Chirk - Only a few miles from home

Leaving Leek today, so we packed the ‘van up and then took the awning down, we had a good laugh, as it was raining so much we ended up soaked even through our waterproof trousers and jackets!  Singing beautiful renditions of “It’s raining rain” and dancing about, the neighbours must’ve thought we’d escaped!  The drive to Chirk went smoothly, the last bit seemed strange because we were suddenly back in a place that we knew well, after 11 months of driving unknown roads it felt weird to know where we were going!  Lady Margaret’s Park Caravan Club site is set within a lovely wooded area of Chirk Castle grounds, and feels a very secluded spot. 

While at Chirk we had our youngest ever visitor. Phil’s 6 month old niece, Sophie, came to visit. It was great to see them and Sophie was really smiley and happy, probably because she dribbled all over Phil!   We also took time to visit Phil’s aunty and uncle, who live right on the canal. They have recently returned from a 3 month trip on their canal boat, so we spent some time catching up and comparing stories.

The site isn’t far from Phil’s Mum’s , so we went over to theirs and had a look around their new house, which is being built in their back garden!  We walked the dogs round the block and saw Jamie Oliver the Alpaca. (We think they are the spit of each other – do you?!)  

While we were here we also went out to Erddig.  This huge National Trust country home has a huge estate surrounding it so we took the dogs for a walk first. Prince found a river to jump in and we walked through the fields and woodland which surround the house. The dogs then waited in the car while we went into the formal gardens and had a look around the stables and workshops of the house.  The house itself closes for the winter at the end of Oct, but we will be back to explore the rest as we had such a good time looking round the gardens and the outbuildings. 

The journey to Shrewsbury took longer than it should due to a very slow, depressed, driving speed. Arriving back at the house, it looked like nothing had changed, we went next door, had a nice welcome and a chat and retrieved our key so that we could get in, they were very pleased to see us and it was a lovely welcome home!  

One more blog post to follow!

Leek and the Peaks

It was extremely windy overnight, and neither of us got much sleep, with the ‘van being buffeted and rocked quite violently on occasion.  We got up and had breakfast, then set about packing the ‘van ready for the off.  The drive was straightforward, despite there being some motorway and still some high winds.  On arrival at Blackshaw Moor Caravan Club we found a pitch and set up, then Phil was straight out on his unicycle, challenging himself to get up and down the slopes on the site. 

The caravan site is on the southern border of the Peak District National Park, so is great for walking from the site:  After a brief spell on the main road we were soon crossing into the National Park and setting off on footpaths, and a bit of mud plugging got us up to the amazing rock formations called The Roaches.  These huge rock outcrops that seem to break out of the ground reach up to the sky provide some amazing views and are very popular with climbers and walkers. We managed to find a secluded spot to have our lunch out of the wind, and shelter from the masses of walkers!  We moved up to one of the outcrops called Hen Cloud where we got a fantastic view over to the south east, we could see for miles and got a glimpse of the Wrekin for the first time in months, a sure sign that we are nearly home. The views up there were framed in places by the huge rocks and on occasion you felt like you were looking out of a huge natural window.  We ventured on to Five Clouds, a long set of outcrops which was very busy with walkers, climbers and even a large group of photographers!  We sidetracked past them all and followed footpaths over to Ramshaw Rocks, another craggy outcrop which runs along the side of the A53 Leek to Buxton road, it was great to be up on the rocks enjoying the view and not in one of the cars whizzing along!  The return to the ‘van took us along some more muddy footpaths, and we found a ford where we tried to clean Prince off, but it wasn’t deep enough so he remained muddy and happy!

Cold and misty the next morning, we drove into Leek and had a walk into the town centre. There was a remembrance service at the war memorial, so we stopped there for a while and watched the end of the service. We had a walk around the town centre, and then found a park where we could let the dogs have a run, nice big park with not many people in it but loads of autumn leaves on the ground.  Prince loves these piles of leaves and goes frantic when you kick them around, so much so that he gets shouted at by Phil when he bites his feet by mistake! 

