Collected the ‘van from storage, but as we were departing, a newbie couple were trying to take their ‘van out but had discovered that their tow car electrics were only 7 pin and not compatible with the caravan’s 13 pin plug! The onsite engineer loaned them a converter, so I presume they got away okay. But because they were blocking our exit effectively, we had to detour around the side roads of the site to bypass them. That’s a first for this ‘van!
Back at Durham Grange for a cheeky weekend away. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, in fact I was surprised to realise that it has been exactly one year since we’ve been here last. From being our most used site it has fallen from grace a little, following the site redesign and closure over winter, it has lost its elitist status for us!
One of the things we’ve never done here is visit the Belmont viaduct. This we duly did on Saturday. Weather being good, no rain for while so the path shouldn’t be too muddy, we headed out to find this mid 19th century masterpiece of railway construction. The walk takes you from the site, down to the river Wear and then a walk further north to reach it. Most of the walk is fine, but closer to the viaduct, things become a little more challenging, but doable. The viaduct stands at 130ft, so the climb and undulations can be hard at times. A trip worth making if you’re visiting the campsite. It’s just under 3 miles return journey, Cath collapsed and relaxed following this
The rest of the weekend stayed fine and warm, just a chilly breeze stopped more play outdoors! One improvement to the site of note is the removal of the yellow grass marker pegs. These pegs used to run along the whole of the road here on the back row and were a real nuisance when trying to manoeuvre your ‘van with the car. With them now gone, it makes pitching a lot easier.
Fri: Great weather and a lovely drive to the site. We got held up on the A66 again, as we did last time, but we got through it and arrived in good time. We chose a pitch on the new section again, but this time on the higher level. After a bit of manoeuvring we were set on the pitch. Taking things easy, as it was quite hot, we eventually got everything sorted and enjoyed a drink and relax as we watched the other units arrive. Unfortunately one motorhome decided to park nest to us, blocking our awning vista. Never mind
Sat: A quick trip to the supermarket to pick up a few extra things for the BBQ we would be having later with Kevin & Carole. Quite surprisingly, you have to pay for parking here! We picked up the necessaries and then headed back to the site. Weather was a little overcast, but still very pleasant. We met our friends and headed off for a walk into town. We crossed the river and headed for the castle, avoiding the steep incline of the high street. We enoyed a coffee in Coasta and perused a few of the local small shops. Upon our return back at the campsite we enjoyed a BBQ and some banter. Following this we relaxed for the rest of the night enjoying a new film, namely ‘Ordinary People’. Quite a hard-hitting film.
Sun: Lovely weather again, but a wee cold breeze kept us from spending too much time outside. We just relaxed for the day, enjoying the site empty and fill up again!
Mon: A frosty start, so the awning was covered in ice. We weren’t expecting that, so back it goes home to dry out. A pleasant journey back to storage and another weekend over.
Sat: A glorious day weather wise, we had a relaxed start and then went to pick the ‘van up. The site was really busy, there were 3 other couples collecting their units just in our stretch alone. First time we’ve had to queue to get out! One poor fella had a jammed wheel brake, which we managed to free up with a bit of reversing. Then another chap on the way out was suffering from 13 pin twist sync, which he didn’t know about. So I quickly deployed the ‘green cap’ and sorted him out. Then a lovely sunny drive up to Scotland, stopping at Gretna for a quick coffee as usual. We arrived at the site soon after, no queue in site and were shown to our pitch by the warden, by going the wrong way around! A bit of reversing and we were on our pitch for the week. These are typical C&CC pitches, so limited space for awning and car, but luckily in front of us, there were some ‘mega’ pitches, so we were able to park the car there. This used to be caravan storage, but have been recently converted to these ‘mega’ pitches, albeit no EHU yet!
Sun: The fab weather continues, so we enjoyed alfresco breakfast and tea. I even tinkered with the satellite as the site has limited TV reception (vertical polarisation). I struggled initially, but then discovered 2 faults, namely the wrong (changed) transponder frequencies and a faulty right-angled connector. Both of these rectified and we were watching freesat TV! The site was filling up again with a queue of units arriving at 1pm.
