Category: Uncategorized

Friday 31st May 2019

Sometimes in life you make decisions you later regret, today was one of those days. Last night I said I’d like to travel the distance (98miles) from Alnwick to Barnard Castle on minor roads and avoid where possible A roads. ie take the scenic route.

Well it was a death by a thousand potholes, switchback roads, uneven surfaces you name it, my eyeballs were bouncing up and down, my fillings in my teeth came loose and my body felt it had been pummelled, the last time we drove roads so bad it was in Belgium.

Was it all awful, no of course not, in the middle of nowhere we came across Kirkharle Courtyard craft centre, where individual artists had studios and sold their products. It was also interesting to find that this was where Lancelot “Capability” Brown was born.

We stopped for lunch in Hexham finding out when we had finished we were in a private car park, we moved Homer before we went for a walk around town, there was an interesting Abbey there but as a funeral was taking place we couldn’t explore the interior.

The next road we took weaved it’s way through the North Pennines, wonderful scenery and farm buildings and we passed Derwent Reservoir.

Eventually we arrived in Barnard Castle a lovely market town and enjoyed a stroll around it, some kind person in the car park gave us their parking receipt so it was a free stay.

Tonight’s site is only 2 miles outside Barnard Castle so it was with some relief that we arrived and set up quickly, then it was a dive into the showers for hot water to ease the aches and pains.

Thursday 30th May 2019

Today’s trip was a short one for us, we would have liked to have visited Holy Island but the tide times were against us so we pressed on to Bamburgh.

We parked in the large car park below Bamburgh Castle, free, and walked up the steep path to it, we had decided not to pay for entrance as we’d seen a few tv programmes showing the interior( and we saved £27) .

We walked down onto the stunning beach below the castle where Layla did a 200m dash to the sea, she only gets her feet wet nowadays, she has gone off waves, we continued to the end of the beach and walked into the village. This was the home of Grace Darling,

There is a museum there in her honour which supports the RNLI

We drove on from there to Seahouses which is a busy seaside town unfortunately we couldn’t park so we continued on to Beadnell, as we arrived the heavens opened and rain lashed down, so we took the opportunity to have coffee and lunch. When the rain stopped we walked down into this unspoilt village and discovered a small harbour and another lovely sandy beach.

It began to rain again as we walked back to Homer and continued to do so on our drive to Alnwick, where surprise surprise we found dedicated motorhome parking in one of the main car parks, £1 for three hours! We had a very wet walk around Alnwick and I’m sure didn’t see it at its best, Michelle walked round the outside of Alnwick Castle, dogs not allowed I’m afraid, so I dog sat in Homer.

It was only. 1.5 mile drive from there to our stop tonight on a small CL site.

We will revisit this area at some point in the future spending far more time here so we can explore more and in greater depth, as this has only been a fleeting visit.

Wednesday 29th May 2019

We made a rapid departure from the Falkirk Wheel this morning and headed the short distance to the other side of Falkirk to visit The Kelpies.

The Kelpies are 60m high statues of horse head sculptures, standing next to the Forth and Clyde canal and depict Kelpies which are ” shape shifting water spirits” creatures that emerge from water and take the form of horses whilst looking for victims to take back into the water and drown.

The statues were really wonderful and well worth the visit.

From here we drove south of and skirted Edinburgh until we reached the coast and visited Dunbar. Dunbar is on the N.E. coast of East Lothian it is steeped in history and was an important Scottish Fortress and once sheltered Mary Queen of Scots. Dunbar was the birth place of John Muir who emigrated to America and eventually was instrumental in the formation of Yosemite National Park.

From there we headed to Eyemouth which is 5 miles north of the English border and boasts a natural harbour, fishing here dates back to the 13th century, like many places in the 18th century smuggling of wine, spirits, tea and tobacco was rife.

When we walked round to the harbour we were delighted to see seals swimming and hoping to be fed by the tourists.

Our next stop was Berwick on Tweed where we are staying tonight, we tried to park in town but couldn’t find a suitable spot so we headed to the camp site and then walked the 1.5 mile trip back into town and had a walk around.

