As we expected the lockdown measures were eased so in anticipation of this we had booked some Caravan and Motorhome club sites in the lakes. Our first stop was Coniston Park where we arrived on Sunday5th July , leaving on Friday 10th. This was a lovely wooded site situated about 500 metres from the lake shore. Coniston was about a 20 minute walk away where there were about 3 pubs that weren’t that busy. We walked south to a little pub in Torver and on one of the days we did a long walk up to Tarn Hows a manicured NT area that has always been one of my favourite uk locations. The Coniston Park site had introduced a number of measures to protect from the virus, the main one being the provision of armbands which you used when you went to the toilets. Outside the toilets/showers there were 5 hooks where you placed your armband before entering. Only 5 people were allowed in at a time so when all five hooks were full you had to wait until someone came out and took their band away. Great idea apart from the fact that most of us ageing campers are ‘memory challenged’ so consequently most who exited the toilets forgot to take there bands off the hook. So as our pitch faced the toilets it was entertaining to watch on numerous occasions a handful of men queuing up outside when there were 5 bands on the hooks but nobody inside the toilets!
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| Coniston Water from southern end. |
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| Lake Coniston |
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| Coniston Park Coppice site. |
Dockray
Meadow did not have this issue as it didn’t have a toilet/shower block so for
the first time in 33 yrs we had to use all of our onboard equipment , and this wasn’t
a problem. Again a beautiful area of the lakes but a bit remote with the
nearest pub about 4 miles away. We arrived here on Friday 10th and
left Sunday 12th.
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| Nearby Cogra Moss |
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| Dockray Meadow site. |
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Dockray Meadow .
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Our next
stop was the Caravan Club site at Borrowdale where we stayed until Thursday 16th.
An exceptionally beautiful area at the southern end of Lake Derwentwater. The
pub/hotel along with the bus stop was a 20 minute walk away. Again the site had
no toilet/shower block and again this wasn’t an issue. Although the weather for
this trip was dominated by dull overcast weather, on one day the sun shone and
as we walked along the river we discovered a few families swimming in the
river. On another day we took the bus down to Searoller and walked the full
length of the valley back along a gorgeous trail. On another day we walked up Cat
Bells , a tough walk with a fair amount of scrambling. We had two lovely
evenings in the Mary Mount hotel where the food was excellent. On one of these
visits we sat outside in the evening sun just gazing over the lake. Our last
full day was a bit showery so we got the bus to Keswick went for a nice pub
lunch and bought some reduced shoes and clothes. Another good trip.
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| All above of Borrowdale |
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| Looking down on lake Derwentwater |
