Tuesday 14 August 2018. I had an exhausting 222-mile drive yesterday on my 5½ hour journey from home to my caravan site at Torver. Unusually for me, I’m staying on a small “listed site” without a shower block when there is a much bigger and better-appointed Caravan Club site just over a mile away. I’ve stayed there before but it is shrouded by trees and I doubt that I would be able to get a satellite signal there. The Torver 5-van site has all that I need, water & electricity and has the bonus of tranquillity and views. My caravan has its own toilet/shower so I’m self-contained. Sadly, there is no on-site wi-fi so I’m having to fall back by connecting via my smartphone. Despite driving through a torrential downpour near Newby Bridge, at the foot of Lake Windermere, it was dry when I arrived in Torver although low cloud and mist was restricting the view of Coniston Old Man. The owners of the site are very relaxed about payment and, despite offering them the money, they suggested that I wait until my departure as I might want to leave early and not to pay for nights that I haven’t used.
The weather forecast for today wasn’t very promising although the light drizzle that fell first thing relented for a few hours only to return later. I decided not to take the chance of getting wet and took myself off to Ambleside on a shopping expedition. Rather than driving the 12 miles to Ambleside I decided to go just a couple of miles to Coniston and to let the 9:30 bus take the strain. My bus pass saved me a fare of £8.30 not to mention the cost of car parking which starts at £2 for the first 2 hours with an extra £1.20 for every additional hour. There is free on-street car parking in Coniston if you get there early enough. I’ve driven the route to Ambleside before and knew how narrow the roads are. I say “roads”, but they are not much above country lanes which haven’t changed in width or direction since they were established for the horse and cart. I was therefore surprised when my bus turned out to be a 40-seater single decker which wasn’t the best choice for the task. Needless to say, we frequently ground to a halt as we squeezed past vehicles coming the other way. It took nearly 50 minutes to complete this short journey. The return journey was a little quicker on a smaller and more suitable 27-seater.
The main purpose of the outing was to buy some new Birkenstock sandals. I’ve looked, without success, to buy them on-line and knew that they are stocked by F W Tyson on the main street, having bought from them before. With the primary task achieved I retired to Costa Coffee for refreshments and to use their free wi-fi. Ambleside was much busier than when I was last there in June and I was glad to catch the 11:50 bus back to Coniston. Torver seems like a tranquil oasis in comparison to Ambleside and I’m glad that the walks that I have planned are in this much quieter part of the lakes.
