Category: VanLife

We have spent three weeks in the Cotswolds, its a very beautiful area of the country and somewhere we wanted to spend sometime. Unfortunately the weather has been atrocious for most of our time here. Our campsite at Chipping Norton is right next door to Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop so we got to check that out, luckily staying at the site allows access on a Monday when the shop Read more…

Although we are avoiding many of the big cities on our travels, we wanted to go into Oxford. It is a very beautiful city with stunning buildings on every corner. The Radcliffe Camera is a circular library and reading room for the University. The Bodleian Library is amazing, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe and the second largest in Britain. It was established in 1602. We were Read more…

After spending a few days at Marks place we’re off across the country again toward the Cotswolds. One of the places we stopped at was the village of Sywell. There was an aerodrome where a Spitfire and a Mustang fly regularly. unfortunately they had finished for the summer and we didn’t get to see them, but we did see some Boing Stearmans complete with wing-walkers (nutters) they flew over our Read more…

Driving over the Cairngorms toward Ballater we came across Corgarff Castle a Tower castle with a star shaped defensive wall. Built in 1530 it was bought by the British in 1748 and used as a military barracks to guard the area. It was a fantastic drive over the hills – the scenery in this area is outstanding. Ballater is a village in Aberdeenshire on the banks of the river Dee Read more…

Every now and then we get into an internet blackspot and its difficult to do updates. Usually this means that we just do the update later on. This time we forgot so this was meant to go between our Highlands and Loch Ness posts. Moving on from Glencoe we drove firstly to Fort William and then onto Glenfinnan. One of the first major mass concrete structures in the world is Read more…

We are travelling through parts of the Cairngorm National Park on our journey here in Scotland, the views are absolutely amazing, it reminds us a lot of home. Beautiful locks, moors and forests and some very interesting narrow roads. We came across a small wooden bridge our satnav said we needed to cross only to find it wouldn’t take our weight of van, so had to do a quick turn Read more…

On the way to Loch Ness we stopped off at the commando memorial near Spean Bridge. Dedicated to the original Commando unit raised in World War 2 that used the surrounding area for training. From the Commando monument we continued on to Fort Augustus and Loch Ness From Loch Ness we continued North East toward Inverness. A few miles east of Inverness is Culloden, the site of the last pitched Read more…

We have arrived in Glencoe, a town in the Scottish highlands known for the amazing scenery and the history of the Glencoe massacre. Our camp is right next to the visitors centre, so we made that our first stop. They explain all about the landscape of this place the geology and the heritage. The Three Sisters are a formation of three steep ridges that are visible on the drive into Read more…

We couldn’t not stop by and visit Gretna Green, everyone has heard of this place. We just happened to arrive as a wedding was taking place at the old blacksmiths which was fun to see. Otherwise a real tourist trap and we quickly moved on. We found ourselves close to Lockerbie so stopped at the memorial gardens in the village churchyard to pay our respects. Our first location by a Read more…

Alnwick castle was built in around 1096 after the Noman Conquest of England although has undergone many refurbishments since then. The castle was sold to the Percy family in 1307 and they have owned it since. The current owner is Ralph Percy 12th Duke of Northumberland. Bamburgh Castle is an imposing structure built on a solid base of volcanic stone. There has been a fort here since aound the year Read more…

Travelling further up from a pub stopover in Causey we went to Gateshead the Outskirts for Newcastle to look at the Angel of the North. This monument to miners is built on an old coal mining site and stands over 20 meters tall with a wingspan of 54 meters. It also represents a transition from the industrial age to the information age. From the Angel of the North we headed Read more…

Moving north from Whitby we stayed at a farm CL called the Arches near a town called Brotton. This was a peaceful site run by a lovely lady, Jeannie. Her son was an ex work rally driver for Renault, Peugeot and Ford. and ran a rally driving school here too. There was a lovely walk to the clifftops not far away. We spent a day at the Beamish Living Museum, Read more…

We have moved toward the east coast of Yorkshire to the well known town of Whitby. Whitby is a small old whaling town on the North Sea. But more famous for James Cook having learned his seamanship here and in Fact HMS Endeavour the ship used to explore Australia and New Zealand was built here. Bram Stoker visited Whitby for a week in 1890. During his time there Stoker was Read more…

We have moved to the east coast of Yorkshire and onto the North Yorkshire Moors. Absolutely stunning scenery, with lovely villages everywhere you look. We took the train to Goathland village – the train station was the location used for Hogwarts train station in the Harry potter books. The village of Goathland is also the setting for the TV series Heartbeat (called Aidensfield in the show) This is the pub Read more…

Unfortunately we had to cut our Irish trip short as we had a water leak from the new air conditioning install. So another trip to Leeds to get this issue sorted out (turns out it was a damaged seal) As we are back in the Leeds area we decided to start our North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Scottish Borders trip a bit earlier than planned . Ireland tour will now have Read more…