Ainsdale & Formby, Nr Southport, Merseyside

Ow do!

We recently visited Willowbank Touring Park in Ainsdale. It’s about 3 miles outside Southport, next door to Formby, and only about an hour further down the coast from where we live so we spent very little time on the road. It was a rainy day on our arrival but the sun soon appeared.

Southport pier in the distance

Driveway to site

Arrival at site

The pitches and facilities at Willowbank are excellent. No choosing your own pitch here though. As soon as you arrive you’re taken to a pre-allocated pitch. It’s no biggie but it’s always nicer to have the freedom to choose your own. The main road outside the site driveway can get very busy but there’s a path and cycle way running alongside for safe cycling/walking. We could hear quite a bit of traffic noise late into Friday night. This didn’t bother us though, and we found the site to be lovely and ideally situated for our stay. We would happily stay there again.

Jolly pitched up

The sun soon shone 😎

For this break we used our bikes to explore the area. The first day we cycled down to Ainsdale beach and through Ainsdale village. It was a very damp and grey day, but this made for some quite atmospheric beach photographs.

A murky day at Ainsdale beach

Ainsdale beach

Gulls at Ainsdale beach

Shore Road Roundabout Sculpture

Oot n aboot on t’bikes

Lots of cycling in the area

After a beach wander and cycle around Ainsdale (calling in at a cosy, quaint venue called The Tipple Bar), we cycled to The Sparrowhawk where we enjoyed a cracking evening meal to round off the day. It’s just half a mile from the campsite and a must for a meal if you’re in the area.

Cosy Tipple Bar

Lovely decor and ambience

It was Grand National weekend

Slurrrrp!

The Sparrowhawk, Ainsdale

The Sparrowhawk

Parked up

Next morning after a good sleep, lie-in and a bit of brekkie we headed back out on our bikes to Formby, following much of the Asparagus Cycle Trail which takes in the Formby Red Squirrel Reserve. This was our main reason for this Jolly trip so we were a bit excited!

It was our first time seeing red squirrels and we saw plenty, which it turns out was quite lucky as we’ve spoken to some people who saw none when they visited. There was quite a lot of activity when we were there and some of them came up quite close for a photograph. They’re smaller than expected in comparison to the greys, and it was a really special experience seeing them thriving in good numbers.

Here are some photos of our red squirrel experience visit and our day out n about on the bikes (so much better than me wittering on):-

Formby National Trust Red Squirrel Reserve

Red Squirrel reserve

The Squirrel Walk

A Jay bird

Sand dunes

Very cycle friendly area

Hmm, which way to go

Along the Asparagus Cycle Route

Along the Asparagus Route

A little bit of history

More history …

Afterwards we cycled back to site and cooked tea on Jolly, spending a chilled evening before heading home about midday the next day.

Our next Jolly jaunt will be probably somewhere up Cumbria way.

ONWARD!>>>> 🚐

Suzie & Bri

Lakes & Fells Caravan Site, Newby Bridge, Cumbria

Posted by jollymajestic1

Sooo, what a lovely weekend we’ve just had in Jolly, staying around the Newby Bridge area of the Lake District, Cumbria, at the southern tip of Lake Windermere.

You wouldn’t think it was supposed to be Spring, meteorologically speaking anyway. The weather was definitely more wintry. Astronomically, Spring didn’t start until 20th March though, so for the intervening period and to avoid ourselves any further confusion we declared a new season – ‘Sprinter’ 😁.

Anyhoo, for this Sprinter break we enjoyed some changeable but very lovely weather. A little snow but not too much and plenty of bright sunshine in between the snow showers. It was breezy, windier through the nights, but when wrapped up warm during the daytime it made for a perfect couple of days out and about in the picturesque Lake District.

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We arrived on Friday afternoon and stayed at the Lakes & Fells Caravan Site which is approximately 1.5 miles outside Newby Bridge. It’s a small Camping and Caravanning Club CS member-only site of 5 pitches and is adults-only. Each pitch is spacious with electric hook-up, drinking water tap and a satellite connection. There’s a motorhome waste water disposal area and a chemical toilet disposal point located a little way out of the pitch area up a grass banking.

