scenery – Shardlows Highs

New Zealand Trip 2023/4 Part 5 Christchurch

the city is recovering from the devastating earthquakes

Continuing on from our trip round Banks Peninsula, we checked into our motel not far from Christchurch centre, then wandered down into town for a quick look around. The weather was still very warm, so when the motel offered us a choice of free breakfast or air-con, guess which we opted for.

On Sunday we walked into the city, and came across the first of the Elmer Elephants on the trail, for which I’ve done a separate blog.

We were interested to see how the city is recovering from the devastating earthquakes, and were pleased to see it looking bright and stunning.

There are lots of murals around the city, which of course I had to snap.

The central shopping areas are pedestrians and trams only, which made for a nice wander.

We stopped for lunch in what, at first, we thought was a small cafe, but turned out to be a large food market, The Riverside Market, serving any nationality food you could wish for. As it was still hot and sunny, we enjoyed our food sat outside.

Then we took a visit to the Quake City Museum, which has great interactive exhibits showing how the earthquake happened, and what progress has been made to recover.

Many building are either repaired, or shored up awaiting repair. The first image is the Cathedral.

There are also stunning new builds around.

One new build I particularly wanted to visit was the Cardboard Cathedral.

This building was originally planned as a transitional structure while the old cathedral is rebuilt.

However, planning etc has meant that it was eventually made a more permanent structure that will be given to St Johns Parish, who donated the land, when it is no longer required.

Its construction is based on huge cardboard tubes.

Hot and tired, we decided to visit the gondola next.

On our way back to the motel we came across the incredible Margaret Mahy Playground, built on land left derelict by the earthquake. On a glorious Sunday, it was full of very happy children enjoying the huge complex of climbs, slides, fountains etc. The playground cost over $40m but is certainly one of the best features of the city.

That afternoon we drove over to the Christchurch Gondola.

The cable car travels 1,000m up Mount Cavendish and offers panoramic views of the city and Banks Peninsula.

There was a refreshing breeze up at the top, and we enjoyed an ice cream.

That evening we drove around the surrounding area looking for more elephants. This took us to places we would not have ventured to otherwise.

We came across this sculpture, which we decided were of Higgs and Fern, the Swedish Valhunds, waiting at a tram stop.

After another hot night, and with our flight later that afternoon, we opted to visit Orana Wildlife Park on our last day.

It is situated on the outskirts of Christchurch, and is an open-range zoo.

It has a very different feel to most zoos we have visited, with wide open, roughly landscaped areas to stroll through.

We had a friendly Fantail dance around us for a while.

And more animals

Sadly, that took us to time to return our hire car and catch our flights home.

We were very sad to leave this incredible country again, and hope it wont be too long before we can return. From 30degree sunshine, we returned to -1 degree UK.

I hope you have enjoyed our journey.

New Zealand Trip 2023/4 Part 4 Banks Peninsula

Just sit down and enjoy a cup of tea in the sunshine

After a brief break while my laptop was repaired, I’m back with part 4. On a foggy frosty morning in the UK, this seems so far away and so long ago.

I left you in Timaru in Part 3. On Saturday we drove up to the Banks Peninsula, created from 2 volcanos. Our first stop was at the White Rabbit café, that I remembered from our previous visit. we had some mouth watering cake and a drink and then set onwards to Akaroa, a harbour created by the volcano.

Our first stop was at a marvellous place on the edge of town that we only found through tourist guides. It is a private house and gardens called The Giants House, ‘the happiest garden on earth’.

WOW, what a place.

Climbing up a steep drive, your first glimpse of the wonders inside are mosaic sculptures at the entrance.

These continue into every corner of this incredible garden, nestled into the hillside.

I’ll just put the photos up, as words cannot fully express the glory.

I am very jealous of the wonderful black Aeoniums.

a grand piano, covered in bright mosaics, set in a lawn

Everywhere you look, there are more crazy figures, or steps, or pools, all covered in a spectrum of mosaics.

Lots more…

Assorted creatures rising out of the foliage.

You could never be lonely here.

Tempted to break a few plates yet?

