Witch o't Woods

Tag: camping

Birthday Camping Trip

I’ve just returned from a brilliant birthday weekend in the Lake District with my dad and sister.
Every year, we try to take a little birthday camping trip because my dad’s birthday is on the 4th, and mine is on the 5th, so it’s nice to make a weekend of the celebrations.
We booked three spaces on the Ravenglass Camping and Caravanning Club site. I’ve never stayed at this one before, but my dad had spotted it previously and said he’d really like to try it out.

My dad travelled in his campervan, ‘The Whale’, I travelled in Noah, and my sister brought her tiny walking tent.
The wardens on the site were kind enough to place my sister’s little tent on the grass next to our hardstanding pitches, as otherwise, she would have been in another field entirely.
This is quite common in campsites where both tents and motorhomes are accommodated – it’s often difficult to get pitches near each other if one of you has a tent and the other has a motorhome. But on this occasion, the staff managed to find a way for us, which was very kind of them.

A view of The Whale from my camping pitch

The facilities on this site were much better than those on the Scarborough Camping and Caravanning Club site we stayed on during our three-day walk. The showers were good and hot, and the toilet block was immaculate and warm. I can only presume that Scarbrough is on the wait list for a facilities upgrade. We were very pleasantly surprised here.

The hard standings were pleasant, neat, and mostly level. I did notice a couple of motorhomes using their levelling blocks, but I’ve never felt the need for them on hardstanding pitches, as they’re level enough that it doesn’t make a noticeable difference once you’re inside the van.

While we set up our homes for the weekend, a little robin hopped around us, looking sideways up at us expectantly. He’d obviously learned that campers mean food. He remained our friend throughout the weekend, even venturing inside The Wale at one point to pick up a crumb from in front of the cooker.

Our little robin friend.

Unfortunately, we also had some less-welcome burb friends. The pitches we were placed on were under trees, and a family of crows was living right above us. By the end of the first day, my van and my sister’s tent were covered in bird poo, so perhaps we weren’t as lucky as we’d first thought with the pitches!
We were the only ones struggling with this, though. Looking around, most of the other pitches were under trees, too, but none of the vans seemed to be fairing as badly as my van and Kim’s tent with the droppings. Typical.

Poor Noah needed a good wash by the end of the weekend.

The weather decided to rain for most of the time we were there. It is the Lakes, after all. With the added tree cover, there was very little solar power to be harvested, so I was glad I’d booked Electric Hook Up.
I’ve been getting by without EHU since I bought my new battery in May, but I’d booked this site a month or so before that and then promptly forgotten about it. It was a good job because my battery was already running at half capacity after five days of rubbish Ripon weather. It enjoyed gauging itself on the EHU until it was nice and full again. I was happy I’d spent the extra £45 on a plug-in Victron charger when I upgraded the battery.

As we’d arrived on Friday afternoon, our first task after setting up camp was to ‘hunt and gather’. We chose the local Tesco for this and filled our trolley with wine, biscuits, and ingredients for breakfast sandwiches and stir fry for Saturday night.
Feeling accomplished, we headed to the nearby Brown Cow Inn for a well-earned meal.
My dad and I ordered the chicken burgers, which turned out to be an entire chicken breast in a panini bun, with home-cut chips and giant onion rings.
My sister ordered the gammon steak and was equally impressed with her serving, which consisted of two thick gammon pieces accompanied by home-cut chips.
We were starving, so the huge portion sizes were very welcome!

If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend this Inn, not only for the food but for the warm and friendly bartenders who made us feel so welcome. A true local gem.
We rolled home with full bellies to crack open a bottle of wine and relax inside The Wale.

My delicious Chicken ‘Burger’ at the Brown Cow Inn

Ravenglass Campsite is right next to Ravenglass & Eskdale Steam Railway, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
We decided to book tickets for the Saturday morning train. The trip seems to be set up more for the journey than the destination, as, from what we could see on the map, there wasn’t much to do in Dalegarth, where the line terminated.
There were a few other stops along the way, but these were ‘on request’ stops, and there was no guarantee that the return train would have space for us. We decided to play it safe and book the main ride there and back again.

There were different seating options available, including an open-top carriage, which would have been lovely had the weather been better. We opted for first class on the way there and the Pullman carriage on the way back.
The train was much smaller than the other steam trains I’ve travelled on, and the carriages were also in miniature size, which was very cute.
The first-class seats were in our own little section, with a sliding door that we were allowed to keep open, even when we were on the move. Exciting!

Our first class coach on the outward journey

The journey was just under 40 minutes long, and we did make a couple of stops along the way to allow passengers to disembark. We passed rolling hills, mossy woodland, craggy cliffs and countless sheep. It’s a wonderful part of the country for a steam train ride.

Fast-action view of another little train passing us along the way!

