Pooley Bridge

13th to 16th October 2016

The ok weather continues, so it's off to north Cumbria, to Waterfoot Park, Pooley Bridge to be exact.  A site we haven't been to for a couple of years, but which used to be one of our favorites in the days before we joined the C&CC and CC.

Thursday

It's still a pretty good site, just not in our top five anymore.  All of the pitches are serviced now, which is great, but they are quite small.  It is becoming quite normal for us to reject our allocated pitch and ask for another, which is what we did when we arrived.  We liked the look of pitch no. 16.

After setting everything up, and lunch, we drove into Penrith to have a look around and get some supplies from Booths.  There is a new pub in town - Dockray Hall, owned by Cumbrian Legendary Ales, brewers of Loweswater Gold and Langdale amongst others.  We really liked it, but couldn't stay for more than one drink as we were in the car.

In the evening we walked into Pooley Bridge, the plan being to have dinner in one of the pubs, only to find our favorite of the three temporarily closed. We had a quick drink in the Pooley Bridge Inn and then decided to get the last bus into Penrith instead.  It was only when it was 15 minutes overdue that we noticed Sat/Nsch next to the time!

A bit dispirited we headed back to the site, for dinner in the caravan and a night in.

Friday

Two Wainwrights today as we struggle to reach our target of 107 by the end of the year.  Beda and Place fells from St Martins church in Martindale, a great place to start and finish a walk.

The church is about 750 years old. 

A 1300 year old yew tree in the grounds!

Beda fell first (509 metres).

Then Place fell (657 metres)

We decided to have another go at getting a bus into Penrith later, and had no trouble this time.  We had what turned out to be a very expensive dinner and drinks in Dockray Hall, but it's true what they say...you get what you pay for!  Pigeon breast and venison loin for D, pork and venison pate and chicken and chorizo for J.  Very well presented and very tasty.  Excellent beer too, and a plum gin and tonic for J.

The taxi journey back to the site wasn't cheap, either!

Back at site we weren't ready for bed, so had more drinks in the on site bar. It's in an old mansion house and much better than most on site bars, plus it's the only place on the site with wifi, which we took advantage of as we had no signal anywhere else in the area all weekend!

Saturday

In the morning we drove into Penrith, stopping off at a not very busy car boot sale on the way.  We bought some new mugs and bowls from a charity shop and resisted the temptation to pop into  Dockray Hall.

In the afternoon we drove to Haweswater, hoping to catch sight of the last remaining golden eagle in England, but there were notices everywhere saying that it hasn't been seen this year and is presumed dead!  Very sad.

We wandered around the reservoir for a while.  It is still one of D's favorite places, just not in the top 5 anymore (like the site).  The water level was quite low.

In the evening we walked down to Ullswater pier for a very reasonable sunset.

After dinner in the caravan we wandered up to the mansion house, but it was empty apart from the barmaid (who was busy knitting).  We stayed for one drink, just long enough to download last weeks Archers omnibus which we listened to in the caravan later.

Sunday

We left at 10.  It was quite breezy on the M6 to begin with, so the journey home wasn't very pleasant and took longer than it should have, but we made it in one piece.

Coming soon...

The caravan is being service next week, but we hope to get away again at the end of October, weather permitting.

Ravenglass

30th September to 3rd October 2016

Another weekend, another caravan trip.  We are making the most of the nice weather.  It can't last much longer...can it?

This time a three night trip to one of our favorite sites -the C&CC site at Ravenglass.

Friday

It's a long, long journey on twisting a roads, so we set off early and managed to arrive just after 1pm.  Plenty of pitches to choose from.  As we were driving up the hill to our allocated pitch (22) we noticed that some better ones were free, so asked if we could change...to pitch no. 6.  No problem.  A really good start to the trip.

The view from pitch no. 6

We sat around the caravan for a while and then walked into the village for a drink in the Inn at Ravenglass, which overlooks the estuary.

D could have stayed all afternoon, but we decided to go back to the site and have a barbecue, which was a great success.

