Today we were on the road by 9am. What were we thinking?

We stopped in Dumfries and did a Lidl shop, then stopped again in another town to upload a video at the library.

With all our chores done, we hit the road again. And we now have a new hobby.

Knitting!

Mike bought some wool in Norway last year and had been giving it a go. Then, when I saw some wool and needles in a garden centre, of all places, I decided I wanted to do it too.
No idea what I’m knitting, but it’s something to do on the drives when the road
s are too winding to read. As it’s so cold up here, I’m visualising jumpers, socks, and maybe a blankie for Bertie. We’ll see how long it lasts.

We didn’t drive far today. I saw a place called Isle of Whithorn on the map and decided I wanted to go there. Research and navigation all rolled into one.

It’s a quaint fishing village in the south of Scotland, and they have free overnight parking overlooking the sea and the Isle of Man. Just across the water is Northern Ireland. It’s rugged and rocky and feels remote. It’s perfect.

And there’s also a toilet, dump station and fresh water, all free. This is how it should be done. England, you should be ashamed! We actually couldn’t find anywhere to dump our waste in all of England.

On our walk, we discovered an old church dating back to the 1300s. Just ruins now, but it’s on a pilgrim route (or tourist route, as Mike calls them). There’s a pile of rocks there that apparently pilgrims bring with them to dump. Not sure of the purpose of it, but I prefer the “leave no trace” rule and leave rocks and stones where they are. You never know who might have had a home under one.

The village itself is small. Just a pub and an actual church, which had an exhibition inside. There’s a lot of history here. This is one of the first places in Scotland where Christianity was introduced, with pilgrims coming across from Ireland around 300 AD.

And there were many shipwrecks along this coast, and I’m not surprised.

It’s such a nice spot to just sit and stare out to sea, with the faint click-clacking of the needles in the background.

Our first night in Scotland went well and this morning we ventured out on foot to try and find the castles.

It was a nice walk through ancient woods, with some trees as old as 200 years old. Lots of gnarly branches and stuff, it was pretty cool.

Along the way we came across a little shelter overlooking the wetlands, where apparently you could sit quietly and watch the birds.

So we did.

There weren’t any.

There was, however, a board behind us showing all the birds we could have seen. Ducks. Seagulls. And various other birds that looked suspiciously like the sort of thing we see every day anyway.

We decided we weren’t missing much and carried on to the castle.

Or what was left of it.

The first one was known as the Old Castle, although calling it a castle was being fairly generous. It didn’t have any walls. Just a few rocks in the ground showing where the walls had once been.

Apparently they’d chosen a terrible place to build it. The ground was too damp and unstable, which seems like something you might want to check before building a castle.

But, they built another one a little further along.

And this one was much more castle-like.

It had walls! And a moat! And towers! The whole thing was seriously impressive.

You could pay to go inside, but from experience, castles nearly always look better from the outside. That’s our way if justifying it anyway.

So we circled the outside instead, took far too many photos, and wandered back through the woods to the van.
By now it was lunchtime, so we made egg and salad sandwiches and decided we quite liked it here.
So we stayed another night.

We spent the afternoon editing, playing chess and sleeping.

Well, why not.

If we wanted cooler weather we certainly got it. We’ve both been wearing our fleeces over the last couple of days. And last night it even rained! We have not seen rain for literally months!

We really didn’t want to leave our gorgeous spot in the Yorkshire Moors. So we sat and spent the morning doing editing and just enjoying the views.

Then we thought we probably should go for a walk, even though the hills were in the mist. We wandered down to the Viaduct to have a look. An impressive stone railway bridge built in the 1800s.

After our walk we continued driving. We drove through Kirkby Stephen which I remember from my sisters’ blogs. There was supposed to be a Devils bridge here, but we didn’t see it. We stopped at the Co-op instead for chocolate.

Then it was a mad dash to get past Carlisle before the traffic. And next minute, we were in Scotland! I even got a photo of the sign (unheard of!).

