Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Thursday and Friday 11-12th August: The last leg - Loch Linhe to Thirsk via Glencoe, Thirsk to Winchester


It's now 23rd August – I’m writing from the Maples in Itchen Stoke, and conscious that I didn’t complete the account of the ‘shakedown’ leg of the trip. So here goes….
We had planned to get away early on Thursday, with a breakfast stop in Glencoe and a possible mountain bike ride down from the top of the chairlift. However…
It rained steadily on Wednesday evening – taking the awning down didn’t look like much fun, so I left it until the morning. After a slower than planned start we emerged to a light breeze and a break in the rain – at least this meant that the awning came down just damp, not dripping wet. We got away around 10.00, not bad given the conditions, and headed off towards Glencoe and a first stop at the Visitor Centre about half an hour away. Here we learned a little of the infamous 1692 Campbell massacre of the MacDonalds – I won’t attempt to record the events here as there’s plenty available elsewhere, but as you’ll see from the pictures below, little has changed to soften the imposing and inhospitable landscape….except perhaps the soft southerners in the picture!




Glencoe, Edwardian painting of the site of the infamous 1692 massacre (Wikipedia)….and 2011 picture of the fearless Campbells!

And then we set off properly, just as the wind began to increase in intensity. And continue to increase. Fortunately it was a tail wind, which practically blew us up the mountain pass, but every time we rounded a bend and presented ourselves beam-on to the wind the whole outfit lurched uncomfortably!
We drove on down the mountain towards Loch Lomond, very picturesque in the now constant soft rain, along a surprisingly narrow and winding road – we actually caught up with a coach!
Gradually the roads straightened, became broader, and more densely populated with cars, while the weather became wetter as we drove south past Glasgow and Gretna and eventually into Cumbria in England. Some while later we peeled-off east along the A66 towards Yorkshire. 
We sailed past the petrol station confident that we’d fill up at the next one. But as we began the inexorable grind up across the Penines and the rain and wind redoubled their efforts to blow us off track, our confidence about finding the next filling station in time began to evaporate at pretty much the same rate as the remaining fuel in the tank. It must have seemed a great idea to keep free from the unpleastness of a filling station a stretch of road through such beautiful country as the Yorkshire Dales….but that wouldn’t seem so clever with a five mile tailback stretching behind an over laden Volvo and caravan and a disgruntled family to spoil the un-spoilt vistas!
We pressed on, crawling up the hills and freewheeling down to preserve the last dregs of fuel…Scotch Corner was getting closer, but close enough? Indeed….and just 20 miles to our overnight stop in Thirsk.
We made camp at the caravan site on Thirsk racecourse, and were met by Aunt Jane, Frances’ aunt. Our now slick parking up routine enabled us to head straight off for a lovely dinner in a nearby pub (http://www.thecarpentersarmsfelixkirk.com/ - an absolutely lovely pub with terrific food) for dinner and a much-needed fortifying ale.
With no awning to dismantle, getting away on Friday was swift and painless – we were on the road south by 9.00am, heading past Dishforth where Diana was born. And as we headed south, we left behind the distinctly autumnal winds and rain of the north, exchanging it for the leaden humidity of an English summer’s afternoon.
We headed straight for Tilshurst who supplied the caravan for a damage assessment and quote, and then home to The Maples to begin the task of unpacking and, of course, packing!
So a well needed shakedown leg of our tour. We learned much, some of it rather more abruptly than planned. We travelled well over 1,000 miles using about £500 of petrol, developed routines for departure and arrival, and for the day-to-day running of the camp. And despite the weather and some pretty trying circumstances, we had a good time – saw the beautiful and spectacular heart of Britain went walking, fishing, sailing, biking, beaching, climbing, swimming and even skinny-dipping! Not a bad start.
A few days later we had a team meeting to discuss our learning’s and how they should influence our plans ahead. We agreed that we shouldn’t be dissuaded by our experience – but that too much distance meant too much driving – boring for the kids, expensive, and hard work for driver and navigator.  So we agreed to take a ferry to Esbjerg in Denmark to start our trip – and not to attempt to drive through Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania but to head back south from Sweden and Norway through Denmark again to Germany (the prospect of sitting by the roadside waiting for, or in the hands of a local mechanic without the language skills between us to communicate what help we needed was just too daunting (believe me, those language barriers aren’t confined to the Baltic States…try getting a meaningful dialogue going with a roadside mechanic in Fort William next time you’re there!).
And we decided to lighten our load – no awning extension (we don’t need it)….and no bikes. That’s a huge decision, as it means we’re reliant on the car, and the kids won’t have the bikes to explore campsites. We’ll take their scooters instead which have been great fun for exploring cities we’ve visited. But it means a big weight saving and I hope will improve economy and performance as wind resistance is reduced.
We also discussed and agreed some basic family rules about how we’ll conduct ourselves on the next legs of the trip.
We’ve spent the time since our return getting ready to leave The Maples. Frances, George and Charlie spent a few days in Cornwall with Claire, the kid’s Family Day Care carer from Sydney (she’s from Cornwall) while I spent a couple of days in London and then at Lawn Cottage with Ma and Pa, David and Stella. Ma seemed much improved over the couple of weeks since we’d visited with the caravan en-route to Scotland, although unfortunately had a nasty fall the day after I’d returned home.  Hopefully she’ll be back home and recovering again soon.
The packers have now descended upon us to begin the enormous task of wrapping and packing everything before shipping it off to Australia. It’s an uncomfortable feeling – rather like being burgled while you watch. They finish towards the end of this week, all being well. We’ve had a useful few days ‘de-cluttering’ which has involved several trips to the tip, a three-day bonfire, and many agonizing decisions…keep it?, dump it?, no, burn it!
We’ve booked our ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg for Wed 31st August, and returning from Caen in France to Portsmouth on 6th November. We’ll then aim to fly Sydney via Hong Kong, departing Wed 16th November (to be confirmed).
But our next trip is this weekend, to the Cotswolds with the McQueens, Murphys and others. Then a final hand over of the house on Tuesday 30th before departing for Denmark on Wednesday morning. Next installment when we’ve arrived!



