A week touring in a motor home!
| Recommended days | 7 |
| Budget | ££ |
| Difficulty | Medium |
This break we thought we’d do something different so we decided on a Northumberland road trip by motorhome. Well, I say Northumberland road trip but it was actually a good chunk of NE England. I had in vision romantic cups of tea whilst parked overlooking castle ruins or empty beaches. I am a bit of a naive fool really.
The Motorhome
Once the handover at Freedhome was complete we swapped my car keys for the motor home keys, set the sat nav and headed off. I haven’t driven a manual gearbox for a while so that took a bit of getting used too, especially as the Fiat box is far more agricultural than most modern vehicles.
The first thing we noticed was the noise – English roads are of such poor quality that until we reached the motorway our progress was measured by a series of rattles, clanks and bangs. Once we got on the motorway the noise stabilised to a noisy van, you could talk to each other but the background noise was intrusive.
Sizergh Castle
Our first location to visit did not go well. We went to Sizergh, a NT property we’ve been wanting to see for ages. The car park was full (and the spaces were only a car deep anyway) and the overflow carpark was a field, with no matting down for traction.
Naive urbanite that I am, we drove in and tried to park but the front wheels got stuck. We managed to reverse out after a while but then got stuck again as we headed out – luckily some very kind people helped rock the vehicle forward until we reached tarmac. So today I learned that a heavy, 2WD vehicle should not be driven on wet grass!
Barnards Castle
Giving up on the planned visit to Sizergh we headed towards our first night stop at Barnard Castle. After negotiating both a cycle race and a group of steam engines heading to a nearby rally (I was very close to just going home by this point!) we got to the site and parked up.
Deep breath to relax …… We had a coffee and unpacked. There was a surprising amount of storage space and we even managed to put away everything Deb had bought in her 9 bags of ‘essentials ‘!
The place was almost silent, the distant sound of kids playing but otherwise nothing. 13 miles to the closest Starbucks so definite wild country! I was bored already, nothing within 2 miles and no wifi!
The site staff were extremely helpful and gave us instructions for walking into the town. It was like some of the D&D adventures we’ve done, follow the path 600m into the woods, go down the steep slope and cross the troll bridge, don’t turn left because there be ogres etc.
We survived the trek though and got into town, beautiful views of the castle and bridge as we walked up the hill. It was somewhat less lively than we expected but we got a table at an Indian and had a superb and almost fat free meal. The walk back was most welcome!
We managed to get home before dark otherwise it would have been a very interesting trip through the haunted forest of doom! Deb decided to make the bed up, working out what needed to be moved and how to organise it so we could lower the bed from the roof and then just raise it in the morning without having to go through the hassle of making it each time.
Although the vehicle sleeps 6 they would have to be damned good friends to share such a small space with no privacy! Even 2 adults and 2 kids would be cosy. The roof bed was surprisingly comfortable and I was also a lot warmer than expected. It was interesting to be woken to birdsong rather than an alarm clock.
We didn’t use the shower in the van as the site ones were better and only a 2 minute walk and after that we had a chilled breakfast as we weren’t intending to drive anywhere today. The forecast was cloudy and cold so I donned jeans and a fleece and we headed off for the walk through the woods, in daylight this time.
After about 30 minutes the sun came out so we arrived in the town sticky and sweaty. We did manage to climb down to the river bank so we could view the bridge and castle from that angle as it is quite a spectacular setting.
We spent quite a while wandering around the castle, it is in three distinct wards and there is a lot still left although it was used as a quarry for the building of Raby Castle nearby. It was in such a state of disrepair Cromwell didn’t even bother to slight it! The sensory garden was excellent, the curry plant was incredibly pungent!
Bowes Museum
From the castle we headed out for lunch and found a cafe that had space so sat down for a well earned sandwich and cuppa. We had intended to walk to Egglestone Abbey but as that was a nine mile round trip we changed our minds and went to Bowes Museum instead.
The museum is built in the style of a French chateau and was created to house the collection of John Bowes and his wife. The collection covered paintings, silverware, clothing and furniture from the 15th century to the present day. The star of the collection was an 18th century silver automaton of a swan that still works and actually looks impressive, especially considering it runs by clockwork.
The numbers of artifacts was huge but after 3 hours we had brain overload so went into the cafe there for scones and tea. Despite the walking I will probably look like a space hopper with feet by the end of this trip!
