Ravenglass

9th -12th May 2025 

First visit of the year to the Ravenglass C&CC site - we will probably be back for more in the autumn.

Friday

The journey to Raveglass typically takes about three hours, with a short break, and that is how long it took this time.  We always ask for a range of pitches at the top of the site when booking here and we haven't been disappointed yet.  Pitch 23 this time.  Lots of space and nice and sunny.

We had a go at putting up our recently fixed (so we thought) canopy but had to give up when a part of one of the poles snapped off.  No shade this trip.  D has fixed it again, so we will have one last go on our next trip before throwing it away.

Then we headed off into the village, first to the Inn at Ravenglass and then the Ratty Arms.

In he evening we had a barbecue before heading back to the Inn at Ravenglass, which is a great pub to sit outside and watch the sunset.

Saturday

The plan had been to drive to Loweswater and go for a walk around there,  but we decided instead to stay local and head for the beach.

A gentle stroll along the beach turned into quite a long, tiring walk but worth it for a different view of the village and solitude - there was hardly anybody about.

More jellyfish than people.

After a rest and carbonara pasta sitting outside the caravan we headed back to the Inn at Ravenglass  for another excellent sunset.

Sunday

We haven't been on the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway for a while, so thought we would take advantage of the sunny weather and pre book an open carriage.

We got off at The Green, a couple of stops before the end, and walked the rest of the way.

An easy walk of about three miles, made much harder by the hot weather.

The Brook House Inn was a welcome sight at the end of the walk.  We had dinner there, and a couple of drinks.

Then it was back to the Inn at Ravenglass for another pretty good sunset.  Pics from a different viewpoint this time.

Monday

The long journey home!

A couple of things about Ravenglass and the surrouding area.  The Ratty Arms no longer does food and is pretty dead in the evening, but still has a good selection of local beers.  The Inn at Ravenglass seems to have gone Scottish, with a not very good selection of local beers.  The Brook House Inn always used to have a good lineup of beers from Cumbrian Ales, but none this time.  Oh, and the friendly ginger cat that used to live on site has disappeared.  Still a very nice place to visit, just not as nice as it used to be...in our opinion.

Coming soon...

Probably a return to Kendal at the end of the month.  Definitely last chance for the canopy.

Kendal

11-13 April 2025

We only really go to two CAMC sites now - Coniston and Kendal, and we chose the latter for a quick two night trip for the Easter madness starts.

Friday

A bit of traffic on the way meant we arrived a bit later than we wanted, but we wouldn't have got either of our first choice pitches (21 or 22) because they had both been occupied for a few days according to the warden.  Not a great start!

We settled on pitch no. 8 before noticing a path leading from it to a footpath across the fields to the local farm shop.  Oh well, how  many people would walk through someone else's pitch when other means of getting to the footpath were available?  You'd be surprised!

We took the path across the fields to the farm shop but didn't spend as much as we have done in the past.  Just a couple of beers and three bags of game crisps.

Then we headed to the Strickland Arms and D was delighted to see Swan Blonde and Loweswater Gold.  One wouldm have been good, but two...  He tried both.  A nice Shiraz for J.  This is an excellent pub to sit outside on a sunny afternoon but we didn't stay into the evening and resisted the temptation to have dinner there.

Back at site we had our first barbecue of the year, and very successful it was.

Saturday

An early start because we thought parking could be a problem at Sadgill, Longsleddale, and it was.  We got one of the last spaces and set off to tackle two Wainwrights - Grey Crag and Tarn Crag.

Excellent weather for walking.

This time of year we always try to get a pic of a cute lamb...

In the afternoon we popped back to the Strickland Arms and then had another very successful barbecue.

Sunday

We thought about staying for another night but decided against it.

Coming soon...

Nothing over Easter, it will probably be mid May before we can get away again with Ravenglass the likely destination at the moment.

Keswick

 28-31 March 2025

Castlerigg Hall, Keswick, is one of our favourite and most visited sites in recent times.  We tend to come here early and late in the year and this year is no exception.

Friday

It's great being able to book a specific pitch, so no nasty surprises on arrival.  We have been on pitch 24 a few times and apart from it being a bit hard to get in to it's an excellent pitch.

Normally we rush down the hill into Keswick and drink as much as we can, but not today.  We had a table booked at the Pheasant Inn for 7.30, so we didn't head down until later, not wanting to drink too much before dinner, and our plan worked.

On the way down we passed some goats, including a very young, playful one...

The Pheasant Inn was very busy and we had to wait a bit on arrival, but we eventually got a good table.  Dinner wasn't so successful, we didn't get any vegetables and had to make do with peashoots which are really just for decoration.  Karma was looking after us though, and we didn't get charged for a £32 bottle of wine.  We would have said something if it wasn't for the lack of vegetables, all we got was an apology after the event, not even an offer of a free dessert.  It was a very nice bottle of wine, and the pheasant and lamb were nice too.

We got a taxi back to the site.

Saturday

The worst day, weatherwise, so we just walked back into Keswick before it started to rain and made up for yesterday's lack of drinking!

We managed to get into everywhere we wanted to go, which isn't always possible in Keswick.  A man in the Wainwright Inn had a really cute puppy which he left tied up at the bar while he talked to his mate.  We've never see anything get so much attention and he seemed to enjoy it.  We saw them again in another bar later and the same thing happened.

We didnt stay out late and had dinner in the caravan.  It was a very windy night with 40-50 mph wind gusts.

Sunday

It was still very windy in the morning so we postponed a longish walk that would have bagged us four Wainwrights.

Instead we went for a short walk up Maiden Moor, which is the next hill along rom Catbells, which we did a while ago.  One Wainwright is better than none, I guess.

We were sheltered from the wind until we got to the top, by which time it had died down anyway, and with hindsight we probably could have done the longer walk.  Still, it was a nice walk after not doing much in the winter.

In the afternoon we walked back down into Keswick but didn't stay out late.  We had dinner in the caravan.

Monday

No problems getting home.

Coming soon...

Hopefully Coniston or Kendal before Easter.