Trip 4: Driftwood Campsite, Kilnsea, Spurn Head. I rang the site before we left because there were flood warnings for Kilnsea. John said they were normal and although there are high tides we will be OK. The journey took us over the Humber Bridge but it was not as windy as we expected. Our route …
Iona goes to Beverley
Trip 3: March 2024 Willow Lane campsite, Beverley. Another trip over the Humber bridge, this time stopping at Beverley instead of driving past to Bridlington. The campsite is a 5 pitch site which is now surrounded by modern estate houses. It is basic with water and Elsan point. There is metered electric which we have …
Iona goes for Mussels in March
Trip 2: March 2024 Deepdale Backpackers, Brancaster Staithe. Another regular trip to North Norfolk. We stay at Deepdale Backpackers site which has everything you need close at hand. Two pubs, fresh fish shop, artisan outlets, a garage and a shop. The main reasons for staying here are the walking routes which vary from coastal paths, …
Iona returns to Kingsbury
Trip 1:Kingsbury Water Park,Fazeley, February 2024. Day 1: This is our first trip of 2024 and we return to Kingsbury again. There is a discount for one reason and there is lots of places to walk. This trip we intend to walk into Kingsbury but that will be on another day. Once we were set …
Nearly ready for this year.
East Runton, Norfolk Iona has had an MOT and is now awaiting her annual Habitation check in a few days, hopefully nothing will be found amiss. In preparation for the coming season we have been looking at sites to visit this year. The choice of sites at the beginning of the year is governed by …
Two Months Off (pt2)
The second part of our 2023 resume takes us from Yorkshire to Norfolk to places we had not visited before. Trip 10: Pateley Bridge Showground. We camped on the showground, an easy walk into Pateley Bridge and opposite the park. You can follow the river Nidd along the path of the old railway. The oldest …
Two Months Off. (pt1)
2023 A brief resume For us our 2023 adventures have come to an end and now we prepare like many for Christmas at home then the New year which soon starts with the Motorhome Tax, Service and Habitation Service, new insurance. But before we start on 2024 here is part 1 of the reminders of …
Iona Revisits an Old Favorite
Trip 18, Woodhill Park, East Runton, Norfolk. After an easy drive to Norfolk because there was no holiday traffic, we arrived at East Runton. We had taken advantage of a 3 nights for 2 deal so we had a fully serviced pitch and it was level - a bonus. Sue had suffered on the drive …
Iona visits Royalty
Trip 18: Sandringham, Norfolk. The great storm is over, the land is still soaked and in places the flood water refuses to recede. What a great time to go camping. Well, we are headed to Norfolk which got away fairly lightly so we should be ok, although our route through the fens could be slow …
Iona heads to Harrogate
Trip 17: Bilton Park, Harrogate Knaresborough Station. The drive up to Harrogate was fine, plenty of rain, spray, roadworks etc but it only took 2.5 hours. We were welcomed by the stewards and after a great laugh we were shown to our pitch. We have the option of electric hook up which we took. £10 …
The Airbag ECU has died.
