I’m of an age that if a word follows Donkey, it’s ALWAYS Kong. So Donkey Creek, in my mind will forever be Donkey Kong
Sometime last year we decided we would attend TourFest NorthWest, even though it was the other side of the globe to us. Talk about race around the world, this would be a journey even Michael Palin would be proud of and Channel 5 would jump at the opportunity to make a 6 part documentary.
Dramatics aside, when I say “we” decided, I do of course mean “I” decided. At the time of booking, Mandy had the get out of jail card and could say, “No you go, I’ve got other things to do”. However, when the time came to go, she had no choice as ATM the caravan is our home. You see, YouTube is “my” thing and Mandy isn’t keen on appearing in the vlogs, which is a shame because I’d no doubt have double the views and subscribers…
It was a bit too far to make the trip to Preston in one go, so we booked in at Somers Wood for a couple of days. When I described it in a recent vlog, I think I used the term “Vlogger’s resting place” which made it sound a bit like it’s the place where they all went to die, actually for all I know it might be.
The journey to Somers Wood was a tad stressful due to a closed road about 2 miles from site. The meant a 30 minute detour down flooded country lanes, not the sort of thing to put me in the best of moods when arriving at site. Maybe other vloggers do this but I never announce that I have a YouTube channel when checking in at a site, i mean, why would I?. I thought I might just say, “Oh hi, I follow you on Facebook”, but it just felt a bit awkward at the time and it isn’t really me. So, instead I put something on Facebook and tagged Somers Wood, yes thats more my style 🙂
Whilst near Birmingham we took the opportunity to visit the “Back to Backs”. a row of back to back houses owned by the National Trust and they are worth a visit if in the area. They are in the city centre, in what I assume is “China Town” as there were a lot of chinese restaurants.
New Awning?
We’d been mulling over the idea of getting a larger awning. We currently have the roff mounted canopy and a 260cm Dometic porch awning, which for an extended stay on a site isn’t big enough. We do have the 400cm Isabella, which is a lovely awning, but it’s just a bit too heavy to lug about. We did decide which awning to get after a look online, but we really wanted it now, so didn’t want to wait for delivery. So, after googling shops near me, I went out just before we left for Donkey Creek to find one. (Details in an upcoming vlog)
It took us about 3 hours to get to Somers Wood and it would be another 3 hours to get to Donkey Creek. Now I think about it, Channel 5 would struggle to make a 6 part documentary, but I guess when you take into account the adverts, it might be doable!
Donkey Creek
We arrived at about 14:30, it’s about 3 miles outside Preston in a lovely village called Freckleton. Setting up normally takes us about 30 mins (In fact whilst at Ferry Meadows a couple opposite told us they watched our “slick” set up and it took 20 mins. This was with the canopy of course.) Now we have a 4 metre awning, it would take longer. It took us close to 3 hours, as every 5 minutes someone was coming to say hello, which I loved of course, it’s great to meet people. Do you know not one offered to help 🙂 Actually Caravan Nut gave me a hand getting the awning in the rail.
I’ve been a long term subscriber to the Caravan Addys, so Donkey Creek seemed like a bit of a pilgrimage. It’s a lovely site with really big, serviced pitches. I mean really big! The shower block is modern too. Staff are friendly. If it was nearer to us we would use it more often. Having said that, although I think the site fees are value for money, they are at the very top end of what we’d normally pay. About £45 a night, whereas normally we’d like to be closer to £30. Having said that Brighton is nearer £50, not a serviced pitch and they aren’t as big as at DC.
We’re not exactly party animals, so the first evening was spent in a local social club, in my eyes all very northern, but of course these things do happen in the south and as a kid I went to weddings and parties in social clubs; you know the sort of thing, cheap beer, music and a buffet; perfect!
Shy, Me?
Again, I was very lucky that people came and said hello, said nice things about the channel and were very friendly. The problem is, where it seemed a lot of people in the club knew me, I had no clue who they were, or who in the. club knew me and who didn’t. It made it a little difficult for me to go to people and talk, I had being presumptuous and I’d never assume someone knew me…
I was surprised by the amount of people who were surprised and how “shy” I was, considering I sit in front of a camera once a week. Well, I’m not sure I’m shy, but I wouldn’t say I had northern levels of…What’s the word? You know what I mean.
In the vlog tonight, I make reference to the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s “Club Fest”, if you went and enjoyed it, great, I’m only having a bit of a laugh. I was comically comparing he photos I saw of Club Fest, with my experience and Tour Fest. I saw pictures of a Spice Girls tribute band, that looked older than the Spice Girls and pictures of “Bailey Caravans” seemingly getting down with the kids, no doubt in an attempt to flog you a motorhome. Anyway, my point was, that Tour Fest North West, whilst it wouldn’t appeal to everyone, it was certainly “Real” run by caravaners for caravanners (and of course I include campers and Mohos in that”. The two were really polar opposites.
Meeting
It was nice to meet up with Hey How Let’s Tow again, and also meet Martin the Caravan Nut. Obviously we met the Caravan Addys who are exactly like they are in their vlogs, in fact sitting talking to them for a while was just like watching their vlog live 🙂
We walked around to meet Caravan Chronicles, I’ve followed his blog for a while and we had a look in their 5 Wheeler, which is very nice indeed.
What’s Next?
The weekend was of course over too quickly, we left on the Tuesday to avoid any Bank Holiday traffic. We were heading to Ferry Meadows in Peterborough, before heading to Brighton with our grand daughter – she’s 3 years old and absolutely does not stop!
There will be some footage of our Brighton trip next week.
Leave a Reply