A Diary of our 2010 Scotland Tour
Our 2010 tour of Scotland. It all started sometime in December 2009 we bought our Swift Charisma 650 in the September and having tried it a couple of times we were ready for a touring holiday. Despite surfing the third wave of life may and I had never visited Scotland. We decided this would be a good time to remedy that before Alex Salmond gets his way and makes it necessary for the English to have a passport to enter. We set about making a list of sites out of the Caravan Club directory and planning a logical route. We chose the dates and got ready to book in the New Year. (Not a good start) the weekend we planned to set off was a bank holiday and our planned campsite Rountree Park York was fully booked. (Every weekend and every bank holiday was booked to the end of the year and this was at 18:00 on the first day the bookings opened on the internet). So we booked the first available date Tuesday to Friday of the week following the Bank Holiday (School half term).
Tuesday 1st June 2010 Sproatley/York
We set off at about 10:00 with the Shogun looking like the opening sequence from “The Clampets” to collect Jordan and James. (Our two grandsons).They were ready and waiting for us at the front of their house. In they jumped, we gave a wave to Michelle (Their mum) and we were on our way to Beverley to collect the caravan.
We loaded the caravan and set off to York. There was very little traffic and at one point it looked like we would arrive early. (This is strictly against the rules.) Road works and a detour just outside York delayed us which made our arrival at the site perfect timing.
The site was in the middle of York and the streets leading to the site were very narrow. (We now understand why there is a strict rule against early arrivals) if you met a tourer coming the other way it would be chaos.
It started raining just before we reached York. We quickly got the van on site and settled in.
It was very bad TV reception so we bought a satellite receiver from B&Q but it was no better
We had a walk into York along the river bank after tea. The rain had stopped by now and it was quite mild.
Wed 2nd York
We woke to a lovely blue sky and sunshine.
We had breakfast and walked into York again to visit the Jorvic Centre. It was quite impressive especially the carriage ride that took you around the display. We got discount on entry through the Caravan Club.
We walked along the old city wall to the railway museum and had lunch then a ride on a steam train.
We returned to the caravan and I put the fold up bike together for Jordan, James made friends with another caravaner, Oliver.
We took the boy’s for a walk to the park behind the site before having our tea.
Thursday 3nd York
We woke to blue sky and sunshine again.
We went to York castle museum. It gave a very good insight into what it was like in the past and how the times have changed the way we live.
We had a light lunch on the river bank and walked over the millennium bridge back to site
Jordan and James played on site with their friends making the most of the weather. Later they went to the park with Oliver’s family. We met them there and they played on a bouncy castle and slide in the park.
We walked to the local chip shop for our tea. I would strongly recommend this if you visit York they were some of the best fish and chips I have ate and believe me I have ate a lot.
James and Jordan waved Oliver and his family off then Jordan realised he had given his pendant that he bought from the Jorvic centre to Olli’s mum for safe keeping and forgot to ask for it back.
We had a game of cards before hot chocolate and bed
Friday 4th York/Whitley Bay
We woke up to more sunshine. We had breakfast then took the satellite back to B&Q as we could not get it to work. It was probably more me not knowing how to work it than a problem with the set.
We arrived back at site just before Gareth and Michelle drove in to take Jordan and James home. May made them coffee and toast. We updated each other with the events of the last few days then we had to be on our way before 11:00 (We didn’t want to meet vans coming the other way).We said our goodbye’s to everyone before hitching up and heading to Whitley Bay. As it happens someone was having problems getting out of the over flow site with a van similar to ours but we were not delayed too long.
We made good time mainly light traffic and good roads. It was noticeably colder when we stepped out of the car with a stiff south easterly breeze off the sea.
It was a small site with excellent views over the sea to a lighthouse on St. Mary’s island. It was a tight squeeze to get on the pitch and the whole site was on a steep slope. May went to pay whilst I set up the motor mover to site the van. By the time she returned the van was set up and ready for the kettle to go on. May said “the man in reception had asked if we wanted sighting with the tractor” I had wondered how people did it without a mover?