Berwick is a town in Northumberland at the mouth of the river Tweed, it is only 2.5 miles from the Scottish border. It has had a turbulent history with its ownership repeatedly exchanging between England and Scotland before finally falling into English hands in 1482. Thankfully we found it quite peaceful and the natives pleasant and helpful.

Tuesday 28th May 2019.

The day started in true motorhoming tradition with a trip to Lidl, this one being in Stranraer. Having filled up with the basics to keep us going, bread, chicken and whisky not necessarily in the order of priority, we headed north along the coast towards Ayr.

It was stunning scenery with the sea next to you most of the way, we saw the island Ailsa Craig off shore and that was magnificent, photo taken on the move and doesn’t do it justice.

We drove around Glasgow to our destination the Falkirk Wheel a feature we’d seen on tv and had on our wish list to visit.

The Falkirk Wheel was designed to reconnect the Forth and Clyde canal to the Union Canal which had had no connection since the original flight of 11 locks were dismantled in 1933. The flight of original locks had been filled in and built over so a new site and system had to be designed. It was designed by Edinburgh architect Tony Kettle and built by the Derbyshire company Butterly Engineering. The cost of the project was £17.5 million pounds and took 22 months to construct instead of the projected 24 months.

The wheel stands 115ft tall and can lift loads of 300 tonnes in each of the two ” gondola” however because it works on Archimedes principal of water displacement it only takes a small amount of electricity on each rotation, approx the same as boiling 8 electric kettles.

We splashed the cash £25 pounds for us both and took a ride on one of the boats that takes you up does a few hundred metres along the canal turns round and then you descend again, you get no sense of movement whilst on the wheel you are just aware of the scenery changing.

We are staying here for the night and now all the visitors have gone there are just 4 motorhomes overnighting.

Monday 27th May 2019

Well we survived the windy night and Homer hadn’t moved overnight in spite of us rocking somewhat in the gusts of wind, which was a relief.

After exchanging cards over coffee we walked down into Portpatrick along what was once upon a time a single track railway line, very little has changed since we were last here 10 years ago, that in itself was quite pleasing.

The harbour area is still picturesque and attractive.

The hotel we stayed in looks the same.

We enjoyed the walk around the harbour chatting about our memories and Michelle bought a small stone statue of a hare to go with the two ducks we bought 10 years ago, a quick coffee fortified us for the walk back up the hill to Homer.

The weather this afternoon was showery so I spent my time reading, in between the showers Michelle did venture out for a walk with Layla further along the coast. We had a table booked for a meal at 7.30pm at the the Waterfront Hotel where we spent our honeymoon and so accompanied by Alison, Peter and Layla ( who was spoiled rotten by the waitresses) we had an enjoyable evening, good food and drinks, and a night cap when we got back.

For us Portpatrick will always hold a special place in our hearts and I’m sure we will be back before long.

Sunday 26th May 2019.

It was a rough night last night, I was suffering badly from hay fever that woke me numerous times during the night, not a normal time of day for me to suffer, and it rained heavily on and off all night, drumming on the roof of Homer.

So it was with relief we set off in the dry this morning and headed to Gatehouse of Fleet, not a very large place, but non the less pleasant. We enjoyed a walk around looking at some interesting buildings and visiting a craft centre in a mill.

We drove on from there to Newtown Stuart where had lunch in Homer after a walk around the town, there’s not a lot open as it is a Sunday and a Bank Holiday, the supermarket was, so I purchased a few beers for this evening.

We took the decision to drive from there straight to the campsite where we have been allocated two pitches on the edge of the site, right on the cliff tops over looking the sea and Dunskey Castle. We found a path down to the little cove below us and Layla had a good time in the sea.

Tea tonight was lamb shanks purchased from Aldi, cooked in the Remoska and accompanied by potatoes, peas and boiled onions, very civilised.

After tea we went for a short walk with Alison and Peter and looked at the ruined castle peering over the cliffs at the sea below, its very windy so I hope we are still here in the morning, at least the wind is blowing inland.

Saturday 25th May 2019

Not so sure about the something borrowed and something blue, but our first port of call this morning was at The Mill Forge Hotel at Gretna Green where almost 10 years ago to the day, accompanied by our joint offspring Matt, Emma, Sophie and Steph, we got married. This trip we are undertaking is in memory of that wonderful time both getting married and our honeymoon.