At the end of the line, there was a little gift shop and cafe. My sister and I bought matching Guinea Pig bamboo socks, and we also purchased a nice hot chocolate with all the trimmings to enjoy on the return journey.

Best. Sox. Ever.

The Pullman coach on the return train was much more spacious, featuring rose velvet seats and large glass windows that allowed us to see much more of the green hills as we travelled back along the track.

Our Pullman coach on the return journey

There was mild comedy when the train had to stop because of sheep on the line, who refused to be herded back into their field and instead ran up and down the length of the train in defiance. We also stopped once for a poor teddy who fell out of a carriage window. He was rescued promptly and suffered no lasting harm from his ordeal, but I imagine his owner will be keeping a closer eye on him in the future.

Since we’d booked an early journey, we arrived back in Ravenglass at lunchtime, with plenty of time left over for more exploring.

Our train chugging off into the distance after dropping us off at the station.

Muncaster Castle was only a short walk away, and we decided to head up for a look around.
On the way, we found a box selling fresh farm eggs. When we opened the lid, we saw one last box of giant duck eggs. We purchased them immediately, nestling them safely at the bottom of my rucksack for later. I do love a tasty duck egg.

Initially, we were somewhat shocked by the castle admission price. £24 per adult seemed a little steep, but once inside, we were pleasantly surprised, and by the time we left, we had to admit that, all things considered, it was worth the money.
We arrived at the castle just before 2pm and hurried to the flying field to watch a bird of prey show. The birds swooped in big arcs around the field, diving for the prey offered by their handlers and sometimes swooping so close past our heads that we felt the breeze.

The handler did a fantastic job not only showcasing the birds’ abilities but also educating the crowd. You could tell that she really enjoyed her work and had a real bond with the birds. She was so enthusiastic, and she spoke very gently to the birds, who seemed to be enjoying their role in the show.

I’m usually not a fan of live bird shows. The ones I’ve been to in the past have mainly consisted of a poor, chained bird being walked around the crowd, petted by a thousand hands and looking very sad and bored with the whole experience.
This show was completely different. What a joy to see the birds flying free, enjoying their natural skills.
There was also a lady managing the crowd, ensuring that everyone remained seated and nobody got too close to the birds, who were absolutely not for petting. It was a very refreshing experience.

My favourite was Mouse, who is a vulture. We were told that many people dislike vultures and they have a bad reputation, but they play a very important role in some parts of the world, cleaning up dead things and thus preventing disease.
Mouse was lovely and very well-behaved. At the end of the show, he and three of his vulture companions were allowed to fly around together, catching strips of meat mid-flight.
They were very sweet and comical when the show ended, and they waddled off behind one of the handlers in much the same way as baby ducklings follow their mother.

Unfortunately I was so transfixed by the bird show that I forgot to take any pictures, so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Next stop was the Weapons Hall, which we expected to be a museum of various types of armour. Instead, we found an activity centre where we were allowed to try our hand at shooting a bow and arrow, as well as a crossbow. This was an unexpected adventure, and my dad and I were both very proud when we managed to shoot the ping-pong balls stuck to the crossbow targets. We didn’t fare so well at the bow and arrow. Those are much harder to aim. We did at least hit the target, though, so we were not terrible at it.
There was also the option of axe throwing, but having seen videos on YouTube of people almost scalping themselves with a rebounding axe, we decided to give that one a miss.

Trying my hand at shooting a bow. They were much harder to aim than the crossbows.

The staff within the activity centre were extremely friendly and very knowledgeable. It was an enjoyable experience, and everything was included in the admission ticket price, so we didn’t have to pay any extra.

Once we’d finished shooting arrows, we hurried over to the castle, which was due to close in 15 minutes. For some reason, the castle closes at 4pm, while the grounds are open until 6.30pm. We’d missed this on the timetable initially, so we had a mad dash around the castle to see as much as we could in the remaining 15 minutes.
The staff at the front were very supportive of our ambitious aim and cheered us on as we zoomed off to stick our heads briefly into each room.

A beautiful old rocking horse in one of the castle bedrooms

The library was beautiful. Wall-to-wall covered with books, featuring a large window, a beautiful old fireplace, and a sitting area. The absolute dream!
The rest of the castle was just as grand, with giant four-poster beds and beautifully carved furniture.

A small section of the bookshelves in the library

However, not all of the rooms were available for viewing. As we walked away from the castle, I looked back to see what appeared to be a large polar bear staring out at me from one of the windows. I didn’t recall seeing a polar bear in any of the rooms we visited.

Can you spot the polar bear?

There are tales of ghostly goings on in the castle, which were confirmed by the staff as we stopped to collect our bags on the way out. One lady told us that a few days before, she’d been closing up and heard a sound like the loose floor tile being stepped on, even though she was the only person there.
Spooky!

