The travel time to the Peak District was just over 2 hours and 10 minutes according to the satnav and we had to cover some 80 odd miles. The route would take us directly west to Evesham and then north through Alcester before picking up the M42 all the way round to the M6 Toll.

We would stay on the M6 Toll for a couple of junctions, leaving the exit for Lichfield. Upon arriving at the Toll booth and prior to paying, we hit the “Assistance” button and told customer services we had a Caravan Club membership card. On holding the said card up to the camera, the fee was discounted to that of a regular motor car.

From Lichfield, we headed north to Ashbourne and then picked up the A517 Ashbourne to Belper route, finally following the directions to the Carsington Water Caravan Club Site posted on the club website.

The journey had taken 2.5 hours and we arrived just after 11:00am only to find the earliest check-in time was noon. One of the most competitive aspects of arriving at a Caravan Club site is the scramble to select a pitch. The normal protocol is to drive around the site and choose a pitch – and one can drive around several times to achieve this. It has been noted on occasions that guests have actually circuited a full three times before choosing that “perfect” pitch. But, remember, each circuit allows another van or two to enter the site behind you so that “almost perfect” pitch might not be there on circuit number 2 and 3.

Arriving at 11:00am seemed to sort out this problem and we now understand why when we arrive bang on noon, we are always at the back of a long line of caravans. We had a full hour to walk around the site and selected our top 3 pitches based upon distance from the services, how close other vans would be and most importantly, to ensure that the awning faced south / south west without too much shade.

This is to ensure we would enjoy the full sun for our evening BBQs. There is an issue with this last criteria – since in Little England, the sun never shines. So really the most important aspect is to make sure the van is located on higher ground – because it does rain a lot.

We are staying here in the Peak District for a couple of weeks so we have all the toys installed – including the awning and of course, the trusted Weber BBQ.

In the evening, we put the BBQ to good use and ate in the awning, blessed with the late evening sun and with temperatures almost reaching double figures. (Sorry, I lied. There was no sun but we kept warm in the awning with our trusted fan heater).

And of course we watched the Wales versus Belgium game.