We went for a short walk before returning to the caravan for a shower and a change of clothes.
We went to the local pub for tea but they had just stopped serving.
We walked into Seaton Sluice and found a nice pub which was still serving. We had a very nice meal and walked back to the van along the coast. It was a cool but very still and a pleasant night.
The TV reception was supposed to be good with a booster after trying it and getting no signal I noticed the power light on the booster was not illuminated.
Saturday 5th Whitley Bay
We woke up to glorious sunshine with a light warm breeze.
We had our breakfast outside the caravan then set off to Beamish. There was a bit of a queue to get in. We saved another £10 with the caravan club vouchers. (We have nearly saved the cost of joining the club). It was tee shirt weather all day.
We got back to the site about 16:00 hrs there was a mist on the sea and it felt quite cool. We had tea in the local pub Delaval hotel. (We got there early this time)
When I got back to the van I took the booster to bits and found a burnt out circuit. I think it must have happened whilst I was messing with the satellite system?
I was having problems with my mobile I managed to ring Gareth on his home phone (cost £2.50) he told us we had a reply from Alan and Isobel in Inverness some friends we had made in Lanzerote the previous year.
We had difficulty trying to make contact with them via e-mail.
Sunday 6th Whitley Bay/Edinburgh
First time we have woken and the sun not been shining. It was still misty on the sea, but not quite so cool.
We decided to head off to Edinburgh rather than hang about.
We had a quick breakfast packed up and headed off at 10:45
We drove through mist most of the way which turned to rain just over the border. The roads were pretty good and the traffic light. We arrived at about 13:45
I washed the caravan in the light rain to get the road grime off. I thought that I would not have to rinse it. The rain was not heavy enough so I had to rinse it any way. I suspect a few people were watching from their vans thinking I was some sort of a nutter. At one point I wondered the same thing myself.
Later we went into Morrison’s to get a few provisions.
Andi (Our daughter) rang for a chat and update about 19:00
We chilled in the caravan for a while. The rain stopped about 19:30.
We went to the information centre to get some leaflets so that we could plan for tomorrow. I noticed a sign “Arial lead connection, on power post.”
I went back to the van and tried it but could only get news channel. We watched a bit of news and weather then turned it off.
Monday 7th Edinburgh
Light drizzle and overcast. We went into Stirling to get a TV booster. Returned and had some lunch. I fitted the booster, slightly better but not watchable.
We went to the reception to enquire about the mini bus into Edinburgh. We had missed the last one by 15 minutes. I reported the TV from the post only having the news channel. We were advised to tune the TV in. (Doh!!)
We caught the local bus into Edinburgh. We had a quick walk around, but we couldn’t do much due to the showers. (Some quite heavy) we could see people walking along the castle wall with their umbrellas and decided to give that a miss.
We returned on bus and tuned in all the channels from the post. Eureka we’ve got it sorted.
We went out to a Toby inn (Lauriston farm) for our tea. We had the carvery meal. It was very good and very good value.
We returned to watch the telly feeling stuffed and tired.
Tuesday 8th Edinburgh/Killin Maragowan
We woke to steady rain as had been forecast. There was no escape it had been forecast for the whole country all day. They were not wrong. I was beginning to think that the people who had told us “it always rains in Scotland” had been proved right.
Fortunately we have got packing up and moving off to a fine art. We can be ready and away in half an hour. I hardly got damp. (This also goes for setting up at the other end).
Whilst May booked us in and paid, I positioned the caravan and connected to the mains before she had walked back.
We had lunch and waited for a break in the weather before driving into killin for a few bits and bob’s from the Co-op and returned back to the van.
I tuned the four available channels in on our TV using our new booster and my new found knowledge.
We had planned to go for a walk after tea but the weather put us off. Having looked at the forecast on the TV we decided to have a walk around the site the next morning.
We both agreed in the future we would aim to book a minimum of three nights at each site when touring. We regretted only having one night here. Of all the sites we have visited so far this was the one which needed more time to explore.
