Winter in the Lake District?

We recently spent our half-term holiday in the Lakes. We had a great few days in the Langdale Valley, an area we know very well, especially me (Ridley) as I have been holidaying there for as long as I can remember!

Why visit the Lakes in Winter?

The Lake District, often known simply as 'the Lakes' is a beautiful region of Cumbria in the North West of England. Home to England's largest National Park, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracts visitors from all over the UK and abroad who come to explore the stunning landscapes, pretty slate villages, and expansive lakes. 

The latest surveys estimate that around 18 million visitors travel to the Lake District every year, which can lead to large crowds at popular destinations during peak periods.

That's the main reason we recommend visiting in winter, as you can avoid the majority of the crowds, especially if you can avoid weekends and holidays.

Winter weather in the Lake District

Admittedly, the weather can be a bit unpredictable at this time of year. Last week started with overnight temperatures around freezing, but clear skies and milder days. By the end of the week the temperature had risen to double digits (Celsius) and we had a fair amount of rain!

It is also not uncommon to have snow in the lakes at this point of the season, and there was a light dusting on the fell (hill) tops this year.

Ambleside Weather

As the saying goes, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing"! 

What to pack for winter in the Lakes

Winter clothing in the Lakes is all about layers, as the temperature or your activity levels fluctuate it's great to be able to quickly add or remove a layer and regulate your body temperature. This is where a small daysack / backpack comes in handy!

Base layers - thermal base layers are a great addition to your outdoor wardrobe.  We're massive fans of merino wool for base layers; they're warm, comfortable, and naturally odour resistant!  Icebreaker make a great range of thermals in various weights.

Mid layer - depending on your level of activity, and the weather on the day, you may need more or less mid-layers.  Quite often Innes and I don't bother with a mid layer, but Struan and Sarah almost always do.  An extra thermal, a shirt, or a lightweight fleece or hoodie, will work just fine.   

Outer Layers - a wind and waterproof jacket is essential, and we highly recommend a pair of waterproof over-trousers too.

Hiking Boots - a decent pair of hiking boots or approach shoes is important. 

Wooly Hat (Toque) - a warm hat is handy for the evenings, although you can just re-purpose your Buff.

Sunglasses - the winter sun is often low in the sky, so a pair of sunglasses can be handy!

Backpack - not essential, but really handy for carrying extra layers, snacks for the kids, water etc.  I'd recommend a waterproof bag if possible - we really like our Seal Line Skylake Dry Backpack.

RUX - we love our RUXs, they're perfect for carrying all of this kit!

Go Pro - if you don't have video for your favourite social site did your Lake District trip even happen?

Radios - we find our Rocky Talkies to be invaluable for keeping in touch on the mountain without digging around in your pockets for your phone.  We generally give one to Struan, so when he bombs off without us we can find him again!

Re-usable Water Bottle - we're all about reducing unnecessary plastic waste and if you've read any of our other posts, you'll know it has to be Yeti!

Apres Adventure - Most places in the Lakes are pretty relaxed, and are set up for muddy boots, and muddy dogs, so you don't need much in the way of extra clothing, you may just stay in your outdoor gear, in fact i think a lot of people in the Lakes just dress like that to fit in, even if they haven't been out on the Fells!  Don't forget to pack your swim shorts/suit if you're lucky enough to have a pool or hot tub for some apres adventure relaxing.

Where to Stay 

For winter camping you can't get much better than the Great Langdale Campsite, run by the National Trust.  It's a beautiful spot, up the Langdale Valley, with excellent, clean and warm bathroom facilities. It's also just across one field and the road from the Old Dungeon Ghyll, where you'll find the famous Climbers' Bar.  Think stone floors, wooden benches, an open fire and hearty food. The campsite officially has a two night minimum stay if you book online, but they happily accepted us for a single night in February.

If you'd like somewhere a bit more luxurious, we highly recommend the Langdale Estate.  We've had a timeshare lodge here for as long as I can remember.  The Scandinavian style lodges are carefully set around the former gun-powder factory to take advantage of the views of the fells and the water mills. There's a great pool and spa facility, an onsite bar and restaurant and they also run the traditional pub Wainright's just along the road.    

Cathedral Cave

Both the campsite and Langdale are perfectly placed for a hike to the Cathedral Cavern.  This former slate quarry in the Little Langdale Valley consists of a number of interconnected slate mines, including a very impressive central cave.  

Take a head-torch and see if you can find the tunnel through the mountain.

Don't miss Slater's Bridge while you're there.

Arundel, West Sussex

So, it's been a while since we posted; fear not we've still been adventuring!  It's actually been a pretty busy summer of exploring the UK, I will get round to writing up some more posts shortly.

