Touring

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

Fri: A smooth collect and drive to the site, although we were lucky in that the A1 was closed in both directions at J60, just as we were turning off onto the A689, so we missed what would have been a fair old diversion should the accident have happened a little further north. The site was very busy, with it being the start of half term. We managed to get a pitch in our usual area, and following a tight reverse, we sere on our pitch.

Sat: Breakfast outside followed by a trip to Peter’s Spares, to pick up a new loco! This is a small but well stocked shop, competitive prices and real time stock levels on their website. Following this we went for a walk, to go and view some bigger trains at the marshalling yard. Plenty of class 66 action!

Sun: More night rain again, so the ground is pretty wet, but looking like we should be in for another clear day. Nothing to do today apart from relax on site!

Mon: Wind picked up again last night, but nice and dry for our return journey to storage.

• Date: 17th February 2023
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 56
• GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260

A standard Friday departure, all to plan – and we’re back at Durham Grange CAMC. The site is quite empty, so plenty of pitch choice. The site is supposed to be undergoing some development work this year, including extending the storage facilities. This unfortunately will see the closure of the area we usually pitch in, so this could be the last time on pitch #38! To date however, no work has started.

Sat: No outdoor cooking this weekend, so crumpets for breakfast. Following this it was time to clean the ‘van – as it took a battering on the last trip and was quite dirty! Fortunately, the weather is superb for this time of year, very mild and no wind, so perfect weather for a thorough clean. The bird feeder was obvously back out and we enjoyed the sights of plenty of birds.

Sun: Another fine day, although a little frosty first thing! Simply a relax day following church.

Mon: A textbook pack up and return journey to storage. Weather is still good, so pleased to report that the ‘van in still clean back in storage!

• Date: 3rd February 2023
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 38
• GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499

First trip of the New Year and we’re off to one of our usual sites – White Water Park CAMC. Friday departure went to plan and we arrive in good time around 1.45pm. Our usual pitch was free so we decided to take that again. We were soon set up and ready to relax. However, I needed to make a quick trip to Asda as I had been a little overoptimistic when meal planning and factored in a couple of BBQ’s. Now we are in the midst of winter, the temperature outside is 0-2 degrees. Therefore the planning was amended to include 3 indoor meals 🙂

Saturday: Made another winter error and reduced the power on the heating overnight, as I normally do to make it quieter. But at the reduced power, it couldn’t manage to keep the heat, so a quick change of settings in the middle of the night sorted this out. Breakfast, bacon buttie outside. There had been a major frost overnight and the awning was solid with frost and ice, but it was a bright clear morning, very pleasant. Following this, we went for a walk. The walk this time took us along the Tees heading West, passing the buildings of Durham University, over the ‘Infinity Bridge’ and back along the other side back to the site. The Tees river was pretty much frozen over, with the gulls literally walking on ice! The service points on the site were all frozen up as well, the only working water point was the one at the wash block. We enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Sunday: Site still frozen up, be we enjoyed alfresco breakfast again. Stayed on site all day relaxing. The only activity out of the usual was a knock on the caravan door around 8pm. A fellow camper in a massive RV and double axle trailer was having difficulty maneuvering the trailer onto the pitch, so some extra muscle came in hand! The new bird feeder we’d bought for our future caravan trips has worked well, and we enticed robins, blue tits and finches onto it. Not bad for its first outing. Return trip back home on Monday was textbook – although the ‘van was a little road dirty when we left it!

• Date: 20th January 2023
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 54
• GPS: 54.568506, -1.286260

Sat: Not exactly an early start as we’re only going to the north lakes, but all went to plan collecting the ‘van and heading west along the A69. Our usual stop at Southwaite services, enjoying a sausage roll and coffee and then on to the site, arriving at 1.00pm on the dot! Pleasant greeting from the warden and then we headed for the inner circle, where we were pitched last time. Not many campers here, but it is ‘out of season’. After some clear skies on the way down on the M6, rain pursued unfortunately. We did pick up a nice little Christmas tree from reception however, which sits nicely at the front of the ‘van.

Sun: Erm, it’s still raining – but we enjoyed our anniversary!

Mon: Still raining! Despite this, we went to Penrith to buy some bird food and also fill up for the return journey, The temperature outside was 4 degrees, but we still had a BBQ tea in the rain :O

Tue: It’s not raining! We had a little walk around the site, deciding not to do the longer dog walk because of the recent weather. There are only 6 other units on the site, quite empty indeed. Then the rain and wind started 🙁

Wed: Raining and very windy.

Thu: Ditto.