The next day was lovely and sunny, so we set out to do a 7 mile walk just north of Buxton which we found in Country Walking magazine.  We parked up by Errwood Reservoir, with the start of the walk taking us over the dam. The sun was out and it was a lovely crisp day so the views back over the dam across the water were stunning.  We then headed through woodland down the Goyt Valley following the side of the Fernilee Reservoir and then the course of the river Goyt. Eventually we crossed some fields and came onto a farm track where there was a bench perfect for lunch, nice and dry and with a good view.  The halfway point of the walk was the village of Taxal, with its small church which has a huge graveyard.  Some of the memorials include the Jodrell family (of Jodrell Bank, the space observatory) and a memorial to the “Yeoman of the Mouth” which was the grand title for King George II’s food taster!  We crossed the river and then headed back up the other side where Prince had loads of fun playing in a deep pile of leaves and then throwing himself in the freezing river!  We crossed over the smaller Fernilee dam (the two reservoirs are linked) and back to the car.  We were all very tired, but pleased that we had a flask of coffee in the car to finish off!  We then headed over to Buxton where we left the dogs in the car to go for a wander round. Buxton is a historic spa town which has been made famous by its water, the geothermal spring rises at a constant temperature of 28 degrees and can be obtained free from St Ann’s Well if you don’t fancy buying a bottle! The town has some fantastic architecture, and in places makes you feel like you are in a city.  We passed The Crescent, built in 1784 it is modelled on Bath’s Royal Crescent, then we continued up to the Opera House and the Pavillion Gardens and Arts Centre where we had a look around the galleries and went into the very impressive conservatory with a wide array of exotic plants.  We also passed the Devonshire Dome, formerly the great stables it is now home to the University of Derby, and must have been an incredibly grand home for the horses!  

Luckily it was lovely and sunny morning the next morning, so we set off on the 7.5 mile walk, first heading down the lane that took us to the Tissesworth Reservoir Visitor Centre.  We went inside and had a look at all the goodies for sale (we can’t afford to buy them!)   We then had a wander round the back of the centre and spotted what looked to be a film crew near the lake, it turned out to be the Countryfile crew filming a piece on Pine Martens.  We though it was great that we got to see the filming of one of the programmes that inspired our trip, and waited around a bit while they were doing their stuff and then asked Matt (Baker) if he would mind posing for a photo, which he happily obliged!  After that excitement we carried on along the edge of the lake following the lakeside path all the way to the huge dam.  We had a sit on the wall and ate our  lunch before picking up one of the footpaths across the fields which would take us back.  A bit of muddy trudging later and a number of styles for the dogs to negotiate we were soon back on the lane we started on.  Tired, and glad to be back at the ‘van, the kettle went on and we had coffee and cake to warm up.  

Burrs Country Park, Bury

We awoke to clear blue skies again, the only thing disturbing it was the fire we had noticed on Friday (which we thought was a bonfire), it turned out to be a nearby factory on fire, the blaze was still going and there were 3 fire engines in attendance!  Anyway, we hitched up the ‘van and drove to Burrs Country Park caravan site, just north of Bury.  We found a pitch which overlooked the railway line which ran by the back of the site.  The East Lancashire Railway operates on the track, and there were lots of steam enthusiasts lining the route, we got our lunch ready just in time to watch one of the many steam trains of the day trundle its way along the line, we waved at the passengers and got a load of waves in return!  We took the dogs for a walk in the park, Prince found a stick to play with, and on the way we passed a bunch of canoeists paddling up the river and dicing with the rapids. One of whom nearly drowned when his boat capsized, he got out alive though! 

Very wet and windy in the night meant a disturbed nights sleep.  When we did get up we discovered a disaster! On opening the under sink cupboard to get the dogs food out we found it was soaked, and everything in there (including all our leaflets collected on the trip) was sopping wet.  We spent the next hour hanging papers up to dry and cleaning out soggy dog biscuits from the recesses of the cupboard, yuk!   In the afternoon we made a trip into Bury, first stopping at Leisure Lakes to look for a chainring (can you believe - we had to give up on the one we ordered from Wheelbase, after phoning them 3 times they still hadn’t received it and never phoned back.), Leisure Lakes didn’t have any in stock either!  We moved the car had a walk around the shopping area, including Bury’s “world famous” market, which didn’t look particularly famous, or even very nice so we promptly left!  We drove back to the safety of the country park and went to check out the Brown Cow, the pub next to the site.  Quiet in there as it was a Monday and the landlord was a bit grumpy, but the place itself was nice enough and the nutty ale was great! 