We went to sleep listening to the rain falling steadily on the roof of the van. (This lasted most of the night)
Wednesday 9th Killin/Braemer Invercauld)
A dry morning in Scotland at last! But, it was still cool and overcast. We saw the weather forecast for the day on morning TV which said the sun would be shining in the afternoon where we were heading for. We decided to have breakfast and get on our way.
We thought it would be a couple of hours but we were in proper Scotland now. We encountered narrow tight roads with a few tight bends thrown in for good measure. This resulted in us rarely getting above 40 MPH. And even less on most of the roads.
We drove along the banks of lock Tay for the first hour then kept touching the river Tay for the next hour before hitting the A9 for about ten minutes then turning right literally across the A9 to head up into the cairngorms for the last hour or so. We both looked at each other and wondered if this was going to be one of those occasions where the sat. nav. takes you where the caravan can’t go. Fortunately it wasn’t, we passed a distillery with several large coaches parked outside. This gave us a bit more confidence.
The predicted sun never turned up but at least it was dry. We went into Braemar for a bit of shopping and to suss out the place. We decided on the Fife arms for our tea, not a lot to do in the village so we headed back to the van to get showered and changed before walking back into the village for tea.
The meal turned out to be acceptable and fresh? (That’s fresh from the freezer). It was a bit disappointing after seeing the impressive front of the hotel.
We walked back and watched a bit more telly then went to bed. (It’s a good job we got the T.V. arial sorted)
Thursday 10th Braemer (Invercauld)
Still no sun but it is pleasant with very light wind.
We drove to Balmoral Castle where we enjoyed a steady walk around in the sun (it has finally put in an appearance) we managed to spot a red squirrel on two occasions. (This is the first time we have seen a red squirrel in real life). We tried to get photographs but had to admit we are no Simon King.
We met a couple from the site whilst in the tea rooms. They had caught the bus rather than bring their motor home.
We walked into the village of Craithe and visited John Browns grave (very ordinary! It cannot be distinguished from the others without reading the inscriptions)
We then got in the car and drove to the old Victorian railway station (Museum) in Ballater there was a lot more to do and see here than in Braemar. We got bits and pieces for a salad for tea and headed back to the site.
We spotted the other couple stood at the bus stop in Craithe and gave them a lift back with us.
The sun was shining so we sat in the sun for an hour before having tea. Whilst sitting in the sun a group of 8 abandoned ducklings came waddling up, they ate bread from my hand.
After tea May went to do some washing but the machine had a queue so she left it until tomorrow. We noticed a few oil drops under the car inspection revealed an oil leak from the differential. (Keeping an eye on it) as long as it was dripping it still had oil in it (if the worst comes to the worst there is always green flag).
We planned the route for tomorrow as I felt sure that the Sat. Nav. would send us up a road that was unsuitable for cars let alone caravans (someone on site who had driven up in a 4X4 and said “we would not get a van of our size round the bends”). We decided not to turn the sat-nav on until we were well past the turn off
Friday 11th Braemer/Culloden Moor
The weather is quite pleasant, slight cloud with intermittent sunny spells.
We set off about 10:15 and spent the next four hours driving narrow roads with similar scenery to the Yorkshire moors. Intermittent showers started about 12:00 and lasted all day mainly light. (This was not forecast).
We had to take quite a long detour to avoid the unsuitable road. The millage went from 78 to over 100 miles to reach Culloden Moor. This is about as far up as we planned to go and we have covered 783 miles from leaving home including the odd run out.
May managed to get the washing done but the dryers were not working.
We managed to find Isobel and Allan’s number in the local phone book. We arranged to meet them the next day for a day out together.
We had a quick walk around the site after tea then settled down for a cosy night in.
Saturday 12th Culloden Moor
We awoke to a mild but overcast morning. I thought ‘Mist before seven sun by eleven’ I hope this saying is right.
