George and Desnee

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The UK weather was warming up and sunny days had arrived. It was time to set off again for a trip in England. Our first destination was Bo Peeps campsite near Banbury. All Carthago owners had been invited to a free weekend at the campsite courtesy of Elite Motorhomes. Seven of us turned up to join in with another forty motorhomes of all different manufacturers.

2015 - Cotswolds and Yorkshire

The UK weather was warming up and sunny days had arrived. It was time to set off again for a trip in England. Our first destination was Bo Peeps campsite near Banbury. All Carthago owners had been invited to a free weekend at the campsite courtesy of Elite Motorhomes. Seven of us turned up to join in with another forty motorhomes of all different manufacturers. It was good to meet up with the other Carthago owners and catch up on their news and adventures.

It was an excellent weekend. We were treated to dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings and entertained by a very amusing one man band who sang a variety of numbers but not very polished! On the Saturday we walked into nearby Adderbury where there was a Morris dancing festival underway. It was very pleasant sitting outside one of the local pubs and watching the performers and the spectators. Adderbury is a delightful village and it is a very enjoyable, easy walk from the campsite.

(below) (top left) Desnée, Sue and Paul outside the pub. (top right) The Morris dancer’s band (lower left) Adderbury street (lower right) Reception office at Bo Peeps campsite complete with sheep!

Our next stopover was at Moreton in Marsh. Here we stayed at Fosseway Farm, a small CS site just south of the town centre. It was a lovely location and we were sad to hear that the land has been sold for development and the site will disappear under bulldozers later in 2015. Moreton in Marsh is a pretty market town with plenty of interesting shops and a market in the centre of town every Tuesday.

(left) just one of the many beautiful buildings in Moreton High Street - The Manor House Hotel.

Whilst staying in Moreton in Marsh we visited Desnée’s sister in law, Carol and Desnée’s niece, Vicky, and her family in Shipston-on-Stour. We also took a trip out to Gaydon and visited the Heritage Motor Museum. An impressive semi circular building which houses a large collection of motor cars from the beginning of motoring to the present time. (right) Desnée tries out and early Austin and feels that it is rather luxurious but maybe a little draughty! The museum only has British cars and is very similar to the Motor Museum at Bealieu. Worth a visit if you are in the area.

Our journey now headed north to Yorkshire. First we were in West Yorkshire and just 5 miles away from Holmfirth (Last of the Summer Wine country). The campsite was a small farm, Thurlmoor Farm, at Carlecotes. It is one of the Camping and Caravan Club’s CS sites for members only. The views were simply amazing! (see panorama below)

The campsite was high up on the moor only a few miles away from th Woodhead tunnels which are no longer used for rail traffic but have been adopted by the National Grid to run power cables across the Pennines. North of the campsite the land drops down towards Holmfirth. Here there is excellent walking country and George enjoyed a 10.5 mile hike around the area. We were joined on the third day by Mike and Cath Rowland with their Carthago Highliner. The four of us travelled into, nearby, Sheffield and visited a very interesting Sheffield Steel Museum at Kilhams Island. Here was an impressive history of Sheffield steel products, especially cutlery and tools. Most impressive was the Don River Engine. This is the largest, most powerful steam engine still in operational condition.

The engine was built in Sheffield in 1905 and was used to drive the rolling mill at Grimethorpe Works where they produced armour plate steel. The power of the engine allowed them to roll armour plate up to 16 inches thick and 50 tons in weight. At full speed the engine can be reversed almost immediately whichwas necessary to roll the steel. The engine weighs 450 tons and produces 12,000 horsepower from its 3 cylinders. When it was running it was almost silent, just the noise of the huge flywheel turning. (right) photo from website (below) the engineer starting up the engine.

Attached to the museum was a café and we enjoyed lunch (or rather an all day breakfast) which was really good. Strongly recommended! More information on the Kilhams Island Museum at: www.simt.co.uk

in the valley below the campsite, the Trans Pennine Trail follows the now disused track bed of the Woodhead Tunnel railway which ran between Sheffield and Manchester. This line mainly transported coal from the Yorkshire coalfields to Manchester. You can follow this track, east, right into Sheffield or west as far as the tunnel portals. If you wish to continue westwards then you are back on to quiet, minor roads but they are hilly! The Trans Pennine Trail is a National Trail which runs from coast to coast, from Southport in the west to Hornsea on the east. It is 215 miles long and largely follows rivers, canals and disused railways. This section is beautifully maintained with a good tarmac surface. On the bank holiday Monday it was busy with families riding their bicycles along the trail. Along the embankments were masses of wild flowers and there are plenty of information boards and interesting areas for children to explore. For more information: www.transpenninetrail.org.uk (below) left and right the Trans Pennine Trail and wild flowers on the embankments.

The whole area is wonderful for walking but you need to have a 25,000 to 1 Ordnance Survey map (OL1) because the footpath signage in pretty poor. OK if you know where you are going but challenges your map reading skills if you do not! When George hiked his circular walk around Holmfirth he endeavoured to follow a guide pamphlet supplied by the Tourist Office. However, it was obviously written by someone that knew the territory. They should have tested it out on a stranger to the area before publication. Never mind, it all adds to the adventure! On our last day we took a trip up to Halifax to meet up with Sheree and her lovely baby, Poppy. We travelled on the A629 and we have never seen so many speed cameras in one journey. We must have passed 20 or more. West Yorkshire police certainly seem to have a zero tolerance of speeding motorists! You could lose your licence three times over in just one journey! Time to move on with just a short hop to Gargrave in North Yorkshire and to Seat House CL site, just outside Gargrave, which is one of our favourites (photo below)