A very grand four poster bed. Imaging sleeping in this every night!

People often ask me if the Witch in the Woods house is haunted, and they’re always disappointed when I tell them I’ve never experienced any spooky goings-on. Perhaps all of her tenants have been happy and never felt the need to stick around and haunt people.

View of the castle from the gardens

A view of the landscape standing in front of the castle

After our mad dash around the castle, we decided to finish off our day with a walk around the gardens. There were numerous small woodland paths, and at one point, we came across a giant rope bridge suspended among the trees. My sister and I braved a crossing while my dad shook his head and fretted about the possibility of me breaking another limb.
At the end of the rope bridge, we slid down the metal slide to ground level, feeling pleased about our survival, and continued on to the fairy path.

Up on the rope bridge. Scary biscuits.

The fairy path was one of my favourite bits of the garden. There were lots of little fairy houses in the trees along the path and a human-sized fairy house for us to try out ourselves. It was a nice end to the day, and we trudged back to the campsite feeling tired but happy.

Cute little fairy houses

A Green Man carving in one of the fairy trees

Dad made a lamb stir fry for us all using his new wok, and we ate it around the table in The Wale, listening to the sounds of the rain dripping on the roof. We were very cosy and ended up having a much earlier night, as we were all falling asleep by 10 pm.

Sunday morning was checkout day, so we slept in a little and then made breakfast sandwiches consisting of sausage, bacon, and giant duck eggs. They were delicious. The duck eggs had the largest yolks I’ve ever seen!
Checkout time at the Camping and Caravanning Club sites is 12 pm, so we had plenty of time to digest and then pack up our things.

Look at the size of those yolks!!

Just as we were getting ready to leave, my sister remembered that she hadn’t done our birthday ‘cake’, so she called us back into The Whale, where we found a pile of mini Collin the Caterpillar cakes with swirly candles sticking out of them. We declared it brilliant and scoffed a Collin each before saying goodbye.

Pile of Collin cake

My dad went further up the country, not keen to return to everyday life just yet. My sister headed back home to Huddersfield to wipe her poo-covered tent, and I headed back to Ripon to clean my poo-covered van.

All in all, it was a great birthday adventure!

Fox
xx

July 9, 2025
A Cracking Good Walk

I completed the two-and-a-half-day hike along the East Coast!
I battled heat, sunburn, and blisters and walked around 39 miles from Hinderwell, just next to Runswick Bay, to Scarborough.

This was my first ever multi-day hike. I’ve always wanted to do one but somehow never got around to it. Partly because I didn’t have anyone to do it with, so I was thrilled when my sister suggested it.

Day 1

From Hinderwell to Robin Hood’s Bay

We were dropped off at a lovely little campsite called Serenity Camping in Hinderwell on Thursday evening so that we could wake up and go first thing on Wednesday morning.

The entrance to Serenity Camping, where our journey began.

This campsite was the perfect starting point. It had a beautiful little camping field complete with ducks, blackbirds and those little black birds with green feet. I don’t know what they’re called. I’ve always just referred to them as ‘Greenfoots’.

These little guys were wandering around near our tents. The mum was following behind, quacking at them to stay away from us!

A group of ducks taking a nap on a straw bail in the pond area.

We pitched our little coffin tents side by side, then went to the kitchen area to make ourselves a nice hot drink, which we drank sitting on a nearby bench and watching the blackbirds peck around for their ‘shopping’.

Coffin tents.

Offering a worm to Mr Blackburb.

My first night’s sleep was terrible. I didn’t blow my mattress up all the way because I didn’t want my hip to hurt in the night (the curse of a side sleeper). Unfortunately, this resulted in back and shoulder aches and dead arms. Which felt much worse than an achy hip.
I found myself awake at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, listening to the sounds of birds fluttering around the tent. I also watched as the shadow of one bird landed on top of the tent and then watched the subsequent liquid poo dribble down the outside of the tent. Lovely.
But apparently, good luck.

At around 7am, we were up and out of the tents. Packed away. Ready for off. This was the hardest day.
We covered 30 kilometres, and my shoulders were furious at carrying my rucksack despite it not being all that heavy.
We were lucky that the weather was overcast and mild. It made the walk much easier, and we made a good pace along the coastal path.

Marching along, feeling good.

We came upon the first big set of stairs pretty early in the day. They just kept going, on and on. We felt like they’d never end. When we got to the top, we collapsed onto the floor and prayed to the coastal path gods that there would be no more like that for the rest of the walk.
To their credit, the coastal path gods did bless us. There were many more stairs along the way, but never as many as on that first morning.

One of the many coastal staircases we encountered along the way.

By the time we arrived in Whitby, we were really flagging.
My feet were killing me, and I’d developed a bit of a limp. We worried that we’d taken on too much.

