# Snelly Up North



## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Tomorrow were off away up north. We have one site booked for Tue night near to Beamish museum, which we are visiting Wednesday. After that we have no plan what so ever! So im looking for suggestions, must see's and roads to avoid when driving a 35ft RV!

I'd like to see a little of Northumberland National Park and maybe come back via the Lakes. We have from Tues til Sunday.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Have you been to Gateshead Snelly ? Sounds an unlikely holiday destination but we had a really interesting day there last summer. There's the Millenium bridge, the Sage Centre, Baltic Centre art gallery, Newcastle a walk over the bridge away ( Bessie Surtees House on the quay) lots of places to eat and things to see.

We parked at the Metro Centre in Gateshead and used the very good bus service into town. I guess you'd have no trouble parking an RV there. We were not hassled with our van and it was a vast enough space that we kept well away in a corner.

Try it - you'll enjoy it !


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Grizzly said:


> Have you been to Gateshead Snelly ? Sounds an unlikely holiday destination but we had a really interesting day there last summer. There's the Millenium bridge, the Sage Centre, Baltic Centre art gallery, Newcastle a walk over the bridge away ( Bessie Surtees House on the quay) lots of places to eat and things to see.
> 
> We parked at the Metro Centre in Gateshead and used the very good bus service into town. I guess you'd have no trouble parking an RV there. We were not hassled with our van and it was a vast enough space that we kept well away in a corner.
> 
> Try it - you'll enjoy it !


Were off to see friends who live near Gateshead/Newcastle, so we'll consider that, thank you.


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

hi Shane,

we have relatives in Whitley Bay and have toured this area a fair bit.The Northumberland coastline is one of the most beautiful and unspoilt areas of the UK.Probably because the weather is usually harsh up there and no-one goes,but on a decent day you would be hard pushed to find anywhere better.

Try Seahouses a pretty village on the coast then up to Bamburgh and the castle,Lindisfarne island,an important bird sanctuary is a bit further north and accessible at low tide-read the warning signs or you may have to stay the night!

Inland and through the Northumberland national park to Kielder water the scenery is stunning,there are a couple of excellent sites on the shores of the lake which should take an RV,can't guarantee it though,I should give them a bell first. 

Also well worth a visit is Cragside,which is a stately home in the middle of the national park and a must see imo,very interesting and educational for the kids.They have a big free car park there which will take the RV ok.

Steve


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## dbnosey (Jul 16, 2006)

Go up to Holy Island via the coastal route signposted with a castle. Find the safe crossing times at tourist information go over the causeway to the island and park on the beech left of the road just before the village. Two good pubs for meals. If you want water the coach/disable car park toilet has a tap. DO NOT WILDCAMP on the island even if you miss an evening tide ( just came back this week) unless you want an early morning alarm call. You can wildcamp in the carpark landside of the causeway this I was told by the Landlord of the Crown and Anchor so we did for two nights, whilst we went to Berwick upon Tweed for a day. On the way up or down the coast you can wildcamp at Amble harbour and get very good fish and chips did this Saturday night. Lots to see up the Northumberland Coast. Hope you enjoy your trip, we did. One night CL one night wildcamp.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Seahouses*

Hi

you must, MUST, must have the fish and chips from the shop next to the coach/car park at Seahouses! Yum yum.

Russell


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## 96088 (Aug 22, 2005)

The Angel of the North is well worth nipping off the main road for.


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

Hi Shane

The Lake district is a beautiful part of the world, but in an RV you will be best sticking on or very close to the main A591 between Keswick & Kendal. Other roads may be a bit tricky 8O 

Trevor


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## ksebruce (Nov 5, 2006)

> The Angel of the North is well worth nipping off the main road for


Known by the locals as "Rusty Rita"


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

*Day One*

After much stress, shouting and mardyness, we finally left home at 10am this morning. Stopping at the cash machine, butchers and LPG station added 30 mins onto the beginning of our journey. We finally hit the road at 10.30am. At noon we stopped at a services on the A1, near Thirsk and took a 20 min break. From the services we could see the hills at the start of the North Yorkshire moors, a nice sight reminding us of many happy holidays spent there. Following tomtom, I only went wrong once and of course it was tomtoms fault for not telling me to keep right as we approached Gateshead.

