roemin around

The End !!! Left the Lake district just before 10:00am to return home in one drive after a most enjoyable month away in Scotland.

On Tuesday we had breakfast at a take away van by the Travel Inn, better than the motorway cafe before driving south on the M6 away from Glasgow. We finished the holiday with 3 days at Low Park Wood site in the Lake district. Just chilled out on Wednesday and went to Newby Bridge, Lake Windermere on Thursday our last day away. Windermere was very busy with day trippers and hot. Time to go home!

Part of the trip was to call at Spring Cabs. We stayed at a Travel Inn  for two nights and Rosemary  had an open top bus tour of Glasgow in the rain while I did a bit of work on Admin2000.

We drove to Glasgow with a long detour to see the amazing boat lift which is called the Falkirk wheel.

We took the Brodick ferry back to the mainland at Ardrossan. A nice big one this time with a gentle ramp. Went straight to Largs, which is a big boating centre for yachts sailing the western Isles and bought the new water pump (£25) which I fitted on site later. We had a night at a high site near Skelmorlie overlooking the Isle of Bute ferry.

We decided to have what looked like an idyllic spot for a free wild night on a forestry commission driveway entrance to the Goat Fell forest park. Lovely view over the Firth of Clyde towards Largs and Bute. But then, as dusk fell, out came a huge swarm of midges, like a dark cloud that enveloped the van. The outside cooking was abandoned and we retreated inside and did not emerge until the morning. Now we know what all the fuss is about with Scottish midges! Thought they were just exaggerated tales of wimpy travelers - they are not!

Very warm enjoying the sun bathing, seal spotting and lobster eating for 2 days at a partly refurbished site on the southern tip of the Isle of Arran at Kildonalo. It is now owned by a couple from Grimsby. The husband is an ex deep sea diver and now scuba dives for Lobsters and crabs from his boat in the Mull of Kintyre. Very good at this and gave Rosemary some mackerel to cook and invited us to his BBQ to try some lobster. Gave the left overs to his dog! Unbelievable. The water pump gave out today so I need to replace it. They are like boat water pumps so I can pick one up at Kip Marina in a couple of days.

Before leaving the area we drove down to the end of the peninsular, to the Mull of Kintyre, to see the famous lighthouse. It was shrouded in mist and fog so we failed. We took the short crossing to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran via a small ferry with a very steep ramp which grounded the bottom of the van twice at the top and bottom of the ramp. Fortunately it did not do any damage but sounded horrendous at the time. We stopped at the Arran whisky distillery and bought some whisky and a crystal glass on the way to the Seal View camp site.

We walked into Carrodale looking for a fresh fish in the quaint fishing harbour (according to the guide books). However all the boats are now gone (EU rules) and fresh fish is 30 miles away. It rained for 6 hrs and we got soaked.

After leaving Oban area we drove back south on to the Mull of Kintyre to a beach site overlooking Arran. It was a tortuous road of tight bends and steep inclines along the coast road. The pitch was right on a grassy part of the beach and very soggy.

It was a more relaxing day to day as we took the passenger ferry to Mull, leaving the van parked at the harbour. We walked to Tobbey Moray and took the little steam train to Torasay Castle and Gardens on a nice warm sunny day.

Today we had a good long (over 100 mile) drive up to Fort William, down Glencoe and back along a narrow single track road through Loch Orchy. A combination of sunny intervals and occasional rain mode for some atmospheric scenery.

We are stopping for 3 nights at North Ledaig site near Oban as a base for touring round the area up to Fort William. We drove here via Loch Awe in showers on Thursday afternoon.

We stayed on the west bank of Loch Fynne (famous for sea food) at Argyll Caravan Park. It rained most of the day but we went into Invararrey and had a fish and chip lunch (£14). Nice photos across the loch in the odd sunny interval.

We took the ferry to avoid a lot of driving and called in at Loch Lomond via the Rest and Be Thankfull pass. We rested and the top of the long hill and were thankful! We stopped overnight at Argyll Caravan Park, quite a big posh one, on the west bank of Loch Fynne. We had a nice seafood lunch at a wooden bench on Loch Fyne.

We are taking the early ferry in the morning so headed for a one night stop at a site high up overlooking the Clyde a few miles north of Ayr. A lot of motorhomes here waiting for ferrys  to Northern Ireland from Stranraer.

Stopped at a club site within walking distance of Culzean Castle.  Scottish pipers playing and marching for the tourists. We passed Ailsa Criag Island  on the way to Culzean and passed the 500miles mark at Girvan on the way. Spoke to Mike Payne and agreed to go to a Glen Miller weekend near Clapham over bank holiday. Free camping included in ticket (not anymore!) We had two pleasant days here the showers were good.

Our second stop is the Dumfries and Galloway forest via Newtown Stewart and Gatehouse of Fleet. It was an unexpected paved paved site just 30yds from the sea wall in the seaside village or Garlieston.  We arrived in a thunderstorm and are here for two nights. We saw a huge flock of goldfinches feeding on the giant thistle heads, quite a surprise as we walked to the sea shore.  Motivated us to do a bird walk, at Kirroughtree Forest, 4 miles steep hills we were knackered.

It was an easy drive over the border into Scotland via Gretna Green with its tourists and souvenir tack. We stopped for a coffee and cake (no souvenirs) before finding our first stop in Scotland, a very basic CL near Balmaclellan. There were just 4 vans and ourselves, no facilities, water 250 yds up hill. But it was a lovely evening, we had a BBQ and it was only £3.50 per night.

We had a two day break in the lake district at the caravan club site Park Coppice on Coniston Water. Nice walk down to the lake for dusk photos and we went for a trip on the steam boat on a lazy day. It was hot and sunny just like holidays should be.