Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th February 2007
This was our maiden outing. We had been looking at the van sitting out on the drive for the whole Winter. I’d been using it for work every day but this really doesn’t count. We were desperate to find out how we would get on.
We sorted out our gas and, since we didn’t bother having heating built in, we bought a little ceramic heater from our local hardware store. As far as preparation was concerned, that was about it! The only equipment we knew was missing was the groundsheet for the awning. This was to be delivered when the new seasons stock arrived. We thought we could manage without since we didn’t expect to be spending too long sitting out there!
The weather was fine (for February) so we decided to go for it. We left the house early on the Friday afternoon, taking a pleasant drive down through the Borders. Not really a site-seeing trip but also not hurried, we only stopped the once in Jedburgh for fuel and sweets.
We’ve been members of the Caravan Club for several years now (we owned a couple of caravans before moving on to the camper), so decided to stick to their sites to start with. We’d actually only made it to three of their sites in the past (Bunree near Fort William, Tredegar House near Cardiff and Blackpool South) but the facilities were consistently good and we thought we could rely on quality.
Finding the site was a doddle and, as usual, the warden was friendly and a useful source of information. We had pre-requested a disabled pitch and so, were allocated the pitch nearest the toilet block. I believe that the usual procedure is to allow the visitor onto the park so that they can choose the pitch that suits them best. We have always been ‘given’ a pitch that has been reserved for us.
The facilities at this site were actually a little more basic than we had been used to from the Caravan Club. This, we later found out, was because the site lies on the route for the proposed Borders Rail Link. This has apparently led to an uncertain future for the site, making it difficult to spend a lot of money on refurbishment. However, their claim to ‘basic but spotless’ was certainly true. This did not detract from our stay and should not put anyone off visiting but it might help to be forewarned.
I had no difficulties at the site, despite my wheelchair and wouldn’t expect difficulties for any disabled campers. Please bear in mind though that I can only really comment for myself as any individuals needs will be different!
After arriving and setting up the van and awning, it started to rain!! We were actually fairly lucky. We didn’t really get wet, but it did seem to be raining for most of the time we were undercover. In a way though, this was quite good. It meant that we got to test out our new kit in the wet and, if we could enjoy a horrible damp weekend in February, I’m sure we could enjoy anything!!
On Saturday, after a lie-in, we set off for a drive. The free standing awning was easy to work out, all we needed was something for lunch.
The site is in the middle of the village of Newcastleton. It’s a picturesque village with a few shops and a couple of hotels. One of the shops was a cafe / bakers and they were able to supply a very nice lunch of fresh baked produce.
We took this and headed towards Kilder resevoir. There were some quite spectacular views but, being February, almost everything was shut!! We had reckoned this would be the case, so our expectations were not high. However, a drive round provided ample entertainment, even for the kids, before heading back to the site for a fairly early night.
Not the most exciting of trips, but the venue was fine. We will certainly return. The reason for going had been to test our kit. We managed to do this and were well pleased with the result. The van was cosy at night but there was just enough space to be comfortable. We returned home, a little damp, but looking forward to a proper weekend away when the weather was better!!
One major omission. I forgot the camera!! Sorry for the lack of pics and the long, boring text. We decided to put this blog together after this trip, so the article has been written in retrospect!! Cheers.
Easter week. The kids are off for a couple of weeks but I could only manage the one! This trip was booked a long time ago. We had thought it would be our first trip with the van but couldn’t resist the weekend in February. That’s why we only went as far as Stirling, we thought we would stay within reach of home, just in case it went belly up.
Despite this, we arrived on site mid-afternoon. Again, very friendly staff had reserved us a pitch next to the toilet block. Facilities were very clean and followed the normal Caravan Club layout. There was a separate disabled washroom with plenty of space. This park has a small play area for the Kids and a river running alongside the site.