Wednesday 8 June 2016

Walking Wales


Saturday 6th July 2016- Glyn Ceiriog Campsite

Rain. But we are on a campsite, ready access to loo's, water and showers.   A lazy morning.  Well sort of, Alastair trys out his new toys as we have an electric hook up and blows a fuse.  Finding the fusebox to replace it keeps him entertained.

After lunch we manage a meander along the top road to Pandy and the showers finally ease. 

We sleep for 11 hours.

Friday 5th July 2016- Glyn Ceiriog Campsite

During the night Alastair opened the door to check but we didn't have wet tyres.

By morning the sun was trying to break through.  The river had breached the path and was running faster than ever but we were safe.

This had been a lovely little spot for us.

We are meeting a friend at a campsite for the weekend near Llangollen so we went to Porthmadog for supplies.  

A compulsory visit to the bakery and the brewery shop and a couple of hours of blog writing.

We nipped into Llangollen en route to check out waterproofs.

Lisa's trousers are leaning as are her boots, possibly because we insist on walking in torrential rain?

Spending money is something Lisa struggles with, especially now so we leave empty handed.

As we set of for the campsite we get a message from Kay to say she is poorly and can't make it.

So we have a lovely, relaxing night with plentiful food and alcohol by ourselves.  We even got our new chairs out, not something we can do in a car park.

Thursday 4th July- Talybont to Llanbedr

After a brilliant nights sleep we woke up in a cloud with rain. As we were under a tree Alastair was worried our solar panels weren't getting enough charge so we moved a bay over.

Waiting for the train.
With trees to nip discreetly behind and a public loo half a mile away we know our loo will last 3 nights, we are frugal with showers and washing up so that water will also last but our drinking water has run out. Yesterday Lisa spotted a standpipe in a field with a couple of caravans near the train station. Alastair took our water container and knocked on the nearest caravan, the slightly startled man agreed that he could help himself.   So we are sorted, 3 nights accommodation in a beautiful spot for no cost.
What a difference a good nights sleep and less alcohol makes.

On the train to Talybont the conductor asked Alastair who he had nicked his old buggers pass from and jokingly gave us both student rates.  The Welsh are bloody brilliant!

Lisa sheltering from the interminable rain.
Todays week was in stark contrast to yesterday.    The rain did not relent and the wind whipped it across our faces.  From the station we walked across farmland to the coast.








At the beach we were pleased to see the signs stating it was a nudist beach, well funnily enough we decided not to indulge and neither had anyone else.

I was tempted- but no one else would join me?!
Dressed for a day on the beach!  Can you see the mountains behind us?
All to ourselves- not a nudist in sight.

Poor Porpoise.
Along the miles of beach we saw one dog plus walker and one washed up dead porpoise.

Then we were onto shell island which looked wet and desolate as did most of the tents.
Back at H our carpark had 3 minibuses, a group of D of E youngsters had been removed from the hills due to the weather and were trudging along our path.




Walking along the causeway off Shell Island.

In this weather no one could care less whether it's open or not.

Stripped of wet gear we got warm showers and then wondered what to do. 

We are not very good at 'chilling', we decide to walk to shop for a couple of essentials, work on the laptop, blog write, it will be great when we feel comfortable just getting a book out, old habits.
The river has risen to a scary height and has become a raging torrent, will we be paddling soon?
On one of his visits to a tree Alastair got chatting to a 'river baliff'. He said more rain is forecast and the river will rise. He was pleased about this because it will mean the salmon and the sea trout will come.
Scary Heights and very, very fast.
After homemade curry from the freezer we went to bed keeping fingers crossed.

Then a car arrived with the familiar 'duh duh' of heavy bass music, its taken 3 days but the young people of the village have found Hamish.


Station on the Estuary.

Wednesday 3rd July- Llandecwyn to Llanbedr

Rucsacs packed we walked round the corner from Hamish to the railway stop to get the train to Llandecwyn.










Train dropped us off- 12 miles to go.


The after effects of the previous nights alcohol intake are clearly showing as the ticket man, after seeing Alastair's older persons railcard, decides to give us both reduced rates, charming!

