Touring

Sat: A long and twisty journey! All went as planned but boy it’s an interesting journey. Narrow places, 20 mile limits, cars driving well under the speed limit, twists and bends and up and over. You’ve got to love Wales, every road is around – up and down a mountain 🙂 Anyhow, we arrived at the site, got through the tight approach okay, just! Check in wasn’t swift, as a new warden was on duty and was only beginning her duties, so things took a little while! Following this we bagged a good pitch in the area I wanted. It’s a great pitch, spacious and on the top tier, so easy access for Cath to the wash block. We were greeted with a very friendly robin, who stook around whilst we were getting set up. It was very friendly and even took some food from Cath’s hand. We were set and ready to go in no time at all, as everything was essentially still in the caravan ready to rock ‘n’ roll. The only thing that wasn’t quite right was the 12v fridge selection, it wouldn’t power correctly with the car connected, so something to look at, not too important though. We enjoyed a BBQ for tea and then relaxed in the heat for the rest of the night. Looking good.

Sun: Breakfast as usual and then we headed for Betws-y-Coed, a small picturesque village a little North East of where we are. We took a very twisty journey there and then parked up in a very full car park. The place was jumping, very popular. There are some nice places to eat, drink and do a little shopping, all very nice. More interesting was the train station, this was very pretty. A nice single line station, with a bridge that takes you to the model shop, train exhibition and small train ride, all very pleasant. Back at camp, temperatures were soaring so we opened all the windows, deployed the fan and baked in the heat. The TV signal had disappeared for some reason, so I deployed the satellite. With the sat nav finder, I made short work of this and had s signal in no time at all. Game on, TV back up and running!

Mon: We headed for Porthmadog, to pick some supplies up from Tesco’s. This also provided an opportunity to check out the station and parking for tomorrow’s visit to the railway. All went to plan and we headed back to base. The heatwave is continuing, who needs France 🙂

Tue: We made an early depart for Porthmadog. I dropped Cath by the station and then parked up in the designated car park for the railway, a little bit further away (free of charge). We then enjoyed a relax in the cafe as we awaited our train. This duly arrived and we boarded in our ‘Snowdonia’ carriage. As usual, someone else was in our allocated seats, but we politely moved them on. The journey is fantastic up to Ffestiniog, some stunning landscape to enjoy enroute. The train was a little delayed, due to struggling on greasy rails apparently, so frequent sanding was required. We arrived at our destination and were allotted 30mins to relax before the return journey. The weather has been a little bit unbearable, but everyone enjoyed it all the same. Beats the rain I suppose anytime. Back at camp, a squirrel or a magpie had attacked our bird-feed supply, which we had left in the open awning – oops! Never mind, at least the wildlife has had a good time whilst we have!

Wed: Heatwave is peaking and made the day unbearable. We skipped breakfast, stripped off and took shelter inside the ‘van. Shame it’s got this hot – it does spoil your holiday and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Thu: Heatwave still on, rinse and repeat. The wash block is very new and very nice. But the water pressure is rubbish from the new fancy sensor taps, it just dribbles out. And the shower pressure wasn’t too great either. Toilet flush is great on the other hand. I wandered the site today to get some photos. It’s very nice, set out on 3 levels. The lower two are more shaded within trees whilst our upper level is far more open. Perhaps not the best level for this heatwave! But still I reckon our pitch, number 6 is the best.

Fri: Final day of the heatwave apparently, thank goodness. Still too hot for breakfast, but it cooled down a lot during the afternoon and things returned back to some normality.

Sat: Much cooler and still dry, so a pleasant journey back home.

• Date: 20th June 2026
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 6
• GPS: 52.936226, -3.958684