  

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday 10th August, Loch Linhe



Could it get any wetter? It started to rain last evening, and hasn’t stopped at all since!
So, we made our planned early start, and headed back up to Malaig to meet Ewan, our salty old seadog skipper (76 years old!). Waterproofs, extra layers, no socks and crocs made us about as weatherproof as we could get.
We set off from Malaig harbour with several other hardy holiday makers into the teeth of the weather, accompanied by Annabel and her friend (two incredibly confident seals swimming right alongside and looking us right in the eye) and Rebecca, the ever present seagull. The only thing older than Ewan’s boat was Ewan himself, but it chugged along happily in the chop. Ewan tended to the bilge pumps (always a confidence inspiring site as you set off into open sea!), George and then Charlie took turns at the helm, and Frances took over as cabin boy and made the entire ship’s company tea and coffee in the tiny wheelhouse. I was relegated to waiter, passing out the steaming mugs to warm freezing hands.
We saw a few sea birds (terns mainly, possibly Arctic terns, but no-one was too sure) and a few more seals (less inquisitive) but really the weather was so bad there was little incentive for them to be out of the water. So then we headed for the lea of the land and cast some lines for mackerel. After a few unsuccessful casts, we began to despair that it was too wet even for the fish. But then Ewan pulled up two in one go – the benefit of experience. Then it was another passenger’s turn…and then I bagged a couple – beautiful blue-green coloured fish, firm, perfectly proportioned. After a short wait George then reeled in a really heavy haul – as he brought them to the side of the boat, we saw three big mackerel on his line. But disaster – his line had become snagged with Ewan’s, and as I tried to help bring them on board the line snapped and the fish fell back into the water. Seconds later, Ewan pulled in his line to discover three (they were George’s) and this time brought them on board. All up the haul for the day was well into double figures, and we brought away a good bag-full of fillets for dinner. We made it back to shore with the weather easing a little, said our farewells to Ewan, and huddled in the car with the engine running and heater on full blast to eat our lunch.
Back at the campsite we hung our clothes out to dry in the drying room, and hunkered down in the caravan to thaw out. The next challenge is to pack the car and caravan, get the awning down, and get under way at a reasonable hour tomorrow morning – just half an hour respite from the rain would help! We’re heading to York to break the journey and visit Great Aunt Jane, Jonathan, Emma and Eleanor (we hope).