Mon: Weather has turned and the wind is up. The satellite dish needed tightening up as the wind kept blowing it. We spent the morning vacuuming the ‘van as it hasn’t been done for a while. Stayed indoors for the rest of the day.
Tue: The sun is back out, albeit a little cold first thing whilst having breakfast. We then took a tour of the village itself, admiring the wide street, once a cattle market! It’s only a small affair, but has coffee shops, takeaways, garden centre, narrowest hotel in the world, barbers, Moffat toffee, fish & chips and also just outside the campsite, a Coop and the Moffat Mill department store. We picked up a couple of things from the Coop that we needed and then perused the Mill store. All very pleasant and I’m sure popular with visitors to the campsite.
Wed: A bit of rain and snow this morning, so another inside day!
Thu: Weather back to good again, so we took a stroll around the lakes just by the campsite. Not a very large space, but pleasant enough. The lake was undergoing maintenance as it happens, so no ride on a swan boat this time
Fri: Fill the car up (just around the corner), take the awning down and reflect on what has been a relaxing holiday. The site is of a fair size and being open all year, will make it onto our hitlist. Especially just being 2 main roads away, inclement weather shouldn’t cause too much of a problem helpfully. The pitches are the usual C&CC style, with hardstanding for ‘van and awning, but grass pitch for your car. Although as mentioned, we were fortunate enough to be able to park the car opposite on some hardstanding. TV reception is okay on the vertical, but clear access to the Astra birds gave us all the stations. Toilet block was fine, plenty big enough and perfectly clean. Showers are push button, but there you go! Coop on the corner along with a high street just a 5 minute walk away are major plus points. Looking forward to returning.
Sat: A very pleasant journey back to storage, with clear blue skies and light traffic. Gretna services was empty of caravans so no problem parking. Enjoyed a very expensive coffee as usual, but that’s what we work for isn’t it!
Fri: Good journey down to the site, only 15 mins extra from White Water, so a good choice for these out of season trips. It’s an easy trip just off the A19, with only the last mile a little more precarious with it being a single track. We arrived in good time however without any problems. We checked in and were allocated pitch 50 on the super pitch section, different to where we were 13 years ago! These pitches are quite simply enormous and well worth the extra. They are fully serviced with water and grey water waste. We settled into the day after manoeuvring the ‘van on with the mover, as the site didn’t want any grass chewing, understandable at this time of the year. Snow fell later, making an interesting journey to the wash block
Sat: Weather a bit dreary, but we managed a walk around the site. I couldn’t recall much from last time, but it is a very nice site. There is a lounge section near reception where you can enjoy a cup of self served coffee along with extra toilets, coupled with information and DVD/magazine swap section. Wash block is excellent, no complaints there. The estate itself is vast with many walks available from the site. Something we’ll do next to time we’re here, in the better months of the year!
Relaxed and stayed onsite for the rest of the weekend. A nice dry pack-up day on Monday and back to storage. This site will now become one of the weekender regulars. Quite amazed it’s been off my radar for so long, a joy to discover it again!
Fri: A different start to the weekend away this time. Storm Eowyn was battering the UK, predominantly Northern Ireland & Scotland, but amber force conditions were also in force for Northern England as well. So to go or stay! Checking the forecast, wind speeds were deemed to be 40 max, so I thought it was doable. We would test this though on the journey to collect the ‘van. If we got buffered too much, we’d call it off. The journey there was okay, so we proceeded with the plan and hitched up and left. The journey south on the A1 was the toughest, as it is pretty much exposed. So we endured a little buffering, but nothing we couldn’t cope with. Taking it steady, no overtaking, just keeping in control. We passed 2 overturned lorries on the A1 and another one on the A689, so Cath was a little worried at this point. The A19 flyover was closed to high sided vehicles & caravans, so we had to detour via the Tees Newport Bridge, but this was fine and didn’t add too much time to our journey. From here to the site, things were a lot easier and we made it to reception, with no queue! We chose a different pitch this time, with a view of the A19 flyover. All routines accomplished, albeit no awning this trip obviously. We settled in for the evening and enjoyed our first trip away for 2025.