Our view on arrival in Whitby

We found a little sandwich shop and bought takeaway paninis, and I had coffee to try to wake myself up. We also bought ice-cold bottles of water, glugging them down gratefully as we limped through the crowds.

After finding a nice place to sit and eat, we removed our shoes and socks and allowed our feet a good rest in the sunshine for half an hour.
I also applied sunscreen as I’d not felt the need to put any on that morning, but by now, the sun had come out, and I was baking. I’d chosen to wear cycle shorts, and my poor legs, having not seen the outside world since last year, were unprepared for the horrors of full sun.

Next, we had to walk up the 99 steps, and we were not looking forward to it. We decided to do the steps, then sit for another half hour at the top and maybe have an ice cream before continuing.

However, that half hour of rest and food did us wonders. We didn’t struggle on the steps at all, and when we got to the top, we decided to just keep moving, vowing to get ice cream at some point along the way.

Looking back at Whitby Abbey as we headed out of town

We never did get the ice cream. There wasn’t really anywhere else to stop along the route as we made our way to the next campsite, and we were quite happy to plod along without it.

The sun made things slightly harder, but we were on a roll. We didn’t struggle until we came off the coastal path and turned inland toward our campsite. It was up a mild and neverending hill, and I swear it felt like the longest section of the walk so far.
By the time we arrived, my brain was beginning to shut down from tiredness. I could barely understand the owner as he described where we should pitch up and where the facilities were.

We’d picked another brilliant campsite, Hooks House Farm. It had rolling green fields with an amazing view of Robin Hood’s Bay and the surrounding landscape.

The view from our tent pitch at Hooks House Farm

The land we pitched on was on a bit of a slope, but we were so tired we knew it wouldn’t affect our sleep at all.
We headed straight for the showers as soon as the tents were pitched. Never has a shower felt so good.
The facilities were clean and spacious, and the showers had great pressure. We left the shower block feeling fresh and ready for food.

Unfortunately, we also left waddling like stick people, as we’d forgotten to stretch when we stopped walking. This became a theme for the rest of the walk.

We took a slow and stiff walk down the field into town, where we fell into the first eatery we came across, which happened to be a local Hotel serving food, called Hotel Victoria.
I had a minted lamb burger, and Kim had a ‘lie pie’, which is what we call a pie when it has only a pastry lid but no bottom. Both were delicious but also a bit on the expensive side. We didn’t care. We were starving and not willing to walk any further to find sustenance.

Burger and Lie Pie

We also ordered a celebratory glass of Prosecco because we’re worth it.

Tasty bubble rewards

Waddling back up the hill to the tents was hard, and we went straight to bed, even though it was only around 8.30pm.
With the sounds of the other campers making merry around us (including one very loud, cackly lady who made us chuckle at each other through the tent walls), we drifted off to sleep.
I slept much better that night, partly because of exhaustion and partly because I blew up my mattress properly.

Our little houses on day two, Hooks House Farm

Day 2

Robin Hood’s Bay to Almost Scarborough

The next day was Thursday. When I awoke at the bottom of my tent (the slope, remember), I was already baking hot. I could hear Kim pottering around, and when I stuck my head out into the blinding sunlight, she was already up and dressed. I’d slept in, and it was already 8am. She’d let me sleep in since today was easier, with only around 12 miles to cover.

We took our time getting ready and packing away the tents, had our Huel breakfasts, and set off again at a reasonable but slower pace than the day before.

For anyone wondering, Huel is a meal powder that’s a bit like a protein shake but with all of the nutrients of a complete, balanced meal. It’s brilliant as a breakfast option because it provides me with plenty of morning energy without any planning or cooking. If you fancy trying it and want £15 off your first order, use this link.

The sun was crazy hot as we walked away from the campsite, and we couldn’t wait to get back on the coast path for that lovely sea breeze.
But first, we went down to the bay and stopped for a coffee by the sea.

Heading down into the bay.

Our morning coffee view

Then it was time to climb another huge staircase to bring us back up from Robin Hood’s Bay and back onto the coastal path.
We were glad when we had to stop halfway up to let a pack of small children walk by. They were out on a school trip with their little high-vis vests, and they politely thanked us in turn as they trotted by like ants.
We stood to the side, sweating, and tried to catch our breath to say, ‘You’re welcome’, five hundred times.

Our view from the top after climbing out of Robin Hood’s Bay

We struggled to find somewhere to stop for lunch that day. There were no more towns to pass through, and the path was much less walked than the previous day. We figured this was because unless you were dedicated to walking all the way to Scarborough, there wasn’t much reason to come this way.

We did pass a few other walkers. Occasionally, they’d stop to ask us how far we’d come, where we were going, and if we were walking for a charity cause.
We didn’t walk for charity on this occasion because we wanted to ensure we were up to long walks before gaining sponsorship. But if we do another one, we may raise some money for charity.

