather, blue skies all the way.

Too hot for the sheep!

We got a bus back from Dungeon Ghyll to Elterwater and had lunch outside the Britannia Inn, which is a really nice pub but completely shade free!  Then we walked the rest of the way back to Skelwith Bridge.

We went straight back to the site, which was quiet and peaceful despite being completely full.  We had a nice salad sitting outside.  We were going to have another barbecue but didn't have any more coals and didn't want to go shopping again.

In the evening we walked to the Strickland Arms and had a couple of drinks sitting outside.  We might have stayed longer, but thunder and lightning in the distance hastened our departure.

The bad weather stayed in the distance.

Sunday

Homeward bound, a very uneventful journey.

Coming soon...

No more caravan trips until mid May at the earliest, we are off on a cruise to Norway.

Coniston

13th to 16th April 2018

Easter is a time to stay at home for us, sites are far to crowded!  Most were back to normal this weekend, including the Coniston C&MC site, which is a favorite of ours.

Friday

We weren't quite able to take advantage of the unusually generous early arrival time of 10am, but we did get there just after midday and had plenty of pitches to choose from.  We settled on pitch no. 1, which is a spacious pitch in a quiet part of the site.

Lots of interest in our bird feeder this weekend, some welcome, some not so welcome...

The squirrel made short work of the peanuts!

We headed into Coniston after setting everything up, which is about a two mile walk, and had a few drinks and dinner in the Yewdale hotel.  The pubs in Coniston are so nice we stayed out much longer than we had intended and didn't get back to the site until around 10pm.

Saturday

The best day weather-wise, we went for a short walk from Low Tilberthwaite in the morning.  A small herd of deer crossed our path early on but they were much to quick for the camera and we didn't see them again.

In the afternoon we headed back into Coniston and even managed to sit outside a couple of the pubs for a while.  We didn't stay out late, though, and had dinner in the caravan.  We were kicking ourselves for not bringing the barbecue, although it was probably just a bit too cold.  Next time, maybe.

Sunday

D up very early for a strenuous walk, taking in Thunacar Knott (723 metres), High Raise (762 metres) and Sergeant Man (730 metres).  Three more Wainwrights bagged.  The rain held off but it was a bit misty and murky at the top.

The summit of High Raise, the most impressive of the three

The last of the snow!

J didn't fancy it, so she pottered around the caravan until D got back around 1pm.

We managed to sit outside the caravan for while in the afternoon, until it started to rain.  We even had some visitors...

Escapees from a nearby farm, we enjoyed their company until the warden came and chased them away and it started to rain.  It rained heavily for a while and we were stuck inside the caravan.

We ventured out when it eased off late afternoon and trudged into Coniston again, for a roast dinner in the Black Bull, which was our pub of choice for the weekend.

No torch, so we didn't stay out late.

We always take cute lamb pics around this time of year, so here are some sheltering from the rain.  Very poor quality because it was taken on a phone in fading light...

Monday

A hold up on the M6 meant we didn't get home until after midday, but apart from that it was an uneventful journey.

Coming soon...

One more trip before our cruise to Norway in May, probably somewhere other than Cumbra for a change.