End of an era.

Schiehallion (3553ft) in Perthshire

Towards the end of the Summer vacation period, I took advantage of the last few days and went off to Killin. Got there early enough to bag Schiehallion before the sun set, that late in the day had it almost to myself. This was going to be the last camp in this van as well, at least for us. The motorhome floor is dropping out, not going to go into a rant about who's fault that might be, they'll get no business from me if I can help it.
I had a cycle along Loch Tay, 16 miles and around 28 geocaches, this included one at the disused gold and copper mine used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Had wanted to visit this for years and it did not disappoint. I was very grateful for being able to get a bus back to the other end of the loch. Very knackered after that so had a couple of days just chillin as weather was good.

So have managed to sell the van on ebay, got a decent price for it I think, we are now looking for another camper. Have a couple of options and still thinking about which way to go with it. Will keep you apprised.

France, first time visit.

Honfleur.

We decided it was time we had a taste of foreign roads so had a trip to France. Planning started a good while before, not choosing the site or how to get there, but what was needed to take Felix (the cat) along.
First he needed chipping and his anti-rabbis shots, he needed a passport, then worming and tick skin drops just before travelling. Information is hazy on the government website for cats, clear enough for dogs. All in all it was trouble free, with all our and the cats info being held on computers the authorities know exactly who you are. The only interest in Felix was leaving France and that came from the border policewomen who were just interested in seeing and cooing over him.
I booked everything through the Caravan Club, a package of ferry tickets and campsite, some sites, this being one of them, don't take pets full stop, others no dogs of certain breeds. Before booking I fired off an email to the site explaining he never leaves the van, would it be OK to bring him, they said yes as long as he stayed indoors.
We set off on our adventure mid afternoon, picking Diane up from work and heading south, first stop Glenrothes, got there for teatime, just north of Edinburgh and handy for the motorways. Next day off to just south of Birmingham for an overnight stop before going to Portsmouth for the evening ferry. The idea was to take it nice and easy on the way down, could have been done speedier and next time we probably will, giving us more time over there, for our first time I was a little apprehensive. Got too Portsmouth so early we had a little detour into Southsea, being a very hot sunny summers day at the start of the English school hols the place was heaving. Had a good look round, did a few caches and had a curry, we were still queueing for the ferry four hour early, but still not the first there.

The overnight ferry was fine enough but we didn't get much in the way of sleep, getting into Le Havre about eight, it was only a 60 km or 40 minute drive to the campsite, one of the reasons for choosing that site, didn't know how I would take to driving on the wrong side of the road. Bit of a baptism of fire, as I had been told by a guy at the Birmingham site, its straight out of the port and into the city centre of Le Havre.
Got to the site at Le Brevedent early but this wasn't a problem to the fantastic manager or owner, anyway waiting for the pitch to become vacant, managed to get some sleep in the car park.



Van at Castel Camping du Brevedent.



When we woke up well after mid day the pitch was empty and about 30c, just wanting to settle in on our first day I sat out in the sun, in shorts and sandals, never had a real opportunity to do this combination of things in the four year of campervaning in the UK, one hour later my knees and feet were burnt. The site was great, the French really know how to do this family camping, it looked like a bit of a gypsy camp after the regimented Caravan or Camping & caravan Club site, with all the washing out drying on lines but hey ho !

Day two and not really into having a drive so we went for a walk. Not really walking county at least not the Normandy countryside, the coast maybe different, but the information area at the site reception had a map with walks around the quieter county lanes. So we set off for Blangy-le-Chateau, paths through woods and high hedged country lanes meant we were usually walking in the shade which was great given it was another hot sunny day. The village was very pretty, clean, marvellous how other countries can keep their environments clean of litter and fly tipping. Lots of allied national flags, saw them on large flagpoles in every town and village that I noticed, I guess in gratitude for kicking out the Nazis. Once the bar was open we had a drink, not used to this type of thing, usually driving, but it was great, probably should have made it two, don't know when I will get another opportunity, we then walked back to the site.



Di with some locals.



Day three and we headed off  to the coast, don't think a visit to this area would be complete without a trip to the invasion beaches. We went off towards Ouistreham the eastern end of Sword beach, it was also a place to get some fuel. A lesson learnt 3/4 of a tank cost just over £50 even with the bank charge for the foreign transaction, normally £75, I didn't realise this till I viewed my statement, for the future fill up over there. Ouistreham seemed a little ordinary so we made our way along the coast to Lion-su-mar, walked along the stray and got photographed with a tank. When we got back to the van it had a note from the police on it, apparently we had parked in an area reserved for buses, we had seen this but there was another motor home parked there so thought it was maybe ok. I think the note said there could be a fine of 40 euro for this, didn't seem to say were you might pay it so I ignored it, think it was just a friendly warning, anyway we will see at the border control.

