Isle of Whithorn

Nido's in free parking in a field looking over the Isle of Whithorn harbour (///dabbing.anchorman.cookers), with the Isle of Man visible on the horizon; O2 sent me a 'Welcome to the Isle of Man' SMS, telling me I'm now on my Roam from Home package!  It's quite sloping so we're on the levellers.  Thankfully it's still dry as I don't think we'd get on (or off) here if it was wet.  Just outside the field is a portacabin toilet, with a free motorhome service point, which I've taken advantage of.  We've stayed here before - back in September 2018 - but then we parked on the harbour front, which is no longer allowed.

Joanne from Trundlebus Travels contacted us on Twitter and asked if we could put the What3Words link on my blog posts.  I have used W3W in the past, but hadn't thought about using it on the blog; I thought it's a really good idea to help others identify the location and navigate to it.  So in these and future posts you'll see the hyper-linked W3W, rather than a link to Google Maps.

Wigtown Harbour was very quiet overnight.  I woke at about 0615, so was up and walking the dog nice and early.  We walked up to the bird hide where I sat and watched a heron and lapwing in the mud of the empty river, with about ten mute swans higher up on the salt marsh.  We had a naughty breakfast today - haggis and a fried egg in a Scottish morning roll; naughty but so nice!

Cathy had her online Welsh lesson on Zoom this morning, starting at 1030, so I took Salty off for a good walk, following the path we took yesterday all the way up to the road, then turning left up the hill towards the town.  On the way we passed the Parish Church and I popped in to take a look at the graves of the martyrs, who were tried and sentenced to be tied to a stake at low tide, then drowned as it flowed in; what a horrible way to go.  The war memorial was just outside the churchyard and it was sad to see so many names from the First World War, especially several with the same surname.

We wandered into town and did a couple of circuits before sitting outside Cafe Rendezvous for coffee and lemon meringue pie. At least that's what I had; Salty had three small gravy bones!  As we sat there I heard the beautiful and joyous sound of swifts and looking up, saw a group of about six flying around the rooftops.  I just love these birds.  I hardly get to hear them unless we're in France in the summer; their call just lifts my spirits. I also bought a slice of the pie to take away for Cathy.  Back at the van she was still 'siarad Cymraeg', so I sat outside watching the tide ebb.

The drive to the Isle of Whithorn took about half an hour and after choosing a spot to get as level as possible, we walked onto the headland before taking a turn around the harbour.  On arrival I'd walked to The Steam Packet Inn (2 minutes away!) and booked a table for tonight.  The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling, before we walked to the pub for an extremely delicious meal; highly recommended.

All's quiet now.  Salty's been walked and we're letting our lovely meals digest as the tide rolls back in.

Wigtown - National Book Town of Scotland

Nido's parked up at Wigtown Harbour (///visions.punters.salad), with expansive views over the muddy banks of the tidal river, salt marsh and the hills in the distance.  It's very quiet and peaceful here; it's a theme running through our time in Dumfries and Galloway. There are two other vans here and I'm watching the swans, egrets and herons making the most of this safe, food-filled environment.  

True to form, the ravens woke us early this morning at Dundrennan Abbey. It's a sound we're used to at home, with a rookery in the trees outside our bedroom window.  In the early hours we heard the owls and they spooked Salty so much that he jumped on to our bed like a big black flea to escape the big birds! I was up at 7am  and took Salty out.  A large hare was watching us as we walked towards the field; Salty spotted it too and was off - or at least he would have been if I didn't have a good hold of his lead!

It was a still and warm, sunny morning and I cooked breakfast with the door open.  A car pulled up alongside us and a lady in an official uniform got out of the car, ready to open the Abbey to visitors.  In England I'd be worried now about being moved on, but she couldn't have been kinder, stopping to ask us if we were having a good trip - I like Scotland!

It was about an hour's drive to Newton Stewart where we filled up with diesel and food, before driving six miles to our current park up at Wigtown Harbour.  After walking Salty, we left him to enjoy some 'me time' and wandered up to the town.  Wigtown is the National Book Town of Scotland; yesterday was the 25th anniversary of Wigtown earning this title and it has a Book  Festival every October. For such a small place it has a lot of secondhand bookshops, along with loads of cafes, pubs and independent shops - think Hay on Wye but in Scotland. We mooched around a few of them, browsing the many old books for travel, cooking and gardening gems. 