Jolly pitched up at pitch no. 4

First gate at entrance

Second gate before pitches

The site’s quiet and secluded and it suited us well. Each pitch was occupied during our stay. We didn’t see the owners, probably missed them as we were out and about through the daylight hours. When it came to leaving we rang them and they directed us to a box on the gate of the pitch area, asking us to place our money in a waterproof bag (it rains in the box a little) and post it in the box. It was 24 for two nights which we thought very reasonable.

Soon after arrival and a steaming hot mug of tea, we walked the 1.5 miles or so down into Newby Bridge, turning right out of the site and following the main road down. There is a more scenic, slightly longer walk which can be taken by turning left out of site through Finsthwaite, down by the church, where there’s a sign for Newby Bridge off to the right. Not sure the details of this route but presume it brings you out alongside the river at Newby Bridge.

Anyway, on our route down the main road to Newby Bridge we took care as it was fairly busy with bends and turns and cars driving at some speed.

About half a mile down we passed the Quay at Lakeside and the Lakeside Hotel. From the Lakeside Pier you can board steamers and explore the Windermere area further. We’ve used these in the past when we’ve stayed at the Lakeside Hotel before our Jolly days, but we didn’t use them during this stay.

Lake Windermere from main road

The Lakeside Hotel

Lakeside Quay

Spring colours

We had an eventful walk that afternoon. About a further half a mile down, as we were bumbling along the road we heard the plaintive cry of a lamb, and on looking over the wall we saw the heartbreaking sight of a little lost lamb by a roadside stream.

Without further ado, we immediately instigated “Operation Jolly Lamb Rescue”, both climbing the wall, crossing the shallow stream, and coaxing the lamb back up through the thicket and eventually over the fencing it must’ve come through. We then carried Lucky (we hope he was) back across the field to his flock and left him with them in the hope that his mother would locate him or at the very least the farmer would know he was there. We’d no idea whose land it was. Fingers crossed all turned out well for the little one 🐑.

Sweet little lamb

Another half a mile later mile we crossed a bridge over the old Lakeside & Haverthwaite Heritage Railway line before arriving in Newby Bridge, a small hamlet which got its name from the 5-arched 17th century stone bridge which spans the River Leven there.

We pottered and called into The Huntsman’s Inn (he wasn’t) at the Newby Bridge Hotel and later had a fish n chip supper at the Swan Hotel before commencing our walk back to camp armed with high viz jackets and torch 🔦.

River Leven

The Huntsman’s Inn, Newby Bridge Hotel

The Swan Hotel, Newby Bridge

Fish n chip supper

Lakeside & Haverthwaite Heritage railway line

The wind was quite wild at times during the night but we woke to a beautiful Sprinter’s day. After a toasted tea cake & a mug of tea we made flasks up and headed out for a walk up to High Dam. We turned left out of site towards Finsthwaite, passing the old Stott Park Bobbin Mill. This mill is open as a visitor attraction and on our next stay here we’ll call but unfortunately it was still closed for winter during our visit (it opens at the end of March).

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Following the road to Finsthwaite we reached the Finsthwaite High Dam car park and started the climb up from there. The weather really made this walk something special, as it was bitterly cold, but there were periods of bright sunshine in between snow flurries with the flakes dancing around the air and over the water. It made for some impressive photographic scenes.

Finsthwaite car park

Old Bobbin at entrance to walk

Map of Finsthwaite & High Dam

Start of,walk

We passed Low Dam just before reaching High Dam, which used to serve Bobbin Mill in its day, and carried on walking right around the Dam. We took time to sit on a bench half way around to take in the beautiful view and have cup of warming hot coffee. Although this isn’t by any means a long or difficult walk, except maybe the uneven rocky terrain in some areas on the way up, the rewarding views, particularly on a day like we had make it an absolute gem not to be overlooked if in the area.

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Suzie getting arty farty – snow flakes dancing in the air at High Dam

We came down from our High Dam visit and walked through the small village of Finsthwaite, turning down past St Peter’s Church. Here, there are footpaths either to Lakeside or Newby Bridge. We carried on straight ahead towards Lakeside as we planned on eating there that evening. It was about a mile or so away, across a field and through Great Knott Wood before re-joining the main road just up from the Lakeside Hotel.

