Coed Y Llwyn, Gellilydan, North Wales

When the weather is good there is no better place to be on earth than Wales ..and for a base to tour North Wales there really is no place like Coed Y Llwyn caravan club site near Blaenau Ffestiniog. It's in a lovely sheltered valley surrounded by beautiful views. The facilities are what you would expect from the caravan club and the wardens are really nice helpful people, they even left the grass strip between pitches un-mown when I said I was enjoying watching the Bumble Bees on the wild flowers. The pitches are a really good size and we had a large grass area at the back of the pitch to enjoy too.

There is so much to do in North Wales that we have been back time and again but I have to say that having 'Baby' to come home to every day really made this trip special. One of the things that did worry us a little was the journey up. There is no easy way to get from South to North Wales without climbing at least one hill so we took the most straight forward route A465 - A470. The worst part being a couple of miles past Minllyn where there is a 20% gradient leading to a blind hairpin bend. But it turned out to be quite easy and as always Baby towed like a dream. :-))

We had a little drama whilst on a walk to visit the now mothballed Trawsfynydd Nuclear power station. We walked along the cycle route no 80 through a farm called Cae Eilion Allun and were about a mile and a half in when we spotted 3 horses, they looked friendly, but then we saw they were accompanied by a bull!!!!! He looked up from his grazing and then laid down so we quietly carried on. I jokingly remarked that he knew we'd be back so he'd have us then......Well I was right! There was no sign of him as we walked back past the horses ...then we saw him ..the same time that he saw us. The next gate was about 50 metres away but the bull, a welsh black, was determined we weren't going to reach it. He charged down from the field he was in, clearing a stone wall on his way and before we knew what was happening he was a few metres away. I waved my walking stick and shouted at him and he stopped, still snorting angrily. We managed to get Barney over the stone wall behind us then climbed over ourselves, but there was so many gaps we knew it wasn't going to protect us for long and somehow we would have to get over the barbed wire fence behind the wall. We were fortunate that the barbed wire fence hadn't been completed where the wall turned down to divide 2 fields so we scrambled between the wall and fence in the direction we had come and then climbed around the end of the fence over another stone wall and to safety. I really don't know how I got over the 2 walls and the fence and if I was asked to do it now I know I couldn't, the power of adrenalin is amazing.

We spent the rest of our adventurous day relaxing back at the caravan and for the first time took the front panels out of the awning and used it as a canopy.

Peak district Trip 4.

The furthest Baby has traveled and she handled like a dream. We did struggle with the nose weight when we loaded her but once we got it to 78 we were happy. Bailey really needs to get the unladen nose weights correct .. they quote the 400/2 at 78 when in fact it was nearer 100!!!!

Babies very first pit stop at a service station ..


Camped at Carsington Water .. Steve cooking Breckie. The Milenco leveler was was really easy to use and Baby was spot on level.



Whilst we were in the Peak District we visited Sherwood Forest to see The Major Oak, The Heights of Abraham for a ride on the cable cars and Hayfield where the BBC series 'The Village' was filmed. Here are some holiday snaps

Carsington Water CC site here we come!!

Four more sleeps and we're off on adventure number 4 to Carsington Water in the Peak District. We went there last year at the end of May so hoping a week or so earlier isn't going to jinx the weather as it was glorious last year.

Every adventure we've been on with Baby has seen us trying out something new, this trip will be no different as we've invested in a Millenco leveller..





Looks like it will save a lot of faffing around to get the caravan level .. so no more sinks that won't drain properly. ;-)

Dan yr Ogof Touring Site. Trip No 3.

Well we did it ..we defied the weather and have had a wonderful 3 night break at Dan yr Ogof touring site. The weather was atrocious, force 8 gales and torrential rain but we got there in one piece. We set the caravan up and settled in for a noisy evening and night. The bad weather continued through the next day, but we were pitched with the most wonderful view so it didn't seem to matter.

