Wickham, England, U.K. – Mar. 24-31, 2012

More Pictures!

There comes a time when a little extra money spent is worth its weight in gold.  If not gold, then certainly counseling fees.  We encountered this moment on the first full day of our eight day stay in Wickham.

We had come down to southern England to prepare for Salt & Pepper’s arrival.  We knew we had to deal with propane tanks, black tank dumping solutions and the electrical change-over.  So we came in a week ahead of S&P with a primary mission to visit as many RV Supply stores that we could dig up.  Unfortunately we had the added task of visiting the local Sony store as my laptop had stopped working unless plugged in.  But before I get into the compelling details of our errand-running, first a few words about the delightful town of Wickham.

With no intention on our part we landed ourselves in quite a yuppy town; rounding out the English village requirements of tea-shop, butcher and baker, is a wine bar, two (yes two!) Indian restaurants and a barber, all attended to by happy people hopping out of their Porsches.  Plus on Thursdays a Fishmonger comes to the central square with fresh fish from Portsmouth.  (We bought salmon yesterday.)

But back to work:  On our first day we headed out to Portsmouth in Curry with the intention of visiting at least three if not four businesses.  Now, I’ve already written about how tiring it is to always have to find your way around, but add to that driving a rather large vehicle (Curry) down narrow streets (Portsmouth) and then trying to park the darn thing (blimey!) and we were just about dead after only two stops.  After the third, I had had enough.  We stopped for a quick lunch and then headed directly to Enterprise Car Rental. 

We assumed it was going to cost a fortune but at only £14.00/day our small, black, almost completely round car (immediately named The Peppercorn) turned out to be the deal of the day. 

So for our final errand we zipped down the M27 in Peppercorn, leaving Curry parked along a side road outside of Portsmouth.  What a treat!  It maneuvers!  It picks up speed reasonably quickly!  You don’t hear the dishes banging around!  The Noses, too, were thrilled as they no longer had to worry about the Kleenex box flying down on their heads while en route.

So Peppercorn has become a part of our lives.  Taking a day off of errands (there is a lot to do, believe me, and most of it involves trying to locate the stores) we headed up to Stonehenge for the day.  A nice short drive landed us in the area just before lunch.  It being another (incredibly) sunny day, we stocked up on some picnic supplies and headed to the site. 

Alan was fortunate enough to visit Stonehenge many years ago when you could actually walk among the stones.  Those days are long gone.  We were prepared for the new walkway around the outside of the stones but we weren’t prepared for the fact that the path was about 20 yards away, they didn’t allow dogs, and it cost £8.00 per person.  So we opted to gaze at it through the chain link fence for free.  Alan said, “I feel like The Cheap Tourist” earning my retort, “I feel like The Smart One.”  You have to be able to make each other laugh to enjoy this lifestyle!

The picnic area was full so we opted to drive a few miles away to Woodhenge, a lesser known heritage site where archeologists had uncovered wooden pillars which had been set in a swirling circular pattern.  The wood pillars have long since been replaced by cement, but it was interesting none-the-less. The parking area was near empty, dogs were allowed inside and so we walked around the pillars a bit then sat in the sun for a nice picnic.

Heading home we stopped at Sarum Castle and I developed my first English Pet Peeve:  They shouldn’t have signs saying “Castle” unless you can actually see a castle.  Live.  Not just in your imagination.  Sarum was mostly an imaginary one, although the hilltop setting was beautiful and we were allowed to run The Noses through the fields much to their delight.

Our home for the week, the Caravan Club Rookesbury Park, has the most incredible dog run—it is almost the size of a football field and fully fenced.  In addition, the park is nestled next to the Bere Forest through which we spent many happy hours romping around.  I’m not sure The Noses will enjoy our move to the Novotel Hotel in Southampton for our remaining Salt & Pepper-less days, but I know I will!

Hoping to pick them up on the 3^rd – 4^th at the latest.

-K

Edinburgh, Scotland to Lake District National Park, England – Mar. 21 – 23, 2012

More Pictures!

