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Steph Crane

Steph Crane

traveled in 19 countries Read more🇬🇧England
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    • Steph CraneTravelerScotland road trip
      Brekkie
      Clootie wellChanonry PointFairy Glen fallsEgg Box ShopCommemoration to Janet Horne, DornochGolspie beach

      Start of the NC500

      April 24 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

      Started my day with a short run around the woodland, shower, brekkie with the birdie friends then on to Clootie well, a small, natural well that people over many centuries (dating back to pagan times) believed if you washed clothing in the well then left it to dry, as the clootie (cloth) rotted it would heal your ails. Now it has become a vast washing line full of all manner and number of clothing/socks/rags draped around the woodland! Bizarre. I couldn’t bring myself to add to it though. We did a little walk around the woodland then headed on to Chanonry point with the hope of seeing dolphins. No luck there but did see a couple of seals bobbing in the water. Was nice and sunny so sat on the beach for a bit then on to Fairy Glen falls, another lovely walk in the woodland to a couple of waterfalls then back on the road to Cromarty for tea and cake by the sea.
      On our way back out we stopped at an egg box shop, a large vending machine in the middle of nowhere vending eggs. Genius. We needed some anyway so grabbed a dozen then headed out of the island, officially joining the NC500 route up to Dornoch, to a commemorative stone dedicated to the last witch (Janet Horne) to be legally executed for witchcraft in the British isles by being stripped, tarred, tied to a barrel then burnt alive at the stake. This was in 1727. Though sunny, it was starting to get windy so we headed on to our stopover for the night in Golspie, by the beach. Went for a v windy walk then a chat with the fam before getting our fish supper to eat in the van. So very windy out there, hoping it dies down.      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerScotland road trip
      Dores, Loch Ness
      Dores, Loch NessKessock caravan park, InvernessKessock caravan park, Inverness

      Inverness

      April 23 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      Good nights sleep at Elaine’s, albeit short as we wanted to crack on so showers, breakfast and lots of tea to clear my fuzzy noggin. Many hugs goodbye later and we were on our way northbound again. Quite a long 3 hour drive though v scenic through the Cairngorms national park, which helped.
      We stopped in Dores, as recommended by Mike, on the east side of Loch Ness. A small village with a stony beach overlooking the vast loch. No Nessie but lots of friendly ducks. A man has a little shop there - he’s been set up since the early 90s his main purpose being he’s determined to get a glimpse of Nessie! Needless to say, nothing to report but what a beautiful location to dwell. In the meantime, he makes Nessie ornaments out of flotsam and jetsam off the beach. The sun was beating down at that point so we stopped on the beach for a bit before cracking on in to Inverness for a mooch. Lovely leafy walk in to town, the blossoms and spring growth is just perfect at the moment. The city is unremarkable as any other city, maybe I’ve seen so many now, they all look the same. Went to a very old, 2nd largest second hand bookshop in Scotland just out of interest, very interesting but a looot of stuff everywhere - bit too much to process. Wandered back to the van and on to our campsite for the night, Kessock caravan park in the woodland just north of Inverness ready to start the NC500 trail tomorrow.
      Gary cooked at the van amongst his birdy friends then watched the footy. Beautiful clear light sky quite late at night which I was surprised about - maybe because we’re further north?      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerScotland road trip
      Hadrian's wall
      Along Hadrian's wallSycamore gapSycamore gapCanal behind Elaine's houseElaine feeding the swanWith Elaine, Tasha and MikeWith Elaine and Tasha