Sat: A lovely relaxing lie in, had breakfast and then I washed the ‘van. Unfortunately, noticed another crack in the rear panel! Something else to sort for this year. Cath enjoyed her birthday and we simply stayed onsite and relaxed. Weather was much improved today, lovely.
Sun: Relax all day, weather has turned a bit wetter so we stayed inside. Enjoying the views from the pitch however. A little different from our usual pitches!
Date: 24th January 2025
Nights: 3
Pitch #: 73
GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260
Arrival: A1 > A689 > A19 > A1032 > A66 > Teeside Park Drive > The Viaduct > Tees Barrage Way > Whitewater Way
Storm Eowyn. Spot 3 overturned lorries and the diversion over Newport Bridge due to the high winds.
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Sat: An easy 8am start, pick the ‘van up and head onwards to Weatherby for a bacon buttie and coffee! Following this, we continued on towards our destination and arrived there without any issues. The A615 is a bit bendy and neat, but manageable. I chose not to use Lickpenny Lane and go via the more suitable B6014, a very minor detour saving the close shavings we would have got involved in on the lane. We arrived and booked in, with a bit of a tepid response and then toured the site to find a pitch! The site was quite full but fortunately we found a good pitch at the top of the site, with the views. A tight swing in and the mover to adjust, we were pitched for our holiday.
Sun: No railways to go to as they are all closed, so a relax on site – very nice!
Mon: Weather good, so a trip to Carsington Water for a walk around the reservoir. After an eventful journey there – roads closed due to Remembrance Day, we eventually found our way there, via some interesting single track roads We parked up and took in the visitor centre and then some walks around the reservoir. It was very pleasant and worth a trip, the walk around the reservoir would have been some 7.5 miles, so we declined that and did a much shorter tour of the site! Back at the site, more units were arriving, a good thing to see that this pastime is still healthy even in the more dormant months.
Tue: Washed the ‘van in the morning and then had planned a trip into Matlock. However, whilst washing the ‘van, I noticed that the dinette window was letting some water ingress inside as I washed it. Upon further investigation, I found that the window had popped out of its track on the left hand side. So, time to remove the window and see where the water was getting in. The track needs resealing and the window back on its track. This is where the problem was, we couldn’t get the window back on its track, it was constantly popping out of the left hand side. After trying very hard we had to admit to defeat and call an engineer out. Thankfully we found someone who could get to the site within an hour. Ben from Smith’s Caravans turned up and struggled with the window like we did but did eventually manage to get it back on its track. He also sealed up the top of the track with some mastic to prevent any immediate water ingress. So once that ordeal had finished, it was tea time – so no trip out today!
Wed: A trip to Matlock today instead! We walked down to the bus stop, which is it at the end of Lickpenny Lane. This is a busy road for what seems such a remote area. There is no path here, so you have to walk the road which is a little neat for two vehicles and has some twists and bends, so need care and attention. The buses only run every couple of hours or so, so timing your visit needs to be done. We arrived a little early, as we were due to walk the site, but my camera was fogged up, so we decided to do this on our return instead. After a wait, we caught the 143 and were soon in Matlock, after the bus had taken out some roadworks along the way! Matlock isn’t large, but has a nice park to walk through along with war memorial to visit. The usual complement of small shops, a Costa which we visited for a coffee and hot chocolate. Bus back to site and then we did the walk around. After all of that, the darkness fell and it was time for tea again. BBQ in the dark
Thu: A visit to Matlock Bath today. A short drive away, this is where you’ll find ‘The Heights of Abraham”. A cable car ride from the village to a hilltop park on top of Masson Hill, which resembles the ‘Plains of Abraham’ in Quebec, Canada. We didn’t get to ride it though, as it had just closed for the season. Still, we enjoyed a stroll through the village, being tempted by the very many fish & chip shops!
Fri: A short stroll to the garden centre, to view the ‘Christmas Shop’. A nice display with a lot of unique products.
