Saturday:
An early start as we’re heading for a 6 hour road trip to mid Wales. With the car prepacked we headed off nice and early, picked up the ‘van and headed South. This trip would see us change our first stop. Usually we would head for Ferrybridge, but heading West rules this out. On previous trips we have used Hartshead Moor services on the M62, but this is quite a way for a first stop and was certainly nothing worth writing home about. So this trip I decided to use Wetherby services. We’ve never been here before, but we were pleasantly greeted with around 10 caravan parking bays which was very welcome and a nice selection of shops and of course toilets. So impressed with this stop, I think this will take over from Ferrybridge from now on, it’s 20 minutes less travelling time and also suits for all directions. Leaving here we headed to North Wales, just outside of Chester found our second stop. ‘Caravans this way’ signs greeted us, all looking well, but alas we ended up in the HGV section, no dedicated caravan parking bays. Never mind, it did the job for a quick break. Following here we did the rest of the journey and ended up at Red Kite Touring Park. We were warmly greeted and left to pitch up. The site looks great, being a new site which only opened last year. Hardstandings, full serviced pitches and an awesome toilet block. We set the awning up and satellite as the signal is not very good, although you can get a signal from the bollard, there is limited selection. We settled for the rest of the night with Ant and Dec!
Sunday:
Following poached eggs on toast we headed out for the mile walk into Llanidloes. This is an easy downhill walk along a footpath located at the bottom of the site. The town itself is very small, hosting a small Spar and a couple of newsagents, along with various other small businesses. The center of the town is where you can also find
the old market hall building, the only wooden framed market hall building surviving in Wales apparently. There’s a nice walk along the river Severn which is very picturesque. The walk back to the site is rather uphill, so be prepared!
Monday:
You can’t come to mid Wales and not visit Aberystwyth, so we headed there this morning, leaving beautiful weather back at the site. The journey there covers some windy roads gaining some height in places, this subjected us to poorer weather, very foggy in places. When we arrived, we parked up in the South Promenade and walked all of the promenade up to the North. From here we headed into the town, stopping for a coffee on the way. The weather held out with no rain, just cloudy skies. Our walk concluded with a trip around the castle and then back to base. A trip to the Elsan point was required and just like the rest of the block, it was superb, it even has a hand dryer in there!
Tuesday:
Weather not so clever but still fairly dry, so we headed up the road to the Clywedog Dam. When we arrived, we were the only ones there and decided to just do the short walk by the Bryntail lead mine, as the terrain for the slightly longer walk by the dam was a little muddy. We didn’t stay long, a visit really for a nicer day. A stay in the ‘van day it was for the rest of the day.
Wednesday:
Glorious weather, so we headed first thing to the market town of Machynlleth. Here they hold a market every Wednesday on the main street. We parked up and lapped up the sunshine as we walked through the stalls. We stopped briefly for a cup of coffee, purchased a new kitchen rug and then headed onward to Devil’s Bridge Falls in Ceredigion. This is a trio of bridges built on top of each other over a waterfall, the first of which was supposed to be have been built by the Devil himself! There are two walks which can be undertaken here, one a brief 10 minute walk and the other at 45 minutes. We decided on the shorter walk as there are a lot of steep steps involved with the inevitable climb around the waterfall, which we thought might prove a little challenging for Cath. Once we completed this we headed back to camp, still in the clear blue skies. Chairs out and we bathed in the sunshine all afternoon.
Thursday:
The day for staying on site, enjoying the last day of the holiday and cleaning the ‘van! Weather poor so no problems with staying in the ‘van. We took the awning down in the afternoon as it was nice and dry and got everything packed away into the car, ready for tomorrow.
Friday:
Our departure routing kicked in following a spot of breakfast and we were soon heading back up North. Traffic was as busy as usual for a Friday but nothing too bad. Chester services was packed when we got there. I found a spot to park in but then got sandwiched in between two lorries when another pulled up very close to us (not in an official bay). So a bit of an ‘S’ reverse was required to get out, but all went well. Wetherby, lots a caravan bays free – we love this place now! Back at storage, we headed for the ‘new section’. But alas our bay had been let out so we headed for a temporary one. We paid up the site fees for the year and await our dedicated bay. Good to be back with familiar faces.
Red Kite Touring Park is up there with the best, it has been planned and built to exacting standards. Pitches: Hardstanding, good size, fully serviced, 16A, you can’t want anything else. Toilet block: 5 star, fully tiled, hand sensor flushing/taps/showers and all spacious. Toilet paper is the quilted variety and the shower head is a large round fixed head, superb. The Elsan point is just right, disposal drain at the right height, deep enough not to offer ‘splash back’, complete with hose and flush. Next to that hand sink, soap dispenser and hand dryer – yes this is the first site I’ve been on with a hand dryer at the Elsan point. There is also an information room with games and books should you require. This is all located in the same building and each section is accessed via a card which is provided upon arrival, for a £2 refundable deposit. All the roads on site or tarmac and are in pristine condition. The reception sells a few basic items along with information on local market towns. The site is secured with an entry/exit barrier. The entrance wall was being built during our stay, but the site is sign posted very well along the B4518. Owners very pleasant and deserve to do very well with the site, we hope to return one day.
- Date: 11th March 2017
- Nights: 6
- Pitch #:54
- GPS: 52.459740, -3.552162
- A470 > B4518