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Retired professionals wishing to see a little more of the world at home and abroad Read more Chandler's Ford, United Kingdom
  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,192–2,194

    Mull of Galloway

    May 24 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Our next stop was the Mull of Galloway, which is the most southerly point one can get to in Scotland.
    Our route there took us through the Rhins of Galloway. We arrived in time for our lunch, which we had early as we had seen a good 6 mile walk to do around the mull and the adjoing peninsular.
    The mull is home to an old lighthouse with support buildings and an RSPB centre, also apparently home to gannets, kittiwakes, razorbills, terns, gulls etc and even some puffin. The scenery on our walk was pretty spectacular. We walked along the cliff tops, looking down on clear waters, and passed through lush green fields. The walk proved to be quite difficult, not because of its difficulty, but due to the very long grass and vegetation along the way which made each step quite difficult at times and our feet very wet.
    We free-camped at the lighthouse overnight, and were joined by travellers from Belgium, Germany, France and the UK in their motorhomes. It was very peaceful.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,191

    Mains of Machermore

    May 23 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We had a look at the area south of the CL site. Driving first to Wigtown, we passed over the river at Newton Stewart. Due to all the rain the river was running quite fast and the weir by the bridge was raging.
    We parked up just outside of Wigtown in a car park next to a memorial. In 1685, two female Covenanters were tied to posts in the adjacent river and drowned. They were not prepared to cast away their religious principles in the face of the movement for the devine right of the Scottish kings and Escopicy. A granite post memorial is reached by a short walk across a boardwalk above the river. The women drowned on the rising tide.
    We then wandered up a short hill into into the town, which is known as the bookshop of Scotland.
    There were bookshops aplenty in the wide square at the centre of the town. We had been told about a quirky one to look out for, which was a bookshop come cafe called Reading Glasses. We popped in for a very pleasant coffee, fruit scone, and tea. We also found a great community recycling store in the town and left with crafty goodies at bargain prices.
    From there, we toured further south to the Isle of Whithorn. Here we parked up in the old town next to the harbour and walked over the man made isthmus to the island. We stopped first of all to have a look at the museum in the dockside church, which told much of the story about the village. A lot of it centred around the sea faring and fishing community.
    An old Chapel dedicated to St Ninian lies on the island. There were short walks around the island, which we completed.
    Leaving here, we drove a few miles along the coast to a remote car park, from where we walked down to a pebble beach. At one end of the beach lay a large cave entrance from which St Ninian allegedly performed some miracles.
    We drove back to base along the scenic coast road A747 to Glenluce, which was pretty.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,190

    Mains of Machermore

    May 22 in Scotland ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Leaving our site here, we headed further westward to our destination near Newton Stewart. On our way, we stopped off at Castle Douglas for a look around the town. It was full of independent shops, cafes etc. We had met a couple on our walk to Rockcliffe the previous day who had told K about a great sewing shop that had to be visited. Needless to say, some fabric was purchased from a very friendly shop owner who could not be described as dynamic. We decided to take the scenic route, which took us along the shoreline of Loch Ken. The weather was a bit grim, but the clouds lifted enough for us to get out and have a view along the Loch.
    Our home for two nights was a nice CL site on a farm about 1 mile outside Newton Stewart.
    We set up in the rain, and after lunch, put our wet gear on for a walk into town. It was nice enough with the river running through it. Its main attraction for us was Aldi, where we bought some supplies. We were a bit damp upon returning to the van.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,189

    Kippford View

    May 21 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    There may have been a view of Kippford on the site, but we did not see it where we were at the bottom on the lower section. The higher terraces would get the view looking over the valley across the trees to the village of Kippford on the other side of the estuary.
    We were looking forward to completing the Sandhills to Rockcliffe walk, which is a walk along the cliffs in an area that is renowned for its beauty.
    We parked up at the Sandhills campsite car park, a sister site to the one we were staying on. It was right next to the sea and would have been a better option for us. We opted to start the walk east to west due to the tide conditions as we wanted to see the sea arches on the beach at Sandhills in the afternoon when the beach was accessible.
    The 4.5-mile walk to Rockcliffe did not disappoint. The first part took us up from sea level to the highest part of the route at The Torrs. Thereafter, we passed along the cliffs, up and down across the hill tops, with great sea views. There was a slow descent into Rockcliffe village where we enjoyed our picnic overlooking the sea. A Mr Whippy van was nearby in the adjacent car park, which we managed to resist.
    Returning along the cliff tops, we were able to descend onto the beach at High Portling. The tide was going out, and we were able to walk along the rocks and sand to see the natural sea arches and caves in the cliff faces.
    Yellow lichen above the sea high water line reminded us of The Bay of Fires in Tasmania, and the sea arches of Cathedral Beach in Northern Spain. Who needs to travel when it's on our doorstep? We enjoyed the walk immensely.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,188

