tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8837854230196327042024-03-05T08:26:19.569+00:00A Tent, A Caravan, 4 Wheels And MeThe travels of a solo camper and two dogsTigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.comBlogger523125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-18828178520567017592019-12-31T13:16:00.001+00:002019-12-31T13:31:28.446+00:00Happy New Year
Those of you who don't read my Mouse House blog won't have known that I had my van stolen, along with much of my camping gear, back in mid August. It was an awful experience and one which I didn't want to broadcast too much; needless to say I haven't been camping since my June holiday in the Lake District, which explains my absence on here. However, I now have a new-to-me van and I'm well on Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-67704281794086976522019-07-19T22:25:00.001+01:002019-07-20T07:42:54.553+01:00Tuesday June 25th 2019 - Going home day
The last full day of the holiday was pretty much a 'nothing' day. I'd wakened to a grey sky with much cloud and no matter which direction I looked in it seemed to be fairly widespread. It hadn't cleared up by lunch time so there was no point going out to explore anywhere in particular - Cockermouth is as far as I went, and that was only because I needed to get some milk from somewhere.
Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-1650598885480848962019-07-19T00:33:00.000+01:002019-07-19T07:41:42.879+01:00Sunday June 23rd 2019 Part 2 - Bassenthwaite Lake at Mirehouse
The path to the lakeside walk eventually joined the path to St. Bega's Church but instead of going diagonally across the field it went along one side. The semi-comatose sheep from a couple of hours earlier had found their feet and were grazing peacefully but this time they'd been joined by a dozen or so cows, with some of them lying close to the path. They looked fairly docile and under normal Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-42772641396094203842019-07-18T20:41:00.000+01:002019-07-18T20:41:00.470+01:00Sunday June 23rd 2019 Part 1 - St. Bega's Church and Mirehouse GardensThe sun seemed to have gone on holiday that morning as there was a lot of pale grey and white cloud around but just occasionally I got glimpses of some blue sky up above so in the hope that it would come nice later on I decided to take myself off to find St. Bega's church on the east side of Bassenthwaite Lake and visit Mirehouse Gardens while I was there.
Mirehouse itself is a country Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-67298346564798248942019-07-13T22:52:00.000+01:002019-07-14T07:58:43.832+01:00Saturday June 22nd 2019 - Kirkstile Inn, St. Bartholomew's Church & LoweswaterAnother sunny morning arrived but with more clouds around than previously but they were broken clouds which can often be good for photography, although it may mean that I would occasionally have to wait for the sun to reappear from behind them. My day out this time was to Loweswater as my '111 Places' book said it was one of the smaller lakes in the Lake District; at just over a mile long and Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-73062577631053628402019-07-09T23:18:00.001+01:002019-07-09T23:18:47.020+01:00Friday June 21st 2019 - Florence Mine and RavenglassI woke that morning to find the sunshine and blue sky were back; I'd briefly heard it raining during the night but it obviously hadn't amounted to much and it looked like another lovely day was on the cards. The main part of my day out this time was a visit to Ravenglass down the coast but first I was stopping off on the outskirts of Egremont for a bit of photography round Florence Mine, a Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-42342478630861816472019-07-09T13:21:00.002+01:002019-07-09T13:21:22.960+01:00Thursday June 20th 2019 - Priory Church and Lighthouse, St. BeesAnother lovely morning arrived and with it the thought that before I could go anywhere I would have to sort the van out. The brake lights had finally gone out during the night and the battery was, as I suspected it would be, flat, dead, defunct, non-operational. I would have to call out the AA but before I could do that I needed to know the postcode of the site so I went up to the farm to ask Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-84158128785474478462019-07-07T22:19:00.002+01:002019-07-19T08:00:13.701+01:00Wednesday June 19th 2019 - The Lookout, Workington
I woke to a nice sunny morning and the promise of a lovely day so when I took Sophie and Poppie for their first walk round the site I took the camera too. With blue sky, sunshine, birdsong and lovely views it was a perfect morning, the sort of morning which should be preserved to be brought out again on dull rainy days.
