Hillside Park

We had planned to have four nights at Hillside Park just to the north of Thirsk but events overtook us and we only managed two and had to return early.

Hillside Park is a lovely little site ( 50 pitches ) that has won awards for its eco-friendliness,the owners are very friendly and obliging.

The site wasn't very busy but as they also store vans a lot of the pitches had empty vans on them for some reason which unfortunately gave it a sort of "ghost town" appearance.

When we were moving the van to hitch up at our storage for some strange reason the offside Reich motor mover wouldn't move onto the wheel,anyway with a bit of help from the chap who serviced our van who happened to be there we eventually got it sorted and were on our way.

Visits to Rievelaux Abbey and Helmsley on the Thursday passed a very pleasant day but on the Friday morning my back went as I was getting a shower and agony barely described it.

We therefore decided to pack up and go home,SWMBO was a star as I wasn't much help,she packed everything up including the awning ( with help from a friendly neighbouring vanner for the awning ,thanks Phil ).

We intended to ask Mayday-Green Flag to get the van home as I was in too much pain to drive and SWMBO doesn't tow but they refused until I produced a medical certificate,not the most helpful of responses when you are in agony in a caravan field out in the sticks,will think twice when renewal comes.

Why not just do it and ask for a certificate within seven days or so,but no,so the owners said we could leave the van on the site and I will collect it in a few days when my back has hopefully improved.

Ian

CalorLite Recall

In case any of my readers haven't seen it elsewhere,Calor are recalling all CalorLite cylinders from years 2008,2009,2010 and 2011 because of a possible defect leading to gas escape.

See here for full details :-

Calorlite Recall

Got ours swapped today in Castleford,came at just the right time as well as it was virtually empty.

Thank you Calor.


Ian

Service With A Smile.

Had the old girl serviced today ( the van not SWMBO ) at our storage,given a clean bill of health and no damp found,thank goodness.

For the first time I used a mobile chap from Leeds ( Karranvan ) and was very impressed by the workmanship and attention to detail.

We received a far more detailed report than I have ever had from the two dealers that we have been to previously,he picked up that the front table support was cracked and I didn't even realise,now superglued.

He is AWS certified so it keeps the warranty in order and the price was very good indeed.

Karranvan

So if you are in the West Yorkshire area it might be worth considering.

Doesn't help you much if you live in Cornwall but you can't have everything.

I have no connection apart from being a customer.

Ian

Washing Up

When stopping on sites with washing up facilities we usually make use of them as the sinks are bigger and it saves a bit of water.

I used to use the washing up bowl to transport the dirty dishes and SWMBO kept saying we could use something better.

Eventually I succumbed and bought one ot these :-

Ortlieb 10L Bowl

It does the job very well and also has other uses such as washing your feet etc.

This site ( All Outdoor ) was the cheapest I could find.

Ian

Hmm.......................

Just had four nights at Beechwood Grange just outside York which it has to be said didn't pass off without one or two minor incidents.

First of all we arrived at storage to pick the Orion up only to discover I had left the caravan keys at home.

Fortunately I carry a spare set in the car glovebox so that saved the day.

Secondly,someone who shall remain nameless ( SWMBO ) managed to reverse our twelve week old Passat Alltrack into the caravan hitch,inflicting damage to the rear bumper.

As can be seen it's not massive damage,BUT IT'S A THREE MONTH OLD CAR !!!!

Managed to keep calm,just glad it wasn't me what did it,off to the reapair man after the Bank Holiday

Next,when we arrived on site I proceeded to put the awning up in the face of rapidly approaching black clouds only to find that for some reason some of the awning poles had got stuck inside each other and it took a great deal of effort to remove them,all this while the heavens opened.

Since returning home I have rubbed them down with WD40,hopefully it won't happen again.

Then I came to open our very expensive,top of the range Kamei Corvara roof box only to find that the lock had jammed and the key wouldn't turn.

As the box had within it the grandkids bedding,bicycles etc. ( oh yes we had two grand kids with us ) this was a sticky one,no amount of persuasion was going to make that bugger open.

After tussling with it for a while,SWMBO put in an appearance and I explained the dilemma,she looked at the box and said " You do know there is a lock on the other side",of course I did I was just waiting to see how long it would take her to spot it.

Anyway got the box open and after a few calls and e-mails to the Roof Box Company,it is going back to be replaced/repaired.

Don't you just love it when you spend shed loads of money on what you think are quality goods only to have them break.

Anyway the following day SWMBO was sat at the front of the van and suddenly piped up " Do you know there is a crack in this window ? "

Sure enough there is star shaped crack in the front window which has originated from who knows where.

We are having the van serviced by a mobile chap on Thursday so I will ask if a repair can be done,if not I will put some clear tape over it as it is not leaking water and I am not paying the silly money that a replacement window will be.

After all this everything went smoothly,if you can call being pitched in front of the childrens playground,smooth.

Never again.

Don't you just love caravanning.

Ian

Isabella Videos

I have just been looking at some videos on You Tube made by Isabella.

I have watched many of these over and over mostly in relation to erecting our Magnum awning and have found them very useful as Isabella's paper instructions leave a lot to be desired.

It occurred to me that anyone new to caravanning may not know of their existence and be struggling with the sometimes complex business that is awnings.

So if you want some assistance head over to You Tube and enter "Isabella" in the search box and receive plenty of help and advice.

Ian

Barnard Castle

Just had five nights at the CC site on the outskirts of Barnard Castle in Teesdale and,despite the odd adverse comment on the CC review site we found it very pleasant site indeed being neat and tidy with a warm and spotlessly clean washblock.

The main complaints appear to be road noise if you pitch ( obviously ) adjacent to the road but we were further down the site and suffered no problem at all.

Don't look for it on Google Earth though,it isn't there.

There were no Orion problems but the TV lead that we expensively bought from the Scarborough site,gave up the ghost.

Amazingly the chap in the adjacent van was a retired TV engineer who appeared to bring his entire workshop with him and soon fitted our lead with new plugs ( metal ones at that ) and we were soon up and running again using a lead that I would probably have had to chuck away,well done that man.

At one time during our stay there were three Orions in a row,a 400/2 our 440/4 and a 430/4.

The chap in the 400/2 was a blog follower and the occupant of the 430/4 hopefully soon will be.

During our stay there was an enormous thunderstorm on the Saturday night which if our van or awning was prone to leaking would have surely showed it up,the site road was like a river with the amount of rain it put down in about half an hour.

We had a visit to Ropers caravan dealers in Catterick to see if they had the new Unicorn 3 in stock but to no avail,however the salesman said there are people ringing up daily about it and apart from a full range of demonstrators they have 120 on order.

Looks like being a winner if every dealer has a similar number.

Of course no visit to a dealer is complete without purchasing something whether you need it or not,and this was no different.

I purchased an Isabella Clicklight for use in the awning.

Isabella Clicklight

It is very useful but be careful how you detach it from the pole as it is easy to break the plastic as I discovered,all repaired now.

Of course being Isabella they aren't cheap but told SWMBO it was reduced in the sale ( of which there wasn't one ) so that little problem was taken care of.

Ian

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

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

Plump Up Those Seals.

I have mentioned previously about spraying the window seals with Thetford silicone spray ( the stuff you use for the cassette blade seal ) to stop them cracking.

It is also useful for applying to locker door seals and the main door rubber seal,plumps them up nicely and may prevent a locker door from leaking.

Did ours this week.

Ian