The view from Ravenscar, looking back at the coast we’d walked along. A fly photobombed the picture!

Disaster struck around lunchtime when I started to feel some soreness on the bottom of my right foot. There was nowhere to stop for a while, and the longer I walked on it, the worse it felt.
We eventually found a place where the path widened out a bit, and I removed my boot to inspect the damage.

The pad of my foot (the front bit where the toes join on) had a gigantic blister. It was around three cm wide and getting bigger by the second.
I also had a giant blister on one toe, which I hadn’t even felt. I decided to pop that one, as it wasn’t sore.

Kim had brought some Compede plasters, and I stuck one of those on the giant foot blister, hoping it would somehow fix the issue.
We sat for half an hour, drinking water and re-applying sun cream, but when it came time to walk again, I knew I was in trouble.
Every time I took a step, I could feel the blister getting squashed, and I realised I should have drained it before applying the plaster.
We were looking for another space to sit down without blocking the path when I felt the blister burst. I couldn’t walk any further with it sliding around in my sock, so I just had to sit in the bushes at the side of the path, remove the now completely soggy plaster, clean it up and put a new one on.
Once it was cleaned up, it felt better, but it was still quite painful to walk on, and I worried that it would take hours of limping along before we reached the next campsite.

At around 2 in the afternoon, we came across a sign pointing us off the coastal path to an Inn. The sign said it was 1/3 of a mile away, but it felt much longer. We were almost out of water and definitely out of fuel. The sun was hot on our backs, and the packs were starting to feel like small elephants.

Thankfully, the Inn had a nice shaded area for us to sit under, and the sandwiches were packed full of filling and only £5.60, complete with a side salad. We chugged two glasses of ice water and asked for extra to fill our water bottles. Then we set off again.

The path was getting quite overgrown at this point, with some sections weaving through ferns taller than us!
At one point, we passed a topless man carrying a gigantic pair of sheers, snipping at the overgrown foliage as he meandered along.
He told us it was around two and a half hours to Scarborough. We giggled at the thought of him snipping his way along the path all the way from Scarborough whenever we came across his snipped leaves on the path.

Walking through this part felt like walking on a tropical island. It was so green!

Luckily, our next campsite, Scarborough Camping and Caravanning Club, was not two and a half hours away. We reached it at around 6.30.
Being one of the Camping Club sites, we got a phone call at 6.20pm, asking where we were because we’d put a 6pm arrival time on our booking forms.
I find that these types of campsites are a bit naggy sometimes. This is not the first time I’ve had a phone call because of tardiness. But if you book a campsite weeks in advance, it’s difficult to know exactly when you’ll arrive on the day. It never seems to be a problem with the small, private campsites. Just the Club sites.

I can’t complain about the service once we’d arrived, though. The lady at the counter gave us a refund as we’d booked normal pitches online, but apparently, if you book over the phone, they have backpacker rates.
So that was nice.

We had lovely flat pitches here, too, on the ‘sunrise field’, which was beautiful and sunny still at 7pm when we were pitching the tents.

Home for the night in the sunrise field

Unfortunately, the showers left much to be desired. Mine was cold, and my sister got the even shorter straw as hers was just a trickle rather than a shower.
Not the best experience after a long, hot day of walking in the sun.

Our evening meal went much better. There was a pizza pub called Scalby Manor just down the road from the campsite, so we rolled into it three minutes before final food orders and looked pleadingly at the man at the door.
He was kind and allowed us to order food if we were quick.
We scurried inside and ordered a stuffed crust pizza each and a bottle of Prosecco to share. It was half the price of the Inn the day before, even with the whole bottle of Prosecco.
The pizzas were tasty, but they had a different type of cheese in the crust. Not bad. Just not expected. I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not. I definitely prefer the mozzarella stuffing. Still, it hit the spot.

Once again, we waddled back to our tents and said goodnight, proud of ourselves for completing our second day of walking.

Pizza and Prosecco at Scalby Manor Pub

Day 3

The final waddle into Scarborough

The next day was Friday, and we only had around 5 miles to walk into the centre of Scarborough, where we’d booked a train back to York.
We took our time getting ready, and I used my little stove for the first time to make us cups of tea since this campsite had no kitchen facilities.
I’m impressed with my little stove. It boiled the water in no time and packs down really small, so it hardly takes up any space in my pack.

My foot was still really sore from the day before, but once I started moving, it quickly settled down into a dull burn, which was manageable.

Finally, we can see Scarborough!

It wasn’t long before we arrived in Scarborough and happily walked along the Promenade, with the sun shining and the sea blue and glittering.

The view of Scarborough Castle as we walked along the Promenade.

