Friday April 18th 2014 - Easter at Carrog

A sunny morning at 8.15am saw me setting off for Station Camp Site in the little village of Carrog, North Wales. Traffic on the roads was light and I made good time; by 9.45 I'd reached Llangollen and only had another eight miles to go, but as the camp site's website stated that pitches were only available from noon I decided to park up and while away a couple of hours looking round the town. Leaving the dogs in the van I went for a brief look round the shops, which didn't take long, then I collected Sophie and Sugar and my camera and went off in search of something to photograph.

Close to the car park was a pathway to a riverside walk, so never having been down that way before I decided to explore along there first. Passing first between the high car park wall and a couple of riverside properties the path opened up to reveal a lovely view along the river itself. Large slabs of stone channelled some of the water into shallow pools where kids and dogs played, and set up above the path was a large pleasant grassy area with bright flowers in tubs and a children's playground with lots of colourful equipment. I walked along until the path almost joined the main road at the far end then retraced my steps and headed back towards town, snapping several photos along the way.

Walking through the town centre I stopped to snap a couple of shots from the bridge which carries the main road over the river, then made my way up to the canal which runs behind the town. A walk along the towpath brought me to a marina set back off the canal itself, with several colourful narrowboats moored up against an attractive hillside backdrop. It was getting on for midday by then so another couple of shots taken and I headed back to the van to complete my journey to the camp site at Carrog.

Arriving at the site I was surprised to see that since my last brief stay there in 2010 a small office/reception area had been built, and in the barn which housed the toilets was a block of four obviously-very-new showers - it looked like this place was improving bit by bit. Booking in with Michael, the owner's son, I was shown a map of the site and given a choice of pitches - a new field had been opened up beyond the trees at the far end of the site and as it seemed like it would be a bit quieter I opted for a pitch over there rather than on the main part of the site. The field was on a slight slope but I picked the flattest bit and Michael linked my hook-up cable to an extension, then I set about putting up the tent and sorting out everything that went in it. 

By the time I'd got most things set up the dogs were ready for another walk, so not wanting to waste any of the good weather I grabbed the camera and set off to take some photos round the site and along the nearby river. On my last stay at the site the weather had been grey and rainy the whole weekend but now, with the sunshine and almost cloudless blue sky making the whole area look really lovely, I was reminded of why I've always liked camping there on previous occasions.

As I headed back towards the site I heard a steam train approaching the station; a photo of that was a 'must' but by the time I reached the bridge across the lane from the site the engine had turned round and gone to the far end of the carriages ready for the journey back to Llangollen. I still got a good photo though, and with several steam trains coming and going each day I had plenty of chances to take another.

By the time I'd returned to the tent it was late afternoon and I was feeling more than a little peckish so I sorted out a brew and something to eat then sat outside the tent to enjoy the rest of the sunshine before the warmth went out of it. The early evening was spent reading some of my book, then as the last of the daylight was on the point of disappearing I took Sophie and Sugar down the lane as far as the river for the last walk of the day.

It was while I was getting ready for bed later on that I discovered I'd forgotten to pack a very important item - my hot water bottle. Although the last few days had been reasonably warm with the sunshine the nights were still quite chilly and even though I had a fan heater in the tent having no hot water bottle to put my feet on in bed was a disaster of almost epic proportions. So I kept my socks on, and being wrapped up in my fleece blankets did keep my feet reasonably warm, but as I settled down to sleep I decided that the priority project for the following day was to find a new hot water bottle!