Ian had trouble dragging me out of here, but as it was very hot and sunny, we needed to cool down and get refreshments.

If you are ever in the vicinity, go and visit.

We got an ice cream and browsed around Akaroa, a pleasant sea side town, for a while.

Some shade from the sun at last.

A very English Cottage garden so far from home.

As I think the crazy garden has probably wowed you enough, I’ll leave Christchurch for my last post.

New Zealand Trip 2023/4 Part 2 South Island

A few stops to capture great views

After a week on the North island with Andy and Kelsey, we ferried across to Picton, which is a small town whose main purpose is to provide an overnight stay to ferry passengers.

I can recommend the Green-lipped mussels.

We picked up our hire car the next morning, had a quick look round the shops, then stocked up with supplies for breakfasts in Blenheim.

A quick pit stop in St Arnauld for some lunch, we spotted this huge sculpture. Andy had warned us of the mosqitoes along the west coast, and the tiny garage come cafe come general store had 3 whole shelves devoted to insect repelents, so we headed the warnings and sprayed up.

A few stops to capture great views which abound in New Zealand, then on to Punikaiki.

We stayed in The Treehouse, set right in the rainforest.

view out of patio doors onto balcony surrounded by rain forest ferns and trees

Our balcony, overlapped with tree ferns and palms.

A short walk through the forest brought us to a delightful beach.

The only downside to this beach was that it was entirely tiny little gritty pebbles, so a pain to walk on.

Monday we drove the short distance to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.

walk through a forest of Phormium plants

A 10 minute walk through these Phormiums took us to the views.

The tide was not high enough for the blowholes, but the wonderful rock formations , created by a process called stylobedding, were magical. The walkway took us round the headland and over rock bridges with the waves crashing below.

Back on the main road we stopped in the cafe, and I succumbed to buying a gorgeous outdoor Scribbler coat.

The coffee shop had a tame Weka quietly plodding between the tables.

After a leg stretch and lunch in Greymouth we continued on to Hokitika, where Kelsey had recommended the pie shop. When we got there the shelf was almost empty, but another batch was just about to come out of the ovens, so we purchased 2 for dinner to check their quality. I can confirm that they are delicious.

Hokitika beach is scattered with bleached driftwood, and there is always a sign spelt out of the wood, but I think its time this had a refresh.

Next we stayed in the Rainforest Motel in Fox Glacier. The town is very small, just a couple of bars and some sports wear shops, plus helicopter rental offices galore, and due to the glacier melting, it is a long walk up to view it these days. However there is a delightful path through the rain forest just on the edge of town, that also has glow-worms if you visit in the dark.

As we did not intend on climbing up to see the glacier, we did the next best thing. By driving 10km away from the glacier, you reach a viewpoint.

The road continues down the coast with routes around river estuaries. If you’ve never travelled NZ roads before, they are a delight. Hardly any traffic, speed signs to tell you how fast you can take the bends, and passing places every few km.

We called in Haast for lunch before starting the journey inland to Lake Hawea, stopping to view waterfalls en-route.

As we arrived early we carried along to Wanaka, and visited Puzzling World, where we last called 19 years before. There are crazy rooms that distort perspectives, and make you doubt your eyes, plus a 3D maze that is almost impossible (we cheated after 45 minutes and escaped).

Looks easy, doesn’t it?

A short visit to town and then back to our hotel, which I chose because it has great views across the Lake.

Sadly, we were disappointed by the hotel. The chair on the balcony collapsed when I sat on it, the replacement chairs they brought us were covered in black soot, and then we found out that the hotel did not serve breakfast in the restaurant, and there were no facilities in the room to make our own.

Definitely not worth the extra money this hotel cost. Luckily the evening meal was good, and they gave us a free drink.

Our next drive took us across to the east coast, stopping in Clyde to capture the wonderful Karearea recycled-metal sculpture.

I will continue the trip at Dunedin, I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing this trip so far.

New Zealand Trip 2023/4 Part 1

Lunch had to be fish and chips

Just after Christmas 2023, we ventured across the planet to New Zealand to visit family.