Then it was back to the Inn to catch the sunset...but by then it had clouded over and there wasn't one!  It didn't stop us having another couple of drinks, but they, and the two we had had earlier, took their toll and we headed back to the caravan for the rest of the night in, listening to the radio.

Saturday

One of our goals this year is to get half way through the Wainwrights.  There are 214, and before this trip we had done 100, so the race is on.

Grike (488 metres), Crag Fell (523 metres) and Lank Rigg (541 metres) are three that we haven't done, not too far away, near Ennerdale Water.

Excellent views all day.  From the summit of Grike, in particular, we could see southern Scotland.  A few pics to set the scene.

Grike

From the summit of Grike

Another goal was to find our 100th geocache, which we did at the summit of Grike.  We should have taken a pic of it!

 Crag Fell

Ennerdale Water from Crag Fell

Lank Rigg

It did rain a bit in the afternoon,but not until we were almost back at the car.  The upside of this was a nice rainbow.

We stopped off at the Fox and Hounds in Ennerdale Bridge, which looks like an excellent pub, but just had the one drink.

We got back to the site just after 5pm and just had enough time to get showers before heading back to the Inn at Ravenglass for a much better sunset than yesterday.  We sat outside for as long as we could after the sun had set, but it's getting quite cold at night now!

Sunday

Lots of blue sky about today.  We drove to Drigg and walked along the beach and sand dunes that you can see from Ravenglass.

Another clear day, with the Isle of Mann clearly visible in the distance.  This turned into quite a long walk on a warm day.

Different views of Ravenglass...

In the afternoon we sat around the caravan, enjoying the peace and quiet (the site was less than half full).

Then it was back to the Inn for another sunset (not as good as the night before), followed by dinner in the Ratty Arms.

The Ratty Arms was just about empty by 9pm, the Inn at Ravenglass had one person in, and we didn't even try the Pennington Hotel.  A bit too quiet for us (and we like it quiet) so we headed back to the caravan.

Monday

D had to get back for work at 1pm, so we left early.  It must be great to be retired and not have to rush back!

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, but we are going to make the most of the nice weather...if it lasts.  Maybe somewhere in Yorkshire next.

Kendal

22nd to 25th September 2016

Hot on the heels of our trip to Skipton, a three night trip to the Kendal CC site.

Thursday

D still of work, so a Thursday start.  Despite a bit of traffic,we arrived close to the 1pm earliest arrival time, and quickly chose pitch no. 21, probably the best pitch on the site.  A bit difficult to reverse into, but it is a pitch on its own with no other caravans visible from it.

After setting everything up we drove to Booths to pick up some supplies, including some barbecue food.

After a fairly successful barbecue we walked to the nearby Strickland Arms pub, but they didn't have any nice beers so we only stayed for one pint.

Friday

An introduction to the howgills.  A walk from Sedbergh to Arant Haw and Winder hill to be precise.  We've never walked in this area before and we weren't overly impressed.  Nowhere near as dramatic as fells the other side of the M6, just a collection of rolling, grassy hills.  Good views, but not a great day for pics.  At least it didn't rain.

In the evening we had a couple of drinks sitting outside the Strickland Arms (much better beers tonight), then fish and chips from the visiting van.

Saturday

Not a great weather forecast for today, but it actually turned out to be ok.  In the morning we went for a stroll from the site to Levens Hall, only to find it shut!  Quite a nice walk through the grounds and deer park, though, and we managed to find our 99th geocache.  The aim is to get to 100 this year, which should be possible, although we are very lazy 'cachers and give up very easily.

Not sure what the cause of death was! 

J finding our 99th geocache 

Interesting funghi

The plan for the rest of the day was to go to Ambleside, have a look around the shops, have dinner in Zeffirellis and stay to watch the live music.

En route we noticed signs advertising the festival of the fells, which turned out to be a series of talks and lectures, which meant the upstairs part of Zeffirellis was closed and downstairs was fully booked.  We retreated to Booths, picked up some pasta for dinner and had another night in.  It rained quite a bit in the night!

Sunday

An uneventful journey home.  Back to reality (work) on Monday!

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, but we really want to go back to Ravenglass soon.