For now, let me tell you about last weekend's trip to Arundel in West Sussex.  We've driven past Arundel lots of times since we got back to the UK, and have always admired the imposing castle and cathedral, but this was the first time we've managed to pay a visit.  Sarah initiated a meet up of the southern cousins, and somehow we all agreed on Arundel!

Of course Team Errington couldn't pass up on the opportunity to camp in the Landy, so while the rest of the (local) family only popped down from London for the day, we made a weekend of it and spent the night at a the campsite at the Ship and Anchor pub in nearby Ford.  Struan happened to have a rugby tournament at nearby Worthing RFC on the Sunday, so it all worked out nicely!

The Ship and Anchor has a lovely quiet (at least in October) campsite right next to the pub, and it is a beautiful easy walk along the River Arun into Arundel (approx 3 miles).  The river is very strongly tidal, and we're eyeing it up for a future SUP/Canoe trip!  If you don't fancy the walk back you can also catch the local train between Arundel and Ford for a few pounds which was definitely appreciated by tired little legs on our way home.

Arundel is an impressive medieval town, dominated by the imposing castle and cathedral and with some stunning buildings.  We happened to time it right and also caught the monthly farmer's market (3rd Saturday of every month), which had some lovely local stalls.  Naturally we had to buy a bottle of the local Arundel Gin, the honey gin is highly recommended!  There's also a great selection of independent shops and lots of bars and restaurants, and it appears to be the cake capital of the world with delicious looking (and tasting) cakes at every juncture.  We didn't actually make it into the castle, as we ran out of time, but I'm sure we'll be back to check it out soon. 

After a wander around the town, we headed up to Fauna Brewing, who have great selection of beers brewed on site, and some lovely wood fired pizzas.  They also donate a percentage of their profits to various wildlife conservation charities, what's not to like! 

Overall, Arundel is definitely worth a visit, check it out if you're down this way!

Can you Wild Camp in the UK?

Wild Camping seems to have really taken off in the UK recently, but what is Wild Camping, and is it legal in the UK?

What is Wild Camping?

Many people have different opinions on the definition of Wild Camping; the term is very loose and is often interpreted differently.  You may have heard it called stealth camping, off-grid camping or bush camping.  

Most people would agree though, that in general the true meaning involves sleeping in a tent somewhere in the wilderness, ie not on a campground.  Some people will go even more extreme and sleep in a hammock or a bivvy, while others will claim that their campervan/roof tent park up is Wild Camping.

Whatever your definition, there's a real sense of escape and adventure in Wild Camping which seems to be appealing to many people right now.

Is Wild Camping legal in the UK?

There are actually only a couple of places in the UK where Wild Camping is legal; Scotland and Dartmoor in the South West of England.  It is important to note that the right to Wild Camp in Scotland and on Dartmoor does not extend to vehicle camping.  Overuse and damage to the landscape has also caused the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park to introduce camping bans in certain areas and a permit system in others.

If you are going to Wild Camp, please, please, please follow the principles of "Leave No Trace".  Wild Camping should be lightweight, done in small numbers and only for a couple of nights in any one place.  You should avoid camping in enclosed fields of crops or animals, and pitch away from roads, buildings or historic structures.  The Scottish Access Code website has more info.

In the rest of the UK, most of the land is privately owned and the only legal way to camp is with the permission of the landowner or in a registered campsite.

So how can I find wild places to camp?

If Dartmoor or Scotland are too far away, or if you want to camp in a vehicle thankfully there are lots of other options that can give you the feeling of wild camping without hours of research into land ownership and requesting permission.  Here are a few of our favourites:

1. Off Grid Camp

This is a membership club which collates cool off grid campsites (over 165 across the UK at the time of writing).  For £25/year you get a searchable map with the contact details of small campsites and landowners who are happy to allow access to their land.  You book and pay for the sites direct with the owners.  The site is aimed towards 4x4 vehicles, but has a variety of different levels of accessibility.  We've had some amazing sites through here, and highly recommend it. 

2. Wild with Consent

Wild with Consent operates in a similar way to Off Grid Camp, but doesn't charge a membership fee and allows you to book sites directly through the website.  All of their sites are private, and only take one booking at a time.  It is less 4x4 focused, but the pitches tend to be slightly more expensive.

3. HipCamp

HipCamp took over Cool Camping in 2022, and provides an AirBnB type service for campsites, caravan parks, glamping and cabins.  They have a huge selection of sites to suit whatever form of camping takes your fancy.  The campsites tend to be slightly larger, but you can still find some cool wild camping spots.

If you haven't used HipCamp before use the referral link above for £10 off your first stay.

4. Greener Camping Club

The Greener Camping Club is a members club which licences over 160 small eco-friendly camping and glamping sites across England and Wales.  Membership costs just £12/year.

