Tim – Page 13 – The Crumbly Gappers

Montreuil sur Mer

Some of the best village ramparts in France

A corner of the Carnac Standing Stones

The Alignnements de Carnac stretch for several kilometers and contain thousands of standing stones of all sizes

Maiden Castle, Dorset

Excellent wild camp in car park directly below this impressive iron age hill fort

Marvao Castle

Marvao is stunning. It floats a thousand feet above the surrounding countryside with views in all directions

Glencaple Pier near Dumfries

Another amazing stopover on a pier on the River Nith below Dumfries

Crossing the Dart on the Kingsweir Ferry

Approaching Dartmouth on the Kingsweir Ferry.

Bidford Riverside Carpark

What an amazing place to spend a couple of nights. Hats off to Torridge DC for doing this.

Lossiemouth looking east

We sat in Bertie and scoffed our fish and chips with this view across the mouth of the River Lossie towards Buckie and Ben Rhynnie

Cullen and Seatown

Looking back to Cullen from the viaduct with Seatown in the foreground

Wildcamping at New Aberdour Beach

An amazing wild camping location on the Banffshire Coast. Walks, beach, birds, caves what more could you want?

The Alpuharras

View from the Miradour over a small town in the Alpuharras near Almeria.

Winter sunset from Cabo de Gata

There is a glorious carpark beside the little village of Cabo de Gata where you can park right beside the beach. The sunsets are stunning

Great little aire in the heart of Burgundy

The lovely little aire was in a tiny village in the heart of Burgundy

Tomphubil Car Park

A lovely spot at the top of the hill between the Tay Valley and the Tummel Valley.

Ricote - the oldest town in Murcia

There is a large aire on the edge of this little town. The town dates back to C9 and is well worth a visit.

We woke this morning to find that Bertie’s waterworks were just as bad as ever and yesterday’s fix had not worked. After some thought we reluctantly decided to abort the rest of the trip and come home. I had had a reply email from Appleton Engineering to let us know they had sourced a supplier for the manifolds and could have them delivered next week. Coming home early meant we could get Bertie fixed, serviced and MOT’d in one go

Across Dorset to Wareham

We spent most of the day at Caravan and Motorhome Solutions at Chard. They were very busy and were fitting us in when they had a chance. Eventually Sandy came and took a look at our leaky manifolds. The hot water manifold had already been sealed up with silicone but the cold water one on the right was spraying water from a crack at the end. Sandy depressured the system and left it to dry and then came back and

Across Exmoor to Chard

Just as we were getting Bertie ready to head off from Appledore we were really pleased to catch sight of MS Oldenburg on her way to Lundy. The ship is Lundy’s connection to the mainland and is the only way to reach the island. The ships sails a couple of times a week and takes 2 hours to make the trip from Bideford to Lundy. It was a short drive from Appledore to Barnstable where we filled up with LPG.

A day at leisure in Appledore

Appledore is a real treat. The car park is perfect – right beside the river and in the middle of the village with walks along the South West Coast Path to be had in both directions. Who would have thought you could have such a nice holiday in a car park. Bertie is not moving at all today as we can park here for two days (£3 for daytime and £5 for overnight). On Tuesday we will need to move

Appledore

We crept out of bed on Sunday to find it still a bit breezy but not actually raining. Last night the forecast suggested that today would be see quite an improvement and suggested a dry day was in store. By the morning that had changed and they are now suggesting rain later. Today we move on from Bideford as our two nights are up. We have enjoyed being here – it is a great location and it was easy to

Carpark heaven in Bideford

We are loving Torridge District Council’s car park policies. They allow up to two nights parking in five of their larger car parks. It costs just £3 for the day and £5 overnight. We spent two nights at the Riverbank Car park in Bideford which is right beside the River Torridge. We had a nice spot sheltered by some trees and great views across the river. Just a few minutes walk in to the little town of Bideford. Close to

Cotehele and tiny Cornish Lanes

After a second gloriously indulgent hotel breakfast we loaded up Bertie and headed in to Cornwall by way of the Torpoint Ferry which links Plymouth with Cornwall. The chain ferry is rather larger than the Kingswear Ferry and surprisingly is rather cheaper. We waited for some one to come around and take our money but the ferry arrived at Torpoint (it only takes a few minutes) and no one had made any attempt to collect fares and then we docked,

The weather changes and we go for a boat trip.

The weather changed today and it was cloudy, showery and breezy. So with a day to spare in Plymouth the best thing we could do was take a 2 hour boat trip right around the harbour. Actually it was rather fun although it was a bit cold, a bit wet and a bit bouncy! After another lovely dinner at the Duke of Cornwall we got changed and headed out to watch the second evening of fireworks. The wind dropped and

Busy day ends with a bang!

This was planned as an easy day as we were within 2 hours drive of Plymouth and did not need to be there until about 3pm. So we had time to visit Eileen’s Mum and Grandma in the churchyard at Kilmington just across the road from the Britstop. From here we bumbled through some tiny lanes to the pretty small town of Colyton where Eileen’s great grandfather was born. We hoped we might have been able to find the cottage

Down to Devon

We slept well at Lotmead Farm Park although there was a steady roar of traffic from the main road. Another sunny day promised as we peeked out at 7:30am – and there were staff arriving already! We emptied the loo cassette and after breakfast we moved the van over and filled up the fresh water and emptied the grey water. I offered to pay for these essential services but that was waived away. We took back our punnet we had

The Crumbly Gappers