Whitchurch Marina, Whitchurch, Shropshire

The working marina at Whitchurch
The working marina at Whitchurch

ABC Leisure Group Limited, Whitchurch Marina, Wrexham Road, Whitchurch, SY13 3AA 01948 662012

measuring.selling.waltzed

Arriving on the A525 via Ellesmere, the left hand turn into the Whitchurch Marina sneaked up on us and we whizzed (sorry guys, it’s Lulu afterall………’we chugged’!) straight past it. Fortunately we were right on the A41 / A525 roundabout so we went straight around and then immediate right onto the site.

Lulu on Pitch 6
Lulu on Pitch 6

Situated on a working hire boat marina, the 6 pitches are set out along the hedgerow between the canal and the A525. While there was a little road noise, we did not find it overly intrusive during our stay even during the Friday evening rush hour.

We checked in at the small reception / marina shop and paid our pitch fees of £18.00 for the night and chose our pitch – eventually! Once plugged in, we got the kettle on for tea and had a brief look around the site. The site is small, clean and busy being a working marina. After a cup of tea, we walked the mile and a half into Whitchurch town centre initially, crossing the busy A525 outside the site but then onto much quieter approach roads and back streets. Whitchurch has a plethora of pubs, cafes, restaurants and the like so we were spoiled for choice for lunch.

Once back at Lulu, we said goodbye to our daughter and had a lovely evening playing Ludo, eating and watching the sunset over the canal.

After a good nights sleep we strolled around the marina watching the toing and froing of canal boatlife. The site, as mentioned, has a small shop / reception area full of boaty stuff, souvenirs and everyday essentials. They also sell bottled gas here. Kev did not come into the shop as it was restricted to one person at a time due to Covid measures in place.

Directly behind the shop is the toilet / shower / pot-wash block and while dated is open, clean and fully functional. The chemical waste point is at the end of this block. We could not find however, anywhere to dump our grey waste though.

All in all, a very nice first nights stay on our tour and a site that we may very well make use of again on further treks north.

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Lulu goes to Salisbury- When Marley Meets Alex!

Old Sarum
Old Sarum

It’s Friday October 2nd, Lulu goes to Salisbury, and Marley meets Alex!

The day dawns bright and early for Kev, as does every day! Kev is an early riser, his body clock always has him up before his 5:45 alarm does! In fact it’s fair to say that every holiday we’ve been on in our twenty years of wedded bliss has seen Kev take at least 4-5 days to unwind and sleep in to the late hour of 7:00 am! He has seen more sunrises on our travels than I could shake a stick at. From The Maldives to New York City, the Isle of Wight to Great Shunner Fell, Kev has seen the sun rise over all of them. Me- not so much!

Today the plan was… Up early- barbers by 9:00am when they open, so naturally he is up at 5:30! He leaves for the 10 minute drive up to town, and is back within the hour. While he is out I finish loading Lulu with the necessary van food, and van clothes.

Question! Does anyone else have “van food and van clothes” or is it just us!? Vanlifers excepted, of course, all yours is van food and van clothes! We just miss our 10 o’clock deadline and are on the road by 10:30, via a local service station for fuel and LPG (£7.00!).There is a small whoop of joy as we set off, when Kev realises we had refilled the diesel tank at Newtown on the way back from our Yorkshire trip- BONUS!, you just have to embrace the small victories in life!

Best Laid Plans and all that!

Looking at the weather forecast last night, we discovered that we are in for a wet and windy weekend in Salisbury. Not being lovers of motorway driving at the best of times (and this was patently NOT going to be the ‘best of times’) we decide to use ‘A’ roads for our journey. Travelling via Brecon, Monmouth Gloucester, and Marlborough will add just 45 minutes and 25 miles to our journey. No problem, we have plenty of time!

However! Best laid plans and all that!

Our journey includes:-

Torrential rain the whole way

A police road closure due to an incident on the A4077 at Crickhowell

An ongoing programme of roadworks on every road, or so it seems, from Gloucester to Marlborough

Literally the worst pot holes we have ever encountered from Marlborough to Salisbury (side note Wiltshire you are an incredibly beautiful county, with some iconic historical sites but what is with your roads!?!?)

We finally reach our site for the weekend at about 3:30. One of the wardens meets us at the gate and shows us to the pitches which are available. By 4:00 we’ve pitched up, plugged in, and have a brew in our hands. Phew!

Old Sarum- a quick historical round up!

The site is overlooked by Old Sarum, the original settlement pre Salisbury, dates back to around 400BC, although there are indications of a prehistoric settlement from around 3000BC!When Salisbury sprang up around the site of the new cathedral in the 13th century, much of the original settlement of Sarum was pillaged for timber and stone and in 1514 Henry VIII sold of the ruins of the hill fort.

Bridge entrance to Sarum Hill Fort
Bridge entrance to Sarum Hill Fort

Today the structure of the hill fort is still very much visible, so we decide to walk across the football and rugby pitches at the base of the mound and investigate it for ourselves.

It has, thankfully, stopped raining by the time we reach the top of the mound but, unfortunately with our usual aplomb, we arrive ten minutes after the visitor centre closes. We wander the vast banks and ditches of the settlement, and head to the highest point to check out the views. The views over Salisbury and its imposing cathedral are stunning! On a clear day they would be magnificent!

Salisbury and Lulu from Old Sarum (Lulu is second from the left!)
Salisbury and Lulu from Old Sarum (Lulu is second from the left!)

The last member of English Heritage www.english-heritage.org.uk staff is locking up for the night, and we had a lovely chat with her. She has a wealth of knowledge about the site, Salisbury, and the nearby stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury, and is a credit to the organisation she represents!

