Where's Bertie? He's sitting in a field at a Caravan Club certified (5-van) campsite outside of Milnthorpe, where he has paid for a 14-night stay at a cost of £8 per night. Electricity is available, but at £4 per night, we've opted against. Otherwise, the only facilties are a tap, drain and bins. (Exact location: 54.24777, -2.80235)
Where's Erica?: Erica is sitting right behind Bertie, but in her guise as a car, not a campervan.
Weather: Sunny intervals, but strong southerly wind.
This trip is something of a departure from our norm in two ways:
1) Heretofore the longest time that we have stayed in one place in Bertie (or in his predecessor Colin) was 7 nights. That was in Silves in Portugal when we went to a campsite for 1 night and ended up staying for 7. Otherwise, our stays are usually 1-3 nights.
2) We've brough Erica along for everyday transport. Aside from the fact that Lake District roads aren't built for relaxed driving of vehicles of Bertie's size, there are at least two roads we'll want to use on this trip that have 2m width restrictions, and whilst Bertie is slender for an A-class motorhome, he's still slightly wider than that.
We could have made the trip with just Erica, but, being so small, she's not a comfortable option for trips of more than 5-7 days. That left the options of only coming for a week (or doing two separate 1-week trips), or booking ourselves an AirBnB for a few days in the middle. Researching the costs, the answer was apparent: bringing both Bertie and Erica had more advantages, and was more cost effective, than any other option.
As for the location: it was the cheapest campsite I could find within a reasonable drive of the places we will want to go.
So, on Sunday morning, we both set out to drive north, but not at the same time and not using the same route. Mick took Erica and routed via Halifax to see his mum. I took Bertie via my sister's house. Our timings weren't too bad, with Mick arriving at our agreed layby (we thought we'd arrive at the campsite together, to make a joint decision as to where and how to park) fifteen minutes before me ...except it turned out, when I got there, that he wasn't in our agreed layby at all, but in a different layby on a different road* - an issue that was soon resolved.
The bonus of the strong southerly wind I mentioned, was apparent by the end of the journey, with Bertie having averaged 37.8mpg on the way up. It'd be nice if that wind could be equally strong but northerly when it comes to home time!
Bertie and Erica on tour together
(*With the wonders (or scariness) of modern technology, we'd both shared our Google Maps locations with each other, so at any time during the day either of us could see where the other was. It's a very handy feature.)
Where's Erica?: Erica is sitting right behind Bertie, but in her guise as a car, not a campervan.
Weather: Sunny intervals, but strong southerly wind.
This trip is something of a departure from our norm in two ways:
1) Heretofore the longest time that we have stayed in one place in Bertie (or in his predecessor Colin) was 7 nights. That was in Silves in Portugal when we went to a campsite for 1 night and ended up staying for 7. Otherwise, our stays are usually 1-3 nights.
2) We've brough Erica along for everyday transport. Aside from the fact that Lake District roads aren't built for relaxed driving of vehicles of Bertie's size, there are at least two roads we'll want to use on this trip that have 2m width restrictions, and whilst Bertie is slender for an A-class motorhome, he's still slightly wider than that.
We could have made the trip with just Erica, but, being so small, she's not a comfortable option for trips of more than 5-7 days. That left the options of only coming for a week (or doing two separate 1-week trips), or booking ourselves an AirBnB for a few days in the middle. Researching the costs, the answer was apparent: bringing both Bertie and Erica had more advantages, and was more cost effective, than any other option.
As for the location: it was the cheapest campsite I could find within a reasonable drive of the places we will want to go.
So, on Sunday morning, we both set out to drive north, but not at the same time and not using the same route. Mick took Erica and routed via Halifax to see his mum. I took Bertie via my sister's house. Our timings weren't too bad, with Mick arriving at our agreed layby (we thought we'd arrive at the campsite together, to make a joint decision as to where and how to park) fifteen minutes before me ...except it turned out, when I got there, that he wasn't in our agreed layby at all, but in a different layby on a different road* - an issue that was soon resolved.
The bonus of the strong southerly wind I mentioned, was apparent by the end of the journey, with Bertie having averaged 37.8mpg on the way up. It'd be nice if that wind could be equally strong but northerly when it comes to home time!
(*With the wonders (or scariness) of modern technology, we'd both shared our Google Maps locations with each other, so at any time during the day either of us could see where the other was. It's a very handy feature.)
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