High Onn to Buxton

Thursday was a short journey from High Onn heading north east through Stoke-On-Trent, Leek and arriving at the Buxton Caravan and Motorhome Club site just after noon.

The only thing notable about the journey was that the A53 from Stoke To Buxton was an absolute shambles for pot holes and poor maintenance – won’t be long before the caravan needs screwing back together yet again!

The site is extremely peaceful, situated on the floor of a dis-used quarry – judging by the road names, presumably this was Grin Low quarry. Given we are almost at mid-summers day and the daily high temperature was a cool 13 degrees, maybe this should be called “Grim” Low!

The views over the campsite are pleasing enough.

Facilities here look all recently refurbished and we have a nice spot tucked away in one corner of the campsite, complete with a fully serviced pitch.

Spent much of today (Friday) sussing out access to the various off-road cycle trails – there are three well-known ones in the area:

Monsal Trail
Tissington Trail
High Peak Trail

We have cycled these routes before on a number of occasions but never from the Buxton end and access from Buxton is challenging. The roads are in poor condition and the traffic is heavy, Buxton being a major crossroads for many routes criss-crossing the Peak District.

In addition to this there are direct routes to Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield. We really don’t intend cycling on any of these routes to access the cycle trails!

We stopped briefly in Buxton, and one can fully appreciate the communications hub it is / once was. There are railway lines, a number appear to be for freight / quarry materials heading in all directions and a plethora of viaducts overlook this small market town. Pictures just don’t seem to do justice.

It’s market day in Buxton tomorrow so perhaps we will head into town on foot.

High Onn

Arriving at High Onn after a 3.5 hour event free journey from Devon, it felt like we had travelled back in time. High Onn is only maybe a 30 minute journey from the hussle and bussle of Birmingham and the M5 / M6 interchange, yet High Onn and its campsite could be a 1000 miles away.

There is not a single sound of traffic, save for the occasional caravan rolling in and it’s a fantastic day weather wise. Hot and sunny with temperatures in the mid 20s.

This Caravan Club site consists of 65 pitches but no toilet blocks – this going some way perhaps to explain why the site isn’t fully booked and why we were able to secure a last minute change of dates.

Our pitch at High Onn:

The wardens were helpful pointing out a variety of local pubs, all of which were either allegedly closed or not serving food. A couple of phone calls revealed that the Hartley Arms in Wheaton Aston was indeed open and serving food (must update the wardens) so it is time to don our walking shoes and head off on a 3.5 mile walk, much of which is alongside the Shropshire Union canal. The Hartley Arms will be beside bridge 19.

A quick Google search revealed the “bio” of the owners of the Hartley Arms: “Having studied at Birmingham College of Food Phil has worked in a variety of restaurants from a beach side bistro in Fuerteventura to a 2 rosette restaurant in South Wales and Le Caprice in London’s West End. He is excited to bring his knowledge and passion back to the pub where it all began, his first real job was behind the bar at the Hartley.”

The walk from our campsite passed the old RAF Chapel and Cinema and a little further on we passed 2 old green wartime storage buildings.

The entrance to the old RAF Wheaton Aston airfield was shortly after on the right. Further one we would pass a beautiful black and white building which was originally the South Lodge of Little Onn Hall.

We would then join the Shropshire Union canal at bridge 23. Just four bridges until number 19, the site of the Hartley Arms.

And finally, bridge 19!

We sat at a table overlooking the canal and ordered Salmon Fishcakes – Moe and mixed Kebabs – Joe.

The food, despite being reasonably priced was just excellent. The Kebabs cooked and flavoured to perfection. The fishcakes full of flaky salmon chunks.

We returned to the campsite via country lanes, which shortened the journey a little as opposed to the canal route. Nevertheless, a decent 7 mile walk for a couple of pints and some very nice food.

Flaxland Fishery to Lydiard Millicent

We started the day with blue eggs, fresh from the Fishery which also features many different breeds of chicken and other more exotic looking breeds of common pet animals.

For lunch we headed via foot to the Sun Inn at Lydiard Millicent where we met David and Cathy. Nice pub and excellent company for the afternoon. A good 8 mile round trip, impeded only once by a herd of cattle which simply would not let us past!

Now whilst these cows looked friendly, a local walker did point out that someone in the area was trampled by a herd of cows just last week. We managed to find a detour.

Flaxland Fishery – out and about

Our first day near to Wootton Bassett and first on the agenda was a trip to Avebury.

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans.

It appears to be run by some kind of collaboration between English Heritage and the National Trust. Moe’s National Trust membership allowed us free parking and entry into the Manor gardens. The Manor itself remains closed due to continuing Covid-19 restrictions.

