Not Underwhelmed!

Posted on July 23, 2023 by Clunegapyears

18-19/07/2023

I’ve read a ton of blog posts of travellers raving about the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel and fully expected to be underwhelmed. I wasn’t. We were wowed. We stayed the night at both sites (£10 and £15 including use of showers at the Wheel) so we could enjoy them lit up. Really worth doing.

After leaving the Kelso meet, we filled with LPG in Melrose and stopped off at Callender Park … not to be confused with Callander the town … all of one vowel change. It was a busy park and not worth a detour. Perhaps my walk was tainted by having to wash Corrie in the car park. She rolled in horse shite just as the words … “leave it” left my mouth.

*The Forbes Mausoleum is listed in Atlas Obscura, hence the visit. Spoilt by graffiti and litter surrounding it. If you hunted, there were remnants of head stones* around it.

We walked 3 times from the permitted overnight parking to the Kelpies. Daytime, at night and again in the morning to get our free coffee … the parking included a bogof, so we did … and breakfast!

*They are modelled on two* *Clydesales. Really they impart the sense of grace and power*.

*Being so far North, it doesn’t* *get properly dark till* *long* *past our bedtimes.*

We hadn’t planned to overnight at the Falkirk Wheel, but an enthusiastic Scot bounded over … he’d stayed for 2 nights, sleeping in the back of his car. Staff had cottoned on to his lack of facilities(i. e. Toilet) and having not paid, so he was leaving today. But he did tell us the Wheel being lit at night was worth staying for. So we did.

We had booked online the boat ride where you are carried up 30m from one canal to the next. Just as well we had tickets, as folk were being turned away. A nice trip with an amusing commentary from the staff and an audio fact filled one. The Wheel was a Millenium project to replace 11 locks which took boaters 6 hours to navigate. It’s free to canal traffic and will take canoes and paddle boards …should have brought my board!

*Corrie didn’t much care for the boat engine,* so *did* *the t*rip on my *lap!*

In the afternoon, Corrie and I walked along a canal to Bonneybridge, then under it, and back along the Antonine Wall and the site of Roughcastle Fort. The wall was the most northerly stronghold of the Romans, but the Scots were so troublesome that they retreated back to Hadrian’s Wall.

And So to KelSo

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Clunegapyears

13-17/07/2023

We joined a Motorhomer.com meet in Kelso for 5 nights, predominantly to catch up with Margaret & Shirley and Meg, who all live nearby. We’ve been members of this and the sister group, wildcamping.co.uk for quite some time, so chatted with other folk we knew. And lots we’d not met before, which is the nature of these meets. In fact, it took me all one morning to just do 2 loads of laundry in the twin tub. I’m so easily distracted!

*Nicely spaced out and we weren’t* *the only flying* *the Irish* flag

We ate solo, well the two of us, on the first night and then we hosted M&S, they cooked, we went out and then hosted Meg and Tiny Tim (tall!). We did manage a dry night! And I only took 2 bottles across to the bins after Meg and Tim … that didn’t look too bad for 4 of us! But what others don’t know is that we refilled from Greek box wine, maybe, a few times! So no weight lost these few days, although we did both exercise / run.

Weather wise … mixed. But better than being in Crete, or anywhere else in the Med for that matter. We can move without getting sticky and it’s cool enough to sleep at night. We even added a blanket to our summer duvet. Not at the stage of adding our heated under blanket … yet! Rain stopped play, well archery. I had to abort firing arrows to rescue nearly dry laundry from a downpour.

I did a fab walk along one of the rivers with Corrie and we both walked in Bowmont forest … a good tip from a chatty coffeehouse customer. Really do appreciate the lushness, greeness and diversity of the trees.

*Views across purple haze of thist*le fields

Van wise, all is still not well. The feffing fridge freezer had stopped working, despite new burner. One of the members, Jeff, managed to get it going and showed us how to lube the contacts. But it stopped again on the last night. After talking to a local repair centre (knows Meg), he diagnosed the connection brick … I managed to find one in stock and it’s now with Lisa in Tyneside. Both bathroom and kitchen taps are also crook, and replacements also heading towards Lisa. We can’t get hot water on gas either. Seems to be unrelated to the fridge issue. Both hot water and fridge will run off our leisure batteries . This is working fine when we harvest sufficient solar. Fortunately, there are really powerful and hot showers at the Kelso meet … lovely to stand under and luxuriate in not having to turn off between lathering and rinsing.