We make our way back down to Lulu for beer and curry. As we settle in for the night the rain starts again, along with the wind! The storm has arrived and Lulu meets Alex! After two wet and windy walks with Marley, we settle down and it’s lights out at around 11:00

Salisbury Cathedral and a lovely lunch

At 5:30am Marley pees on the floor! At 5:40 Kev and Marley are doing laps around the football pitch, and at 7:30 they are doing them again!

This is a running theme for the next couple of hours, interspersed with regular hot coffee and our customary bacon rolls!

We are meeting another of our daughters and her boyfriend at the cathedral at 11:00, so at 10:00 we set off on the walk into town. It rains! We get wet, very, very wet! In fact I’m inclined to think it’s the wettest I have ever been!

At least we don’t get lost, all you need to do is keep the majestic 404′ spire in view. In the end it turns out to be an easy two (ish) mile walk, and we arrive on time but drenched! Salisbury’s “Spirit of Endeavour” celebration is taking place during 2020, and the cathedral, and its grounds, have become home to 20 iconic pieces of contemporary art, from artists as diverse as Henry Moore and Grayson Perry.

After some discussion about how Marley will cope, we all go into the cathedral www.salisburycathedral.org.uk , which is very dog friendly, the “kids” and I visit the Magna Carta, and Kev and Marley wander the cloisters and wait for us outside.

The Cloisters at Salisbury
The Cloisters at Salisbury

Having done our tour of the cathedral we stop off at a covered outside pavement café for a couple of welcome warm drinks, as Kev, Marley, and I still haven’t dried out from our walk into town. We call into Mountain Warehouse for a couple of new gilets for us, and a new coat for Marley, along with a new chew toy, and a travel water bottle.

Our table is booked at Mauls Wine & Cheese Bar www.maulswinebar.com at 2:00pm, where we pass a pleasant couple of hours devouring cheese, charcuterie, and wine. We part company with our lovely girl, and her lovely fella, and manage to jump on a bus, which gets us back to the site within 10 minutes.

By 9:00pm Marley has been on another three “walks”, we’ve scoffed a quick mushroom pasta, the dishes are done, and all three of us more than ready for bed! It is STILL raining, and Lulu bears the unmistakably charming odour of Eau de Chien Mouillé!

It has been a day of firsts for Marley:-

1-First visit to a cathedral

2-First pee in a cathedral ( second pee in a cathedral!)

3-First visit to a restaurant

4-First coat

5-First bus ride

The end of another mini adventure 🙁

Marley wakes us up at 3:30am for his first walk of the day! Fumbling for the van keys, I manage to set off the alarm, which gets Kev up, albeit temporarily. After a short walk we return to Lulu, and all bed down until a respectable 7:30, when Kev and Marley go for walk number 2. We have some breakfast and pack up. Finally all the tanks are emptied, and we are on the road by 11:00.

This time we opt to take the motorways home, but at least the 40 miles or so to the M4 takes us past Stonehenge, and through some beautiful Wiltshire villages.

Stonehenge through the rain
Stonehenge through the rain

The continuing wind and rain make for atrocious driving conditions, but we take our time with Lulu, and reach home around 3:00pm via Lidl for milk and munchies.

The mood in the van on the way home is as gloomy as the skies above us. Buying Lulu was about taking to the road, having adventures, and seeing new things and places. We are taking every opportunity to do exactly that, and have firm plans for more trips this year, and a longer trip next year. We have no intention of letting Lulu go, she is with us for the long haul. What we have discovered this weekend though, is that Lulu, while great for me and Kev, gets a little cramped with Marley along for the ride. It’s not horribly uncomfortable, and we all adapt and get used to the “van shuffle” when moving from one end to the other.

Add constant rain to the mix, constant driving rain which means you can’t have the door or windows open, and it’s a different matter. Soaking wet towels, shoes, coats mounting up, a rapid wet shake by Marley covering every surface in water droplets,coupled with damp seating, carpets, bedding, all contrive to put a real dampener on the whole weekend.

Rain on the window- our view for the weekend!
Rain on the window- our view for the weekend!

It’s likely that, as long as our dear old mutt is still with us, his trips in Lulu will be curtailed to fair weather only, at the mercy of the BBC weather app. For now, our next trip will be in six weeks, to Minehead C&MC Club site. Hopefully the weather, and our mood, will be much, much brighter!

Until then enjoy your travels, and we will continue to plan ours.

See you again soon,

Mags, Kev, &Marley X

Posted in October 2020, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lulus First Tour- The Epilogue

View over the hills with Silver Birch
View over the hills with Silver Birch

Lulus first tour- The Epilogue! Well! That’s it! The end of our Yorkshire Tour with Lulu. It’s been a string of firsts for all of us.

First tour, first time visiting a lot of our destinations, first time to get a little taste of what actual vanlife could be. Importantly, it’s also the first time we’ve had a chance to sit down and discuss how to change the possibility of vanlife to a probability.

We have a way to go yet! There are, as you all already know, a thousand and one things we will need to get through first, but wheels are being set in motion, albeit slowly, and the likelihood creeps a tiny bit closer every day.

Role models and aspirations for life with Lulu

Even in the short time we have been travelling around, we have an even greater respect for the people who do this full time, the vloggers and bloggers, youtubers and instagrammers we’ve been following for so long, and whose example we hope (plan) to follow.