5. Park4Night

park4night is a community driven database of campsites and overnight park-ups aimed at campervans and motorhomes.  It is active across Europe and we've found some cool free camp spots in the UK, France and Spain.

Check out our Gear Page if you need any ideas for wild camping equipment, and if we've missed any sources that you use let us know!

Can you sleep a family of four in a Defender?

The short answer is yes, but read on if you want to know how!

It has taken a lot of planning, but we've come up with a solution that allows us to retain the middle (second) row of seats for the boys while travelling and then convert the rear area into two beds for sleeping.  While the boys sleep downstairs, Sarah and I get the big bed up in the roof, in our Alu-Cab Icarus roof conversion.

Planning a 4-Berth Defender Interior Layout

There is lots of information online about camper layouts if you've got the standard Transporter, Sprinter, Crafter or Transit Van, but not much about Defenders.  If you want a family friendly, 4-berth Defender layout that retains four travelling seats, there's even less!  

The standard Defender Camper layout usually involves fixed cabinetry along one side, and some form of pull out bed on the other.  While the boys are still pretty small this might have worked, but we couldn't see them wanting to share a narrow bed for long!  The standard layout usually also involves removing the second row of seats, but this wasn't an option for us.

We did get some layout inspiration from our friends at whereistheworld, and from YouTube videos by Off-Track Family.  

After many hours sitting in the back of the Landy, measuring, sketching, and even a bit of 3D modelling in SketchUp, we eventually came up with our own solution, and I must say we're really pleased with it!

Our Goals for the Interior

1. Retain at least four travelling seats (with seatbelts)

2. Maximise storage space

3. Full width sleeping area for the boys

4. Space for a cooler

5. Re-use as much of our existing camping gear as possible

6. Quick setup and stow

The Interior Build and Storage Solution

Our layout consists of a fixed platform in the back, which we built to fit under the lip at the top of the tub.  This is supported on two wooden beams which use the existing holes in the tub capping.  

The platform is cut from 15mm lightweight eucalyptus plywood with a black phenol hexagon coating.  The platform is also supported by a vertical section of ply, which is slightly offset from centre for our sliding storage solution.

We were really keen to make use of our existing RUX system, so used heavy duty drawer sliders from Aolisheng, and built a frame to support two 70 litre RUXs.  

If you haven't come across RUX before, the 70l is a rugged, compressible, weatherproof, soft sided gear storage container with a wide rigid opening for easy access, a secure stowable lid and modular straps for easy carry.  Designed in Canada, and now also available in Europe, we use them all of the time!

We decided to remove the middle seat from the second row, and used the existing frame to build a platform for our Yeti cooler.  The Yeti Tundra 45 fits perfectly, and the Harvest Red is almost a match to Budgie's paintwork!

In order to retain the boys seats, but still give them a full length bed; we used another two pairs of heavy duty drawer runners and built two sliding extensions, which pull out over the top of the folded middle row seats.  It only takes a couple of seconds to fold the seats forward and slide out the extensions.

We then had some custom foam cut to size.  The foam for the extensions is 1.5" thicker than the foam on the fixed platform, which gives a nice flat surface for the boys to sleep on.

With Sarah and I sleeping up in the Icarus roof, we've comfortably got space for all four of us to sleep, and we're happy that we achieved the goals of our interior layout.

Read more about the rest of Budgie's camper conversion.

* Some of the links on this post are affiliate links.  It won't cost you any more, but we may receive a small payment if you purchase through our links.  We will never recommend a product which we haven't fully tested and love. 

A Defender Road Trip to France and Northern Spain

We had a brilliant Easter holiday in France and Spain with Budgie.  We were away for 10 days and covered over 1750 miles (2850 km), making it all the way down to the Spanish Pyrenees.

As is usual for our road trips, we did a few long travelling days, but interspersed these with shorter days and one two-night stay in San Sebastian.

Ferry to France

We chose to take the DFDS ferry from Newhaven, in Sussex, to Dieppe, in Normandy.  For us, Newhaven is only about an hour and a half away and this route was considerably cheaper than the alternative routes from either Portsmouth, Dover, or Plymouth.   

The ferry takes around 4 hours.  We travelled both ways on the Seven Sisters vessel, which was very comfortable and had great facilities onboard.  The boys highly recommend the croque monsieur and the sausage rolls!

The return ferry departed Dieppe at 0630, so we decided to get a cabin for this leg.  We booked a four berth outside cabin, which had two sets of bunks and an ensuite bathroom.  We were heading straight up to Edinburgh when we disembarked, and after the early start we really wanted to make sure we got some sleep on the ferry.  It was definitely worth the extra cost!