Constructed over several hundred years in the Third Millennium BC, during the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony. The Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow, Windmill Hill and Silbury Hill.

In the eveing we hiked across the fields from the Campsite to the Bolingbroke Arms to enjoy yet another post-lockdown meal and drinks.

Arrival at Flaxland Fishery…

The last time we saw Ruby the caravan was around a month ago, on the back of a low-loader near Dartmouth bound for the repair centre at Swindon caravans.

Anyhow, she was returned to us on Thursday, newly glued and screwed back together.

Ruby Front Bulkhead rectification

It’s the May bank holiday weekend and probably the first since lockdown was removed. It is also forecast to be preominantly warm, dry and sunny. We decided we would take the newly repaired van somewhere local to where it had been repaired (Wootton Bassett, near Swindon).

We hadn’t figured out just how busy this weekend would be. After around 20 fruitless phone calls, we decided to email and text a whole plethora of sites in the area. Over the next 24 hours, two sites had a vacancy for 5 nights.

We chose Flaxland Fishery, near to Wootton Basset and only a mere 10 minutes drive from the Caravan service centre.

There is a nice view from the pitches across the fishing lakes. The only slight downside to the loction is that being around 200m from the M4, there is a constant hum of traffice noise.

There are 5 pitches here, the maximum allowed for a Certified Location. Each pitch is equipped with it’s own dedicated water supply and electricity and the site is quite relaxed at having the grey water nourish the plants and trees.

Postlockdowntour I – Plant World

We returned to the van on Friday to clear a few more things away, As it was a nice day, we went to “Plant World Nursery and Gardens”. The nursery is situated near to Newton Abbott and has a large display of rare plants from around the world.

The usual entry price had been reduced from £10 to £3 and the exhibits were looking in need of some tender care and attention. It seems maybe the gardeners have been on Furlough for too long!

Late afternoon and finally received a call from the Caravan retrieval company who will take the van away next Tuesday.

As the weather was still dry, we took our chances and booked a table at the River Shack in Stoke Gabriel. Whilst dry and sunny, it was still bitterly cold. Nevertheless it was nice to experience some small semblance of normality (again!).

The River Shack would not be out of place in the wilds of Florida – shame the heat of Florida isn’t here.

And now a much longer pause to our Post Lockdown tour…

Postlockdowntour I – a brief pause

Monday was a wet and very windy day. We took a picnic onto Dartmoor and spent the afternoon with Rich and Ru in our awning, eating strawberries and cream and drinking some fine red wine. Ru didn’t share her Prosecco (again).

Structural damage to the front end of our Swift caravan has brought the first post lockdown tour to a grinding halt. Tuesday we returned to East Devon with all of our caravan personal belongings in preparation for the caravan to be taken away for repair.

We don’t know when that will be…

Stoke Gabriel Aish circular walk

A three mile circular walk from the Ramslade Caravan and Motorhome club site.

The Middle Dart Valley walk

This walk uses mainly surfaced paths and trails between Totnes and Dartington featuring one of Devon’s most historic towns, a rebuilt medieval hall, classic 20th Century architecture and a craft centre.

It starts and ends in Totnes and is between 5 and 6 miles duration. Difficulty class is “Easy” but we’ve been burnt by that one before!

The walk starts at the bottom of Fore Street at the lowest bridging point of the River Dart, built in 1828. On one side of the bridge is Totnes and on the other side, the ancient suburb of Bridgetown.

The walk follows the River Dart upstream, past (under) the modern road bridge which carries the Totnes relief road. From there, the walk continues past Totnes Riverside railway station which is the heritage line from Totnes to Buckfastleigh.

This path eventually crosses the long winding drive to Dartington Hall which we followed up to the main Hall. We had lunch at the cafe before continuing along the upper road towards Dartington village, past the sports fields before re-joining the multi-use path along the River Dart, ultimately re-tracing our steps back to Totnes. The total walk was around 6 miles.

Postlockdown tour – week 1 summary

It’s been a busy week and we seem to have been all over the place. Returned home one night as Moe had a hospital appointment. All is ok – she was referred by a GP and had the consultation within 1 week of the referral. I think maybe the hospitals have a bit of spare capacity now that Covid admissions are on the decline.

Another trip back today (Friday) for Moe’s second Covid vaccination.

And in between, we managed to spend some time with our friends Rich and Ruth who arrived last Monday.

One visit to the National Trust site at Coleton Fishacre and a return to the River Shack riverside cafe at Stoke Gabriel.