30th Dec 2019 to 4th Jan 2020
Christmas 2019 was a relaxed family Christmas and memorable because of this. Close family, board games, card games, food and drink – all the ingredients necessary for a superb few days over the Christmas holidays.
It’s difficult to gather together extended family as everyone has their own plans and sometimes they just don’t line up. However, our attempt this festive period was to invite all extended family to our home on the Saturday (29th Dec). We filled the house and overflowed into the motorhome. As is traditional at this time of year, we all played silly games like adult versions of pass-the-parcel (wearing oven gloves). A little drink was consumed and soaked up with a great spread of food. Another great treat – Christmas is all about family.
But all that food and drink needs an outlet, so on the 30th Dec we jumped in the Motorhome and headed north for a few days.
We booked last minute at Troutbeck Head Caravan and Motorhome Clube site for 3 nights and arrived just before dark after a very late lunch at Tebay. Once again the Club wardens were happy to help and explain how their site and facilities operated. There had recently been some refurbishing work done and the reburbished toilet / shower block was superb.
The night time temperatures were now well below freezing with clear skies. It was great to lie in bed and look out at the stars through the morohome skylight without the usual light polution we get at home. Unfortunately the cold weather and fairly full site led to some electricity problems. To be clear these problems were not caused by poor maintenance or capacity issues at the site. These problems were caused by some inconsiderate campers overloading the circuits by using electric heaters in their awnings. Once the wardens had aked them to turned them off, we all had stable electricity again.
In Scotland (our usual bolt-hole) we are used to finding a walk, driving to the nearest carpark, parking up and setting off. In the Lake Distrinct we learned that it’s not that simple. Parking a large motorhome is not a trivial matter in the Lakes. Having found a couple of good walks we wanted to try, we couldn’t find parking and then ran out of light. So the next day we walked Mell Fell from the campsite to avoid the parking problem.
On the 2nd we left Troutbeck and made a booking at another Caravan and Motorhome club site – Conniston Park Coppice. This was about an hour south, travelling through Ambleside and down to the shores of Coniston. I am consistently impressed by the quality of these club sites and their facilities. However, there were hardly any pitches remaining (my fault for not booking earlier) so the only pitch we could find to fit our large motorhome was not entirely level – even with careful positioning of the wheel ramps.
The next day, having learned our lesson from Troutbeck, we found another walk that we could do from the site without needing to find parking. This walk was The Old Man of Coniston trail. Quite a challenging hike. The path leads up to 3000ft and along the rocky ledge which could well have been the top of a caldera formed by a long extinct volcano. Finlay (our spaniel) was not impressed. His idea of a holiday is curled up on the sofa.
Round trip distance 335 miles according to google maps.
Further Motorhome Niggles
To add to the first list here are a few more:
- The front of the dinette eye-level cupbaord has warped to the point where the magnetic closures do not close – to be replaced under warranty by Don Amott on the 17th Jan.
- The closure on the centre eye-level locker in the rear lounge nolonger allows the locker to be closed. I repositioned the catch to fix the problem.
- The pull-switch on the bathroom light failed and wouldn’t turn the light on. Stripped in down and re-assembled it so it worked again – will need a replacement.
- Passenger side door mirror – bit more than a niggle but my fault. Smashed the casing on a wall. Will need to be replaced when I get home.