Friday 18th – Saturday 26th June

The Tea Vanners – a sub-section of the Tea Girls – one couple in a hired camper, one in their own converted camper and us in the motorhome. This is the tale of our postponed (because of Covid) trip to the Lake District for our inaugral Tea Vanners’ week together. While away – still with some Covid restrictions – we met up with two of the other Tea Girl couples; just missing V&T – see you next time!

Friday 18th June

We have decided to take Husband’s car too, to give more flexibility. So, driving separately, we travelled part-way to the Lakes, stopping overnight at the Caravan & Motorhome Club site at Knaresborough https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/yorkshire/north-yorkshire/knaresborough-caravan-club-site/. We’ve stayed once before, but the site has since been renovated. It is good for a stroll along the beautiful River Nidd into Knaresborough and further afield to Harrogate and surrounding countryside. It is also one of the few Club sites with its own restaurant – The Wanderer Restaurant, Bar & Kitchen – named after the first horse drawn caravan built for the Club’s first Vice-President, Dr William Gordon Stables.

Mileage – Storage to Knaresborough = 178 miles

Saturday 19th June

En route to Keswick, we made a stop at NT Acorn Bank https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/acorn-bank. A really lovely garden wrapped around the house which has not (yet) been renovated. The garden is well worth a visit, as well as the working water mill and riverside walk. Lovely, knowledgeable volunteers too.

Then on to Castlerigg Hall site positioned high above Keswick, with lovely views over Derwent Water https://www.castlerigg.co.uk. One advantage of this independent site is we were able to book adjacent pitches. We all arrived – from far and wide – within about 30 mins of each other and, after causing some confusion with the site staff by mixing up who would be on which pitch, began to settle in.

Husband is on dinner prep this evening – an enormous and scrumptious paella, followed by Scottish Cranachan – yum! Cheers everyone!

Mileage – Knaresborough, via NT Acorn Bank, to Keswick = 108 miles

Sunday 20th June

Today the ‘boys’ set off on a walk to Walla Crag, above Derwent Water, all looking, very much, the part!

The ‘girls’ had a pleasant mooch around Keswick with a nice coffee and a fabulous scone at The Bridge https://www.thebridgekeswick.co.uk, followed by a stroll down to the shore of Derwent Water.

Tonight’s dinner was prepared by C and it was the boys’ turn to wash up!!

Monday 21st June

Today, a group walk around the east side of Derwent Water – the first task is to catch a bus from Keswick to the other end of the lake. It’s not the seaside, so who would’ve thought it would turn out to be an open top bus?

As we progressed around the edge of the lake, T&S arrived in the area and were climbing the huge Catbells hill to our left. We spent some time on the phone to them trying to establish where each party was so we could wave!!

The hotel at the beginning of the walk, where we thought we might have coffee, wasn’t open, so it was a very nice suprise to find this gem two-thirds of the way around the lake. The Lingholme Estate Kitchen & Garden https://thelingholmestate.co.uk/the-estate/kitchen-walled-garden/. A bit of a queue but worth the wait.

This evening we met up with T&S and J&R. T&S had arranged a trip to friends around our dates and J&R were on their way up to Scotland to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary so broke their journey near to us. We met at the The Pheasant Inn in Keswick https://thepheasantinnkeswick.co.uk who kindly organised two adjacent tables of 5 (at the time, because of Covid rules, you could only sit on tables of 6 indoors).

Tuesday 22nd June

Today we are moving sites but a few shots of our campers/motorhome and the view from part of the site.

It was a hair-raising 26 mile drive in a motorhome from Keswick to Coniston – the last section on the A593 was narrow, twisting, sided by dry-stone walls and full of lorries, tractors etc. coming the other way – Eeeek!

Coniston Park Coppice Caravan & Motorhome Club site https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/lake-district/cumbria/coniston-park-coppice-caravan-club-site/ as it’s name suggests, is a thickly wooded site on a hillside, eventually leading down to Conison Water. I don’t like to choose a pitch under trees as, should it rain, the dripping from the trees on to the motorhome roof continues long after the rain has stopped. All pitches were under trees and, also, it was tricky to find 3 pitches near each other that were level enough for the motorhome. In the end success and a nice pitch …….. but look at those trees and, of course, it did rain later in the week!!

The team walked down to the lake whilst I chilled and then followed on meeting them on the way back up.

L’s turn on dinner – scrumptious and colourful Salmon with Teriyaki Rice.

Mileage – Keswick to Coniston = 26 miles

Wednesday 23rd June

Today we have a trip booked on the National Trust’s Steam Yacht, Gondola which sails on Coniston Water. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/steam-yacht-gondola.

You can tell from the photos it was a little bit rainy!! So first, coffee and cake at the Bluebird Café https://thebluebirdcafe.co.uk

After a wander around Coniston village (somewhat disappointing) and a few purchases in a grocery store, we returned to the site, Husband operating a taxi service in the car.

Tonight’s dinner – fish and chips from the van on site – yum!

Thursday 24th June

Today N & J are going to walk/climb up the Old Man of Coniston. Husband has decided against the climb and has joined the ‘girlies’ as chauffeur for a trip out to Grasmere and Ambleside.

Grasmere was very busy, with one small car park. We did a couple of circuits of the town and surrounding roads looking for a parking space and, after nearly giving up, were lucky in getting a slot. Grasmere is quaint but rather spoiled by the number of tourists. There was a great deal of pavement dodging in progress to keep a reasonable distance between people (Covid). After one turn around the streets, we felt we’d got it covered and found space in a café for a coffee stop which had a fabulous view. Matilde’s Cafe in the Heaton Cooper Studio https://www.heatoncooper.co.uk/pages/mathildes-cafe

We moved on to Ambleside which, although busy, was a nice town with thriving / interesting / practical shops. We purchased some bits and bobs for dinner and returned to the site for a cheeky glass of wine with lunch.

Next time, one should walk further than the last shop in Ambleside and on to the Waterhead Pier area; from the car it looked like the place to be – waterside cafés, hotels, boat trips, boat hire etc. Very attractive.

Meanwhile, Husband had dropped J & N to start their walk up the Old Man of Coniston. They made it; fabulous views.

This evening we had rain – having made a ‘Heath Robinson’ front shelter we still managed to eat outside, although I really can’t remember what we ate!

Friday 25th June

We are moving on again today to the Caravan & Motorhome Club site at Buxton https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/peak-district/derbyshire/buxton-caravan-club-site/. A rather wet packing up process – everything is dripping, including those very tall trees! A little bit less of a hairy drive leaving the site and heading south, thank goodness.

We arrived at Buxton Caravan & Motorhome Club site and tried to dry out a few bits before meeting at C&N’s camper van for birthday cake and candles for J! N hysterically appearing from behind the camper van door with the cake!!

Later two taxis into Buxton for dinner at 53 Degrees North – a very jolly evening.

And one final wee dram in the motorhome before setting off on our separate ways in the morning.

Mileage – Coniston to Buxton = 139 miles

Saturday 26th June

This morning was ‘pack and go’ as we left L&J behind to continue celebrating his birthday today.

We tried to stop at motorway services on the way home – total nightmare – the first one there was simply nowhere to park so we just drove straight out again, the second we managed to get a parking place in the (stinky) lorry park. It was rammed with people inside the building, we just got the few bits of food we needed and got out of there.

Home safe to the storage after a very jolly holiday indeed.

Mileage – Buxton to Storage = 161 miles

Total trip mileage = 612 miles