Scotland 10th August - 19th August 2006

We left for Scotland on Thursday morning – just – certainly not as early as had been planned. Helen insisted on driving the first stretch as Steve had done all the driving in France.

We decided to stop in the Lake District at about 5pm to set up our Trailer Tent, and chose a tiny Certified Location (CL) site near Penrith. This consisted of a small field. The toilet and “shower” were across the road in a farm outbuilding where you shared your morning ablutions with the resident cat. Nonetheless, it was cheap!

The next day we drove on to Fort William, another four or five hours, and the countryside became progressively more scenic. Up to now the weather had been surprisingly fine, in contrast to the gloomy forecasts; immediately on arriving in Fort William, it started to rain. Fortunately, this didn’t last long and it was dry when we set up our tent in Glen Nevis.

The campsite was very well set out and all the facilities we could have wished for: on-site shop, toilet & shower block, fish & chip van (which we didn’t get down to using), restaurant, etc.

On Saturday we drove back into Fort William and spent a pleasant afternoon browsing around the shops. The town’s well set up to cater for those interested in outdoor activities and there were numerous shops on the main street stocking hiking, camping & travelling accessories – of particular interest to us in view of our forthcoming travels.

Sunday we decided to do one of the many local walks recommended in the local guide – a 13k circular walk from our campsite, which took in the Ben Nevis Whiskey Distillery, & Inverlochy Castle. We arrived at the distillery at 2.30pm; unfortunately, the 3pm tour was fully booked (due to the sudden onset of a coach-load of Norwegians). We didn’t want to wait for the 4pm tour, especially as the stills were not actually in operation that day, so continued on our walk (not before Steve managed to procure a free sample tasting!).

Monday was the day we had earmarked for the ascent of Ben Nevis, as the weather looked the most promising, and so it turned out. It was gone 11am before we managed to get our act together and start the climb, making sure we were well prepared with food, drink, fleeces, hats, compass, whistle and waterproofs. The ascent to the top took us 5 hours and, thanks to the lovely weather, we were afforded some breathtaking views.

At the top it was perfectly calm and so warm Steve took his shirt off to top up the old tan. After about an hour on top of the world (well, Britain) we headed back down. A bit like sheep, people were following each other down the rocky (not that clearly marked) path. The chap in front of us must have decided to take a shortcut. We duly followed him, and about half a dozen other people followed us; this was a mistake. The shortcut may well have cut out a bit of zigzagging, but only at the cost of going straight down the side of the mountain along what resembled a rock fall! We were all more than a little relieved when we finally rejoined the proper path. Ten hours after setting off that morning, we hobbled into the restaurant bar and collapsed with a couple of well-deserved drinks!

On Tuesday we drove down to Oban – about 50 miles – and visited the distillery. This one was working so we did the official tour culminating in another tasting. Oban itself is a picturesque little town with lovely views over the bay, but seemed very busy. We walked along the beach, despite protesting legs, even climbing up a small hill to a ruined castle just outside town.

No trip to Scotland would be complete without the obligatory trip to Loch Ness, so on Wednesday we ventured forth in search of the wee monster. It’s a long old loch, and we didn’t get much further than a few miles north of Fort Augustus, where we stopped to eat our picnic. It was a grey, drizzly day, and the loch probably didn’t look its best, but at least it stayed dry whilst we ate on the banks – no sign of Nessie, though!

Our last full day saw us again taking the car out, this time to the beach up near Arisaig, on the way to Mallaig. This is also the route of the Jacobite Steam Train, made famous from its appearance in the Harry Potter films; we stopped the car en route and managed to take a few pictures as it puffed its way passed.

We found a beautiful beach to spend the day on, which was practically deserted, with white sands, clear water and stunning aspects over Rhum & Skye. Not as nice as Monday, it was nevertheless warm enough to sunbathe and go paddling.

Due to some overnight rain, we were forced to pack up a wet tent on Friday morning and this was a foretaste of the weather to come for the drive home. We chose another CL for our overnight stop, this time in Longridge, just north of Preston. The journey down conducted along miserable, rain-lashed motorways through dull leaden skies was unpleasant and seemingly endless. The thought of erecting our tent in a Lancashire downpour had limited appeal, and we considered swapping drivers and carrying on home. Fortunately, it stopped just long enough for us to get the tent up before giving the Trailer Tent’s weatherproofing a good old workout.

The site was another curiosity, which seems fairly standard when you opt to stay at a Certified Location. The shower/toilet was again part of the house (rather than in their own block) and was locked at 9pm every night! A strong bladder required!

We both enjoyed our short break in Scotland and there was so much more we would have liked to have done – amongst which would be to visit some of the islands.

France 19 July-3 August 2006

We drove to Dover on the hottest day of the year; it was about 34c on the car thermometer. Luckily the air conditioning was working! We caught the Dover-Calais ferry and were in Club Class, which was excellent - free drinks and peace and quiet. We arrived in a dark, thundery, Calais to a cool 18c and drove for a couple of hours to Rouen, where we stayed in an ETAP hotel.

Bright and early the next morning we set off for Royan (well not so early, as Helen had set her alarm clock, but omitted to change the time to French time!). The roads were quiet and we arrived at La Palmyre at about 6pm and set up our tent.

The next day we headed a few miles up the coast to Cote Sauvage; a nice stretch of beach with dunes on the Atlantic Ocean. We spent the day sunbathing and bodyboarding.

On Saturday we saw two red squirrels as we had breakfast and then we went to the beach again but covered up a bit more as we were sunburnt. In the evening we headed inland to Chalais, where Steve’s sister, Pauline, and her husband live.

We spent the next week with Pauline and Mike taking it easy. We put up the paddling pool, as it was very hot; in the mid 30’s, most days. We also visited the market in Chalais, the lake at Brossac and the famous Monolithic church at Aubeterre, which took 700 years to carve out of solid rock.

To celebrate Steve’s birthday, on Friday we went to the Chateau for a lovely meal. On the actual day (Sunday) we went to Beau Vallon lake and floated around on the lilo; followed later by a delicious home cooked roast dinner and chocolate birthday cake both made by Pauline.

We managed to get up at 8.30am on the last day in Chalais and set off on the long drive to Vernon. We camped in Saint Marcel just outside Vernon, which was a very pretty village. The next day we visited Monet’s house and garden in Giverney. It was beautiful; the lake looked fantastic and the rest of the gardens were packed with flowers (and Americans!).

After another sleepless night camping we packed the tent away and drove to Calais, again the Club Class was great. The drive back to Yatton passed without incident.

If only the weather forecast for our next trip (Scotland) was as good as we had in France.

Thank you very much to Pauline and Mike for putting us up and to Steve’s parents for the birthday money that paid for our meal at the Chateau.