Lakes and Scotland

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It has been the coldest May that we can remember for many years and now we are heading off for the Lake District and Scotland and hoping that the weather is going to improve!

Our first overnight stop was at the Caravan Club site at Cirencester.  We have stopped here before. It is a lovely site with plenty of grass pitches, spotless loos and an easy walk or cycle into town. The site is planted with magnificent trees and it feels as if you are parked up in a garden.

The sun was shining when we arrived and it was getting warmer!

The Caravan Club site in Cirencester

Whilst in Cirencester we took the opportunity to meet up with our friends John and Jill Warwicker.  Lunch at the Green Dragon at Cockleford was most enjoyable and it was lovely to meet up again!

All the oak furniture in the pub was made by the famous Richard ‘Mousey’ Thompson and each table and chair had its own mouse motif carved into it.

(left)  Desnée, John and Jill outside The Green Dragon, Cockleford.

(above) spot the mouse on the oak chair leg.

After lunch we returned to Cirencester and ambled around the town. It has a lovely atmosphere, very scenic streets and interesting shops. Many of the buildings are in the lovely Cotswold stone.

Time to move north and follow our route up to Ambleside in Cumbria. After spending just over a week here we would be moving north again into Scotland and exploring some of the west coast before heading for Loch Lomond during the long bank holiday break. Then north again to Grantown on Spey before coming back down the eastern side of Scotland and into Northumbria.

Our southbound route will take us to Alnwick, Bakewell and Warwick before returning home.

We arrived in Ambleside to find a rather wet rugby field. We were the first to arrive for our Carthago Owners UK Gathering but during the afternoon other Carthagos started arriving and we had to leave the safety of the tarmac in the car park and take to the field. The rear wheel drive models were OK but the front wheel drive Fiats could not get any traction and quickly sunk into the ground. However, a young lad in a range rover offered to pull them out, which he did very professionally. After that we decided that Fiats had to stay on the tarmac and the Mercedes and Ivecos would have to use the grass.

It was a great weekend and good to meet up with friends old and new. The weather was not too bad in the end and everyone said that they had enjoyed themselves.

You can see a full account of the event on our sister website Carthago Owners UK.   Click on the link below which will take you directly to the appropriate page.  You will find a link there to bring you back to this page.

Welcome back if you have been to our Carthago Owners UK site:

 

From Ambleside we travelled a short distance to Keswick. We stayed at Castlerigg Hall campsite and it was wonderful. The best campsite we have found so far in our travels. The views across Derwent Water were amazing. The campsite pitches were well located and the office and on site shop had everything you might need.  There is an on site restaurant which had scrumptious food. It was so good we ate out there twice!   If you are in the area we cannot recommend this site highly enough!  Take care not to book Castlerigg Farm campsite—it is not the same at all!

Panorama view of just 8 of the 28 Carthagos which arrived for the weekend at Ambleside Rugby Club

(above) the view from our pitch (No:40 see below left) at Castlerigg Hall campsite

Whilst in Keswick, George had to get in a few walks. The first was to climb Blencathra  and the second was to climb Catbells.

Both peaks had spectacular views and as you can see, the weather was just gorgeous.

Keswick is a very good location if you fancy a few days in the Lake District.

(below left) view from top of Blencathra

(below right)  Blencathra seen from Catbells with Derwent Water and Keswick in the foreground. Castlerigg Hall campsite is just off the right hand side of the photo (see arrow).

Views around Keswick and Derwent Water