Back at the van, we took Salty for a walk across the salt marsh and onto the footpath which used to be the old railway line, routing us back to the road and the harbour.  After a welcome apero sat outside the van, I cooked a dinner of chicken fajitas and stir fry veg, before we sat in the cab with a cup of tea, watching the birdlife as the tide slowly started to turn and cover the muddy banks of the river.

It's cloudy now and the wind has dropped; it's so quiet my ears are ringing with the silence. - a thousand acres of sky.  If it clears tonight, I think we'll witness a beautiful starry night.  If not, I hope I wake early to enjoy a coffee outside at dawn.  I'm really enjoying the peace of this trip. 

Did I say I like Scotland?  

Wigtown Harbour

The Old Bookshop - pick up a book and relax!

C'mon - 'urry up!

Apero hour

View from the galley door

Rockcliffe, Kippford and Dundrennan Abbey

Nido's parked up in the car park of Dundrennan Abbey (///senses.ordering.pursue).  There's two more vans here.  It's a quiet little place, reminding me of a French Normandy village.  The Abbey is closed for renovation works and has been for a couple of years. It seems to be a theme with many of the old buildings in this part of Scotland; mainly they seem to be surveying the sites to see if the structures are safe.

As we had an excellent service point at Caerlaverock, we showered then topped up the fresh water tank and emptied the toilet - van life chores.  At home we have a cup of tea in bed first thing (like Derby and Joan!) before another with breakfast. With only one cuppa before leaving we were already in tea deficit - not a good place to be!  So the opportunity was taken to pull into the Drumburn Viewpoint to put this right...and the kettle on.  The viewpoint overlooks the Firth and we could see the Derwent and Buttermere fells in the distance over to our right.

The road between there and our next stop was dreadful. It's a 60mph two-lane road but with grand canyon-sized potholes.  Even though I had slowed down to about 30mph I still hit a couple; we both winced as the tyres banged and the van rattled, so much so that I pulled over to check I still had wheels.  In some places I slowed right down and manoeuvred around them over to the other side of the road - so beware if travelling there.

We saw a sign for Rockcliffe beach, so turned off and drove down to a large and spacious free car-park (///stove.beginning.spider).  It was relatively sunny and warm, but with some sharp showers passing through, so we took a rucksack and raincoats with us.  The beach is lovely, reminiscent of some of those we've visited in Brittany; in fact this whole area has a real feel of France.  Perhaps it's the Celtic influence.  I remembered we'd been here before when we visited D&G back in 2018. The walk took us uphill and into lovely deciduous woods carpeted with wild garlic and bluebells.  We dropped down onto a single track tarmac road at the bottom of a steep hill of granite. Apparently the granite was quarried for many years and was used to make bridges and cathedrals around the world. There were some really lovely (and big!) houses on the granite hilltop, overlooking the muddy estuary.

We walked on and reached the small village of Kippford (///whisk.cascaded.devoured), stopping to buy an ice cream and eating it sheltering from a shower in a covered seating area next to the water.  We chatted to a local waiting for the bus. He knew Anglesey quite well, having worked at the old aluminium plant.  We carried on up to the marina before reversing our route.  After a snooze, Cathy cooked a delicious meal of jacket potatoes cooked in the Ridge Monkey, with some sprouting broccoli and a warmed up chilli we'd brought with us.

The drive to Dundrennan Abbey took about half an hour, thankfully on much better roads than earlier! The long(er) drive gave the Ecoflow power pack time to charge up again.  Having said in my last post that the tech upgrades are doing well, I noticed this morning that the new router was out of power. The 12v-5v wired-in converter with USB-C seems to have failed, so it's been replaced with a normal USB-C cable for now; it'll go back to Amazon when we get home. Amazon seems to have become the new eBay, selling quite a lot of tat from China, some of it of dubious quality...lesson learned.