We pulled up at friends in Gateshead just before 2pm. The rv ran very smoothly and handled the hills admirably and thanks to my new dvd/cd head unit, i'd had plenty of tunes to keep me happy whilst I drove.

After a few hours at our friends, we set off to find "Bobby Shafto's" campsite, right near Beamish museum. We arrived after a short drive. Its worth mentioning the approach road to this campsite is very narrow, uphill and has lots of low trees, but they are all small branches and just twanged the aerials and thankfully not many cars came the other way!

So now im sat in the rv, using Sals sim card to access the internet as I can't get my O2 or T-Mobile sims to work, looking over towards Gateshead, Newcastle and the sea. The weathers holding out and the freeview signal is excellent! There are some locals camping here, who are very friendly and helped me navigate onto my tight gravel pitch. What more could we want!

Tune in tomorrow for the Beamish report!


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## vardy (Sep 1, 2006)

Photos.


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## ksebruce (Nov 5, 2006)

> hills at the start of the North Yorkshire moors, a nice sight reminding us of many happy holidays spent there


Known as The Cleveland Hills. We live at Carlton in Cleveland right at the foot of Carlton Bank. Next time you are passing call in to the village to the Blackwell Ox Inn smashing Thai meals at reasonable prices (no we don't own it or work there) we have a static on small site behind the inn. Call for a coffee and introduce yourselves last van on right as you walk up site away from pub (100yds) And you are right it's a beautiful area. At the moment pub takes tourers so you could stay overnight (or longer) Tell Jeff the owner you know Ken n Steph and get a warm welcome (sorry site can't take RV's) If you decide to stay PM me and I'll get the kettle on or a beer or wine.    Applies to any member! haven't put site on database as in the near future won't take tourers.


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## 96097 (Aug 22, 2005)

Hi Shane

Hope you, Sal and the kids have a great time while you are away.....

Sorry for being off topic, but notice you have a new avatar - on my pc you have a purple face - interesting!! :wink: 

Sharon


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## 88781 (May 9, 2005)

> Sorry for being off topic, but notice you have a new avatar - on my pc you have a purple face - interesting!! Wink


 Glad you said that Sharon, I was going to send the monitor for repair!     :wink:


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## CatherineandSteve (Dec 20, 2005)

*Scarey face*

Hi Shane,

Get Sally to phone for an ambulance as your face has turned purple. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Catherine & Steve.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Catherine and Steve

Everythings under control, its nothing to worry about. I forget now what Shane said it was, it was one of three things

1) He was embarrassed at being such a jammy dodger
2) He had not been that busy at work and it is a Northern Sunburn
or
3) He had been very busy at work on Saturday night and it was a different sort of Northern sunburn and he got in a punch - up

I expect Shane to have a forth option


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

stew


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

First things first... yep my face is a bit purple, that will be the low res webcam for ya! Do you like my old glasses?? :lol:

So, onto day two of the great Snelly northern tour. We left Bobby Shafto's campsite for the 3 minute journey to Beamish. What a fantastic place! We spent 6 hours there and still didn't see everything. The weather stayed nice as we went round experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of times gone by. If you havent been, we highly recommend it. They also have a massive carpark with good access, enough to accomodate any size motorhome... its free too!

After a nice day round Beamish, we headed west along the A69 for our next campsite. This campsite we are on tonight is Hadrians Wall Caravan and Camping Site, slap bang next to Britains biggest garden wall. When we called this morning to check access and availability, Sally did stress we were 35ft long, but that still didn't stop the owner commenting "the size is riduculous" and other such "how do you get on with getting it on other campsites", to which I gave my well rehursed and standard replies. So after a rethink, the owner changed our pitch from the 20ft long one he had saved for us, to the center of a field, of which half is now on my towball (dont ask). So after we finally got sited and i'd plugged into the EHU and blown it, I settled down only to find the tv had no reception. Looking at one of my tugger neighbours, I could see they had a perfect picture via their crappy status aerial... I really must sort mine out, but for now i'll enjoy the scenery instead!