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There’s a cosy bar at the Lakeside Hotel and we enjoyed a couple of drinks before eating in the John Ruskin Brasserie within the hotel. Not the cheapest of eats, but the food there was absolutely delicious – we can recommend the fillet steak and the sea bass. Yum! 😋.

Top o’ the day to ya! We took Seamus along to raise a glass for St Patrick’s Day 🍻 ☘️

By the time we left the hotel, the snow had set in again and was beginning to stick as we headed back the half mile to camp. By the time we arrived back at Jolly it was looking like it might get to a decent depth. However, by the time morning arrived and the sunshine came out it started to melt away quickly before we set off for home.

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Another top weekend and we’ll probably return to this site to visit the mill, Lakeside Quay and I think there’s a walk up to Finsthwaite Tower from Newby Bridge. Someone had said to us there’s nothing to do in Newby Bridge, but we found plenty!

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Welltrough Hall Farm, Lower Withington, Cheshire

Posted by jollymajestic1

Last weekend we visited what we found to be a top rate CL site. It was at Welltrough Hall Farm in Lower Withington, Cheshire.

Passing Peover Viaduct en route

Peover Viaduct

Site entrance from road

Smooth long driveway up to site

Smooth long driveway to site

This is an adults-only site which began as a 5-pitch C&MC Certified Location and has been extended to provide more pitches, all fully serviced and refreshingly spacious with hardstanding and a grassy area. Some have wooden boundaries. There are also grass pitches and a camping pod.

The original 5 pitches have the most impressive views across open countryside, although all have open views. However, we found a cosy corner pitch (no 13) which was located by a small pond and trees. It provided plenty of quiet and privacy. Although most pitches are level, pitches 10-13 definitely need levelling blocks. We were at the top of our ramps and still slightly sloping although this was no issue to us.

Original 5 pitch area

One of the pitches 10-13

Pitched up

Jolly at night

Facilities provided:- elsan chemical toilet disposal point, 2 portaloo-style toilets, showers (and one for doggies), washer/dryer, information hut, a farm walk and also a well signed walk through 2 fields to the local Red Lion Pub in the village of Lower Withington, about half a mile away.

Portaloo and Elsan point

Dog shower

Camping pod

Walk to the Red Lion

We visited the Red Lion on our first evening for a chilled couple of drinks & game of cards in the bar area before moving into the dining area to eat later. It was lovely food. Would definitely recommend 😊

Red Lion, Lower Withington

Bar area

We believe in Unicorns …

On site, our pitch provided a clear view of the impressive local landmark that is the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank. This is just 2.7 miles from site.

Lovell Telescope in distance

We visited Jodrell Bank the next day while out and about exploring the area on our bikes. We spent a pleasant 1-2 hours there which was plenty of time for what we wanted to see. It was a perfect winter’s day with sunshine but VERY cold. It was pleasant walking around outside and seeing the Lovell Telescope up close. We also caught a film (on continuous play) in the film pod indoors. This gave an interesting, detailed insight into the history and current role of the telescope in space research. There are several other interactive and informative displays inside and a couple of cafes. It’s definitely a worthwhile visit if in the area.

Tickets were £8 per adult (£7.30 without gift aid) but we saved 10% booking online in advance. It’s also worth noting there’s work ongoing on the car park at present. This didn’t affect us being on bikes but car parking spaces were reduced.

It was a very brrrracing bike ride

Lovell up close

Other villages we cycled through during our day out included the old farming village of Goostrey, Twemlow Green and Swettenham. We had planned on calling into The Yellow Broom for refreshments but it was closed when we arrived so we headed another 3 miles or so through Kermincham and into Swettenham. It was worth the often-uphill effort because we found a fine country inn, purportedly haunted, called The Swettenham Arms. It’s easy to cycle past as it’s tucked away to the rear of St Peter’s Church.

St Luke’s Church, Goostrey

Goostrey village

The Swettenham Arms

After re-fuelling with well-earned fodder, we headed back by just the lights on our bikes to site.