The site is quite large with pitches arranged on terraces as you approach the top of the site. A little bit random in nature, quite continental in this respect. Pitches are large and generally flat, with only back to front levelling required. Trees are everywhere, but don’t invade the pitches, so quite pleasant. There are numerous service points, the most I’ve seen on any site I think. We had one literally just in front of our pitch. There are a couple of large grass areas where children can play and burn energy, along with a playground. There is a large dog walking area, although not off lead it seems. Reception has a small shop, along with local area information. Bins are centralised like all CAMC sites now, with large commercial bins available by the two toilet blocks. Talking of these, they are clean and functional but seem a little small for the size of the site. Showers are push button, 15 seconds. Thankfully no shower curtains though! TV reception and mobile signal seem fine. A good site, especially as it is one of the few now which are open all year.
Date: 9th November 2024
Nights: 7
Pitch #: 82
GPS: 53.133244, -1.489850
Arrival: A38 > A615 > B6014 > Lickpenny Lane
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Sat: A good start to the holiday. Weather dry but cold! The journey down to Wetherby was fine, where we enjoyed a coffee and a relaxed stop. The journey following this wasn’t the best, as road works and an abnormal load ahead of us caused some stop-starting of traffic pretty much all the way to the A46. From here however, we arrived at the campsite with just a little rain. We haven’t been to a C&CC site for some years, so things are a little different. Firstly, you don’t pick your own pitch, instead we were taken to our pitch, which wouldn’t have been our first choice, but there you go. We were sited in a rather woody area with many tall trees, not much chance of sunshine here. I don’t know if the whole site is like this, something we’ll check out later. The pitches are rather small width wise, so much so that I don’t know where you are supposed to put your car when you have an awning. Luckily, a small hardstanding space was available next to our pitch, which the warden said we could use to park our car, bonus indeed!
Sun: A trip to the Great Central Railway was on the cards for today. I’ve been looking forward to going here for some time, but campsites in the area are few and far between, so this was one of the main reasons for choosing this campsite. We headed for Leicester North to start our journey. This was a good choice, as parking is free here and enables us to spend a little time at the main station in Loughborough. Leicester North is a very pretty station, complete with cafe, we arrived just in time for the first train, so jumped straight onboard. Half an hour later we arrived at Loughborough, where we looked around and enjoyed the delights of this heritage railway. They have some good stock here at the GCR. Our visit noted a 9F, Tornado, class 20, class 08’s, class 37’s and many more! This coupled with being the only double line heritage railway in England, makes it a great day out. From here we were due to go to the Space Centre, but the carpark was full, so we’ll save that for another day.
Mon: A day onsite, due to being busy yesterday. We took a walk around the site to see what it was like. Not many hardstanding pitches, far more grass, probably due to the previous campsite owners. Whether the C&CC will change this remains to be seen. I hope they do, as there are not enough ‘good’ pitches for the larger outfits, or indeed those using awnings. Most of the hardstanding pitches will only take small outfits without awnings. The current pitches are thin and only allow a small caravan and car. If you have a large 8ft wide twin axle and want to use an awning, pitches are very limited. Parking ‘Infront’ of the pitch like you do on many sites, is not really an option here. There are many water points about the site, although these are behind pitches, so not the best for intrusion declarations! The Elsan point however is excellent, the best I have seen. Undercover, good position to avoid ‘spillback’ and the rinse water pipe in the best position to avoid faffing about. However, waste water is by the sinks and is not well signed. Many a camper has wandered by lost, looking for this holy grail
Tue: A trip into Nottingham was on the cards today. The site is serviced by a bus just a short walk away from the site, ideal for us campers! The bus you are looking for is the Cotgrave, just remember this when you want the return journey from Nottingham, not too easy to find! We visited the castle and the cave. The cave was a very interesting tour, well worth doing. The castle itself is well, not a castle! It was ‘demolished’ in the centuries ago and is now in fact a museum/art gallery. There is still a lot of history here to be learnt, but without Robin Hood and the caves, there is really not much to see! After eventually finding the correct bus stop, we returned back to the site, where we enjoyed a restful evening with still some good weather! The bus driver was a little vocal during the trip, exploiting the virtues of getting some good footwear to limit his broken driving shoes – interesting indeed
Wed: Poor weather, so another trip to the National Space Centre in Leicester, hopefully to get parked this time! This is a pleasant drive down the A46, so very easy to get to. Thankfully this time, the car park was quite empty. Good news we thought and then we heard them, screaming children Bus loads of the little blighters were there, it was like being back at school again, in the bloody playground. We paid our dues and entered, but were just overwhelmed with them, you couldn’t get to anything or relax and take it in. I have to say, that during school visits, the entrance fee should be somewhat reduced, or have public days with no schools. It really detracted from the experience. Don’t get me wrong, the place is excellent and very interesting – just not when the schools are there. The planetarium is excellent, we watched a show there and it was very impressive. We returned back to site and recovered from the ‘experience’. Showers onsite as I found out that morning are very nice, large with a sink – but they are button press, quite long, but still button press – really? No curtains at least. The smell is still there however, I hear they are addressing this, but it isn’t very pleasant!
