It was a short jump from Yafforth to Pocklington, which took an undue amount of time and energy. We planned to go down the A1 and called in at Roper’s at Brompton in search of a collapsible bucket. Unsuccessful in this mission we turned to the A1, to find that the slip road South was closed. There was a diversion, which took us through… Northallerton. So. That explained yesterday’s traffic congestion.
We retraced our steps back past Canada Fields and into Northallerton which thankfully was slightly less congested than the day before. At least there were no funerals in evidence.
As we made our way towards the further edge of town we became aware of very heavy traffic coming towards us. The traffic built up. It became a stationary tailback of around six miles in length. Trouble on the A1, perhaps? Or on the A19, maybe. We had by now concluded that we might as well use the A19 to York, having got this far, so problems on the A19 would not be good…
Indeed, the A19 had been closed in both directions due to a tanker fire, but luckily only North of the junction that we were aiming at and we were able to join the road and breathe a sigh of relief. By now we were running over an hour late.
Then we hit the York ring road at Clifton Moor and the usual inexplicable traffic jams. Progress was slow,, inching forward at times. When the tailbacks cleared just before the A64, as they always appear to do as if by magic (there is never any obvious reason for the traffic jams) we were over two hours late.
Of course the A64 presented its own problems, with traffic queuing eastbound and blocking the roundabout access to cross over to the westbound side.
It was very late by the time that we reached Pock, where we were booked in at a CL on The Mile for three nights.
The Mile Farm Shop offers a very basic facility for a very reasonable rate. Fresh fruit and veg meat, milk etc, and beer supplies are available in the shop and a small cafe provides coffee, cake and lunches etc. I bought some lovely Pink Grapefruit Marmalade and some Sloemotion amongst other items.
The short walk into town proved to be perfect for our needs, being just 15 minutes away from the family and giving Nell a stretch of her legs on the way. The site did fall down on the ablutions block (we chose gratefully to use our own facilities!) but we would happily use it again for the level of convenience – and improved facilities have been promised by Spring.
I took no photographs. But if you look very carefully at the one that Colin took on New Year’s Eve you may be able to see Vincent Van Go
Time passed, as time does, pleasantly and busily until we took off on a slow route back to base via Derbyshire.
Our first port of call was a Caravan Club site at Stavely for two nights – where I also failed to take any photographs. Poolsbrook has much to recommend it, not least the fact that it is sited in a Country Park reclaimed from old mine works. Readily accessed by a short run from the M1, it is far enough away not to suffer from motorway traffic noise. Ample walking is supplied by the park itself and the fact that a long distance footpath runs through.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the Poolsbrook wardens and the AA man for coming to our rescue when Vincent decided to lock us out, with Nell, our coats, our keys, money and phones all inside. (I had been in the Laundry and Mr L was emptying the waste tanks) Also, kudos to Safeguard, our insurance company who swiftly and accurately dealt with our contact despite our not having policy number available. A couple of questions supplied with the correct answer and they contacted the AA for us, then connected us to them to give full location details etcetera. It was a painless process. Despite being told that the delay was likely to be as long as three hours, by the time that the wardens had found us a warm place to sit and given us a mug of coffee, the rescue man was on the case.
Yes, I know, I would have blamed The Driver too… if it had not happened again after the AA broke in. Whilst Mr L was signing the paperwork, the van locked itself again! Luckily this time we had a set of keys outside.
The AA man diagnosed that the locking system can be in a state where it decides that we have left the van, intending to lock it up, but not doing so and thus it makes itself secure.
That Is CRAZY.
Since that day we never ever exit the van without a set of keys.
There is a Morrison’s in Staveley, so we stopped to shop and fill with cheap petrol on our way to Chatsworth. There was a ten minute barbers inside the store so I grabbed myself a six quid haircut.
We stopped at Bakewell on the way and picked up a pudding and some Sage Derby and had a fish and chip lunch. I had the camera out and tried to capture some shots of the love locks on the bridge.
Then we headed off to Chatsworth for a second visit.