Just posted this trip report...might be of interest !
Northumberland Trip Report
Roller Team T-line 590 hired from Midland Motorhome Hire, Romsley, Worcs, nr Halesowen for 9 nights. 30 June to 9 July 2017.
Friday. Headed north from Birmingham. 5 hrs through busy traffic…to
South Causey Inn, Brit Stop at Stanley south west of Newcastle. Near Beamish museum, would have liked to explore further. Great large quiet car park with nice views. Pub very friendly. Lovely meal.
Saturday. Headed north to Kielder. Parked at CR by the Observatory. Cycled round the lake. Back for tea and a peaceful night in the forest. The Britstop at the Anglers was packed in, it’s own car park being small and next to a Forestry Commission one you have to pay to park in. Glad we were on our own at the CR. Noticed several car parks round the lake that didn’t have ‘no overnight camping’ signs displayed. Parking charges apply to some of the larger ones between 6am to 9pm, but again it looked like camping overnight was OK. The car park to the north by the dam looked practical with toilets.
Sunday. Drive to Hadrian’s wall, Housesteads National Trust. Great tour by volunteer. Good size car park with designated areas for MHs. Then back towards Kielder to stay the night at CCC Bellingham. We should have booked for Haltwhistle CCC instead as nearer. We needed to get to a campsite to empty tanks etc. This worked out every 3 nights for us. We only had priviledge membership of the CCC with the van so couldn’t use CLs sites which would have been our preferred option. Lovely site though with staff going the extra mile. Nice lounge and events (wildlife, star gazing, walks, heritage properties with experts) run through the year. Worthwhile checking out their website.
Monday. Headed north to Seahouses. Afternoon at the Farne Islands, incredible and not to be missed. £15 boat trip. Good car parking in overflow car park, but get there before 1130 (this was 3 July) to be sure of a place. £4 for all day. But there were plenty of big spaces down at the Harbour CP, which had a better view. You may have some people standing around outside the ticket booths who will need to move over to let you pass, but plenty of room. Fish and chips at Lewis’s eaten overlooking the harbour. Good Co-op to stock up. Bad weather coming in so drove south west down A1 to Rothbury to stay overnight at CR nr Lordenshaws Circle and Cup stone age rock engravings. CR on lane off B6342 towards Simons picnic area. Wonderful CR with incredible views. Woken up at 6.30am with sheep rubbing themselves against the van!
Tuesday. Heavy rain so we drove to nearby Cragside, National Trust property and home of Lord Armstrong, engineer and first home to be lit by electric light powered by hydro electric power. Fascinating. Good designated parking for MHs. Stopped in Rothbury car park by river to walk into town to stock up at Co-op. Toilets were locked. Then back up the hill to our favourite CR for the night.
Wed. Drove to Carster. Watch out for one route into village which has a low arch way. Then chose right route. Car park by tourist info is small and has no spaces for MHs. Signposted no coaches. Asked rather unhelpful lady in tourist info who said we could take up 2 spaces and pay for 2. By 11.30/12 it was too full and it was hard to get round. Avoid this unless you are early. We drove away and found a great parking space at nearby Embleton memorial hall. Then cycled on bikes to Dunstanburgh Castle (once inside we wished we’d bought the £3.50 guide book as it didn’t make much sense without) and then to Craster. Bought kippers at Craster, also fishcakes which weren’t great. Cycled back on national cycleway 1. Then onto Beadnell CCC. Walked into Beadnell Village which was well worth it, beautiful harbour, beach and kilns. Lovely pub Craster Arms and bistro opposite.
Thursday. Bamburgh castle. Incredible and wonderful views. Audio tour at £2 defintely worth doing. Beautiful walk along the sand dunes. Parked all day for free in Links car park opposite entrance to castle. Designated area for MH. Don’t use the castle car park. Tea and cake in café near castle. Then drove to Britstop at nearby Sunnyhill Farm shop. Open til 6pm, but also later for evening meals on Friday and Sat, and school hols. Menu looked lovely and very reasonable…sea bass etc. Shame it wasn’t a Friday. Stocked up with lovely food though. Lovely position with fields around, and play area. Great quiet stop and friendly staff.
Friday. Lindisfarne. Nice large car park on island. Checked the tide times (had taken photo of safe crossing times in Seahouses tourist office window) so knew we had until 1300 to get back. Bought spiced mead, walked around the ruined priory although better view from Coastguard lookout. Then walked to castle covered in scaffolding and white plastic. Will be open again March 2018. Back to main land.
Then into Alnwick to Barters Books. Do not go into their car park! Find anywhere else to park. Be aware there is Bondgate in the town which is 2.8m high (sign says 9’3) …our sat nav kept veering us towards it…We couldn’t find the long stay car park, decided not to chance the Morrisons car park and instead left our van round the corner from Balifgate Museum outside a nursery on the road. Then nice walk into town and through to Barters Book buying lovely walnut bread at a deli on the way. Barters Books…plonked down on leather sofa with filter coffee, honesty bar, 35p and a cookie for 65p. I could have stayed here all week. I can see why its such a popular place to visit, but it didn’t seem busy. Toy train engines run above you head and the lighting is very atmospheric. Lovely café and loos too. This place will take you down memory lane as you see all the books from your past. Most books are £3-5. Brilliant and great fun/vibe.
Then to Amble Britstop at Artique@Marina. Brilliant place. Closes at 5pm and gates close at 5.30. Again incredible shop and it will take you back to your past. All value for money prices. Café where Andrew enjoyed the best carrot cake of the trip/decade. I bought some lovely cards and a pegbag. Walked into town via the marina, Fat mermaid looked good but we went for the Fish Shack which is partnered with the Boat House. The best fish and chips of the trip for £9.75 and what a view! Good beer too, and great service.
Saturday. Drove to Alnwick (pronounced Anic) Castle and Gardens. Parked in the coach park, nice and easy. Stunning castle, opens at 10am. Went on the included tours, interesting to hear about the Earls and Lords and how they lost their heads… The inside is a revelation. Then walked back to the Gardens and enjoyed them. Great contemporary gardens, spent time in the bamboo maze and enjoyed the tucked away vortex in the Serpents garden and the Poison Garden tour. Wait for the vortex to fill up. If you validate your ticket to the castle you can come back any time in the next year. If we’d known this we would have visited at the beginning of the week and then again at the end.
Then off to start our drive down south. 4 hours to Conkers, CCC near Swadlincote, just off the A42/M42. Busy site esp at weekends, but OK to get rid of waste water etc. Van needed to be back at hire company on Sunday by 1130, which was an hour away.
All in all a great week. We had rain and cold whilst the south baked with a heat wave. But as our first week in a motorhome we had a great time exploring. Loved the combination of ********* and CRs. Thanks to those on the wildcamping.co.uk for the CR locations.
Sarah & Andrew