The trip didn’t start too well as fog at Dubai airport delayed our arrival, and departure so that when we arrived in Melbourne there was no chance of catching our connecting flight to Wellington.

We were then told we were going via Queenstown, so quickly got into the long queue for security, and managed to catch the flight.

At Queenstown we were told conflicting versions of what we should do. Eventually we were instructed to complete the baggage security/lost baggage forms, even though our cases would hopefully go direct to Wellington at some point.

There were long queue for all of the gates, and no staff helping catch the next flight, but luckily it was delayed and we got on.

We arrived 4 hours late and baggage control was then shut, so we had no cases.

Our first stay was at my son and daughter-in-law’s for a few days to get over jet lag.

The following day we had to buy a few items as the cases were still ‘lost’.

On New Year’s eve we were told the bags would arrive in the evening, so we cancelled plans for a meal out, and ordered a take-away instead.

They turned up at 20:00, so I got to wear my sparkly top for the evening, playing games and seeing the New Year in.

The next day we visited Paraparaumu Beach on the west coast, for a sunny walk along the beach with their dogs in tow.

View looking across to Kapiti Island.

Of course, after a morning on the beach, lunch had to be fish and chips.

On Tuesday, after a lazy morning we set off to a cottage in Martinborough, a favourite village of ours from previous trips.

We dropped the 2 dogs off at a boarders, and drove over the steep and twisty Highway 2, and once we had settled in, we walked into town to the Brewery for beers and ciders all round.

After a gentle stroll back to the cottage, Ian agreed to cook dinner, while more beer and wine was consumed.

However, this relaxation was quickly put to a stop when the dog boarder rang to say the pups had escaped, and one of them was still loose.

With not long until it became dark, and knowing the boarder was set in bush not too far off the main highway, panic set in.

Luckily I had only had one cider, so leaving Ian to deal with dinner, I drove my son’s car back over the hills, and we spent an hour calling for her, until, at last, the other dog’s barking finally found her.

After a discussion on what to do next, it was decided the dogs should come with us, and they lent us a large crate, as the cottage was dog friendly, but not on furniture.

We finally ate dinner at 21:00, and started to relax again.

Wednesday morning Andy and Kelsey took the pups for a long walk, then, as it was so hot, we left the older dog in the cottage, and set off to Poppies for wine tasting and lunch.

A delicious charcuterie board at Poppies

Doesn’t that make your mouth water?

Our whole family are huge fans of Poppies wine, and we were not disappointed. Several bottles were purchased to take home.

Obviously, one vineyard was not enough, so we moseyed on to Moy Hall, and then to Colombo, where the smell of Pizzas cooking tempted us.

A gentle walk back to the cottage and played some board games.

To make a change, the next day we drove to Matthews and Boggy Pond Reserve. a wonderful, almost dystopian landscape, with lots of wildlife.

Jellyfish clouds against a bright blue sky

Wonderful Jellyfish Clouds

Dragonfly

Family of black swans

A goldfinch

The dystopian landscape of the Boggy Pond reserve

After lunch we wandered into Martinborough to browse the shops, but sadly, the price tags were mostly beyond our range, so a cold milkshake was about all we bought.

Our evening meal was at Karahui in the centre of town, in an old Bank.

A delicious meal, highly recommend visiting here.

Friday saw us return to Andy and Kelsey’s, where we helped them with some gardening, and played more games, and drank more beer and cider and wine.

Saturday morning, we had lunch at Janus Bakkej in Lower Hutt, then went to catch the ferry to the South Island, saying our goodbyes until we meet again.

The weather was still warm and calm, so a very pleasant trip over to Picton, which is where I shall end this part of the trip. Look out for part 2.

Credit to Kelsey for some of the photos.

Beach Hut Addiction

I could have spent all day taking photos!

I have not written any blogs for a long while as we moved house, and I’ve just not found the time, but our recent trip to Mersea, a small island on the south Essex coast, deserved a blog, so I’m back.

With moving house, most of the trips Connie the van made this year were to carry large purchases, like sheds, green houses and wardrobes. The bulk of her trips were to Ikea, so having got most of the big jobs out of the way, and with a new grandson to visit, we needed a holiday.

