We had a plan, drive to Gretna then join the M6 to junction 39 then down to Kendal on the A6, the old Shap road, and what a great day for a drive. The sun was bursting the sky and at a lovely 21 deg. was nice and toasty. The A6 really has to be on the list of “must drives” this was the road everyone had to take before the motorway, now it’s relatively traffic free with great views.

One of the best things about the van is that once you arrive on site it only takes 5 mins. to set up.

Then it’s time to get the kettle on or open the wine!! The site is almost all new after being modernised at the start of the year. Nice large pitches and plenty of showers.

The weather wasn’t looking so good for the next day so after a leisurely breakfast we took a 25 min. stroll into town and headed for the tourist information where a very friendly member of staff suggested we walk up to the Castle, she also gave us a map showing all the places with toilets as Kendal doesn’t have any public ones. We followed the signs out of town and on the way found a nice little park that Dave could get a run around off his lead.

This is where we might have taken a wrong turn and ended up around the other side of the Castle with no footpath leading up to it, no problem we thought just a bit of a scramble up the grassy bank, there’s a reason they build Castles on hills as we found out!! After catching our breath it was time to explore the ruins.

It started to rain as we made our way down, thankfully we were now on the path, and it seemed a good idea to head to a local pub for a bar lunch. Lots of dog friendly place to eat. The town itself doesn’t have the draw of some other Lakes places as it doesn’t have any “lakes” it seems more like a place you have to go through to get somewhere else, it is very clean and the locals friendly.

We arrived back at the van a bit damp and decided to batten down the hatches and get ready for storm Callum to arrive, he took his time, 4.30am before the high winds and rain really started.