Off to Lymm the next day.  It took around an hour to get there on some very busy motorways which had Linda cringing in the passenger seat (we don’t do motorways anymore!).  We parked up and set off on a walk along the canal, it was a 6 mile route in the end that took in most of the village.  First we went along the canal which went under the M6, funny to see the contrast of the slow moving world of the canal with the motorway traffic rushing past a few feet above! We then joined an old railway line which is now a cycleway and took us back towards the village, giving us a good view of the Thelwall viaduct, carrying all that M6 traffic hundreds of feet in the air over the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey. Once back in the village of Lymm we had a little wander round the centre, it is a really nice village with a number of shops and pubs and reminded us of some of the Cotswold or Peak District villages, surprising given it’s close proximity to Manchester and Warrington.  We got some butties and sat on a bench by the weir in the centre of the village before walking up to the Lymm Dam, the dam was built in 1824 and carries the A56 over the top, the dam created a large lake which we walked along surrounded by woodland which looked lovely in the autumn sun. The dogs spotted a few grey squirrels on the way around, which kept them busy, and before we left the lake we dunked Prince in as he was filthy!  We walked back past some huge houses in the more exclusive area and then via the Ridgeway Grundy Park, another area of nice green space.  Once we got back we met up with Phil’s Uncle David who lives in the area, we went in and had a brew and chatted about our trip and experiences.  It was great to see David looking so well (during the year he had been diagnosed with brain cancer, and is undergoing treatment), and we will see him again soon when we get back home.  The drive back was busy, but when we spotted a bike shop as we passed through a town Phil ran in to see if they had a chainring, but no joy again! No mountainbiking for nearly a month now, and not looking promising.

Next day we drove up the road to a car park near Ramsbottom, we then set off on our 6 mile hike over Holcolme Moor.  First we headed up the steep hill to the Peel Monument, a huge memorial tower built in 1852 to commemorate Sir Robert Peel.  When Peel was Home Secretary he was instrumental in creating the modern concept of the police force, leading to officers being known as “Bobbies”, he later served as Prime Minister between 1834 and 1835.  While we were at the monument a couple of “Bobbies” came up the track on horseback, the horses were still in training but the day before they were out on the beat in central Manchester!  Linda got to pat both of the horses before Phil dragged her away to let them get on with their day!  We carried on across the moor to the top of Bull Hill, where we had fantastic panoramic views with Manchester to our South and Blackburn to the North, it was a lovely clear day, if a little cold, so we could see for miles.  Dropping down the hill again we were trudging across the moor, and the sun was gradually melting the ice (which Prince was enjoying playing with), eventually Linda managed to sink both feet into a peat bog and ended up with black balls of peat at the ends of her legs!  Shortly after we had reached a main track and passed a farm we stopped on a grass bank to sit and eat our lunch, we had great views over the village of Edgworth and its 2 nearby reservoirs.  We then continued our walk back over the hill and returned to the monument with a quick stop at a bench, placed on the hill to commemorate the millennium, by now Prince was so dirty he was half black and half white and after failing to find anywhere to clean him off we tromped back to the car and headed home. 

As predicted by the forecast we awoke to heavy rain this morning.  We stayed in the ‘van most of the morning, except for Linda taking the dogs out for a walk. Eventually the rain stopped so we decided to get the awning down while the going was good.  This turned out to be a hysterical exercise, with the various bits of the awning flapping around in the wind while one of us was trying to hold on, and the other running about picking up the bits that had blown off!  Eventually and very skilfully (of course) we manhandled it into its bag and shoved it in the car.   As the rain had stopped and it was now just very windy we decided we should venture out somewhere.  Ian had recommended

some villages to us a few days before which were only around 20 miles away from us, so we thought as we had time we would pop over there for a look.  The 3 villages of Diggle, Delph and Dolcross are all situated just outside the North border of the Peak District National Park, and after a bit of motorway only took us around half an hour to get to.  We arrived in Delph first, which is a lovely little place built within a valley with lots of steep streets leading to its centre, it was in complete contrast to the very busy Bury we had just come from and nice to have a wander through.  The three villages are no more than a mile apart, but are separated by some huge peaks, so we drove over to Diggle next where we discovered not very much at all!  We had a walk up the village centre (we know it was, as sat nav told us so), but couldn’t see much apart from the housing estates, so eventually Linda asked a local where the village centre was, her response was “I’ve never heard it called that before!! I guess it’s just the middle bit down there?!”.  We walked back to the car and drove on!  Dolcross is a similarly tiny place, and to give each it’s due they are very picturesque villages, but in the wind and rain we decided to cut our losses and head home!  To top off the day, as we were trying to navigate through Bury’s complicated multi-lane road systems Phil decided to stop at a green light (as the traffic on the right was stopped) this confused everyone else on the road and it wasn’t until a massive crane-on-the-move honked at us that Phil realised the green light applied to us and we drove on in a red-faced fashion! 

