Scotland2016

Welcome to this blog. Snatches of holiday reminiscences  when time and internet access allow. Well the Shanty Festival is over and we're sitting in Wetherspoons in Southport. You may spot a theme developing

41 years ago we looked into each other's eyes and said "I do". 41 years later, the eyes are much more blood-shot and surrounded by wrinkles but we're still looking into

Well Wednesday started badly, Brian's belt buckle disintegrated. Too much good living perhaps but it did mean a wander around Ormskirk's charity shops in search of a new one. Still we weren't doing

Well cold and damp, at least.  Last night was bitter considering it is April and this morning's dampness only consolidated the unpleasantness. So once again we didn't get up until gone 10, such

Saturday, CAMRA AGM starts at 09:30, we wake up at 09:45 - whoops! Who was it who said "if you are going to be late, you might as well be

You must be joking. Today's plan was a 5 mile walk taking in two local pubs for Sunday Lunch. And what a great meal it was too. There is no doubt that the

Well it started off OK, we managed to get off the very damp field in Maghull without needing a tractor pull. I do try to avoid agreeing when some stranger offers to tug

Well, it started off in the same vein as yesterday. We were up late and it was raining. Anyway we drove back into Ulverston in search of LPG. To those not in the

A colder night last night and our parking up on the driveway rather than campsite field would have meant the exhaust from our diesel heater would have been uncomfortably close to another camper,

One of my readers (probably the only one) commented on the negatives posted: cold, wet weather, dour people and chasing our tails hunting for LPG and I could read the subtext "Why

Oh, oh our first van problem. We awoke to see a nasty damp patch around the rear roof hatch. The very slight angle of the van meant that water had pooled up against

I thought it might be interesting to depict what living in the van is like. Let's start with the physical stuff - space. The van splits into two separate spaces, the driving bit

OK, chores day. We will be getting short of underwear and socks soon, so Liz has to spend a little time in the launderette. This site was deliberately chosen because it has such

In memoriam, Alan Hull, founder of Lindisfarne. Today's early, early alarm call 07:00 meant we were at the bus stop well in plenty of time to catch the bus out to the

Plan A: catch the bus to Alnwick and visit the Castle, famous Physic Gardens and bookshop. So yesterday we checked with Berwick Tourist Info about bus prices, something that Arriva seemed to deliberately

It's mid-April and the wind is bitter still. Enough is enough, let's have some warmth. No, the forecast suggests even colder nights to come before the daytime temperatures eventually reach double figures.Before

Just one of the following statements is true: We had a lovely tour of Edinburgh Castle We took in all the sites, including Greyfriars Bobby We had a wonderful shopping experience in Edinburgh's

Well the forecast yesterday was for heavy rain today, but this morning it suggested light rain with, wait for it, the possibility of not rain for some of the afternoon. Perfect Scottish site-seeing

Not much to say about today - we left Edinburgh and went to Glasgow. Full Stop. Well, we went the scenic route at least, avoiding the network of motorways that seem to connect

Ok, so it's not raining this morning. But the forecast isn't good so let's take waterproofs, just to be sure, eh! Glasgow's a bit flatter than Edinburgh so walking is much easier. Of

OK, when did I last have a rant? Must be time for another one! Glasgow buses quite rightly protect the driver by insisting on exact fare and so the driver carries no cash

We've deviated slightly from our vague itinerary. Originally we'd planned to pop down to New Lanark to revisit Robert Owen's socially experimental mill. Revisit, because we went there on our family trip to

Stirling this time. Firstly let's cover some other themes of this holiday. Weather, lying in bed at 7 am this morning listening to the light rain in the van roof, promoted thoughts of

Another day, yet another castle (and a distillery) (and a brewery too)To begin at the beginning, as Dylan once wrote. The bus pricing just didn't make sense so we decided to drive

Travelling day today. On into the peninsula of Fife. It's not too far from Stirling to Glenrothes (where we are spending the next two nights) so we have decided to go the scenic

Today's plan has always been simple: walk from the campsite to Glenrothes, wander around for a bit, go to the Kingdom Of Fife Beer Festival, stagger home. Walking to town was nice, it's

Visitors (yes, visitors) to the van reduced blogging time yesterday so a double dose today - here's part 1Friday: Glenrothes to Stonehaven, via Perth, Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, an outdoor clothing factory shop and

Before it freezes!!Let's get this over with now. There will be a recurrent theme in today's entry featuring the cold. It is cold, the wind is very cold, it is unpleasantly cold.

