Retiring out this Blog and moving to Polar Steps

I started this blog back in August 2011 as a way of tracking our holidays and, later, our campervan trips.  It's been fun looking back at where we visited and what we did.  In fact, my first ever post was a day trip to Anglesey.  Little did we know that six years later we would move to the island on retirement.

Over time though, particularly on longer trips, it's been a bit of a chore updating the blog; trying to write something interesting (not sure I succeeded there!), managing and uploading photos, adding all the hyper links etc.  Although it's possible to do this on my phone, it was best on a laptop.  

During our trip to Scotland, the EcoFlow power bank died....again.  It was a replacement one after the first stopped charging on 12V DC, which is ideal when driving.  As a result I was unable to charge the laptop and therefore unable to update the blog beyond the last post on 22 June.  I'm battling with EcoFlow to sort out the problem as the unit is still under warranty and, in the meantime, have bought a smaller (and cheaper) Bluetti power bank.  I won't be buying EcoFLow products again!

When I realised updating the blog this trip was going to be difficult, I looked around for alternatives.  I'd previously looked at the Polar Steps app, but at that time decided to carry on with the blog.  However, I downloaded it, created an account and had a go.  I actually like it as an alternative to the blog.  I can create a trip (eg Scotland 2026) with steps (places we stopped overnight or visited), write a short paragraph about the day and quickly upload some photos.  It takes about 10 minutes on my phone and I've enjoyed using it.  You can access my Scotland 2026 trip by clicking on this link.

I will still be able to keep a record of all the places we stayed or visited (with Lat/Long) as I keep a list per trip in Google Keep and then upload this to Google Drive to refer back to.

So that's it for this blog.  I'll keep it live so I can refer back at past trips if I need to, but this is probably the 'Last Post'.

If you've followed my posts - and actually read them - well done!  If you want to follow our future trips on Polar Steps, you can click on this link.

More castles and coastal park ups

Monday 22 June 2026

Nido's parked up at the campsite run by the Community Boat Club in the village of Rosehearty on the Moray coast.  We have a view of the sweeping white sandy bay next to the harbour.  We stayed here before almost three years ago and celebrated my 60th birthday here.  We're booked in for two nights and will start to head south tomorrow.

Saturday morning we took another walk around St Cyrus National Nature Reserve, this time on a trail which focuses on the flowers, plants and insect life.  It was a quiet night, only broken by Salty being sick three times in the van!  I think he may have ingested some sand and seawater when playing on the beach, which irritated his stomach.  He was still unwell yesterday morning, but with plenty of rest, some food and water, he appears to have bounced back.

Our first stop on Saturday was Castle Fraser, another NTS property not far from Inverurie.  Starting life as a simple property, by 1635 it had grown wings, storey and turrets and is now a fine looking castle.  After walking around the gardens we entered the castle.  The self-tour route took us through a number of rooms, all reached by walking up and down narrow, steep spiral staircases within the turrets. Onwards, we also stopped at Pitmedden Garden, not far from Ellon, the gardens dating back to the 17th Century.  I was all gardened-out by then, so Salty and I chilled in the van and Cathy visited on her own, which I suspect she enjoyed much more than she said!  I spent the time compiling a complaint email to EcoFlow, as our powerbank had stopped charging on 12V.  We had this problem with the first one and this was the replacement provided under warranty.  Only three years old, it's now nothing more than a heavy paperweight - very annoying.  EcoFlow have offered a partial refund and I'm just waiting to find out how much.  I'll need to order a new powerbank ready for our EU tour, but it definitely won't be an EcoFlow.

For Saturday night's stop, I had a couple of options in mind.  The first - Forvie NNR car park was full and the parking spaces were a bit small, so we carred on a short distance to Port Errol harbour. This spot is obviously popular as it was rammed full. Luckily, I usually try to pin a few options so we drove on for about half and hour to Cairnbulg harbour, just east of Fraserburgh.  Only one other van was there so we had plenty of space, parked up overlooking the sea with the harbour to our right.  The other van, with a Bulgaria registration, was owned by a lovely American couple called David and Diane, who are full-timing and were spending time in the UK to reset their Schengen clock, ready for further EU travels.  We had a great chat with them about van-life and their travels.  They're off to the Orkneys and Shetland next and we told them out our trip to the Outer Hebrides last year, a place that's on their list to visit.