Approach: A487

Sat: A 7.00am depart to pick up the ‘van. All went well, our neighbour seems to have gone, so we have an easy drive in and out without the motor mover, great! We made our way along the A1 and A19 as usual, although I took the more direct route through to the M6 by continuing on the A19 rather than diverting to the A689. I think this works well and seems a little quicker despite the traffic lights and speed restrictions. Something I will use for future trips I think. Our usual stop at Southwaite was fine, filled with fuel and then the journey South began. Time to chew some M6 🙂 All went fine, some usual road works and minor delays but we made good progress. Cath wanted to stop a little earlier than the planned Keele stop, so we pulled in to Charnock services, only to fine there wasn’t really any space to park, even the HGV’s only had a few spots to reverse into to, so we gave this a miss and headed for our original plan of Keele. Having done this, the h=journey to the site wasn’t far away, so following a few potholed roads we arrived at Stanmore Hall Touring Park. Check in was good and informative. We were shown to our pitch by a warden on his bike which is always nice, aka C&CC style! I had opted for a grass pitch, which I’m pleased I did as the pitch we got, 98 – was a gem! Set-up was gentle, as we were both suffering with health. I’d torn my back lifting slabs from the water mains works to get the new K51 on the drive and Cath was suffering from spinal nerve compression, so we were both a bit of a mess! Anyhow, we got sorted as usual and enjoyed what was a good pitch and site. A fish and chip van parked next to us for the Saturday night food van, Cath enjoyed a sample of this for tea, whilst I enjoyed my normal chips & nuggets!

Sun: Weather still good, a trip to the Telford Steam Railway was on the cards. This was a 20 minute drive away, so a relaxed start to the day, as trains were provided from 11am onward, We arrived and parked up in what was a rather empty car park. We then bought our tickets and explored the site. It’s all very nice, but the information was a little hard to grasp with what happens and where. A little more information on the leaflet in terms of diagrams and maps would be helpful. There was no steam running today, so we made do with a pacer. There was supposed to be a steam tram running, but this never came to fruition. Following this, we had a brake van trip, which was short to say the least. We made time for a drink and saw the model railway as well, so a good trip all in all.

Mon: A relax day. Nothing to report other than enjoyed playing cards in the evening, despite losing! Good to report that the new fridge & freezer were working well. They have provided a good amount of storage at reliable temperatures, something we haven’t always had with Frodo and the front locker! Although this 2 week trip pushed them to the max, they still managed (just) and will be fine for all of our other trips throughout the year.

Tue: Another relax day. Lovely to sit outside and enjoy the wildlife. Watched Les Mis in the evening, always nice to have time for that. Rained throughout the night, but who cares!

Wed: I thought we’d go into Bridgnorth itself today after a relaxing start to the day, with both of us sampling the showers. Not bad, not enough hooks or storage space, but a nice shower base, good water pressure and no 5 second button 🙂 Cath didn’t do well in Bridgnorth, so this was cut a little short with me briefly exploring the area on my own and then returning to pick Cath back up. We’ve been here before, again briefly, following a trip on the Severn Valley Railway. I was going to do the funicular railway, but didn’t bother in the end. Nice to see it however, although my vertigo was kicking in 🙁

Thu: Relax on site day. I’ve identified the giant trees here by our pitch as ‘Giant Sequoia’ – the world’s largest trees. Native to the Nevada region of California, introduced to the UK back in 1853. The other massive tree directly in front of us is an Oak tree.

Fri: Following breakfast I headed out for Wolverhampton to pick up the shopping from Tesco’s. This was our closest one, some 30min drive away. Still it’s better than the next stop, where the nearest Click & Collect is a 1hr drive away in Bangor! Hance the reason for picking up supplies today for next week. Picked fuel up on the way back, although the little Texaco station was rammed with a motorhome towing car, which had to reverse out a little to get by two other vehicles. I then ended up on the wrong side of the pumps but the hose managed to reach around thankfully. Although my boot kept trying to open, but luckily the pressure from the hose stopped it in its tracks. All quite amusing! Lovely weather again. Enjoyed playing 3D connect 4 outside on the evening and then retired for the final night. Peacocks back in full chorus.

Sat: A relaxed pack-up. Weather still lovely, no complaints there. We left pretty much bang on time at 11am and were on our way to our next stop, Coed-Y-Llwyn in Wales. It has been a lovely week here, the site is lovely, well kept and the focus of the lake and light lit promenade really makes it feel special. The wash block is well maintained, as is the little complex of shop, reception, seats, conservatory etc. It makes a nice focal point, along with the Mini Bar and seating area, which contains a dart board and table football. Two food vans visit here, on a Friday and Saturday, when the bar is open – so a good focal point for campers to visit and socialise, big thumbs up for this – lacking at many sites. The elsan point is also the best, utilising a mid-centre drop pipe for flushing and cleaning, why don’t all sites employ this? Far better than your leaky tap and pipe. The bins are still in the old CAMC position of being located at the service points. This is fine – but they weren’t emptied enough. Our recycle bin wasn’t emptied for at least 3 days and was overflowing when we left – not good. The waste water point was also raised by surrounding bricks, no good for a wastemaster – you have to lift it to get to the drain, a pain with a bad back 🙁 Still, a great site – glad we went.