We’d been debating whether we were up to the walk up and over the castle hill. We decided we couldn’t come all this way without doing that tiny bit, so we went for it.
Going up was surprisingly easy, but coming back down the other side with stiff legs and achy knees was torture. My blister awoke angrily and started to make its displeasure known. By the time we came back down into town, I was limping like the walking dead and moving with the speed and balance of a drunken snail.

The view from Scarborough Castle. The final hill climb.

This only meant one thing, of course. Food and rest.
We found a traditional fish and chip restaurant called The Anchor, overlooking the sea. We slithered under a sun brolly and ordered our meal.
Amazingly, despite it being 11:30 in the morning, the restaurant provided us with a small bottle of Prosecco each, allowing us to continue with our tradition of food and Prosecco at the end of our walk.
The fish and chips were delicious, and we made our way to the train station full, happy, and slightly sleepy.

The final Prosecco reward. Followed by a Dandelion and Burdock to wash down the fish and chips. Which we forgot to take pictures of, because we were so tired.

My dad picked us up in York and drove us back to Ripon, where we’d booked the bus accommodation at Ivy Bank Stay-Cation.
We had a BBQ and sank into the wood-fired hot tub to soothe our aching muscles.
With another glass of Prosecco, of course. Hic.
Absolute bliss.

The hot tub awaits!

That was four days ago; my blister is already feeling much better. I can walk around now without limping. I did a lot of sleeping in the two days after returning from the walk. My body must have needed to catch up. But I’m feeling much more lively today.

I took Nettie, who belongs to one of the ladies in Ivy Bank Café, for a walk around the block this morning. It was nice to get out and about again after a few days of hibernation, and having a little doggy companion on my walk was nice.

Nettie! Sorry for the blur, she moves quite fast when her little legs get going!

I’m away to Wales this weekend, for camping and a day walk with a friend, so I’m hoping my blister will be fully healed by then. If not, it’ll have to be more of an amble.

Fox
xx

June 25, 2025
Home Improvements and Adventure Packing

Last weekend, I finally bought the paint for Noah’s new front wing, which was damaged a few weeks ago when the gate blew into it while I was driving through.
I’d already sourced a new wing a few weeks back at the painful price of £119.00. I was initially quoted £90 when I called up to enquire, but when I arrived to pick it up, the price had jumped for some reason.

With few options nearby, I decided to just pay the money for an easy life. It was annoying because the man behind the counter was also rude. I would have preferred to give my money to anyone else but him.
But I really wanted to get started on the fix, and it felt like a lot of effort to source a different panel, so I paid the extra money.
The place I bought it was called Mount Panels over in Leeds, and although they were rude and gave me an initial false quote, the panel is perfectly fine.

The new panel. Apologies for the poor picture quality. New panels come ready coated in black primer.

I sourced paint from a shop called Soll in Kirkstall. The guy there was really friendly and helpful. He asked for my fuel cap cover so that he could match the paint to my van exactly, and the paint was ready in under an hour.

My dad gave me some lessons in spraying because he’s done this many times before. I can’t afford to spend too much on this, so we’ve had to opt for spray cans over a spray gun.

Dad giving me spraying lessons. This is the back of the panel. Apparently if you don’t spray this side too then it’ll rust really quickly.

I went for paint with lacquer included, hoping it would make the job quicker and easier, but it hasn’t worked out as well as I’d hoped. I could have done with one more can of paint, as the finish is not brilliant. I need to sand the whole thing down with fine wet and dry sandpaper, then buy a tin of spray lacquer to go over the top.

Part of the issue was how sunny it was on the day we sprayed the panel. There’s a slight orange peel effect in places, which is apparently where the paint is drying as it comes out of the can. Very annoying, but I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy job, and it’s also a bit of a learning curve, so I expected a couple of issues along the way.

After consulting YouTube, I now have a clear idea of how to fix it, so I’ll pick up some lacquer when I next have time to work on it and have another go.

In the meantime, Dad used a piece of wood and a hammer to beat the dinted panel back into place so that I can at least open the driver door properly. It’s made things easier for now, which is good because I won’t have time to work on the repair this weekend due to the walking adventure and family plans when I return.

Still looks rubbish, but at least I can open the door now.

In between waiting for the paint layers to dry, I removed the awful blue stripes, which I’ve wanted to get rid of since buying Noah almost a year ago.
I have nothing against stripes per se, but they were not to my taste. They were also not applied very neatly, which meant bits were coming unstuck, and there were places where they hadn’t been trimmed very well, and even some rips which had been stuck back together overlapping. It just looked cheap and nasty.

Noah with his blue stripes

I removed the top stripes a couple of months back. These went along the roof’s edge and down the front of the doors to meet the stripes on the front wings. It took me ages to clean off the sticky residue they left behind, so I’ve been procrastinating over removing the rest of them.