We wanted to combine a final campervan trip of the year with a visit to my son and family. A browse of available sites found Waldergraves on West Mersea, somewhere neither of us had previously visited.

The forecasts had been dire the previous week, but improved day by day, and in the end we had lovely weather for mid October.

Mersea has a causeway that floods at high tides, and the day we arrived was such a tide, but we got there shortly after the sea had subsided, and settled in for a G&T before checking out the beach.

It was only a short walk from our plot on the edge of the large site to the beach.

The sun was dropping as we walked towards the town of West Mersea.

If you google West Mersea you will find lots of photos of the beach huts, and they didn’t disappoint. There are around 400, and a large section are identical huts painted in soft pastel shades.

The beach has very large tidal ranges, so can be very narrow, or stretch away into the distance.

While the background was not the most scenic, with a disused Nuclear power station, and many wind turbines, the sun on the water, and the groynes and seabirds was very pleasant.

The following day we ventured further along the beach, which the Puligans enjoyed.

As we approached the town, the huts became random, many different styles and paint palets.

I could have spent all day taking photos!

A few yachts were enjoying the fine weather

As we rounded the end of the island, there were many houseboats, all appearing stranded but on closer inspection each had a channel in the shore.

A boardwalk took us into the small town, and then a slow walk back to camp.

As it was Ians birthday we later walked to a local pub with the dogs for a mid week roast.

On Thursday the weather was forecast to be rainy, so we only took a short walk then, finding the weather was actually very warm and sunny, spent the rest of the day sitting in the sun and reading and relaxing.

On Friday we decided to walk the other direction towards East Mersea, but the coastal path has eroded making it unpassable. So we took the diversion inland and found ourselves at a vinyard, which we had to visit for morning cake and drink.

Our route then took us past the back of the site and onto a neighbouring campsite, where we dined on fish and chips, our holiday tradition.

It was then time to continue on to Dartford, but we will probably return as we thoroughly enjoyed our autumn break here.

I must now catch up on my missed blogs.

Costa Rica 2011 Part 2

After a tranquil nights sleep, we were woken by the sounds of the jungle, and some cheeky white faced Capuchin monkeys crawling around the site.

Any food we took into our cabin had to be shut away in the lockable cupboard, as these monkeys happily climb in and raid the cabins.

Todays activity was a Nature walk, and boy, did we see nature!

The scarlet macaws are very noisy, but you wouldn’t believe how well they hide in trees.

After all that adventure, Ian decided to try the sloth way of life

And another sunset to end day 2 here

Day 3 activity was snorkeling on the reef, one of my favourite activities, but Ian is not a great swimmer, so was not as excited.

Off we set in a small boat to the island of Cano would could see from camp.

En-route, our guide spotted a sea snake swimming along – these are deadly, and can jump from the water, so after a quick look we moved on

A few other boats were visiting the reef, but it was very organised, and I was soon enjoying the sea life

Eventually I had to end this adventure and head back to the lodge.

This was our last night here, but we ended with a night nature walk – no photos, as it really was dark, but very interesting – we saw a tarantula hiding in a log, and narrowly avoided a venomous Fer-de-lance snake resting in a branch we crept under.

We left Corcavado Lodge by boat again, and picked up our van for the rest of the trip, plus the remainder of our luggage, as the small plane couldn’t take it all, they had arranged for some bags to be left behind.

First stop was at Canta De Ballenas Hotel, in Bahia, a short distance from the Marina Bellina National park.

I don’t seem to have many photos of this park – I think I might have forgotten to take the camera. The park is shaped like a whales tail, jutting out into the ocean.

On Friday we moved on again, this time to Manuel Antonio National Park.

This park has a split personallity – it has stupendous wildlife all through it, but it also hosts some of the worlds best beaches. In order to maintain the park, there is a limit on the number of people in the park at any time. Despite this, I felt some resentment to people there just to sunbathe, with no interest in the scenery or wildlife.

As soon as we walked into the park, we saw sloths, weird insects, tree frogs and spiders.