Mawddach Estuary. In the distance Portmeiron.
Causway which we follow for miles with weird tidal grassland.

Causway in close up.

Causway still in close up.

Stranded by tidal meadows.

Sheep- taking no notice.

Portmeiron across the estaury.

Bull- taking far too much interest.

Forest on sand dunes- towards Harlech.




Todays 12 miles of coastal walking was amongst the most varied we have done.  We started walking beside an estuary, crossed farmland, walked through pretty woodland, along a causeway, into Harlech and finally through dunes and along a beach with a steep climb back towards the disused airfield near to H.  The weather remained dry but cloudy.

Harlech Beach- deserted!
Harlech Beach
Leaving the beach behind. Steep climb.
Curious sheep- well there isn't much entertainment around here.
Back along the causeway (22km of it?) towards Pensarn
Pensarn outdoor ed centre finding fun beside the mud.
Most elaborate bridge over the River Artro (the same as beside our Howff in Llanbedr)
The Chilcot Inquiry had been published so news and pasta for tea with only 1 gin and I bottle of wine.... between us.

Suddenly the carpark filled up with black cars surely not boy racers even here?   But no from what we could gather the volunteers had gathered to survey something, our best guess was bats?

Wales are in the semi-finals tonight, as they kicked off we snuggled up and wished them luck.  The bat surveyors left at some point after midnight but before 3 am, they didn't wake us.

Llanbedr: Tuesday 2nd July.

Thoroughly sad and depressed by the state of the nation, tierd by endless jobs many involving hours at the computer but relieved we are in a much better position we are now desperate to get on the road again.

Lisa has her hair trimmed for the first time in 4 months, we haven't yet got to the stage where Alastair is having to do it and we were off.

We stopped at Barmouth en route, a blast from the past for Lisa and headed off to find a howff near the next part of the coastal path we are planning to walk.

Howff: Llanbedr
ln Llanbedr we find a pretty little carpark surrounded by trees and sat on the side of a river.  The 2 metre height barrier has been opened so we decided to risk it and hope that we will be given some notice if they decide to close it.

The local pub had several real ales and we had a pint of local ale in the sunshine.

We had bought with us ingredients for a kind of vegan stroganoff which required some 'cushion' white wine and to celebrate being on the road Lisa had also bought a cellar bottle of white.    After finishing both of those we had to have a nightcap so the whisky came out.   On reflection not the most sensible way to prepare for a long walk the following day.


Walsall: Thursday 16th June to Monday 1st July.

While travelling our jobs list to prepare for travelling to Europe became scarily long and had to be tackled.    Hamish had a weekend in Somerset for Alastair's Moms 85th birthday Weekend which involved lunch at the River Cottage Bistro but otherwise we stayed in Walsall and gradually ticked the jobs off. 

It was a good job we were at home because as the referendum results came in there was a lot of shouting at the tv. and radio which continued as the Eton boys, who had got us into this mess for their own ends, bowed out while Macbeth Gove showed his true colours to the nation. As the Tory shortlist gets shorter we can see it was all for nothing, no one ever was listening to the people who have been stuffed since Thatcher and will continue to be stuffed and Gove didn't even win his little game. Tragic.

Llangollen: Wednesday 15th June- Criccieth to Black Rock Sands

An hour or so after falling asleep Alastair woke up and had the following exchange....
Lisa: Roar
Alastair: Are you awake or asleep?
Lisa: Awake
Alastair : So what are you doing?
Lisa : l'm being a lion
Alastair : Right

When he ran this past Lisa again at 5am and she completely corpsed he realised she had not been awake and is beginning to think he is living with a madwoman.

Having got up so early and unable to sleep, Lisa because she can't get over how entertaining she is in her sleep, Alastair because he is scared, we decide to go for a walk.

We manage to find some dry clothes and set off on the short walk from Cricieth to Black Rock Sands.   It's a beautiful morning with clouds hanging low in the hills, patches of blue sky and the grasses covered in droplets of dew.