• Date: 13th June 2026
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 98
• GPS: 52.527339, -2.378899

Approach: A442 > A458

Fri: Northumbria water are installing a new water mains on our street, so the street is in chaos with regards to vehicles. Can’t get my our car outside the house due to these works, so packing up was a little bit different and a lot more hard work! I’m looking at changing the storage inside the car with view to the new K51 arriving, so I made a start on that which seemed to work okay – this included the addition of a new freezer unit, to properly store our frozen goods rather than chancing them. Following packing we headed for storage and picked the ‘van up and headed for the site. Simple drive although the A1 was rather busy, it is Friday after all. We checked in and set-up as usual. Weather for the weekend is looking great.

Sat: Got up early and cleaned the front of the ‘van, although the warden questioned what I was cleaning. Apparently, the strict rules are that you can only clean your windows and lights, nothing else. That’s the first I’ve heard of this, having just done a full clean of the ‘van at Barnard Castle last visit! Checking the CAMC site it’s a little bit of a grey area, I think, take it site by site. Following this I headed to Tesco to pick up a few ancillary products, as we were expecting guests later today, namely Joanne, Savanna and my dad, They duly arrived at dinner time and we showcased the ‘van and then headed to Durham via the park and ride, although Cath stayed at the ‘van due to her legs not being so good. Joanne drove us all there in her mini and we were soon on the PR1 heading for Durham. We alighted the bus and headed for the Cathedral. This was a first for all of them and they were in awe of the architecture that stood before them. We ventured inside for a while and then headed down to the river, concluding a short introduction for them to the Durham experience. We returned back to base and enjoyed a BBQ followed by an ice cream. A realty nice day which we will aim to do again, maybe at Stockton next time.

Sun: Chilled outside most of the day, weather still great, although a few clouds keep creeping over! Following a relaxed breakfast, I took some photos and then headed for reception to claim my free night. I’d forgotten to mention this when we arrived, so the warden was happy to refund me for the voucher. It’s going to rain tomorrow morning, so we took down the awning. Glad to report everything is working fine, Motorhome Kings have done a good job with everything and the door now latches properly, albeit a little stiff, like the new front locker. I’m sure it will ease with use. I’ve got a new wheel lock which I’ll use tomorrow, as the old Milenco lock is getting a little ‘weathered’. The new freezer has worked well and I’m thinking of getting another one for fridge use. Following this, our new tow car will be collected on Friday!

• Date: 29th May 2026
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 19
• GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499

Fri: Still adjusting to the new storage site. Picked up some fuel from Sainsbury’s, as top-dollar fuel is not necessary with the new tow car imminent. Then to storage and picked up the ‘van. Again a very quick process, so nice not to have mud and puddles to contend with. Down the A1 doing a good 22 MPG, we endured the usual delay on the A66 and then arrived at the site at 1.01pm – not bad eh? It’s strange not having the sat nav, having to read and watch the roads again! If we’re still in the old tug for Summer hols, the sat nav may have to return! New K51 should be here next week, but alas the tow bar is on back order 🙁 We’re not taking the awning this weekend, as the weather looks cold and poor and I’ll use the chance to clean the ‘van thoroughly. Good to report that the 12v control panel has now been fixed. We can enjoy some light and water this trip!

Sat: Lovely day and the cleaning process begins! I’ve come armed with the ladders and portable jet washer in order to clean the roof – it’s been nearly 3 years :O Some 5 hours later I’ve finished and was ready for tea! The jet washer worked well by putting a foam spray of shampoo on the roof and was also useful to blow some clean water on after. Following this I cleaned all of the awning channels and then the usual body wash. She is gleaming, just need to do the locker doors tomorrow. The new awning light and locker look great, another good job by Motorhome Kings. Just need to adjust the habitation lock, as it it doesn’t latch properly. Quite a first, we are dining from a food van tonight. New to the site is a food van from a local hotel, the Crown Outdoors – which comes to the site on a Saturday. They have gluten free options as well, so we are going to give it a try!