A great day and top weekend. Roll on the next one!

A chatty blue tit chirped “Cheerio!” as we left

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Wheel Clamp & Trims

Posted by jollymajestic1

Jolly’s recently acquired a new piece of footwear and he wears it well. Most importantly it’s a bit of added security.

We’re using the Milenco original wheel clamp. Relatively lightweight, quick and easy to fit, and gets good reviews.

http://www.milenco.com/products/security/wheelclamps/original-wheelclamp

Milenco Original Wheelclamp

Wheelclamp

Milenco Wheelclamp

He’s also looking a bobby dazzler with some new bling wheel trims. Cushty. 👌

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Haworth, West Yorkshire

Posted by jollymajestic1

Jolly took us back to the beautiful village of Haworth in West Yorkshire for a night away with friends last weekend.

A festive Jolly

En route

We stayed at Top Field Campsite about a 25-minute walk from the centre of Haworth. It’s a Camping and Caravanning Club Certified Site and is very cosy, quiet and lovingly kept, with generous sized pitches. We’d definitely return some time in the future for a longer stay.

‘Snowball please ..”

Sampled various g&ts

This was a flying visit really though and it was Christmas brass band day in the village. The main cobbled street was a bustling festive feast for the eyes and ears. The rain held off for most of the afternoon and evening which was a bonus after a wet start to the day. We enjoyed a good pub meal at the Fleece Inn and sampled a gin/beer or two as we wandered through the village 🍻.

A great cheeky one-nighter. Might do more of those 🙂

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎅🏻🤶🏻🎄.

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Edisford Farm Campsite, Clitheroe, Lancashire

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After too many weeks without a Jolly adventure, we finally got away again this weekend with a group of friends on a return trip to Clitheroe.

We stayed at Edisford Bridge Caravan and Camping, a private campsite conveniently located right next door to the Edisford Bridge Pub and just a stone’s throw from the River Ribble.

On site

New facilities block

The site appeared more or less full and our camping party was made up of 6 adults (Mo, Lee, Anne, Laurie and us) and 1 child (Emma), with 2 tents and Jolly. The weather was wet and dull, but the company was quite the opposite!

We had all come well prepared with plenty of food, nibbles and drink (definitely lots of drink) and basically from the word go on Friday afternoon things quickly turned lively and a really good time was had by all! Chef Lee cooked delicious steak on Friday night, this was accompanied by a lovely potato salad and bread courtesy of Mo. Lee used a Cadac Carri Chef portable gas bbq with hot plate to cook all the food, including the breakfasts over the two days.

On Saturday afternoon we all walked off our over-indulgences from the previous day, strolling up into Clitheroe town centre then dropping in at the Holmes Mill beer hall and the new local-produce food hall that has opened there. Several ales were sampled as ‘thirds’, including Unicorn, Crafty Fox, Hen Harrier, Pheasant Plucker, Blueberry, Cherry Choc (this would be more aptly named ‘Knock Yer Socks Off’), Pennine Best, Mango Decker Dence, and Heart & Soul.

Bowland Brewery ales

The Beer Hall Bible

Studying the menu

Sampling the ales

Bowland Brewery ales

Bowland Food Hall

We later walked back to camp and freshened up before finishing the day off with a meal at the Edisford Bridge Pub.

Walk back to site

The River Ribble from Edisford Bridge

It’s usually necessary to pre-book a table in the restaurant as it does get busy especially at weekends. Each of us made the mistake of having a starter before our main courses and we were all beaten by the meal as the portions are so generous we simply couldn’t eat it all. Definitely a pub we’ll return to again and again though when over that way and we’d recommend it to anyone without hesitation.

Edisford Bridge pub – 2 mins from site

Walk to pub

Sunday seemed to come around in no time and as a group we gathered for breakfast and the rain finally stopped long enough for the tents to be taken down and packed up before we said our goodbyes after a great weekend.

Jolly providing shelter at breakfast

Jolly providing shelter at breakfast time

Muddy boots

Looks like Jolly has a new fan!

Our next Jolly jaunt is just a couple of weeks away when we’ll be heading back up to the Lake District.