Parked up on a very slight cross slope (feet downwards thankfully) we had a cup of tea before I took Salty out for a wander into a field running alongside the Abbey.  On the way back I chatted to one of the motorhome owners, who was flying a drone above the Abbey.  The quality of the pictures it takes is amazing and such a great overhead view.  I enjoy watching a few YouTube channels of van life travellers and they all make good use of drone footage.

It should be a quiet night here with just the odd tractor and trailer rumbling past; silage cutting is in full swing here.  But before we button up the van for the night, a little bit of information about the Abbey:

Dundrennan was home to Cistercian monks. Although very austere, the order became very wealthy over time, and their abbeys became places of grand architecture and decoration.  For centuries the monks kept up a daily cycle of worship here. They were assisted by lay brothers. These were members of the monastery who weren't monks: they grew crops and tended sheep in the surrounding fields, generating huge profits from the wool trade.  The abbey declined following the Protestant Reformation of 1560, but was to enjoy one final day in the spotlight of history.  It was here, in May 1568, that the deposed Mary Queen of Scots spent her last hours in her homeland, on her way to exile in England.

Drumburn Viewpoint

Between Rockcliffe and Kippford

Dundrennan Abbey

Tea for Two

Caerlaverock castles and aire

Nido's parked up a the Caerlaverock 'Castle Corner Campsite' (///shave.patch.coverings), but it's pretty much an aire. In fact, it's so like an aire that sat here looking out at vans from several countries, we could very easily be in France.  The Dumfries and Galloway communities are smashing it when it comes to motorhome and campervan park-ups.  Caerlaverock Community Council only ask for a £10 donation (cash or via Paypal) which we've paid; this is an absolute bargain for this wonderful park-up, including the full service point.

We had a very peaceful night's sleep at the Barrasgate Farm aire, waking early to clear blue skies and warm sunshine.  On the way out I popped over to speak to the owner - Marion - to thank her for providing such a welcome stopover.  We had a good chat and she knows what campervan and motorhome owners want, so I wish her success and we'll definitely stop there again if passing.

Just a few minutes down the road is the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve (///shine.simulates.trim).  We pulled up in the small car park, alongside another motorhome and walked through the farm yard and long the tree-lined lane into the nature reserve. 90% of the Reserve is flooded by the high tide twice a day, providing food for nearly 140,000 wintering birds like pintail, shelduck and oystercatcher.  But spring is here now with lots of warm sunshine today. We walked along the well maintained boardwalks, through the reed beds and in to a bird-hide, overlooking the Solway Firth.  There was a profusion of skylarks and lapwings; we could also hear small birds in the reeds but don't know enough to identify them.   

It was then another short hop to this aire.  We walked through the most wonderful mixed deciduous forest, with an abundance of old oak trees and loads of new saplings.  The trees were moss covered and there was plenty of oxalis (wood sorrel) to chew on, with its distinct sharp lemony flavour.  The path meandered through the forest, occasionally popping out to provide lovely views over the Solway Firth.  We arrived at the 'old' Caerlaverock castle first.  There are just the foundations to see now, but there are information boards and markers on the ground to show the halls, courtyard and towers.  Further on was the younger and more substantial 'new' Caerlaverock Castle.  It's an unusual triangular shape with towers and is surrounded by a water moat.  First built in the 13th Century, it was later 'blinged-up' by the Maxwell family in the 17th Century.

After lunch we were planning to move on to another stop just 3 miles up the road, where we planned to spend the night.  Glencaple Pier  (///basically.soldiers.fuse) has parking for several vans, but is popular due to the excellent adjacent cafe and the pub across the road.  In addition, it has superb views over the River Nith, the estuary with the Lakeland Fells in the distance.  It was already very busy so we hightailed it back to Caerlaverock Castle Corner and bagged our old spot, just getting in as several more vans arrived behind us - phew!

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out, enjoying the warm sunshine, peace and quiet.  After dinner, as the sun was still shining, we walked back to the castle to wander around, with the lengthening shadows throwing a different light and the ravens and swallows enjoying their sole access to the ruins.

The tech updates to the van seem to be working out.  The Ecoflow River Max 2 is really making a difference in our ability to stay off-grid for longer.  At the moment I'm recharging it as we drive, but with only short hops, we may eventually need to find some electric hook up to fully boost it up.  Perhaps in the future I'll also invest in the solar panels.

