The drive to Coniston was a whole other experience and lesson. We were travelling on a Tuesday and did not think the traffic would be too busy. We headed out from the CL with high spirits and only 14 miles to reach Coniston and the Club site we would be staying at.

The road was busier than we had imagined and it was quite scary when the oncoming traffic was big articulated lorries with granite. These trucks just do not slow down and have no intention of stopping. There were some very narrow stretches between Ulverston and Coniston. Toby mentioned at one point that he was really nervous. He was shaking and wasn’t sure how we would get through this. Of course we managed it. Slowly. Keeping our fingers crossed that we would not meet other traffic and have to reverse on some of the single track sections. There were moments where Toby asked if I could see ahead and neither of us knew what the road would do next. Keeping calm and breathing helped, saying « calm down » to Toby did not! We progressed slowly and kept our wits about us and thankfully Toby managed to get us through those narrow roads and we were incredibly grateful to reach our campsite at Coniston.

Although it is a big site, when we arrived it was not very busy. We had a choice of pitches and the camp site team suggested a couple of pitches that would suit us. We tried to get into one and it was not very level. We did our best and the site staff then said we would need to move as we were not really in the pitch. It was not ideal. We did finally get into another pitch. To put this in perspective it was raining, pretty hard, and I was really wet and a bit fed up. It is quite emotionally draining getting through tough driving conditions and then having to do the manual activity of getting water and getting set up on a pitch. The pitch set up involves reversing in, deciding the angle to get to be optimal on the pitch and seeing how level the pitch is and using ramps if it’s not level. Toby was at the wheel guiding Beatrix and I was getting drenched outside in the down pour. There are lots of reasons why you want to be level when you are in a motorhome we will talk about this in another blog as well as which ramps we use and why (see kit list blog post).

All of this aside we had arrived for our month in the Lake District – one of the things we wanted to do. Our previous Lakes trips had only ever been one week and it was great thinking we had a whole month to enjoy the scenery. I decided to make scones after Brian’s education in Mill End, it was something I could do on my own and they taste great. It was a great way of getting rid of the tension I was feeling after the journey.

It’s always worth remembering the first time you do things you are not optimal. I had not made scones in years and especially not in Beatrix. I made a real mess and needed Toby to help out as I needed extra flour. I ended up getting flour everywhere! It made me chuckle and Beatrix needed a damn good clean afterwards! However the scones were a real success.

The club camp site at Coniston is beautiful. It is very close to Coniston Lake and weaves its way through the trees and the hill. We had been travelling to the Lake District for over 10 years and knew the Lake well. We spent 2.5 weeks here and it did not disappoint. Brilliantly the site has a pizza place which cooks fresh pizza some nights which we enjoyed on at least one a occasion. With any English break especially in the Lake District, you need to know that the weather is changeable and you are never quite sure what weather you are going to get. We were lucky most of the time in Coniston. There were some great sunny days which meant some great walks and also runs around the Lake. The sun on the Lake was amazing, and even when it is cloudy in the Lakes there is something atmospheric about being outside with the vastness of the hills and the outdoors. 

It can also rain. On rain days you have to have something to do. On this trip it was planning our next few visits – visiting friends in Norfolk, going to Cambridge.

We also went to Ambleside to buy some new waterproof kit as we realised our kit was old and needed replacing. We knew for our new life, the path less travelled, we needed kit that was going to be multipurpose and do what it says on the tin i.e., be waterproof. Toby bought a Patagonia jacket and I could not find anything suitable in Ambleside as I wanted a waterproof jacket that I could also use for skiing next year. 

We had wanted to spend our wedding anniversary on Lake Coniston on our kayak with our bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate our new life. This didn’t quite happen for a few reasons and our celebration of our new life had to wait.

Sally and Merlin flew solo in Beatrix for a few days. We did a lot of walking and exercising and I had to make sure I understood how everything worked for the second time – learning through experience is my preferred way and so having to do everything again reinforced my learning. I also got on Sons of Anarchy (our little 125 Honda PCX scooter) to go and get some food from Coniston village. I managed it twice on my own. I was a little wobbly, however, it was two more trips on the Honda than I had done on the other scooter we’d had. 

We ended up kayaking almost a week after we had initially planned it and it was so much fun. It was not quite as simple as it should have been. When we came to inflate the kayak we realised we did not have the right connectors for the pump. Luckily we had seen some campers earlier that day walking with the same kayak through the campsite. I walked around the campsite, found the couple and asked if we could borrow their pump. Thankfully they said yes and then we were off. We walked the kayak to the Lake. The kayak is quite heavy and we both agreed that a wheeled device would make it easier for the next kayak usage. At the Lake, Toby held onto the kayak and I got in and we pushed off. The sun was out and although a little chilly we kayaked for about an hour and had a lot of fun – and yes Toby did soak me with his paddle! We took the kayak back and left it out to dry so we could use it again, however, the weather beat us to it and it rained for the next 4 days. We turned the kayak upside down and left it outside and hoped we could dry it off when the rain stopped.…. We read and arranged the next steps of our trip visiting friends in Essex and getting some campsites booked. After the rain, what comes next? Oh yes wind read October part 2 to find out more.

Thanks for reading

Sally, Toby and Merlin