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Clitheroe Food Festival, Ribble Valley, Lancashire

Posted by jollymajestic1

Sooo, a food festival. What’s not to like?

We were back in Clitheroe a couple of weekends ago to experience the Clitheroe Food Festival which we’d been meaning to visit several times but always seemed to have other trips planned. We made sure that we made it there this year.

We stayed at Clitheroe Camping & Caravanning Club Site . It’s situated in an idyllic location beside the River Ribble at Edisford Bridge just a mile or so outside the town centre. We often stay at this site and this time noticed a big improvement in that the old plastic mesh matting pitches have now been replaced with gravel hard standings. This is a big improvement as this site is so close to the River Ribble it’s prone to water logging and flooding.

Pitched up

Cuppa & angel slice

Fizz n strawberries

Our weekend had begun Friday lunchtime when our nephew, George, who had been staying with us for a couple of days helped us to collect Jolly from storage and joined us on board as we took him back home on the way.

George at Jolly’s storage

En route to Clitheroe

For Friday night, we’d pre-booked ourselves a table at The Red Pump Inn, Bashall Eaves So, after a chilled afternoon on Jolly (it was raining quite heavily outside) we rang for a taxi up to the Red Pump, which is about 2.5 miles outside Clitheroe. It’s in a peaceful location with good views of the surrounding countryside.

We’d heard before going that the steaks here were top notch, and although there was plenty on the menu that could easily have turned our eyes, noses and taste buds, we both decided to go for a steak. We ordered a fillet steak with garstang blue cheese sauce and a 90 day dry aged rib-eye steak with chimichurri sauce. Both were cooked to medium rare perfection, served with tasty chunky hand cooked chips and a side salad. The food portions were just right too, comfortably filling.

In fact, the whole evening was pretty perfect – great staff, service and atmosphere. We can recommend this one without hesitation. It made an interesting change for us too as we usually go into Waddington which also has great pubs/restaurants – The Higher Buck, Waddington Arms, and The Lower Buck.

The next day the sun came out of hiding in time for the Food Festival and the town centre was buzzing with a large turnout of people who were treated to a festival offering an impressive display of different food/drink/produce stalls. There was plenty of live street music, entertainment and food demos too. This Festival is rated as one of the most successful of its kind in the North West of England and in the top 10 throughout the country, and this was its 7^th year.

We enjoyed our afternoon wandering through the town centre then ventured down to another place that put on a great day – the Bowland Brewery at Holmes Mill just down from the town centre. There were food stalls, their new food hall was open, live music, ice cream shop and of course some great ales to be enjoyed. For us, this place is an absolute must to drop into whenever we’re over Clitheroe way.

The town’s festival was rounded off perfectly at approx. 4pm when the Red Arrows treated everyone to a fly-over display on their way across to the Blackpool Air Show. It was a spectacular finish to the event.

Clitheroe Main Street

Red Arrows Flyover (photo by Zoie Carter-Ingham)

Afterwards, we cycled back down from town to the Edisford Bridge pub which is just over the bridge from the C&CC site. We grabbed a pint and some tea (because we hadn’t actually eaten at the food festival!?) before heading back to our pitch to await the arrival of a couple of good friends and fellow campers, Mo & Lee, who were coming to see Jolly and have a few drinks with us.

Enjoying the last of the day’s sunshine

Bedtime Zzz …

We sat out for a couple of hours chatting, laughing and drinking before the evening chill finally beat us and we retreated inside Jolly for the remainder of the evening. Our next outing will actually be back in Clitheroe but a group social gathering with Mo, Lee and another couple.. We’re really looking forward to that one.

Great weekend! 😊 Til next time ..

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Oswestry – ‘Where Shropshire meets Wales’

Posted by jollymajestic1

We returned for a second visit this weekend to Cranberry Moss Camping & Caravanning Club Site which is located just off the busy A5 between Oswestry (8 miles) and Shrewsbury (10 miles). It’s a beautifully maintained site with an open layout, and we received a warm welcome from the warden who showed us around the site and allowed us to choose our own pitch. We didn’t use the onsite facilities during our stay but they looked clean and what you’d expect from a club site.