The walk soon ran alongside the railway track, the grasses were chest height and largely covered the path, within seconds Lisa was soaked through again and we headed back to H.   Lisa borrowed Al's waterproof trousers as hers were still soaked and we set off again. Alastair adopted a rather fetching pose of pulling his shorts up tight around his crotch to avoid the wet grasses- who thought budgie smugglers were out?

By 8.15am we were back at H and in the sunshine Alastair spread our clothes out around H to try to reduce the pile of damp gear we are accumulating.

Once the sun is out H. heats up quickly and within an hour we were ready to move on from what has been a quiet and picturesque howff.

We headed to Porthmadog for a second attempt at olive bread.   This time the bakery was open but no sign of it.  Lisa asked 'you used to bake olive bread?' the baker was just emptying his basket and said they no longer do it.  DISASTER!    He asked us to give him a minute and returned to say that if we came back at 12:30 they would bake us some, what a hero.

We picked our mini keg of Mountain Moose up and having dropped it off at H headed to the Cob via Cob Records, of course.  We have been here many times but never walked across the Cob.
Many years ago Alastair and Lisa set off walking from Chepstow along Offa's Dyke to the Black Mountains' and since decided to walk the whole of the welsh coast Alastair has now completed Offa's Dyke and walked the North coast as far as Porthmadog.

Back at the bakery the olive sticks were warm and we couldn't resist eating one as we walked back to H.

A thunderstorm lit up the sky around H.

Once the rain stopped falling in sheets we headed to Llangollen for a night in the car park before heading home the following day.

Criccieth: Tuesday 14th June. Criccieth to Pwllheli.

After our day of rest we were ready for action again. Worringly Lisa's BBC weather report forecast rain all day but Alastair confidently reported that the Marina forecast did not.

This time we caught the train from Pwllheli to Ccriceth.  By the time we arrived it was raining.

The first part of the walk back to Pwllheli hugged the beach passing a house we recognised from Grand Designs however as 3 rivers fed into the sea we were soon guided inland to the main road.

The rain had not stopped and as we started on the long trudge along the main road it became torrential.  Looking from under our hoods there was just a white wall of rain accompanied by water being thrown up by vehicles racing along the main road.

After about an hour the coastal path finally returned to the coast, the rain was unrelenting.

Convinced we would only experience showers today Alastair had bought his lightweight waterproof which had by now given up the ghost, finding it too hot recently in his waterproof trousers and as his shorts dryed so quickly he had left his trousers behind, his shorts were saturated as were his pants.  The shoes we had got in Fort William, while comfortable, were not waterproof and twice we stopped so he could wring his socks out.

For lunch we eat oatcakes, we knew if we tried to eat those they would be like dunked Rich Tea biscuits so we did not stop apart from eating an oaty bar.

As we got onto Pwllheli beach we were still over an hour away from H. Alastair started to do star jumps to keep himself from freezing.  Lisa started to chaf.... everywhere!

What was satisfying was looking into the far distance and seeing a landmark we had walked past earlier in the week and recognising how much ground we have covered.

Finally about 2:30pm having walked 11 miles we reached H.  Stripped, showered and reinforced by coffee, an hour later we began to feel better.

We had our last visit to the tap at the Marina and drove to Criccieth for a change of scene, a view of the sea and the castle.

The rain continues to hammer down as we cook tea and sit in a fug of drying clothes.

Pwllheli: Monday 13th June

Today was our rest day from walking and it rained for much of the day.

After topping up with water we drove into Criccieth and found a lovely howff in the car park overlooking the sea and with views of the castle.    We weren't sure where we would spend the night but next stop was Porthmadog for treats:

Treat 1. The community bakery which does amazing olive and salt bread.   It is closed on a Monday. DISASTER!
Treat 2. Cob Records which specialises in second hand vinyl and cd.'s.  Alastair finally gets to spend his secret Santa voucher for Cob records that he got when we were down here for New Year a couple of years ago but we had to leave early as he got an abscess.
Treat 3.  Purple Moose one of our favourite brewery's who now have a shop here!   