With the previous day having been quite busy I decided thatTigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-50023086351821958582019-07-05T15:48:00.001+01:002019-07-06T01:31:03.321+01:00Tuesday June 18th 2019 Part 3 - Allonby villageArriving in the little coastal village of Allonby I decided to forego the overdue lunch and make a start on my quest, which was to find and photograph all the old properties featured in a brochure I'd been given by one of the locals when I was there at Easter. Starting at the north end of the village I worked my way steadily south, along the main road, down narrow cobbled lanes and along various Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-18585139576448835512019-07-03T23:18:00.002+01:002019-07-04T00:28:29.538+01:00Tuesday June 18th 2019 Part 2 - Christ Church, SillothThirteen miles up the coast from Maryport was Silloth, somewhere I'd been to at Easter. Although it was a very pleasant place with a promenade, a wide green and attractive properties facing it there was nothing much there; there wasn't even a town centre as such, just a post office, a couple of cafes and half a dozen shops facing the green with a few other odd shops dotted here and there among Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-39754451791859637972019-07-02T23:00:00.001+01:002019-07-03T07:33:40.634+01:00Tuesday June 18th 2019 Part 1 - Senhouse Roman Museum, MaryportAnother lovely morning arrived and as I intended visiting three different places that day, including one where I would probably spend some considerable time, I was on the road soon after 10am. Now I've no doubt that everyone has heard of a traffic jam but as I drove round the country lanes I was met by something completely different - a 'sheep jam'. Rounding a bend I came face to face with a herdTigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-38586906339129218412019-07-02T00:11:00.002+01:002019-07-02T01:07:58.565+01:00Monday June 17th 2019 Part 2 - Wordsworth House and gardenWordsworth House, an attractive Georgian building built in 1745 and situated on the main road running through Cockermouth, is the birthplace of William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and their three brothers. William was born in 1770 and Dorothy in 1771 followed by two younger brothers - an older brother Richard had previously been born there in 1768. Their mother died when William was only eightTigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-12569975828814273972019-07-01T10:40:00.001+01:002020-12-17T20:01:44.010+00:00Monday June 17th 2019 Part 1 - Isel Church and CockermouthI woke at 5.30 that morning to a bright sky and the promise of a nice day; there was no rain so it was a good opportunity to put the tent up and get everything set out inside it, then once it was all sorted I took Sophie and Poppie for a walk before making breakfast and forming a sort of plan for the day. I'd recently bought a book '111 Places in the Lake District You Shouldn't Miss' and one of Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-40623698175909699332019-06-30T19:29:00.001+01:002019-07-01T01:54:00.348+01:00Sunday June 16th 2019 - Another visit to CumbriaA partly sunny, partly cloudy morning saw me setting off on my 10-day holiday to Cumbria, camping at the lovely little farm site I stayed on at Easter. I'd already taken my son to Manchester airport very early that morning for a short break in Ireland so I'd enjoyed a few hours back home before leaving at 11.30am for my own holiday. The volume of traffic on the motorway was fairly moderate and Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-48130777687673853812019-05-10T22:07:00.002+01:002019-05-10T22:07:18.303+01:00Tuesday April 23rd 2019 - The final day...going homeI woke that morning to see a complete change in the weather - gone was the glorious sunshine of the last few days and in its place were clouds and a grey sky. For once though I wasn't too bothered as I was going home anyway - it had been nice while it mattered, and as long as it didn't rain before I took the tent down I could live with the dull day.