While watching a random van conversion video on YouTube recently, I found a product that made the job much easier. It’s called G&T Glue and Tar Remover by Car-Chem, and it just melts the glue in under a minute. It was still a grim job to wipe off the jellified glue after it had melted, but it was much faster, and I got all of the stripes and glue removed in one afternoon.

Glue and Tar remover by Car-Chem

Noah now looks very neat with just his black stripes on either side. I plan to get a couple of nice campervan stickers from Etsy, but first, the whole exterior needs a proper cleanup. There are a few chips in the paint, which I need to learn how to repair. There are also marks on the side panels from where the old business stickers were when Noah was a plumbing van. The paint, in general, just needs brightening and polishing.
I’ll have to consult YouTube again for lessons. What would I do without it?

No more blue stripes

I plan to get Noah looking nice and neat inside and out by the end of summer and then post him online for sale in the spring of next year. Spring is the best time to sell a campervan because that’s when everyone starts thinking about camping and enjoying the sun.

Overall, I’m enjoying my home improvements and learning how to fix things rather than paying others to fix them. It’s quite satisfying when a job is finally completed, and Noah is a little more improved.

Found this little guy on my van while I was removing the stickers. I’ve never seen a green spider before, but apparently he’s a Cucumber Spider and they’re quite common in the UK.

However, the work will be put on hold for a week or so. I head to Redcar with my sister tonight, where we’ll begin our two-and-a-half-day walk along the coast. We’re very excited to be doing our first camping walk. I think I’ve packed everything I need, but I’m sure I’ll have forgotten something.

I got a great deal on a hiking tent from Mountain Warehouse. I decided to have a go at putting it up immediately after collecting it. I was at my mum’s house at the time, so it went up in her back garden.
It’s not the most spacious of tents, but it’s very light, which is the most important thing, and it was also easy to put up.

It has doors on both sides, which makes for a great through-wind. This is good, because the temperature inside felt like 100 degrees within two minutes of putting it up…

Mum did all of my washing for me while I was there. She’s such a good egg. Washing is always a pain when living the van life. Usually, I have to go to a laundrette or book into a campsite with washing facilities to get the job done, so the laundrette of mum is very welcome!
We had cups of tea and admired the tent from the patio while my clothes dried.

Admiring the tent. Also using the tent as a cardigan dry rack.

My sister also came over, and we decided to tackle the issue of the security tag on my walking rucksack.
I bought it from Go Outdoors a couple of months back and then realised they hadn’t removed the security tag before I left the store. I don’t remember the alarm going off, but I was concerned that it would set off other alarms if I went in and out of stores while on the walk. Also, I didn’t want people to see the tag and think I’d stolen my walking bag.

At this point, I had no idea where the receipt was, and I didn’t fancy trying to convince the checkout assistant that I hadn’t stolen the bag, so I again turned to my good friend YouTube for advice.
We were assured that the tags are easy to remove with just a couple of forks and some light pressure. We also needed to cover the whole thing in a plastic bag because the tag contained dye capsules designed to explode if the tag is tampered with.
I’d imagined masses of dye exploding into my eyes as I tried to prise the thing off, but then I watched a video of one exploding and realised it was only a tiny bit of dye and would probably not blind me.

Two forks, a garden fork, a hammer, and two screwdrivers later, we finally succeeded in removing the tag. Without breaking the dye capsules, which was a nice achievement.
I would not recommend this method, though. It was a lot of faff. It’s definitely better to check your items for security tags before leaving the store!

The little dye capsules look really cool. I didn’t want to throw them away, but also had no idea what I’d do with them if I kept them.

My bag feels quite heavy now that it’s packed, and my back is about to have a rude awakening. The last time I carried a pack like this was when I went on a month-long trip to Hawaii. That was back in 2018, and I’m nowhere near as fit as I was then. The pack is a bit lighter than that one was, though, and I’ve been doing a lot more walking this year to build the strength in my injured leg, so hopefully, I’ll manage okay.
My walking boots are rubbing on one of my ankle scars, so I’ve packed my trainers just in case it gets bad.
I’m looking forward to the trip and will be recording the route on the All Trails app, so I’ll share the map next week.

Wish me luck!

Fox
xx

June 17, 2025
A change of Scenery

This week, I’ve come to Ivy Bank Stay-Cation, a farm campsite in the village of Kirkby Malzeard. It’s a great site where I holed up for most of last winter. They won the Vanlife Awards Campsite of the Year a couple of months ago, which was great and has seen a big boost in business for them.

Sometimes, when I stay at the cottage for an extended period, I can go for days and days without speaking to another person. At first, it’s nice. I enjoy spending time alone, and tranquillity is often needed after some of my travel adventures. But after a while, I feel the need to speak to other humans again and access nice hot showers and running water. This is the great thing about living in a campervan. When I get bored or feel the need for adventure, I simply drive off and find somewhere else to settle for a bit.