At the Station Bar Lisa has a lunchtime pint of Mountain Moose, a new brew made in honour of mountain rescue.  It had an amazing peaty taste to it, stunning.   On the way back to H. we visit the brewery shop and end up ordering a mini keg of it that we can collect on Wednesday.

A quiet afternoon at H. writing our blog, cricket is rained off and declared a draw.

As it's so easy we decide to head back to the Marina for the night.

Pwllheli: Sunday 12th June. Abersoch to Pwllheli

Above the bed in H. is a small skylight about a foot square with a screen you pull across to keep the light out, Lisa was surprised to see it open when she woke up.  Alastair mumbled something about her having done it.   About an hour after falling asleep Lisa had woken Alastair again asking where she was and how she gets out.   She insisted that Alastair explain the escape routes, not sure if she planned trying to squeeze through the skylight.    On the bright side even in her sleep Lisa is trying to manage her anxiety by knowing how she escapes however she is beginning to worry that she has developed some form of P.T.S.D.

The original plan for today had been to have a rest day today but the weather on Monday looked very rainy so we went for our third day.

The cloud base was very low so it was a damp and sultry day.  Abersoch was grey but much quieter and our walk started along the beach.    We were quickly climbing up the cliff and feeling like 'boil in the bag' as we sweltered in our waterproofs.    Rain had stopped play at Lords so T.MS. was replaying a variety of interviews.

Once over the cliff we descended for a fairly uninspiring walk that ended up coming through the West End terraces of Pwllheli.

We were back at H by 3pm and after a shower went into the stunning space of Plas Heli for a celebratory pint.

Pwllheli: Saturday 11th June.  Llanengan to Abersoch.

We were into the routine now, filling up with water at 7 am, packed and waiting for the bus back to Llanengan by 9ish.    At least the bus fare is getting cheaper as we knock off the miles.
The walk was 9 miles around a headland, it should have been a stunning view but while it stayed dry the cloud never lifted and we could see little. 

We had a great view of stone chats at one point and as we sat eating lunch on the headland a sheep came and stood between us.

The last couple of miles of the walk took us onto a beach.   We took off our boots and let the sea cool our feet then Lisa went hopping down the beach removing a shard of shell from her toe,  thankfully not too much blood.

Shortly after we arrived in Abersoch, probably lovely out of season but this tiny village was packed.   The beach, beer gardens

Pwllheli:  Friday 10th June. Aberdaran to Llanengan.

We were up early, rucsacs packed and caught the bus from Pwllheli.   The bus driver obviously knew these tiny lanes well and as he threw the bus around the bends the countryside whizzed past in a blur and Lisa gripped the seat in front with her stomach in her mouth, much more scared than she had ever been on the zip.  
      
Very quickly we were in Aberdaran a pretty little village which is where Alastair had reached on his coastal walk.

We set off on what was a sultry misty day.   The walk started without incident but we were soon into the ' get through this then' game that farmers like to play with walkers who have the temerity to use the public footpath that runs through their farm.

Firstly there was, 'face the pack of loose, rabid, barking, growling and snarling farm dogs' game.  Then there was the, 'climb over this stile covered in bin liners full of cow shit and overgrown by stinging nettles' game.   Then Alastair had to 'negotiate' with the bullocks while Lisa sprinted for the stile.    Of course there was the 'breeding bull' field.

It was getting tedious which is when we realised that the beautifully clear coastal path signs we had rediscovered did not match the route on Alastair's phone.   Since opening the path a couple of years ago the route has been altered, probably due to complaints from farmers!

Alastair put his phone away and we quietly and uneventfully completed the last of the days 13 miles following the markers.    Lisa carried with her Blowers, Tuffers, Aggers et al for company.

The highlight of the day was when we spotted a fox running across the field towards us.   Lisa automatically went into hunt sab mode but there were no bastards in pursuit and we were able to just enjoy the sight.

ln the hamlet of Llanengan we waited in the churchyard until our bus turned up with the latest Formula One driver.

