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