Lickpenny - An alternative destination

-

 In November 2024 I jumped on the Caravan and Motorhome club (CMC) website and booked a few days in York for November 2025. Bookings at this site are like gold dust as it is right by the river in the centre of town, especially around Xmas as York has a Xmas market. Sadly, it being right by the river in the centre of town makes it prone to flooding. We had had no rain since March, were under a hosepipe ban, and instructed by Yorkshire water to shower, not bath, and even keep that to a minimum, so all should be well shouldn’t it? The answer of course is no. A few hours of rain later and the river was so high the site had to be evacuated the day before we were due to arrive. Resignedly I jumped on the CMC website, cancelled this year, and booked a few days in York for November 2026. That’s something to look forward to. 

All packed up and nowhere to go we looked at other sites not too far and decided on Lickpenny, near Matlock, a site new to the CMC network, but one that had been recommended to Ian in many a washing up room up and down the country. No Christmas market sadly but apparently nice views and good walks. I added a few food items to the fridge as we would not be visiting Lucia’s stall as planned, although there did seem to be a pub around a mile away that we could frequent if needed.

After using as much electric as possible, we had qualified for free electric 8-4 on this particular Sunday and I was making good use of it, we left Chris in charge of the lads and set off for Lickpenny CMC site. 45 mins later we were rolling up to the gate. A very friendly warden welcomed me and pointed out the serviced (red) pitches. We decided on pitch 97, which is huge and has a lovely view across the valley.


Pitch 97 to the right



Views across the valley 

While Ian did all the cold outside jobs I warmed some soup and we had a smashing lunch.


Soup

After lunch we didn’t have too much time before darkness set in, but it was dry so we decided on a short walk that ended up mainly on roads. Who knew how busy these C roads around Matlock could be!? Nevertheless we enjoyed getting out and about and were back in time to see England beat Albania.


A short, but dangerous, stroll


An Off Road bit, yay!


A scenic wall


Time for tea, and no, not butter chicken today. A nice ham and cheese pasty with veg.


Yummy

We hurried over to do the washing up as the temperature was dropping fast, however the washing up room was toasty warm, then we hunkered down to watch ‘Down Cemetery Road’, in which Emma Thompson plays a very sweary private detective. Then it was time for bed.

Notable events

I got three free loads of washing and drying done.

Ian saw some lovely mushrooms half way up a tree in Canklow woods. Sadly our mushroom expert has failed to identify them.


Tree mushrooms

Other than that, nothing of note!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carsington Water - Saint Monty

-
Image
 If you recall, we closed the door on Monty’s confused face and went off to bed. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock soon after and it was 8am! I had heard nothing during the night or early morning. No children, no birds, no Ian going to the loo, and most importantly no Monty. Ian got up to make coffee, and there he was, his lovely confused face looking back at us. Ian fed him and took him out while I made coffee and battened down the hatches in the bedroom. I had fetched a big blankie to cover the bed so he could jump up. But sadly (happily in Ian’s eyes) he cannot manoeuvre enough to leap up. So there he lay at the bottom of the bed just being good. After a lovely long pfaff I made the first day Full English, Monty didn’t even get under my feet (much). Full English We then pfaffed a bit more before setting off on another walk, this time to the visitor centre down the other end of the lake. The weather was a bit cool for the hot spell, so I dithered about what to wear, finall...
Read more

Baltic Wharf - The Run

-
Image
 No more car alarms in the night but I did manage to knock over my water. Only my magazine got wet though. My turn for Misty so I fed her and put the kettle on before we walked over to the dog postage stamp. As it’s near the gate I was able to see that there were already stewards and cones I place. The run will go right past the site on the opposite side to the wharf. No exit or entry here till 3pm. Chris and Ian were in full race mode from moment one. All stretching and porridge. Tape, bandages, gel and sun cream were all applied with vigour. There was more stretching and lots of trips to the loo, until about 10am they were ready to depart.  Good luck boys They would be meeting Vicky at the start, if she is real and not mythical. Chris,  being quick, would be in the first wave. Vicky and Ian, being slow, in the last. This has been a real bone of contention as Ian feels he must have put down the wrong expected time and should be in wave one too! Not that Chris has been ma...
Read more

Abbey Wood - A New year in Dame Shirl

-
Image
 Sadly for us, it was early April before Dame Shirley saw her first outing. Happily for us, the reason was our Ruby wedding cruise. Over the winter Ian had prepared a new shelf to go by the sink. It looks very nice. The heating had  broken, but Ian was able to mend it with the help of Olaf on utube. And Chris had got me a lovely new light for Christmas. Gorgeous new shelf The reason for the trip to London was that Ian was running the London Landmarks Half Marathon in aid of Alzheimer’s Research, and also to check out The Caravan and Motorhome Club Abbey Wood site. This is the nearest site to central London and very popular. Ready to run Although we were all locked and loaded, our plan to leave around eleven was scuppered because Ian had to take his mum to the doctor. She had a chest infection and, he reported, was in a prickly mood. Still, with her all treated and settled back home, we were able to leave around midday.  It was great to be out on the road again. It was red...
Read more