Jolly pitched up top end of site

Reception on site

I hear ya …

As with our last visit here, our journey involved several hold-ups and general heavy Friday traffic. We reached the site mid-afternoon and pitched up just before some heavy rain arrived. It rained non-stop for the rest of the afternoon so we stuck the kettle on and had a relaxing few hours on Jolly before heading out for a meal in the evening.

We knew from our last visit that there’s a lovely pub a couple of miles away in Nesscliffe, called The Old Three Pigeons. So, after realising the rain wasn’t for stopping, we got togged up and cycled through the downpours into Nesscliffe. We were rewarded with a delicious meal there so it was well worth the effort! By the time we returned to camp the rain had ceased and it was still light so it was quite a pleasant ride back.

Cheers to a good evening at the Old Three Pigeons

There’s a Country Park in Nesscliffe where you’ll find an iron age hill fort, quarries which supplied stone for some of Shropshire’s’ castles and churches, and a cave hewn into the sandstone, which it is claimed was the hideout of a medieval outlaw called Humphrey Kynaston – Shropshire’s answer to Robin Hood. It’s claimed that the Old Three Pigeons is haunted by Humphrey.

A handy Arriva bus service runs past the site entrance and can take you to Shrewsbury (opposite side of road) or Oswestry (just outside site entrance). The warden told us to avoid any bus with an ‘X’ by the number when returning to site as this was an express service which would not pass the site and would leave us a good 2 miles away. On our last visit, we had visited Shrewsbury so this time we jumped on the number 70 bus to explore the market town of Oswestry.

Town centre

Borderland Farmer statue

The name ‘Oswestry’, is derived from King Oswald of Northumbria (died in AD641). He was apparently nailed to a tree – hence the name “Oswald’s Tree“. Probably the most famous person to have hailed from Oswestry is the First World War Poet, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). We visited the tourist information, which is housed in an old school building by St Oswald’s Church, to pick up a map of the Wilfred Owen Trail which takes you through the town and to places of note including his place of birth and early childhood home at ‘Plas Wilmot’.

St Oswald’s Church

Tourist Information

Wilfred Owen Memorial

Wilfred Owen

Plas Wilmot – Wilfred Owen’s birthplace

Plas Wilmot

Cae Glas Park

War memorial

Cae Glas Park

We had a good walk around the town on the trail and later enjoyed an early evening pizza and prosecco at Prezzo before returning to camp.

Our journey back home the next morning was fortunately without any of the hold-ups we’d experienced on our way down. The sun was shining too which made a difference.

Summer’s marching on. Still plenty of Jolly adventures lined up though 🙂

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria

Posted by jollymajestic1

Jolly recently took us to Woodclose Park approx. half a mile outside the pretty, historic market town of Kirkby Lonsdale, on the border between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

Woodclose Park is beautifully laid out and immaculately maintained with excellent facilities. We stayed in the circular touring section on pitch number 2. The pitches were well spaced and fully serviced with water, electric, grey waste drain & tv hook-up points.

Overcast

Lane leading to site

Woodclose Park Holiday Home

Approaching reception

Pitch No.2

Chin, chin!

Spookily accurate forecast

It was a busy weekend there but the atmosphere remained chilled and very peaceful. All of the staff were friendly, especially Rick who we spoke to a couple of times and who gave us some recommendations and info about the area.

Kirkby Lonsdale is such a lovely town with an array of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. There’s a Market day on Thursdays and a Farmers Market on the first Thursday of the month. They also have a Victorian Street Fair during the first week in September.

In 2013, the town was used as one of the filming locations for the BBC drama ‘Jamaica Inn‘ We didn’t watch the drama but have googled it since to see the transformation of the town centre that was carried out.

Town Centre

‘Jamaica Inn’ transformation (photo: exploresouthlakeland.co.uk

The best walk from site into town takes you over the ancient 3-arched Devil’s Bridge, which crosses the River Lune and dates back to the 12^th/13^th Century. It’s a popular site for tourists and has a butty/brew van and an ice-cream van parked up there. It’s a favourite haunt for motorcyclists and we also noticed that several motorhomes stayed overnight in a parking lay-by nearby.