Sun: A day to relax following yesterday’s marathon cleaning session, albeit I’ll give the floor a vacuum. The meals from the van last night were really nice, we both enjoyed that, hopefully it’ll be a regular from now on. Weather has been okay for the weekend, a few showers here and there but mostly dry and sunny and not too cold.

Mon: Pack-up and return journey went smoothly. We’ve dropped the ‘van back into Motorhome Kings so that they can sort the habitation door out. One more weekend away and then the main summer holidays, where is the year going again!

• Date: 15th May 2026
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 79
• GPS: 54.546167, -1.941226

Fri: A trip back to Troutbeck, this time for a weekend. Usually we come here for a week, but we had plans this time! Firstly, we have changed storage sites, so that entails new logistics for a few things. Firstly we are now North of the Tyne, so we have two options for heading South, the A1 and the A19. The site is much closer to home being only 20mins away. At the minute we can park and leave using the car, so that is also much quicker. It’s all new at the minute, but we’re very happy with the new storage site – I think it will work well. So following a new routine to hitch-up and leave, we arrived at Troutbeck via Southwaite services as usual. Traffic was okay, but there were some roadworks on the M65 causing some serious delays, luckily we avoided the worst. Arriving on site we set up as normal, but then discovered that the 12v system wasn’t working 🙁 First time for everything! After checking the obvious I decided that we could stay and work things through, we would just have to adapt.

So what works and doesn’t? No water pump, lights, toilet flush, gas ignition, heat, TV signal. Water is dealt with by filling the kettle manually and going to the wash block for ablutions. Lights, slightly more problematic – but we managed with the TV and a torch! Toilet, back to the wash block. Heat, we have a small heater. Gas, cigarette lighter. TV, the site has TV on the bollards 🙂 We managed the night. Actually I enjoyed doing the washing up, brought back memories of how we used to do it! Water pressure is pretty poor however. Overall it was quite good fun to get back to basics, when technology lets you down! Weather is dreadful, we winds and rain, forming the usual lakes on some pitches.

Sat: Time to hit the road and do what we came for. That is to view the new potential caravan and car. We hit the M6 and headed South, nice and clear thankfully with it being the weekend. We first hit Stewart Long Caravans to view the Swift Challenger Grande 640. Caravans are all locked, so you have to view with a sales person, which isn’t the best. We went through the ‘van with a fine toothcomb and visualised how it would work with us. The layout is the same as our current ‘van, but it didn’t really do it for us. We got PX details and then left for KGM Preston to view the new Rexton. This went well and we had a good experience, again leaving with a cost to change. The car will proceed, albeit hopefully in Morpeth, the caravan not – at least for this year.

Sun: A day to chill, weather still horrendous! Tried a hard reset on the Whale iVan and checked all of the fuses, still no joy. Never mind, we’ve managed fine and another night is no great hardship.

Mon: Lovely weather, typical! We got packed up and left at 10am. A pleasant journey back, no holdups, so that was good. Back to the new storage site and we parked up easily again, really liking this, as it has halved the collect and drop times to 1/2hr now. And with A1 or A19 options, much better for all routes. Now we just need to get the ‘van booked in and fixed.

• Date: 10th April 2026
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 123
• GPS: 54.616943, -2.956263

Sat: Loaded the car, complete with bike and roof rack loading, as it’s the first outing of the year to utilise the awning. A cold start, but the day turned into a perfect mix of warmth and clear sky sunshine. The journey to the site was an ideal drive, no holdups. We broke the journey with a stop at Wetherby as usual. Then an hour further down the road, we arrived at the site. Booking in was swift and professional and we were soon heading for pitch 34. The site is full by the looks of it. We had to wait for a couple parking their ‘van in front of us, then we drove to our pitch and motor moved it on, as was a bit of tight corner squeeze. We completed our usual set-up routines and then enjoyed the rest of the day.

Sun: A cold and very windy start to the day. We managed breakfast outside and then retired to the inside of the ‘van for the rest of the day. The wind stayed quite strong throughout, but the awning survived I’m pleased to say. There are some sunny days forecast later in the week, so hopefully we’ll get out and about then.