However, when we took a rest on the beach, the raccoons soon appeared, and more monkeys, all very cheeky and unafraid of the people.

You can see why the beach is so popular – Ian even had a swim – this is almost unheard of, but the water was bath temperature.

One animal we hoped to see in the park was the squirrel monkey, but none appeared. But at breakfast at our hotel Manuel Antonio the next morning, this pair turned up, sat on the kitchen roof, so we didn’t leave disappointed.

Costa Rica 2011 Part 1

This is a throwback special. A friend has said they have booked flights to Costa Rica, and wanted to know if I had blogged my trip. This was before my blogging days, so lets do one now!

The trip was Ian and my main honeymoon, we got married the year before, but wanted to miss the rainy season, so chose February 2011 for our trip.

We had no idea where we wanted to go, and I didn’t know where Costa Rica was exactly, but this trip stood out in the travel brochures. It was also an activity trip, whereas we wanted to see the wildlife, but it turned out the best option.

Our holiday began with flights into San José, the capital, and an overnight stay at the Rosa Del Paseo Hotel on the main road through the city. It is a quaint Victorian building, within easy walking of the centre, and here we met the rest of our party and our tour guide.

The second day began with a flight from San José out to Palma Sur airport in a tiny plane, where they had to weigh us as well as our luggage, and they decided that our bags had to follow on the next plane out.

The flight was not going high, so was not pressurized – this meant it could have huge windows, giving us a great view of the scenery as we travelled.

Soon we reached a Palma Sur airport, and transferred to a coach, and then travelled down to the river Sierpe, where we were loaded onto a barge like boat, and set off towards the sea.

However, we had noticed that this boat had rather impressive outboard engines, and once out of the town, the gentle trip turned into a white water ride! Wheee.

After an hour we reached the sea, and then went down the coast to reach our next stay – the Danta Corcavoda Eco Lodge, on the Pacific Coast of the Corcadavo National Park.

CIMG1990 — First sight of the lodges at Corcavado Lodge

There are few roads in the park, so boat is the best way to arrive, even if this meant paddling ashore from the dingy to the beach.

We carried our bags up the hill to find our lodge, a wooden building with mesh windows, and a balcony facing the ocean.

The view from our balcony.

We still had some daylight left so wandered down to the exquisite beach.

The beach was covered in tiny hermit crabs, making it appear as if the sand was alive.

Back to the lodges for dinner, and then time to relax on our balcony. My one ‘must see’ on this trip were Macaws, and on our first evening we saw several fly across the jungle between us and the sea – Wow.

Sunset across this peaceful corner of our planet – bliss.

USA Part 2, Vermont, New Hampshire

Following our hectic few days in New York, USA Trip Part 1, on Friday we picked up our hire car and set off for New England, while Pete and Jess picked up another and set off for Rhode Island to start their trip. We planned this part of the trip with the help of our trust Lonely Planet guide, and using Google maps to plot the track and work out mileage and time for each journey.

It didn’t take us long to reach the forests in their wonderful Autumn colours,

and we enjoyed a few hours travelling through the incredible scenery along Route 100 until we reached our Airbnb in Wilmington, VT.

The apartment is above Ratu’s Liquor Store, a wonderful store with every kind of liquor. Part of the rental was a free growler, which Kirsty grabbed as they had an alcohol free beer, but Jason acquired some cans too, and we bought more still. Well, its a long trip..

The apartment backs onto the Deerfield River, with lovely views.

The back yard

view up the river

the deck

from the deck doors

As it was still early afternoon, we wandered into Wilmington for a nosey, and loved the town.

It is full of quirky little shops and eateries, and pretty buildings and river views.

Ian found himself the second hand bookshop, which extended out into a yurt, full of books, cd’s, even 8 track tapes, while I found the Norton House Quilting Store and the 1836 Country Store, both full of gorgeous stuff begging me to buy them.

We dined in Jezebel’s Eatery, a lovely cosy restaurant, where we enjoyed some Mac’n’cheese, before retiring to test the beers.

The steps down from our apartment, with autumn leaves

Saturday morning, we first stopped at the aptly named ‘100 Mile View’, where a walkway along the side of the Hogsback Mountain provides distant views, looking their best at this time of year.