From there we drove along the coastline to tonight’s stopover at Kirkcudbright stopping on the way at the remains of two abbeys, the first in keeping with the spirit of our trip was Sweetheart Abbey, at a village called New Abbey.

Further along the coastline we stopped at another small village which had the ruins of an old abbey, Dundrennan.

After a lunch break we arrived at the campsite in Kirkcudbright and unfortunately it began to rain. The town is known as an “Artists” town has a number of studios/ shops selling work by individual artists we enjoyed looking but most of it was out of our price range. We splashed out on four coasters depicting puffins to put on Homers new table.

We passed the evening away as usual in Alison and Peters van this time playing trivial pursuit, with modified rules, which Michelle won.

Friday 24th May 2019.

This morning we drove up the M6 north and just before our exit at Carlisle we caught up with our motorhoming buddies Alison and Peter who we had agreed to meet at Walltown Crags/ quarry national park.

From here it is possible to walk along the Pennine Way and get to a section of Hadrians Wall. The car park is next to an area that the Romans quarried to provide the stone for the wall.

Its was a stiffish climb uphill to join the end of the wall which we followed for a few kilometres, the scenery was stunning especially on a beautifully sunny day like today but I wouldn’t have wanted to guard it in the depths of winter, all the pictures of Romans show bare legs!

From the car park at Walltown it was only a short drive to tonight’s camp site Dandy Dinmont just north of Carlisle, its very busy as it is a bank holiday weekend but thankfully I had booked pitches for the two motorhomes a few weeks ago.

Thursday 23rd May 2019

We had planned to set off on our new journey north, tomorrow, however on Wednesday we realised we were free this afternoon so here we are 75 miles north of home in Cheshire.

We are parked up for the night at Belmont Hall site, it appears to be the grounds of an old hall now used as a private school and has in its fields a series of fishing lakes, we are on a newish hard standing area suitable for motorhomes and there is a separate grassy area for caravans.

The weather was warm and pleasant on our arrival and we enjoyed a couple of hours sitting in our chairs in the sunshine.

Wednesday 22nd May 2019.

The standard table that came with Homer is designed to drop down and form the base for the second double bed, also it is of a size to seat four people in the dining area. Like all things that are Hymer it is a substantial piece of furniture and quite heavy.

The passage way that gets you to and fro the the front and rear of Homer is only wide enough for one person to use at a time, so there is often a need for one person to sit still whilst the other moves or a quick perch on the bench seat whilst the other passes. Thankfully Michelle is quite small and agile so we have managed reasonably well over the past two years.

However whilst away last time in Ellesmere I mooted the idea that as only the two of us ever ate in Homer a smaller table would give us a circulation space in the centre of the van and a passing point. When we returned home I did some internet searching but couldn’t find any ready made smaller tables, so I decided to make one to our spec.

I purchased a sheet of ply cut to the exact dimensions of the original table from Woodsheets.com. This I then cut down to make a table only 65cm wide instead of 95cm, the extra piece being kept so we can still make up the bed if necessary. The folding leg I sourced from leisureoutlet.com its lightweight but sturdy, I removed and reused the metal strip from the original table which attaches it to the wall.

I wanted to make the table top more interesting and after some thought tracked down and ordered a laminated map of Europe from Daydream Education the dimensions of which would fit exactly on the table with no trimming. I had wonderful dreams of plotting routes across Europe for future trips.

However I hadn’t counted on Daydream Education employing people with scant Geography knowledge and I ended up with a map of the World, even though the delivery note said it was one of Europe. As we are on our travels again tomorrow I didn’t have time to send it back so trimmed down the world map so it would fit, sorry Alaska you had to be sacrificed as I kept New Zealand because I hope one day to do a motorhome trip there.

After applying a liberal layer of PVA glue and carefully sticking the map down I placed the new table in Homer, it has certainly made more circulation space available, we will see how it stands up to the rigours of use and travel. I already have a Mark 2 model in mind should it become necessary to make improvements.

I can’t see us taking Homer anywhere other than the top centre of the map but at least I can look at the rest of the world and dream.