Keswick

 28-31 March 2025

Castlerigg Hall, Keswick, is one of our favourite and most visited sites in recent times.  We tend to come here early and late in the year and this year is no exception.

Friday

It's great being able to book a specific pitch, so no nasty surprises on arrival.  We have been on pitch 24 a few times and apart from it being a bit hard to get in to it's an excellent pitch.

Normally we rush down the hill into Keswick and drink as much as we can, but not today.  We had a table booked at the Pheasant Inn for 7.30, so we didn't head down until later, not wanting to drink too much before dinner, and our plan worked.

On the way down we passed some goats, including a very young, playful one...

The Pheasant Inn was very busy and we had to wait a bit on arrival, but we eventually got a good table.  Dinner wasn't so successful, we didn't get any vegetables and had to make do with peashoots which are really just for decoration.  Karma was looking after us though, and we didn't get charged for a £32 bottle of wine.  We would have said something if it wasn't for the lack of vegetables, all we got was an apology after the event, not even an offer of a free dessert.  It was a very nice bottle of wine, and the pheasant and lamb were nice too.

We got a taxi back to the site.

Saturday

The worst day, weatherwise, so we just walked back into Keswick before it started to rain and made up for yesterday's lack of drinking!

We managed to get into everywhere we wanted to go, which isn't always possible in Keswick.  A man in the Wainwright Inn had a really cute puppy which he left tied up at the bar while he talked to his mate.  We've never see anything get so much attention and he seemed to enjoy it.  We saw them again in another bar later and the same thing happened.

We didnt stay out late and had dinner in the caravan.  It was a very windy night with 40-50 mph wind gusts.

Sunday

It was still very windy in the morning so we postponed a longish walk that would have bagged us four Wainwrights.

Instead we went for a short walk up Maiden Moor, which is the next hill along rom Catbells, which we did a while ago.  One Wainwright is better than none, I guess.

We were sheltered from the wind until we got to the top, by which time it had died down anyway, and with hindsight we probably could have done the longer walk.  Still, it was a nice walk after not doing much in the winter.

In the afternoon we walked back down into Keswick but didn't stay out late.  We had dinner in the caravan.

Monday

No problems getting home.

Coming soon...

Hopefully Coniston or Kendal before Easter.

Bolton-le-Sands

11-13 March

Our first trip for more than three months - it seems we are not the hardy winter caravanners we thought we once were!  This trip was primarily to find out if the caravan had survived the ravages of winter, and it has.  The only thing not working was the display on our DAB radio, but we have managed to fix even that now.

Bay View is a huge site full of statics and seasonal tourers that we tend to go to at the beginning or end of the year, when it is quiet.  The new toilet/shower block  is excellent and we asked for and got a pitch not too far from it.

Tuesday

J off work for a week so a Tuesday start and we arrived dead on the earliest arrival time of 1pm.

We spent some time cleaning the inside of the caravan before lunch (without tea, we forgot to bring tea bags) and then got a bus into Lancaster.  Fares capped at £3 here instead of £2 in the Mersey travel area, so not as cheap as it used to be going, but coming back after 7pm the cap is £1 which we thing is a great idea.

We started off wih the two pubs on the canal and then headed into town.  Everywhere was very quiet.  We had dinner in Ayaya Thai restaurant, which we have been to before, and got a bus back to the site around 9pm after picking up some supplies (including tea bags) from Sainsburys.

It was pretty cold in the caravan, we should have put the heating on low before we set of for Lancaster, and it took a while to warm up.

Wednesday

We drove to Arnside for a walk mostly along the coast.

The weather was ok apart from a shower of hailstones just as we were getting back to the car.  It was quite warm at times in the sun.

We had dinner in the caravan and thought about heading back into Lancaster but instead walked along the canal to Carnforth just as it was getting dark.  We have been to the Snug micropub at Carnforth station before and whilst it was a bit lacking in atmosphere mid week D was delighted to see Hawkshead Taranaki on tap.  A beer sampled at the last Hawkshead brewery beer festival that he hasn't seen since and a great end to the trip.

Thursday

A very uneventful journey home.

Coming soon...

A three night trip to Castlerigg Hall, Keswick.

Skipton

 26th to 28th November

Almost certainly our last trip of the year.  We wanted to go somewhere we haven't been to for a while, and it's been more than five years since we last visited Skipton.

Tarn House isn't one of our favourite sites.  The pitches are very close together and the facilities are only just ok, but it is pretty handy for Skipton.

Tuesday

A Tuesday start because J has a week off work.  On arrival there was only one other caravan in the touring bit, so nice and quiet.

We had a hot meal instead of the usual sandwiches and then headed into Skipton.  Drinks in the Boathouse, the Narrowboat and the Beer Engine.  We stayed for a pub quiz in the Beer Engine and came last!  Then a taxi back to the site.

Wednesday

We drove to nearby Ilkley for a walk on the moor.

It was sunny but cold, and not at all windy, great conditions for a not too strenuous walk in open coutryside.

The Twelve Apostles

We particularly liked the Stanza Stones poetry seat.

Ilkley looks like a nice town but we didn't hang around after the walk.  Definitley worth a visit sometime.

A bit of a surprise when we got back to the site and found a motorhome in the pitch next to ours!  Not their fault because pitches are allocated by reception.  It beggars belief that they would put two units next to each other in an otherwise empty site.  We were debating whether to stay an extra night but that made up our minds.  It is also a reason not to come back to this site.  We like a bit of space.

Oh well, we didn't stay in the caravan anyway.  Instead we headed into town and had dinner in the Wooley Sheep inn.  With partridge, duck and venison on the menu D was spoilt for choice.  He chose partridge.  J played it safe with beef.

We waked back to the site after dinner.

Thursday

It was bekiw freezing when we left and we were a bit worried about the local roads being icy but we didn't have any trouble and were soon on the A59 heading back to the storage site.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, we probably won't go away in the caravan again until late Feb or early March next year.