Carpark heaven in Bideford – 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.

Bideford Riverbank Carpark - £8 per day inc overnight — Bideford Riverbank Carpark – £8 per day inc overnight

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 the car park is the Burton Gallery and Museum which was really interesting. It is hard to beleive that this small town was once (1699) the third largest port in England specialising in tobacco from the new American colonies. It is still a working port and we watched a ship being loaded with ball clay bound for Spain. The MS Oldenburg that sails to and from Lundy is also based here.

River Torridge at Bideford at the Riverbank Car Park where we spent two nights

Bertie at the Bideford Riverbank Car Park

The weather was against us here – in fact the bad forecast was partly what made us select this sheltered spot. Even so on Friday and Saturday nights we were rocked to sleep by the gales battering the South West. We walked in to the little town and had a look around on Thursday despite the overcast skies and threat of rain. On Friday all we managed to do was take the washing in to the laundrette and we got well soaked walking back to Bertie! Very few photos here as not really camera weather.

We are getting short of water – it is four days since we last filled the water tank and I could see nowhere around to get water. It poured with rain most of Friday and all that night. Here we were worrying about water and it was hammering down all around us. In the end we put the bucket under the front corner of the van just where all the water runs off the roof and it filled in a few minutes. We used this water (boiled in a saucepan) for washing up and other non-culinary uses. It worked well and we will use that again when we are parked up in heavy rain in areas where tap water is hard to come by.

Mileage reading tonight: 119013 kms
Mileage today: 31kms
Mileage from home: 819kms

34th and 35th nights on Bertie