Me with a Churchill tank



We travelled along the coast but it was all much of a muchness, decided to go off to Bayeux and if you go there you have to see the tapestry don't you. Another parking faux pas, think we parked in the museum staff car park, didn't notice till we got back they all had permits in the windows.
The viewing of the Tapestry was great, the interactive talk was very good and informative, we both enjoyed this medieval experience and can recommend it. Had a little geocaching walk around the city centre, always a good fall back if you dont have a real plan.
Off back to the campsite via the toll roads, very quick and comfortable and worth the 4 euros.

Last full day in France and decided on a whole day in Honfleur, sounded great from the Rough guide. Still a bit panicky driving in towns and this little place was very busy, desperate to find parking and seeing most had height restrictions, we saw a sign for Motorhomes. It wasn't just a car park as such you could stay for the night and even had electric hookup, 10 euro for 24 hours. I had heard of these places before, no frills but great for a night, in fact the only regret was we didn't stay for the night, could have had a night on the town and it seemed a great town to have a night on. This was another HOT day, laminated board said it had been 32 C but think it could have got up to 34 C.
Honfleur is a lovely small harbour town, it reminded me very much of Whitby but with a bit of je ne sais quoi. Wonderful how they keep there villages and town nice and clean abroad.
On the way back to the site we missed a turnoff somewhere along the way and went on a right satnav adventure, but got back for another lovely evening sat out.

We spent the morning on site making the most of the weather, then made our way slowly back to Le Harve. once again getting there early. Ferry back was a bit easier not going over night. Got a ferry pitch on a site just 20 mins out from Portsmouth, Caravan club staff still available just to guide you in, We will certainly be doing more of this, already making plans for next year, will spend more time over there, go further and learn some language.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know

Our 50th cache hide had to be a little special and as I am also getting bored with searching for urban caches, I wasnt about to make this one. In fact I don't think I will bother hiding anymore in urban situations, unless somewhere really interesting.
I was looking for some scrabbling experience as I had failed at getting to the top of Stac Polly and Sgurr nan Gilliean.

I found this in a book on walk and scrammbles in the Cairngorms, There wernt many as it was, for such a large area. The Stuic a rocky ridge on the Locknagar Massif, had been climbed way back by none other than Lord Byron. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know was a phrase used by Lady Caroline Lamb to describe Lord Byron and as a child, lived for a short time at a farm adjacent to the South Deeside Road just east of Ballater. He spent some of his early childhood in Aberdeen where he attended the grammer school. He is reputed to have climbed The Stuic with a clubfoot and the time growing up in the area feature in some of his poetry, in paricular the area of Lochnagar
I was a long walk in and not that exciting once I had left the ancient forsest, mostly moor and bog. I climbed it from loch nan Eun and got the most way up, them my way was barred, in hindsite I think I should have been further over too the right, but I made my way off to the side and up a scree gully for the final few fifty feet or so. I think I will probably have another go at it sometime, as I still need the scrambling practice and this isnt supposed to be that difficult.Looks like you can come off Lochnagar quite easily down to the Loch, then climb it, wants to be a good dry day as that granite is slippy when wet, unlike the gritty grabbo of Skye.

Altandhu and Skye, again.

Cul Mor from Stac Polly

The first two weeks of my summer break was spent on the Coigach peninsula and Skye, The Inverpoly area is stunning an area that warrants more exploration. I was staying at the Port A Bhaigh Campsite, Altandhu, the people who run the site also have the pub across the road and serves some fantastic food, its well onto the peninsula but well worth the drive. The site its self over looks the Summer Isles and is fairly basic but new and clean.
One of the climbs I wanted to do was Stac Pollaidh or Stac Polly for short a small hill with an intimidating looking top, It commands great views of the Inverpoly National Nature reserve, when you can get them, to that end I climbed it twice as the first time it had too much cloud on top.
The whole area is designated a Geopark due to is geology, I had a visit to the Inchnadamph Bone Caves, where bones, teeth and antler from a wide array of animals were found, such as the Northern Lynx, bones of arctic lemming, arctic fox, wolf and brown bear and it is thought a polar bear, as well as human. Once at the caves I managed to see a herd of deer and a Peregrine that was nesting above the caves.
The drive back to the campsite via Lochinver was not uneventful, with a storm over the area with thunder and lightening, so much so that it plunged a wide area into an electrical blackout, this proved a problem as I was in real need of fuel, in the end I had to chance the drive back to camp with the fuel light on, the was fuel close to Altandhu.
Then I moved on for a couple of nights at Poolewe, the the main reason to photograph and geocache at the foot of An Teallach, a great little walk and practise for my next visit and hopefully to tackle the mountain itself.
Skye and back to the Camping and caravan club site a great little site, I was going to go to the one at Glen Brittle for a couple of night but in the end just decided to stay here.
Early on I visited Portree and The Braes, It didn't look that great for being high on the hills, low cloud, so this kept me in the sun, did a few caches.
Finally got to walk on the Quiraing did a great circuit up around the top and returning through it, there is now a burger bar here, the noise of the genny kept with me for a good while, but people have to make a living.

