About Me

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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Tuesday 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.

Driving back along the lane to the site I had to stop when a stray chicken from the farm decided to leave the grass verge and stroll across in front of me; it reminded me of the old 'Why did the chicken cross the road' joke but this one was going the right way to end up as chicken soup. While watching a bit of tv later on I popped out of the tent to get something from the van and for some strange reason Poppie decided to take advantage of my absence and hop up into my chair; she looked so cute I hadn't the heart to make her get off but she went anyway just a few minutes after I took her photo.


I woke early on going home day to a morning which was so misty I couldn't see much beyond the immediate vicinity, with Skiddaw and the neighbouring fells completely invisible. The mist did clear while I was packing everything up to come home but it was still very grey and just after I left the site I stopped in a lay-by near the River Derwent to take a couple of shots of the low cloud over the fells.


Driving down the west side of Bassenthwaite Lake I stopped for a while at the viewing point for the dogs to have a reasonable walk as I intended to drive the rest of the way home without stopping again. It was still very grey but at long last the clouds were starting to clear and patches of blue sky were beginning to show through; it was still quite warm in spite of the cloud so the walk was very pleasant and I got a few reasonable shots before returning to the van.


As I left Bassenthwaite Lake behind and got further south and east along the A66 I also left the cloud behind and by the time I was going down the M6 the sun was shining from a bright blue sky, making the journey a very pleasant one. With no other stops after the lake one I arrived home just before 5pm, glad that in spite of the previous day being dull and grey the holiday had ended as it began, in full sunshine.



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12 comments:

  1. Anabel Marsh19 July 2019 at 22:52

    Sounds like a great holiday overall!

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  2. Tigermouse19 July 2019 at 23:42

    It certainly was, I really enjoyed it and came back completely relaxed. The next major one will be September now :)

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  3. Jules20 July 2019 at 08:09

    I've really enjoyed reading about your trip and you've given me some interesting ideas about places to visit. X

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  4. Tigermouse20 July 2019 at 09:21

    I'm glad you enjoyed reading and my posts have given you some ideas. I can recommend the book I got - '111 Places In The Lake District That You Shouldn't Miss' - it gave me some good ideas (I wouldn't have known about the Florence Mine if I hadn't seen it in there) so there may very well be places listed that you won't know/have thought about :)

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    1. Jules20 July 2019 at 17:03

      That sounds a good book. I'll have to try and get a copy. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to book into the campsite, it's fully booked for the foreseeable. I'll have to try again out of season. X

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    2. Tigermouse20 July 2019 at 17:42

      What a shame you couldn't get booked at the camp site but I suppose that was always a possibility with it now being school holidays - one reason why I go away before now or in September but I know you can't. I got my book (new) from an ebay seller, there's a new copy on there now for £9.77 (RRP £12.99) if you're interested.

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    3. Jules21 July 2019 at 09:01

      Thank you Eunice. I'll take a look. I got a really lovely email from Marion at the campsite and I'm sure we will visit at some point, even if it's not until next year. X

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    4. Tigermouse21 July 2019 at 10:42

      Marion is really nice and so friendly and helpful; her mum is nice too and I chatted to her a few times while I was there. It's very much a hands-on family business, Marion looks after the camp site while the other family members run the farm. In my book it's a little gem and one I won't hesitate to return to.

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  5. Bag End Gardener20 July 2019 at 13:51

    That was always a favourite stopping place for us with a very old Ollie, as he could still easily get to the water without having to deal with slopes, steps or anything else that an arthritic spine did not like.

    I hope overall you had a relaxing holiday that rejuvenated you for the next few weeks (until your next great escape!)

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  6. Tigermouse20 July 2019 at 15:31

    I had a really lovely holiday and staying on such a quiet site made sure I came back totally chilled out. Three weeks back at work though and it's now a bit of a distant memory :( A shame we didn't get to meet up while I was up there but hopefully next time...

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  7. Karen20 July 2019 at 21:02

    I'm very glad you had such a lovely holiday and shared it on your blog. I've enjoyed reading your posts.

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  8. Tigermouse20 July 2019 at 22:32

    Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed them. The holiday was lovely, made all the better by discovering places which were new to me as I'd never been to that area of Cumbria before.

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I really appreciate good comments - who doesn't? - but due to a recent tide of spam from anonymous readers all comments will now be moderated, and only those with a direct bearing on this blog will be published. I'm sure my regular blog readers/commenters will understand the need for this - and to anyone whose comment isn't published, you know why.

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