Fri: No rain in the morning but still windy, so we took the awning down as it was dry. We were all set for another stay-in, but on venturing out to the games room, we were collared by the farmer doing his rounds on his quad bike, trying to muster up some business for some live music he had booked for the restaurant. So later on, we ventured out across the field donning our head torches, passing the sheep and eventually landed at ‘Rookin House’. We were the only ones there, apart from the owners! Still it turned out to be a good evening, certainly not planned or expected. The walk home we made via the roads, as I’m sure we would not have found the gate to the campsite again across the field! It was cold, but a slow and steady walk saw us back at the ‘van.

Sat: Departure day. All went as usual, apart from I missed the exit from the M6 to head east alone the A689! So we had to travel to the borders of Scotland, 6 miles further on in order to turn around! Muppet!

It’s been a relaxing week, with no car journeys, just relax time inside the ‘van. The weather all week has been abysmal, probably the worst we’ve had in all of our caravan trips. But you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. Next trip will now be 2023! This is the first time we’ve used this ‘van in the ‘winter’ – and the heating has done very well. It has no problems raising the temperature by 20 degrees and I’m sure will do more. The Alde heating in our Clubman struggled to raise 13 degrees, so blown air wins on this occasion. It is slightly noisier, but more controllable and more heat in my opinion.

• Date: 19th November 2022
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 133
• GPS: 54.616943, -2.956263

Another weekend away at our local! Weather was about right for Autumn, although we still managed to cook outside with our new set-up, so that’s working well. We suffered a lot of condensation inside the awning on this trip, so this has prompted me to invest in a roof liner, to see if that will help matters.

Still a few happy campers about, which is nice to see. Enjoyed the trip as usual, looking forward now to our trip to Troutbeck CAMC in a couple of weeks.

• Date: 4th November 2022
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 38
• GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499

Sat: The journey to the site was a pleasant one, despite us both being unwell. Using the A69 and M6 we made our usual stop at Southwaite for a bacon buttie and then continued on to Southport, passing switch island junction at the end of the M58! This was the only place on the trip where we got held up in traffic. I don’t know if it’s always this slow, but it took a while and there was a lot of traffic. After a pleasant drive along the coastal road we soon arrived at the site. No queue, so straight in and paid up. We opted for the newer section of the site, which is more open and spacious. We plumbed for pitch #173 which is at the far end of the site, nearest the seafront, nearest the wind! And boy, was it windy – the new awning was a real struggle to put up, not helped by the fact that the pegs wouldn’t hold strong enough. In the end I ended up putting 4 pegs into some ladders! Then the rain came, so all in all – the poor new awning had a real beasting of an inauguration outing! No alfresco tea today, a cooked meal inside was in order.

Sun: The awning survived one of the roughest nights we’ve ever had, gusts of wind reaching 40mph and lashing rain. Just a few pegs to firm back into the ground and all was good. We managed breakfast outside at the back of the awning, which worked out quite well. The wind died down by the afternoon, much to our relief.

Mon: A new breakfast on the menu! We made omelette, beans and waffles. This worked really well and made good use of the tapas dishes we recently bought. This will stay on the meal planner! Following this we headed out for a walk into Southport itself. We started on the promenade, then the pier, back through the park and finally back at the site – circa 5 miles in all. The first obvious thing of note was how far the sea goes out, you literally can’t see it from the promenade. The pier is apparently Britain’s first iron constructed pier and was a popular attraction back in its day, for a one-legged man who used to jump into the sea from the pier! Nice to see some rail tracks on the pier still, when the trains still ran in their heyday back in the late 19th century. The park has a lot of attractions including: boats, skate park, playground, bowls, miniature railway, golf, as well as all of the amusements and rides. All seems well kept, there was even live singing at the waterfront pub – this was a Monday dinnertime – impressive! Back at the site, we got battered by the winds all afternoon again.

Tue: A glorious day, no wind hooray! We spent the day on-site, with only a walk to the supermarket to pick up some more orange juice and post a card to break the day. This was the local Morrisons, just down Rotten Row Road! From here I found Lord Street, where I managed to track down a red cylinder, namely a postbox. On the return journey, we made our way through Victoria Park, which was a nice expanse of green land, where they seem to host events on a regular basis. We made the most of the outside, as the winds are due to return.

Wed: Winds are back and the sunshine has gone, another on-site day.

Thu: A little walk around the site was in order today as we haven’t done that yet. The site is emptying quite a bit, no doubt to fill back up for the half term next week. The older part of the site is much ‘tree-ier’ if there’s such a word and the pitches look smaller, although this may just be an illusion. Certainly we prefer the newer part of the site, much more open and spacious. Toilet block is of new spec, complete with service toilet – about time!

Fri: Filled the car ready for the return journey tomorrow. We relaxed for the day, as we usually do on the last day. We decided to take the awning down as it was nice and dry, but as we were doing so, the heavens opened, so that was that, a morning take down it was going to be!