The Fairy Pools.

Looking at the weather I decided that this was an ideal day for the type of images I was hoping to make around the fairy pools, in Glen Brittle. Went along to what I always thought were "The Fairy Pools", I had been before, stopping at a system of small falls and pools then decided to explore further up, it was then I discovered they weren't the actual "Pools", finding the real ones, a much more comprehensive and exciting system. 
On my last day on Skye I decided to have a go at a mountain called Sgurr nan Gilliean, I got up a little too late to really take this on, I worked out I was only about 300 meters from the top, when I gave up, but that was all scrambling and I haven't had a great deal of scrambling experience.  So for future reference, 1, need to get some scrambling done and 2. get up earlier when you plan a walk. I was so knackered the following day I set off home as I couldn't have got very far walking. And try to write this blog up at the end of each day.

God save the Queen

Beinn Eighe range

The queen gave us all a couple of days off for her jubilee, god bless her, so that and the weekend gave us a good four days out in Torrridon. Kinlochewe caravan club site is in a great situation with a number of walks straight out fro the site itself. Took a walk out through the Beinn Eighe National park and onto Meal a' Ghiutheas this challenging Corbett gives great views over the Beinn Eighe range and Ruadh-stac Beag, both of which I hope to climb in the future. This area has claimed me and I will be back for more.

The following day we walked up Abhainn Thraill for a geocache, not a great many in the area that I hadn't found.

The van itself performed well on this trip, the new engine gave me no problem. I had bought a couple of walkie talkies and this was the first real test, we were talking across 

3 1/4 miles  very well, it was quite fun.

Anyway a few more weeks of work then off for seven weeks with the prospect of our first continental van trip.

 Felix enjoying the jubilee.

Waiting for summer

Glen Clova from Driesh.

Employer policy is to do away with bank holidays and add an extra week at summer, so no long weekend get a ways, Carlotta is only off every other weekend. The long weekends were great taking us from the Easter into the summer, breaking things up nicely. Weather has been poor,except for the unusual warm spell we had before Easter we still get the odd snow flurry. 
We planned to have a weekend in Braemar, but when we picked the camper up for the trip I noticed diesel pouring out of somewhere, so cancelled that trip, but just as I was to take the van to a garage, I had a look in the engine bay, spotted a pipe had split, a quick fix and we were back on. I was hoping to bag a few Munro's but the late getaway put paid to this, however had a nice but short weekend.

 Managed a 12 mile walk over the Munro, Driesh, failed to find the geocache at the top and one other, more to do with apathy and tiredness than DNF, but its was a great walk in GlenProsen.

Huts at Hopeman

Went to Hopeman for the weekend and had a couple of walks along the Moray coastal path. We have been looking for a replacement campsite for the one at Cullen who have done away with tourers in favor of statics, this could be it, views of the sea from a platform they put us up on.

Easter 2012

 Angel of the North

What a difference a week made. We were geocaching in shorts, 20 degrees C it was last weekend and now confined to the motor home due to snow. Well it wasn’t that bad in North Berwick, we seemed to have avoided the thick laying snow that they had in Aberdeenshire, but it was blowing a gale and not very nice at all.

We put off the big geocaching trail and did a few in North Berwick itself and I climbed the Law for a couple, hoping the following day would be better, it wasn’t.

The Caravan club site at Yellowcraig was pretty poor for a CC site, cramped, no internet and masses of kids flying about on bikes and scooters. The coast was very nice and inspired some photography.

Then off to Teesside, tried to call off at Craster, a coastal village famous for its kippers but our way was barred by a low bridge, too low for the motorhome. To make up for this disappointment we paid a visit to the Angel of the North.

Had a few days with the kids, took them for a day out to Whitburn, did some geocaches by the National trust, good quality Took a walk on the moors, with snow still lying around,  nothing to taxing as I was full of cold.

Off back up to Aberdeen with a call off at The Trossachs, a Camping in the Forest site near Aberfoyle, very wooded site as the name hints at, lots of birds chirping which was great, opportunity for fishing, maybe next time, definitely worth another visit and only four hours away.