There are lots of kids on this site and our immediate neighbours are very friendly. This site is ideal for walking. At the moment it has a portacabin for a shower/toilet block, it is very clean, but the showers are freezing! They are building a new block at the moment, which looks like it will be fantastic when its done. £12 for the night inclusing EHU, not bad for a site in such a beautiful place.

Tomorrow we plan to head to Carlisle and then southward toward the Lakes. I've been looking forward to this part of the journey, as I don't recall ever travelling in this area, its nice to see something new!

Sorry gang, no pictures until im home on Sunday, but I am taking plenty!


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## vardy (Sep 1, 2006)

- Sounds lovely, apart from the telly! - Don't change the pic, - The purple is quite fetching really.......... H


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi Purple Snelly;



> I settled down only to find the tv had no reception. Looking at one of my tugger neighbours, I could see they had a perfect picture via their crappy status aerial...


Crappy aerial - perfect picture, not quite sure what you mean there :?: :lol:

pete


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## CatherineandSteve (Dec 20, 2005)

Hi Stew,

Shane in a punch up NEVER he's much too nice. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Steve.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Catherine and Steve


Shane, as you know is a paramedic in Grimsby. He has told me many stories where he is out on a call and they have taken out their anger on either him or his partner. I have worked in Grimsby doing the portraits and I was flabergasted to find there were actually no go areas for the Paramedics.


stew


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Day three of our tour, we left the beautiful hadrians wall camp site and drove to the nearby visitors centre, where we walked up the hill to the wall and enjoyed the excellent views north towards Scotland and south to the Lakes. I cheated by using Ollie to help pull my fat butt up the hill, poor Sal had to get up under her own steam and help Jake get to the summit too. Being the considerate husband I am, I offered to send the dog down to her, I didn't quite hear her reply, but she said she had a "bad cough", or words to those effects.

Its quite amazing to think Hadrians Wall was built 2000 years ago, quite a feat of engineering in those times.

On the way down from the summit it started to rain and we all got a suprise shower... the one time we didn't bother taking our waterproof coats! To add insult to injury, the shower stopped the minute we got back to the rv.

We then headed for Carlisle, to fuel up (£185 - tank was 3/4 full when we started the trip and was now down to a 1/3) and grab some swimming gear from Tesco.

The site we are on tonight is near a village called Ainstable. Its a farm that over looks a valley, with the large hills of the Lakes in the distance. We really wanted to get on a site on the Lakes, but all were full or couldn't accomodate our rv... seems a popular place to stay in the school hols, so future visitors beware!. This site is lovely though, a little CL with a nice new shower/toilet cabin, with free hot showers. Only £10 a night too. But its main attraction is the heated indoor pool, which is very new and hired by the patrons an hour at a time for £13, which gives you and your group exclusive use of it for that hour. Its very popular with the locals, we've seen families coming every hour to enjoy it. Were booked in for 10am tomorrow and were looking forward to it. What a great idea! The owner is very very friendly too, which makes all the difference.

Tomorrow we are off to Sedburgh to camp, with a view to visiting Hawes and its numerous shops, wensleydale cheesery and ropemaking.


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## Drummer (May 9, 2005)

Puce! :lol: :lol: :lol: 

It's definately puce! :wink:


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Don't you think he bears a striking resemblance to a young Fred Dibnah.   

Olley


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## 104236 (May 1, 2007)

If you are going to Hawes you must take the kids to Hardraw Falls its a brilliant waterfall. We used to take our children camping to Hardraw Falls there is a brilliant field behind the pub, I think the pub is called the Green Dragon. 

Its a pity we are travelling south to the show otherwise we would have come to meet with you.

Have a great holiday!