      In to Scotland

      April 22 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      Woke up nice and early to a chilly but dry day. Quick brekkie then headed out to our first stop, Housesteads Roman fort plus Hadrian’s wall. Had a little wander along that section of the wall but didn’t go in to the fort ruins being mindful of the time. Instead, we drove a little further along to another car park where we could also walk part of the wall up and down some steep hills to the Sycamore gap. Though the tree is now just a stump, there are tiny, green traces of new growth. We walked back to the van as it started to lightly rain and headed in northwards through Northumberland national park crossing the border in to Scotland. Quick stop for a sign photo then continued on observing 2 terrible driving displays of madness and nearly being in a crash too! Luckily Gary’s quick breaking and a swerve in to a lay-by helped to avoid a collision! The car two in front of us just suddenly breaked for no apparent reason causing us all to slam on the anchors sharpish. The adrenaline, maaan! Quick check over the van as the car sped off and all was good, phew. The rest of the journey was thankfully uneventful. We arrived at Elaine’s house in Philpstoun, west of Edinburgh late afternoon. Tasha was there too and we were a surprise for her. She was so excited as was Elaine. Great to see them. We settled our things, quick drink and a catch up/show around - Elaine’s house backs on to a canal. It’s beautiful and wildlife everywhere including a friendly swan at her back garden gate looking for food. Gary drove us all to Linlithgow, a few miles out to catch up with Elaine’s brother Mike then on to dinner. Such a good night catching up and chatting. Mike gave us some top places to visit in the highlands as he runs a backpacking tours company. At the end of the evening we waved bye to Mike and Gary drove us all back to Elaine’s where we danced to ABBA songs, drank and chatted until 3.30am! It was fabulous.Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerScotland road trip
      Major Oak, Nottingham Forest
      Black Horse Inn, N Yorkshire

      And we’re off…

      April 21 in England ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

      Great to be on the road again for our 2 week Scotland adventure.
      First stop, brekkie then a slow, and very wet, drive northbound, breaking up the journey in Nottingham. Went for a wet walk into Sherwood Forest nr Nottingham - an ancient oak woodland, observing some very old, gnarly oaks including the Major Oak, an 1,100 year old beast that definitely has seen better days! Poor thing being propped up. Looks like it needs putting out of its misery IMO! Mindblowing how old it is though. We had a little robin follow us along for a bit which was cute. Quick browse in the gift shop, made a travel brew in the van and continued on in a northerly direction to our stopover for the night, The Black Horse Inn, Northallerton in North Yorkshire. As we ate there, we were allowed to park up in their car park overnight. The sun finally came out in the evening giving us a nice sunset and then a beautiful, clear, cold starry night - a good omen for the trip, methinks 😉.
      Looking forward to heading in to Scotland and doing a good mooch around.      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerIreland road trip

      Home

      May 3, 2024 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

      We watched the clouds/fog rolling in over the mountains and thought we should probably head home. Checked the weather and rain was imminent. Not much point climbing a mountain when you can barely see in front of you (we’ve done that before). Lovely drive out of Snowdonia National Park then stopped a little further nearer the border of Wales for a woodland walk and to stretch our legs. Then took turns negotiating M40, M6 etc to get home, 4 and a bit hours later!
      Finally home though after 2000 miles of lovely adventures with my best buddy
      😊🚐☀️🇮🇪      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerIreland road trip
      Driving on to the ferry
      PortmeirionPortmeirionAzaleas in bloom, PortmeirionTree stump with coins embedded, PortmeirionVast sandy beach when the tide's out, PortmeirionPortmeirionPortmeirionSnowdonia National ParkOur campsite, Betws-y-Coed, Snowdonia

      Back in Wales

      May 2, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

      Up bright and early to catch the ferry from Dublin. At the port, we watched a man trying to get his motorbike bump-started firstly with one man pushing then one of the staff chipped in to help to running back and forth. They got it going though so he could board the ferry. Hope he got it going the other end. It was literally plain sailing on the ferry, a spot of brekkie which was pretty good and just hanging out.
      Arrived to Holyhead around lunch time and headed on to Portmeirion, a village on the coastline commissioned and built by a Welsh architect taking 50 years finishing in the 70s. It’s a colourful looking village, quite quirky perching on a cliff face surrounded by woodland and the sea/golden beach. We took a walk around all of it. Was quite interesting. You have to pay for entry to the village, it’s all private and you can also stay in the many apartments there.
      Headed on to a supermarket then on to Snowdonia National Park to our campsite. Beautiful mountain range views again on the journey. Nice remote campsite with the view of the mountains. Hoping to climb Snowdon but the weather isn’t looking hopeful. No point if you can’t see anything/where you’re going. We’ll decide in the morning. Settled down for the night. No lighting around so literally pitch black outside. Our hat lights have been very handy.      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerIreland road trip
      Ravens at our campsite
      Kilkenny CastleKilkenny CastleKilkenny CastleWicklow Mountains waterfallOn military road through Wicklow MountainsForty Foot, Sandy Cove, DublinOysters and Guinness