Thu: Relax onsite day. Weather good, sunny and dry. Enjoyed breakfast and a BBQ outside.
Fri: A cold misty start but turned very pleasant again later on. Following breakfast, we decided on a walk along the old railway line that ran from the Nottingham to Grantham line to serve the colliery in Cotgrave. This was a pleasant walk which we picked up from the road bridge right outside the campsite and then followed this down to the Grantham Canal, or what is left of it! The canal is disused presently, but may hopefully reopen one day. Along the track bed of the railway, you can still see signs of its use, including ballast and signal wire posts. The line hasn’t been closed all that long surprisingly, only since 1993 and the track lifted in 2012. Back at base, the site has filled up again ready for the weekend.
Sat: It rained all night and through to the morning. The site was water logged. Never mind, it gave us chance to practise our ‘wet pack-up routine’ chops, and very well they went as well! A few delays on the journey back home, but soon back to storage and in good weather. It’s been a great week, so much to see and do in the area. The campsite was very nice with friendly staff, but the small pitches aren’t for us and a bit too gloomy under the trees as well. Maybe the club will develop the site a little in the future, who knows. The cafe was a nice touch though, really enjoyed my flat whites with my breakfasts
Date: 12th October 2024
Nights: 7
Pitch #: 31
GPS: 52.932839, -1.053015
Arrival: A46 > Stragglethorpe Road
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Following a few days of rough weather, we were blessed with a journey of sunshine, albeit with some strongish winds! The journey to the site was not too bad, a bit of a holdup on the A66, but nothing drastic. We arrived at the site in good time behind a couple of other campers. I decided to try for the new pitches this stay and with the site fairly empty, this was not a problem. The usual set-up routine began, followed by replacing the smoke alarm battery to stop the ‘chirping’
A nice walk into ‘Barney’ on Saturday. This route from the campsite takes you through Deepdale Beck and then across the river Tees into the town centre. The town itself is still looking healthy with plenty of shops and cafes, buzzing with activity, which is really good to see. Following a stop at Costa, we perused a hardware shop and then headed back to the campsite. A journey of around 3 miles in total. Weather has been fantastic, enjoying a BBQ for tea as well. Topped off with a couple of movies for the night time.
Sunday and a lot colder. Nothing planned for today, so we stayed inside and relaxed. Monday and the rain returned, although only the drizzly stuff, so not too bad! We’ve had a great weekend, not sure why Barney has not been on our regular weekend sites list, but it certainly will from now on.
Date: 27th September 2024
Nights: 3
Pitch #: 81
GPS: 54.546167, -1.941226
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Another weekend away at a our local favourite site. Weather looking good and it’s also my birthday on Saturday – can’t beat a Saturday birthday in the ‘van
On Saturday we explored ‘Hopetown’ in Darlington. This used to be the old railway museum, but has now been upgraded thanks to multi-million pound funding, to create a much larger offering, with children’s playground (wagon woods), cafes, gift shop, exhibition hall along with all of the railway history with old engines and rolling stock to discover. There is also a viewing gallery to watch over the construction of a new P2 class engine currently being built there. It was a good trip out, although I was expecting some parking facilities there, but alas there didn’t seem to be any. It does seem there is a car-park near by, just not dedicated to the attraction.