The view from the front window.. .. ..and the view from the side window



The whole idea of this trip though was to try out the new awning. We eventually managed it on Monday. It was still very windy but from start to finish the new awning went up in 10 mins.. absolutely brilliant..

This is it with the blinds still drawn.

The 2013 model of this awning..the Dorema Mistral Ripstop has had side windows put in and I have to say they make a big difference once sat inside.

Well we are thrilled to bits with our new purchase. It is quick and easy to erect and take down, and has plenty of room to relax and store our shoes and bits and pieces. But best of all it stood up to a return of Force 8 gales and torrential rain on it's first night up, and didn't let in a drop of rain.

It's chucking it down!!

Yes it's chucking it down with rain and blowing a hoolie... but as soon as Steve gets in from work we are off for a 3 night break to Dan-yr-Ogof touring site to try out our new awning. We have bought a Dorema Mistral Ripstop and are hoping to get it up this weekend. Can't see it going up tonight though!!! Hopefully if it suits we'll get rid of the big awning and use this for all our holidays, short and long. We have already given our porch awning away so there is no going back now ha ha !!!

Hopefully my next post will have photos and a positive feedback .. wish us luck!!!!

Winter catering in the caravan.

I thought I'd mention about the change in how we eat whilst away in the winter. The higher grade insulation in the Orion has lengthened our season as the van is a lot cosier inside, but that means it is still cold outside so to be honest the thought of standing or worst still sitting around outside BBQing doesn't really appeal, but then neither does preparing a cooked dinner. So, because we now have a much larger fridge and a microwave in Baby, I just prepare ahead. When I'm making things like Shepherds Pie or Lasagne I make double and freeze one.
The first trip I prepared veg and put in food bags and took a frozen Shepherds Pie out of the freezer in the morning. Because the Shepherds Pie acted like an ice pack and it was cold outside I didn't have to put the fridge on and by the time we arrived the Shepherds pie had defrosted enough to put in the oven to cook. I have a 3 tier steamer into which I put broccoli, peas and carrots and then we got on with setting up and putting up the awning. By the time we'd finished we had a lovely Sunday lunch to sit down to.


I plated up 4 meals and put two in the fridge ..so the next day we had another lovely meal using the microwave.

For our second trip I took a lasagne, again enough for 2 days, the first day it was put in the oven to cook and the second just heated up in the microwave .. served with crusty rolls (always got par-baked in van) delicious!!!!

Second trip.

For our second trip out in Baby we booked a site about 25 miles away for a long weekend. The object was to find a nice site where we could take a Saturday to Tuesday break on Steve's Sunday off. It would mean that we could go away even if Steve has to go into work on the Monday as the travelling would be equal to the distance from home.

Well all was looking good for the weekend .. we'd left Baby in storage and were going from there. I'd gone up and put the food and clothes in ready for the off as soon as Steve got home from work. The weather forecast was good ..showers for the Saturday then sunny but cool. Barney and I were ready to go when Steve got in from work at 4.20, but as he arrived the rain shower which had started at 4 o'clock was starting to turn to sleet .. then snow!!!! Within 20 mins of the snow starting there was over an inch of snow and it was still coming down so we had to take the decision to postpone till the next morning. It was at this point we realised that all the fresh food including milk was in the caravan which was a mile away, I'd even out Barney's food in!! The annoying thing about this freaky weather was that it was very localised, half a mile out of the village there was nothing!

Just before we postponed...


We finally managed to get away on Sunday morning about 10 o'clock. It took a good half hour to get the frozen snow off Baby's roof, we thought it rather dangerous to try and tow with it still on, given the curved roof of the orion it wouldn't have been on there long.

It didn't take long to get to our site and we were pitched by 11am. It is a really beautiful site with very friendly wardens and we will definately be using it again .. http://www.riverviewtouringpark.co.uk/


As you can see there weren't many others who braved the weather ..pity really as it turned out to be very pleasant. :-))))