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Sunday 24 January 2016

November 'van sick' outing to Leeds Castleton and Newark.

November 2015

A Dentist's car park in Roundhay, Leeds

Why 'van - sick' ?........other people get homesick and we get sick of not being in the van!
Well it's an unlikely spot for an overnight stay but we went to a friend's retirement party and Mike kindly asked the dentist next door if we could park there overnight- it was super! However,  the sat nav decided it didn't want to go where we'd set it so we called at a garage to ask where to go then ended up in a dead end in Roundhay park- we had to be rescued by Janet who came to find us. A lovely party, meeting people we haven't seen in a long time from National Union of Teachers days, great veggie curries and a wonderful buffet, then bacon sandwiches in the morning, made it a good time. 

Brownhills at Newark

Here again to have the van serviced- engine and habitation. The new showers were open this time so we had a swim and a spell in the hot tub after looking round the vans for sale. There was nothing to tempt us. We walked over the road to the Roman Way pub but the food was mediocre and I sent mine back as the salmon wellington wasn't hot inside....grim. The beer was good though.







Brownhills night 2

We went into Newark, given a lift by the Brownhills staff and had a wander round but it was very cold so we didn't stay very long. We had a chat to the technicians about the temperamental sat nav. They'd tried to fix it but couldn't. They were going to have a talk to Fiat and see what could be done.
We had a new mattress fitted under warranty, a new mirror in the bathroom and a new bracket fitted to hold the television. We'd been worried about it falling off and all the new vans had these brackets fitted. I feel a whole lot happier now and the service from the staff here was good.

Castleton Caravan Club site

Van sick- what we get when we haven't been in the van for a while. So that's why we went to Castleton- we just wanted to be in the van for a while. The weather forecast was poor but when we are all snug in the van, it doesn't seem to matter. Pete's sciatica and the pain it causes, means he can't walk far but he managed to walk into Castleton for a drink.




Castleton 2
There was heavy rain  in the night so we spent a morning happily pottering about in the van and having a good clean.  We went to the Nags Head for an evening meal but I wasn't really impressed with the cauliflower and lentil curry...it was unidentified veg mushed in a sauce.

Castleton  3
I went into Castleton to get some money as someone had left his wallet at home. We both walked along to Hope and went to the Old Hall for a sandwich lunch.

December  2015 York 

Fulford caravan site:



I booked this site which used to be a residential caravan  park. We had booked onto Rowntree Park  but the continual rain meant that we had a call to say the site was flooded. This is a nice little site with level pitches, two ladies loos and showers, but the wifi is almost non existent. The owner's parents, Bella and Terry, run it from a caravan and they were very helpful, parking us near the bungalow where they said we would have a good wifi signal...or not. As it was, we had a pitch that was wide but realised that it was meant for two vans if it was busy. We walked into York and it was about twenty minutes or there was a bus on Fulford Road going into town. We walked past an Aldi and an Iceland and some local shops. We had a drink in the Royal Oak then a meal in Wetherspoons- the five bean chili was good- then called in at the Fulford Arms halfway back. It's a lovely local pub with friendly customers and bar staff.



 Fulford 2
 We woke to find that the river had made it's way up the lane where you get in to the site. I was a bit worried as Phil and Karen were arriving later but Terry had checked the forecast and the depth of water and he was reassuring. He also told us we could walk out of the back gate across the field to Fulford Road.




Phil and Karen arrived and parked on the next pitch. We went into town via the back gate. We met up with Katie and Stewart, Lucille and Tom who had come in from the Park and Ride. They were staying at Beechwood Grange site. We had a drink with them in the Royal Oak then went to eat in Wetherspoons again after spending Pete's last beer vouchers in the Star.  We stopped off in the Fulford Arms where Pete and Phil played bar billiards.

Fulford 3

We woke to find the heating not working and an error code E212H on the display.....Phil came in and we spent ages trying to work out the problem. Pete changed the gas bottle and reset the unit and everything worked again- another lesson learnt and a warm van. Pete cooked bacon outside with Phil on the Cadac. We went again into the town and I cooked pork in leek and mushroom sauce for us all.



Fulford 4
The flood waters had receded a bit  so we could go out of the gate. We went into town for serious Christmas shopping and a visit to the Hop pub. Pete had his last pasty of the stay . We went to the Golden Fleece and Wetherspoons again for tea. Pete and me had been to the York Cocoa cafe for coffee and cake already!  

* SITE NOW CLOSED* 

Clumber Park  Caravan Club

Terry told us that the river was rising again and Bella said we could leave the van at the top of the site if we wanted to go into York today but we were heading for Clumber Park and didn't want to stay longer though we will use that site again as it's convenient and it would be a lovely walk along the river bank into town when it's not flooded. When we got to Clumber Park we arrive just before Tom and Emily who chose a pitch and we parked next to them. We met the wardens who used to be at Castleton.Phil came later then Karen and Sophie came in the car after school. We took Robbie the dog for a walk in the woods and he was very good, waiting for us at each junction in the path. There's no phone signal here at all and a very limited wifi signal. 

Clumber Park and meeting Santa



It rained heavily so we went in two cars down to Clumber Park visitor centre where Sophie and Sam went to see Santa, we saw reindeer , wrote letters to Santa , made reindeer food and had lunch in the tea rooms. It was a really nice visit despite the weather. Karen cooked beef in Yorkshire puddings for everyone and we ate in Tom and Emily's van. When the children were asleep, we had cheese and port in our van.....and the rain kept falling.















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