Mon:
Departed at 7am, a little slower than usual when hitching up, as it has been 7 months since our last outing! A nice simple drive arriving at our inevitable M6 service station, southwaite. We took a break and enjoyed a Greggs bacon buttie and coffee before continuing on our way to the the site. We arrived at the site soon after and were soon setting up as we have done some many times before, although this seems a little bit of a distant memory presently!
The site was open from 9am due to the lockdown, so we arrived suitably at 10.30am, and just as well, as the queues of campers continued to build thereafter! We found our pitch and enjoyed setting up on such a beautiful day. It was a real joy to be back caravanning after such a long break. Everything went well and we were soon enjoying tea, drinks and night time routines!
Tue:
A bit cloudier today, but we still managed a cooked breakfast outdoors whilst enjoying the stunning views of Blencathra. TV signal is practically non-existent, so I put the satellite dish up and enjoyed the numerous Freesat channels.
Wed:
Another beautiful day, breakfast outside again and a walk around the site, following the dog walk and then back along the A5091 returning to the site. A modest walk of about a mile, but enough for today!
Thu:
Stunning weather, breakfast outdoors again – the egg rings are working well! We went for a walk around Derwent Water, simply beautiful, views to die for. This was a good 3 mile hike, thoroughly enjoyable. we returned to base following this and lapped up the sunshine, well Cath did at least.
Fri:
Sounding a bit like France this – but another glorious day! Before the sun became too strong I decided to clean the van on the outside, whilst Cath did the inside. Following this we had our bacon and eggs again, perfection has now been achieved with the egg rings! We did the dog walk again as a bit of exercise and then relaxed for the rest of the final day.
Sat:
We managed to find our ‘pack-up’ routine and proceeded to do a good job of getting ready for the return journey home. Only one little mistake made, we forgot to put on the towing cover! Realising this as we were just exiting the site, I pulled back in to reception to put it on. Then kindly asked the wardens to let us do a farewell drive back through the site – then we were on the way. Southwaite again, this time a Costa breakfast. Very nice, but bloody expensive :-O
The site itself is one of the most beautiful on the network I would say. The views and tranquility make it a perfect getaway. with the weather we had as well, it made it almost feel France like. The toilet blocks are bang up to date, plenty of service points, friendly wardens, good access to Derwent water, Ullswater, Penrith, Keswick – perfect. A great and most welcome start to 2021.
- Date: 12th April 2021
- Nights: 5
- Pitch #: 135
- GPS: 54.616943, -2.956263
Approach: A66 > A5091