- Finchale Priory Campsite near Durham
- A Trek into the Pennines
- Heading North through Newcastle into Northumberland
2nd August 2020: Back in June, we ended our 3 months of isolation in the motorhome. Then spent the next 6 weeks in the garden repairing fences and demolishing the old decking and summerhouse, ready for a new rebuild. But before continuing with this work we are taking a 3 week break in the motorhome in the north of England.
Finchale Priory Campsite near Durham
After a brief stop over in Nottingham, we arrived at a lovely privately owned campsite next door to the Finchale Priory. Tomorrow we are going to walk 4 miles to Durham, but for now, I’ll leave you with an evening image of the priory:-
3rd August: We walked the 4 miles to Durham with the dogs through some great country side scenery. As the image below shows, Durham is a relatively small city surrounded by fields.
After a short wander around Durham and stopping by the river for a lovely half price lunch, compliments of the governments 50% discount on restaurant meals – (which we didn’t know about) we headed back to the campsite.
Entry into the Priory was free, so I had a quick recce to see if it would be worth visiting later. I just took a quick snap in the dark ….
Angel of the North
In the evening we headed off to the Angel of the North in the hope of a sunset, but luck wasn’t with us this time. This was the best I could manage for now, but maybe there may be other opportunities later.
4th August: Our Durham trip had been booked within a few days of the cricketing calendar being published at the start of the year. Hampshire were due to play Durham at the Riverside ground which was the main reason for the trip. Now with Covid-19, that plan went out the window. I suspect the game would have been cancelled as we’ve had 4 hours of heavy showers.
With the bad weather and very tired dogs after the 10 miles of walking yesterday, we visited the priory to take photos of the only sheltered area.
Tomorrow is likely to be overcast and dryer, so we’ll venture out in the car to scout for some other photographic opportunities.
Hawthorn Hive beach
5th August: After a very blustery and wet evening which ruined our plans for a return to the Angel, we headed off east to the coast for a walk. Parking near Easington Colliery we went north along the Durham Heritage Coast to the Hawthorn Hive beach. The walk was fairly average, but we did see some interesting pebble formations on the beach.
A Trek into the Pennines
6th August: The weather forecast was for a hot day, but as we headed west into the Pennines, the clouds began to form which actually kept the temperature to a more reasonable 19C – 20C. Soon after leaving the town the dogs were pleased to find water.
We were diverted from the river course heading out and on the return due to washed out river banks from the rains earlier this year. To return back on the other bank, we had to climb out of the valley.
Returning to the village of Allendale, we were drawn towards the pub for a few drinks before heading on to the Groveroke Mine.
Groveroke Mine
Tomorrow we head further north…
Heading North through Newcastle into Northumberland
7th August: Not the best experience after leaving the Durham area as our Garmin navigator directed us through the centre of Newcastle instead of straight up the A1. Checking Google, we got the same result, so I drove the motorhome (towing the car) through the city. North of Newcastle, we were directed east (away from the A1). Frustration eventually resulted in a change of tack – we headed for the A1 anyway to join a slow stream of traffic. Soon filtering into one lane, the reason for the delay was exposed. About 5 miles of the carriageway had been coned off so they could cut the grass verges!
The journey should have taken 1hr 20 minutes, but we arrived at Dunstan Hill Campsite an hour later than expected, so we decided to relax for a while in the sunshine before walking to Dunstanburgh Castle to checkout possible sunrise locations.
Dunstanburgh Castle
This was a fantastic location and some beautiful light looking possible for sunset, so we stayed and waited for the evening light. The dogs decided to cool down while we set up our cameras. This was the first time we’d ever seen Holly lying in a puddle.
The location was amazing with all the smooth large rounded boulders, although a higher tide would have improved the images, but we had to make do with what we had at the time….
We finally returned to the motorhome at approx. 2230 for our evening meal – fortunately a pre-prepared curry which just needed reheating. Needless to say, the idea of getting up for sunrise has well lost its appeal.
Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle
8th August: The next morning we headed up to Holy Island, which can only be accessed via the causeway (so check the crossing times before making the trip – https://holyislandcrossingtimes.northumberland.gov.uk). On the island the car park is £3 for 3 hours or £5.50 for 24 hours (2020 prices). Only a 5 minute walk into the village (passing the many stalls selling local produce) and another 10 minutes to the Lindisfarne castle.
We will plan a future visit to try to capture this at sunset with the tide in – so we’ll need to visit at the end of a year and cross the causeway after a receding tide.
We strolled past the castles to the pebbled beach – I relaxed, whilst Vanessa tried her hand at macro photography which was going to be a challenge with the lovely sea breeze…
After a pint in the village pub garden we headed down the coast to Bamburgh Castle.
Bamburgh Castle
The castle has an excellent sandy beach which attracted huge numbers of tourists and sun worshipers – not the best conditions for a photograph, so we relaxed in the car and I listened to the cricket. It was worth the wait as we had another good sunset opportunity….
Returned to the motorhome for another late night supper and a long sleep.
9th August: We were a little tired today, but the dogs were totally wrecked. All they wanted to do was sleep. So we took the morning off and planned a short 4 mile round trip along the coast from Craster village to Dunstanburgh castle.
Eventually decided against trying for our third sunset in a row, which was a good decision as it clouded over. So an early supper for a change and several hours listening to Holly snoring.
Hadrian’s Wall
10th August: We headed out to see Hadrian’s Wall, which was a 90 minute journey from the campsite and started our walk from the car park at Steel Rigg and headed east towards Housesteads. This was our first visit to the wall which looked well preserved in many places. Fortunately the temperature wasn’t too hot in this part of the country – unlike down south.
After a pint in the local pub we headed home for tea. The sky looked as though we could be lucky with another sunset, so we headed back to Dunstanburgh castle for the evening (after our evening meal).
Sunset at Dunstanburgh Castle
The sky didn’t deliver as we hoped, but still took a few more snaps….
12th August: We had a lazy day relaxing in the sun yesterday, especially as our planned destination was suffering rain whereas everywhere around was experiencing sunshine. Today the conditions were completely different – bright sunshine and blue skies, which wasn’t the best conditions for good photos.
Coldstream and Berwick on Tweed
We headed to Coldstream in Scotland on the bank of the river Tweed which I last went to 47 years ago with my school CCF (combined cadet force). I had a strong memory of this bridge where we ended a days canoeing down the Tweed.
Salmon fisherman in the river.
Parked in a free short stay car park and walked the dogs around the outskirts of the town. Found a quiet spot for lunch and got the cameras out….
Later we headed off east to the English border town of Berwick upon Tweed where we found a pub to quench our thirst before a quick tour of the town. Once again we parked in a free (24 hour) car park – so why does the south of England always charge!
Crossed the river over the old Berwick bridge where we watched several ‘line fisherman’ at work and catching salmon.
Lastly the Royal Border Railway Bridge
Definitely our warmest day so far on this holiday, but only 24C unlike the 30+ temps in the south. Tomorrow is not looking so good, so we may be having another rest day.
15th August: Our last full day in Northumberland was very grey, so apart from a dog walk we did very little.
Yorkshire Dales
Yesterday we arrived in the Yorkshire Dales National Park after some challenging 10% gradient hills – The Motorhome managed to tow the car OK, but I’ve already found a different route out when we leave because we also experienced two 16% down hill gradients and I don’t think we’d make it back up if the car and MH remain coupled together. Anyway we eventually arrived at the Wood Nook Caravan Park.
The countryside here is fantastic – just a shame the forecast is for very grey days and a lot of rain. We didn’t take long getting ready to make the most of the dry conditions and set off toward Malham.
Malham Cove
I wanted to return to the limestone pavements around Malham Cove which we hope to hike to if the weather eases up. The image below will hopefully show what the expression ‘limestone pavement’ refers to.