Windermere and Blackpool

On arrival at the Bowness-on-Windermere Caravan Club site we joined a long queue to get on the site.  Once we got down the queue we got a nice welcome from the wardens given how busy they were, they even remembered we had post, we later found out that it was the busiest they had been all year with 23 outfits being booked in within 35 minutes..  We chose a pitch quickly as it was raining heavily and there were so many other new arrivals driving about.  We had to ask the warden for some breeze blocks to weigh the awning down as the rock pegs couldn’t break through the concrete base. We knew we were the troublesome ones when that evening we blew the electricity bollard!

The next day we got chatting to our next door neighbours who are from the Isle of Man, they are here until Friday and then move to the site at Blackpool, same as us!  Phil lent them some rock pegs to help get the awning up, and they were very inspired by the sound of our trip, and are hoping to do the same thing!  Later on we set off on a 6 mile walk from the site which took us down to the little cable ferry which goes across Windermere.  Pedestrians only cost 50p so we paid up and sailed across the lake where we followed the signposts to Hill House, the home of Beatrix Potter which is now in the ownership of the National Trust.  Unfortunately the house was closed as of 31 Oct (yesterday!), but the garden and shop were still open, so we took it in turns to go in and have a little look (not much to see!) We walked back to the ferry, with a stop at Far Sawrey village hall to eat our lunch and a detour round a little National Trust nature reserve with some beautiful colours in the autumn trees. Back on the ferry no-one came for our money so we had a free trip! On the way across we had a great air display from a couple of low flying jets and 3 apache helicopters that were so low it felt like we could reach out and touch them! We walked through the marina on the way back to the site, stopping to admire a large yacht on a trailer on the way, we had to ask a man who was painting his boat how they got them on the trailer (out of interest), and he looked perplexed and said that the trailer goes into the water – of course!  Back at the ‘van we had a brew and a relax, then set out on another walk through Bowness and on to Windermere (for no other reason than to post a letter, which we did in Bowness), when we got the 2 miles to Windermere it started raining, so we turned back and got absolutely soaked by the time we got back to the ‘van! 

Linda’s birthday today! Phil got up and prepared the birthday cake and bubbly which has now become a tradition for us, Linda then proceeded to frantically open cards and presents while also receiving text messages and calls from family and friends (thank you everyone!).  Then it was time to brave the weather and we set off in the rain to Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House.  Only a short distance from where we were staying, it was built in 1900 and enjoys brilliant views over Windermere.  It is a large house that was built for the Holt family, a Manchester family who owned a brewery and decided they would like a country retreat in the Lake District (who wouldn’t?).  During the war it was used as a hospital, and subsequently became a girls boarding school before eventually ending up in the hands of the Lakeland Trust, a local charity, who restored the property to its former glory with the aid of grant funding. It is a fascinating place and we spent a lot of time there wandering from room to room admiring all the hand made features of each room which are so typical of the Arts and Crafts movement.  Most impressive was the main hall, a huge living space which was ahead of its time given its open plan nature.  Unusually the Trust allow you to wander around the house at will, with none of the roped off areas that are prominent in National Trust properties, this gave it a lovely relaxed feel, and meant we happily spent a bit more time in there.  We looked around the shop (where Phil was accosted by a lady who swore the security camera was interfering with her pacemaker!) and enjoyed a lemonade in the café.  That evening we got jacketed and brolleyed up and walked into Bowness where we had a lovely meal in the Italian restaurant Villa Positina, and finished off with a few drinks in the local pubs.

