Durham, Trip Two 2011, Day One

On arrival at he Durham City Boathouse CL, it was obvious that the hardstanding hadn't been done but the exceptional dry weather meant the grass was firm enough to use.

There was nobody about to tell us where to pitch or to book in with. A caravan was just pulling away from a nice spot on the river bank, before they left I asked if the ground was ok there and they said it was. There also said that nobody form the club had spoken to them or even asked them if they had booked or payed for their stop, the same happened to us.

We pitched by the rive and set off into the city centre along the river, the girls wanted lunch and so did I. It was not as busy as I expected for a bank holiday, we got sausage roles, cheese and onion pasties, a meat pie and some cakes from Greggs, then went to the main square to eat them. The square was full of WW2 military vehicles, a swing band and people dancing in period costumes, entertainment with our lunch, very nice.

After lunch we set off for the castle and cathedral and had a good look around the cathedral before heading down to the river for the girls to take some photos.

Back in the centre while I had a sit to rest my feet, Dot and the girls went in the £ shop and bought a big bag of toys to play with.

On the way back to the site the sun had come out so we stopped off at the Swan and three Cygnets for a beer and got a seat outside. Just as we started to drink, it started to rain and we had to rush inside.

Th girls played with their new stuff while Dot and I had another beer (or two), before heading back for supper. I walked straight back to get the food ready while the girls stopped for a play on a roundabout.

Back at the van I discovered the electricity off and when I took my shoes off I also discovered that the floor was very wet. To cut a long story short, the tap had been on and pumped a full 100 liters of water onto the floor and also flattened the battery. I mopped out the small amount of water that was left on the floor and started to top up the water tank. I do not know where the water went though.

After tea we even went over to the club bar for one last beer, before watching a DVD and then bed, in the bar the girls were allowed to play pool and it was free.