As you can see, the weather was endless blue skies all day.

and a wonderful gift shop full of maple syrup, moose souvenirs, and anything else you should want to remember your trip here.

Still full from last nights dinner, we bought picnic supplies and set off up route 100 on the look out for a lunch stop.

And found the best! The end of Lake Penelope, a picture postcard place to stop.

Next we called in at Killerton for supplies, and the gentleman in the Visitor Centre told us to take the road opposite for a couple of miles, where we would see snow and fall colours together. We stopped at Mad Hatter’s ice cream cabin, where we found great photo opportunities, and saw the snow at the top of the ski resort in the distance.

mmm ice cream

Cheshire Cat

Snow on the mountain

After many more beautiful miles, and interesting buildings

we arrived in New Hampshire, and reached our next destination, Bethlehem.

Our Airbnb here was a little out of town (or we were feeling lazy) so we drove into town looking for somewhere to eat, but it seems the whole of Bethlehem eats out at 18:00 on a Saturday, so we gave up and bought dinner from the supermarket.

It was only later we realised the irony of this, there was no room in the inn for my pregnant daughter, in Bethlehem! Only that story didn’t end with frozen pizza, beer and TV.

Sunday we set off for Surry, stopping at Walmart, Jason wanted to see if they had a gun store, just out of curiosity. They didn’t, so we just stocked up on food.

Miles and miles of scenery passed by.

The cog railway for Mt Washington.

Then we called in at Belfast, a coastal town with some nice shops, for a leg stretch.

We found a great children’s shop where we bought baby stuff and a 2000 piece jigsaw just made for me!

We eventually reached our cabin, set right on the shore of Toddy Pond.

We had bought marshmallows, with the plan of lighting the fire pit, but by then it was getting cold and dreary, so instead we got the fire inside going, and cosied up in the blankets for a relaxing evening.

With showers forecast, we drove into Bar Harbor, a pretty harbour town, but now overrun with souvenir shops selling Bar Harbor t-shirts and hoodies.

I finally got my lobster roll!

The weather was drizzly so we decided to drive around Arcadia Park, rather than go for a walk, and then went back to the cabin for cards, food and TV.

Next morning was still and bright, after heavy rain all night, so more photos of this gorgeous spot. I thought I spotted a Loon, but it might have been a cormorant instead, but we did see chipmunks.

Chipmunk

Our cabin

I will leave you as we set off down the Maine Coast to Portland, back soon..

Scotland NC500 and more, Week 2

We went into Dunbar the next morning, and I love the place

I trust you have read the first part of this blog Scotland NC500 and more, week 1, and you pick up our trip as we leave Inverewe gardens.

Our Saturday night was spent at Ullapool. where the site is right next to the town, on the shoreline. There is a walk down to the shore where the Puils had a great time running through the dunes.

The views from the site are spectacular, especially under the clear blue skies.

We ate fish and chips on the shore in the sunshine.

Ullapool Broomfield Camp site

Loch Broom

The road from here goes inland, and is more moors, but when you reach Loch Assynt you find Ardvreck Castle.

Can there be a more typical ruin? And with a waterfall across the road for added interest.

The coast road then follows a B road around the next part, and rejoins the A road near Unapool. For the past few days we had been kept company by drivers following the ‘Knights of the Islands 2019’ road trip, with their vehicles all over 20 years old.

We met some on various site and view points.

Finally we reached the North Coast, and stayed at Sango Sands, again, right on the coast, with a walk down to the beach.

This had to be my favourite beach, with wild waves crashing on looming rock, and 2 crazy beasts dashing around like loons.

No wonder the van is full of sand! But I declared this our Happy Place and would happily have stayed all day/week.

After a morning bacon buttie, and another visit to the beach, we took the short trip to a nearby beach where enterprising souls had set up a Zip wire across the bay.

We had to have a go!

A girl zipping across before us

The landing site

It was a peaceful glide, enjoying the views across the bay.

Adrenaline fix over, we continued along the top of Scotland, with wilder scenery but still many great beaches.

