On our way North after a week of touring, we stopped off at the CMC site at Barnard Castle. This is a nice tidy site and I look forward to returning.
Barnard Castle CMC Site Stopover
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Author Archives: Ian
Visiting Borough Bridge, Knaresborough and York
We visited the CCC campsite at Borough Bridge. This is a nice quiet site on the banks of the river Ure. It is prone to flooding so the electrical hooks ups are raised and there are two large signs informing you of the flood alert warning. There were no alerts when we were there.
Heavy rain did cause water to collect on the pitches and roads.
This is a nice site. Outside the site is quite industrial and it is near the A1M.
We visited Knaresborough, Mother Shipton’s Cave (the oldest tourist attraction in England) and York whilst we were here.
Scarborough CCC, the Cleveland Way and Robin Hood’s Bay
We parked up at the Scarborough CCC for a few days. This is a really nice site, with good bus links if you want to leave the campervan.
We walked along the cliffs of the Cleveland Way into Scarborough and took a trip to Robin Hood’s Bay. This is worth visiting.
We had some starry nights and Wendy was able to try out her new Solo Stove (on top of a table of course, off the grass).
The Scalby Manor local pub/restaurant next to the campsite was good too.
MiRiDer Trips to Castle Semple Loch and Camplaw Dam
The MiRiders have become part of our campervan kit and when we are not touring we are out and about in the MiRiders for some exercise. This video captures a trip to Castle Semple Loch through the countryside along the cycle track, and then cycling the Glennifer Braes to capture some drone footage of the Caplaw Dam.
Enjoying Sunrises and the Milky Way at Garlieston
We parked up on the edge of the sea at Garlieston Bay. It’s really nice here and we’ve enjoyed walking along the beach, around the harbour and watching a Heron and Cormorant. We’ve enjoyed spectacular sunrises and saw some of the Milky Way in this dark sky area. There is one pub/restaurant at the Harbour Inn and one cafe at the Hive cafe. Both are good and the people are friendly. Storm Babet created high winds overnight and since Wendy never slept a wink we decided to head home a couple of days early. We plan on returning.
Secure Storage for MiRiders
We need somewhere secure at home to store our MiRiders when we do not have them in the campervan, so we bought a metal Asgard secure storage “shed” – but I want to call it the bike garage. The Asgard unit is not inexpensive, however the people are helpful and the unit is high quality and easy to build. I am delighted with it.
Van Upgrade: Caddy Maxi Roofbars
It’s a wee change from the Ducato in this video as we are upgrading Duncan’s Caddy Maxi, fitting roofbars so he can carry his bike on the roof, along with a single roof box and perhaps a tube to store his fishing rods.
When we converted the van we tried to be careful to fit a smaller solar panel to allow space for the roofbars and bike carrier, so fingers crossed it all fits. We bought the roof bars from DST Automotive, this version is called Can Auto Turtle.
Tour: Milton of Fonab, Pitlochry
We had a short trip to the Milton of Fonab Campsite at Pitlochry, on the river Tummel. This is a lovely site with about a 25 minute walk from the site into Pitlochry over the suspension bridge. There’s stuff to do in Pitlochry, with plenty of cafes, restaurants and pubs.
The river Tummel is damned with hydroelectric power and there is a salmon ladder too.
It’s worth a visit here and we plan on returning in the future.
Ducato Upgrade: Front Suspension
We decided to upgrade the front suspension to replace the McPherson struts, the springs, the top bearing mounts and the drop links. This job was too big for me so I asked Raymond at RS Autos if he would do it and I could help and video the job as we went.
We fitted replacement Monroe McPherson struts and SACHS springs.
Fishing and Flying Kilchurn Castle, Loch Awe, Scotland
We had a wee day tour to Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe in Duncan’s Caddy Maxi campervan, so our Ducato had a day off.
Loch Awe looked like a mirror when we arrived and the scenery is lovely here. Sadly the pike were not biting today but there is some good fishing footage nevertheless.