We also fast-tracked through Gretna Green as I didn’t want to accidentally get married. I do remember stopping their with Mum and Dad on their road trip in our old Kombi van.

It was now 5pm-ish so it was time to look for somewhere to camp. We looked at a couple of nice lay-bys overlooking the estuary, but they were a little too close to the road for my liking. Although it didn’t look like a very busy road.

We ended up driving to a place marked that had dump facilities and fresh water. It was 10 pounds a night and quite pleasant, surrounded by bush and a castle nearby which we might look at tomorrow.

We slept really well in the pub car park, and had a very lazy morning just chilling out. We went for another walk along the canal, heading the opposite way this time, and it was really lovely. Quiet, green and exactly what we needed after the last few days.

Then it was back to the van for a homemade salmon sandwich before finally getting ourselves on the road at about 2pm.

The drive today was much more civilised. Not too much traffic, decent-sized roads and, most importantly, no motorways. Every time we crossed over one, we could see it was absolutely heaving below us.

So that’s where everyone was.

By about 5pm I’d found a car park where we could stay overnight for £6. There was nothing particularly wrong with it. It was cheap, quiet and would have done the job.

But it didn’t have the vibe.

And I’ve learnt that when somewhere doesn’t feel quite right, it’s usually worth carrying on. Somehow we almost always find somewhere much better.

We were right on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors by then, and I spotted a pub further on that allowed campervans to stay for free. So we headed towards that instead.

Almost as soon as we entered the national park, everything changed.

Suddenly there were wide open views, rolling hills, fields stretching into the distance and old stone walls running across the landscape. After the traffic, towns and busy roads of the previous few days, it felt like we could finally breathe again.

The pub car park, unfortunately, was already pretty full of campervans.

But just a little further up the road we found a long lay-by. Most of the day visitors had already gone home, leaving just a handful of vehicles and an enormous view.

And it was absolutely perfect.

Fields stretched out below us, with a long stone viaduct crossing the valley in the distance.

Much better than the £6 car park.

We’d planned to leave Matt and Sonia’s at 9am. We were on the road by 11am. Close enough.

As we headed north I wondered when the accents would change. I love a northern accent, and was looking forward to the moment we crossed the invisible line where everyone suddenly started talking funny.

We’re trying to fast-track it to Scotland, but still avoiding motorways. The roads were much better behaved today, and not as narrow and winding.

We stopped at Warrington to get our tyres checked as they are wearing funny. And the man took a look at them, opened his mouth and guess what?

He had the accent! Yay! On the negative side, he said it might be our suspension causing it and to get that checked, but he didn’t seem to think there was a problem for the moment. At least, I think that’s what he said. I couldn’t really understand him.

Then somewhere along the way my jandal popped its clog, and has been impossible to walk in them. So we spent the next hour or so, looking for jandals. I thought Decathlon would have had them. But nope. Only those stupid scuff style ones, and crocs for 40 pounds!

We tried the Lidl. Nope. Homebase. Nope. Now you might be thinking I was going around asking if they had jandals. But no, I’m not that stupid. I was definitely asking for flip-flops. Although I had to get Mike to translate a couple of times as people up here don’t understand my accent.

Finally I found a pair in Aldi. But they only had the one size, and they were a size 10! But, they would have to do. I can’t survive without jandals. They’re easy to slip on and off, and essential for the showers in preventing foot fungus!

So I am now wandering around in a ridiculously oversized pair of jandals. I wonder if that’s why people have been giving us a wide berth.

After that we were exhausted and started looking for somewhere to sleep. I’d seen a pub that allowed campervans to park overnight, roughly between Manchester and Liverpool but a little further north, so we headed there. It was a lovely spot, right on the canal with already a couple of vans parked up.

But what a noise. There were a load of rowdy cyclists there, all drinking and jumping in the canal, naking a terrible racket. I actually said, ‘lets get outta here.’ But Mike seemed to think they wouldn’t stay long.

It turns out it was a charity bike ride and they were raising money for their rugby club and to play in Ireland. And Mike was right. Within a couple of hours they were all gone.

