Day 7 - Goodbye Scotland, Return to Yorkshire

Another good night sleep but we did wake up to a little rain. We had tea and a bacon sandwich for breakfast. Afterwards we had showers and packed up ready to leave for 10am.

Woods Caravan and Camping Site has been a cracking little site. It was only the first day when I had to queue for shower. Other than that showers have been free, hot and clean. The views from the campsite are stunning and it’s been quiet. The restaurant on site was super too.

This morning we made a spontaneous decision to cross the Forth Road Bridge so we could get some photos of the railway bridge before joining the motorway south. It was a little out of our way but worth it we decided.

As we left the campsite rain was pouring so did wonder if we would be able to see it through the murky conditions.

As we approached Rosyth the rain stopped and blue sky appeared. It was like a parting as the heavy clouds clung to the hills on either side of the Firth of Forth.

The Forth Bridge is a historic red cantilever railway bridge which spans the Firth of Forth, it connects Edinburgh to Fife.

We crossed the road bridge, and not unexpectedly, we could not see much of the famous red Forth Bridge. I suppose they don’t want everyone looking and photographing, and then crashing! No problem we had earmarked a viewpoint on the other side of the bridge.

So whoever named the Newton Viewpoint didn’t have much of an understanding of the word ‘viewpoint’ which is quite a major part of the name. Even Jonathan couldn’t see over the hedge! I did take a photo from my height, and then one on my tiptoes with phone aimlessly held above my head where you can just about see the famous structure.

It would seem that most visitors to the ‘viewpoint’ are under 7 feet tall so people had made a hole in the hedge, leading to the top of a field down a slippery slope. We clambered through and took a few snaps of the previously hidden view.

The blue sky had disappeared so we got on the move again. Set the SatNav for Tebay services (south). It was rainy, then sunny, then rainy, then windy and we arrived about 2.5 hours later.

The was so much food to choose from and it all looked delicious and quite reasonably priced. We both had coffees; Jonathan also had a cheese mix baguette and I had a cheese scone.

After another roam around the farm shop, though this time resisting the urge to purchase anything, we got back in the van for the last hour’s drive to Dalesbridge Campsite.

It soon became apparent we were once again playing the old ‘petrol range v actual miles’ game. 35 miles range to a campsite 28 miles away. The drive was across the Yorkshire Dales so not exactly the most fuel economic of drives.

Soon after we left the motorway the range number disappeared just to make the game far more interesting! Now we were monitoring bars - 2 bars of fuel left.

The views were dramatic as ever; huge vast hills, streams cascading over rocks, sheep everywhere and narrow roads requiring Jonathan to reverse a couple of times (is reversing less economic?!).

We passed Ribblehead viaduct again, which was covered in mist. Everytime we ascended the rain came down hard, but it was dry and relatively calm in the lowlands.

We were now down to 1 bar of fuel. What does that actually mean? I had no signal to google it. We finally reached Ingleton where I had found an Asda petrol station, and like an oasis, there it was just round the corner. Not the cheapest at £1.97 but fuel, beautiful fuel!

We filled up and £111 poorer we left and headed to the campsite. Dalesbridge is just outside the village of Austwick. It’s a site that the YouTuber we follow Yorkshire Poptop has been to several times and actually had his meet up last weekend.

It is a pretty site and there are only about eight vans here. There are gorgeous views across the Dales but as you can see from the photos I took from the van whilst having a cup of tea, the weather is very changeable!

We had curry for dinner with a couple of ciders and watched another dvd of Mission Impossible. The brain did stop long enough for a little bit of a sunset. Once night fell it was completely dark as there are no lights on the campsite. We finished off the wine and went to bed around 1030pm.Read more