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tuesday 9th August, Loch Linnhe

We've had a fun day today - drove from our loch-side site back up through Fort William and on to Arisaig and Malaig, a working fishing harbour. We'd planned to find a fishing trip to see if we could catch some mackerel - I have very clear memories of hauling them up five at a time into the Mirror dinghy with Dad when we visited the Ardnamurchan peninsular - that must have been in 1975! We found out about a possible skipper, and booked ourselves in via a call to his sister, but we discovered later in the day that he'd been over subscribed and couldn't take us. Nevertheless, we had a fun day on the beach - Charlie put on her wetsuit and bravely went in for a bit of surfing (wasn't much surf!). George made a dig for Australia, so deep was the hole he dug in the dunes. Frances supervised, and I had a very pleasant doze! The sun put in a brief appearance, and it even got warm enough to unzip my coat (but not to take it or my fleece off!).
I did a quick check on the weather forecast on the way home: here, in mid summer, it's forecast to be raining and twelve degrees tomorrow. And in Sydney, in mid winter? Eighteen and sunny!
We've decided to stay on an extra night here and brave the weather tomorrow to go on the elusive fishing trip. We're meeting Ewan at 10.00 in Malaig. Fingers crossed the weather's not going to be too bad for him to take us out.
We'll head off from here early on Thursday morning...we'll dry the awning out later!