Mon: Cold again, cooked breakfast outside and then ate inside 🙂 Stayed onsite for the rest of the day. A few observations about the site. The toilet blocks are a little dated, in need of some TLC I would say. There are no wash cubicles either, only toilet & shower. The lights are on a very short timer, you will sit in darkness! The hand dryer is woke. Showers are push button, guess what, not very long either – 20 seconds. Commercial vehicles are stored on the site, which means you get to see them traversing in and out every day. Not quite what you expect from a campsite. Pitches are a good size and the greenery is well maintained, nice bushes and trimmed trees. EHU is at the maximum length. You’ll definitely need 25m of cable here. Service points are plentiful, complete with bins!

Tue: Clear blue skies, but still the wind! Never mind, we took a trip out to the National Holocaust Museum in Laxton, a short 20 minute drive away. The car park is small, we were lucky to find a spot. There were already 4 coaches there, so I guess we’re in for a treat with the kids again 🙁 The site is undergoing a lot of building work at the moment, but it was all still pretty much accessible. Unfortunately, with the kids being there, there was no access to the ‘Journey Expedition’ until 2pm, so we gave that a miss. But the rest was very pleasant and informative, well presented. Following this, we did a little detour to the nearest Tesco for a couple of items and then returned to the campsite.

Wed: A trip to Newark Air Museum. But prior to this, we needed to find a Boots to get Cath’s emergency prescription. We found one in Newark itself, but they didn’t have the ‘stuff’. So we were advised to go to Asda, which we duly did. We were just about to drive in when I realised it was an underground carpark, with a 2.1m height limit, a swift turn and we avoided that. We found a spot on a side street and parked there. We got we we needed and returned to the car and headed onwards to the museum. We arrived following a bumpy road in and then parked up. The site is quite expansive and had a lot to display. There were two indoor exhibitions along with numerous aircraft outside. It was a very pleasant day, so we enjoyed the sunshine and took in all the views of aircraft and helicopters. Following this we returned to the site, but the car had developed a fault. I wasn’t sure at first, but back at site it struggled to idle, dropping revs and was cutting out. The engine also had a rather strange sound to it. Time to get Green Flag out for the first time. Using the app I requested assistance and it did the job very well, even showing where the technician was on their travels. Stephen arrived and determined that there was a fuel pressure fault, not something he could resolve. So we accepted that we would be returning on the back of a lorry 🙁

Thu: Didn’t go anywhere, for obvious reasons. Another lovely day however, so just relaxed on the site. Arranged with Green Flag to do the return journey on Friday.

Fri: Green Flag arrived and the technician didn’t know too much about caravans. First he wanted me to pull the ‘van onto the main road. Tried the car, died straight away – so no chance of that! He then pulled his truck onto the site to collect the car. I then motor moved the ‘van around the corner and onto his hitch. All seems to be going well, but then on the main road he tried to connect up the electrics. The lead from the caravan is not longing enough to reach his port and he didn’t have an extension lead. So we unhitched the ‘van and he drove off for an hour to go and pick an extension up. Upon his return, we hitched back up to the truck, got the electrics connected and finally, we hit the road. He wasn’t aware we needed to go to storage first, so we arranged that. At storage, the fellow on the desk said the truck wouldn’t get around the site, I and the technician begged to differ and we made it through with little hassle. The only concern was grounding on the initial corner, but with adjustable tow height on the truck, we got through that carefully. Caravan back in its slot and onward home. The drop of the car was straight forward and back home we were. A day early and a little exhausted. Now to arrange for the car to be delivered to the garage on Monday – back on the ‘flatbed of shame’.

• Date: 14th March 2026
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 34
• GPS: 53.150581, -0.807653

Approach: A1 > Main Street > Great North Road

Well here it is, who would have believed it 15yrs ago – but this is our 200th caravan trip since we first began in 2011 with our Lunar Clubman ES staying at Doe Park.

