Our first outing of 2012 and we chose a site very local to us, so as to maximise the time spent in the caravan rather than travelling. We needed to get the ‘van ready for the season following its first winter in storage! This involved returning quite few items that we’d brought home to let the ‘van air and to prevent damage due to frost.
Durham Grange is literally just off the A1, so access is very straight forward. Being so close to the motorway, some traffic noise can be heard during the night, but nothing to cause any problems. Wardens were very welcoming and later on the Sunday gave us some good advice re a walk into Durham along the river, along with bus advice on how to return! Site is very tidy, mostly hard standings, some fully serviced pitches, toilet block very well kept. TV and phone reception very good, to my dismay, as we had just purchased a satellite system and I was keen to deploy it! But with such good reception from the Status, it didn’t warrant setting it up.
Regarding the walk into Durham, it is approximately 3.5 miles and follows the river Wear for most of the journey, very pleasant indeed. It does get quite muddy in certain places and does descend a little toward the river. Other than that though, a very enjoyable and pleasant walk. If you don’t want to walk back, take the number 20 bus back into Belmont, where a short walk across the 690/A1 roundabout will take you back to the site – take care though!
Our drinks cabinet door didn’t fair too well on the journey, as the plastic insert had fallen off when we arrived! Nothing damaged and it should be a simple procedure to simply apply adhesive and re-attach. The ‘van is in for its first service next month, so that can be added to the agenda then. Everything else working fine in the ‘van, so overall we are still very pleased with the Lunar Clubman ES!
There is a large Tesco’s just 10 minutes away, so stocking up on food essentials is simple. The shop on the site doesn’t sell anything, apart from toilet fluids, so be prepared. Security is the usual barrier gate, with remote control opening. There are a few axle spread speed humps, so keep the speed down as they create quite a wobble!
Equipment updates:
- New storage bag for the water mains adaptor pipe, to replace the bin bag currently in operation!
- Garmin 3790T sat nav has had some major software updates, and now works without any glitches in the trip planning.
- Custom hitch cover, after seeing our jockey wheel clamp handle fade to white, we have decided to cover it all up this season, especially as we’re back in the South of France for the summer. New handle will be fitted at the service.
- Mad Suspension Spring Assistors have worked well and have helped in preventing the sag we usually get when hitching up.
- New tow ball looks great, no more rusting looks! And not so much as a murmur from it, which we sometimes used to get with the old tow ball.
- Longer arms for the Milenco Tow Mirrors, much better than clamping the old ones on at the end of their reach. Nice find, wish we’d found them last year!
It’s been a great weekend, feels great to be back touring again! We will be back to this site, especially as it’s so close for us. Incidentally this has been our first outing without the teenager, sorry I mean our beloved daughter. The house has been left in her capable hands – only two problems, the hot water has gone off and their is no sound in the media room! Looks like I’ve got extra work on Monday!
- Date: 25th February 2012
- Nights: 2
- Pitch #: 17
- GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499
