Touring

Well it was time for the ‘vans first service, happy birthday! Where has the time gone? It only seems like yesterday since we were perusing magazines looking for our ultimate touring machine.

As well as the service, the following was on the agenda:

• Wheels balanced
• Drinks cabinet door fixed
• Jockey wheel handle replaced
• Two missing screws fitted to dinette table

The outcome? Wheels were done, cabinet door needs to be ordered in as a warranty claim. Jocket wheel handle I forgot to bring in (oops) and the two missing screws not done! The ‘van was washed as part of the service, so came out looking as new.

So we will be returning again once the door is in stock and at the same time we’ll get the last two on the agenda sorted. But the good news is that no major faults were found and no damp! Hooray!

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

With our Hyundai Santa Fe being of the 5 seat variant, it doesn’t come with automatic suspension levelling, therefore I thought it would advisable to assist the rear springs a little in order to prevent too much sag with the ‘van hitched.

Following much research, MAD Spring Assisters seemed to prove favourable, so an order was placed! They duly arrived and I arranged for them to be fitted by my local garage, despite the claim that they are easy to fit! Maybe if you’ve got the time and equipment!

I have to say that the ride does feel more solid and hitching the ‘van up for the first time did reveal less of a sag. They claim that the ride height is not affected, but I noted a 2~3cm increase in tow ball height. Overall very pleased, a worthy addition to the tug.

A fully serviced pitch local to us for another weekend escape saw us visiting the Caravan Club site of White Water Park in Stock-on-Tees. A short journey down the A19 saw us turning into the site quite literally as we had left the Tees fly-over. Surely this site can’t be up to much, being stuck in the middle of an industrial town?

Well it can and is it up to much. Being situated by the recently developed White Water Course, the area is surprisingly remote from the commercial aspect of the area. The site as usual for CC sites is kept to a very high standard. Toilet block was very good. A games room also adjoined the wash block, complete with pool table. The fully serviced pitches are of a generous size and are surrounded by hedges to give that bit of privacy. We arrived and duly signed in, being greeted by a very friendly woman on reception. We were told to find our pitch and report back with the number and collect wash block keys. We chose pitch 7, reversed the caravan on, dropped the legs and began setting up. The pitch wasn’t exactly level, but it would do for the weekend! Grey water disposal, fresh water and electric were all provided by the bollards to the rear of the caravan. Once we were set, we headed for the Asda store just by the site, as we needed to stock up on food for the weekend. We normally do this prior to arriving, but with the supermarket being literally on our doorstep, we decided to do it when we arrived. You access the Asda store by following a public footpath which runs up the side of the site leading you straight to the supermarket, perfect! The route offers some very pleasant views of the surrounding nature reserve, along with the Tees fly-over and Transporter bridge! Stocked up with the necessary goodies, we headed back to the caravan and decided a trip to Saltburn-by-the-Sea was in order.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea is roughly a 30 minute car journey away. We arrived early afternoon to find it quite full! The car parks were all full on the front and people in their masses were down by the beach, on the pier, in the cafes and restaurants. We managed to park up by the town centre on a side street, not too far away and began the walk down to the beach. The descent down is quite steep, we followed the road, but soon discovered steps on either side, never mind – know for next time!

We decided to head for the Woodland Centre. This took us past the Saltburn Miniature Railway, which unfortunately looked closed for the season! When we finally reached the centre, it too was closed! Never mind, it had been a very pleasant walk on quite a nice autumnal day. The walk as it happens took as back very close to where we had parked, so we decide to head for the town and see we could locate out thimble. We found the train station (train fix #4), but alas no sign of the tourist information centre as promised by the town maps placed around the area. To conclude our visit, we decided that a visit to the Saltburn Cliff Lift was a must, so we made our way there. The lifts are apparently the oldest water balanced cliff tramway in Britain that is still in operation, very neat indeed! We decided not to go down in the lifts, but simply to admire them. Well at £3 per person one way, we felt it a tad on the steep side!

Heading back to the site, we returned to our usual Saturday evening routine of Harry Hill, Family Fortunes and X-Factor. That pretty much took care of the night! The TV reception on the site was very good. Other sites have been worse and have caused me to seriously consider the satellite approach! Well things are getting too easy now, need something to challenge us once again!

Sunday brought a lovely relaxed morning, a little overcast thinking our good fortune of weather was over, but sure enough the skies cleared early afternoon, just in time for us to explore the area and Teeside Retail Park! Well our teenage daughter was with us, so it was on the cards! The White Water Course was a very impressive site, we walked around it and also saw the Tees Barrage, a hydraulic barrier that is now in place controlling the Tees, an essential part of the infrastructure that provides the excellent facilities for water sports that the Tees now supports. A short walk over the A66, via some un- pedestrianised sections (look left, look right, check again, run!) and we arrived at Teeside Retail Park. Clothes shops everywhere, one teenage daughter was happy. Happily there was a Maplin’s store there, which gave me some unexpected enjoyment, but alas no model shops! Dinner stroke tea was unanimously decided and we headed for Morrison’s. We have always liked their café/restaurants – so in we went and as usual, we were not disappointed.