We were on our way to Avon Bank Meadows and the Airbag ECU failed again. The warning lights were flashing along with the seat belt warning lights. They all went out , then came on and eventually settled with just the airbag warning light remaining on. We carried onto the campsite. I rang Crash Data …
Iona visits an Abbey
Trip 16: Avon Bank Meadow, Pershore. The day started badly because as I drove out of the drive and waited for Sue to shut the gates the airbag warning lights came on. They continued to flash and the seat belt light joined in. We left anyway and after we got through Grantham only the airbag …
Iona goes to Scarborough
Trip 15: Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough. Our trip to Scarborough was fairly straight forward although the road works on the A1 still added 25 minutes onto the journey. The one thing I was worried about was the final part of the trip up onto Oliver’s Mount. The route uses part of the Oliver’s Mount motor racing …
Airbag Issues
In April the airbag warning light came on and it would not go off so the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) was sent off to be reset at a firm in Liverpool, Crash Data.co.uk. It came back in 3 days and I refitted it and everything has been working. However on our last trip we were …
Iona goes to the Yacht Club
Trip 14: Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club Regatta Field, Bridlington. The drive took us over the Humber Bridge which was quite windy, the journey took about 2.25 hours. Once we had signed in we were shown a pitch which seemed fairly level although we still used the ramps. We set up the Quest and a windbreak …
Iona heads to the Wold
Trip 13: Stow on the Wold, RFC It took us nearly three hours to get to Stow but we were held up by the Tuesday market traffic jam in Moreton Le Marsh. We are camped on a rugby pitch and we can use the facilities in the rugby club which will also be open in …
Iona’s back at Rutland Water
Trip 12: Lyndon Top. Rutland. We decided to have a short two day break and take our grandsons with us. We only have two seat belts in Iona so Sue had to follow in the car with one grandson, two bikes and assorted gear. We have never done this before so the boys were very …
Iona visits Wensleydale
Trip 11. Craken House Farm,Leyburn. It was an easy drive up the A1. We then headed inland to Leyburn. As we approached a village we met a wide load escort vehicle going quite fast, but there did not seem to be anything following him so we cautiously continued through a village and on a narrow …
Iona goes over a Bridge
Trip 10: Pateley Bridge Showground. Nidderdale , North Yorkshire The journey to Pateley Bridge took just over 3 hours but some of that was a long hold up in Knaresborough with roadworks. After leaving Knaresborough we had 10 miles of narrow roads before reaching Pateley. We had to go down the high street which is …
Iona heads to the Peak District.
Trip 9: Darley Dale & Matlock The day started with rain before we had left home but everything was already packed into Iona. It took us 2 hours to get to Darley Dale and the journey was in and out of storms. It was still raining when we arrived so we just parked up and …
Iona finds the North York Moors
Trip 8: Hutton le Hole, North Yorkshire Moors. Our previous trip was in the North Yorkshire Dales so we have moved North East from Ilkley to Hutton le Hole. It is another new site for us. This is a small village with a Public house, some Tea rooms, Craft workshops and the Ryedale Folk Museum …
Iona goes to the Moors
Trip 7: Ilkley RFC, Ilkley West Yorkshire. It took us 2.5 hours to get here but most of the journey was on the A1. After we had seen the stewards we filled up with water and then circled the main rugby pitch in search of a free pitch. We went for one that faced North-ish …
Iona visits a Cathedral City
Trip 6: Braham Farm, Little Thetford, Ely, Cambridgeshire. Ely Cathedral The Sat nav took us around Peterborough and down to Ely. It seemed a long route but it was easy driving although there was an abundance of roundabouts. I had looked on Google Earth to get a visual of the farm entrance and it was …
Iona goes looking for Hang Gliders
Trip 5: Sandy Gulls Campsite, Mundesley, Norfolk. It took us 3 hours travelling and apart from a couple of tractors and some slow older drivers the drive seemed to go quite quickly. This is our second time visiting this campsite. Last year we also came here in April so we hope the weather will be …
Iona finds a Diving Centre
Trip 4: Fortway Farm, Stoney Stanton, Leics Stoney Stanton is a small village south of Leicester. It once was busy & productive with stone quarries. One of the quarries was formerly known as Lanes Hill Quarry or 'Top Pit' to the locals until it went out of use and filled with water. It then became …
Iona starts 2023 amongst the Lakes.
