Royal Vale Caravan Park: Knutsford
Our first trip in the new ‘van, ‘Dora (the Explorer)’, and the new car, ‘Disco’. So very exciting.
We had a long way to go so prepared for the journey to Knutsford, a two night stop on our way to the Lake District. We were almost starting from scratch so had to pack everything we thought we’d need (of course when we got there we found a ton of stuff we needed like a lighter to light the gas, a mop and the dog’s Kong (all ready made up back home in the fridge!). Anyway we set off in good spirits and straight away something crashed behind us, so we pulled into the bus stop and found all the plates had fallen out of cupboard as it had a faulty catch. Onward we went and in the midst of our first traffic jam some kindly white van men next to us told us our sky light was open. We stopped at Warwick services (after a 3 hour journey that should have taken one and a half) and found one of the hub caps had fallen off! Never mind, we survived four further excruciating traffic jams on the M6 and finally arrived at our destination five and a half hours after we left home. We discovered our next door neighbours had come from Wokingham and hadn’t had any problem with traffic!
We spent the next couple of hours enjoying setting up our new pitch and playing with all our new caravan toys. The Man backed the van in with his new electronic mover (much admired by the neighbours), we pumped up our new inflatable awning and erected our lovely new wind break. Everything is a novelty and so much fun – like playing house for grown ups!. The old van was much loved but Dora is in a different league and we are looking forward to being so much more comfortable – we even have ‘proper’ TV tonight!
The weather has stayed fine and warm, even though dark grey clouds have loomed on the horizon every now and then, and we are looking forward to a relaxing week of day time exploring and the comfort and novelty of our lovely new van (and car!)
Saturday 6th August
Dora proved very comfortable, and it was a joy not to have to unpack the beds at night, but we had a slightly disturbed night because we weren’t completely au fait with the bathroom light and toilet flushing mechanics! Still, all in all we woke refreshed to an overcast morning and it was bliss to be able to shower and complete morning ablutions in the comfort of the van.
The morning broke into a warm, sunny day and we made a short trip to Knutsford to explore the town. Knutsford has traditional links to King Canute who forded the river Lily in 1016 and gave Knutsford it’s name; ‘Cunetsford’ mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1085. Knutsford was one of the most important towns in Cheshire and county families would drive to the town for the famous racecourse in the 18 & 19C. Knutsford was a popular coaching station and bought distinguished visitors, and Princess Victoria stayed there 5 years before she became Queen. Today the town still exudes grandeur with high end shops, fancy restaurants and a McLaren car shop with a £195000 car in the window with a ‘sold’ sign on it! Every 5 minutes a Masserati or Lambourghini would screech along the narrow streets making the abundant luxurious hanging baskets swing in their wake. It was quite lovely.
Tatton Park is a stone’s throw away from the town and opened into a vast wonderland of peaceful parkland with basking deer, family thriving picnic areas, swan dotted lakes and hives of visitor activity in the Stableyard forecourt, sponsored by The National Trust and peppered with overpriced but compelling shops like the Housekeepers Store and the Garden Shop. We picnicked, walked, shopped and drank coffee – and all in the wonderful warm sunshine. A blissful first day of our holiday.
After a brief van based rest we ventured out South along the A50 in search of a dog friendly pub for supper – the George and Dragon at Holmes Chapel. Sitting outside in the evening sun with The Dog, (who was quite tired from his day’s adventures so fairly manageable) I felt quite adventurous and overlooked the safe dinner choice of scampi and went for a seafood rissoto – it was sublime.
Back to the van for proper telly and an early night.
Sunday 7th August
Kendall Caravan Club
It dawned hot and muggy again this morning and we packed up for the second leg of our hols in the Lake District. We braved the M6 again and were rewarded with yet more traffic jams that doubled our journey time. We eventually trundled up to the Kendal Caravan Club Site along a narrow road alongside the Kent river and the old ruins of the Sedgewick Gunpowder Mill.
The site is typical CC; park on the left, back offside corner against the marker…even though we are in a little cul-de-sac with no other ‘vanners within shouting distance. Still, we have a fully serviced pitch but as our electric cable was too short and we had no aerial lead it all seemed a bit moot! Never mind, the ever efficient CC had supplies in their shop, and we were soon set up with light and the Sunday afternoon matinee.
We went for a walk to stretch Jim’s legs after the longish drive and a fresh and windy stroll down the lane and over the river on a very wobbly wooden bridge. The cows were well behaved as we strolled by the river, but as the temperature had dropped a good few degrees, and the wind had whipped up some angry grey clouds, we decided to call it a day and head back to base for some alcohol and a curry – and probably another early night!
Monday 8th August
The previous evening had seen some quite heavy rain and we’d gone to bed with showers pummeling the van roof and wind whistling across the skylights; but by morning it seemed to have blown over and left the sky dotted with fluffy clouds and a watery weak sun trying to assert itself.
After morning ablutions we set off quite late to explore Waterhead and Ambleside. We had poured over the maps and tour guides the night before, but there was so much to choose from it was difficult to decide how to make the best use of our few days here. In the end we decided that it would probably be best to avoid the more obvious choice of Windemere and Bowness, and instead head for the North end of Lake Windemere.
We parked up and wandered around Waterhead for a while, taking in our first experience of Lake Windemere and the patchwork of mountains looming in the distance. We were tempted to take one of the lake tours but it was a bit breezy and we had other plans so decided to take a rain check on that idea – may be another day. We went on into Ambleside and spent a couple of hours exploring the town and taking a break for a cup of tea and a toasted tea cake. It’s a very pleasant town but every shop is either a coffee shop/café or an outdoor clothing shop. There’s clearly a lot of coffee drinking between walking, cycling and sailing!