View of the trees dipping into the river
View of the trees dipping into the river

Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been hard! Nursing is hard, bringing up children is hard, working endless night shifts is hard, travelling around in our little silver Lulu van is great! I have to be honest, though, the amount of work that goes into posting even a little starter blog like ours, just to get it readable, and the technology working,has amazed us! To all the people out there that do this for a living, putting out post after post, and making it look so fun and so easy, I take my hat off to you!

This will be, we fervently hope, the first of many adventures, large and small, we will get to experience in the coming months and years. As I said in our last post, we have a couple more trips already booked this year, and plans to return to France next year. Who knows what that will bring, we don’t but we can’t wait to find out, and would love to think that you will come along on the ride of our lives with us.

I started the first post in this series with the first photo we took as we left, so I will finish it with the last one before we returned home to Wales.

Thanks for reading all our nonsense for the last couple of weeks, see you after Salisbury, next weekend!

To all of the vanlifers out there, take care and keep travelling and inspiring us to do the same.

See you on the road sometime!

Mags, Kev & Marley X

Kev & Mags outside The Croft- Beaconsfield
Kev & Mags outside The Croft- Beaconsfield
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Yorkshire Tour days 8-10 – Lulu Takes a Breather!

Acre Hill Farm CL
Acre Hill Farm CL

Yorkshire Tour days 8-10 – Lulu takes a breather! With a long 2 ½ hour drive today to our next, and last, site we want a fairly early start.
All packed away, breakfasted and emptied by around 10.30, we eventually find Vicky and pay her the princely sum of £14 for our overnight pitch, then, after offering our thanks, say our goodbyes and hit the road.
We have a fairly pleasant, if un-picturesque run down the M6 for about 80 miles (I know – we went on a Motorway!!) and find ourselves pulling on to Beaconsfield Holiday Park www.beaconsfieldholidaypark.co.uk shortly after 2PM.

Is This The Perfect Site?

Turning off the road through the large gates and past the BHPA sign, the AA 5 Pennant sign, the Premier Parks sign and the English Tourist Board 5-star sign, it feels that this site is going to live up to its reputation and its own hype.
The grounds and approach roads are immaculately kept (think billiard table!) and there is hardly anything out of place. With the sky painted a perfect shade of blue, the grass a perfect shade of green, the magnificent oaks and beech trees just starting to put their autumn coats on, the setting is glorious.
We drive past ‘The Croft’, the parks new off-site bar and restaurant, and through more gates to the park itself and draw up at reception.
After we check in and pay the balance of our fees for our fully serviced hard standing pitch, we’re given a key to the shower blocks and told to pitch anywhere other than on the grass of on the lakeside. We find a lovely corner pitch with hedgerows on two sides and an empty pitch on the other. This gives us a natural windbreak and a degree of privacy. Essential for our raucous, all night Ludo sessions!
Beaconsfield is an adults only park with a middle aged onwards clientele in the main. There were some serious caravans and motorhomes on this site worth a lot of money – could be why old Lulu was hiding in the corner!

Lulu resting up at Beaconsfield
Lulu resting up at Beaconsfield

Lulu Settles in for A Breather

Lulu’s awning goes out along with her fairy lights and, as the sun was just slipping towards the yard-arm, we saunter up to ‘The Croft’ to partake in a beer or five before dinner. Kev isn’t going to drive for two days and is well overdue a little drinkie!
As tempting as it is to stay for food, we have fresh (from Helmsley) Pork & Apple, and Lamb & Stilton Burgers in the van that are calling. We also have a fridge still half full of beer, cider and other temptations of a liquid variety.
Kev fires up the Cadac to cook the burgers and I rustled up some salad. We have dinner, play some more Ludo and finish watching Young Wallander before hitting the sack.

Day 9 Shrewsbury- Lulu has a day off!


Waking early, Kev has not slept well at all and can barely turn his neck. After breakfast, and a shower we walk the mile or so up to the main road to catch the bus into Shrewsbury. Two single fares are £5.00 and twenty minutes later the bus deposits us at a shabby 1980’s bus station at the arse-end of town. It’s a fairly grim first impression of a town that neither of us had visited before but were both keen to do so.
We needn’t have worried. After a short walk up hill, we turn a corner and are thrown out into the main thoroughfare. Shrewsbury is a lovely town with a huge variety of national and local independent retailers, and some really quirky businesses tucked into every nook and cranny. There are plenty of pavement bars and cafes and the central outdoor market is bustling with street food stalls, local producers, antique dealers, and artisanal craft sellers.


We walk and mooch for a couple of hours, stopping for coffee and cake at The Gallery Tearooms, one of the many tea shops in the town. Wandering the old back lanes and alleyways, passing the old churches and graveyards, we find some interesting medieval buildings with one proudly proclaiming that ‘Henry Tudor lodged here in 1485, on his way to the battle of Bosworth Field’.

Back to Lulu


Unfortunately, time has run on and we hurry to the bus station to find that we have missed the bus by 10 minutes and there isn’t another for 90 minutes. So, we pop over to the taxi rank, hail a cab and 10 minutes later it drops us back at the park gates. Strolling back up the driveway, we pause to watch the farmer bailing hay in the next field while his son races around and around the outside of the field in his dune-buggy.
We soon find ourselves trying, and failing, to avoid nipping into ‘The Croft’ for a cold one before coming back up for our pre-booked dinner at 7PM.

Willow Deer sculpture at The Croft
Willow Deer sculpture at The Croft


Our evening dinner is excellent, if a little pricey at £93 and on settling our final bill, on our final evening, we retire to bed for hopefully a better nights sleep.