    Dumfries

    May 20 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We left Redcar early in the morning to head further north into Scotland. We were hoping to reach some warmer weather. As we moved westwards, we left the cold behind and had our breakfast in the van under sunshine in a layby on the A66.
    We arrived in Dumfries late in the morning and managed to find a space in a central car park. We spent a couple of hours looking around the town, which lies on the River Nith. Dumfries was the adopted town of Robbie Burns, Scotland's famous poet and bard. He was one of the local excise agents, which duties he performed alongside his poetry. The town museums cover RB specifically and general local history, and are all staffed by friendly locals who are obviously very proud of their town.
    We visited the oldest house, now a museum on the bridge, the RB information centre, and had a look at the house where RB lived with his wife, now open to visitors. The Globe drinking house, which RB frequented, is closed for business on Mondays.
    Leaving Dumfries we made our way south to our site (for two nights) at Kippford View. We were the only ones staying on the site but the staff were clearly getting things ready for the following bank holiday weekend and school holidays.
    We had time to set ourselves up then set off on a three mile circular walking route along the valley.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,185–2,188

    Pickering

    May 17 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We had packed up our motorhome the previous night, ready for an early start in the morning. 6:30am saw us drive off to beat the inevitable Friday tailbacks. It was a good move, for once our journey northwards was free-moving the whole way. With a breakfast stop for coffee and tea at Trowell services we made it into our site at Pickering in early afternoon. We even had time to take the scenic route through South Yorkshire. The site at Westgate Carr Farm was immaculate, and we arrived in glorius sunshine. We were soon set up, so we walked into Pickering mid-afternoon for a look-see and to determine parking availability for the van at the station for the following day. Many of the independent shops in the village were closed for the afternoon, which was a little disappointing. Returning to the site, we walked the on-site dog walk, which took us along a river bank, with the prospect of seeing an otter or two. Not for us though, we don't seem to have the ability to slow down to wait these things out.
    The following day, we parked up in the large NYMR car park and joined Karen's father, Malcolm and Nicola at the station for an afternoon journey along the line to Whitby. It was a glorious day with temperatures in Pickering 20 deg C. The train chugs along the valley, stopping off at numerous places, some made famous in TV drama, serials and feature films. In the sunshine, the scenery was beautiful. When we arrived in Whitby, the town was shrouded in mist, and the old Abbey could barely be seen on the hill above the town. The temperature was 14 deg C. The place was very busy with visitors, as busy as we've ever seen it. We made it as far as Wetherspoons, where we enjoyed a couple of drinks prior to our return trip. The pub was rowdy with many hen weekend groups and others in weird and wonderful outfits. Donald was very pleased to be accosted by a couple of women in the pub on his way out. He was pleased to think that he had still got it at 92!! We wandered along the harbour front where there were many stalls set up selling various crafts and food items.
    We left Pickering in the early evening to drive to Redcar. After a coffee at Roseberry Road we free camped on the stray.
    Sunday was spent with Donald in Redcar, and after an early evening trip to the Redcar Wetherspoons, we free camped, looking at the sea once again. Redcar was sitting under the same cloud as Whitby, the temperature did not rise above 12 deg C, which prompted Donald to put his central heating on.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,138

    Bergen

    March 31 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Our final day in Norway after a great trip. We feasted on a massive breakfast at our hotel restaurant, ready to face the day. Our flight back to UK being in the evening.
    We took a morning stroll, in the old harbour district of Bryggen, and along the harbourside, trying to determine the purpose of many of the ships tied up for easter. Clealy many are rig support and some looked like special cable laying vessels.
    The old fort grounds were open to walk around, which we enjoyed prior to diving into the tourist shops in the Bryggen.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,137

    Bergen

    March 30 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Our final day on the ship. Overnight the ship stopped off in Molde, a large town, with developments running up the hillsides.
    Short visits were made to Alesund, Torvik, Maloy and at breakfast time Floro. At Floro the ship made to moor up, but there must have been no business to do, so it just turned round in the harbour and carried on its way. Last stop Bergen in mid afternoon. On our way to Bergen the ship travelled in between many small islands, many of which had one or two small houses on them. Once again, all very beautiful. The weather fluctuated between heavy squalls of rain and blustery winds. Karen managed to do her customary walk of 10 times around deck 9. Exercise needed to offset the amount of eating we have done!
    After we left the ship we walked over to the old harbour area to check into our hotel room for the night.
    We thentook an early evening walk through the city in the sunshine. On the walk we took in the fishmarket on the harbourside which was displaying an impressive selection, much of it geared to the on-site restaurants.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,136

    Kristiansund

    March 29 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    The major town being visited today is Kristiansund, some many miles south from our breakfast location which was the harbour at Trondheim.
    The stop over at Kristiansund was for just an hour, so we opted to remain on board.
    On our way south Syd spotted the gas refinery on the mainland where he worked for a week over 30 years ago.
    The ship navigated narrow passageways through the islands prior to hitting open water on the approach to Kristiansund.
    The previous day's Phase 10 game was completed, and we enjoyed another game of Barbu in the bar/lounge as we passed by the beautiful scenery.    Read more

  • TravelerBig Adventure
    Day 2,135

    Bronnoysund

    March 28 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    The outside temperatures were getting warmer as we continued southbound. With not as much ice and snow on the hill sides the landscape appeared less dramatic as we weaved our way through the islands along this coast. In the morning we passed across the Arctic Circle once again.
    At Bronnoysund the ship docked for a couple of hours,and we were able to stretch our legs in the town. We found only one small shop open for business, as Norway shuts down to celebrate Easter.
    In the evening the crew set up a game of Easter Bingo in the bar/lounge which the boys reluctantly joined in. The staff were dressed as chickens and us oldies had difficulty keeping up with the number calls, which were done in three languages. Karen won the full house, main prize, and we are now proud owners of a Havila flag signed by the captain.    Read more

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