*Mum knits well. But I have to sew in ends and together. Suspect my new aran jumper will get some use this trip.*

*With my waterproof now with Lisa, M&S loaned me one of theirs. Fetching or what, but v useful.*

York (ie) bus

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Clunegapyears

Thursday 13/07/23

After narrowboating, of course, we’re now experts, we drove to a 5 pitch site just outside York for the night.

Don’t trust published or real time bus times! I’d checked the published timetable for busses into York. At the bus stop I used the qr code for real time info. 26 mins to wait. It was cold, so I said I’d walk Corrie in the field opposite. Only to watch the bus sail by! Grr another 20 min wait. But an interesting chat with a couple from Fuertaventura… she’d lived in Spanish Sahara and had to leave with 2 small children with 2 hour’s notice when Franco died. Morocco had designs on the territory and was invading.

Initial impressions of York were not favourable. Pavements with paint, rubbish and grubby buildings. We followed an app walking tour and soon warmed to York. Lots of interactive museums; the Railway Museum had been recommended by 2 people. Interesting architecture and history. We didn’t have time to do it justice at all … reckon a week would do it. So another go back to. We were seriously limited on time, as we then had a 4 hour drive up to a motorhome meet in Kelso.

*Clifford’s Mount – start of our walking tour*

*The Shambles* *with lots of independent* *shops. There was a massive* *queue for a ghost figurine shop … every pub had at least 3 ghosts.*

*Christmas shop where all the customers were greeted with a cherry Happy Christmas*

I spoke to the volunteer who explained that York has more C15 and C16 strained glass than anywhere else in England. Much was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell’s troops. Fortunately for York, a local man led the fight here and he preserved *it.*

*An unusual peep hole between a Chapel* *and* *the main church, so two parallel* *services* *could run* *… in parallel!*

*Most of the church has old box pews with seats facing each other. Families would discuss the sermon from the pulpit. After the* Refamation, the church decreed that pews should all face forward and the congregation should listen to the sermon delivered by the alter. This church had lost it’s wealthy patrons as they moved out of the city, and so the church only *had the money to install a few of the new pews. The Church, frustrated with the progress, closed the church building, thus preserving the original pews.*

*Refurbishment of the Minster … scaffolding tours available. I fancied a ride in the lift.*

*York Minster is the 2nd largest Gothic cathedral in Europe. It did feel huge walking next to it.*

I want one!

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Clunegapyears

11-12.07.23

Leaving our home from home, Woodlands Farm in Chichester, we headed to Bletchley Park. I visited it in January with Maddy and had an annual ticket, so just J’s to pay for … a mere £23 for a concession! J and I pretty much did the same sections that I did with Maddy, so we’ll need to go back some time to finish it off. Too much information to absorb in one visit. Trying to understand the Enigma machine and the Bombe just made us feel particularly stupid. There really are some clever people, but not us!

I want one….

A narrowboat, that is. James said I could, but only if we sold Jez. Perhaps one day. What has prompted this is that we parked up on good friend’s private mooring. Pat and Jim are motorhomers, but happen to live on a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal near Northampton. We had a fabulous Pat cooked meal. Wine and chat flowed.

At 0800 hours the crew reported for duty and we cruised along the canal for about 2 hours to a marina for an excellent breakfast. There were about 40 narrowboats for sale and Jim explained the pros and cons of layouts, hull construction and value for money. Prices reflect house prices … when people can’t afford houses they will look for alternative accommodation. We’ve seen this with the increase in van lifers. A good time to put in a low offer is November/ December as owners will be happy to not have to pay the winter maintenance or mooring costs.

On the return leg, Jim handed me the tiller. No stress there then … handling 60ft of someone’s home! Even when I panicked at a narrow bridge on a bend, he refused to take back control. Took a lot of concentration.

But absolutely loved the peaceful tranquility of oozing on the water.

Slow Road to Crete: Via Ferata Style

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Clunegapyears

A Travelling and Shopping Day

30/08/22

So a leisurely start. Owners had absconded and so had most the campers. We pretty much had the place to ourselves so we spread all our stuff over their cafe terrace to dry, having cleaned mud off first! Kerstin manage a swim in zipped off shorts! She didn’t loose these!

We didn’t leave till nearly mid day and since Decathlon was on our route … Kerstin now has a new cosie, but will she get to use it? I bought base layers and hats for James and I. We have these, but in Crete … never thought we would experience 5C at 6.00 a.m. in August and super chilly, moist evenings! This is our SUMMER holiday! Also tried to find a new electric hob … one ring had a crack and now it had started shorting out. Amazing it didn’t trip the switch in the Glamping site! Oh silly me … what trip switch??

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New base layer, fleece and hat.