Monday, August 8, 2011












Monday 8th August,

Well, this is turning out to be quite an adventure!
We packed up and left Loch Ness in a steady downpour – very atmospheric, easy to imagine Nessie poking his (or her?) head up from the depths to check on our departure. We've got the setting up and departing down to a fine art – I packed the car and pulled down the awning while Frances sorted the caravan and made lunch – but the rain slowed our progress, seeing us finally getting away at around 11.00am. We headed into Fort William with the original intention of ascending the cable car rather pointless given the low cloud, so we parked up and went on a victualing mission. Once completed we made to set off to our destination, a campsite at Camusdarach between Arisaig and Mallaig on the coast near the beach made famous by the film Local Hero.
However....
As we pulled out of the car park, a mechanical clanking from the nearside caravan wheel spelled disaster – we limped back into the car park, and as we did so the car horn started sounding uncontrollably. I pulled up and tried to see what was going on. There was no sign of anything dragging on the ground around the van, and there was no sign of anything untoward under the bonnet in relation to the horn. I thought about what could be going wrong – actually, I heaved a sigh of despair, and then thought about what could be going on. It must be either a wheel bearing or a dislodged brake component causing the mechanical noise, as it was very much related to the wheel rotation. And it must be something to do with the immobiliser on the car, no doubt related to the torrential rain. I thought about jacking the caravan and taking the wheel off to investigate, but given that I’d snapped the jack the last time I'd tried this (I’ve subsequently replaced it) and that we had full breakdown recovery for the car and the caravan I thought I might leave it to the experts. Frances got on the mobile and called the various agencies to organise roadside help...on a Sunday...in Fort William....in the rain...and so the long wait began.
After about an hour, the car recovery guy came out - he took a quick look, declared the horn problem linked to the immobiliser, and so disconnected the horn – simple, yet effective. And then off he went. Several hours and one family visit to MacDonald’s (well, it's almost Scottish) later, the recovery truck appeared for the caravan, having driven all the way from Perth, about two hours away. He was instructed not to assess the problem, just to recover us to a local Caravan Club site, and leave the assessment until the morning. And so ensued the precarious task of getting a big, laden caravan onto a relatively small flatbed recovery vehicle. Winches, straps, ramps and a good deal of pulling and pushing later it was safely in place. A very disheartening sight, our home for the next three months on the back of a truck, limping to a caravan site about 10 miles down the road. He set us down on our pitch and left us to make camp. At least the rain stopped, just long enough for the midges to appear! Heaven.
Frances, who couldn't stand to see the caravan coming down the ramp for fear of imminent disaster went off to explore the site, and came back with two cups of tea for she and me and two lemonades for the kids from a very kindly onlooker – and believe me, there was no shortage of those!
We woke to find ourselves in a beautiful spot – the nicest site so far, right on the water’s edge – this is a tidal loch, unlike Loch Ness. The Caravan Club recovery people made contact and organised a mechanic to come to assess the problem, who arrived around 10.00am – yep, the same guy who'd come out to fix the horn. He took a quick look, jacked the caravan, span the wheel and sure enough the noise recurred (I’d privately feared that it was all in my imagination!). He took the wheel cover off, and the problem fell to the ground – the metal cap covering the wheel hub had come off. Clearly it hadn't been properly refitted when replacing the tyres. A two minute job, one I could easily have done myself.
Oh well, at least we're somewhere nice today, not in a car park in Fort William - we're at the Caravan Club site Bunree at Oichen. We've decided to stay on today and tomorrow, and then given the forecast for more rain for the rest of the week, to head back early. We'll visit Frances' Aunt Jane in Thirsk on Wednesday on the way home, hopefully staying at a nearby site for the night.
We've had a useful day of recuperation and admin, with Frances talking to removal companies, insurance companies, garages, caravan repairers, and our letting agent and builders who've been working on repairs to our house in Sydney.
Meanwhile the kids have had a great day, mucking around on the campsite with other kids, going fishing on the shore, riding their bikes with increasing bravado and the consequent regular visits for first aid. I can still hear the feral rabble as the light fades, sounding much like the Lord of the Flies.
We'll head off for a day trip to Arisaig tomorrow – hopefully a fishing trip and a bit of beach time (we'll take, and need our wetsuits!).
And then aim to be back in time to get the awning down before the rain sets in again, with an early start on Wednesday and hopefully a stop in Glencoe.
Despite a tough day yesterday, our spirits are good – we're having fun, the caravan is very comfortable, the awning works really well (other than the rain-induced collapse the other night), the car pulls the outfit well, the bikes are a great asset, and the equipment we've brought is just about right. And Scotland, in spite of the rain, is magnificent. One thing I haven't mentioned thus far but should have done is the enormous number of motorhomes and campervans of all shapes and sizes (ranging from large through enormous to behemoth!). And so many European visitors – more European plates than UK – on Skye in particular – campervans, cars, caravans, motorbikes, even a very fancy sidecar outfit clearly for a family of four (one child using a booster seat) complete with towbar! They all clearly appreciate the majestic splendour of the Highlands and Islands as much as we will when time blurs the detail of our memories of this trip.


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Sunday 7th August, Loch Ness