Day 10- Lulu heads for Home 🙁

Sunday morning dawns with a hazy start to the much forecasted mini heatwave – bloody typical! After a quick visit to the shower blocks, we begin to pack up Lulu for our journey home. Leaving the site, Lulu pulls us into ‘The Croft’ car park for one last breakfast – which was so big that Kev could not finish his!
The journey home is a fairly solemn and sedate drive south through Mid Wales, along its twisty and bendy ‘A’ roads. Kev’s absolute favourite drive – NOT! He hates this road! It seems to take forever to drive the 90 miles or so down through Newtown, Builth Wells, Llandovery and finally through Llandeilo and home.
We unpack Lulu, put the laundry on and make a cup of tea, drive over to Pawsawylle to collect an excited Marley, and sit for the evening reflecting on our first trip.
Both of us have work tomorrow. Our adventure is over, or at least paused while we evaluate what we want and where we want to be.

Future Plans

Until we reach that decision, we have a couple of jobs to do on Lulu. Her Webasto heater needs to be repaired / serviced. It refuses to fire up and is something I feel that we will need sooner rather than later.
Lulu’s waste water outlet needs extending out to the side of the van, as having to drive over a manhole or grill to empty our waste is a pain. We also want to insulate Lulu’s sliding side door and there are other bits and pieces to do which are mainly cosmetic.

We have a few trips planned in Lulu for some short, crispy autumnal adventures.
In October we are off to Salisbury to meet up with another darling daughter and her beau.
There is another weekend trip planned to Minehead in November, and we are away for 5 nights over New Year to Cromer on the Norfolk coast.
Plus, I’m sure that I will be able to persuade Kev and Marley that we need to get out in Lulu on other exciting mini adventures inbetween,
Until then, happy and safe travels all!

Mags, Kev, & Marley
X

Posted in September 2020, Travels with Lulu | Comments Off on Yorkshire Tour days 8-10 – Lulu Takes a Breather!

Yorkshire Tour Day 7- Lulu Flies High

Views over the Yorkshire Hills
Views over the Yorkshire Hills

Yorkshire Tour day 7 and Lulu flies high. After the drama of the drive yesterday we are hoping for better conditions today.

The drive from Barnard Castle to our next stop, Acre Hill, is fantastic. There is a marked improvement in the weather, it’s still windy though, but nothing likes the gales yesterday (thank goodness!)

The scenery is spectacular, and the views are sensational. Gentle rolling hills suddenly are suddenly ripped by deep scars in the hillsides some natural, some manmade. There are no large towns to speak of, once we leave the built up areas around Barnard Castle. We follow the A66 for most of the route, passing such iconic place names as Kirkby Lonsdale and Kirkby Stephen, Penrith and Wigglesworth, all of which we hope to return to at some point. We have blue skies, and glorious views- BLISS!

Endless Rolling Hills
Endless Rolling Hills

About 45 minutes from Acre Hill we pass a sign for Ireby Green Farm shop and Tea Room http://www.irebygreenfarm.co.uk . It has become something of a habit, during the trip, to have a decent breakfast in the van before we leave and either lunch (for lunch read coffee and cake!) or dinner locally. As there is nothing close to the site we take the turning to see what they have on offer.

Coffee Time! Again!

What a lovely spot! There are two carparks, one for the tea room and one for the shop. There is no room for Lulu in the tearoom carpark, so we opt to visit the shop first. We have a mooch about the shop, which is small but well stocked, buy a couple of bits and pieces for our last couple of nights, and discover that we can leave Lulu where she is while we go for lunch!

Ireby Farm shop and Tearoom location
Ireby Farm shop and Tearoom Location

Kev takes a table by the river while I go in to order two cream teas. The tea room is really busy, and some of the food looks, and smells, fantastic! They do a great looking all day breakfast, and I find myself with a bit of food envy!

The excellent cream teas arrive, and we spend a bit more time simply relaxing and appreciating the day, the weather, and the area we are lucky enough to find ourselves in.

As days go this is probably the least eventful, but it’s lovely to just have nothing to do. The drive has been the main focus for the day, today, and it has been a complete pleasure, but now it’s time to make our way to the site.

Lulu meets Vicky and Excellent Service!

Out of the blue last night Kevs phone rang for the first time since day 2! Right at the last minute he realises that the number is Acre Hill. Vicky has phoned to let us know that one of the main roads to the site has been closed so we don’t get stuck, or diverted miles out of the way. Excellent service in anyone’s book!

Checking that we are on the correct route, Lulu climbs a pretty steep hill as we travel the last couple of miles, and finally Lulu meets Vicky.

The site is called Acre Hill, and Lulu flies high, it’s right at the top of the hill! It’s a lovely little site! There are only five or six pitches, on another working farm, with views to die for!

View from Acre Hill Site
View from Acre Hill Site

There are no showers on site, and nowhere to go, so we settle Lulu in, and get everything set up for an evening of food, beer, and our first television viewing of the trip.

The Cadac comes out again and Kev heats up some meatballs with mozzarella bought at Thomas the Baker in Helmsley, as mentioned in www.duncombesroaming.com|yorkshireroadtripday4|lulugoeswombling while I cook up some pasta, and open a couple of beers.

Evening falls and it is glorious! The wind has dropped and, as the other campers settle down for the night, the site falls into almost perfect silence. Aaaah! And Breathe! We loved this little site, and would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for somewhere to just disconnect from the real world, and totally recharge your own batteries.

Tomorrow we have our longest drive of the trip, and a two day stop at a really fancy site! So it’s an early night, as our thoughts turn to our final stop, and home.