In planning our limited time up north we initially ranked both these locations as “ok to pass by.”  (Even despite receiving multiple recommendations to visit the Lake District.)  But as luck would have it (or more specifically, as gaining knowledge would have it) we made better time heading south than we thought; thus opening up time for these two delightful stops.

You see, we have discovered there are different types of “A” roads and, the really great part is, we are beginning to distinguish them on the A to Z!  We have found A roads to be anything from relaxing two-lane highways to a harrowing single lane shared in both directions, sometimes with no center line.  But with our new map reading capabilities, our trip south was much faster than our trip north.

Thus we earned one night in Edinburgh at the delightful Edinburgh Caravan Club Site.

We woke in Edinburgh to the first cloudless day we have had in the United Kingdom.  Our plan was to drive to the Lake District as soon as possible, but with such nice weather and a bus stop only a half-mile away we decided a quick tour of downtown Edinburgh was a requirement.   It was very quick, but definitely worth the trip.  Dogs were not allowed into the castle, but that didn’t stop us from taking Rosco’s picture out front to the amazement of our fellow tourists.  They just couldn’t believe he would sit there all by himself so calmly.  I, on the other hand, knew I was safe unless he spotted the UPS van coming up the hillside.

Pictures and bus tour accomplished, we hit the road for the Lake District National Park and what a treat that was!  I realize I have to stop relating everything as “gorgeous” otherwise who will continue to believe me?  So I’ll move on to stunning.  It is unbelievable how quickly the geography changes as you leave the middle of England and head west:  From low, flat farms to the seemingly endless Cumbrian Mountains snuggled against each other, and it all happens in a matter of a few short miles.

With our late start from Edinburgh, we didn’t reach Keswick (an almost cute town) until around 5:00 p.m.  We had no reservations and it being a warm and sunny Thursday leading into an equally promising weekend we knew we might have trouble securing a spot.  So we carpe pitched ’em at the first caravan park with an opening; indeed, gaining their last pitch.  The English are rightfully crazy about this National Park of theirs and with the sunny weather they were nearly out of their minds with delight.  Happy, hiking people were everywhere.

We weren’t thrilled with the campground and realizing that we would need reservations for our Friday night stay, SP spent some time finding us the delightful Gillside Farm Campground for our second night; conveniently located just minutes from the jumping off point of our hike to Angle Tarn.  That task accomplished, we gorged on driving day pizza and went to bed early.  We knew we needed an early start for our mountain hike.

And what a great hike it was!  But let me tell you, the English are a much tougher hiking clan than we Americans!  Not only are their “moderate” ratings much closer to “strenuous” but they do not use switchbacks. So if the hike gains elevation it does so by simply going straight up.  And that’s what we did for a good three miles – but check out those views! 

On the way up we survived The Great Sheep Herding Incident of 2012:  Forgetting that we were crossing pasture land in the beginning of the hike, we let The Noses off leash.  Unfortunately, they spotted some sheep before we did and took off after them.  The sheep were no fools and immediately escaped across a small waterfall-filled river but with The Noses in hot pursuit.  Rosco’s pursuit was so hot he almost ran himself off a giant boulder and down a 20’ waterfall.  Stopping with a squeal at the cusp just in time, he apparently decided that was enough and (finally) heeded my calls to return.

After that we kept them on leash until we were sure we were out of pasture land.  But that didn’t stop River from jumping up and down every time she caught a whiff of sheep.

The hike was delightful in the hazy sunshine and low 60’s temperature; I only wish the day had been a bit clearer.  In the pictures you can make out the silhouettes of the mountains layering their way to the coast.  On a clear day it must be spectacular.

We loved our little spot on Gillside Farm (purchasing some fresh eggs and milk while we were there.)  A short walk into Glenridding for coffee the next morning was a perfect ending to our Lake District adventure.  Definitely a Must See but not a Must Return due simply to the crowds; we thought Friday was busy, but the endless arrival of hikers on Saturday was stupendous.  And this wasn’t even the peak season!