It's been a few days since my last update. We left Coniston at 9.00 in light rain and drove through the Lake District with cloud and mist swirling across the mountains and lakes - it's easy to see how Wordsworth and others found it such an inspiring place - everyone was reciting the Daffodils as we drove along. We finally made it to the M6 and headed north, crossing into Scotland at Gretna Green - amazing to think that George would be old enough to elope to Gretna in four and a half years!
We stopped for egg and bacon rolls at a truck stop, and as we rejoined thd motorway George realised he'd lost his headphones. Forty miles later we recovered them from where they'd fallen out of the car, inches from being crushed under the wheels of a camper van!
And then on past Glasgow and, via a bit of a circuitous route courtesy of the sat nav, into the highlands and through Glencoe. We stopped at the ski lift car park (it was closed as it was just after 5.00 pm by this stage) - it doesn't appear to has changed a bit since my last visit with my family when I was 11! My recolletions of that trip were that we'd found a new God forsaken icy hell - our leather ski boots and light jackets were no match for the freezing conditions, and my skiing was no match for the sheet ice at the top of the lift! Glencoe itself was spectacular - a vast glaciated barren valley, dark brooding skies, only a few hardy souls to be seen - a very fitting way to see the site of the Campbells' clash with the MacDonalds.
We drove on through Fort William and finally made it to Loch Ness at about 7.00pm, parking right on the waterfront - in fact, so close that the site warden took charge of manouvering the van into place by hand, front first so that we'd have the view, and using his experience on the brake to make sure we didn't see the van topple into the Loch. Frances, George and Charlie prepared dinner and sorted the caravan while I put the awning up in a cloud of midges. They only come our for a couple of hours each evening - we'd arrived bang on time!
Saturday was a deservedly lazy day, fishing on the Loch. We didn't endanger any fish though...not sure that if there were actually any in the Loch they'd have been very tempted by the fake pheromone coated baits we were using, bought several years ago in Australia! In the afternoon we visited the Loch Ness exhibition - very intriguing...is there really a monster lurking in the depths?
Yesterday (Saturday) we made an early start (without the caravan) and drove across the bridge to Skye, passing the beautiful Eilaan Donan castle en route. Frances took us on a guided tour having visited many times in the past. We parked at the Sligachan Hotel and set off for a hike into the Cuillins. We wound our way up along a bubbling burn through beautiful heather and peat bogs. George and I forged ahead to make our objective, a lower summit, leaving Frances and Charlie exploring the burn. We rejoined them and found our way down to a crystal clear pool at the base of s twenty foot waterfall - perfect for a quick skinny dip! Charlie was the bravest, diving right in! Not to be outdone, George splashed around to get properly wet. And I waded in up to my waist before the first stages of hypothermia had me running to get dressed! Frances sensibly stayed on the bank taking photos!
After a well earned packed lunch and pint at the hotel, we drove on to the Talismer distillery at Carbost - very interesting, particulary for the free dram provided!
And then on to Corbost, Loch Dunvegan for a look at the folk museum inside a real croft with it's smokey peat fire, and a bike ride to explore. We met a father and son off for a paddle in their kayak - he is a former vicar and now a house or head master at school Eastbourne College. He's just had a house built overlooking the Loch and castle, and is planning to retire here.
After loading the bikes back onto the roof we made a quick stop at the Angus Macaskill museum, a small display dedicated to the 7' 4'' giant from this area in the 19th century - he was absolutely vast, strong as an ox, gentle and considerate, and became a celebratory here and in the US and Canada.
We arrived back at the caravan late in the evening after s wonderful day, and wolfed down pizzas before going to bed to the sound of the by now heavy rain. Sleep was short-lived though...the rain was so heavy that it began to pool on the awning roof, one corner of which collapsed under the weight on top of George's bed! He didn't wake up, but Frances and I had to fix the awning back up - no lasting damage, fortunately. Frances made up the bed in the caravan and brought him in, and later did the same with Charlie. Another learning experience!
And now I must get up to pack away the awning - it's still pouring! We're off to Morar today, by the coast for the next few days. We'll stop at Fort William for supplies, and weather-permitting to head up Ben Nevis.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Thursday 4th August

Well, those Swallows must have been very good sailors! We rented a sailing dinghy yesterday (a Wayfairer, a very nice boat, very comfortable for four of us) and had a wonderful 3 hour sail tacking up Coniston towards Wildcat island (actually called Peel island) following pretty much the route described in their story. We didn't make it as the wind was against us, but we did make great progress. Frances, George and Charlie made great crew, manning the jib sheet, sitting out on the rail and leaning back to balance the boat, plenty of 'ready about', 'lee ho' and 'aye aye skipper'! We made it back to the jetty bang on time. It was a really lovely day - a good breeze, beautiful sunshine, great fun. We had well earned ice creams on the shorefront, and then cycled back to the campsite. We packed up ready for an early start to Loch Ness this morning - good plan, as we've woken to pouring rain today!
So, a long drive ahead - 6-8 hours. Let's hope it's less eventful than the last leg!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Wednesday 3rd August, Conniston