Ivy Bank has its own little café, and it’s a farm campsite, so there are chickens and sheep and lots of birdlife. It’s tranquil during the week but can get busy at the weekends, especially since they won the award. Having the option to return to the cottage on weekends is great because it means I get the best of both worlds.
My dad also has a season pitch here for his campervan ‘The Whale’, so we often get more time to hang out while I’m here.
I’m friends with the lady who runs the café, so it’s nice to go for coffee and chat some days when I’m feeling the need to be social.

I’m also starting to feel the need for some sun on my face again. The weather in this part of the country has been rubbish recently, so I’m considering going down the country for a while.
However, the next couple of months are full of plans with family and friends, so I won’t be able to head down south until the end of July.

A rare moment of sunshine. That bus over there is where I’ll be hot-tubbing after the long walk with my sister.

Speaking of family adventures, my sister visited the cottage this weekend. We needed to plan for a three-day walk we’re doing in a couple of weeks. So we decided to have a fire night at the cottage to make the plan and catch up, as we’ve not had time to hang out for a while.
We try to fit in a ‘sister night’ once a month or so, but we’re both quite busy with life, so sometimes we go a bit longer than that between meet-ups. But it’s always really nice to just chill and catch up when we eventually get together.

This was the first fire night of the year at the cottage, so we had to gather stones first to make the fire circle.
My dad removed the old fire circle while I was away, healing from my accident. He said it made the lawn easier to mow.
I wanted it in a different place anyway, so it now sits directly in front of the cottage door. Easier to ferry snacks and drinks in and out of the cottage.
Dad was only mildly grumpy that I burned a small patch of grass and that he’ll now have to strim around it when he mows the lawn. He also commented about buying a movable fire pit, so I won’t be surprised if one appears in the garden at some point.
But until then, we have the nice new stone circle.

My sister has bought a new tent for the walking trip we’ll be doing, and so she decided to put it up in the garden and try it out. It’s a pretty nice tent, and despite the heavy downpour in the middle of the night, she stayed sound and dry inside. I’ve ordered the same tent for myself.

My sister making her bed in the new tent, and the nice new fire pit which we built in under ten minutes.

This will be our first multi-day walk, so we’re excited but also a bit worried that we’ll be exhausted from carrying our camping gear. We’re planning to walk from Redcar to Scarborough, stopping at three different campsites along the way.

My sister has done most of the planning. She loves that stuff, and I’m not a planner at all, so it works out well. I need to buy a few extra bits like a small stove and a new sleeping bag.
I bought a sleeping bag from Mountain Warehouse last weekend, but it turned out to be a child-sized one. It didn’t say it was a child’s sleeping bag anywhere on the packaging, and I didn’t notice that it was only 160 cm long until I opened it when I got home and tried to fit inside it.
I’ve already removed the label, so I probably can’t take it back to the shop now, but since it was only £20, I’m not too bothered. I’ll probably give it to my friend’s little girl as they sometimes go on family camping trips. But it does mean that I now have to go and shop for a new sleeping bag again.

The long walk will happen in a couple of weeks, followed by a much-needed hot tub when we return to Ivy Bank campsite, so I’ll be sure to post about how it went.

In other news, I’m happy and sad to report that the baby birds have flown the nest! After shopping, I arrived home on Friday to find only one bird in the nest. When it saw me peering in, it did a little hop and flew across the garden.
It was impossible to grab a picture of them as they flitted around the woodland area in the garden to the left of the cottage. They’re just so fast!
The nest is now empty, and it doesn’t look like the mum is interested in returning to lay a second clutch. So, I will take the opportunity to chop the bush right down before it falls away from the wall again.
I’ll miss my little bird babies, but I think they’ve decided to stay in the forest garden, so at least I can still hear them cheeping, and sometimes I see them looking for worms in the lawn. I’m happy that they all survived and grew up to be healthy adult blackbirds.

The only picture I managed to get of a baby bird after they flew the nest.

Now that I’m at Ivy Bank for the week, I have a new set of birds to watch. There’s a little blackbird here who likes to look under my van for worms, and the chickens make an appearance occasionally to look for wayward crumbs. I like to keep a pot of dried mealworms by the door to entice the birds out for snacks.
Drinking tea with the van door open and watching the wildlife is honestly one of my favourite things about vanlife. I love that as soon as I open the door, I’m basically outside. I feel so much closer to nature and the outdoors this way.

Unfortunately, one chicken was killed by a loose dog last weekend. The campers in question had simply opened their van door at night to let the dogs run free, and one of the dogs decided it fancied a poor chicken. They denied all knowledge the next morning when the chicken was found dead under their vehicle, but the campsite has cameras, so it was easy to see what had happened.
For those of you who own dogs and stay on campsites, please always keep them on a lead. There’s usually a good reason why the campsites ask you to do this.

Until next time.

Fox
xx

June 9, 2025