Walton 13-24 Apr 22

 Two games of Rugby at the Stoop, Easter Mother visits made sense to stay near London so we booked into the Walton on Thames Camping and Caravanning Club Site for 11 nights. As we neared our destination on the journey down on Weds 14th we had our first taste of the awful, abysmal and boring traffic around this area. Some complete moron had decided that it was a good idea to reduce the speed limits to 20mph in most of London so, as well as looking out for the regular potholes, temporary traffic lights, bus lanes, cycle lanes, pedestrians, road works, white van men and various other impediments you have to constantly watch the speedo. It makes for exhausting travel.

Walton hasn't changed much over the years apart from looking a bit tatty. Wardens don't appear to be very keen on keeping the grass trimmed here, maybe for good reason, but it is not what we expect from one of the major clubs. We soon pitched up and then relaxed. The trouble with Walton is, despite it's proximity to London, it's miles from anywhere. 

The following day was Maundy Thursday and we travelled across London to Bromley in the Toad to visit mother in Law. Another absolutely horrendous journey - it would be quicker to go from home. We came back via the M25, a lot longer route, but at least we managed to move most of the time.

Good Friday and we took to the Toad again to visit the other Mother in Chiswick. About 8.7 miles as the crow flies but nearly an hour in the car. London hates drivers.

Saturday was the 1st of two matches at the Stoop so we thought we would take the local bus (461 - Falcon buses) to Kingston then a train for two stops to Twickenham. The bus cost over £4 each for a short journey! A taxi would have been cheaper. It was a glorious sunny day and we won the match, but lost the two-matches on aggregate by 1 point. Disappointing, but a great day out. As it was so warm and sunny we walked back, arriving knackered in the evening after witnessing some of London's finest residents  using the full range of their very  limited vocabulary to the fullest in an altercation between 2 families outside the funfair in Bushy Park. 

Exhausted after a long walk back

On Easter Sunday, and after 4 very hectic and stressful days, we decided that we were going to do naff all and just sit around the van all day - and that's just what we did!

Monday we felt we really ought to do something so we took a little stroll into Esher, weren't very impressed, but we did find a really nice microbrewery to sit outside on the way back. 

On Tuesday, since all the workers had gone back to work, we took the Toad into Kingston for a mooch about and a rather nice lunch in the Giggling Squid.

Once again the following day we braved the heavy traffic, rip-off parking charges and long queues to visit Kew Gardens. After the long wait to get in due to the inefficiency of their system (and only one cashier), it took some time to view Kew in a positive light. Once inside the marvellous glass houses things improved, only to decline again once we discovered the eye-watering charges for refreshments. I remember Kew being a bit of a bargain day out - it certainly ain't that now! Still, we were impressed with the scale of the place and we did really enjoy the tree top walk.

On Thursday it was the train to central London - Debs to meet up for lunch with old work friends and me to wander along the South Bank until we met up later in the day to go up the Shard. It was a superb day for stunning views over London, plus I managed to catch the 62 gun salute from the Honourable Artillery Company at the Tower of London to celebrate the Queen's 96th birthday.

Loo with a view

On Friday it was a short hop (well, short in distance, but long in time - it is London after all) to Richmond Park to visit the Isabella Plantation to admire the stunning floral displays. Following that long walk we headed back to Costco in Sunbury to invest in a new lawnmower. Trying to get a lawnmower in a Smart Car was interesting.

Saturday it was off to the Stoop again to watch Harlequins beat Leicester. This time we caught the cheaper bus and changed at Kingston for a smooth journey to the pub, but the return journey in the evening was pretty awful, with a very long wait for the bus from Twickenham to Kingston. London may boast about it's wonderful public transport system but, in our eyes, it remains crap.

Sunday we were up early, packed and home before lunch with even the M25 being nice to us for a change.

Derbyshire and Yorkshire 13 - 28 Mar 22

The original plan was to do a little tour around Carsington Water in Derbyshire, onto the Motorhome Show in Harrogate and then either Wharfedale in the Dales or Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire before finishing off in Sherwood Pines in Nottinghamshire. The joy of motorhoming, however, is that you can change plans at the drop of a hat, and that's just what we did.

On Sun 13 Mar we drove to Carsington Water Motorhome and Cackyvan site in one hit,  parking up with a view of the water through the trees. Once settled, we walked down to the reservoir in a bitingly cold wind and, after couple of miles, headed back rapidly as it started to rain.

On Mon 14 the weather was a bit more favourable, albeit still a bit chilly. We took to the bikes along Carsington, through the village and up onto the High peak trail. This trail is a traffic-free path running for 17 miles between Downlow and High Peak Junction near Cromford. It follows the route of the High Peak Railway Line, opened in 1831 to carry minerals. It features a few long, 1 in 8, inclines and rises to a height of over 1200'.  Climbing up through Carsington we turned right onto the trail near Middleton Top and then freewheeled for miles down some very steep inclines, hoping that we had enough juice to make it back. At the bottom it was time for lunch, but we had landed very close to a sewage farm that stank, so we cycled down the canal a bit to somewhere less fragrant. Returning, the bikes took the 1 in 8 inclines very well and we need not have worried about power.