Goodnight all, see you in the morning

Mags & Kev X

Posted in September 2020, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Yorkshire Tour Day 6- Lulu reaches Wuthering Heights!

Approaching Barnard Castle
Approaching Barnard Castle

Yorkshire Road Trip day 6, and Lulu reaches Wuthering Heights! After a restless night for both of us, we don’t surface much before 8:00am, which is especially unusual for Kev. We grab some breakfast and, after paying for our night at Marfit Head we set off.

We’ve had a few lovely, easy (for me anyway!) driving days, and we start out with high hopes. Kev has been looking forward to this leg of the journey over the Yorkshire moors, with views as far as the eye can see.

The drive is not what we’d hoped!

Lulu Reaches Wuthering Heights Out on the Wild and Windy Moors!

The wind has picked up a lot this morning and, as beautiful as the moors are, it is impossible to enjoy the scenery. The drive is intense! Unexpectedly, the traffic is surprisingly heavy for mid morning on a Wednesday. There is no let up in the side wind, and Lulu seems skittish and heavy.

Kev handles it all brilliantly, as always, as does Lulu, but it is exhausting and I think we are all glad to get to the site.

Teesdale Barnard Castle site
Teesdale Barnard Castle site

The site is, as they all are, immaculate. Check in is smooth, we select our pitch, pick up our wristbands for the showers, polish off our tea and biscuits, and head into town. On first sight the route to town from the site seems treacherous, but once you cross the road, the path along the verge is a lot better than it looks and we arrive at a gated footpath which, in turn, leads to a bridge over the River Tees. The path follows the river for about a quarter mile and then leads uphill. We emerge from the trees into blinding sunlight.

Barnard Castle- the Castle

And then there is the castle.

We love a castle, no matter how ruined, and Barnard Castle is a fine example. If you take the river walk into town as above, you emerge from the trees at the end of the path where the great stone edifice looms into view straight over you. The immense stone walls are still solid and imposing, with the round tower wonderfully evocative of how impenetrable it would have looked to potential invaders, with its huge windows, and narrow arrow slits still visible.

Barnard Castle Walls
Barnard Castle Walls

With our apparent inability to learn from our mistakes, just as in https://www.duncombesroaming.com|luluvantravellers|yorkshireroadtripday5|luluandthechickens/ we didn’t book a ticket here either, so could only view it from outside. Opposite the castle there is a beautiful space, which was full of people enjoying the brief sunshine, and some lunch on the many benches, and lush green lawns.

The town itself is, unfortunately, a little disappointing. After so many days of quirky shops, villages of chocolate box beauty, it’s busy, noisy and a little humdrum. There are still some impressive buildings, and a couple of nice pubs especially the Three Horseshoes www.three-horse-shoes.co.uk but it was, in our humble opinion, totally underwhelming.

You may miss the coast but you can’t miss the Fish & Chips!

We did, however, indulge in some fish and chips. We’d hoped to get to one of the coastal towns for fish, but couldn’t quite fit it into our schedule, but we did have a recommendation for the best chip shop in town.

Katies Fish & Chip Shop www.katiestraditionalfishandchips.co.uk has an excellent reputation, and it did not disappoint! The fish was moist and boneless, they even removed the skin from Kev’s for him, so we knew it was definitely cooked fresh. The chips were hand cut and cooked to perfection, even the mushy peas seemed better than usual, and it all made it back to Lulu in one piece!

As we’d dined early, we spent the evening playing Ludo again, (it’s now 3-1 to Kev, I think I might need to switch games!) and writing up a couple of days of blog pages we need to catch up on! This is also the point at which we change direction, and start making our way south, back towards home.

Clitheroe tomorrow, another whole new destination for us both. See you there!

Kev & Mags X

Posted in September 2020, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Yorkshire Tour Day 6- Lulu reaches Wuthering Heights!

Yorkshire Road Trip Day 5 – Lulu and the chickens!

Big skies over the Yorkshire hills
Big skies over the Yorkshire hills

We wake up bright and early on our pitch at Foxholme Caravan Park. The day is a lot brighter today and the far-reaching views over to the Howardian Hills are magnificent. Little do we know we will soon be in the middle of the forthcoming drama “Yorkshire Road Trip Day 5 – Lulu and the chickens!”

Our chicken, or so it thinks!
Our chicken, or so it thinks!


Knowing that we only had a 40-minute drive over to our next site at Pickering, we didn’t rush this morning. We had a leisurely breakfast and did our usual emptying of wastes and refilling our fresh tanks and left the site at around 11.00.

Beautiful Helmsley


We detoured the 5 miles back towards Helmsley with a view to parking at Rivelaux Abbey, looking at the ruins and then walking back into Helmsley to stake our claim on Kevs ancestral home of Duncombe Park & House. At the very least we thought that they could sponser our website https://duncombesroaming.com


As with all unplanned plans, we were thwarted at Rivelaux Abbey as we had not prebooked our visit (Covid restrictions). We did catch a fleeting glimpse of the impressive ruin on our way back into Helmsley. Now Mags is getting pretty good at snapping decent photos through the windows of a moving van but the fleeting glimpse was too fleeting, even for her!


In Helmsley, we parked up easily in one of the six motorhome bays at the long stay car park (£2.50 for 3 hours) – overnight parking is also now permitted.

Kev Finds His “Place” in Life!


Helmsley is a lovely market town situated on the River Rye. Part of the town lies within the North York Moors National Park.
The town has a distinct medieval design with its central market square and has been designated a conservation area.
Duncombe Park (also bookings only) is the ancestral home of the Earls of Feversham and was built in 1713. There are various statues and streets in the town that bear the Duncombe family name.