We had a couple of beers in the pub, but I didn’t fancy anything on the menu. Then I saw the specials board. Sausage, mash and gravy for 8.90. I’d be having that! And it was so yummy. Diet starts tomorrow.

After dinner we took a walk along the canal. It’s a really gorgeous spot.

We saw a guy trying out an inflatable kayak he’d bought from Lidl. He was loaded up with camping gear while his mate walked alongside. The whole thing looked questionable. It had no keel and didn’t seem interested in travelling in a straight line.

I wished him luck and got outta there. I wasn’t jumping in to save him.

Despite being in a pub car park on a Saturday night, we had a really quiet night.

We’re on the road again.

For how long, we’re not entirely sure. The vague plan is to make our way up to Scotland, have a look around, and see how we feel. So, about as organised as usual.

For some reason, our first day on the road turned into a tour of British supermarkets.
First stop was Lidl to stock up on supplies. From there, we went to visit Mich, who is currently off work with sciatica, before hitting the road.

Quite why we thought setting off in the middle of the school holidays was a good idea, I’m not sure.
The roads were packed. Roadworks seemed to be everywhere, sections of motorway were closed, and we had no choice but to take the back roads.

Normally, we love the back roads. In Spain and Portugal they’d taken us through tiny villages, over mountains and along roads where we could drive for miles without seeing another car.

England is slightly different.

Here, there are other cars on them.

Eventually we made it to supermarket number two: Tesco, for a sandwich and snack deal. Proper road-trip cuisine.

Then we sat in some more traffic.

As we drove through Bradford on Avon, the air suddenly became thick with smoke. There had been wildfires breaking out around the UK, and driving through the haze was a little unnerving. I was starting to wonder whether this was really the best time to be setting off on a road trip.

The plan for the night was Ludlow, but somewhere just south of Gloucester we hit yet another traffic jam. As I stared at the map, I suddenly realised we were going to be passing quite close to Matt and Sonia’s place.
Mike gave Matt a call.

And just like that, Ludlow was abandoned and we were heading to see them instead.

Via Aldi, obviously, to get beer.

Three supermarkets in one day. We know how to travel.

It turned out to be a really nice change of plan. Instead of spending the evening looking for somewhere to stop for the night, we got to catch up with Matt and Sonia, and even had a proper bed to sleep in.

Scotland will just have to wait.

Today we went for a walk in the Malvern Hills with Matt, and we almost got injured twice!

The first walk was fairly uneventful, although it was quite steep and we had a bit of trouble keeping up with Matt, who was powering up the hills. I hadn’t realised how unfit we’d become! It was a gorgeous day though, and the views from the top across the countryside were well worth the climb.
The second walk was much more eventful.

Our first panic was the parking. We’d already paid £6.50 at the previous car park, and when we arrived at the next one, the machine wanted another £6.50. I’m not used to paying to go for a walk, so paying twice didn’t sit right with me.

Then we spotted the small print. The ticket actually covered all of the Malvern Hills car parks for the day. Phew!

Before we set off, we stood watching dozens of paragliders drifting overhead, floating around in the thermals. There were so many of them, I couldn’t work out how they managed to avoid each other.
The walk started along a lovely narrow woodland path. Matt spotted a sign marked ‘MTB Route.’

‘That’s a mountain bike trail,’ I said.

‘Nah,’ he replied. ‘Probably stands for Malvern Trust Board.’

About ten seconds later, two mountain bikers came hurtling towards us.
The path was so narrow I had nowhere to go and just hoped they’d stop in time. Thankfully they veered off around a corner at the last second.

That was close.

Our second close call came when we reached the top of the hill, where the paragliders were getting ready to launch. We watched one take off beautifully. It looked so effortless.

Another pilot was preparing to launch, so we stopped uphill to watch. Mike and Matt stayed back while I wandered a little closer to get some footage.

The pilot’s wife was helping him when, all of a sudden, he took off!

Only instead of gliding away downhill like the previous paraglider, a gust of wind blew him straight towards us.