      Last day in Ireland

      May 1, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

      Early morning May Day run in to the town and back, shower then whilst eating brekkie we watched the ravens and robins coming down very close to the van to eat the bread I had put out for them. Very delightful.
      We drove in to the town to visit Kilkenny castle. Nice change to see a castle that isn’t derelict. Although it’s over 800 years old, it has been restored to a Victorian period. Started to walk the grounds but it started to rain so we left and wandered the high street picking up a tshirt souvenir from the pub we’d been to the night before then headed onwards slowly weaving our way back to Dublin.
      We picked a route that went through the Wicklow Mountains, the road is an old military road that takes you through a vast rural, wilderness of scrubland where ever you look you can’t see anything man made (apart from the road). It was amazing and yet another diverse scenery and experience. We eventually arrived at the south of Dublin at a sandy cove, a lovely scenic end of Dublin where lots of locals were swimming. There’s an area called Forty Foot (no one knows why) but it’s a 250 year old swimming/changing point into the clear waters of the Irish Sea. We didn’t dip this time but maybe another day… was quite busy especially as it was sunny again - did I say how very lucky we’ve been?! We even saw an elderly man walk out of his house across the road to the cove in just his swimmers, goggles and hat! Good for him. As we were walking we also spotted some seals in the sea and a heron wading in the shallow waters.
      We walked up to the high street in my last search of oysters/Guinness. Been keeping an eye all round the island but not had the opportunity, Dublin is usually good for these. Found a lovely restaurant doing the oysters so was very happy though no Tabasco sauce, shame. They were great though plus we also ate dinner there too. Was a lovely last meal in Ireland.
      We drove on to our stopover where we had stayed when we first arrived. Another campervan pulled up next to us so we chatted to them for a bit. They are from Denmark or Norway, we couldn’t work out but they are taking a year or so out to travel Europe. They’d already done (wet) Cornwall for a month and planning on doing Ireland for a month then back around Britain before heading in to mainland Europe. Sounds brilliant.
      Watched the last episode of MAFS, last bit of drama in our lives then to bed listening to the rain.      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerIreland road trip
      Blarney Castle
      'Kissing' the Blarney stoneWild garlic everywhereOur Titanic ticketsWhite Star Line ticket office where you could buy your Titanic ticket, original entranceSt Colman's Catherdral, CobhOverlooking CobhMy little robin friendKytelers InnBand playing in Kytelers InnBand in Kytelers Inn

      Blarney

      April 30, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

      Bit wet overnight, we’ve been so lucky on this trip with the weather. V short trip round the corner to Blarney Castle. Got there early so we could ‘do’ the Blarney Stone before lots of queues. Quite a tight, steep, narrow stepped climb up a tower to the top of the castle where the stone lay. After a short queue, I laid on my back, under the guidance of the photographer and reached out to the stone, upside down as is the tradition. Needless to say I only touched the stone with my hand whilst Gary skipped past. Nope! We had already joked earlier that this was NOT going to be something he would entertain. Germs and wotnot. Kissing the stone is supposed to give you the gift of the gab - to string a yarn. The stone itself, however, is part of the Stone of Scone which was used by the Scots to crown their kings. This stone is now used by the British monarchs to be crowned upon. We had a lovely wander around the grounds observing absolute masses of wild garlic again. That and the new spring growth really lifted the views. We even spotted 3 or 4 baby foxes frolicking on the path but they scattered as we approached. So cute.
      We drove eastward to Cork and in particular a little islet off Cork called Cobh (pronounced cove) to visit the Titanic museum. After the Titanic was built in Dublin, it sailed round to Cork to pick up its Irish travellers then on to France then across the Atlantic to New York. We all know what happened after that. The museum was the original ticket office for the ocean liner. On our tour, we were given a ticket with the random name of a passenger. We were then guided around as if we were going to be in the Titanic itself, how it was laid out, where the actual pier was interspersed with photos and stories from passengers and the captain. It was very interesting and obviously very tragic. We got to see at the end whether our characters had survived or not. (Ours did, phew!). After a quick wander around Cobh and an Aldi supplies stop we drove on to Kilkenny for the night. Whilst making dinner, a couple of robins bobbed about, one even sat in the step of the van to my delight! Then some ravens were circling so I threw some bread out for them all, they were all coming over very close. One raven even dropped me a feather it had been playing with. Thanks dude. Fair trade.
      After dinner we walked in to Kilkenny town, stocked up on emergency mint imperials from a sweet shop that weighed them out - they were probably left from the war as they were a bit hard but I’m running low so needs must. Dropped in to a really old pub - Kytelers Inn, established in 1324! Got there at the right time to grab a seat and a pint before the local Irish band started. They were so good. Very talented and quick-fingered on the banjo/guitar/whistle. I might have to pop back when we visit the castle to get a tshirt.      Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerIreland road trip
      Mizen Head
      Mizen Head bridgeOne of the lovely artworks at Mizen HeadAnother beautiful beachHurling, Blarney