Another quiet night and following a food and fuel stop at the Tesco in Fraserburgh, we arrived at Rosehearty and checked in for £10 per night, including services.  It's a popular campsite and the locals are friendly.  We had a walk along the beach later, before sitting in the warm sunshine before supper.

This morning it was a bit windier and cloudier, which still is preferable to the extreme heat some are facing in the south of England this week.  We took a walk along the coastal path, past the harbour and old RAF lookout station, stopping off at a cottage ruin before taking a long zig-zag path down to a rocky cove.  Back in the village, we stopped in the shop to buy some bread rolls and cake, enjoying a slice with a welcome pot of tea outside the van.  Supper tonight is prawn paella with a side of moules.

Castle, Mill and Nature Reserve

Friday 19 June 2026

Nido's parked up St Cyrus National Nature Reserve.  Nature Scot allow up to six vans to stay overnight for a donation of £10.  As well as normal toilets open during the day, there's a toilet disposal point, but no access to fresh water.  It's rained most of the day and is again now, although we did manage to enjoy two rainless trips out.  There's three other vans here and I suspect it'll stay quiet, as Scotland are playing in the World Cup tonight and I imagine most people will be at home or in the pub watching the game.

Yesterday we visited Kellie castle, a National Trust Scotland (NTS) property.  We joined NTS as it's cheaper than the English/Welsh version, but it still allows us to visit their properties.  The oldest parts of Kellie castle date back to the 14th century.  Its ownership passed through several familes, all of whom built on to the original building and added their own individual stamp.  The NTS bought it off the last owners - the Lorimers - in 1970.  Visits inside the castle can only be made by guided tour, so we booked on to the 1230 tour and spent and hour or so wandering round the walled garden and wildflower meadows.  The tour was interesting (some of them can be a bit dry) and not too long, about an hour.

On the way back we stopped off in Anstruther for fish and chips.  There are three 'award-winning' chippys in the town; I chose the nearest to where we parked - The Wee Chippy.  We took our haddock, chips and mushy peas back to the campsite.

This morning we left the THS after a couple of peaceful nights.  We'd been in the same area for a few days, so it was time to head further north. Driving through St Andrews (lots of snooty golf courses and resorts) and Dundee (didn't stop for cake!) we arrived at Barry Mill, just outside Carnoustie (another town that's sold its soul to golf).  We walked Salty around the woodlands, but he was spooked by the bird scarers in nearby fields, so he spent the rest of our time there safe inside the van.  A mill has stood on this spot since the 12th century.  This particular mill dates back to the early 19th century, when it was rebuilt in 1815 following a fire.  It closed in the early 1980s and fell into rapid decline before NTS took it on in 1988.  We tagged on to an earlier tour group and were lucky enough to see (and hear) the mill in operation; the only have it working on Fridays.

We continued driving north through heavy run, through Montrose and along a very pot-holed single track to St Cyrus.  Thankfully the rain held off to allow us to walk over the dunes and on to a long sandy beach, which we had to ourselves. On the horizon were a few oil rig support ships.  Salty enjoyed a run around and a dip in the sea and we returned to the van on a different trail, watching out for any peregrines around the tall cliffs just inland, formed at the same time as local volcanic activity.  Cathy made a Greek salad for supper, so feeling virtuous after lots of greenery, we also had a creme caramel each!

Tomorrow we'll continue north along the coast and plan to visit a couple more NTS sites. The weather's set to improve from tomorrow and stay warm and dry for the next week, but thankfully not as hot as some will suffer further south.

The Burgh of Culross, Dysart and onwards

Wednesday 17 June 2026

Nido's parked up on a Camping and Caravanning Site Temporary Holiday Site (THS), overlooking the Firth of Forth, between Anstruther and Crail.  The Isle of May is visible through the windscreen.  This is an area I've sailed through many times when my ship - HMS WESTMINSTER - was in refit in Rosyth for 15 months.  Throughout that period, work took precedence and I had little time to explore the local area, but I'm making up for it now.  it's £12.50 per night, with full facilities, so we're booked in for a couple of nights, to use this as a base to explore the local area.