Image of Kev with a sign for Duncombe Place Helmsley titled Kev finds his "place" in life!
Kev finds his “place” in life!


Kev messages Duncombe Park to say that he’s coming home and to get the kettle on but receives no reply. He has obviously been disowned by the family!


We probably haven’t it mentioned before but we are moochers! We do like a good mooch about. So, we’re ducking into shops, alleyways, lanes, churches, butchers, bakers and stop for a delightful coffee and bun at a local tearoom Cornercopia www.facebook-cornercopiacafehelmsley ,they don’t have a website, but do check out their Facebook page for more details . We carry on mooching for a couple of hours, buying some steaks and other provisions for ‘us tea’ http://www.thomasthebaker.co.uk , and also a rather good-looking Yorkshire Curd Tart for afternoon tea.

Cornercopia Café Helmsley
Cornercopia Café Helmsley


On the way back to Lulu we spot, at the end of a lane, the ruined keep of Helmsley Castle. We take a couple of sneaky photos (Yep! – pre bookings only), jump back into Lulu and are on our way by 13.45.

Kev taking a photo of the ruin of Helmsley Castle
Helmsley Castle
Helmsley Castle
Helmsley Castle


By 14.30, we’re pulling onto our next site.
Marfit Head Caravan and Campsite is a C&MC CL site, and also a working farm with a menagerie of animals. The site is directly off the A169 Pickering to Whitby road but road noise is minimal.

Lulu and the Chickens!


We pitch up in glorious sunshine, get our Fiamma awning out for the first time, and string Mags’ fairy lights up. We use our awning tie down straps too – for the first time, and set out our new chairs and table. Finally we get the new Cadac Safari Chef bbq set up in readiness for the gorgeous ribeye steaks purchased earlier.


Then, as we sit, enjoying a brew and taking in the views over the far-reaching plains the sky turns a murky grey colour, the clouds gather ominously and the wind picks up – a lot! The wind also attempts a few times to pick up our awning and rip it from the side of the van. So, better to be safe than sorry, we spend 20 minutes taking down the awning, fairy lights and straps. Whilst it was blowing a hooly, it still isn’t cold, so we remain sat outside Lulu, Mags brews another cup of tea and portions up the Yorkshire Curd Tart.


According to https://britishfoodhistory.com, a Yorkshire Curd Tart, whilst it could be mistaken for an egg custard MUST actually be made from curd cheese and is essentially a baked cheesecake. It can only have ground allspice and raisins in the mixture, with rosewater an optional extra. I don’t know if ours had the optional rosewater, but it was very yummy!


As we’re tucking in, along comes Foghorn ‘bloody’ Leghorn and his groupies!

Foghorn Leghorn!


The farm chickens are free range and they range freely in Lulu’s direction. One or two of them must have smelt the tea, or heard the paper bag rustling as it divulged its Yorkshire Curd Tart loveliness – they then told their mates and lo and behold, it’s like a scene from Chicken Run.


One of the stunted feathery beauties pecks at Kev’s feet, one tries to take the tart out of my hand pecking my thumb in the process, one (the ring-leader!) jumps up onto the table and sticks its beak into the remaining tart portions and then tries to drink Kev’s tea. This is a biblical ‘plague of fowl’!

Rampant Chickens!!
Rampant Chickens!!


Eventually, the chickens retreat (to regroup and strategise) and we come out of the van like stealth ninjas.

Taking Evasive Action!


As we hide, cowering from the onslaught of chickens we spot an ice cream van that has pulled onto the site to ply his wares. We flag him down and buy a couple of vanilla cones with chocolate flakes and enjoy them as we wander around the farm chatting to the donkeys, goats and pigs. 

This little piggy goes to Marfit
This little piggy goes to Marfit

We finish our ice creams and turn around to head back up to Lulu, only to find we had been followed by 5 or 6 chickens with a few more bringing up the rear echelons. This is getting ridiculous – Kev is starting to feel like Steve Carroll’s Noah in Evan Almighty! We beat a hasty retreat (waving a white handkerchief as we went) back to Lulu to figure out how many of the little darlings we could fit into our Ridge Monkey!


At some point over the next hour or so, as fast as they had appeared, the chickens disappear. Like two whispers, we very stealthily fire up the Cadac. We flash grill the two ribeyes and tuck into them with some stir fried veggies.


Another couple of games of Ludo and an episode of ‘Young Wallender’ on Netflix later and we were in bed for the night…………….’turn the light on Maggie – can you hear clucking?!’

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Yorkshire Road Trip Day 4 – Lulu goes Wombling

Far reaching views from our pitch at Foxholme
Far reaching views from our pitch at Foxholme

Lulu has enjoyed being parked up at the club site at Hebden Bridge but it’s Yorkshire road trip day 4, and Lulu goes Wombling! The site is nicely laid out and as all club sites are, it is very well kept and manicured. Although the site is on a ‘main’ road, there was very little road noise to speak of.


After a good nights sleep we have the, by now usual, routine of Kev awake first and the kettle goes on. We both get up, put the bed and bedding away and have breakfast. We aim to get ready to leave the sites by about 11.00 leaving two or two and a half hours driving to the next site as a maximum per day. 


Hebden Bridge site has all of the usual amenities that you would expect with the exception of a toilet / shower block. We didn’t need either as Lulu is self-sufficient. So, Kev, keeping the expletives and screaming to a minimum attempts the first shower in Lulu’s very small bathroom – complete with shower curtain that does nothing more than mummify him on every bend, twist and turn of his ablutions!


