Sat: A 7am start to pick up the ‘van and head South to our destination. Everything went smooth and to plan, enjoying a coffee and bacon buttie at Wetherby as usual. Weather was thankfully glorious considering we’ve been under snow for the past few days. Clear roads and skies, the journey was very pleasant indeed. The site can be found just off the A43 from the A1, so a simple drive.
We were warmly greeted by the wardens and told to pitch anywhere we wanted. The site has only opened to tourers yesterday, so I though the place would be empty, but how wrong I was – there weren’t many pitches left at all! We found one which was orientated for the awning facing south, so took that one. We had been instructed about a marker on the ground where your ‘van has to be parked. But this later turned out to be the minimum marker, where your ‘van can’t exceed this point due to fire regulations, all makes sense, although the intro given by the wardens wasn’t too clear in this respect. Pitched up we enjoyed the rest of Saturday with a BBQ tea.
Sunday – the weather turned and we were in for a rough ride with the storm, we stayed onsite and relaxed. The neighbours awning had become loose and they were losing their contents across the field. I notified the wardens and we helped collect and tie things down.
Monday – the winds continued and I mean rough winds, gusts of up to 50mph. This took is toll on the awning and caused some damage. We toughed it out and re-pegged every hour to keep things in place. Not pleasant though!
Tuesday – the winds have died thankfully, so we were able to ‘reset’ the awning after its battering over the last 24hrs. One leg has been damaged and a toggle has stripped, so we’re looking at getting it replaced. A storm kit can be bough for it, so this is something we’re going to get. Following the morning awning work & breakfast, we had a quick trip into Corby to pick up a few essentials and then returned to base, weather still a little mixed.
Wednesday – a frosty morning but no winds, so dry and pleasant. A simple relax day.
Thursday – another relax day.
Friday – best weather of the week! We stripped the awning down in preparation for departure tomorrow as it was nice and dry. We had a chat with the neighbours who had returned for the weekend, they even brought us some beer as a thank you for helping with their awning.
Saturday – a good run back home, Wetherby services was nice and quiet again.
- Date: 11th March 2023
- Nights: 7
- Pitch #: 16
- GPS: 52.546550, -0.586939
Approach: A1 > A43