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Wednesday 17 January 2018

Calver, Castleton and Hawes, favourite spots revisited

Calver, Castleton and Hawes....favourite spots revisited. November 2017


Derwentwater

We set off for the Derwentwater Arms at Calver and because I needed to go to Newcastle during the time we were away, I took the car as well. Mistake number one was not to follow  my own route and listen to the blooming sat nav which took us on a dance around Chesterfield and down some little lanes. I stopped at one point and went to talk to Pete ...not easy to find a safe place to do that..... I think I was a bit frustrated.....'I am not going down that lane, I am heading back to the 'mainest' road!'  We held our collective breath and after three miles got on to the road I should have been on.

We found the Derwentwater Arms, parked up on the level bit at the bottom of the large car park and went for a drink. That was probably mistake number two......we should have checked everything while it was light and we were without alcohol.
We were made very welcome in the pub, so we booked a table for later and went for a walk. It wasn't much of a walk as Pete had spotted the Eyre Arms. We had a nice couple of drinks there and chatted to a local family. We went back much later to the van and tried to put the heating on....no gas....no heating, no fridge-not that it mattered as it was freezing! Faffed about and then thought, maybe, as the van had been at the dealers for some little checks, we could  have left the fridge on and as we had left it for a couple of weeks there, it had used all the gas. We huddled up then went into the pub for a very nice wood fired pizza and other stuff in the pub.  We talked to the really nice staff and they wondered why people in motorhomes only stayed overnight and that we were welcome to stay longer. I will remember that! We put blankets on the bed and went to bed early after messaging several helpful facebook motorhome groups to find the nearest suppliers of LPG to fill the tank. We thought we would get up early and go to Morrisons off Sheffield Parkway to fill up.


Mistake number three.  We didn't wake up till 10am! That's what absolute darkness and nice drinks do! After ringing around several places, we realised we would have to go back to Sheffield but when we tried to put gas in, it went in very slowly and the guy filling up next to us had filled his car and our pump just didn't seem to work. We gave up and went to Hillsborough, where a really nice young guy came out to help as it was doing the same thing. He assured us that the LPG pumps were tricky things but we gave up again knowing that we would be on hook up at Castleton.  We got to Castleton, parked up and sat with a coffee pondering......
We had to go to the Nag's Head for  a drink.....after I had tripped the electric in the dark..or so I thought but the guy from the next van said that someone had hit that bollard the day before and it wasn't working properly. Power restored.



How could we possibly sleep another 12 hours? Easily, was the answer. I worked out that the only thing that could possibly be wrong with the gas is that it was over full and a call to the fitter confirmed it! Pete went out and pushed buttons and all was well. So we learnt from our mistake.We also learned that the electric trips off in the van, not at the post, as this Adria has a 10 amp trip. 
Another learning experience. I found I hadn't packed my walking poles either but I found a nice branch which helped me walk over the river and along to Hope where we went in  the Old Hall as is our custom. Our friends Andy and Carol arrived  in their new van which is lovely. 
Of course that meant we had to have a walk into Castleton and visit a couple of pubs.......before settling in the Castle for a lovely meal. 


 Bakewell


As I had the car and Andy and Carol don't know the Peak district, we went out to Bakewell where a walk round made us hungry so we had to do a tea room stop.
From there we went to the plague village of Eyam which is always worth a look around.




Next day we drove past Ladybower reservoir to the beautiful Derwentwater reservoir. We had never driven around before - or seen so many timber lorries. It was lovely walking and taking in the fantastic scenery. We called back into Hope for amazing steak pies and sandwiches. I then left to go to Newcastle.








Pete moved the van up to Hawes and I joined them all in the evening. we went to the White Hart for a meal. Honestly- we do more than just eat and drink......

We had an adventurous day going first to Leyburn and the market there. We went through Richmond and spent the afternoon at Barnard Castle- a place I have only ever driven through. It's lovely!
We had an interesting drive back via Tan Hill for a drink then along the narrow ridge road in the dark back to Hawes. I want to do that again in daylight as it must be amazing, but not in the van!  





Rain and wind in the night rocked the van a bit. We did a round walk to Gayle and Burtersett then rewarded ourselves with fish and chips from the chippy. 

The next day was sunny and frosty which made walking along the river really pleasant though we had to go in three pubs and the cheese factory on the way back!
A lovely little trip to  favourite places. 



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