We awoke to a much better day, even if we did have slight hangovers.  We set off for Elterwater where we had downloaded a walk from Country Walking magazine. It turned out to be the perfect day for it, and the 6 mile route took us past Elterwater itself, with the path being so muddy Prince ended up filthy right from the off!  We passed Skelwith Force, a small waterfall which after all the rain we have had was turned into a torrent. At the village of Skelwith Bridge we stopped at a picnic table made of the green slate which is famous of the area and had our lunch.  The walk then took us through some lovely autumn woodland and past another waterfall, this one much bigger and just as much of a torrent. Continuing round through the village of Little Langdale we crossed some really muddy fields (which Prince loved) before reaching the huge quarry back at Elterwater where all the slate comes from.  Prince got dunked in the river before he was allowed back in the car, so he was wet, but clean as a whistle!  After a brief stop at the ‘van to feed the dogs we excitedly set off to Dave and Lorna’s house in Ambleside. This is the couple that we met in the Hebrides, and we said we would meet up again when we came to the Lakes.  They live in a lovely house on the hill which Dave built himself. We sat in the front room chatting about life on the road and catching up, then had a Chinese takeaway that was delicious but so big there was loads left over (Chinese for breakfast!).  We continued to chat for hours, the time just whizzed by and it was midnight by the time we left which is way past our bedtime! It was lovely to see them again and we hope to meet up again when our trip is sadly over.

It turned out to be an awful day the next day, and rained all day without stopping.  Phil refused to go out as it was so wet and eventually Linda got bored and had to go out, she went into town to do a bit of shopping and came back with some new clothes!  Phil did take the dogs round the block, but that was the only time he left the ‘van!

Move day today! We arrived at the Blackpool site to a nice welcome and after pulling away from reception we spotted our neighbours from the last site so we stopped and said hi on the way past.  Once we were settled in we set off in Tonks to go and see the Blackpool Illuminations. We timed it just right, as it was early enough to avoid the crowds so we didn’t end up stuck in traffic. The lights were better than we had imagined (i.e. even more tacky!) and they even had trams which were covered in lights, we swapped drivers for the return trip so that we both got a look! 

The next day we went to St Annes and set off for a walk on the beach, sad to realise that this would be our last visit to the beach on this trip.  Prince was really happy though, and got himself filthy on the mud flats before we cleaned him off by getting him to run around in the sea water.  We had a wander round the town of St Annes, which seems much nicer than Blackpool, with wide pavements and fewer amusement arcades.  It was a nice day, so when we stumbled across Wetherspoons we had to have a sit outside for a pint (the real ale festival is on y’know!).  On the way back to the car we though about getting an Indian and having an early tea, but unfortunately the one our neighbours recommended to us was shut.  Instead, Linda went into Marks and Sparks and bought one of their special ready made jobbies which turned out to be a really nice curry.

Englethwaite Hall and Carlisle

The drive to the Caravan Club’s Englethwaite Hall site at Cotehill was an easy one, and we had our first drive on a motorway for months!  On arrival the wardens weren’t about, so we just found ourselves a pitch and set up, Phil was glad to have tarmac again and so went out on the unicycle for an hour.  When we booked in the warden told us a bit about Englethwaite Hall, which was built in 1865 by Joseph Robinson, a local gypsum quarry owner. It was a huge grand hall which was subsequently used in the war as a hospital and then became an orphanage before falling into disrepair.  By the time the Club bought the site it was is such a state it was demolished as a condition of the sale from the Local Authority. The pitches are on the site of the hall and gardens which make it a lovely setting. 

The next day we set off for Carlisle.  First stop was a bike shop for a chainring, no joy of course, so over the road to another, again no joy… We drove through the city and parked next to the castle before walking down the road for another attempt in a very large bike shop, none of the chainrings we needed in stock! This is crazy!  Ahh well, off for a walk through the city centre which was busy with shoppers and lots of people in tracksuits/leisure wear most of them with the trousers tucked into their socks!  We walked through the city centre to Carlisle castle, owned by English Heritage and very dog friendly, as the receptionist told us.  We

 went up into the gatehouse of the castle, the wardens accommodation, and as well as a grand hall and a garderobe we discovered a kitchen with a table, so we sat on the bench and set up our picnic while the other visitors wandered in around us!  We then went on to explore the rest of the 900 year old castle including the keep with its huge Great Hall and the dungeons, where prisoners were held in terrible conditions, so much so that one of the stones in the wall was licked smooth by the inmates using it to try and get condensation off the wall to drink.  We also went in the castles military museum, which has hundreds of exhibits over 300 years of military action, right up to modern day.  Back at the car we dropped the dogs off and went to the Tullie House art gallery, where we had tea and hot chocolate in the café! 