After an incredibly long day in Curry (we did try to stop on the way but everything was booked—still sunny, still crazy, still a weekend!) we arrived one day early at our site near Portsmouth, the Rookesbury Caravan Club Site.  Thankfully, they had a grass pitch available—one of only three spots left—and we set up for the night.  The next day we moved to a gravel pitch where we will remain for the duration of our stay. 

Eight glorious nights in one spot!

-K

Scottish Highlands & Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, U.K. – March 18-20, 2012

More Pictures Here!  (But remember, it is Winter so the trees are bare and the heather has not flowered.  Can’t imagine how stunning it will be in a few months.)

Surely the painter who named all the earthy colors did so while sitting in Scotland.  Driving through the Highlands you discover a patchwork of colors likely seen on any palette:  The Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber hillsides sprinkled with Davey’s Grey rocks;  the pastures of Hooker’s Green dotted with white sheep; and, when the clouds part, a sky so completely Cerulean Blue it makes you wonder if you have ever seen a blue sky before. 

Was that description too artsy?  How about envisioning endless rolling hillsides running up to snow-packed peaks, with towns nestled next to rushing rivers or calming lakes?  (And let’s not forget the scotch!) Scotland has the beauty of Switzerland (and you know I love Switzerland) with the rustic feel of Spain topped off with the friendliness of Italy. 

Unfortunately, it has the weather of Iceland.  (Indeed, Dalwhinnie is tied with Iceland as having the coldest average temperature at 6° Celsius.)

But it wasn’t only the scenery that marked Scotland as our first Must Return location; we just didn’t get to see as much of it as we would have liked.  As I mentioned before, we have been somewhat stymied by the time of year (not a lot of caravan parks are open yet this far north) and the inflexibility of Curry.  There were so many tempting roads leading into the valleys of Cairngorms National Park that we would have jumped on in the Pepper (after detaching Salt, of course) but could not even attempt with Curry. 

As for the drive up, we left Faskally and headed across the Glen Spean area of A86 (a Must See) and over to search for Nessie in Loch Ness.  Alan had hunted up a couple of caravan parks that advertised “Open March to September” so we thought we were safe.    But apparently “Open March” really means somewhere near the end of the month; one place we stopped at opened the following day (19^th) the other opened on the 23^rd.  So we had a nice long drive around Loch Ness before heading to the site that advertised, very definitively, “Open All Year”, at Granton-on-Spey.  (A reminder:  All our camping sites are further described in the Campground page at the top of the blog.)

Now the town of Granton-on-Spey doesn’t rank terribly high in the cuteness category, but it makes up for it with its useful stores (butcher, baker, money maker [bank]) and welcoming people.  We took many a long hike from the campground up into the hills, crossing pastures, meeting horses and tiring out The Noses before heading into town for a half of Best.  Okay, a full of Best.

It was during one of these morning walks that we met some fellow travelers and fell into a conversation.  I felt like I hadn’t spoken to someone in such detail for ages!  Then I realized what it was; they were English and not Scottish.  Therefore we could actually understand what they were saying thus making for a much more interesting conversation.  It was from these nice people that we learned the European description for what we are doing—it is not a Holiday but a Gap Year.  (Incidentally, the Europeans are not shocked at all that we are on a Gap Year.  It seems traveling abroad for a year or more is much more common over here.)

If it wasn’t for S&P’s imminent arrival (or so we hope) we would have stayed much longer.  There is a fantastic system of trails that link the towns throughout the valley and we were disappointed that we did not get the opportunity to hike to any of them (bussing back, of course.)

We are on our way down south now, one night in Edinburgh at the gorgeous Edinburgh Caravan Club site (the US had a lot to learn about RV Parks) and two nights planned in the Lake District.  Including a quick visit to the Airstream dealer. 

Upcoming postings include a Scenic Drive of the North York Moors National Park (if I can ever get a strong enough internet connection to get it uploaded) and details on adjustments we are planning for Salt’s evolution from a US Travel Trailer to a European Caravan.

-K