Back in Pwllheli we celebrated in Wetherspoons with a pint using our CAMRA Vouchers. The place was heaving with family and early doors drinkers but strangely our scent of sweat and cow dung allowed us to find a space for a quick one before hobbling back to H.

Pwllheli: Thursday 9th June

We needed to find a Howff that would give us access to public transport so we could continue walking around the Llyn.   Our app said the nearest tap was in Pwllheli so we set off in that direction finding a beautiful, quiet bay with even quieter public loo to empty H's loo 'en route'.

The tap turned out to be in a Marina with two huge and largely empty carparks, one next to the beach the other overlooking the Marina next to Plas Heli the North wales sailing centre with free public Ioos open 7.15am-8:45pm, drains for our grey water and a tap for fresh water, all our dreams come true.

Having filled up with water we went to the beach carpark and as it was such a beautiful day we got our picnic blankets out and, unusually for us, having suitable Summer clothing we sunbathed, read and slept listening to T.M.S.

For the evening we moved across to the Marina carpark with no one for company apart from a young couple and their motorbike then their mates who bought the spliffs, we went to bed and left them to it, amazing how H. attracts young people looking for somewhere safe to play.

, cafes, all full of noisy people.  We got an ice cream and a sorbet and nursed half a pint of Robinsons in the quiet coolness of a pub until our speedy ride home arrived.

Back at H another motor homer asked us if 'the man from the council' had been.  Apparently the weekend before he had been moved on from the carpark and was now on the lookout for a similar encounter, we didn't ask why he had returned to the same spot to annoy the council man, so far we had found the spot idyllic.  He spoiled our appreciation of this howff because we began to worry, unnecessarily, about council men and what we might say. Some motor home owners are such kill joys.  As we went to bed it rained for the first time. (But not the last.)

Zip Wire Joy: Wednesday 8th June. Caernarfon Car Park.

We woke to a beautiful Welsh morning and did an hours drive before finding a spot for breakfast.
0ur route to Bethesda took us through the Ogwen Valley where we paused to enjoy its breathtaking views up to Lisa's favourite mountain, Tryffan.

But we had an appointment and H was soon bumping his way across the car park at the slate quarry to the zipwire.

We met up with Mark and friends and were soon being kitt.,ed up in boiler suits and 'flight' equipment including helmet and goggles. Lisa was mostly worried that if she screamed she would catch a sparrow in her mouth so preffered to wear her goggles over her mouth.

To prepare us for the Big Zipper we were taken initially on a small run which went without incident.   Then in our red boiler suits we were herded into the back of trucks which rumbled up the side of the quarry.   This bone jerking journey was the most painful part of the day especially for Alastair who began to go green as we continued to climb.   Just before we reached the jump off point the truck stopped and 'come fly with me' was played over the tannoy.






Alastair looked ready to get back in the truck as we disembarked but he very bravely sat it out and watched others being trussed up and let loose to fly across the lake.

Then it was our turn.  The zip takes you across the quarry then the ground drops away to the lake and you are exposed to the wind which slowed Lisa down much to her disgust as she was rocked by the gusts.    Alastair flew past her then it was all over,

Having been unclipped Lisa ran across to half carry Alastair away from the zip as his legs had stopped working.

Sat down and with blood returning to his knees Alastair declared he wouldn't be returning.
With the rest of the gang returning to Walsall we had lunch in H.  The exertions of the day had taken it out of us so we only drove to Caernarfon to a car park we know between the sea and Morrisons.

The only pub in the guide was Wetherspoons but the choice was so limited we headed to the unfortunately named Black Boy where they had just put on some Mls PIws or Purple Moose.

The free video of our zip had arrived which brilliantly captured Alastair's jelly legs thoroughly entertaining Lisa over her pint.  

Llangollen car park- Tuesday 7th June 2016

Our first day back in Walsall we visited our favourite curry house thanks to Kirit and then it all got a bit busy.   Lisa virtually melted the washing machine, Alastair found the source of the mysterious bleeping on the burglar alarm and conducted other assorted jobs essential to facilitate our ongoing travels. 