We enjoyed some films on each night, meaning we didn’t get to bed until after midnight on each occasion, quite a change from the norm! We’ll soon be back and as always, looking forward to it.
Date: 13th September 2024
Nights: 3
Pitch #: 52
GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260
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Sat: Holiday starts, no problems! First stop on the journey was Gretna Green on the M6. Plenty of spaces thanksfully, so chilled out here for a while. The final leg of the journey was fine as well and we arrived at the ‘The Woods’ just gone 12pm. We booked in and then found a good pitch in the upper section of the site, which gave a geat vista of the mountains begind us. Pitches are spacious and level, despite the site being on a slope. First impresssions are mixed, there are statics and seasonal pitches here, so the ‘feel’ is somewhat different.
Sun: A designated ‘stay on site day’. Weather good and it’s always nice to relax on the first ‘complete’ day of the holiday. No railway this visit! TV signal is not the best, so I deployed the satellite, only to find a tree right in the way of the Atstra birds :(. Nevermind, we watched movies all day, which was great actually!
Mon: A trip to the Falkirk Wheel & the The Kelpies was the order of the day. Weather is looking poor for the rest of the week, so I decided to do this journey today. The wheel is quite stunning. We arrived and parked up, quite busy! We watched the boats traverse the lift which is quite a site. There is quite a lot to do here: archery, boats, paddleboarding, playground, bike hire, segway tours, waterzorbing – very good for a day out. Following this we headed for the Kelpies, which is only a short drive away. We parked up and enjoyed the horse display, which you can see from the M9 briefly as you drive by. There’s lots of food outlets and gift shops here, also the Queen Elizabeth II canal. Again it makes for a nice visit. The rain was coming though, so we didn’t stay too long. Back at base, we stayed inside due to the Scottish rain
Tue: Stirling Castle was the outing for today. Following breakfast, dodging the rain we headed for the Park & Ride at Castleview. We picked up the bus and were dropped off at the foot of the castle pretty much, very convenient. We bought our tickets and opted for a guided tour, which was very good, the guide was excellent. We learnt a lot about the castle and the battles of Scots against the British, very good indeed. Following this, we headed back to base and enjoyed a relaxing night, in the rain again!
Wednesday: A stay-on-site day. Just wished we could be outside, but the rain!
Thursday: The Battle of Bannockburn, time to learn all about it. On the site of this historic battle is a visitors centre, which has a guided tour which we booked in for 11am. So following breakfast, we headed out and discovered ‘Robert the Bruce’. The tour really was a lecture in front of projection screens, but it was effective. There are no artefacts or museum type displays as such, as a lot of visitors coming into the centre were asking about. But outside, you can view the areas of the battle and put a little reality to it all. Worth visiting. No rain today, but boy the winds were blowing!
Friday: A stay-on-site date as is usual on the last day. As it turns out, it is a very nice day – still a little windy, but dry and bright. We took a tour of the site following breakfast, to take some photographs which would include some blue sky! The first opportunity this holiday . Following this we took the awning down, in anticipation of storm Lilian which was due today. The site is filling up for the bank holiday weekend, should be full again like last weekend.
Sat: Good journey home, traffic was fine despite being a bank holiday.
My conclusion of the site is somewhat mixed. I don’t like the residential nature of the site, with all the people driving relentlessly up and down the roads. The first part of the site is very gloomy and dark under trees and feels a little industrial in places. The further part of the site where we stayed was fully open and felt a lot better. The site slopes quite a bit, but the pitches have been cut in well and are level and of a good size. The toilet block was a little dated. Shower curtains were still in play here and generally the block could do with a make over, despite being clean most of the time. Water pressure is another issue here, very weak. Recycling is only in one place as well, which is next to Toilet block A, so a bit of a trek for this from our position. Reception looks very modern stocking a few essentials. The pub by the entrance looks pleasant, although we never went there. We were booked to go here in 2020 originally, at the start of the pandemic, so that booking went out of the window! So 4 years later, we made it. It’s a popular site and good for exploring the Sterling area.
Date: 17th August 2024
Nights: 7
Pitch #: 29
GPS: 56.141668, -3.782636
Arrival: M80 > A91 > A907 > B9140 > Road
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