Plan was to go up to Aberdeen today but we've had more than enough retail therapy so decided to give the granite city a miss and head inland to the Cairngorm National Park.

The van has a huge skylight. It is positioned so that lying abed you get a view of a decent chunk of the sky, ideal for weather watching or star gazing.So as

As a local poet once put it "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley. The idea behind choosing this campsite was a lovely walk along the bank of

The wind is coming in from Greenland. That means, here on Speyside, it passes over the high Grampians (such as Ben Nevis) driving it upwards to become even colder and forcing it to

A quick explore of the site. Not much has changed since the 60 staff worked here in the eighties, still the open round metal conduit terminated in metal light switches, the short with

Orkney today! And a nice looking day too. Bright blue skies as we look up from our beds through the roof light. Bright blue skies that is, made out of focus by the

Slightly warmer overnight, only down as low as 2 degrees and the wind was blowing onto the side of the van without a vent, so no draft. What a huge difference those 2

Busy, not us but Kirkwall. Take a small town with narrow streets serving a population of 9000 and then add 4500 tourist incomers from two cruise ships and suddenly the sleepy streets are

The weird title of today's entry will be explained later.Firstly a Sunday morning religious service. It's Beltane, May Day and a significant event in many calendars, including the druidic one. So at

Having toured the north mainland yesterday, it was the turn of the south. For those unfamiliar with Orkney, the main island, appropriately called Mainland, is linked by a causeway road to 4 other

Some 'orrible weather overnight Monday and still heavy rain on Tuesday morning. Not a good day for going out. So we decided on a housekeeping morning. 2 loads of washing, empty the loo,

Oh well not quite, but bear with me dear reader.It's raining again, not heavy and not enough to stop us going out. Or it wouldn't be on its own, but in combination

Week 7 starts, 6 weeks out, a couple of days past the half way point. Rain overnight but a dry, promising start to our last full day on the islands. A tidy up

Off Orkney, now in Scourie on the NW coast. No phone data nor internet on the campsite nor in the village, except a very weak WiFi in the local pub where, hopefully this

Back to the mainland today. The 11:50 ferry means an early alarm call – We need to be off site by 10:30, there's washing up to be done, toilet to be emptied

The reason for choosing the campsite here at Scourie is that there is a bird nature reserve island just offshore and ferries run from Tarbet just up the road to the island of

Driving day again today, on down to Ullapool - if only to get wifi. Managed just about here in Scourie - there was a very weak BT Fon which I could occassionally access

Internet access that is. No internet here on site but good 3G for me and OK for Liz. So a morning of catching up emails etc. Liz has a poorely foot, probably rheumatism

Well, once again, the weather played a part in our plans. This time by being too sunny. How come? Patience, gentle reader, all will be revealed. The idea for today is to set

Wot - no snappy title for today's blog, just the boring "Inverness". Perhaps that reflects our thoughts! We'd expected the town to be a thriving metropolis, the hub of Scottish Highland

It's overcast, drizzly and not too warm. Still we do need to housekeep today. First thing on the agenda, after breakfast that is, is washing. It's piled up again so Liz sets off

Heading south now. Aim is to get to Oban in the next couple of days and head on over to Mull. The first part of today's journey travels the 23 mile length of

Firstly to confirm David's suspicion, glamping is, indeed, a portmanteau of 'glamourous camping'. The idea is to provide luxury pods (i.e. huts) in lieu of tent, with all the mod cons including

Gentle reader, it is likely that I shall be off-grid for a couple of days, depending on how/when we find internet on Mull. Our proposed campsite is very remote and unlikely to