A short drive took us through Rydal, to the White Moss car park where we started our afternoon walk from Rydal Water, through Loughrigg Terrace and taking in part of Grasmere. It was a fabulous walk, taking in shady, sun dappled woodlands, lakeside beaches and challenging rocky climbs and descents. The views from Loughrigg Terrace were awesome. We’d walked about 8 miles and climbed 26 floors according to the health app on my i-phone, so we were happy to get back to the van for a fish and chip supper and put our feet up!
Tuesday 9th August
Today is my 58th birthday so it needs to be special! Unfortunately the weather Gods did not recognise this auspicious day and we had a day dodging showers! We decided that we would take a trip to the seaside today and planned to explore Morecambe. The thought of Morecambe conjured up an olde worlde British seaside town with ‘kiss me quick’ hats and candy floss, but Morecambe was, well….awful! I mean really awful – we didn’t even get out of the car. The seafront was dismally empty, bordered on one side by endless sand and mud, and the other by boarded up burnt out amusement parks and empty, desolate shop carcasses. We drove South to Heysham hoping for some improvement and the promised dog friendly beach but it was even worse, with the shadow of the enormous oil refinery looming ominously over everything.
We decided to try our luck at Grange-Over-Sands and as we drove North back to Cumbria the sun came out as if to reward us for leaving the desolate and depressing wasteland! Grange-Over-Sands is directly opposite Morecambe on the other side of Morecambe Bay – you can see the refinery squatting on the distant horizon. Grange-Over-Sands couldn’t have been more different. A quaint seaside town with an abundance of summer flowers along the promenade and the drab mud flats tastefully softened with lush greenery. We enjoyed a wander around the town and a stroll along the promenade. The rain shower delayed our tea and scone treat but it soon passed and we sat at damp tables enjoying everyone emerging optimistically from their brief shelters in typical stoic British fashion.
On the way home we stopped in at the delightful Farm Shop at Low Sizergh Barn where they had turned afternoon milking into a spectator sport. With chickens strutting about the yard and stables converted into a craft shop it was a lovely close to the day.
We treated ourselves to a birthday meal at the local Strickland Arms pub, but The Dog took exception to a fluffy Pomeranian in the bar, and we had to slink out in shame and eat our dinner outside – it was a bit chilly but we took it in our stride – we’re getting used to it!
Wednesday 10th August
We woke up to sunshine. Today’s plan was a visit to Kendal to explore the market and then onto Tarn Hows for a walk chosen from the Countryside Dog Walks book.
Kendal is quite a nice town, quite big with lots of the usual high street shops, but also some interesting bespoke shops that were nice to poke around. There was also an abundance of Charity shops so I got to indulge in happy browsing. The market was OK, nothing special, but we were about shopped out by the time we got to it. There was a fabulous hardware store (Middletons in Market place) that was vast and stocked all sorts of usual (and unusual) household items and I was quite thrilled to cross an ice tray, clock and clothes horse off my shopping list (I am easily pleased).
From Kendal we drove back around the top of Lake Windemere and onto Tarn Hows, a small lake just North of Coniston, and had an enchanting walk through woods and grazing areas around the rippling water dotted with lilies and paddling ducks. It rained a bit but we didn’t really care.
Our next stop was Coniston, a short hop from Tarn Hows and we saw our 5th lake of the trip! Coniston is a lovely village characterised by the stone buildings that were slightly darker than the more usual pale grey limestone. This gave the town a more serious air. We wandered around among the other tourists but didn’t stay too long at was getting late – and it was still raining!
Thursday 11th August
High Onn Caravan Park: Stafford
It seemed to have rained all night and our hopes of packing away the awning in a dry state were dashed, so The Man just rolled it up and threw it dripping into the back of the car!
We packed up fairly early and set off for our overnight stop at Stafford. I wasn’t too sad to say goodbye to Kendal Caravan Club site. It was beautifully clean and well run but the trees were a bit overwhelming, making the site a bit gloomy and depressing. A bit like Eyeore’s Gloomy Place: Rather Boggy and Sad. The rain didn’t help but we can’t do much about that.
So I was happy to move onto Satfford and High Onn Caravan Club site. It wasn’t until we got here (after negotiating the endless narrow roads approaching the site) that we realised there were no facilities – and by that I mean no toilets. How can a CC site have no toilets? We feel like we’re really roughing it – but it’s only for one night – I’m sure we could manage… My lesson for today is to check out the sites more thoroughly and look at the customer feedback, After all, we like our basic luxuries!
We didn’t have much time but decided to go to Ironbridge and have a look round. The bridge is fascinating and I needed some inspirational photos. It was a delightful village, very chic with lots of appealing shops and the bridge was fascinating. Ironbridge is a village on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire. It takes its name from the famous Iron Bridge, a 30-metre (100 ft) cast iron bridge that was built across the river in 1779. The area around Ironbridge is described as the “Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution” which is based on the idea that Abraham Darby perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, in Coalbrookdale, allowing much cheaper production of iron.
It was a pleasant interlude and we headed back to the ‘van for our last night of the holiday. We set off early the next day, making a quick getaway without having to take down the awning and no toilet or shower facilities to distract us!
Me, the man, our dog, and a van 