Saturday 11th August – Next stop – Yorkshire

All went well with my packing up this morning – nothing to worry about. I checked my list (and checked it twice) and Alan at the site helped me with my final light, brakes and indicator test and waved me goodbye. A lovely, restful stay at Wold View – would recommend.

Plugged the new postcode into my phone (my nav system) and off I went – not without a few nerves. It’s still quite scary towing a massive caravan, especially on the smaller roads.

Heading to Yorkshire and a bigger site than the first two I’ve stayed on – Golden Square Caravan and Camping Park. It’s near a place called Hemsley and I chose this site as its close to a few places I want to visit while here. These being;

• Castle Howard
• Eden Camp
• Whitby

I was merrily following my sat nav when I noticed a sign on the road I was driving on saying ‘Not suitable for caravans’. WHAT?! I hadn’t seen a warning sign, but if I am honest, I concentrate so hard on what’s around me, to the side of me and my speed when I am towing, I rely on my nav to just get me there! Two minutes later – a reminder sign and a ‘No entry to caravans’ sign.

I’m going to be totally honest – I freaked out. I turned down a lane on the right as I was doing as I was told and not taking the risk. It was the narrowest road ever (wish I’d taken a photo, but, you know….) and there was no way my caravan was getting down there – especially if I came across something else on the way.

I looked around me and to the right was a big uneven mound of road, and hedgerows on the left. Behind me was a 60 miles an hour road and I had just come round a corner, so even if I wanted to (or indeed could, I still need some reversing practice), there was no way I could reverse out as someone could come hurtling around the corner and straight in to me. It may have been possible with someone else in the car to direct traffic, but alone, no chance.

Cue heavy breathing, swear words and general panic. So, what does a woman do when she is scared…? Well this one calls her Dad!

This was the area I had to reverse my caravan and car into. This was NOT a big space. In my general panic (all I could think was ‘I can’t reverse, I can’t reverse, I’m stuck, what do I do, I can’t do anything’) I wasn’t thinking straight. This is where my Dad comes in with the calm suggestion that there may be space enough to dis-connect my car from my van, motor move/reverse it into the space, drive my car past, then re connect and drive off. Genius.

Cue a bit more panic that there wasn’t anywhere to turn my car around (actually ended up driving down the lane for quite a bit to achieve this) and then Dad talked my panicked brain through dis-connecting my van – motor moving it – turning my car around – re-connecting my car. He also gave me the very clever advise of not just driving off, but to take a few moments to calm down. I did this while swearing at my phone and figuring out (with the help of an old fashioned map book I had in my car – thank goodness) the correct way to go. Suitably calm, I waited for a gap in the traffic and moved off. I have never driven so slow or paid more attention to road signs in my life! I sent apologies up into the air to the drivers behind me, but I wasn’t making that mistake again!

Nerves shattered, and a little anxious about setting up once I arrived, 20 minutes later, I was at the site after another call from Dad to check I was ok.

In reality – the impromptu practice disconnecting and connecting again in a short space of time, actually helped my confidence! I was shown my pitch, drove up, dis connected, motor moved into the space and set up. Practice makes perfect! Plus after the journey I’d had, everything else seemed easy in comparison.

I’d like to take a moment to recognise the sacrifice made by these pegs as I tried to put them in a hard standing pitch! I will be looking for suitable pegs in the site shop and will try again tomorrow.

This is my pitch from the front and side – which I set up all by myself (smug face). Nice campsite, but A LOT of kids! I guess it is the summer holidays and they have put me in the ‘quiet’ area.

I’m spending this evening calming down and planning my three whole days here. Nursing a double G&T for my nerves!

Until tomorrow as the adventure continues….