Well its finally time to set off on our little 2 week adventure to Forte William in Scotland and make a couple of stops on the way.
We really didn't want to drive straight there in one go for a few reasons, I didn't want to push Percy too hard as this was our first trip out in him and I wasn't overly confident he could make it at all.
We were taking our dog Reggie (springer spaniel) with us and to be honest I was dreading this more than anything! he is a crazy dog, never runs out of energy, never settles down and is always looking for trouble so the thought of him sat in the back constantly wanting attention was enough to convince me that we needed to make a few overnight stops on the way, and we realised when planning our route that we would be passing through some lovely parts of the country and it would be a shame to just pass them by, so we planned two stops on our way North, the first being in the Peak District and the second in the Lake district.
With all the planning done and sites booked the night before, it was time to load up Percy with everything we thought we might need, having not done this before we probably packed more than needed but lesson learnt and now we know that you really don't need all that
much "stuff".
The cupboard`s were full of food, the bathroom full of toiletries, the wardrobe was full of clothes and shoes and the over-cab locker was full of bedding, what more do you need?!
Were off!
So it was actually time to jump in Percy and begin our adventure, we said our goodbyes to the kids (they're not really kids anymore) strapped in Reggie, did some final checks to make sure we had everything and set off.
It was a strange feeling of excitement, sadness and fear, excited to actually be going on an adventure that has been in the back of my mind for many years, sad because we were leaving the kids behind and fear mainly because we were entering the unknown in an old(ish) campervan that we`ve only had a matter of weeks.
We had a four hour drive ahead of us to the Peak District, not including a few stops on the way to let Reggie stretch his legs and do his business and I wanted to keep Percy topped up with petrol so that made for quite a pleasant, uneventful drive and we soon started to relax and get in the holiday spirit, I think I may have even converted the wife to BBC radio 4.
Before we knew it we had completed the A34 and the M1 and were minutes away from the campsite, we were booked in at a campsite called Laneside Caravan Park for three days and this turned out to be a really nice place.
We pulled up to reception where we had to wait outside in the campervan for a member of staff to take our details and show us to our pitch, this wasn't normal practice but because of the Corona campsites all have different rules they must abide by.
Our pitch was pretty nice, we had no one either side of us and there was plenty of grass for Reggie to chase his ball on, so we were off to a good start.
We also have a nice drive-away awning that simply attaches to the side of the campervan to provide an extra room so we decided to put this on, this was however our first time at attempting this and although it should be simple (it`s just a few pegs and poles after all) we soon found out that its probably going to take some practice before we ever attempt
it again.
After getting the awning attached to the side of Percy to the best of our ability, and before we killed each other! we decided to have a quick coffee before going for a little explore around the campsite, so while the kettle was on I plugged in the electric hook-up and filled the tank with water, I`ve seen that a lot of people don't fill up with water until they get to their destination and this makes sense, there would have been no point adding the extra weight which would in turn cause Percy to burn through extra petrol and move a lot slower.
Luckily the weather was on our side, it was August but wasn't too hot so we were able to take a nice stroll around the campsite, I would say the site was pretty much full to capacity but it didn't seem overcrowded, all of the campervans, caravans, motorhomes and tents were well separated and had plenty of room.
The reception and shop looked well stocked although we never had a need to go in and the toilets/showers etc. were all very clean.
After we cooked our first meal of pasta in the campervan and had a nice relaxing couple of hours rest we decided to go for a walk outside the campsite to see what was around.
The Village Of Hope is a five minute walk from the campsite and is well worth a visit, although not very big it has some great shops, cafes and restaurant's to keep you entertained for an hour or two and If you keep walking from Hope for roughly thirty minutes you will come to another village, the village of Castleton, again this is a beautiful little place that has a lot to offer, some amazing pubs, restaurant's and cafes and is famous for its Peak Cavern where a whole community lived for more than 400 years.
The Village Of Hope (above)
The Village Of Castleton (above)
On our last night in the Peak District we settled down after a long day of walking and exploring to prepare ourselves for the next leg of our journey North, but before the night was over we had the mother of all storms coming our way! it must have been about 8pm when the wind and rain finally arrived and it meant business, there were branches flying everywhere and the rain was beating down on the campervan but somehow our awning was fine, granted it was a bit flappy here and there but it was actually still attached to Percy!
We settled down for the night all cosy in a nice warn bed, watching a movie on the tablet and eating some snacks all whilst the van was being blown in every direction possible but we felt pretty lucky, you couldn't help feeling sorry for those that were staying in tents, it must have been so noisy in a tent and probably quite worrying I should think.
The next morning we woke up and the first thing I did was draw back to curtains to check on the awning........It was still there! but then I took a look over at some of the tents and they were a mess, some were ripped, some had pretty much collapsed and some were being taken down and packed away.
while I took Reggie out for his morning stroll I got talking to a couple of ladies that were staying in tents and they got so scared in the night that they abandoned their tents and slept in their cars, to be honest I think we would have done exactly the same in that situation.
Well that's our short stay in the Peak District over, overall we were very happy, happy with the campsite, happy with the surrounding area and very happy with Percy, although he isn't the biggest campervan he was always a pleasure to get back into after a day out and enabled us to everything we needed.
The big question was who is going to empty the toilet before we leave?!?!?