“How about a luxury black tie dinner at Holbeck Ghyll for New Year’s Eve celebrations?” said Pete, “Only £500.” “Naaaaah, let’s spend the night in the van in a quiet spot in the Duddon valley with friends and of course Zac”, I returned. A much better idea.
We arranged to meet Dave and Fiona at the Newfield Inn at Seathwaite, it was a good spot to put the van if we wanted to take advantage of the live music planned for that night, but when we got there we could see that both Dave and Fiona were more than a little traumatised. Their route via Broughton-in-Furness had taken them a long a very minor road, one that was way too small for a reasonably sized mobile home. They’d managed to get through the obstacles but were very worried about getting back. Added to that, their fuel gauge had dropped dramatically on the few miles from Broughton-in-Furness, and they were also worried about how they’d get back to a petrol station.
We decided to plot our way back a few miles along the Duddon and, to the great relief of Dave and Fiona, avoiding the narrow road they’d taken, and instead driving along the far more sensible road though Ulpha.
We parked up for the night not far beyond Ulpha in a large lay-by.
We had a fairly quiet night, catching up, drinking gin and then bubbles, and almost missed the new year countdown.
New Year’s Day was glorious, as forecasted, so we plotted a good walk that would take us over the hills and back to the Newfield Inn, up Wallowbarrow Gorge, down past Wallowbarrow Crag, then back long the valley to the vans.
We had a great time, with great friends.
Happy New Year!