Set off after breakfast to fill up with diesel and get a bit of shopping at Tesco’s before meeting Alan and Isobel in Dingwall (even the sat nav could not find the exact address). We ended up ringing them and Alan came out to meet us. (The sun was shining now)
After a quick cup of tea and a look at our daughters wedding photos Alan took us for a ride to Portree on the isle of sky (210 miles round trip) we ate fish and chips in a small cafe. We stopped at a few places on the way namely Eilean Donan Castle and the Stromeferry viewing point overlooking Lock Carron where I encountered my first Scottish midges. On the way back we visited a little village called Plockton on the shores of Loch kisorn where they filmed Hamish Mc beth. We got the odd shower as we passed through the mountains but the sun shone all the time we were walking around.
Despite driving 200 miles in the most likely of country side plus a promise from Alan and Isobel and signs warning of dear crossing, we still have not managed to spot a stag. (Much to May’s disappointment).
We arrived back at their house about 19:45 we had a few drinks and had a cooked dinner before returning to the caravan at 23:30 (good job we got the fuel and shopping this morning) we considered taking down the canopy as the forecast for tomorrow was rain. But decided against it as we were too tired (out like a light)
Sunday 13th Culloden Moor/Onich (Bunree)
Woke up at 04:00 by rain on the caravan roof. I went back over to sleep till after 08:00 but it was still raining. (I wished I had put the canopy away last night) after breakfast I pushed the excess water out of the canopy and lowered the legs to let it run off. It ran off all over my head and shoulders (Now I really wished I had taken the canopy down last night)
We packed up and prepared for the off in light rain which stopped shortly after we set off. We drove down the edge of Loch Ness stopping to take a few pictures on route. We had a night mare of a journey as some plonker had decided to organise an international cycle race along the whole of our route. (About 70 miles) The whole journey consisted of driving at cycle pace until we got to a stretch of straight road speeding up long enough to pass about ten bikes and then pulling in for the next bend and waiting for another opportunity. At least while driving slow may could do some sightseeing. May finally manage to spot a couple of stags grazing in the fields.
When we got to the sight we were gob smacked with the views and proximity to Lock Linnhe. You couldn’t fail to be impressed we wasted no time in getting settled in on pitch 84 one row back from the front. It was a good
job we didn’t waste any time as while we drank our first cup of tea the cloud dropped and the rain came down quite heavy for about an hour.
Once the rain stopped we walked to the Corran car ferry. The midges were quite active but not too bad unless you stood still. We returned to the caravan and had a cooked Sunday lunch.
Monday 14th Onich (Bunree)
Slept till 09:00 the sun is shining with a light but cool breeze. As the sun got stronger the temperature got better.
We went to the marine commando’s remembrance statue near Spean Bridge then dropped down to the Ben Nevis cable car which took us halfway up the mountain (the views were fantastic) it was unbelievable that people road mountain bikes back down to the bottom. Then we walked up to the top of Aonach-Mor. We enjoyed haggis and vegetable soup with a bread roll in the snow goose restaurant.
May summed up the views as we came over the top in the cable car on the way down. (WOW!)
We spent 2 hours in Fort William before returning to the van. We decided to try the fish and chip van on site for our tea. (We wished we hadn’t)It was spoilt mainly by the soggy batter.
After tea I went to talk to a bloke fishing on the beach. He had caught a dog fish and a sea trout in the morning on mackerel. If I had known I would have bought one in Morrison’s) he said they were catching them near the ferry this morning. I tried spinning off the beach with no luck so I drove to the ferry terminal and tried again. Still no luck but at least I had been fishing. As the sun went behind the mountain it got a bit cold so I headed back to the van for a cup of tea. It has been a very enjoyable day.
Tuesday 15th Onich (Bunree)/Drymen CL site
The sun is shining again, no wind and a warmer feel to the start of the day. Regretfully we have to move on today.
May decided to do a wash before we left as our next two sites are CL’s the next will not have a toilet let alone a washing machine.
On reflection we would not book two consecutive CL’s again if we could avoid it.