Trip 1. Return to Kingsbury Water Park. Sutton Coldfield. It is 4 months since we went away and the motorhome was emptied for the winter. Now it is all back together and filled ready for our first trip of the year. Hopefully the check lists were right and we have everything we need. We arrived …
Preparing for 2023 Season
It is the time to plan for this years's trips away. With the energy prices so high the majority of campsites have put their prices up, some have gone stupid while some are reasonable but we still have to decide what is the max per night we will pay. The price is difficult to agree …
Iona goes looking for Coal
Silverhill Colliery, Teversal, Nottinghamshire. Testing for Gas Silverhill Woods was a mine spoil heap on the site of the former Silverhill colliery which closed in the 1990s. It was subsequently landscaped in 2005 by Nottinghamshire County Council, with tree planting, numerous footpaths, and a viewpoint. It is one of a number of recreation sites in …
Iona finds an Oasis
Trip 17: Oasis Lakes, North Somercotes, Lincs. This is probably our last trip this year although we did have a trip in November last year. We arrived at the site which consists of a reception area with the toilets and showers. It was looking out onto two of the three lakes. The camping pitches were …
Iona is on the Trail
Trip 16: Lindsey Touring Park,Market Rasen. We made quick time to the campsite but because we could not arrive before 2pm we stopped at a layby and had our lunch and a cuppa. We were given the choice of 2 pitches so we chose one near the entrance. The campsite is long and narrow with …
Iona goes Cultural in Stratford.
Trip 15: Riverside Touring Park, Stratford upon Avon. RSC Theatre We had an easy drive down to Stratford and the campsite was easy to find. The warden took us to the motorhome service point where we filled up with water and then we had a choice of pitches so we chose one near the facilities. …
Iona goes to Harrogate
Trip 14; Bilton Farm Park,Harrogate Knaresborough We set off on Tuesday morning for Harrogate. The first 80 miles on the A1 and then across country to Harrogate and Bilton Farm Park. The campsite is in a field next to the main campsite but it does have limited number of electric points,however we went off grid …
Iona heads East
A trip to Sea Palling in Norfolk.
Bridlington calls Iona
Trip 12: Royal York Yacht Club, Bridlington. ⛅️ 🌬 Two weeks ago we were in York at the Sports ground where we were able to see Yorkshire take on Northampton and then a couple of days later Lancashire in a county cricket competition. Now keeping to the county we are off to the Royal York …
Iona goes to Jorvik
Trip 11: August 2022, York Sports Ground. We head north to the York Sports ground this trip. We have been here before and it is a great walk along the river Ouse into York. This year we have just learnt that there is a county cricket match on the day we arrive. Yorkshire v Northampton …
In search of Fish & Chips
Trip 10, Glebe House School, Hunstanton,Norfolk We arranged a local trip to Rutland Water where we were just testing the repair to the alternator, which is now back to full working order. Since returning from Rutland Water (Trip 9) we have had a new Cambelt and Water pump fitted as recommended by those who know …
Iona goes Rural in Rutland
Trip 9: July 2022, Lyndon Top, Rutland Water. We started the day by heading to Grantham to try out a different garage for Autogas. The forecourt always looked a bit tight for the motorhome but after looking at Google earth I have decided to give it a go. If it is viable then we have …
Iona goes to Suffolk
Trip 8, Clockhouse Farm, Glemsford We left the house at 9.30 because it was just over an hours drive. Once on our way the sat nav told us 2 hrs 49m so we were not going to arrive too early. The route was mainly dual carriageway until we reached Bury St Edmonds and then it …
Iona goes to Kingsbury Country Park
Trip 6: Kingsbury Water Park, Sutton Coldfield. This was a late change in our plans and being a Camping & Caravan Club site is not a normal venue type for us. However the campsite is in the middle of a massive country park of over 600 acres, with fishing lakes, bird sanctuary, water sport lakes …
Iona goes for the Mussels
Trip 2: Burnham Deepdale , Norfolk. 2022. Brancaster Staithe Harbour Burnham Deepdale is a small village on the North Norfolk coast. We have been here twice before. The campsite is a comprehensive camping and backpacker’s site with full facilities plus a cafe,shop and garage. They also have a market with Pop Up stalls and Shops. …