Sat: Everything packed away and we made our way home. We received a phone call from the site asking if we’d left any keys behind in the ‘key box’ as they had found some upon inspection. Thankfully, they weren’t ours! A quick stop at Southwaite for a coffee and then we completed our trip, all to plan. A nice site and good area to visit. We will return, probably in the summer to take advantage of more walking through all the parks and promenade again, nice not to have to do any driving on your holiday!

• Date: 15th October 2022
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 173
• GPS: 53.641813, -3.024247

Deja vu really on this trip – back to Durham Grange, same pitch as last time – although no pick-up required from the train station this time! We arrived in the pouring rain, so I got a bit wet during set-up. Got everything ready and then realised I had forgotten my laptop charger, so a quick trip home was in order to rectify the situation. Funnily enough, the weather cleared to a sunny sky on the return journey, so we did manage to BBQ!

Saturday & Sunday were better days weather wise, so we enjoyed the outdoors more whilst enjoying the ‘darker’ nights back inside the ‘van. The awning has leaked a lot during this trip, so we’ve decided to replace it with a new one. Monday, back to storage and onwards to the next trip in a fortnight.

• Date: 30th September 2022
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 38
• GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499

During the hectic month of September, it’s nice to just get away and relax – this is exactly what a caravan is for and indeed is what we did this weekend! No trips out, just say onsite and chill.

It was another 3 night weekend, with Cath getting the train from work again. So I pitched the ‘van up in the afternoon, this time on pitch #38 as the site was quite full. Weather not the best, so I decided to go for hardstanding rather than grass. Weather improved for Sunday & departure on Monday.

However, that didn’t stop our alfresco eating this time, as we had purchased a couple of new products. Firstly, canopy poles for the awning, so we can cook in the rain! Secondly, to replace the Cadac – with a Teppanyaki Grill. Reasons being, it runs from electricity, so easier to site around the ‘van rather than being stuck just by the gas point. Smaller to lug about and store, easier to clean and no wind to worry about. We used it 3 times this weekend and I have to say, I wish we’d got one sooner. To be able to cook where you want and the ease of cleaning, along with a rapid heat up time, good control of heat and not having to worry about the wind blowing it out. The food just glides on the surface, no more sticking. Thumbs up from us.

• Date: 9th September 2022
• Nights: 3
• Pitch #: 38
• GPS: 54.795747, -1.530499

Sat: A relaxed 10am start, picked the ‘van up and headed down the A1. Our usual stop at Wetherby Services was very busy, we ended up going nose-in to a coach spot, as there was nothing else. People parking everywhere made for an interesting reverse out, but we were soon on our way. We arrived at the site around 1.30pm and decided on a grass pitch, which gives us lots of outside space around the ‘van, perfect in this dry weather. Tesco’s failed to deliver the groceries yesterday as planned, so I had to make a trip to the local store, here I had forwarded the order to. We tried a BBQ for tea, but were thwarted by the wind, so inside for some fish & chips!

Sun: Another glorious day, still a bit windy though. We had our cooked breakfast and then relaxed for the day, followed by a successful BBQ for tea!

Mon: Following breakfast, we decided to have a day at the HYorkshire Air Museum. This is based at the airfield that was RAF Elvington. There’s lots to see in terms of aircraft and associated information, the 20 acre site also houses authentic buildings and hangars, bringing home the feel of the 1940’s. With a cafe and lots of outdoor seating, you can easily spend a day here, well worth a visit.

Tue: An essential visit was that to Pickering and namely the NYMR. Looking a nice day, we decided to head out on a Moors Explorer train so that we could explore the station and town of Goathland, home of Harry Potter’s Hogsmeade Station and Heartbeat’s Aidensfield. No steam was running due to the hot and dry current conditions, but I was pleased that our outbound train was in fact a class 37! Goathland is a very popular destination as it was packed with us tourists. We spent a good hour ambling about, had a coffee back at the station and then returned back to Pickering, via a humble DMU this time.

Wed: A day to relax on site.

Thu: A trip into Malton, as we’ve never been before. Not the best of days weather wise, but it was raining, so we headed out. We got there, had a little walk about and then returned. There really isn’t much to see or do. No parks or open spaces, just a congested high street and a dirty river! Never mind, we’ve been and at least we know now. Back on-site, the weather cleared up and turned very sunny. BBQ time!

Fri: Last day of the holiday, so the rule is we relax and do nothing! A glorious day, after chilling we packed the awning away making preps for the journey back tomorrow.

Sat: A relaxed pack-up and then headed back home. We stopped for a quick coffee at Wetherby services, it was still very busy even though it was only early morning. Caravan bays were filling up with cars, time to go before irritation sets in 🙁

• Date: 20th August 2022
• Nights: 7
• Pitch #: 93
• GPS: 53.995806, -1.027584