Month: May 2021

Roxton CL, a Small Campsite on the Banks of the River Humber

We only had two nights at Roxton but quickly settled into this peaceful and welcoming Caravan and Motorhome Club Certified Location. It was such a stunning spot and idyllic site it was really too good to keep to myself. Near to the small town of Barton-upon-Humber and by the hamlet of Barrow Haven, this campsite offers fantastic walking and wildlife.

We were warmly welcomed by the couple that own and run Roxton and they were around if we needed them but were never intrusive. This lovely site is in a large enclosed garden and is a credit to them with level and tidy grass and squirrels and birds in the trees. There is a caravan storage area that is accessed through the campsite but the comings and goings were minimal and never disturbed us. We couldn’t believe we were lucky enough to have this wonderful site to ourselves.

Just a few minutes walk from the campsite is Barrow Haven nature reserve managed by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve is mostly disused flooded clay pits that now have reed beds and an abundance of wildlife. Walk between the pools to the banks of the River Humber and the Humber Bridge stretches across the wide river to your left. The sunset across these pools with the Humber Bridge as a backdrop is a beautiful sight.

We walked along the Humber towards Barton-upon-Humber. The sky was blue and in the sunshine the Humber Bridge dominated our view. The River Humber was to our right and numerous flooded clay pits to our left. There was lots of bird song, particularly reed warblers and the world felt spacious under the big skies.  There are also occasional remnants of the industry here and a still working red-clay tile manufacturer. There used to be many more.

In Barton upon Humber there is a visitor’s centre, an old tile works and The Ropewalk arts centre. Due to Covid-19 restrictions none of these were open on our visit, surely an excuse to return! We found somewhere for coffee in the twn and then continued along the Humber by Far Ings National Nature Reserve another area of pools. We turned inland back to Barton upon Humber and picked up a footpath across fields towards Barrow Haven.

As we reached the lane to the campsite, the weather was looking more unsettled but was still dry so we decided to by-pass the campsite and carry on to Barrow Haven and The Haven Inn for a swift half. We had obviously pushed our luck as a short shower caught us as we hurried back along the Humber path.

That evening was a spectacular sunset and we walked back out to the River Humber. This time we were certain that the low fog horn sound we could hear from the reeds was a bittern. The first time we had ever heard one! The bittern and the deep orange sun setting behind the Humber Bridge were a magical end to our stay.

The Paddock, A Perfect Small Campsite on Rutland Water’s South Shore

A bank holiday fell during our four week tour around England in April and May and we needed somewhere where we wouldn’t get in the way of the working population who wanted to relax and enjoy the long weekend and where we could find a hint of tranquility. An adult-only, no facilities campsite on the south shores of Rutland Water fitted the bill perfectly.

The Paddock is run by a friendly family who keep the site exceptionally neat and tidy. The grass is cut short on the pitches and these are marked out clearly and are spacious. The owners welcome all visitors and provide brochures about the local area. They also own a country pub in the nearby village of North Luffenham that is about three miles away. The campsite has a view over Rutland Water but the owners have even built a raised viewing platform so that the view is even better!

For us this campsite ticked two boxes. Just a short walk away is a Wildlife Trust nature reserve which has a hide overlooking an osprey nest used by a breeding pair of ospreys. The second attraction is the round Rutland Water cycle route which passes the campsite gates.

On our first day we walked down to the nature reserve and paid £5 each as concessions to enter [adult admission is £6]. It isn’t far to walk along the paths to the osprey hides and there are four hides in total. In the third hide a Wildlife Trust warden gave us plenty of interesting background about the ospreys and Rutland Water. It was a treat to have great views of the two ospreys; they were close enough to see with the naked eye and clear in the binoculars. When we arrived the male was sitting on the eggs on the huge nest that sits on a platform in the water and the female was on a nearby post. Boats are kept out of this corner of Rutland Water and this helps keep the ospreys safe. This isn’t the only osprey nest on Rutland Water but it is the easiest to see. The Wildlife Trust have cameras on the ospreys and you can watch them online. While we were there the two birds swapped positions and I watched on the TV screen in the hide to get a look at the eggs as they made the change over.

Of course ospreys are hard to beat but we also saw gadwall and teal and sedge warblers were noisily calling around the third hide.  Swallows and our first swifts of the year were here too and at the campsite white throats hung around the hedges.

There is another nature reserve beyond Manton at Egleton. This larger reserve has lagoons and meadows and lots of hides. Your day ticket will get you into this reserve too.

In the afternoon we walked to the oddly named village of Wing across the fields and up and down the valley. In this picturesque village we found the turf maze before walking onto Manton and beyond to a field where there was once a medieval village.  There is little to see today, except for a handsome private house that has been renovated but we could make out the furrows and ridges in the ground.  Back at Manton we had two halves of Osprey beer [of course] sitting outside The Horse and Jockey before heading back.