Our site for the night was Thurso, but as we had made good time, we headed first for John O’Groats, a tacky touristy place with a quaint harbour, for ice cream, and Signpost selfies.

Then we continued to the real top of Scotland, to Duncansby head, with its lighthouse, and true end of the country feel.

There were many people looking out for Dolphins and whales, but we didn’t see any. However, 2 Orca were spotted from the ferry here the very next day.

Thurso Bay site was yet another shore site, this time with steep cliffs down to the beach, and a short walk into town. We also found that the nearby Lidl was open on a Sunday evening, so restocked our cupboards.

From here, everything goes downhill, or South anyway.

The coastline down the east of Scotland Highlands is more about the fishing industry, with Herring harbours and fish farms.

One delight was Dunrobin Castle, this one is not a ruin, but a fairytale castle.

The road crosses some spectacular bridges, and the scenery changes constantly. However, drizzle was starting to arrive after a quick visit to Inverness.

Our next 2 nights were in Glenmore near Aviemore. I was expecting a small quiet site in the Forest, as this is run by Camping in the Forest, a joint venture between Forestry Commision and the Camping and Caravanning Club, but this was the largest site we visited,and we were close to a shop and bar. It was also raining, and our pitch was a puddle. The site was quiet and the staff very friendly and helpful.

To cheer us up, we spotted a red squirrel a few feet from the van, but he scuttered off before I could grab my camera.

Determined not to let this weather stop us, we cooked a hearty meal onboard Connie, and the next morning the rain stopped for long enough for us to walk around the Loch, and after lunch at the non-dog friendly visitor centre, we walked up to the green loch, An Lochan Uaine, despite the shower that turned into rain.

A quick visit into Aviemore before we set off, and the weather brightened as we headed south.

We crossed the new Forth bridge, but panels along the bridge prevented any reasonable photos.

In bright warm sunlight we reached Dunbar. The site is high on hills past the town, with great views across. We quickly emptied the wet awning and dogs beds, towels etc. out onto the bank and with a stiff breeze, soon had everything dry again, while a skylark sang away just above our heads.

The site has its own small castle

and a walk from the back of the site takes you to the lighthouse.

As the site was not in town, we went into Dunbar the next morning, and I love the place.

It has a great little castle, very cleverly upgraded with information and gardens, and a small amphitheater where they hold concerts, a working harbour, and other interesting shops and buildings.

Next stop was St Abbs, with the intention of another lighthouse visit, but we decided against the walk round, and just visited the harbour and shops instead.

2 Puli waiting for us outside the visitor centre

Lunch at the cafe near the car park, and off on the road again.

We followed the coast road down past the wonderful Northumberland castle of Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh and Alnwick, and views across to the Farne Islands and Holy island. A leg stretch and run on Seahouses beach refreshed us all.

view across to the farne Islands

Our last night was at a small working farm site in Gibside, Rowlands Gill, with views across the green farmland, and horses and sheep in the nearby fields.

From there it was a walk on Seaham beach, where I had stiff competition for my sea glass collecting, but still managed a few very pretty items. Ian said most people on the beach had their heads down.

Further research says this is one of the worlds best sea glass beaches, as a glass factory used to sit at the top of the cliff and multicoloured waste scraps were thrown away into the sea. I didn’t find any of these wonderful, prices, but I will return to this beach whenever I can.

And then through the Yorkshire moors and home. Two happy sunwashed humans and 2 sandy happy tired Pulik, with loads of great memories and many photos.

One thing I failed to mention is that at almost every site and pit stop we heard cuckoos calling, and skylarks were everywhere.

But we must start planning our next trip with Connie already, once we have removed the sand from inside Connie and the dead flies from the windscreen.

Scotland NC500 and more, week 1

We found one of the most incredible beaches, almost deserted

With the weather forecast for Scotland looking warm and sunny, yes, that’s right, we decided to make our desired trip to Scotland in May, when the midges are not yet in their thousands.

So we sat down and planned a route, as since the North Coast Road has been turned into a must-do drive, the campsites can be busy.