 

On Tue 15 we took to our feet to rest other parts of our anatomy that had suffered after a long day in the saddle. We decided to walk along Dovedale once again, but when we parked there were notices stating that the stepping stones across were closed due to flooding and we had to scramble along the right bank to start our walk. We were hoping that the lovely little shop in Milldale would be open for hot chocolate, but, of course, it was closed, so we sat down with the ducks and ate our sandwiches before heading back. Nearing the end of the walk, we decided to follow the advice on the sign in the car park and walk around Cloud Top to avoid the flooding. What they didn't say that this walk included a massive steep climb! Arriving back at the car we had a delicious ice cream and then headed the short distance across to Ilam for a quick look around before heading for home.

Wed 16 and once again the useless Met Office got the weather completely wrong. Luckily we managed to squeeze in a great visit into the Crich tramway village before the heavens opened and it peed it down all afternoon. We stopped in Matlock for a quick look around but the rain was torrential, so coffee and cake and an early stack was called for.

With our bottoms slightly less sore, on Thu 17 we took to the bikes again to complete the High Peak Trail. Following Carsington Water, we climbed up the steep roads onto the trail and this time turned left, following the trail to it's junction with the Tissington Trail, which we had completed on a previous visit. In all, we cycled 33 miles in good weather, but with a biting strong wind. 

Fri 18 Mar was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We drove to Harrogate via Castleford Junction 32 outlet where Addidarse  were selling off a selection of Harlequins gear in very odd sizes and, strangely, in the heart of rugby league territory. On arrival in Harrogate, our Satnav took us on a long detour to our site with Leeds DA in Bilton, so it was pitch up, sit outside in the sun then into the Gardeners Arms to recover.

Why park in 1 space when you can have 5?

Addidarse Tat

On Sat the weather was perfect so we walked to the motorhome show to look at vastly overpriced motorhomes (and not much else) then bimbled back into Harrogate for a stroll around, then home via the Gardeners Arms for a resuscitating pint. 13 miles walked - and Harrogate ain't flat!

Sun 20, after a restless night due to the poxy incessant barking from the adjacent "pet hotel", we drove to Asda for shopping, back for lunch, then a long walk to Knaresborough in glorious sunshine, topped off by a delicious rhubarb ice cream. Knaresborough ain't flat!

On Mon 21 we packed up and left Bilton and moved to Wharfedale Motorhome and Cackyvan Club Site in the Yorkshire Dales. We had been here before but our trip was cut short, so we wanted to finish what we had intended to do last time, namely visit Malham Cove.  In gorgeous warm sunshine, we joined the queue for the busy site, found a pitch and then walked into Grassington to collect a parcel that she had ordered online from the Post Office. We walked up and down the main street but couldn't find the Post Office, despite having looked at the pictures on Google maps and recce'd the route thoroughly. We noticed that Grassington was being turned  into a film set and many of the buildings had their shop fronts changed ready for filming a new series of All Creatures Great and Small. The post office was now a 1930s sweet shop and tobacconists! No wonder we couldn't find it! We sat outside the "Drovers Arms" to watch Darrowby being built. There is amazing attention to detail - covering modern wires and alarm boxes with tape and then painting them to look like stone and brushing soil over the cobbles to hide the yellow lines. Reluctantly we wandered back to the site, stopping for some delicious pork pies pies from the butchers at £1.50 each for "us tea".

The cunningly disguised Post Office

The Vet's practice

The gossip mill had told us that filming would take place on Tuesday so, foregoing Malham, we walked back over to Grassington to watch. We had lunch in the pub and, thinking filming had finished, we walked out of the front door just as they were filming Siegfried, James and Tristram walking in. Oops. Later that day we drove out to Kettlewell for a quick look around this charming village.

Cast queueing in the pie shop

On Wed 23 we finally made it to Malham, albeit the village was rammed with cars and coaches and it was difficult to find somewhere to park. That said, a Smart car can fit in spaces lesser cars cannot, so we found a suitable spot and weaved our way through the thousands of school kids to walk to the cove then up the very steep climb to the pavement on top. It was a glorious, warm sunny day and we had an arduous but enjoyable day out.

Topless in the Dales

On Thursday we were undecided what to do, so we thought we would recce the route up to Thirsk via Pateley Bridge to see if it was suitable for a Motorhome. Pateley Bridge ain't flat! We were going to go on to Aysgarth Falls and Hawes, but the roads are so bumpy and narrow we thought we would leave that for another trip.

The original intention was to finish this trip at Sherwood Pines, but we decided that the weather was so good, and the scenery so nice, that we would stay in North Yorkshire and join Teesside DA at their meet at Thirsk Racecourse, so on Friday we completed the short hop across the A1 to Thirsk. Martin joined us at the site and we had a wander around the town, a few beers in a local pub to catch up then a fine chip supper in the local chippy. 

On Saturday we decided to relax a bit so a quick walk around Thirsk market, lunch in a delightful Italian Restaurant and then a decadent siesta in the van before and evening of cheese and biscuits. 

The following day Martin had to leave early in order to help his brother move a narrowboat from Derby to Ripon, so we scooted up Sutton Bank and had a long walk along the top, enjoying the wonderful views.

On Monday we had an easy run home, stopping once again at Junction 32 for a spot of lunch and then at Boundary Mills Grantham so she could try on loads of clothes and not buy them.