The journey to the site was pleasant and uneventful with more magnificent scenery of lochs and mountains of various sizes. We have now clocked up over a 1000 miles in the car.
The arrival on site was different to what we had experienced previously. This was our first time on a CL. A small sign signalled our arrival there was no security gate. In fact there was no gate and no reception.
It was a small field adjacent to the farm with cut grass, electric points and a couple of taps. The chemical disposal point consisted of a toilet concreted into the ground. At £8.00per night you don’t expect much more. The view from the site over loch Lomand is unrivalled. There were two other caravans and an old motor home already on site. The occupants of the motor home (Mother and daughter) were interesting to say the least!
We parked the van and car then went to find someone to pay. A young lady answered the door, took the payment and advised us to find a pitch and set up where we like. We sited it at a slight angle so that we overlooked Loch Lomand out of the front window.
As we had all the provisions in for spaghetti bolognaise May decided we would eat in again. We relaxed in the sun until we were ready for our tea. I tuned in a few available channels on the TV (No ITV). After tea we settled in and watched spring watch.
Wednesday 16th Drymen
Not a bad night’s sleep. Glorious sunny morning no cloud and hardly any wind.
We had breakfast then sat outside with a cup of tea. We had a quick shower in the van before setting off to Archie and Margaret’s. (Another couple we had met in Lanzerote).We stopped for shopping and more fuel on the way.
We had lunch in the harbour marina restaurant overlooking the boats. (They insisted on paying.) We went back to their daughters to wait for their grandson and have a drink with them in the garden. We set off back to the van about 3:45 to avoid the tea time traffic. We drove past our site and on to the next village which had a small marina. It was swarming with midges. After a short walk we sat and ate an ice lolly then went back to the site.
There were seven vans there now (3 new arrivals and 1 gone). I sat in the sun for a while but May had to go inside as her hay fever had started playing up. About 19:30 we had a tuna salad for tea and the sun shone late into the evening. I commented to May “Life doesn’t get much better than this” what more could you want from life.
Thursday 17th Drymen/Moffat
The day started very mild with a lot of dark cloud by the time we had breakfast and packed the van it was glorious sunshine and getting warmer.
We had a steady drive just touching Glasgow before picking up the motorway for the rest of our journey. The site was 3.5 mile off the motorway. We entered a dead end road and travelled for ages past were the post code was supposed to be. In the end we asked someone if we had the right road. She said “it was just a bit further on”.
We arrived at a small field marked by a caravan club pennant with a caravan in one corner (we were joined by another caravan after tea) and a unisex toilet with a shower in the other corner.
It was shirt off time, and quickly set up so we could enjoy a bit of bronzing. We said we would go back into the town later, maybe after tea. As I lay in the sun I noticed the road grime on the caravan and decided to give it a good clean in the sun.
We had tea and were relaxing in the sun with a cup of tea when the lady arrived to collect the fees. Last year’s price was £8.50 when May rang it had gone up to £10.50 when she collected the fees it was £ 11.00 we think she charged us for the canopy as an awning. The site was nice but not worth £11.00 per night we will not be coming back to this one.
Andrea rang for a quick update on what had been happening at both ends
I tried to tune in the TV but there was nothing. I tried every which way with the aerial but still had no luck (the lady who collected the fees said it was hit and miss but had no suggestions) the radio reception was very good! But after 20:00 the programmes were rubbish.
We didn’t bother going into town. We made plans for tomorrow instead.
Friday 18th Moffat
Cloudy and warm again forecast to get sunny later. (And it did)
We went into Moffat to see the market. It was a bit disappointing really. We finished off by browsing the shops (full of the usual tacky over priced souvenirs) I bought a saxifrage plant before going to Dawark Gardens about 25 miles away.
I figured I had enough fuel to get me there and back so I took a chance on finding cheaper fuel on the way. It turned out there was no other fuel stations but I made it back with a bit to spare. I filled up ready for tomorrow’s journey.