Returning to the site later on, we relaxed for the rest of the evening, watching some TV – not even watching a DVD this trip, now that’s a first! Refreshments, food, junk food – saw us collapsing into our beds for again the final night. Rabbits a plenty, even a fox was spotted in the greenery behind our caravan. It had been a very pleasant trip, we would certainly return as it offers a good base for exploring both the more commercial aspects of the area, along with the more relaxed and beautiful town offerings along the East coast. So with a fairly routing Monday morning, we packed up, hitched up and headed back for storage. Would this be the last trip of the year? We hope not! Weather permitting, we’ll try and escape again in mid November. There is simply so much to see and we need to make the most of our time in the caravan to ensure that we do!

• Date: 22nd October 2011
• Nights: 2
• Pitch #: 7
• GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260

Finchale Abbey Touring Park is located between Chester-le-Street and Durham, so is very much a local journey for us. Minimal travelling time ensured an easy start to the day. The roads to the site are all good, nothing too tight. Only when you approach the entrance does the road single out, descending down towards the barrier protected site entrance.

The entrance barrier is automatic, with parking for arrivals immediately in front. Reception is a small porch built onto one of the buildings just by the river. Here we received a friendly greeting, followed by the usual swapping of deposit cash for the combined toilet block and barrier swipe card. As we had booked a super pitch, we also needed a converter lead for their bollards, which are fitted with the larger 32A Ceeform sockets.

There are four fully serviced pitches, all very big with easy access. We were soon pitched and sat outside, enjoying the Indian summer that had descended upon England, with today possibly being the hottest day in October on record! The pitches are next to the abbey and overlook the river, very picturesque. The abbey is free to look around and also provides a small shop which offers chips and hot drinks. After our initial tour of the park we decided to source some food for tea. Apparently there is a pub within 10 minutes walking distance, but we decided to go into the Pity Me where a Sainsbury’s would offer us a good selection of food supplies for the weekend. The evening was wrapped up with a game of Scrabble and a film and once again, night fell on the first day.

Sunday brought a complete contrast in weather, so the chairs and table were put away and the heating went on! A trip to the pet store provided some indoor amusement, followed by some more Scrabble and films. We were joined next door by a motorhome later that day, newbies as it turned out! Before we knew it, we were offering assistance on the electrics and water. The couple had hired the motorhome for taking their son to university whilst also combining a tour. It didn’t help that the vehicle had been supplied without a mains EHU cable, I suggested they contacted the site owners who would surely have a spare to loan, which indeed they did.

Monday morning and time to leave, we packed up and hitched up. The ground around the hardstanding was starting to get a little low, so we pulled the caravan off with great caution to avoid grounding it. A quick visit to the reception to get our deposits returned and we were off, back to storage. Another very pleasant trip, another very pleasant site.

• Date: 1st October 2011
• Nights: 2
• Pitch #: B2
• GPS: 54.817486, -1.540929

The route to Silverdale Caravan Park would be our first trans pennine journey. With options of either the A66 or the A69, I chose my preferred route of the A69. A more scenic route with dual carriageway for a good section. The A69 is also lower in altitude than the A66 which would help with the winds which were predicted for the weekend!

Following a good journey we arrived in Silverdale and navigated our way to the campsite via some rather neat roads. We met a couple of caravans head on, but managed to squeeze our way through with some careful manoeuvring. The campsite is near Morecambe Bay and offers some fantastic views of the Bay along with access to plenty of walks.

We signed in at reception, which allowed the number plate security driven barriers to open and we were off, off to find our pitch. We were told to take any pitch we wanted, all were fully serviced, so we headed for a quiet spot in the middle of three adjacent pitches, all of which were empty. Plenty of room to reverse the caravan onto the pitch and before we knew it we were ready to set-up once again. This is the first fully serviced pitch we have been on, so two new toys came into play. Namely the direct water hose connection from Truma, provided with the caravan and some lengths of waste pipe, which I had purchased in preparation of feeding our waste outlets into the drain. Both were easily set-up and we were ready, ready to explore.

We decided the first port of call would be to check out Silverdale itself. This we did on foot only to discover Silverdale didn’t have much to offer other than the usual post office, church and chinese takeaway! So we promptly decided that a longer journey into Carnforth was required. This was too far to walk, so we looked for the bus stop. Failing in this task we ended up back at the campsite and discovered a bus stop on the site itself! Journey times weren’t suitable however, as we were pushing time late on this Saturday afternoon, so we took the car.