Devil’s Bridge

Walk over Devil’s Bridge

River Lune

Riverside walk takes you upstream into Kirkby Lonsdale

After the bridge, turn right and follow the path along the riverbank until you reach the 86 ‘Radical Steps’. These steps take you up into St Mary’s churchyard and some gates lead out into the town centre.

Devil’s Bridge

Rainy riverside walk

According to a sign we read along the walk, the ‘Radical Steps’ came about in 1820 when Dr Francis Pearson, a man who held very strong Liberal views, obtained an order to divert a public footpath that ran through his garden at Abbots Brow. Many locals were opposed to this and as a result the flight of steps that replaced the footpath became known as the ‘Radical Steps’ in reference to Dr Pearson’s radical politics.

1, 2, 3 …

… 84, 85, 86!

‘Radical Steps’

After climbing to the top of the steps you reach St Mary’s Churchyard. If you turn right at the top and walk just a little further along you come to ‘Ruskin’s View’. It’s the point from which the famous artist JMW Turner painted the River Lune in 1822. His painting moved the poet John Ruskin to write:

‘I do not know in all my own country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine’

Ruskin was so impressed with the painting that he described the panorama as ‘one of the loveliest views in England, therefore in the world’. The painting became known as ‘Ruskin’s View’.

Ruskin’s View

Suzie & Bri’s View

The story of Ruskin’s View

The Norman St Mary’s Church and attractive churchyard is lovely to wander through. We also went into the Church to look around and to light candles before walking out of the churchyard down an alleyway past the Sun Inn (well, we say ‘past’, we never pass a pub 😉).

We walked along Salt Pie Lane (formerly Cattle Market Yard). This is where cattle used to be sold in the town, which led to a local lady deciding to make and sell hot salted mutton pies to the traders. This salty pies created quite a thirst in the traders who would then visit the Green Dragon pub (now the Snooty Fox) to quench their thirst. Apparently, the landlord of the pub was a relation of the pie-lady – great business idea!

There’s no shortage of great drinking holes. To name a few we called into:- The Royal Hotel (serving Bowland Brewery ales), The Red Dragon Inn, The Sun Inn, The Kings Arms (live music), and The Orange Tree.

Bowland Brewery ales at The Royal Hotel

Be sure to call into the Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery in the centre which also serves some great local ales.

Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery

We enjoyed food at both The Red Dragon Inn and The Sun Inn during our stay. We only ate from the bar menu at the Sun Inn but we’ll make sure we book in for an evening meal next time. It’s a very popular place and they were having to turn people away as they were fully booked. We also spent a few hours listening to some live music in the Kings Arms across the road from the Sun. Great atmosphere!

It’s a pleasant stroll back to site from town and as we walked back over the bridge one night, we saw a humongous salmon jump twice down below. We decided we’ll definitely have to buy a visitor’s permit and fish there some time!

The sun decided to appear for our journey home

Until next time …

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Chirk, North Wales

Posted by jollymajestic1

Last weekend Jolly took us to Chirk, a small town in North Wales between Wrexham and Oswestry.

We stayed at Lady Margaret’s C&M Club Site which is beautifully situated in woodland. The site offers good sized pitches to suit all preferences, be it the shade and privacy of trees or open grassy areas. We loved this site and the location, it’s pretty with a sense of space, and the sun shone too which always shows a place at its best. We had noted some comments on the site reviews about facilities needing upgrading but we can’t comment on the showers because we used Jolly’s onboard shower as we always do. However, we used the toilets which were fine and spotlessly clean.

The wardens were very welcoming, smiling, chatty and laid back despite always being busy with a steady flow of arrivals and departures.

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The site is located beside Chirk Castle, a grade I listed 13^th Century fortress built during the reign of Edward I. It was sold to the Myddelton family at the end of the 16^th Century and descendants of this family still live in part of the Castle today. You can just lose yourself wandering through the grounds, admiring the ornamental statues, or join a guided tour of the state rooms, and visit the tea room and shop.