When we first went to collect our car Lisa's Mom remarked on how tanned we looked, then when we went back to jump start the car she noted with some curiosity that the tan stopped at our chins.
It was Alastair's turn to keep waking up confused about his location, thankfully the ceilings are too high for him to reach.

On Tuesday Hamish went to Newark and had a new Electroblok fitted, £500, gulp but it addresses the electric problems we have had since Christmas.

Within half an hour of Hamish arriving home at 4pm we were on the road again, such a relief.

We headed for a car park we know in Llangollen and nestled H. in under the trees with the sound of the river gushing past.

Two pints in the Ponsonby Arms and back to H. for too much whisky to celebrate being on the road again.






Thursday 2 June 2016

Dumfries & Galloway: 29/05/2016 to 31/05/2016

Sunday 28 May, Ayr to Monreith.


Howff- on the front , Ayr. Great Sunset.

Ayr- views across to Aran.
Noone about- marvellous.

Leaving Ayr on another beautiful day we headed through the Galloway Forest.  Parts of the forest were decimated.  We were later told that disease has hit the larch trees and they are having to destroy them to try to stop the spread of the disease.  It won't be possible to replant for 10 years.

We arrived at Monreith about 1pm, a gorgeous little village sat on a quiet bay.  The Ditchy's were out so we had lunch and on the way to leave them a note we found Gill and Emma. 

Beth was enjoying her first game of golf with her Dad so we went to pick them up and headed to The Steam Packet for a pint, ice creams and beer to take away.

Back at Portwell cottage it was so lovely we decided on an early every stroll along the beach.  Jay and Alastair gave a master class in dam building.  Beth and, in particular Emma, did well to show interest in the engineering lessons for at least 5 minutes before wandering off to collect attractive stones.

At the cottage Gill cooked up a storm while Alastair and Jay played on the park with the girls and planned improvements to their dam.

After supper Alastair and Lisa had a lovely evening boring G and J with tales of our travels and sharing our Springbank wares with J who was already struggling to stay awake.  Super late bed time for us at about midnight.

Monday 29. Monreith again.


J did a brilliant job of cooking breakfast for 6 in a kitchen not much bigger than Hamish's.

We had a lazy morning playing boule in the garden which turned into a Championship competition between Lisa and Jay, both so competitive that the girls, sensibly, took up gardening as a preferable entertainment.

Eventually we set off for our walk along the beach.  Jay quickly finding tools to undertake renovations to the dam.   Heavy construction work was soon well under way while Gill and Lisa enjoyed the sunshine.





Further along the coast we revisited Jay's childhood haunts finding caves, rock pools, sliding down great slabs of rock and scrambling along the coast.  Brilliant!  Meandering took us back to
the golf course, where we rested, allowing ourselves to enjoy the entertainment of watching other people trying to play.





We returned along the cliff tops to Portwell and drove into Port William seeking ice cream and expanding foam filler. 

Having gatecrashed their family weekend Lisa decided we had taken for too much advantage of the Ditchy's hospitality.   So we filled H with water and emptied our toilet then back to our Howff, allowing them to pack and rest before their journey home.


After tea we strolled the beach discussing how we'd manage water, toilets and washing clothes in Europe; such are our major concerns whilst travelling.  Returning we decided to use the caste iron porta toilets at the bottom of the cliff before bed.  Alastair watched Lisa emerge from her chosen facility, followed by the large, heavy, iron door, sliding past her arm and crashing to the floor. The iron hinges were completely corroded through!  Luckily it had just brushed Lisa's arm on its way to earth.

Tuesday 31 May, Monreith to Kirkcudbright.


Lisa woke early realising, from her sore arm, that last nights bad dream had not been a dream after all.  She is consumed with worry that someone might think she had broken the toilet.  So she resolves to explain to the local lady toilet cleaning volunteer exactly what had occurred.  We wait around.  Eventually the local person appears.  Lisa explains.  The local lady toilet cleaning volunteer listens and is pleased to know that the toilet damage is not the result of mindless vandalism.  She also feels it necessary to inform Lisa that Hamish is not allowed to park overnight in this roomy, empty, laybye, despite there being an overwhelming lack of signs, though, of course, she, and most of the villagers, really did not mind (honestly!).  Hamish wonders if this is yet another example of village-ist prejudice against Hymers?