Off to Oban today on the 12:30 ferry. Lets work backward, need to be at the ferry port for 12, it’s an hour’s journey, best allow another hour for traffic

Well, I thought Liz said we were off to see the tomb of Columbo . Yep, Iona today to visit the monastery and the place that Christianity first came to these shores (or more

OK – no complaints. It’s been cold but we’ve had little rain since Edinburgh so were due some. And it’s good if it all comes at once. It started raining heavily

The idea was to pop over to Staffa today to see Fingal’s Cave. But it was so horribly yesterday, the boat is open and we might be sitting for 45 minutes in

Back to the mainland (briefly) today, with the midday ferry to Oban. Nothing to report of the morning, just the usual routine of breaking camp: showers, empty the loo, ready the van, check

Last night's choice of car park to overnight in was excellent. Despite being close to the train line it was quiet enough as few trains use the line. Wi-Fi was available via CalMac

It's Feis here on Islay. A week long whisky and music festival, although the emphasis seems to be on the whisky! This means the island is busy with campervans. Note, I said "

Decisions, decisions - do we carry on with Feis events and go over to the Caol Ila distillery for their open day or do we do our own thing. The deciding factor is

We've been members of the RSGB probably for a couple of decades or more. We enjoy watching birds and the charity is a driving force behind all forms of wildlife conservation in the

Today is Islay Brewery's open day and the weather is set to be good so the plan is to sun ourselves and have the occasional pint whilst listening to the music. For a

Ferry day today, two ferries to be precise, one to Bute/Kintyre, a quick drive across and a second ferry to Arran. We are up early - actually later than our original 7am

Well we are eating cereal not porridge for breakfast! Actually at some stage after 10pm last night another van turned up and parked next to us. The problem is, of course, bank holiday

I've just spent well in excess of an hour writing part of today's blog when the Nexus tablet shut down on me because it ran out of power. No warning, no chance to

Emily and Lucy may recall that 22 years ago, on the way to North Uist we stopped in at New Lanark, the mill village set up by Robert Owen in the early 1800s.

Orkney was great, NW Scotland is a very special place, Mull was a disappointment although the weather didn't help, Islay was wonderful and as friendly a place as we've ever been too. The

OK this is getting stupid, we may have to run to England to escape the curse we are currently under. I'm getting ahead of myself again, first things first. It's time to move

The Castle Douglas campsite is council owned and part of a larger municipal park alongside the loch. It is mainly for long term, seasonal caravanners and pitches are quite cramped. We elect for

Driving the scenic route back to England. We should stop and look round Dumfries but we are hoping to see Carlisle instead. So, Dumfries is confined to a quick trip to an out

8 weeks ago we visited the Spinners Arms just a mile from the campsite and so it was our port of call again tonight. Walking the 3/4 mile from the bus stop

Even though we are back in England it's still well over 300 miles to home and about 150 to our next destination, the Wirral Folk Festival just outside Ellesmere Port. An early awakening

Not the holiday which has another week to run but this blog is slowly winding down. This weekend we are at Wirral Folk Festival all weekend and days will all be similar: mooch

It rained yesterday, whilst we were in the concert. First time in a while and the petrichor was wonderful. There, it's not everyday you learn a new word from Ralph McTell, is it?

Well the festival has just finished. Eddi Reader comes to the end of her 90 minute set, looks at the clock and says ”I'm supposed to be off in 5 minutes, but I

I did warn you the blog might get a bit sporadic. It's all about when time permits. Unlike proper writers I don't have the luxury of waiting for the muse to inspire byt

Wherever you think of sporting universities I doubt Aberystwyth is foremost. Yet it must breed the fittest students in the UK, having its buildings atop a steep hill on the northern edge of

Light drizzle to start the day. Not a good omen, but then again this site is on the banks of the Severn so a hot day may be full of insects. In fact

It's raining heavily this morning. Liz's foot was very painful walking back from town yesterday. Looks like we are staying in the van today! Most people are off today anyway. About 30 or