This was the last ever photo taken using my Lee Filter 0.6nd graduated filter – why am I telling you this? The grad helps to intensify the dark clouds but also balance out the brighter sky to the left. We were hoping for a burst of sunshine which we had just before setting up our cameras. Whilst waiting for the sun, I wandered over the rocks looking for other viewpoints when I heard a crash behind me – my tripod was lying on its side with camera face down in the rocks!
One of our dogs thought they’d follow me over the pavement and probably knocked one of the legs from its secure position on a rock. Look carefully at the photo below to see which of two dogs suffered from my immediate outburst
Holly wasn’t very keen on coming out of hiding especially not until I stopped reviewing to damage. The £80 filter was smashed leaving fragments of glass on my lens which I managed to blow away – fortunately the lens and camera appeared at first to survive the blow. I took a few more photos to confirm it all worked before the rain arrived
Whilst packing away I also discovered I couldn’t easily unscrew the filter holder from the lens – it was distorted. So the £40 holder also needs replacing and the outer screw housing of the lens will need to be repaired – so an expensive evening trip.
I didn’t really lose my temper with her, but I must have given enough signs of my displeasure – she has since tried to make up.
She has just turned her back on me to seek solace with Vanessa as I read this passage out loud to her – must still have a guilty conscience I guess.
16th August: The forecast today was for an overcast day, but tomorrow’s forecast is much worse, so we set out to cover several of our photo locations today if possible. First up was a waterfall, but after a distant glow of sunshine we changed the plan and headed off to Winskill Stones
The dogs also seem to remember yesterday’s incident as they were keeping themselves out of the way whilst we were taking photos.
Heading back, we stopped to capture the Scaleber Force Waterwall which was only 50 metres from the road.
Still no rain, so we headed off to Malham to take the dogs for a proper walk out to Jane’s Foss.
Tomorrow we’ll just hope for better weather than the forecast predicts.
Skipton
17th August: We had resigned ourselves to a day in the motorhome, but thought we’d head down to Skipton to check out the town. Luckily it was still dry when we arrived so we had a wander.
Skipton was a lovely little market town on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, so we’ll have a look at doing a future canal holiday on this as we know the area has some fantastic countryside scenery.
We had lunch and still no sign of rain – in fact it was brightening up, so grabbed the cameras and headed out again.
Middle Falls
We were on our way to the Aysgarth Falls when we passed the Middle Falls and just had to get some photos of it…..
We had a small challenge getting over a gate which traversed the stream through a wall to get close to this spot, but it was worth it. The sky was gradually showing more blue sky, so we moved on to Aysgarth before the clouds thinned out too much.
Aysgarth Falls
The first image above was taken from the road bridge. Cross this and a path to the left leads you to a river bank location. We had to wait for the clouds to obscure the sun for each image (to avoid blown out white water).
Ribblehead Viaduct
We then moved on to our final location which was the Ribblehead Viaduct, but as we arrived we could see the cloud cover beginning to increase.
When we arrived we could see some more limestone pavement areas away from the viaduct, so we headed out over the moor to see if we could include this in the foreground.
The sun didn’t reappear so I packed away my gear and suggested Vanessa hurry with her photos as we had 1/2 mile walk across the moor to the car and those dark clouds were approaching fast.
Well the rain that was forecast finally arrived just as we were leaving this location and within 5 minutes it was pouring down – at least I had my waterproof jacket, but trousers were saturated. Vanessa on the other hand was completely drenched. We reached the car, dried off the dogs and fed them before checking if a table was available at the nearby pub – unfortunately not, so we headed back to our campsite. We did manage to eat out though – our first meal out in the whole holiday. Fish and Chips sat in the car – as Vanessa said, I know how to treat a girl!
18th August: Today was a complete washout weather-wise until about 1700, so we had an early evening meal and headed out to Malham to try our luck with a sunset. But there’s always those persistent clouds that get in the way, so we had to wait for a sunshine shot.
The first location wasn’t really as interesting as we first hoped, so moved to the 2nd location about 200 metres away, but the sun didn’t reappear.
Tomorrow, we head south again to see a retired work colleague and then relations before getting back to home.
The end.
Bateson's Travel log 