I had originally planned to go to Thirsk for this trip, but due to Cath’s present health, I decided to play for the easier gig and make it Stockton again. Flatter terrain and more hardstanding for getting about was the more sensible choice. Weather is looking at a little variable for the weekend as well. Indeed, we travelled through a snow shower on the way here. But all is well and indeed it has stopped raining, so we managed to get set up on our new favourite pitch in the dry. I fired up the heating on gas & electric and then duly ran out of gas! Switched to the other bottle, I’ll get a refill tomorrow.

Saturday brought some frost, enough to freeze the water and pump – yay! It’s been a while since we’ve experienced this, all good fun! It didn’t take long to thaw the pump out and refill the Aquaroll and we soon had water again, in time for Cath getting up. Despite the frost, the weather was clear and bright – indeed a lovely day. I set about washing the ‘van as it was a little dirty following the winter and the trip down. But she soon came up sparkling again. I picked up a gas refill from the site when I finished. £32 :O – Last bottle I picked up was £25! A quick trip to Asda to pick up a magazine and some pencils and chilled for the rest of the day watching ‘Sleepless in Seattle’.

Sunday weather not quite as nice, cloud and some rain. Still, managed to get my outing to the marshalling yard again to see what was in. As usual a few class 66’s and some rolling stock this time as well. It’s been a lovely relaxing weekend, a nice way to spend our 200th anniversary. The weather overall has been kind to us, despite a few met office warnings. Looking forward to returning later in the year.

• Date: 13th February 2026
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 88
• GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260

Fri: A new Aquaroll & Wastemaster have been purchased and are awaiting in the ‘van. With the battery already swapped following the winter break, it was a quick retrieval of the ‘van and we were heading to Stockton. This was following a mix-up over payment at the Shell garage and a lane closure along Park Road North, which both delayed us a little. Arriving at site, I booked in – although not as usual. The CAMC app had upgraded, thus losing my login and Wallet card. So after a couple of attempts of trying to remember the password, I gave up and went for the trusty card in my wallet. Following this, we headed for pitch 88 – which I’d eyed up on our last visit. This offered some good views without being overlooked. It proved a little awkward to get onto with the car, but the mover made short work of it. Everything went well for the rest of the night apart from spilling a glass of wine over the sofa 🙁

Sat: Slept well and then I headed off to Asda to pick up some washing pods. Into the washer the sofa covers went. It’s been a while since we’ve used the laundry at a campsite. They turned out well so all is good. The throw cover however didn’t make it. So a replacement will be sought! Weather is doing well despite some gloom from the weather app. The pitch is a good choice, it will be a favourite if it is available for future visits. Spent most of the day on a ‘Little House on the Prairie’ marathon TV binge!

Sun: Cath’s birthday! Up went the cards, breakfast, another quick trip to Asda for cigarettes and then relaxed. I took a walk down to the marshalling yard later that afternoon, to get some train action!. Not much in however, just a quad of class 66’s parked up. Returned back to the campsite and had a little walk around. Nothing has changed since the last visit. Although the wardens are new and very pleasant as well. Watched the Greatest Showman for Cath’s birthday film of choice. Weather has been much better than expected all weekend, so can’t complain.

Mon: A simple pack-up with no awning. Hitched up and snuck out of the pitch the wrong way to save messing about trying to get around the tight corner. Smooth ride to storage and caravan put away. Nearly forgot to close the kitchen window however, but spotted it just before we left.

• Date: 23rd January 2026
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 88
• GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260

Sat: An easy start, with the site only being just ‘down the road’. We picked up the ‘van from storage, following a discussion with a motorhomer who were having battery issues and then sat in a queue on the A1 for over an hour, due to an accident that had occurred earlier in the morning. We were thrown off the A1 and onto the A6055, which was okay as this was the road we needed to get to our rest stop, aka Leeming Bar. Finally getting there, we ‘enjoyed’ a lukewarm coffee and then began our final short leg to the site itself. This involved a journey on the A61 Ripon road again, but now the road with the resurfacing finished, it was a good leg, albeit a bit twisty 🙂 The final approach along the B6165 Ripley Road was a little tight in places, but perfectly manageable. Upon arrival we duly booked in and were greeted with 3 pitches available, but as it turns out actually only 2! Any remarks about touring diminishing in popularity is far from the truth. We are here in the depths of winter approaching and the site is basically full! We bagged our pitch and set up as usual. We were behind a few trees, so the bird feeder should get used.