Lisa having assuaged her angst, we set off for scotland's book town (Wigtown) and thence to scotland's artist town (the unpronuncible Kirkcudbright) via scotland's closed down distillery town (Bladnoch).  Scots seem to relish metaphorical places.

At Bladnoch Distillery, Yolanda was pleased to relate, in great detail, the recent history which featured, like so much of scottish history, a family feud resulting in the collapse of an empire and invasion by foreign powers.  In this case, however improbable, Australian yoghurt. 

Close by Wigtown surrounds its square with multitudinous shelves of second hand books, within quirky shops and tea rooms putting the three or four tourists to shame for their comparative lack of propensity.  Perhaps the books put people off?

Sneaky wee otters!
Kirkcudbright, in comparison, is SO attractive that Hamish can get no where near the town's centre and retreats to a forest glade above and beyond.  Luckily we therefore spot a couple of otters cringing in a hedge at the roadside.

Upon our further investigation they have disappeared but Alastair is already distracted by the adjacent graveyard (theme); wandering past he pokes his head over a bridge and spots the pair making their way up the burn below him!
Here they come.
Right below us!
Two of them!
Magical!
Magical.

Later we are told that otters regularly take a stroll out from the local wildlife park,  probably not so wild after all.







We see no pictures but settle on a howff opposite the good TS (training ship) John Paul Jones. JPJ was born nearbye and demonstrated his appreciation for his happy scottish upbringing and unreasoned hatred of the english by returning with an american warship to attack English shores during the american war of independence.  There are many local institutions proudly named after their local scottish hero!  Unfortunately it is sea cadet training night , so we have to stay awake till 10pm. "Ready Aye Ready".

Wednesday 1st June, Kirkcudbright  to Shap.


As the public toilet is within walking, rather than driving distance we have a slightly more restful start to the day.

We set off along the coastal route to Gretna.  The road is very quiet and broad so Alastair suggested Lisa has her first drive of Hamish.  Alastair was very good, hiding his clenched fists and gritted teeth but gradually Hamishs'windows steam over due to him sweating, To be fair to Lisa she did O.K., 5 minutes later Alastair was driving again.

First stop was Kippford or Scaurr. A quiet bay with a sailing club and houses dotted along the coast.
In complete contrast our next stop was Southerness, a similarly beautiful coastline wrecked by a caravan site, chippy, hotel serving burger and chips, bowling alley.  We abandoned the idea of lunch and headed out to the sound of banjo's strumming.

Eventually the coastline ran out and we were at Gretna.  We nipped into the services to find the Scotland Under 21 rugby team looking into burgers, very big puppies.

We headed for a howff near Penrith which would allow us to get home early Thursday.   The layby had been filled with tractor loads of cow dung by farmers. A reminder that as temporary travellers we experience the same hostility faced by  the travelling community possibly heightened as we had seen signs saying the Appleby Fayre takes place this weekend.

Back on the motorway we saw a howff indicated at Shap from where we had great views with the background hum of the M6.

Howff: Shap- magnificent view of the M6.
At this point we are always tempted to just drive home but after a long day we took the sensible decision to stop over.

Thursday 2nd June. Home.


Alastair had his worst nights sleep since we left Walsall and for a change its not Lisa's fault, just a dread of returning.   We were back on the road by 5:30am.

Obviously the traffic is horrendous so, including a service stop for breakfast, Hamish took 4 hours to get to Walsall.  Then Annie the Honda refused to start. I guess modern cars use electricity all the time, even when sitting still. I guess we will need a solar trickle charger for when we go away next time.

End of trip after 2 months.  l think we did pretty good. Most importantly we stuck to our £200 per week budget.  So we will continue for the time being .

On Tuesday Hamish is off to Brownhills Motorhomes to have a check up on his electrics.  More of that later.