Overnight on Monday/Tuesday in Hayton was very quiet, except for the haunting cry of a Barn Owl hunting in the fields just outside the van.  Leaving yesterday morning, our journey took us up the M74, over the Kincardine bridge and onwards to the Royal Burgh of Culross.  This is Scotland’s most complete example of a burgh of the 17th and 18th centuries.  White-harled houses with red-tiled rooves line the steep cobbled streets which run from the market cross to the hilltop abbey.  In the centre is the ochre-coloured palace with its beautifully reconstructed period garden, complete with herbs, fruit and vegetables.  The palace only allows 8 visitors per 15 minutes to reduce the stress on its timber floors and by the time we arrived it was over an hour's wait.  So we decided to leave the palace tour for another visit and instead walked the steep cobbled tracks, overlooking the palace garden.  As we walked up the narrow, walled lanes, to wander around the old Abbey and Monastery,  it reminded us of a cross between Le Roque Gageac and St Circ Lapopie in the Dordogne.

Onwards, we drove east and parked up in Dysart harbour, just outside Kircaldy, joining three other vans.  The harbour and coastal path had taken a battering during recent storms and and the sea wall and defences were in the process of being rebuilt.  Ready for a walk, we followed the coastal path around the harbour, through a low tunnel and up past defensive walls and mature trees, eventually reaching the ruins of Ravenscraig Castle.  With only about 10 minutes before it was locked up for the night, our visit was brief!  Backtracking, we relaxed in the van with supper and an early night.

Overnight the wind increased and it rained until about 0700, when I took Salty out to chase rabbits (not really - he was on a lead!).  Our first stop heading along the coast was West Wemyss, for a mooch around the harbour.  Then followed a (expensive) food shop in the Sainsburys in Leven, before driving to Ruby Bay near Elie.  Day parking is only £2, with the option to park overnight for £15; with the toilet emptying point closed, this was an expensive option.  After a quick lunch we enjoyed a walk to the lighthouse, past the volcano lava outflow and onto the beach.  About 10 minutes drive and we were parked up by Pittenweem tidal pool.  With a stiff onshore breeze, it didn't look very enticing, but maybe on a warm summer's evening. It's possible to overnight in the car park for £10.

Pittenweem Tidal Pool

Tonight's park up was only another 10 minutes up the road and we spent the afternoon sat in the lee of the van to avoid a strong breeze, but taking advantage of the unexpected sunshine.  It's very quiet now and the Isle of May is lit by the evening sunshine as it sets behind us.  

Scotland Tour 2026

Monday 15 June 2026

Nido's parked up at a new stopover at Hayton Hideways, a short distance from the village of Hayton in Cumbria.  It's only about 5 minutes drive off Junction 43 of the M6 around the Carlisle area, so just south of the Scottish border.  This park-up has only been open for a couple of months, but I think it'll be well used, particularly for travellers like us who want to break their journey.  The owners already have a successful camping pods business, but a few people had suggested opening a motorhome stopover.  It's a little like an aire; a level hardstanding area of about 50m2, with fresh water and a toilet disposal point.  It's very quiet here, surrounded by fields and hedgerows, with some hills in the distance.  I'm sure we'll use it again when visiting Scotland.

We always enjoy visiting Scotland and come up every year.  The rough plan for this trip is to cross over the Forth road bridge, then turn right and follow the coastal route through Fife and East Neuk, then continuing up the coast into Aberdeenshire, the Moray Firth and back down the eastern side of the Cairngorms.  I've researched a few stops, mainly in coastal villages and a couple of C&CC temporary holiday sites, plus our favourite stops in the Cairngorms.  We aim to be away for about two weeks, but don't need to rush back if we get to that point and still have places to visit.

We left home at about 1030 this morning and endured the busy M6, with a quick lunch stop on the way up.  Arriving here at about 3.30pm, we were met by the friendly owner - Dan - who showed us around and pointed out the footpath to the nearby village of Hayton.  After a cup of tea sat out in warm sunshine, we walked to the village, past a children's playground and the church.  Hayton is a quaint village, with lots of sandstone cottages, many with well kept gardens.  The local pub - the Stone Inn - looked welcoming but unfortunately it was too early in the day for a quick pint!  Back at the van, we sat out to eat and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the peace and quiet, recovering from the hectic M6 journey.

Tomorrow we'll cross the border into Scotland and hope to be parked up somewhere on the Fife coastline by mid-afternoon.