Sun: A day of relax, which this week is all about really. We enjoyed breakfast, apart from the eggs which were very white and brittle and then lounged about all day. A lot cooler today, but inside the ‘van it’s not a problem!

Mon: A trip into Ripon. I couldn’t remember whether we’d been here or not before to be honest. As it turns out, we hadn’t. We parked by the Cathedral and then headed into the town (city!) square. Surprisingly to me, it was quite small, I was expecting it to be bigger for a city. We walked around it and stopped for a coffee in the local Costa. Upon returning to the car, we took a visit inside the Cathedral. Very impressive indeed, it punches far above the weight of the town square we’d just visited. We managed to get a thimble and a Christmas decoration in the shop, light a candle for Steph and then following a peruse inside, we headed back to the car. Next stop was Harrogate and the Asda there, to stock up on a couple of essentials missing from the shopping! The A59 is still closed Westbound from the A61, so pleased we missed that when going to Skipton!

Tue: Rain, rain, go away. A very wet day indeed and with the time of year and temperatures, the condensation inside the awning was pretty bad to say the least. Still, a nice time to relax and do nothing 🙂

Wed: Following a shower in the newer wash block, Knaresborough was on the cards today with it being market day. The rain had subsided and we parked up by the river and enjoyed and (steep) walk up to the high street, passing the railway station of course. Sadly, the semaphore signal has now been removed and replaced with a modern 2 aspect 🙁 We didn’t make it to the castle, but enjoyed a coffee in the market square before heading back to the car. It’s very hilly here, so Cath suffered a bit. Knaresborough is steeped in history and has some fantastic buildings along with its church and of course the viaduct. I hadn’t quite appreciated this the first time we visited, but glad we took the riverside journey this time, as we discovered and saw a lot more. Drizzle followed us hone and stayed with us for the rest of the day.

Thu: Not feeling to good, neither of us – so we stayed in all day. I had planned a walk/cycle around Nidd Gorge, but feeling under the weather and the weather being even worse, we decided to give it a miss. This left to us our devices inside the ‘van, which is always nice. Now time to report on the signals here. TV is very good, despite only getting a modest score with the CAMC. Maybe we’ve just got a lucky pitch! EE & Vodafone signal is poor, for the internet I’m getting: 0.2Mb down and 0.3 Mb up – so things are a little slow, manageable, but slow. Signal is showing 5G with 2 bars, but the speeds don’t reflect that. Shame, as with the site being open all year, it could easily become a favourite. But with the internet being very important, I’d be a little reluctant to return.

Fri: Rain continued non stop. Needless to say we stayed inside and again just relaxed. The site had filled up again, with only a couple of free pitches. So it is a popular site, I wonder if the onsite bar is a draw? But then again, there are far fewer CAMC sites open all year now, so this will push all demand to the few left open.

Sat: Rain had turned to drizzle now, thankfully. We did the pack up, but with everything being very wet, it took a little longer, plus we weren’t firing on all cylinders ourselves. So we ended up leaving the site at 11.30am, the latest departure I think we’ve ever had! The return journey home was fine, no delays or diversions this time. We decided to give Leeming Bar Rest Area a miss, as we both wanted to get back as soon as possible. And with the state of the last coffee we had on the way here, we were missing nothing!

• Date: 8th November 2025
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 49
• GPS: 54.023681, -1.501767

Approach: A61 > B6165 > New Road

Sat: An early start, 6.30am departure. Although this didn’t go to plan. We ended up leaving 15 minutes late, but hey-ho. The real delay was the fact that Cath forgot to pick up her phone from the dining room table. She realised this just as we were about to hit the tunnel, so luckily we avoided going through. We stopped a couple of times to check the car for its presence, but it wasn’t here and we relented to returning back home to look for it there. Once found we returned and our journey commences, some 40 minutes behind schedule – shocking 😉

Collecting the ‘van and the journey ahead all went smooth. Our usual stop at Wetherby, nice and empty at this time of year! Good to see the warden still directing traffic, something I wish a lot of other places would implement. We passed Birmingham and the usual trouble spots without any issue thankfully and then on to a new service station stop, namely Strensham Services. This has good caravan parking facilities, a rarity, but most welcome! Although it didn’t smell too good 🙁 Following this we crossed the M4 ‘Severn Bridge’ and arrived at our site, having navigated the junction off the M4 which is a bit of a nightmare. I’d sussed it for arriving, but later outings got the better of me! The campsite is on the grounds of Tredegar House, so it feels quite strange literally driving through the quaint grounds, avoiding people and animals, but then you finally arrive at the CAMC gates. The site was pretty full when we got there, so a choice of 4 pitches and we chose 47, which was quite nice to be honest – a lucky find! We got setup and relaxed after quite a journey, 8 hours in total. But to be fair, no queues, holdups or diversions.