Talking of Solar, the new NDS MPPT solar controller is doing its job.  The leisure battery remains topped up and we've no worries about running out of power. The old PWM controller was clearly bust as the battery never seemed to be full, even in the brightest sunshine.

Finally, the Netgear Nighthawk MR1100 LTE router is giving us much better mobile internet access.  The SMARTY SIM doesn't seem to be compatible, so I've replaced it with a Tesco Mobile one for now.  When we travel to France I plan to purchase a SIM from FREE, which will give us more data than we could ever use.  Alongside the new router, the Poynting Puck 2 aerial fitted to the van roof is definitely helping to boost the signal.  So fingers crossed, the tech upgrades are going to really make a difference in the future.

Caerlaverock Castle

Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve

Nature Reserve parking

Excellent service point

At least five different nationalities!

 

Wales to Scotland

Nido's parked up on an aire....yes an aire!  It's a basic one, but it's still somewhere we could just turn up, pay a small fee and stay overnight.  Thank you Dumfries and Galloway!  Thank you Scotland!  England and Wales could learn a lot from this.

We've been to Dumfries and Galloway before, back in 2018, when we stayed a few nights before heading north on our way to the Isle of Mull.  D&G tends to be somewhere most people drive straight past on the way to the Western Isles, but it has a quiet beauty all of its own, with a peaceful coast lined with small villages, to dark skies forest.  We have a week to explore, before dropping down to the Lake District to meet up with old and very dear friends.  A week will be plenty of time to get a good feel for the area, do plenty of walking and enjoy the nature and scenery.

The journey up from Anglesey is about 230 miles and should have taken about 5 hours.  However, I hadn't banked on the M56 being closed for the whole weekend, with all traffic being diverted off around Runcorn, before rejoining just near where we used to live.  This added over two hours to the journey and, for small island people like us, who are used to a much slower, quieter pace of life now, the amount of traffic and noise was overwhelming!  So we were glad to arrive at this very quiet and peaceful aire, about 3 miles outside the village of Annan.

The aire is called Barrasgate Farm (///propelled.shifting.point).  It's on the Search for Sites app, is supported by the Dumfries and Galloway Council and is also an accredited aire with Campaign for Real Aires (CAMPRA).  It's basic - just an area of hardstanding or an adjacent grassy field on a farm.  At the moment the only facility is a fresh water tap but it's a work in progress and the owner's keen to expand the facilities in time.  It costs £5 and you can just turn up or, as I did, email the owner to check if it was OK to stay; I received a very quick and helpful reply.

After a 7 hour journey the first thing was a hot cup of tea and stretch out the kinks in my lower back - I'm getting on now (60 this year!) and long drives are not as easy as they used to be.  Heavy rain started as we entered Scotland, but this soon moved east and was replaced by sunny skies, albeit with a cool breeze.  We decided to eat first, then headed out for a walk so that we and Salty could stretch out after the hours in the van.  The aire is about a 10 minute walk from the small village of Powfoot, which sits on the Solway Firth. The tide was out and we took a stroll along the foreshore before walking along the coast road, past a row of small, terraced white cottages, before reversing our route back to the van.  Everything is quiet here and as the sky darkens, we're all shattered and ready for an early night.

I've marked up a few places to stay on the Search for Sites app, which will take us on a slow amble west along the coast, before heading inland to explore some of the lochs, castles and forest that this area has to offer.  There might even be a pub stop thrown in at some point! 

Coldstream THS

 Saturday 17 July 2021

Nido's on a THS (Temporary Holiday Site) in Coldstream, right on the English/Scottish border.  The THS are part of the Camping and Caravanning Club and are run by local groups.  They're dotted all over the country and tend to be set up around the usual holiday times - Easter, Summer, Public Holidays.  The beauty of them is there's no need to book; just turn up and pay the nightly fee.  In this case it was only £8 per night, which includes access to fresh water and somewhere to dump waste.  Some of the THS meets organise events and meals, or you can just keep to yourself.

