2. So where did we start?

January 2011 Burrs Country Park. Caravan Club Site , Bury, Lancs

  or to be absolutely correct , we arrived in December. We were supposed to be going to Berwick upon Tweed for the New Year but nine inches of snow there forced a change of plan and after scouring the net for somewhere that could take five vans/ caravans at short notice, we ended up driving along the cobbles to Burrs Country Park. There was still quite a bit of snow about there but the wardens had done a sterling job of snow shifting and by the time New Year's Eve arrived there were a lot of vans on the site. Fortunately the showers and loos were lovely and warm with lots of hot water, as we all got pretty muddy walking round the country park in the melting snow. Our friend's dogs had a great time. I was fascinated watching canoeists hurling themselves into the freezing waters of the river Irwell there but preferred to hurl myself into a comfy seat at the Brown Cow- the pub next to the site.( good pub grub and very welcoming).  We walked into Bury town centre (we could have caught the 476 bus which comes near to the park) It's about a mile and a half to the market and shops, market....and black pudding!!!!!!

One of the lovely things about the site is that the East Lancs railway passes the back of it. It's not noisy and it's great to see a beautiful engine steaming past though diesels run too. We just had to have a ride  on a steam train so we walked into Bury to catch the train through to Rawtenstall. We picked a Sunday to go which was a bit of a mistake because Rawtenstall was shut! The journey was really good though, chuffing along- especially when we realised there were no lights in our first class compartment and when we went through a tunnel it was in blackout! We decided to cut our losses and save the Rawtenstall exploration for another time so we got a diesel back to Ramsbottom- also shut- but somehow we managed to find a convenient place to wait for the next steam train back.  ( yes, it was a pub)

We had a good time- especially on New Year's Eve when we gathered in a caravan awning for a celebration barbecue- it wasn't too cold outside for the brave chefs. As 2010 came to a close, we raised our glasses to more travels in the New Year and to our good friends.


there's never too many sausages- or mugs of  mulled wine





okay- it got a bit cold...