Yesterday was a drama free day - hallelujah! We went for a lovely drive along the winding Wynrose and Hardknott mountain passes (not for the faint hearted, nor for those who can't reverse - we witnessed several cars getting into all sorts of difficulties trying to reverse up or downhill into passing spaces). At the summit of Wynrose set off for a hike - a steep climb up a beautiful grassy mountain towards the summit of Scafell Pike. Despite the low cloud, we had glimpses of spectacular views over beautiful valleys below as we ate our picnic lunch - breathtaking beauty, and incredible that this is all so close to the coast. Then home for a barbecue, and finally a late evening cycle to the Bluebird Cafe on the shore of Conniston for ice-creams and beer. We met the owner who told us it was destroyed in the floods of 2009 and has been beautifully rebuilt, re-opened this year by Donald Campbell's daughter. The lake is so still and peaceful - reminiscent of our time at Walker's Pond in Maine with the Paisleys. Must have been incredible when Campbell's Bluebird K7 shattered the peace and tranquility as it hurtled down the lake at over 300mph!
And it's finally stopped raining!
We're booked to rent a sailing dinghy this afternoon to sail on the lake, in the wake of Swallows and Amazons. Wildcat Island here we come...line up the trees with the white cross and sail right in! 

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Tuesday 2nd, Conniston Water

I can see why they call this Conniston Water...it sounds like we're under it with all this rain pounding the caravan. This was the location where Donald Campbell was killed in 1967 attempting to crack the 300mph mark for the world water speed record (http://www.acrossthelake.com/). The glimpses I've had so far show it to be a beautiful place...but for the rest of the time I've been concentrating hard on the thin ribbon of Tarmac winding up and down the hills between very hard and damaging-looking dry stone walls to the campsite.
We took the caravan to a specialist centre in Ulswater yesterday - they were very helpful and pretty unphased by our incident - they fitted a new wheel, changed the tyres using Tyreon safety bands which were helpfully suggested to us by Gom (Frances' father, John) and have been widely recommended to us to hold the tyre in place should this happen again, gave the caravan the once over and said it was fine, and told us not to give up!
Frances spent the day on the phone sorting out all the insurance claims which seems massively complicated. We'll try to get the front repaired before leaving the UK for mainland Europe at the end of August - but realistically that might not be possible. If not, we'll make do with the white gaffer tape I managed to buy yesterday - a bit less unsightly than the black!
We got back to the same spot in the caravan park yesterday and finally got the awning up - so at last we're properly set up!
So, it's raining hard this morning - hopefully it might ease enough to go exploring - Scafell, the Hardnot Pass, Conniston Water itself by boat (perhaps we can hire a sailing dinghy like Swallows and Amazons). We'll stay an extra night here (http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/caravanclubapps/applications/uk%20sites/Site%20Details.aspx?csid=21956) so that we can do some of these things.

Monday 1st August: Conniston water









We packed the caravan and left the Maples (a little later than planned) and then drove to Somersham on Friday afternoon. The car seemed to cope with the load reasonably well, but we had very slow traffic so it took us ages to get there. Saturday was a nice lazy day - beautiful sunshine, and very relaxing - just what we needed after our late nights over the last few days.
We left Lawn Cottage at 8.30 on Sunday morning, and after a brief false start (Dad had to drive to catch us up and deliver the things we'd left behind!) we got properly underway. There was virtually no traffic and we were cruising along fine - I stuck the car on cruise control at 58mph and it went really well for about 150 miles.
Then disaster struck - we had a caravan tyre blow out on the motorway. The first we knew of it was that the caravan began to snake (weave) which got worse and worse very rapidly - I couldn't control it  - it finally jacknifed across three lanes of traffic. Miraculously no one hit us - all traffic stopped - and the van didn't flip, although it did swing round and hit the car, damaging the front of the van and the wheel arch of the car. No one was hurt, thank goodness. We got the car and caravan on to the hard shoulder, and with some help I managed to change the wheel (it didn't help that the jack from the car buckled and collapsed, and the wheel brace wasn't long enough to give me the leverage to undo the wheel nuts! Then we moved off the motorway slowly and waited for the recovery guy - he checked everything over, made a quick running repair of the damage to the front of the caravan with gaffer tape (looks charming!) and sent us on our way. We finally arrived at the campsite in Conniston at about 6pm,  about 4 hours later than planned. We'll get the damage looked at today, replace the damaged wheel and tyres, and hopefully chalk this one up to experience! It really could have been a great deal worse!






After a couple of medincinal doses of Grandpa David's plum wine and a lovely maiden dinner cooked by Frances in the caravan we hit the hay early and slept like logs!
We've woken to a rainy day - good day for sorting things out!


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