It was only about an hour's drive from last night's stopover, with a break to top up with food in Kelso on the way.  The THS was in the grounds of The Hirsel Estate Country Park, well off the main road and surrounded by trees, fields and streams.  Next to the THS were a few craft shops and a cafe.   I checked us in and the Stewards offered us space anywhere we liked in an adjacent field, which was already occupied with quite a few vans.  This was the last night for the THS; it was packing up tomorrow after a couple of weeks on this site, so I think quite a few vans had already left.  It was a very hot day, but with a strong breeze blowing.  I put the awning out and used the storm straps to peg it down.

We spent the day relaxing, walking around the grounds (well-marked routes), eating and enjoying an evening walk around the adjacent lake.  Tomorrow our plan was to head for the Northumberland coast to spend several days exploring the beaches.  

A nice pitch on the Temporary Holiday Site in Coldstream

A great view in Scotland

Friday 16 July 2021

Nido's parked up in the Upper Cheviot parking area just over the border in Scotland, with a fantastic view over the Cheviot hills.  This park up is one of many in a trial being run by Forestry and Lands Scotland.  They allow motorhomes and camper vans to park up overnight for one night only (no return within 24 hours).  Some of the parking areas charge but this one doesn't.  It's a great initiative so long as everyone follows the simple rules and details can be found on the Forestry and Lands website.

We left The Twice Brewed Inn yesterday and drove for about an hour to Kielder Water, the largest man-made lake in Europe.  On the way we stopped in Haltwhistle to do some food shopping in what must be the smallest Sainsburys in England! It was a beautiful, still, sunny day with clear blue skies.  The roads were extremely quiet and with the abundant greenery, trees and the blue lake, we could easily have been in France or Germany.  We parked up at the Tower Knowe visitor centre.  The first car park is by the toilets, shops and restaurant, but we took the left fork to the overflow car park, which only had one other van parked.  It's £5 for the day and the ticket is valid in all of the official car parks around the lake.  Cathy made a picnic and we followed the path along the lake, soon finding a route to the water side, where we sat on some stones to enjoy our food and allow Salty to cool off in the water.  Swimming is banned, which is a shame as it looked quite safe; if it was France there would be a dedicated 'beach' area for swimming, separated off from any water traffic.  We continued along the main path around the lake, before turning off down a side track to again reach the lake, passing some sad looking, abandoned chalets that I think were part of the Outdoor Education Centre.  The main path is also used by cyclists and sometimes runs alongside the road that follows the lake perimeter, so at times we lost complete sight of the lake, which was a shame.

We moved on to our overnight stop, which was a CL at Haining Head Farm, near Bellingham. It's a working farm and there were sheep, lots of birds (including noisy guinea fowl and pea hens!) and a few wild children living on the farm!  It had good views over the hills and some passing traffic on the road, which reduced into the evening.  There were two caravans on site and I think the owners were either shepherds or sheep shearers, as they had their working dogs with them and were away during the day, returning later in their work clothes.  We had a quiet evening and ate outside in the warm sunshine.

Tower Knowe Visitor Centre - overflow car park

Heading over the border into Scotland this morning, we first stopped at Hell's Hole, Wauchope Forest.  This is another of the free Forestry and Land stopovers.  We parked up in the shade and had a cup of tea, before taking Salty for a walk around the forest trail, which included a cooling swim in a stream for him.  A short distance away we turned off and drove up a steep and winding track to reach this current stopover.  The drive up was relatively easy for us in a 6m campervan, but anything too long might struggle with the hairpin bends.  But the views up here are amazing and its very quiet and peaceful.  When we parked up I could see a Forestry and Land van parked up and later the Warden came over to have a chat.  He was very helpful and welcoming, explaining all about the trial to allow motorhomes to park in their car parks and how the Scottish Government were encouraging such schemes.  He gently explained the simple rules (no fires, no litter etc), then wished us a pleasant stay.  This is an excellent scheme and we felt very welcome.  I hope the trial becomes a permanent feature and we can return to use many of the others around Scotland.

We had lunch on arrival here, so supper was 'tapa' of potatas bravas and sausage, with a San Miguel.  Well, when in Scotland....eat Spanish!  The views and peaceful quiet here are amazing and I highly recommend anyone to try them out and send them a positive review if you enjoyed it (QR code on their sign on each site).