We returned to the van for a bit of sun bathing before tea. The camp had filled up (six vans) a chap asked if I had any channels I said no and told him I had tried for over an hour yesterday. About an hour later he returned to tell me he had got a football channel with the aerial in the opposite direction on digital. (He must have thought I was interested in the World Cup) I turned the aerial around and set it to tune. I got about a dozen channels including BBC, itv and 4. I did watch a bit of the World Cup but soon got bored.
Saturday 19th Moffat/Kendal
I was woken up at 06:00 by the bright sunshine streaming in through a gap in the blinds. I turned over and went back to sleep. When I woke up again at 08:00 the sky was full of dark clouds. It was warm but a slight breeze made it too cool for tee shirts.
Breakfast a quick shower in the van and it was on our way to England. As I pulled out of the gate it was clear I was not going to make it out in one go (which I thought was strange as it went in one go) fortunately a fellow camper had opened the gate for me and knew the post lifted out. It was made for such occasions as this.
5 miles on a ‘B’ road, 80 miles of motorway (60 miles an hour on cruise control almost all the way) and another 5 miles on the ‘B’ roads and we were there by 12:30. (We have now clocked up nearly 1400 miles) The sun was back out by now and the temperature rising. May noticed a caravan going the other way with a sky light wide open and commented “I bet they don’t know they have left that up”
This was another different type of site. It was on the site of a disused gunpowder factory in the middle of a wood. In fact it was the woods as it occupied it all. Roads ran in all directions linking up to each other and forming little glades where six or seven vans would be sited around the edges. Our site turned out to be one of the few that the sun shone down on through a gap in the trees left by the toilet block about 100 yards away.
A quick cup of tea and a sandwich after sighting the van and off we went for a walk. We walked about a mile upstream along the river which passed the site and back again, round the site and into the nearest village. We bought some bits and pieces for a salad from a farm shop and had a homemade ice cream before heading back to the van. There was a fish and chip van on site so we bought some chips to have with the salad (no fish after the last one) I wish we had not bothered with the skinny oven chips that we got for £1.50. The salad with homemade pork pie and cooked meat compensated for the chips. This was followed by homemade apple pie and ice cream.
The van was in a perfect position for sitting out and catching the last of the sun as it slipped behind the trees. (Another perfic end to a perfic day)as pop Larkin would say.
Sunday 20th Kendal (Fathers day)
A nice sunny day, but it was not very evident as the dappled light came through the canopy of the trees.
We got ready and headed off into Kendal we started walking round but most of the shops were shut. It was starting to get a bit busier but we had seen all we needed to. Despite paying for 3 hours parking we left after about 2 hours.
We headed off for a free boat trip on a closed leg of the Lancaster canal. It was run by volunteers who were raising funds to restore it and have it reconnected to the river system. We put a donation in their box and commended them on their efforts. (If you are ever in the area please support them).
We went to the pub opposite for lunch but we were not impressed by the menu or the prices. It was £ 11.95 for a beef burger with salad.
We drove to a water garden centre which was a bit small. After a quick look around we continued on our travels and came across a little tea room on a fish farm which served homemade food and cakes. It also had a small garden centre and a small caravan site of about half a dozen vans attached. The whole site was clean and well kept.
We put the post code of our site into the sat nav and set off back to the van. As we drove along May recognised a familiar site on the other side of the dual carriage way (it was the farm shop). I said it will bring us back to it shortly. We carried on going along roads/tracks getting smaller every time we took a turn off till we arrived at a gate to a track across a field. I wanted to try it to see if it got us there but May refused to open the gate. I reversed up and turned around and the sat nav took us back along the way we had come until we reached the farm shop and I turned in there. On reflection we did seem a long way off track but we will never know?
We sat out in the sun for a while before tea. Then after tea I started reading Fred Dibnah’s biography that May had bought for me in Kendal.
Monday 21st Kendal/Bolton Abbey
The sun was out up above the trees again. We had to pass a bit of time as we were not allowed into the Strid Wood site until 13:00 hours.