He narrowly missed his wife, then he was coming for me! I took off running, then turned around just in time to see him heading straight for Mike and Matt.

Mike ducked.

Matt carried on filming.

Thankfully nobody was hurt, and looking back at the footage it was actually pretty funny.

But later that day we heard that a paraglider had been seriously injured and airlifted from the hills.
We couldn’t help wondering if it had been the same guy.

We finished the evening with a game of Scrabble.

Mike proudly played a T on a triple-word score, managing to make both AT and ATE at the same time, giving him a grand total of 8 points!

I said, ‘Matt’s probably sitting there with an X thinking, “I could have got 50 points with that, but you took my spot!”‘

Mike looked at his letters. ‘Oh. I had an X,’

Today we left Butlins and headed up to Ledbury to visit Matt (Mike’s son). It’s normally a 2.5-hour drive from Minehead, but it took us about 3.5 hours due to traffic and roadworks on the motorway. (Yes, we had to take the motorway, otherwise it would have taken 5 hours!)

Matt and Sonia took us for a sightseeing tour of Ledbury, which is a charming historic market town, full of chocolate ripple and wonky-shaped buildings (my favourites).

We went to the Prince of Wales Free House for drinks, and this is a proper olde-worlde pub. And apparently it’s haunted!

Sonia said there had been reports of people’s drinks falling off the tables, but they’d never seen anything before.

We sat down with our pints of Guinness and all was well. Until it was time for our second pint. Mike and I decided to share one, so Matt bought us a can to share. I had just finished pouring our beers and placed the can on the table when the ghost decided to visit!

The can just started sliding across the table, all on its own!

We all just sat there watching it. It was proper spooky.

There had to be a perfectly sensible explanation.

We threw a few ideas around, but the only logical conclusion we could come up with was that the ghost wanted a Guinness. We didn’t stay for a third beer.

After that we went to a beautiful Italian restaurant for dinner. And it was delicious. I chose the creamy salmon pasta, which was delicious, and Mike had a tortilinni.

We were too full for dessert, so we went back to Matt and Sonia’s and had yogurt and mango. Then we sat around outside chatting for the rest of the evening.

We had grand plans to walk to Dunster today.

Then we woke up a bit late… and couldn’t really be bothered.

So instead, we decided to do something even more exciting.

Laundry.

Our plan was to get it over and done with early, but there was a queue. Then, when we finally got a machine, the payment system wasn’t working. There was a bit of a kerfuffle as everyone tried to pay, failed, and started ringing customer services.

Not Mike though.

Despite being the oldest person in the room, he was probably the calmest. While everyone else was flapping about, he quietly downloaded the app, paid through that instead, and had our machine running before anyone else had even finished complaining.

By the time the washing was done, it was 12:30. So much for an early start.

We wandered into town for fish and chips after being told the best place wasn’t on the seafront. Even better, they did senior meals, which means you get free chips with your fish.
Naturally, we both ate far too much and spent the next hour wondering why fish and chips always seems like such a brilliant idea until you’ve actually finished it.

With the day disappearing, we figured we should at least make use of everything we’d paid for at Butlin’s.
Our first ride was the merry-go-round.

That didn’t go entirely to plan either.

Our first idea was to share a horse. I climbed on the front, realised there was absolutely nothing to hold onto apart from the horse’s neck, and decided this wasn’t how I wanted my obituary to read. So Mike climbed off and found himself another horse.

Problem solved.

For about thirty seconds, the horses bobbing up and down felt surprisingly dramatic.
Then it became… a merry-go-round.

Next was the giant slide, where they hand you a sack and encourage you to throw yourself down it. There was a lovely view from the top, although I spent most of the climb concentrating on not dropping my 360 camera while wrestling with a hessian sack.

It was actually pretty tame.

Then we finished the day with tonight’s show, Electric City.

And wow.

It was genuinely next level. Laser lights, glowing costumes, incredible dancers, loads of energy… definitely not what we were expecting, and a great way to finish our last day at Butlins.