2023 Retrospective

2023 Retrospective

We spent 50 nights away in the van between January and November last year, across 25 different sites.

For fun, we decided to give out some awards in a few categories for our favourites of 2023.

We figured out four nominations in each category, and then gave us both three points in each category to vote (to avoid 1-1 deadlocks).

Best site overall

Which site was our favourite this year?

  1. Tantallon, North Berwick
  2. Derwentwater, Keswick
  3. Moffat
  4. St Andrews holiday park

We’ve been to Moffat three times since we got the van, but this year, Tantallon was our favourite.

It’s really handy for North Berwick, beautiful views out over the Firth of Forth, it’s a really nice walk into North Berwick along the beach into the town.

The others are all really good, and this was a tough decision, but Tantallon came out on top.

View from Tantallon

Best location for a site

  1. York Rowntree
  2. Keswick
  3. Pitlochry
  4. Melrose

Honourable mentions - Tantallon, Moffat

York Rowntree is in a great location, very handy for central York, nice walk alongside the river, and it’s a really nice site.

Best on-site amenities

  1. St Andrews
  2. Pennine View
  3. Barn at Beal
  4. Old Station Masham

Surprisingly, on-site amenities are relatively rare (over and above toilets and showers) on the sites we go to, so good amenities are definitely a bonus!

But this was very close, we had a great weekend in the sunshine at St Andrews, and a great night in the Engine Shed at Pennine View, both great food and drink, worthy joint-winners.

The Barn at Beal was a really nice meal in a beautiful location, and Old Station Masham we had a great breakfast.

Best meal of the year

  1. The White Hart Inn Sunday lunch in Hawes
  2. Belter’s Bar in Jedburgh, great burgers
  3. Mhor in Callander for lunch sandwiches
  4. Burt’s Hotel Melrose for dinner

Honourable mentions - Tempura Ayr for lunch

Our Sunday lunch in Hawes was great, definitely a really tasty meal, but the inclusion of Mhor for a sandwich says a lot about how good the food is.

Belter’s Bar might not look like much, but the burgers were really great!

Best meal cooked in the van

  1. Potato, Cheese and Onion Pie - Jedburgh
  2. Blairgowrie Holiday Park - Chicken Shawarma
  3. Turnbulls Nacho Chicken - Dunstan Hill
  4. Tantallon - Fajitas Stir Fry

Honourable mention - Pitlochry, Hairy Coo pies n’ stuff

We eat out a fair bit when we’re away in the van, but we also cook in the van frequently.

The Potato, Cheese and Onion Pie was great, cooked in the Omnia, it was really tasty, and that was our first attempt, we’ve since made it at home a couple of times, and made it better.

Best walk of the year

  1. Derwentwater circular
  2. Beadnell Bay to Bamburgh
  3. Pitlochry to Killiecrankie
  4. Melrose walk

Honourable mentions Gartmore Dam to Alloa, Milarrochy Bay to Balmaha

For all the number of times we’d been to Keswick, we’d never walked all the way around Derwentwater, we changed that in late February, and it was great, we walked counter-clockwise, stopped for lunch at the Lodore Falls hotel.

It was fairly dark and grey most of the day, but it’s still an exhilerating walk.

It was definitely pretty tight between these walks, but Derwentwater just squeezed through ahead of the others, all were very memorable.

Most interesting new van

  1. Eura Mobil Activa 650
  2. Rapido C03
  3. X-Cursion Van EDITION PEPPER
  4. Rapido 606f

Honourable mention Orange Campers Classique

This was a fun category, we wouldn’t necessarily replace our van with any of these, but they’re all interesting (for us).

The Eura Mobil Activa 650 is really different from the vans we normally look at, large rear lounge and over-cab beds.

The Rapido C03 is new for 2024, we’re drawn to it because of the fixed bed, garage and front dinette area.

Best new camper-van accessory

  1. Panda Mattress Topper
  2. Collapsible Bin
  3. Chopping board
  4. G-tech vacuum

Again, a fun category, tricky to come up with four nominations, we are mostly tinkering at the edges, and we’ve not bought much new for the van this year.

The new mattress topper is great, it is bulky, and heavy, but it makes the van bed much easier to sleep on.

We bought two collapsible bins this year, the second was the slightly better option (it fits between the two front seats).

While we had a chopping board, this is a bamboo board, and handy for using outside of the van on your lap (and provides more protection for the work surfaces in the van).

The vacuum works well, we do tramp a fair bit of dirt into the van and it’s handy being able to give it a wee clean.

Best trip experience

  1. Masham Sheep Fair
  2. Belhaven Brewery Tour, Dunbar
  3. York Food Festival
  4. Wensleydale Cheese Factory Tour

Honourable mention Coastal Communities Museum in North Berwick - definitely worth a visit, the staff were really helpful and it’s got a lot of interesting artifacts from the history of East Lothian.

The Masham Sheep Fair in September was definitely the highlight of the year, the atmosphere in the town was great and we had a lot of fun we even made it to the Black Sheep brewery for a tour too!

The Belhaven Brewery Tour was great too, this was another really close vote - all the options are worth going to.

Favourite new town or city

  1. York
  2. North Berwick
  3. Pitlochry
  4. Masham
  5. Dunbar

Honourable mentions Melrose, Callander

We couldn’t leave any of these out, so ended up with five different nominations, and this was the first time in North Berwick in the van (we’d visited while at a site for our second trip in the van).

York was great, we’d stayed in Blair Atholl and visited Pitlochry the first time we rented a campervan.

Masham is a really nice wee town, as is Dunbar, again close voting.