Sat: An early start, picked up the ‘van and headed south. First stop would be Wetherby, in time for a bacon buttie and coffee. We managed to spend a good hour here, as we were ahead of schedule. It made a nice change not rushing for once, I think I’ll plan in a longer stop for future journeys. The journey to the site took us along the A6, which was a bit slow with all the roadworks. But we arrived only 20mins behind schedule and in glorious sunshine. In fact, it was so hot, we had to stage the set-up at a slower pace due to the heat. We pitched on the lower terrace near the road, as this was all that was available. Despite the road noise, which doesn’t really bother either of us, the pitch is in a nice and open area, south facing, so ticks all of the boxes. BBQ for tea and all is well for the start of summer tour!
Sun: A trip to Foxfield Railway is on the cards today. We arrived, via a very interesting sat nav led journey and enjoyed a coffee before departing on the 11am train. The line isn’t very long and doesn’t have any stations enroute, just a small halt where the train runs round for the return journey. Also onsite is a museum, shop and miniature railway. Once we had finished here, we left heading for Morrisons in Leek to refuel and pick up a couple of items. Back at the site, we enjoyed the weather again.
Mon: Relax onsite day!
Tue: A trip to Leek, despite the weather turning a little. We walked through the town, didn’t take long as there’s not a lot there. Back onsite for the rest of the day.
Wed: Another railway trip, this time on the Churnet Valley Railway. This is quite an impressive heritage line, about 10 miles in length, with a return journey taking approximately 2 hours. There are some nice lineside buildings along the way, goods shed, cafe & gift shop. Steam was supposed to be running today, but alas, due to technical difficulties, it was replaced with a diesel, namely a class 33.
Thu: Relax onsite day, weather much better!
Fri: Weather poor again, stay onsite we will.
Sat: Departure day – a relaxed pack-up as it’s only an 11.30am departure to hit Burrs. A quick reverse to get out of the lower section and we were on our way. Nice site, a lot of pitches that didn’t take our fancy however – along with them mostly being tree covered. Glad we pitched where we did now, road noise not bothering us. Not a great deal to see or do in the area, although a good place for the two heritage lines we managed to see!
- Date: 24th June 2023
- Nights: 7
- Pitch #: 1
- GPS: 53.138923, -1.984115
Approach: A6 > A53