Most of the other campers and caravanners had Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-49383176215908670312019-05-08T20:42:00.002+01:002019-06-30T14:28:20.047+01:00Monday April 22nd 2019 Part 3 - Visiting CockermouthLeaving Sale Fell and driving west along the A66 my third and final port of call for the day was the market town of Cockermouth, which was only five miles from the camp site. As I drove into the town I spotted a sign for Harris Park, which may or may not have been worth a look round, so a quick change of direction took me close to it. Parking was on the nearby road in a 'disc zone' and as Jayne Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-86934931560582829422019-05-06T20:04:00.000+01:002019-05-07T00:58:39.392+01:00Monday April 22nd 2019 Part 2 - A walk up Sale FellLeaving the lakeside behind I drove down the 'B' road to the A66, crossed over at the staggered junction and followed a lane which took me uphill and along past the lower slopes of Sale Fell. Several cars were parked in a line close to the wall on one side of the lane and I was lucky enough to find a space long enough to get the van into. Across the lane was a gate onto the fell and after taking Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-41635618178099341192019-05-06T15:19:00.000+01:002019-05-06T21:15:22.535+01:00Monday April 22nd 2019 Part 1 - A short walk at Bassenthwaite LakeThe previous night's finger crossing for continuing good weather had obviously worked as the last full day of the holiday was another sunny one getting warmer all the time. Again I planned to visit three different places and I'd been advised by Jayne that for one of them it would be best to take some water for myself and the dogs; two small bottles would just fit into my camera bag, along with Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-59075002915773351822019-05-05T15:37:00.002+01:002019-05-06T10:13:53.587+01:00Sunday April 21st 2019 Part 2 - Strolling round St. BeesLeaving Whitehaven behind I drove the four-and-a-half miles south via a 'B' road to St. Bees village where a pleasant minor road with detached houses on one side and fields on the other took me straight to the beach front and a large car park. From previous Googling I knew there was a shop/cafe at one end of the car park so I found a space as close as I could get and nipped across to get a Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-44069591566199433742019-05-02T16:00:00.003+01:002019-05-02T20:07:35.211+01:00Sunday April 21st 2019 Part 1 - Wandering round WhitehavenI woke very early that morning and looked out of the van window to see the deep colours of a lovely sunrise over the fells beyond the camp site - a photo worth taking, so I grabbed the camera, went out to stand in front of the van and snatched a couple of shots before the sky became light enough to lose all its colour.
With the continuing good weather, and having abandoned my original 'bigTigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-44061667399651523532019-05-01T00:21:00.000+01:002019-05-01T21:05:44.844+01:00Saturday April 20th 2019 Part 3 - Sauntering round SillothAbout eight miles along the coast road north of Allonby was Silloth and another mile or so beyond was Skinburness, which was was the furthest I could go on that stretch of the Cumbrian coast before the road turned inland. There didn't seem to be anything much there, not even a village shop or a pub, it looked to be just a residential extension of Silloth. For many years though there had been a Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-29848856493297054052019-04-30T13:01:00.000+01:002019-04-30T15:40:45.380+01:00Saturday April 20th 2019 Part 2 - Ambling round AllonbyJust less than five miles north of Maryport was Allonby, a little village strung out along the coast road. Most of the cottages were on one side of the road while on the other was a long wide green with a tarmac cycle path running through it and the beach on the far side. Having previously checked out Allonby on Google maps street view I knew there was no shortage of places to park so I pulled Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-63865509349041351142019-04-28T19:20:00.002+01:002019-04-29T00:30:52.623+01:00Saturday April 20th 2019 Part 1 - Mooching round MaryportI woke that morning to sunshine over the fields beyond my pitch and the promise of another glorious day. After a short dog walk down to the on-site wildfowl lake I sorted out some breakfast and ate al fresco while taking in the view in front of me and formulating a 'sort of plan' for the day. There were four places on the coast which I particularly wanted to visit, starting at Allonby and workingTigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-90729927884656210672019-04-27T20:23:00.004+01:002019-04-27T20:36:28.726+01:00Friday April 19th 2019 - The start of a new adventureAfter spending several years camping in North Wales each Easter, and having not-very-good-weather for the last few of them, I decided that this year I would have a complete change of direction and location. Instead of going south from home I would go north, and so it was that I got myself booked into a small out-of-the-way camp site in the north west Lake District from Good Friday to the Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883785423019632704.post-8152938105560464012018-10-05T22:50:00.000+01:002018-10-05T23:02:06.315+01:00Tuesday September 25th 2018 - Going home via ConwyI woke that morning to a partly sunny/partly cloudy day with the wind back again, and after a leisurely breakfast I started the packing up process - it was much earlier than I would normally pack up but I wanted to give myself enough time to stop off somewhere on the way home and also to get to the far side of Manchester before the late afternoon rush hour started. Taking the tent down in the Tigermousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386636767916316587noreply@blogger.com10