UK Travels – Page 2 – 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.

Gartmon Dam, Tasty Breakfast and The Hermitage

The highlight of today was planned to be Stirling Castle. However having negotiated the steep narrow road up to the huge car park on the esplanade outside the Castle we were told in no uncertain terms that motorhomes were not allowed – not even for the day. There had been signs saying no caravans but we had assumed that this would affect us in a motorhome. Eileen was not happy and we have never been back to Stirling since that

Sweetheart Abbey

We arrived at New Abbey and found a place at the end of the car park with a good view of the Abbey but away from the busy area. By the time we had our, now rather late, lunch and then had a good chat to the full-timers in the motorhome next door it was too late to try and visit the Abbey or the watermill at the other end of the village. We did have a walk around the

Barrow-in-Furness and the Lake District

We left Walney Island after a lazy start and were back across the bridge in Barrow-in-Furness at the Dock Museum for when it opened at 11am. We spent a good two hours exploring the superb museum which is all about ship building and the development of Barrow-in-Furness. Well worth a visit. We had lunch in the car park there and then headed north to a CL campsite at Broughton-in-Furness as we needed services. We had a relaxed afternoon at The

Across the sea to Heysham and on to Cumbria

After all the excitement of the last few days we had a very smooth crossing back to Heysham. First thing to do was to fuel up at Asda and go shopping at Lidl – we were low on both food and fuel as prices are quite a bit higher on the Island. I should clarify that Manx people rarely refer to the “Isle of Man” it is always called “the Island” and England is “across” (eg “I am going across

Nobles Park and Ophelia Related Delays

We had some excitement on our way to Douglas after leaving Eary. This was not due to a fallen tree but an accident closing the main road between Peel and Douglas just east of Glen Vine. The police had closed the road and all traffic was waived off the main (A1) road and on to a residential street. We pulled over as soon as we safely could allowing other vehicles to pass us and consulted the Sat Nav. This reckoned that

Eary Farm at last

My sister, Judith and her husband Alan have lived at Eary Farm since they married in 1977 (I was 11!!) and as a child this was somewhere the family came most years at least once. Since I left home my visits are far less frequent (once a decade or so) but I have always loved this amazing spot. They farm over a hundred acres high in the hills above Kirkmichael. The land is in a small valley below Sartfell and

Peel and its famous Castle

In the interests of full disclosure I have to own up that I am writing this under Lockdown in January 2021! I have decided that it is high time I brought Bertie’s blog up to date and I filled in the dates between arriving in Douglas in October 2017 and leaving on our Big Winter Bumble in October 2019. That is two years of missing Bertie Travels. I have our daily log that Eileen maintains which tells me where we

Across the Irish Sea to Douglas

It was a really wild and wooly night at Brow Foot Farm as the winds were really strong and the rain quite heavy. I kept waking up as the van rocked and rolled and listened to the roar of the rain pelting the roof just above my head. We slept in rather as a result and when we woke the sun was shining and it was a glorious day. I emptied the loo again and the grey tank and then

Across Cumbria to see the Bobbin Mill

After yet another windy rainy night we woke to cloudy morning but basically dry. After breakfast we went for a little walkabout to check out the facilities. The cafe looks good but is basically a Summer operation with weekends only in October before winter shut down. There is a separate loo block behind but that charges 30p for access although it might be handy for a loo drop if in need. We walked up to the viewpoint and the big

Bannockburn disappoints and a rough drive through the Southern Uplands

Tuesday morning was bright and sunny giving glorious views as we drove east to Stirling along the base of the Ochils. We had discussed today’s activities at length and in the end chose to visit Bannockburn Battlefield Centre over Stirling Castle as time is short and we have quite a few miles to do today. We had enjoyed Culloden visitor centre which is also NTS run. Sadly Bannockburn was nothing like that. A serious amount of money had been spent