Saturday morning and an early start for our weeks outing. Heading for Derbyshire, not too far but far enough to warrant a stop off at Ferrybridge to consume a laté and bacon sandwich! Following this break and some more journey time down the M1 and then through Chesterfield and out into the Peak District, we soon arrived at our destination. We were greeted by a gated access to which we contacted the owners, who gave us our pitch number and duly met us there as agreed. Very nice, very professional, good impressions so far! Our pitch was by the toilet block so not far to walk for the whole week. Quite handy as well because the fresh water is also found on this block, so very handy. Pitches were described as being large but I would describe them as adequate. Indeed putting the caravan on the hardstanding with pin-point accuracy with the mover, left just enough room for the car down the offside and if we had erected an awning, no further room would have been left. In fact it would have been difficult to maintain the water works with the tightness of everything. Just a little more room would have been nice! Weather being a little on the cold side, we decided not to erect the awning. Something of a common occurrence now for the March outing! Setting the TV up soon revealed that the signal was not great, so without further a-do I set the satellite up. I’ve never set it up so fast before thanks to the app on my phone. I couldn’t believe it when I found a signal, went inside and discovered it was the Astra birds first time, woohoo! Bring on ‘Come Dine with Me’!
Sunday morning and we needed to depart to the Midland’s Railway! This wasn’t too far from the site and provided another heritage railway which ran some steam and diesel. The station we departed from was Butterley Station, a popular LMS station as depicted by Hornby in their Skaledale building! We took a trip East to Riddings Junction where the train ran-around and took as back West to Swanwick Junction. Here we departed for a while and took a look around the various sheds and signal box (which was open to the public). There was more to see here but with the weather being so cold we decided to cut it short and stay on the same train back to Butterley. A nice day out bar the cold weather. Back at base we were soon warm again.
Monday and a day in the spa town of Buxton was in order. Literally just minutes up the road we were soon there. We parked up and had a nice wander around the town. Not much to see but pleasant all the same. We managed to pick up a couple of essentials whilst we were there, namely a thimble and an ash tray! We saw the spa baths, the opera house and the dome. Following our little tour of the town we headed to one of the caves which are infamous in the Derbyshire area. We arrived at a bad time however (school children 🙁 ). So we decided that we’d come back in the morning when all was quiet again! Following this we headed back to base, just need to remember the gate number now!
Tuesday and our day at the cave had begun. Namely ‘Poole’s Cavern’ which was located just outside of Buxton. We paid our entrance fee and duly took to looking about the shop and exhibition until the tour time began, we even managed a laté before the show began! With the tour under way, we were soon immersed in an underworld of water and rocks. Quite amazing really. It was very well done with effective lighting and a very good tour guide. It was a little chilly in there, 7 degrees I believe but we were well prepared and wrapped up accordingly. Following the cave tour we then proceeded to trek up to Solomon’s Temple, via the woodland walks which take you up to the summit of Grin Hill where the temple can be found. We duly did this and a very splendid view it was (after I had taken a lot of time to adjust to the height whilst handing on to the staircase handrail!).
Wednesday and no outings were on the card. Weather was improving so I decided that it was time to wash the ‘van – including the roof! This is all becoming second nature now and even the roof cleaning went smoothly! Knowing exactly how to set the ladders and how to use the towel to clean the roof, she was in pristine condition in no time. Well worth doing as a view from the upper terrace of the site showed a gleaming roof in the sunshine, oh yes 🙂
Thursday, the penultimate day, nothing to do but chill. I had been working all week on my turnout decoder software which was providing much entertainment for me. Still not exactly finished I have to say, a little behind schedule – but non the less, a good step forward. France will bring more time to complete this project.
Friday and a solar eclipse was in order. Our friendly site owners were soon passing by offering a view of the eclipse by way of a welder’s helmet. This provided a superb view of the eclipse I have to say, well done and thanks! Following this we were soon packing up and heading back up North. It has been a great week, superb site, up there with the other ‘pedigree’ sites aka Old Oaks, Eye Kettleby lakes etc. The toilet block was excellent, showers amazing. On site shop superb, open a good number of hours. Cafe open at the weekend. Very neat and tidy. Superb, hope to be back.
- Date: 14th March 2015
- Nights: 6
- Pitch #: 17
- GPS: 53.229680, -1.886549