After our breakfast we went for a walk along the river and across the suspension bridge enjoying the sunshine. We returned to the van about 11:30 and finished packing away. And now it was onto Yorkshire for our final night in the caravan. We had only gone a few miles down the road when a car pulled alongside us at a roundabout gesturing that our sky light was wide open.
We made good time and after squeezing through a tight entrance (See picture) and progressing for another 3 mile wondering if we had missed the entrance we finally arrived at 12:59 May enquired about stopping an extra night but they were fully booked. We were advised to ask after 09:00 the next morning. We picked a lovely pitch, bathed in sunshine then had our lunch and decided to spend the rest of the day in Skipton.
We parked in the central car park in Skipton and someone gave us a ticket for the rest of the day. There was a street market on and the town was busy. We had a walk around and down by the canal. I texted Gareth and Andrea to let them know there was no reception for mobile phones on the site. Gareth rang me back for a quick talk. We continued on our walk before having our tea at Busy Lizzie’s restaurant. After tea we went for a walk along the canal in the opposite direction by the old castle wall and into Skipton Wood. We haven’t walked as much as we usually do on holiday so we really enjoyed it. We returned to the van for a shower and to chill with a cup of tea.
We realised that we had forgot to get the fuel in Skipton there was nowhere local so it looks like I will have to pull into a service station with the van on the back tomorrow. (It had to happen eventually) we have done well to manage this long.
This could be our last night in the caravan for this holiday
Tuesday 22nd Bolton Abbey/
Glorious sunshine and warm, as forecast.
We got up at 08:00 the plan was to have breakfast get ready and check if we had got the extra night before setting off home as we felt sure there would be no cancellations. May came back with the good news we had got another night and been offered the next night which we had to turn down due to May’s work commitments.
We re-planned our day we decided to go into Skipton for the fuel not so much to avoid taking the van in more that we had realised how few and far filling stations can be and as we had just under the ¼ of a tank we decided to play it safe. Whilst in Skipton I texted Gareth and Andrea to let them know we were staying another night. And rang David (Halifax) to let them know we were in Skipton if they wanted to join us, but as it turned out they were both working. We returned to the van and parked up after been told by the lady from Bolton abbey that if we didn’t park the car in the car park we didn’t have to pay.
We had a light snack and a cup of tea before setting off on a walk leaving about 11:30 and returning around 16:45 with the odd stop for lunch and lollies. We worked out that we had done about ten mile. (I think we have made up for the lack of walking in Scotland)
We had a couple of cans and did a bit of sun bathing before tea. We ate in to use up some of the provisions.
We sat down after tea and compared the actual figures to what we had calculated
A bit of TV, a shower and bed for what is definitely our last night in the caravan on this holiday
Tuesday 23nd Bolton Abbey/Home 1638 miles in total
This really is the last day! This time we wasted no time in getting packed away the difference this time was deciding what needed packing where, what would be staying in the van and what would be going home. We decided it would be better to do the final sorting when we park the van at Molescroft.
We were on our way by 10:15 the traffic was clear all the way everything went straight forward except for the sat nav wanting us to do a hairpin turn left into a narrow lane. (We decided to ignore it). We arrived at the storage site for 12:30 to find a van in our parking place and a note on a board asking us to park in the next bay (temporarily) the site owner pulled up shortly afterwards and explained the owner had parked it there by mistake and that it will be moved soon. It turned out to be the man who we bought our van off. We loaded and unloaded as needed and set off back to Sproatley settled and washing in by 02:00 (Back to normality) I suppose I should cut the grass .
THE END
Comments
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What a busy time you had! Loved reading all the places you visited - sorry about all the rain! Honestly, we do get long dry periods in Scotland, sometimes! My only tiny gripe is the 'Ben Nevis' cable car? The gondola at Aonach Mor is actually 3 mountains
away from Ben Nevis, badly named as Nevis Range by the owners! As for Braemar - I think I know exactly where you ate, and I totally agree with you, very disappointing!0