We finally drain our tanks and refil with fresh water and are away from Hebden Bridge by about 11.15. After calling in to refuel Lulu in town, we make our way towards Helmsley, some 75 miles away.
The journey is pretty uneventful. As we usually do, we travel on A or B roads, avoiding motorways wherever we can, as such, this journey takes us through the suburbs and retail parks of Halifax, Shipley, Leeds, Ilkley, Harrogate and York. Arriving at Helmsley around lunchtime, we promptly drove straight through for another 5 miles to the village of Beadlam and then another mile further! We aren’t walking in to Helmsley for dinner tonight!

Lulu goes Wombling- Best Place name So Far!

Foxholme Caravan Park
Foxholme Caravan Park


On arrival at Foxholme Caravan Park http://www.foxholmecaravanpark.co.uk, we’re checked in by the park manager, Dave, and ask him about pubs or restaurants within walking distance.
Apparently,if we go to the park gate and turn right, in a mile and a half we’d get to Beadlam where there was a pub that does food but it’s a bit ‘hit and miss’ as to whether they’re cooking or not.
Turning left at the park gate, after a quarter mile we’d come to a T-junction. Turn left again and another mile will take us to Wombleton (yes…….WOMBLEton!!), where there is a pub that does great food.

The village of Wombleton!!
The village of Wombleton!!

Right at the T-junction will lead (after another mile or so) to Horeham and another pub. So the choice is ours.


Using our MiFi for internet connection, we Google the pubs. The one at Horeham seems to fancy itself a little and that’s reflected in it’s menu and prices – Wow £££!! So, Wombleton (I just like saying it) it is.
We ring them and they’re fully booked! ‘No we’re not’ came a voice from the background of the pub, ‘We’ve had a cancellation’! Bonus! We book in for 7.15PM.

The Plough at Wombleton
The Plough at Wombleton

We spend a couple of hours drinking coffee and writing up some blog notes. Kev goes out to assist a fellow motorhomer with their water connection (Kev has hose fittings for every eventuality). They had borrowed the motorhome from a relative for a couple of nights but had no real idea how things worked on the van.

Hidden Gem of a Restaurant


We get ready and leave the van in plenty of time for a stroll to The Plough Inn www.theploughinnatwombleton.co.uk, and a beverage or two before dinner. As we leave, so do the couple from the borrowed van. They had asked the park manager the same question and after seeing the same £££ pub online, have opted for the ‘hit and miss pub’ in Beadlam. They couldn’t get in to The Plough at Wombleton – they were fully booked, again!


We have a great evening. The walk to the pub is glorious. The wind has dropped and the early evening sky is a beautiful colour.

Underground, Overground.........our evening walk into Wombleton!
Underground, Overground………our evening walk into Wombleton!

We’re made to feel really welcome at the pub. The staff are great as is the service. They are only offering their basic menu, as their chef’s off for a few days but as pub grub goes, it was fantastic and great value for money.

Cosy bar at The Plough Wombleton
Cosy bar at The Plough Wombleton

At the end of our evening, we’re asked how we’re getting back to the site. When we say that we’re walking and that we have a torch, the landlady throws her car keys at the chef and asks him to drive us back! That is outstanding customer service, and the whole evening has cost more no than £60.00 total!


We arrive back at Lulu for a late drinkie, passing our neighbour’s van, blinds down, lights on inside. Hopefully they managed to get to the pub in Beadlam and, if they did, the pub was serving food.

We never saw them again, so we’ll never know!

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Yorkshire Tour Day3- Lulu Goes to Hebden Bridge

Entrance to C&MCC site Hebden Bridge
Entrance to C&MCC site Hebden Bridge

Happy Memories Abound

Yorkshire tour day 3 and Lulu goes to Hebden Bridge. We awaken in Chatsworth bright and early, have a quick breakfast and we make use of the excellent facilities as we know they will be the last ones for a couple of stops. Departing in high spirits, after an absolutely lovely day yesterday, we make our way to Hebden Bridge.

Hebden Bridge

As mentioned in our last episode, http://www.duncombesroaming.co.uk|Yorkshire|Tour|Day|2-Lulu|goes|to|Chatsworth, Hebden Bridge is a special place for me in many ways.

When I was a teenager, we spent several years ferrying one of my older sisters back and forth to her boyfriend’s house in Halifax.

One of the highlights of every journey was our imminent arrival into Hebden Bridge.

As we came upon a road junction there was a clog factory. Turning the corner, the sign on the side of the building revealed itself in stages reading, to us at least ‘OGS…..LOGS…..CLOGS!’. We all waited for it, and we all recited it excitedly as it passed! Like many a holiday romance my sisters didn’t stand the test of time, but the memory of the final stages of the journey are etched into our collective memory. Etched so deeply that, when said sister saw a post from Kev saying where we were, she immediately responded with “Ask Mags about OGS….LOGS…. CLOGS!” Happy, happy days!

The site is lovely, small but beautifully kept. There is a river that runs alongside with a path leading from the site but we take the main road, through Mytholmroyd, and follow the Rochdale canal into town.

Lock Gates in Full Flow
Lock Gates in Full Flow

Hebden Bridge

The town is buzzing when we get there! We had wondered what would be open, it being Sunday. We need not have worried! The town was bustling with people from like minded canal side walkers to an open air Shakespeare theatre company performing in the park.

The town centre is pedestrianised (more or less) with a central area surrounded by quirky shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants. We choose a lunch spot, Mijo http://www.facebook/mijocafe.com , order some sandwiches, cake, and coffee, and get comfortable for a session of people watching. The heavens open!