Carnforth is a small town just off the M6 on the main West Coast Main Line (train fix #3). It has a beautiful railway station which we visited, just by the shops on the main street. Following this, a quick trip to the Co-Op so us ready to head back to base.

The site has excellent facilities including: swimming pool; restaurant, bar, shop, games room and take-away. It was the latter we chose for teatime, selecting from a good menu which saw us returning to the caravan with some hot food, following a cool pint. We set the main table up and enjoyed the meal we had just purchased. Settling down for the evening, a couple of DVD’s were in order. The wind had already began to pick up, with some rocking of the caravan. The remnants of hurricane Katria were starting to show.

The toilet blocks were of excellent standard, by far some of the best we’ve ever seen. The chemical point is also located in here. For a weekend trip I have to say that the fully serviced pitch was a joy. Not having to worry about the water levels and just relax and enjoy the short stay was very welcome. With the weather turning, we decided that Sunday would be a day to stay on the campsite, enjoying some games, books and films along with a visit to the site shop. The take-away was ordered again for the evening, bliss – this is what a weekend away is all about. Heating on, and we were set for another night, with some more less gentle rocking!

Monday morning arrived and it was time to head back. It was time to head back soon! The winds were forecast to be very strong, and we needed to go trans pennine! This is the first time I’ve driven the outfit in very high winds and I’m pleased to say it handled very well. Keeping the speed well down we sailed through the exposed sections of the M6 and A69, with only a few minor wind generated course deviations. Back at storage we put our baby away and ensured all legs were fully down as the wind whistled around us!

• Date: 10th September 2011
• Nights: 2
• Pitch #: N/A
• GPS: 54.176667, -2.835492

Another early morning start and we were heading North. Chewing the Autoroutes up we finally arrived in Calais and booked in at Bien Assise. This is a super campsite literally on the doorstep of the Eurotunnel. We were shown to our pitch and duly swung the caravan in and made haste to set her up – now we are in the North, the sun has gone and the rain has begun! After setting up we took to our beds and made short fo the night. The following morning the weather had cleared a little so we were able to explore the site a little. Again we had: swimming pool, bar, restaurant, shop, table tennis & outdoor recreational facilities. The town of Guines is only a short walk away from the site, so we decided to venture in and see what was there. As it happens, a fair was being prepared so many roads were being closed and diverted. I also noted that the exit route I had chosen back to the tunnel was also closed! Hmm, some Google Map planning with the sat-nav was in order if we were to get to the tunnel without any unexpected diversions/delays.

Out time here was soon up and once again the Summer Holiday was at an end. Time to hitch up and make good the last leg of the journey. The tunnel from Bien Assist is only about 20 minutes away. With the new route planned in the sat-nav, we were soon on the way and arrived at the queues. Some long queues! Needless to say something wasn’t quite right as the delay put us past our scheduled train, but eventually we all got through and were put on trains accordingly. The Channel journey was again soon over and once again we were back in England. Back on the left, back on some heavily congested roads. Road works ahead, no caravan friendly places to stop for a while – miss the French system big style, but great to be back home! Bring on 2012 – France, we will be back!

• Date: 4th August 2011
• Nights: 2
• Pitch #: M2
• GPS: 50.865680, 1.856597

Château de Fonrives was our second destination, in the Dordogne region of France. This was going to be an 8 hour journey, so an early start was required. Staying with the Autoroutes, the journey was straight forward, with a few stops at the Aires for refreshments and toilet breaks! We duly arrived at the campsite and were shown to our pitch. The pitches were hedge delimited with a few trees providing part shade. The pitching was a little tight, but the motor mover again made short work of this. With the caravan ready, we soon got into relaxation mode – armed with a Lafumer, the sun beckoned us to soak it up!

We were planning on using the awning, but due to the fantastic weather we decided it would save for another day. So chairs and a table it was, which to be honest is all we needed. The campsite had all the usual facilities: two swimming pools, restaurant, bar, take-away, tennis, boules, table tennis, mini-golf, football and a shop. Just a short car journey away is the small provincial town of Villereal. This provided access to a supermarket just on the outskirts, along with other shops and a market within the town itself. All absolutely beautiful and a million miles away from North East England!

Other excursions in the car took us to the town of Monpazier, another stunning picturesque town. And also Castillonnes, which wasn’t quite up to the expectations as set by Monpazier, but interesting non-the-less. The sat-nav once again routed us perfectly on all of excursions. This coupled with the brilliant French roads makes these little excursions a real pleasure rather than a bind – so different to England. Following nine days of relaxation, the time had come again to depart to our third destination, on the return leg of the journey back home. The campsite in question? Bien Assise in Calais, a mere 10 hours away!

