Camper Van Tales - Part 1 - Robin Hood's Bay

Tuesday, after spending a couple of nights visiting relatives, we finally set off on our half term camper van adventure travelling around the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. We'd packed up the van a couple of days before, but hadn't actually stayed in it overnight as yet.

Mid morning we set off, stopping first in the town of Pickering to get a few provisions for our trip. It's a bustling little market town, home of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.  We didn't venture onto the railway today, instead we just stopped for a quick walk around and a bit of food shopping.

It was whilst we were here that the rain started, and carried on all day, so our first day in the van was a bit of a wash out.  We stopped en route to the coast and made ourselves some lunch in the van. It took a while to get to grips with food preparation, but once we'd worked out how to light the gas rings, we were okay and it was a nice big salad/sandwich, followed by Yorkshire curd tart and a nice cup of tea for lunch.

An hour or so later, we continued on our journey to the coast, and a camp site just outside of Robin Hoods Bay, where we could get an electric hook up.  We were super lucky, as we managed to bag a pitch due to someone leaving early on account of the bad weather.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent chilling in the van, whilst the wind blew and the rain poured outside.  Luckily, our spot was right next to the amenities block and these cute little wooden cabins that you can rent.  There was even a little food kiosk on the site where you could get hot food.

It was 7pm before the rain properly stopped and we were able to venture out.  We took the van down to Robin Hood's Bay for a brisk walk along the beach with the dog.  It was a bit misty as you can see from the photograph, but succeeded in blowing away the cobwebs. We followed it with a fish and chip supper. (How could we not?)

Robin Hood's Bay is a lovely little bay that you have to walk down steep little lanes to get to.

A very quaint village, with lots of little quirky fishermen's cottages for rent, small cosy looking pubs and small independent shops, which unfortunately had all closed for the day. Probably just as well really. 

Apparently, this village was larger than the nearby town of Whitby back in 1820 and was locally known as Baytown.

It was an interesting little excursion that we managed despite the terrible weather, and after which we returned to the camp site and cosied down for our first night in the van.

We're hoping for better weather tomorrow, so that we can venture up onto the moors.  I'll keep you posted.