There’s a striking entrance to the Castle in the form of intricate ornate white wrought iron gates, bearing the Myddelton Coat of Arms. Dated 1719, they’re the work of local brothers, Robert & John Davies. We stopped a while at these gates to admire the intricate detail of the work on them.

Ornate gates at Chirk Castle

The gates bear the ‘Red hand of Chirk’. A tale of how this symbol came about relates to a Lord Myddelton issuing a challenge to his twin sons as he lay on his death bed. Chirk Castle was to be passed to his eldest child but he was unsure which son had been born first. The sons had to race on horseback around the estate, the winner being the one who returned first to touch his father’s deathbed, thereby inheriting the estate.

Legend has it that as the feuding sons returned neck-and-neck running towards the chamber, one of the sons tripped. Fearing he would lose the race and the inheritance, he drew his sword, sliced off his own hand and threw the bloody thing(!) onto his father’s bed thereby claiming his right to the inheritance.

Lucky that he had his sword ‘handy’ wasn’t it …

We noticed this symbol in places throughout Chirk as we wandered around the town on our first afternoon. It’s about a half hour walk from site but we rode our bikes down. We ate later on at a café/restaurant on the main street, called ‘The Castle Bistro’. It’s a delightful, cosy bistro with a friendly atmosphere. We enjoyed some very tasty, well presented food washed down with a cheeky bottle of rosé wine. Mmmm.

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The Llangollen branch of the Shropshire Union Canal runs through Chirk and we got out on the bikes the next day to enjoy a scenic bike ride and a little photography along the canal towpath from Chirk Railway Station, over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and into Trevor Basin (NCN route 84) where there’s a Visitor Centre.

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The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is the tallest aqueduct in the world, with its 18 arches it stands at 38 metres (126 feet high) and was built between 1795-1805. It’s recognised as being the first great masterpiece of Civil Engineer, Thomas Telford. We walked our bikes across as you can’t cycle it, and the pathway is quite narrow with just enough room for people to pass by. It’s quite an experience to cross it, especially if you aren’t too keen on heights. You can take a narrow-boat ride across if you prefer.

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We stopped for a wander around Trevor Basin, and ate lunch at the Telford Inn there. This building was initially called Scotch House, and the name is still visible in the glass above the doorway. The house was used by the Supervisor of the construction of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, and sometimes by Thomas Telford too. The building was converted into a pub from a private dwelling in 1981. We had a lunch snack here and a nice pint of Telford Tipple outside in the beer garden overlooking the canal.

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Afterwards we took NCN route 85 along the canal towpath into Llangollen, stopping off briefly for a swift one at The Sun, Trevor . When we arrived in Llangollen we noticed it was very popular with visitors and no shortage of shops, pubs and restaurants. It’s definitely somewhere to return to on a future Jolly adventure. As it was, we had only called in to check it out and didn’t have a great deal of time to explore it much.

We cycled over Llangollen bridge to grab a pint at the Corn Mill an old mill turned modern bar/restaurant which has still managed to maintain a lot of its original features including the water wheel that turns behind the bar. From the outside decking area, we watched the white waters of the River Dee and were lucky to see a steam engine departing from the station across the water.

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We then re-joined the canal towpath for our return ride back to Chirk. In all, throughout the day, we probably cycled a leisurely 19-20 miles and had cycled up an appetite so we decided on tea at the Chirk Tandoori in town. Not before Bri got pooped on by a bird outside the Hand Hotel though *snigger* 😮

Muck for luck!

Dirty bird!

A flower for the lady … 🙂

Even early evening the Chirk Tandoori was full and clearly a popular place with locals. The food and service was great and it was like travelling back in time as Indian restaurants go – we even got a carnation on leaving! Lovely.

With that, another Jolly jaunt came to a close and the following morning the journey home flowed nicely, no hold-ups. Next adventure will probably be Cumbria way.

In the meantime, I need to get to the gym after all that lovely fodder and before the next adventure! 😊

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

THE JOLLY MAJESTIC

JOIN US ON ADVENTURES IN JOLLY, OUR MOTORHOME …

adventures

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Edisford Farm Campsite, Clitheroe, Lancashire

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Chirk, North Wales