Sun: A trip to Caerphilly Castle – the largest castle in Wales! Not too far away, only a 25min drive, the castle is easily accessed via car park which is free on Sunday, yeah!. From here we walked to the castle and what a castle it is, it’s massive. Surrounded by a moat, we eventually found the entrance, paid the fee and entered. There is a lot to explore, with video & audio presentations in a lot of places and most of the castle is explorable, it really is a worthwhile visit. Following this visit, we returned to the site and enjoyed some more good weather, just like yesterday.

Mon: A walk around Tredegar House grounds, or a cycle for Cath! We passed a few shops near the entrance, but most were closed, as it is Monday. Despite this, we headed for the park and walked around the central part, wondering where the lake was! It was a good walk and I’m sure will be popular with the dog owning campers.

Tue: The NEC Caravan Show was on the cards today. A 2 hour drive from the site, but better than 4 hours from home! We had a good run until the actual turn off on the M42 – where they are doing roadworks, so we got held up for approx 30mins. Then we were all directed to park inside the NEC rather than a car park. This resulted in a long walk along the ‘skywalk’ and with the travellator being broken, Cath struggled a little. The place was busy, much more so than I thought it would be on a Tuesday, although it is the first day of the show I suppose. We found the area we wanted following a coffee and perused the Elddis and Bucanneer ‘vans. The Elddis Avante Apex 840 looks like the ‘van we’ll go for, the radical charcoal seats were just a little different however and may take some time to adjust to, we’ll see. We didn’t stay too long as we’d seen what we came for and it was proving a long day for Cath. The return journey was fine and needless to say we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Wed: What’s occurring today? Barry Island – we couldn’t travel to South Wales and not visit it could we? Only a 45min journey away from the site, we soon arrived and were parked up on the sea front. It’s quite a compact resort, but very pleasant with a nice stretch of beech. All of the rides and entertainment were mostly closed, but we managed to grab a coffee in Marco’s – yeah! I can imagine it being very popular in the summer, really enjoyed it here.

Thu: We stayed onsite and enjoyed another walk in the park, this time around the lake. To be honest, we preferred the park walk, as much of the lake walk is under trees with the lake only being visible at certain points. Regardless, Cath made good use of her bike again. Following this I cleaned the ‘van, although she wasn’t too bad to be honest. I do need to do the roof however.

Fri: The usual relax onsite day. Filled the car up ready for the journey back tomorrow and also took down the awning and packed the roof rack and car, as we’d need an early start tomorrow.

Sat: Aiming to leave by 9am, we got up early and finished the rest of the packing up jobs. All was going well, until I came to remove the EHU cable from the bollard. It’s one of the twist and turn types, so duly pressed the red button to untwist, which it did – but then the cable would not pull clear. I tried for quite a while and then began resorting to some quite strong force and after some combined wiggling, I managed to pull it free. In all our years of caravanning, never had this before! We had a good journey to Strensham, our first stop where we enjoyed a coffee. Then onwards past Birmingham and the NEC roadworks. It wasn’t too bad however and we were soon arriving at Wetherby, pretty much on schedule. Here was the next event for today, I pulled into the petrol station which was quite busy, so chose a lane behind a single car. We waited and waited for this car to go, but it didn’t. Eventually a member of staff from the petrol station came over and informed us that the car would be here a while, as the owner was having trouble paying for their fuel. So I asked the guy if he’d be banksman and watch my rear as I reversed out of the chosen bay and selected a one which was now empty. All went well, fuelled up and we were off. No more dramas, ‘van back in storage and home to relax.

• Date: 11th October 2025
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 47
• GPS: 51.561348, -3.032452

Arrival: M4 > A48 > Pencarn Way