A Last Minute Easter Break at Carsington Water

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since we got home to the UK. Time is really flying by, and in just a few short weeks we’ll be gearing up to head off again. The return home seemed easier this time, possibly because we haven’t had to totally empty Zagan (our motorhome). As it’s not winter, we’ve left bedding and some clothes in there, just in case we fancy heading off somewhere in him.

Motorhome Repairs

So far he’s only managed trips to the garage. After needing to replace the same wheel bearing three times in less than a year (all at different garages while on our travels) we believe he has an underlying issue. Now he’s back home, we took him to his favourite mechanics for a thorough check over, however they only thing they could find was his tracking was slightly out on the offending wheel and has been adjusted. We expected this as he’d worn that tyre down on its inside edge and was pulling to the right. Another trip out saw a couple of new tyres fitted (Michelin Agilis Camping – here’s why), but sadly the tyre place were unable to align the wheels as he was too big for their ramp. He’s now pulling slightly to the left, so he’s booked into a specialist place for later this week to get him straight.

Human Repairs

Work has also been ongoing to sort out another repair – my knee. After falling over while out on a run at the end of February I’ve been hobbling about and in quite a bit of pain. I managed to get an appointment to see the nurse at my doctors the week after we got back. Because I didn’t have an x-ray when it happened in Spain (there wasn’t one in the medical centre I was in and the priority was to stop it bleeding), the nurse took one look at it, declared it to be deformed and wouldn’t do anything until we knew nothing was broken. I was told to rest it again, so I was back on the sofa with a bag of frozen peas on it. As it was over a month since I fell, I wasn’t a priority in the queue for the x-ray machine. I have to admit to a few tears of frustration, but deep down I knew that I just had to get through this to get in the system and get sorted.

A couple of weeks more hobbling and the result was a one line note saying ‘no bony injury’. So, back at the doctors, my knee was wiggled about a bit and the decision was an MRI scan was needed. By now hobbling was knocking my body out of kilter and causing my thigh and hip to be more painful than my knee. Knowing an MRI would be an even longer wait, I asked the doctor if there was anything else that I could do – some exercises perhaps. He agreed to put me on the waiting list or physiotherapy (normally I’d have to wait for the MRI results), but once again that would be a few weeks in a queue. On leaving the doctors I went straight to see a fellow member of our running club who runs her own physiotherapy clinic (which is handily very near where we live). The next day I was on the treatment couch and a corner in my recovery was turned.

I’m still on the waiting list for physio and MRI from the NHS (I’m keeping myself in the system in case the MRI identifies damage which needs fixing), but in two short weeks of paying for private physiotherapy I am walking so much better, in much less pain and I feel that I am making real progress towards recovery. The physio hasn’t been massively expensive (less than £100 so far) but it has been worth every penny to get my life back. This has prompted a discussion between Jay and I about private medical healthcare. The NHS does an amazing job and has patched me up several times in my life, so I know if I’d fallen over in the UK things would have been very different. But we, like many motorhomers, live our lives outside the normal tick boxes which can cause unusual issues. At the moment we’re not going to get private healthcare, but it might be something we consider in the future.

Marathon Man

Repairs aside, we’ve kept ourselves busy catching up with family and friends and day trips out. Jay has been out with our running club at various league races, Parkruns as well as his first every marathon in Boston, Lincolnshire (I have assumed the role of photographer so I get to see everyone and cheer them on).

Eight members of the Kimberley and District Striders lined up in Boston to run the full or half marathon. It was a great weekend as we all met up for a pre-race meal the night before and gathered by the queue for the loos (if you have every run a half or full marathon you’ll know what we mean) on the morning. Jay’s Mum and Dad joined us and we all cheered them on as they set off from the Market Place.

I drove around the course to cheer the marathoners on at various points and made it to the finish to see them in. Everyone did really well with several personal best times recorded. I’m so proud of Jay as he absolutely smashed his first marathon in 3 hours 26 minutes (there’s a race report here if you’re interested). I could tell his Mum and Dad were proud of him too as they presented him with a cup at the finish. Some other runners nearby asked what it was for, thinking Jay had won something, ‘first family member home’ we replied, they looked a bit bemused.

Easter Break at Carsington Water

Normally when we’re at home in the UK Zagan the motorhome gets a little forgotten about. He has a storage space about a mile from our house, but it is sadly a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. We park him up, empty him and then make the odd trip to tackle the eternal list of repairs we write on the way home from every trip. However, as the Easter bank holiday drew closer and weather forecasts seemed to be predicting the unheard of – sunshine on a bank holiday – we thought about going away in him.

We’ve got used to living what we call an ‘off-peak life’. Not having to go to work means we can do things in the week when it’s quieter and avoid the weekend crush. But the sun had decided it would only shine over the weekend, so I had a look around for places we could go. Most campsites were fully booked, and some were charging a lot of money to stay at them, with a minimum of three nights and bank holiday supplements edging the cost up. The idea of packed campsites and the thought of getting Zagan ready (we call it ‘the hump‘ and the longer the trip the bigger the hump is) almost had us staying at home.

After a morning Park Run with several of our running club, I got in touch with Uppertown Farm, a place we’d visited with friends in 2015. The farm offers a few fields with views over Carsington Water, but the only facilities are water and somewhere to empty your loo, there aren’t even any bins so you have to take all your rubbish with you. This means some folks don’t stay there, but at £7.50 a night and within a few minutes walk of the visitor’s centre at Carsington, we love it. They had a rally cancel on at the last minute, so there was plenty of space. That was the final push we needed. The fridge was emptied into a cool bag, some clothes and food was shoved in bags and we were off.

It took a little over an hour to get there, so by 2pm we were testing out our new camping chair (we like these ones) looking out over the lake and baby lambs running around in the field next to us. It was perfect. We had three nights there with several trips down to the lake, watching the crowds swell in the morning and recede at night. The queues for the ice cream stalls were 20 deep in the day, so we’d nip in just before they closed once the masses had gone. It was a lovely relaxing few days. On Sunday we walked around the lake, it was something I put on my goal list when we were there in 2015 but never got around to it. It’s a 12 kilometre (8 mile) route and considering the week before I was struggling to walk a kilometre, I can tell I am making real progress. On Monday the campsite emptied out as folks made their way home ready for work and school the next day. We were alone when we left on Tuesday, to miss the traffic.

The ferry is currently booked for the 15th May, but it may get changed depending on my MRI appointment. In the meantime, we’re just enjoying being at home.

Ju x