We shuffle about, rearranging the seating so we are both under the awning, and settle in, again! The rain stops, and the afternoon opens up to be bright and sunny. We happily wile away a couple of hours, then return along the two mile canal walk to Lulu for dinner. Walking is thirsty work so we nip into The Shoulder of Mutton http://shoulderofmuttonmytholmroyd.co.uk hostelry in Mytholmroyd, for a couple of swift ones on the way.

The Shoulder of Mutton, Mytholmroyd

There is a sign at the bottom of the hill, on the way back to the site declaring that Crag Vale, where it is situated, is the LONGEST CONTINUOUS INCLINE IN ENGLAND, measuring 5 1/2 miles with an elevation of 968 feet. I would love to be able to tell the Amman Valley Harriers www.ammanvalleyharriers@wordpress.com, of which we are both members, that we ran it, as one of their mottos is “hills make you stronger!”, but that would be a lie…sorry guys!

Kevs Turn to Cook!

On the way into town we bought some sausages, from the trusty old Co-op, (again with the expecting everything to be closed!), so it’s time to bring out THE CADAC! I will leave it to Kev to review the Cadac as it comes under the heading of barbecue, and therefore a manly pursuit, but the sausages tasted great, and I didn’t have to cook. Win-win!

After dinner we spend the evening writing up some notes for our first couple of posts, and catching up on some reading. We are looking forward to the next leg of our journey, which will take us to Helmsley, and new territory for both of us.

To be continued……

Mags & Kev x

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Yorkshire Tour day 2- Lulu Goes to Chatsworth

Day 2- Whitchurch to Chatsworth

Yorkshire Tour day 2- Lulu Goes to Chatsworth! Saturday 5th September, is bright and sunny, and we are up before 8:00am ready to make tracks towards the next stop, Chatsworth C&MC Club site. The marina at Whitchurch is a hive of activity! Boats are coming in off rental weeks, people are packing, and unpacking cars ready for the off, staff are cleaning and disinfecting the boats in readiness for their new customers. Kev is up first and bouncing around like Tigger! Today is his BIRTHDAY!

Go Kev- It’s your Birthday!

To celebrate I spoil him with bacon rolls for breakfast. I let him open his card and his present of new maps (he does love maps!) from Marvellous Maps! http://marvellousmaps.com. I then let him empty the toilet cassette! How lucky is he???

We have a lovely two hour drive to Chatsworth travelling off motorways to get there. We pass through towns and villages that we had visited when we took a walking holiday in the Peak District a couple of years ago. Everything looks different this time and it takes us a while to realise that it’s because it isn’t pouring with rain or blowing like a banshee. We’re also definitely not in a tent on the side of a hill. We’re trundling along in Lulu!

View of craggy rocks in the Peak District
View of craggy rocks in the Peak District

As a young teenager I, and my family, visited this area regularly. One of my sisters was madly in love with a lad from Halifax and, for several years, at the start of the school summer holidays , we deposited her at her boyfriends for the duration. Every time I come back I’m amazed, I don’t think that you ever truly remember how magnificent the countryside is in this part of England.

The journey is proving to be a little challenging for our Lulu. She is quite literally going up hill and down dales but, even with her engine warning light coming on once when her revs were too high, she is coping quite brilliantly – even better than we’d hoped she would.

Beautiful Chatsworth

Avenue of trees at Chatsworth House
Avenue of trees at Chatsworth House

On arrival at Chatsworth site, we’re handed our site rules (it is a C & MC Club site), site map, and coloured wristbands for the facilities blocks. We’re also given our own key for the ‘secret gate’!

The "Secret" Gate
The “Secret” Gate

At the edge of the sites dog walk, there is a locked wooden gate in a high wall. Once unlocked, this gives access straight into the grounds of Chatsworth House. We love the grounds here, so beautifully kept, with sheep and deer roaming freely. Some unusual art installations are still dotted around the grounds, and there are magnificent views towards the main house. There is, at the end of a mile walk and through another really cool gate, the village of Baslow.

The Really cool Gate
The Really cool Gate

In Baslow there are two pubs and a (closed) tearoom. The Wheatsheaf is situated on the main road, serves good beer and is very popular with walkers http://www.wheatsheafpubbaslow.co.uk . The Devonshire Arms is just across the road and is a very easy walk from the campsite. To celebrate Kev’s birthday, we had booked a table online for 6PM, a couple of days before leaving home, so on the way past we called in to make sure that all was still ok. http://www.devonshirebaslow.com

Guess what? All was not okay! There was no booking for 6PM. There was no booking at all! Could they fit us in? – No!!

We go outside to consider our options, and to check the confirmation email that Kev had received – from The Devonshire Arms at Pilsley. Some 5 miles away!

Why, oh why would you have two pubs within 5 miles of each other with the same name? There is actually a third but by now we couldn’t care less where that one was. Kev is getting grumpy! I pop back in to make sure that they can’t fit us in and, in a flash of genius, grab a business card for Pacman Cabs and book a taxi to collect us from the site reception and then collect us from the pub at 9.30PM. Crisis averted!

We hurry back to the site, have a quick shower and change and our taxi picks us up bang on time.

The CORRECT Devonshire Arms!

The Devonshire Arms- Pilsley
The Devonshire Arms- Pilsley

The Devonshire Arms in Pilsley is lovely! Receiving a friendly welcome from the cheerful staff in their ‘full on’ PPE attire, we were shown to our socially distanced table, brought drinks and the menus. Posted in September 2020, Travels with Lulu | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Yorkshire Tour day 2- Lulu Goes to Chatsworth