Saturday 26 July 2014

Scarborough ( West Ayton )

Just had a repeat vist to the above site for four nights in gloriously sunny weather.

Excellent site and not too far from the Park & Ride into Scarborough at the bargain price of £2.50 ( SWMBO got a discount with her geriatric bus pass,£1.10 ).

Took two grandkids for the first time,when the Valium wears off I suspect I will feel much better.

It did throw up though that we could probably do with a larger van especially as we now have a vehicle in the Alltrack capable of pulling one.

Will have a look at the Bailey Unicorn 3 when it appears at the dealers.

Anyway had one very minor glitch with the Orion in the fact that the 5A fuse for the hot water blew for some reason,replaced the fuse and all was well,weird.

When we were pitching up we couldn't find the TV hook up lead to connect to the bollard,looked everywhere,so made a purchase of £15 at the site shop for a replacement only to find it as we were packing up.

Felt a little better about it as our original lead wouldn't have reached the bollard anyway and the replacement was 25m long.

We use the shower as bedding storage and I managed to knock the shower on when it was full of bedding,oh deary me.

The Passat Alltrack is a fantastic tow car and pulls the Orion with ease,even with four passengers,stuffed full of luggage plus a full roofbox and two childrens bikes.

The auto/Tiptronic gearbox is a delight,why we persisit in waggling a stick on the floor to change gear is mystery with this amount of auto sophistication.

One thing I did notice on site was the number of very largish vans being pulled with very small towcars,didn't look anywhere near to the recommended 85% ratio ( yes I know it is just a guide for inexperienced tuggers ),must have been touching 100% in some cases or perhaps even 100% +.

Ian

Thursday 10 July 2014

Leyburn and the TdF

Last weekend we took the Orion to Leyburn CC site to watch the Tour de France ( been having some computer problems which aren't over yet which explains the delay in posting ).

It was the first time we had towed with our new Passat Alltrack and it didn't let us down,solid as a rock all the way.

The approach to the site is very narrow,I would hate to meet another van coming the other way which shouldn't really happen if everyone sticks to the correct arrival/departure times.

The site itself appears very confusing on first arrival as there appears to be roads going off everywhere and it has to be said it could do with a bit of money being spent on it as it is beginning to show its age.

The facilities were clean and tidy though and the showers were excellent but a lot of the pitches are under trees which are in severe need of being cut back.

We found a tree free pitch though which was very pleasant.

A lot of the pitches are occupied by seasonal vans of which one or two looked a bit scruffy.

There was no problem with the Orion although I thought there was a leak at one point as a greenish puddle appeared in the front locker after very heavy rain,it wasn't until SWMBO reminded me that I had spilt a cup of green tea the night before and it had seeped under the sofa end,relief all round.

A bit of a tip coming up,you can't put a door canopy up on a non-awning pitch,we did and was asked to remove it.

The Tour de France was a magnificent spectacle,never to be seen again in my lifetime I don't suppose,certainly not in Yorkshire

Ian