It was a glorious sunny morning when we cycled the 17 miles anti-clockwise around Rutland Water. You can make your ride about six miles further by cycling to the end of the peninsular and back. This cycle ride is mostly on easy to follow shared-use paths that, on such a fine day, were busy with walkers and other cyclists of all ages and abilities.  The first undulating section to the stunning Normanton Church, over the dam and to Barnsdale, where the woods were carpeted with sweet smelling bluebells, was particular popular. There are plenty of cafes to stop at for drinks and food and Oakham isn’t far off the route on the northern shore if you want more choice. On the north side of Rutland Water the cycle way is near to the road in places and is less popular with other walkers. As we came into the village of Manton and neared the end of our ride, grey clouds descended and we were lucky to get back without getting drenched.

Rutland Water was the perfect spot for a quiet bank holiday for us and The Paddock was a lovely base that allowed us to make the most of what the area has to offer.

Using our Campervan’s Smallest Room

There are lots of choices when you buy a campervan and an important one is size and whether you need a bathroom or not. When we bought Blue Bus Three we had the experience of living with our two previous ‘vans and a bathroom had sneaked onto our priority list. While Blue Bus One had been a simple traditional VW conversion and merely had a porta potti in a cupboard, Blue Bus Two had felt luxurious with a screened-off flushing toilet at the back. The layout of our middle campervan had worked really well for us but we wanted to try going the whole way and buying a campervan with a small room that would be dedicated to our ablutions.

We only have a campervan [no car] and so also never wanted our ‘van to be too large. The Devon Tempest is still under 5.5m and, although we think it is enormous, is fairly petit by today’s standards but the converters have managed to fit in a whole bathroom. We made our choice but always in the back of our minds we wondered if we would actually use the bathroom or would it just become a neat storeroom that we hardly used for its real purpose.

From the start, the toilet and sink have had plenty of use and the privacy in the bathroom makes this a usable and fairly comfortable space. It was the shower that we never made full use of, the number of times we had used it before 2020 and coronavirus could be counted on two hands and we had occasionally discussed if it was worth having. On our camping trips we usually wild camp or free camp for just one night between campsites and on those nights we would manage with a spit-wash at the sink. The shower was a great fallback if a site had no facilities or the showers were cold or unsanitary. Then along came Covid-19 and all manner of restrictions on campsites and suddenly carrying a shower around with us didn’t seem so stupid. Last summer we used the shower more than ever and we have just returned from a four-week tour where showers were closed on every campsite we stayed on. How has that been?

I think the bathroom in the Tempest is better than many, particularly because of the ‘proper’ sink [not a fold up one] that is set in a worktop. This is always there, it feels substantial and is effortless to use. The only problem it has given us is the tiny plug; this kept popping out of the plug hole just when you had filled it with water! We shaved slivers off the plastic plug and this has helped and when we don’t want a shower, having an all-over flannel wash at the sink is easy.

Having a shower takes a bit more planning than a wash but it is such a refreshing feeling after a full rinse within the warmth and comfort of your own ‘van and so it is worth doing right. The first step is make sure we have heated up the hot water. We find it is best if we put this on an hour or so before we shower, any later and we get a tepid shower which is so disappointing. We have experimented with heating the water to 40C and 60C [the only two options on our ‘van] and find that 40C works best for us. We are keen to use as little water as possible and 40C is the perfect temperature with the hot tap fully on. This means there is no need to waste water while we adjust the tap to add cold water to get a acceptable temperature.

Once the water is heated up and the campervan heating on if it is cold, the next thing to do is remove anything from the bathroom that could suffer if it got wet. We take out the towels that hang on the back of the bathroom door and the toilet roll. Our bathroom did come with a shower curtain but we both loath these clingy things and don’t use it. This does mean the bathroom leaks slightly during our showers so we move any mats in front of the door.

Then it comes to the showering. The main objective for a campervan shower is to get clean while using as little water as possible. We don’t want to be filling the tank all the time, or emptying the waste tank and it is only fair to leave enough hot water for the second person in the shower. And so, with the shower on we get wet all over, then switch off the shower. After soaping up with a flannel we can quickly rinse off. This way we keep our shower usage as low as between two and three litres of water each [on hair washing night we use more].

My top tip when you are having a shower is don’t drop anything! In a small ‘van the bathroom is never going to be spacious and it’s best to take care never to drop your flannel or the soap as bending down to pick anything up in such a small space is nigh on impossible even for a short, reasonably trim person.

Because we don’t use much water on a campsite we can capture it in a bucket under the waste tap, rather than filling the waste tank. This is much easier to dispose of cleanly on site.

After we have both showered we wipe the whole shower room down with a J-cloth to dry it thoroughly and then keep the door open to let it air for an hour or so. Using our campervan shower means that both of us and our bathroom are always clean!