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.
- Date: 25th April 2025
- Nights: 3
- Pitch #: 21
- GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499
