Initially intent on going to South Shields for the weekend, we were caught out somewhat by the school holidays and the demand that was thus created on certain campsites. Failing to get into South Shields, I tried a CL, no joy their either! Next I plumbed for Woodside Ridge in Durham, very near to Strawberry Hill actually. We had to stay close to home as Sunday was Race 4 Life which Cath was running in!
We arrived on site early afternoon and proceeded to set the ‘van up. Of course as we arrived the weather changed and down came the rain and out came my anorak! The pitches are a very generous size and we had plenty of room to place the ‘van on and the car. Even with an awning, there would still be plenty of room to sit outside. Cath struggled with the new ‘feet’ for a bit as we set the steadies down, but eventually got the hang of it.
Fish and chips for tea, following which we went for a ‘campsite walk’ as the weather had cleared up very nicely leaving some sunshine and a beautiful blue sky. There were quite a few ‘seasonal caravans’ on site with only 3 other touring ‘vans there on Saturday. At the top of the site near reception there is an information hut and the toilet block. Free range eggs were also on sale here. The CDP was super as well, a little separate enclosure complete with spray gun hose and hand wash, very nice!
The site has only been going for 3 years and one of the tasks still ‘in-hand’ was to deploy more EHU points. There are only a handful on the entire site, so when we pitched up on pitch #5, our nearest EHU point was some 60m away! Only being armed with 40m, I flagged down Grahame who assisted with an extension cable!
Sunday came and an early start! Dropping Cath off at home for the race, I headed for church. We both finished and returned home for about 1pm, making a quick getaway back to the caravan. The weather was beautiful once again and for the first time this year in England, we managed to sit outside and bask in the sunshine. Time flew over too quickly and once again night time fell and Monday morning was upon us. Weather still very good, we packed up and headed back to storage. Putting the legs back down, we discovered that one of the feet had escaped somewhere along the journey! Next time, the locks are being put on, now that we know we like them and they are staying!
- Date: 19th July 2014
- Nights: 2
- Pitch #: 5
- GPS: 54.725276, -1.436675