Top Tips for Driving in France and Spain

1. Check the Crit'Air Clean Air Zones

The first bit of travel to Ballon-St-Mars took us a bit longer than expected as we diverted around the Rouen clean air zone.  Budgie is too old to register for the French crit'air system, so to avoid fines we just had to avoid the zones completely. It only costs around 5 Euros for a sticker or 'vignette' if your car is eligible for the scheme, so make sure you check this out before you travel.  Ensure you use the official French government site, as there are a number of scam sites around.

2. Consider avoiding the Toll Roads

Google maps also took us on a couple of toll roads on the first day, which I think costs us around 30 Euros.  The next day we selected 'Avoid Tolls' in the maps application, which made life much easier for route planning.  Most of the toll roads have a maximum speed of 130 km/h (80 mph) which is pretty much out of reach for Budgie, so we were much more comfortable travelling on the slower roads.  These routes also took us through some beautiful towns and villages, and made stopping at the delicious boulangeries easier!

3. Take the required equipment and documentation

There is additional equipment required for driving in Europe; some is obvious, like headlamp deflectors, but others are not so intuitive, such as reflective jackets for all passengers which must be carried in the cabin.  The RAC has a handy driving in Europe checklist, so be sure to check this before you travel.

Finding Camp Sites in France and Spain

Unusually for us, we didn't really have much of a plan for the rest of the holiday, other than to hopefully catch some sun and a vague aim of getting to Northern Spain and maybe Portugal. 

We ended up staying at a mix of campsites, off-grid park ups, and aires, which we felt gave us a nice balance of facilities and some stunning locations.

We had only booked one camp spot in advance, and that was for the first night, as we wanted somewhere to aim for within a fairly short drive after disembarking the ferry.  We booked Ludovic's site in Ballon-St-Mars through PitchUp.  It was a great small site with the added bonus of a small cabin with a hot shower and a sitting / dining area.  The boys loved their first night in their newly built sleeping area:

For our second night, we had aimed to get across the border into Spain, but we were enjoying taking our time and exploring, so decided to have a shorter day and stop on the coast in France.  We headed to the small town of Andernos-les-Bains, which sits on the beautiful bay of Bassin d'Arcachon, and our first 'Aire de Camping Car'.  

Aires come in a variety of forms in France (the literal translation is just 'area'), from motorway services, or picnic areas, to camping zones with facilities.  They are often free, or charge a small fee for overnight parking.  We picked up a guide to camping aires at a local supermarket, but you can also find them in maps, and they are usually signposted from the main road or entry into a town.  

The aire in Andernos-les-Bains was a simple area of ground alongside a quiet no through road on the edge of town.  It is minutes walk from the beach and some great seafood restaurants.  The payment machine was out of order, so we stayed for free!  The following morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had managed to track us down in France and had delivered some chocolate eggs for the boys to find:

We spent the next day exploring the Arcachon area, including the Cap Ferret lighthouse and the amazing Dune du Pilat:

We spent the night in another aire, just down the road in Biscarosse Plage.  After hotdogs in the rain, we were treated to a stunning sunset:

Next we headed down to San Sebastian, in the Spanish Basque region, and spent a great couple of days exploring this beautiful coastal city.  We stayed at WeCamp San Sebastian, which is in a great location on top of the cliffs at the edge of the city; with a regular local bus service into town.  It's a very clean and tidy campsite, with a lovely cafe bar on site and an outdoor pool (sadly we were too early in the season for it to be open).  It was nice to spend a couple of days relaxing at a site with facilities.

While in San Sebastian, we decided we weren't going to have time to make it over to Portugal without some very long drives on the way home, so instead we headed down to the Pyrenees.  It was a beautiful drive down to the mountains, and we found an absolutely stunning off-grid park up on top of a hill through the park4night app:

After crossing the border back into France, we headed north to a great campsite we found on HipCamp.  (Use the link for $/£10 off your first booking.)  Camping D'Artagnan is run by a British couple and they also have a British style pub on site!

From here we headed up to La Rochelle.  Our next camp was another site from park4night, there were no facilities, but it was right on the sea front and next to a brilliant seafood restaurant, La Cabane de Pampin.

The next day we drove up to Mont St Michel.  As we were taking the shuttle bus over to the island to explore, we noticed a campsite right by the causeway.  It turned out a night at the campsite wasn't much more expensive than the parking we had already paid for.  So, top tip; book the campsite online and you can drive straight in!

Our last stop of the trip was another aire, this time right in the heart of Dieppe.  We wanted a camp spot near to the ferry due to the early start, and this fit the bill; as well as being right next to the beach, it was a short stroll to the bars and restaurants of the quayside in Dieppe.

Let us know if you have any other sources for campsites, and if you'd like to see our full route, check us out on Polar Steps!

Read on for info about Budgie's camper conversion.