On the way back we went to a charity book sale that Sofia would have loved so bought a bag of books each and then realised we had a 45 minute walk in the sun to get back. The shade of the woods suddenly became more appealing! We eventually arrived back having walked 14km and made yet another very welcome cuppa before Deb started sorting dinner and I sorted the days photos.
Warkworth Castle
On the third day of our Northumberland road trip we were due to change campsites, heading into Northumbria. We left Barnard Castle around 10AM – no rush as we are on holiday – and took a scenic route until we joined the A1. We headed north and after passing Newcastle we got bored of the 10mph tailback that presumably went to Scotland (why is the main road on the east coast between England and Scotland not a dual carriageway or motorway?!) and decided to follow the coast road.
This was beautifully scenic as by then the sun had come out too and eventually we could see the sea, with no traffic in front of us as it was all behind us, getting stressed at the poor visibility on the road! We pulled into Warkworth castle and were actually able to park so we made ourselves lunch before heading off to explore, the first time the benefit of the motorhome was apparent.
Warkworth Castle is superb – a huge keep in excellent condition and of a very unusual design with a curtain wall and plenty of other partly surviving buildings. The weather was great too, blue sky, so we spent a couple of hours ambling around before going back to the van and following the coast road to our next site.
Dunstanburgh Castle
Dunstan Hill is near Dunstanburgh Castle (by a happy fluke of chance!) and we parked up before making a cuppa and planning the rest of the day. The site seemed to have less space than the previous one, I’m not sure I’d like to be the people in the tent opposite us when I reverse out tomorrow!
Our plans for the evening have been whittled down to …. pub. Simple, English fun. We also decided to try one of the other beds tonight rather than the roof one – having to climb down a step ladder at 2AM for a nocturnal wee is not the best of ideas!
The pub was a decent walk away but it helped the meal settle on the way back and we had a chilled evening watching a couple of films. I find the quiet of these sites difficult to get used to, it really is totally silent a lot of the time.
The other bed option was a good idea – a lot quieter and easier to get out of. Despite that I woke up before 6, which was actually quite lucky. I went to the loo and the sky was such a gorgeous colour I decided to walk to the coast to get some sunrise shots. I took the map with me (which was pointless as I didn’t take my glasses so couldn’t read it!) and headed through the woods down to the beach.
It was about a 30 minute walk to the beach and about another 20 to the castle. The sky was changing colour from reds to orange to yellow and the sea was utterly calm, it really is the best time of the day.
There was a bird fishing on the beach, possibly a heron but for all I know it was an emu. It did look majestic in the sunrise though. After taking plenty of pictures I then headed back to the van. Deb was up and preparing breakfast so my timing was impeccable!
After a leisurely meal we decided to walk back to the castle. The weather was a bit more dull but we spent about 4 hours walking to the castle, around the interior and then back to the site via a coffee shop in the nearby village. That’s probably it for today as you can overdo the walking lark! We had another chilled evening watching films and sorting photos.
We both slept pretty well again, waking after 7 which is an amazing lie in! It was a very hazy sunrise so the cloud would probably have looked nice for photos earlier but you can’t do everything. Delightful porridge (not!) for breakfast just to drain any vestige of happiness.
The sky started to clear so we decided to walk to the beach again and then along the sand rather than heading for the castle. The beach was a beautiful crescent with very gentle waves, seems almost embarrassed to break on the shoreline. Deb had a paddle and we just walked and absorbed the sounds for a while before heading back to pack up.
Clitheroe Castle
Our next stop was in Lancashire and took nearly 5 hours to reach but we did see a steam train that was running parallel with the road in Yorkshire and 2 RAF Typhoons circling then landing at an airfield near the road. Sadly we also saw a plague of cyclists that slowed even my already stately progress down even further. The site was great though, helpful and friendly staff again and we set up in the sunshine for Deb to prepare dinner whilst I sorted work stuff.
We were woken to the sound of rain and sat inside whilst it poured for the next few hours until it started clearing around lunchtime. We walked into Clitherhoe and saw the castle and museum, even indulging in some fudge cake. We spent the evening walking along the Ribble River and then went to the pub for a while.
We returned the behemoth the following day and then had a 6 hour drive home due to more road ‘works’ …..
All in all a very different holiday to normal. The impracticalities of the vehicle meant that in some ways it was a lot more relaxing than usual – we just parked up for 2 days and walked to places from the site. There is so much to see on any Northumberland road trip that we could easily do it several times and visit different places each time. If I did it again I would want a smaller motorhome but it was certainly an ‘experience’.
2017
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