Walk day the next day. The 10.5 mile walk from the site was mainly on footpaths, as recommended to us by

Maggie, the site warden.  Just down the road from the site the road goes over a railway bridge, Phil waved at a freight train driver, luckily he waved back and made Phil’s day, saddo!  The path then followed the river Eden towards Wetheral, and after some very muddy sections we came to some National Trust woodlands which are home to Constantine’s Cells, a fascinating set of 3 caves which were carved out of the sandstone by Constantine, a younger son of a Scottish monarch. They were later used by Monks as a place of refuge, and a grain store. The caves even have an ornate doorway and window frames.  A little further on we could see the grounds of Corby Castle on the other side of the river, the most impressive feature was the cascades, an ornamental waterfall which comes down to join the river Eden from the castle gardens, passing through gargoyles mouths and down water staircases on the way. We walked through the small, wealthy looking village of Wetherall and on to the railway station where we joined the footpath which took us over Wetherall Viaduct, a railway bridge with 5 semi-circular arches which was built in 1834.  This took us into the village of Corby where we got a closer look at the castle which is privately owned by an Irish member of the House
of Lords, we also came across the lovely smelling Cumberland Brewery!  Back over at Wetherall, we stopped at a café and sat outside enjoying tea and cake before carrying on our round trip.  Just outside the village we came across Wetheral Priory Gatehouse, it is the only remaining structure of the priory, built in the middle ages and is now looked after by English Heritage.  We went inside and up the narrow, dark spiral staircase to emerge in a large hall, thought to be used as a residence by one of the Monks or by visitors to the Priory.  The remainder of the walk took us

through more muddy fields, including one with a load of nosey Llamas in it!  Smudge managed to loose her hand knitted snood on the way somewhere (spoiled, she is), but we carried on rather than going back to hunt for it. On through the village of Cotehill and back to the ‘van, after dunking the muddy Prince in a pool to clean him off! 

It was a wet day the next day. We eventually set out to Talkin Tarn Country Park, a small lake which has a

 well used path running around it, we set off on the short walk, meeting loads of people on the way.  Stopped at a bench and sat to have our lunch before carrying on round. Got annoyed by a man who insisted on stopping to take photos of everything, which meant we were finding it impossible to overtake him!  Eventually got past and back to the car.  We popped into the medieval market town of Brampton where we parked in the centre and had a walk around the town including purchases from the butchers and charity bookshop. 

Rain and wind in the night meant a disturbed sleep. We were up relatively early and had breakfast before setting off for Keswick at 10:00.  We met up with our friends Tracy and Ian in the car park at the Keswick pencil museum, they were here on holiday and luckily we timed it right to meet up. When we finally managed to prize Tracy away from the doors of the museum we went for a wander round the town.  First stop was the banks of Derwent water where Prince showed off his splashing and swimming talents.  Then back into town where we were easily seduced by a pub sign which said that they welcomed dogs, so in we went, people kept arriving with their pets and in the end I swear there were more dogs in there than people.  We ended up staying a while and enjoyed a couple of drinks and some lunch, while outside it hammered with rain.  When we left the rain had stopped, so we timed it perfectly, we had to move the car into the same car park as Tracy and Ian as our ticket had expired, so we left the dogs in the car where they were happy to have a lie down.  Back in the town Phil tried 2 more bike shops for chainrings, to no avail so we had an ice cream each for pudding before heading over to Tracy and Ian’s motorhome for a brew (the joys of having your accommodation with you).  By now it was time for us to say our goodbyes and head back to our ‘van

The next day we set out in Tonks for a walk in the Pennines.  We parked in the village of Croglin, a short distance from the site, where we sat in the car and had our lunch as it was raining!  The rain stopped, and we set off up the hill, hoping to go up to the peak at Blotting Raise.  Once we had covered about a mile up the

 track we reached a sign that said “No Dogs!” and we couldn’t go any further up the hill.  Disappointed, we went a bit further along another footpath before retracing our steps to Tonks. By now we are so used to the number of paths and access rights in Scotland, we forgot how restrictive the England footpath network is.  Back at the ‘van we didn’t go in, but instead set off on a walk around the grounds of the campsite, first to the former entrance to Englethwaite Hall, then into the woods where the owner of the hall had a gypsum mine.  We followed the course of the old railway line which took us to 2 large pools which are where the old quarries were, and Prince went in for a swim! After our tally for the day had reached 6 miles we went back to the ‘van for a brew, and Phil went out on his unicycle where he spent an hour learning how to get on the thing without having to hold on to a fence, getting a clap from the warden when he achieved it!  We later learned that Phil was the talk of the site, with everyone watching his antics from the comfort of their ‘vans!