Our big road trip of the year, driving up to the Yorkshire Dales for the TSSC Yorkshire area’s Dales Run.
A long but enjoyable seven hour, traffic jam free journey up to the Dales along the A17 and A1/(M). Plenty of people taking photos and interest shown when we parked the combo up for our lunch break. We’d forgotten how much attention the Triumph Herald and Viking gets. Driving through the narrow cobbled streets of Hawes we even got a load cheer from a group of bikers sitting outside a pub.
The fun started when we came off the A1(M) along the smaller windy, hilly roads. Especially the final road to the campsite. It’s amazing how many campsites are on roads that are a tad difficult for caravans to go along. But this one was well worth the trip. Amazing views from the caravan!
What a difference a day makes. After a seven mile trek around Dent on Friday morning we returned to find a motorbike group setting up camp between us and the view. Nice enough crowd but will be happy when they go and our clear view is with us again.
A leisurely afternoon with a few more Triumphs turning up. Chilli for dinner followed by a cocktail sitting outside Keith and Lynn’s tent made for a very pleasant evening.
Saturday, the Dales Run day. A twenty mile round trip to get some E5 petrol, a sign of things to come perhaps? Then back to the campsite to join the gathering of five Triumphs to set off for the run. Some very windy steep hills and fantastic scenery including the “Buttertubs”. Making the occasional stop to let sheep cross the road we ended up at a pub for some lunch. Taking more major roads after the lunch stop gave us a good chance to put our foot down. A hundred miles covered in total, including our search for E5.
Saturday evening saw us congregating in the local village hall for some fun and games orchestrated by Alan. Great fun but probably for all the wrong reasons.
Goodbye Sunday saw us left on our own with the views. The over riding question is why are these events so poorly attended? Don’t get me wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed it because it was such a small gathering. But it deserved to be so much bigger.
We spent the day relaxing in the sun by the caravan after a walk to the local shop for an ice cream. It was starting to feel that we were actually on a holiday. Monday saw us driving to Hawes for another walk and ice cream at Wensleydale Creamery. Followed by another trek to the M6 for fuel. On our return the view at the campsite had now been taken over by a bunch of cyclists and a very bendy woman doing yoga next door to us.
Looking at the weather for Thursdays trip home where thunderstorms were forecast. Our thinking is to leave on Wednesday. So on Tuesday we did our final long hike. Another 7 miles from the campsite in glorious sunshine. Followed by a leisurely afternoon trying to work out what the best time would be to leave, with the least amount of traffic on the narrow, windy road out of the campsite.
So the last day arrives. A short walk in the morning followed by a fry up and leisurely packing away. The worst part of the journey, five miles on a single track road from campsite to the main road, went without any problems. We even manage to stop on a bridge for a scenic photo. The rest of the drive also went without a problem, very little traffic but oh such a long way. Seven hours later saw us sitting in Swaffham market place having fish n chips. Another big trip under our belts.