      End of the WAW

      April 29, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

      As we’d parked up at a hotel carpark, we went in for breakfast which worked out handy as Gary needed to do a little work too. Once he was done we headed down to Mizen Head, the most southwesterly point of Ireland and the end of the Wild Atlantic Way. After sheltering from a quick downpour, we had a little wander around the building recreating the story about the old lighthouse with lots of beautiful huge paintings of flora and fauna. Some nice scenery too, another cliff/beach. I swiped some seawater in one of my spray bottles to see if I can recreate my beach hair - will report back! We then headed eastwards to a little town called Schull suggested by one of Gary’s gym buddies. Not much going on there at all, quite run down so continued onwards towards Blarney/Cork area to do some washing/shopping. We stopped at a spot near Blarney Castle for the night. Once we’d eaten the car park suddenly got super busy with youths in sports kit and old, wooden sticks walking past us to the field behind. After a quick research it turns out they were playing hurling, an old Gaelic national sport. 15 players in a team throw, kick, hit with their hand or the stick a small cricket sized ball to score a point in a goal that is a football style goal under a rugby style goal. It was quite fast paced and good to watch. All the players have to wear helmets/face protection, v dangerous sport. Watched for a bit then returned to the van for more MAFS.Read more

    • Steph CraneTravelerIreland road trip
      Eyeries
      EyeriesNorthern Ring of BearaEnd of peninsula, Ring of BearaDursey, end of peninsula, Ring of BearaMcCarthy's Bar, Castletown Bearhaven

      Ring of Beara

      April 28, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      Got up early for a sunrise run, shower, brekkie, water restock and onward leaving the Ring of Kerry for the Ring of Beara, the next peninsula down from Kerry in County Cork. The route is a little shorter than the Kerry one, still following some of the Wild Atlantic Way but more rugged, quieter and still as scenic. The roads are probably harder to negotiate in larger motor homes and coaches, so pleased we have the size of van that we do. We just meandered along, the sun was shining stopping periodically to be amazed by the views. The photos NEVER do it justice. Quite a few towns/villages have different coloured painted houses and shop signs hand painted. Seems a thing in this area. Brightens it up I guess if it’s raining so much. Headed right down to the end of the peninsula for a few more snaps then back along the coast to a village called Castletown Bearhaven so Gary could watch the football. Found a pub to settle in whilst Gary mingled with the (English) clientele and I crotcheted. I ordered a couple of bags of nuts which filled a gap, then I realised they were out of date. One bag by only a couple of months but the other said 2021! They tasted fine. Bar lady couldn’t get her head around it, said they would’ve been audited. And yet… so she offered me another bag! I heard someone later asking for nuts which she was happy to still sell but advised them that they were out of date!
      After a stirling win, we drove on to a hotel car park stopover in Bantry. Gaz cooked a great spag bol then we settled for the night. Another car park where an annoyance hangs out. A car was coming and going a few times through the evening and every time they parked up they were banging out really, really loud music - maybe Eastern European music/turkish? It was sooo loud for us it must have been deafening in their car. Thankfully, by gone 10pm it went down considerably. Whether someone had a word? There’s quite a few of us campers here. Started to rain over night, first lot of rain we’ve had for a while. We’ve done good so far.      Read more

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