Our first choice of campsite could only accommodate us for 2 nights as he was going for a rebuild of the facilities. Was this a lucky escape? How much in need of refurbishment were they? So a few miles on we arrived at a HUGE site on the edge of the Paradise Park!!! Ooh err Mrs! The web site states it has room for 600 tents … festival sized perhaps. Initially we were not over keen … large site with chalets and tokens required for showers etc. But it had hot water for washing up and you never had to wait for the toilet or shower.

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We’d carefully left space in the middle of our pitch for the table and chairs … they only made it out once … far too cold!

Poddling over Chata Podlesok

31/08/22

My back etc have been playing up. Sleeping on and air bed? Possibly. Lack of Pilates – more probably. 2 months worth of un-stretch! Kerstin and I were up and at ‘em. Morning dew so we threw down our pilates mats (dog bed and reformed tyre mats) on the road. Until a flat bed went past us, then returned with a chap sat on the rear, hanging onto a skip … Bin day! He held up 2 fingers, in a nice way (!), to indicate 2 more skips. So we decamped to the less flat and slightly damp grass. I then braved the shower … 1 token = 3 mins. It was a generous 3 mins but I didn’t brave a hair wash.

Lots of walking directly from the campsite. A helpful chap at the tourist information enthusiastically gave us lots of info … in German. Fortunately I had my personal translator on hand. We set off for a castle / monastery … not sure which as we didn’t make it. Decided to take the river route there. Had been warned there were metal steps, but not quite what we were expecting. After the vertical short section where I had to shove CO2 up, there then followed steps high over the river … proper via ferata style. Our mountain goat Corrie shot across and 40 m around the bend. To start the steps had a criss cross weave, barely OK for a game Oscar. Still a panic for me. But then they were like parallel bits of wire … and a chap coming the other way said the rest of the steps were like this. No good for Oscar. In fact, he really should not have been up there at all. He is not agile like Corrie. J wasn’t happy either. Not sure if I was more worried about O hurting himself or us trying to rescue him! I knew this was one of those situations where I should have listened to me head … so an about turn and back to terra firma.

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Ice cream for late brekkie on way up.

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This section was just fine!

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CO2 were shoved up here.

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The solid (!) steps. Would have been easier to swim.

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Yes, do come back!!!

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Let’s all go back.

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Beer and lemonade machine back near the campsite! We used it. Beer was so good, apparently, K and J had two.

Then K and drove to Poprad for supplies … Mahoosive Tesco – even had sofas in stock. Food for next few days. Then after several stores, we found a single electric hob .. that’s fine. Only EUR16 and I’ve a Remoska with me for stews etc.

Proper Via Ferata … ain’t it?

01/09/22

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CO2 veers patient waiting for J to arrive with breakfast!

Helpful chap at the tourist information had told K about the Sucha Bella gorge. Ladder, one at 15m, and lots of metal steps. Not one for CO2. K wanted to do it. No pressure on me … but there was … said I’d come too. Can’t let the German grist beat the British! J (Irish neutrality) nobly elected to stay at base camp for doggy day care. But first, so J had a trip off site (and also Kerstin had been told a0 we may not have to pay if we did the gorge in the afternoon and b) it would be quieter). We went to Levoca for a morning coffee. Harassed by a beggar on arrival and all seemed pretty dead so didnt think we would stay long … but then it came to life and the sun came out.

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The Cage of Shame, Levoca. Theives, murders, cheats and even gossips would be locked up on market day. People would throw things at them … stocks were our village sport! Apparently spittle was also thrown … thankfully K is just throwing leaves at J!

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Levoca.

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K and I climbed the 216 steps of the tower. Could see that the large square buildings had courtyards, some covered over. But would give light to the interior rooms.

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J and I did the church tour. In Slovak so given an English basic transcript … didn’t have to pay for this one. The ticket last came to practise her English … explained that the town was part of a Pilgrim route … Camino do Santiago. All because a lady called Elizabeth had a vision. She was pregnant so could just have been a baby kick?! A new church was built on the hill During Communism less pilgrims but resurrected since Covid. Other interesting church facts … All the main alter figures are carved from on piece of Linden wood. The alter is the largest in the former Hungarian empire and has no nails. A local sculptor was famous and one of his figures of the Madonna was the dace on an Slovak currency note. Until the reformation, both Protestant and Catholics shared the church.

Once back at base camp, K and I loaded food, drink and chocolate and set off. And yes, not fee and it was not too busy. It is a 9km round trip. At the top of the gorge one can rent mountain bikes, but we were pleased we hadn’t as the track was mostly loose scree.

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