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Day four (and five). Spent in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. We visited the Wensleydale cheese factory at Hawes, saw them making the cheese and tried lots of different varieties of cheese. I love Wensleydale, so crumbly! The trip to Hawes was quite nerve racking for Sal sat in the suicide seat, as the main A road is very windy and narrow in places, but that wasn't a patch on the road that led to our campsite...! The site was on a farm about 8 miles north west of Hawes, a beautiful position in the middle of nowhere. You drive through a very narrow gate, down a gravel track to a patch of grass next to a river. We decided to go over the rickety bridge first though to get to the farm and fill with water. I had a nightmare turning round in the tight farmyard and at one point thought i'd broken a pipe on the rv when I drove over a raised bit of concrete with a thud, with Sally saying, somethings leaking! Luckily it was just the fresh water tank overflow dripping! The pitch was unbelievable with beutiful views in every direction, sheep grazing and the gentle noise of the river flowing over the small waterfall near the bridge. Only prob was it was very remote, so remote in fact that we had no mobile signal, no tv signal and no radio signal! Feeling disconnected from the world was kind of weird in this age of broadband internet and mobile telephones, but quite welcomed!

Today we got up early and set off from the farm at about 8am, heading over the Yorkshire Dales towards Scarborough, our next stop. The windy roads went on forever and it took us an hour just to do the 18 miles to the A1. Leaving the A1, took the A170. Go to Thirsk and Sally noticed a sign saying something about "caravans prohibited" on the roundabout. We didn't think much of it until a little further along the road was a big sign saying "caravans prohibited ahead" and one hundred and something hgv's stuck last year. Now im worried... what is this mammoth hill that has claimed so many of our hgv cousins?? It was the infamous Sutton Bank, a hill i'd heard of but never really been on. So wanting to keep the rv just the way it was, we turned round and took a detour to miss it out. We finally arrived in Scarborough at 11.30am and headed for the coach park, which is part of the park and ride. Smaller motorhomes took refuge in the free car park, but we took a spot with the coaches and paid the 50p for 24 hours fee! A good service, as you get bus travel on the 111 park and ride bus for free, which seems to call at the town centre and sea front.

After a few hours spent in Scarborough and a belly full of chips and ice cream, we took the 111 bus back to the coach park and headed for our final overnight site which is a beautiful spot on a hill, overlooking the fields near Ayton, only about 6 miles from Scarborough. The site has a toilet and shower, some hardstanding, tap and waste disposal and a very helpful and friendly owner. £13.50 a night, pretty expensive for a CL, but worth it in my view.

We have been so lucky this trip to have seen and stayed in some of the most beautiful parts of our country you could ever imagine. Sticking to mainly CL's has kept costs down and kept us away from commercialism which can sometimes detract from the experience of camping. I can't wait to get home now so I can put all my pictures on a web page to show you all!

Another thing to note, we have been everywhere we wanted to go in the rv, not hindered by "nowhere to park" or access problems. We went to museums, remote campsites, beauty spots and all in the rv. So don't believe it when people tell you your restricted with an rv, because all that restricts people is the people themselves thinking they cant. You can always get parked somewhere, even if its in the hgv loading area of tesco!


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## Wanderwagon3 (May 27, 2005)

*As Topic*

Snelly

ALNWICK is the place to be. Rugby Club has pitches, 10 or 12 electric points ,a dump, fresh H2O tap, use of Club House bar and toilets . £10.50 per night I think.
I live just over the hedge more or less and used to run rallies there when we were c*R*V*N*R*.

1mile from town centre,200m from bus stop. Alnwick Castle and Alnwick Gardens well worth a visit.

HTH

Ken........with Wanderwgon3


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

*Re: As Topic*



Wanderwagon3 said:


> Snelly
> 
> ALNWICK is the place to be. Rugby Club has pitches,


There is also dedicated motorhoming parking in a car park only a couple of minutes walk form the centre. There are big notices warning all other potential users off it !
Thanks for info about the rugby club. We might well use this.

G


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