• Date: 26th July 2011
• Nights: 9
• Pitch #: 93
• GPS: 44.657442, 0.727754

This year’s trip to France was going to be a little different in a few respects. Firstly, we were going to be towing something considerably larger than the camping trailer of last year. Our crossing this time would see us using the Channel Tunnel rather than the ferry. And last but not least, we would be touring France visiting three sites rather than just one. Thank goodness for the sat-nav!

We ventured South on the Friday evening, scheduled to catch the train at 11:20pm. The journey took us on familiar roads by now, along with rest breaks at our usual places. Before long we were on the M20 on the approach to the tunnel. Never having used the tunnel before, this was going to be a learning experience and of course all in the dark just to make it that bit more challenging!

We pulled up at the booths which successfully scanned our registration and confirmed our booking. We were then guided to a check point whereupon our gas was checked, all good so far. Next we were given our lane number and waited until our time to board was given. Unfortunately we were first in line and so had to navigate to the correct platform for the first time in the dark with nobody else to follow! The route was a little narrow in places, or it felt so at least! Not sure where exactly we were going, we quickly spotted a green arrow pointing down towards one of the platforms, the rest were on red, so we took it be the platform for us. Down we went and arrived at the train. Headlights off, we boarded the train. Plenty of room to get on to my relief and we were soon snuggled up inside our carriage with our handbrake on and first gear engaged. The train duly began its journey and before we knew it, we were in France. Well, okay, 35 minutes later after a couple of sandwiches and a drink! Departing the train was just as simple, leading straight onto the A26, where our tour would begin! From now on it’s the tunnel every time for us, much better than the ferry.

The first leg of our tour was des 4 vents near Paris. This would only be a three to four hour drive, so after making suitable progress we decided to pull into an air and rest until the morning. The remainder of the journey to 4 Vents was fairly straight forward. I had made sure the route taken kept us on the outskirts of Paris, so as to avoid those busy French drivers! The final approach to 4 Vents was straight forward enough and early doors on the Saturday, we had arrived at our first French campsite with our caravan.

The site looked very nice, with the shop and dining facilities at the entrance with lots of spacious pitches separated by hedges. Not too many trees about so the site had a nice open feel about it. We were shown to our pitch by a young lady on a bike and soon had the caravan where we wanted and the set-up began. Conveniently there was a water tap just beside us by the electric bollard. We soon had everything connected and set about looking around the site. The wash block was next to the open air swimming pool, accompanied by the games room. All very nice and welcoming, especially in this heat!

Our main reason for coming to 4 Vents was to use it as a base for visiting Paris. The campsite was not far from Tournan-en-Brie where there was a train station, so we could catch a train directly into Paris. This we did in the early afternoon and soon we were on the train heading into Paris. The trains are very comfortable, with double decks. It was a great way to see some of the surrounding area, before we went underground to the main stations in Paris. We exited at Haussmann-St-Lazare where we were greeted by some wonderful architecture. Not knowing where we were going, we set off and explored the area in the general direction of the shops, eventually heading towards the Eiffel Tower. There were some fantastic sites to see along the way, the walks by the river were truly beautiful, along with many parks, cafes and fun fair amusements. We duly arrived at the tower and were quite amused by the size of the queues of people waiting to go up into the tower. Not wanting to spend all of today queuing, we decided that we would ‘do the tower’ tomorrow and use the rest of today for generally looking around and absorbing everything that Paris has to offer. This we did and then made our way back to the campsite via return train journey. We made use of the local ATAC supermarket in Tournan, on Rue de la Liberation, in order to stock up on supplies on the way back to the site in the car. That evening we made use of the take-away at the campsite and soon fell into the first night of our own tour de France!

Unbeknown to us, our second journey into Paris the next day actually saw is in the centre of the actual end leg of the Tour de France. The streets were lined with supporters, carnival displays and trucks paraded up and down the street with their horns blaring. In order to actually cross the street we had to use a metro station! We finally made it back to the tower and the wait began! I decided to hang around whilst the tower trip took place, not being one for heights! It was amusing to casually sit around and watch the street traders dotting about, laying their goods on the floor, setting the small ornament towers up, only to be up heaved a few minutes later by the presence of the police! It was also amusing watching people of all nationalities taking their humorous photographs of poses with the tower, relying on perspective to play tricks with the outcome. A trip to the Disney store saw the purchase of a Lilo & Stitch mug! All the famous fashion labels have a presence here in Paris, keeping many a teenage girl in dream land!

We were going to take in the sites of the Notre Dam Cathedral and the Arc de Triumph, but some train line closures put pay to that. We did manage to start using the metro system after finally fathoming it out. So after many metro and train rides, we decided to say farewell to Paris, as we headed back to the site where our final day we would spend relaxing, before we began the second leg of the tour.

• Date: 23rd July 2011
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: Unknown
• GPS: 48.751715, 2.896084