After spending our first night at Lytham St Annes for a family visit, our next site was Hoddom castle a beautiful site near Lockerbie, set in the grounds of the castle, and with facilities inside the castle. It was special to take a shower inside a castle.

doorway at Repentance Tower

View from tower looking down at castle and site

the tower

the castle

pods

hobbit pods

bridge over the river

where the Salmon go

woodland walk

under the castle arch

view from the field behind

the river

There are also lovely walks around, including up to Repentance Tower, and along the river. They also have cute pods if you don’t have your own accommodation.

After a lovely quiet night and a morning walk along the river we set off north, stopping briefly at Lochmaben Castle, very much a ruin, and most of it closed off due to crumbling masonry.

Lochmaben Castle

Rita getting delusions of grandeur

This part of the journey took us past Glasgow on mainly motorways, but there were still lovely sights to see.

Our next night was spent near Oban at a site set within a walled garden. You can walk down to the loch shore, but there is a Fish farm factory alongside. However from the back of the site there is the delightful balcadine walk through the woods, with fascinating iron railing down steps to an enchanting chasm.

Wrought iron gate looking through walls to site

Rita posing

sun dropping through the trees

the chasm pool

ooh, that looks a bit scarey

The shore near the site

tree growing in fence post

From here we stopped in Fort William, a fairly drab town, for some supplies, then detoured a little off our track to visit Fort Augustus and the bottom of Loch Ness.

While the town is small and mainly filled with tourists, it is charming and the locks on the canal are worth a walk up, and then walk down to Loch Ness. Of course, everywhere we go Reggie and Rita create a stir.

We set off on the A87, enjoying the mountains and lochs, and crossed the bridge to the Isle of Skye. However, we didn’t find Skye as enchanting or picturesque as other places, and our site, though lochside, was a bit bleak, but did provide a colourful sunset and a bright start to Thursday .

Our next stop was Applecross, the the faithful among you will travel the famous Bealach na Ba road, with hairpin bends and steep hills, but we decided Connie was a bit big for the road, so we took the alternate road up to Sheildaig.

En route we stopped by a loch for lunch, and I walked down with the Puli to the lochside, started taking photos, when 3 deer appeared and calmly walked towards us.

The road from here becomes single lane, but with plenty of passing places. The road is popular with not only campervans, but motorcyclists and flash cars, but was not too busy to enjoy the drive.

Shortly before arriving in Applecross, as we were early, we stopped at a small car park, and found one of the most incredible beaches, almost deserted, with a vast stretch of clean soft sand.

The pulis has a wonderful time, and we even caught a glimpse of a seal in the bay.

the perfect beach for hide and seek

Rita came for a paddle

shaking off after a paddle

The site at Applecross had been in a list of top 10 site on NC500, but as they were building a new shower block, the existing facilities were very poor, with insufficient showers, and the field we were on did not have much view. Hopefully this will improve later this year.

For dinner we walked down into Applecross and had a delicious meal at The Junction, where they allowed the dogs upstairs, and there was a great view across the shore to Skye.

As we had 2 nights here, on Friday we took the walk to Applecross walled garden and beyond, a lovely walk with forest, rivers, hills, and the sweet gardens where we also stopped for lunch and both had Haggis and Cheese melts – mmm.

Applecross house

Deer

Muckle Coo!!!!

On our way there we met 10 red deer, just standing by the public footpath that goes along the roadside. They didn’t care about Reggie barking at them, and just stood grazing and watching us pass within a few metres of them.

Showing how close people were passing the deer

On Saturday, after revisiting the wonderful beach just up the road to gather more sand into the van, we swapped driver and set off towards Ullapool, passing many pretty fishing towns and lochs.

One pit-stop was to Inverewe Gardens, a lovely sub tropical garden, kept warm by the Gulf Stream. The azaleas were in bloom, and the lovely handkerchief tree.

Wrought iron gateway

Walk along the terraces

Inverewe house

Handkerchief tree

Candelabra primulas

Azaleas

Office with a view to die for

Luckily, the weather had stayed warm and sunny, reaching 22 degrees some days, and not too many midges had found us.

Stay tuned for week 2, as we head further North and around the top of Scotland.