Fort William, to Loch Ness, to Inverness

Loch Ness was wet and flooded, all the trees around it's edge were underwater.

We stopped at the Loch Ness visitor centre and watched some interesting movies about the mystery of Loch Ness, and whether there is actually a monster under the water.  We also bought some Anderson Clan Whisky and some charms.  Montana-Rose got a bagpipes charm, and also a CD of bagpipe music - she was delighted.

Nessie!

Loch Ness

Arrived in Inverness and the drama of the wireless broadband started, and the parking drama (you just can't get a park for a campervan anywhere in the UK, it's too long, too wide and too cumbersome for all the teeny weeny UK car parks, supermarket parks etc)

By the way Inverness is gorgeous, the river is fast flowing and lovely bridges, castle and churches.  I have pix on my phone which I will try and upload later.  

Albie's Tooth comes out

We arrived in Fort William, in cold sleet and rain, and stayed in a very strange camping ground.  Mark was impressed, they did have a bath in their shower rooms.

We walked around the shops in the morning, and at 11:05 Albie had an emergency appointment at the local Dentist.  He is now missing his front tooth!  Out it came, with much cajoling by the Dentist, the nurse and me, and eventually we held him down and she pulled it out.  He has been very stoic about it, but it took him a few hours before he would open his mouth so we could see the gap.

Fort William, church.

Carlisle to Fort William

Into Scotland, round Glasgow (right through the middle) by motorway to our first Loch. 

Loch Lomond, it was raining hard and fairly cool. 

We had lunch in a pub looking over Loch Lomond and then headed up towards Fort William.  To get there you have to go over a high pass, which Mark got very excited as it looked a lot like NZ high country.

I got very excited when we saw these! Wild deer, near the road

Next came snow, which was very exciting too...thicker, and just as it started to settle on the road and make me a bit nervous we hit the top of Glencoe, and then down the glen out of the worst weather.  We passed two snowploughs heading up towards the tops!  It didn't stop hardy walkers though, even with snow falling we saw several sets of people dressed in full wet weather gear walking through Glencoe.  Madness!

Well, finally got broadband via free Wifi

But the mobile broadband is not working. 

It's been a drama.  Mark lost our t-stick, he left it in a restaurant on the table in Ambleside in the Lake District.  So we purchased another (T-Mobile), but it seems to have broken our connection somehow.  We ended up getting our money back, and bought a Vodafone one but it isnt working either. 

Even free Wifi wasnt working for a bit, but this morning that seems to be going, yay.

So, I will update with what has been happening over the next few posts.

Only contact by phone or txttilll mobilleinternet is fixedf

Internet out of order

Sleeping on Hadrians Wall for a night

Arrived in Carlisle in driving rain and low temperatures.  Mark had managed to leave our T-stick in the pub in Ambleside so no internet to look up camping grounds, and anyway we were in the mood for treating ourselves to a bed and a hotel night.  We drove round and round Carlisle following I for INFORMATION signs.  The signs seemed to go in a circle.  We went round the Carlisle Castle twice (very classic and beautifully dramatic castle by the way), eventually I asked, only to find out that the Info Centre is in town (in a pedestrian only precinct).  But, voila, my cellphone internet was working and Mark magicked our way to the Angus Hotel, where we are installed in a room for all 4 of us, with TV, shower etc and including breakfast all for STG Pounds 75.00.
Hadrians Wall is about a 40mind drive, and probably out of our reach, but luckily our hotel happens to have its foundations built on the remains of Hadrians Wall.  It's official.  Check out the photo.
Good job!

A rainy day in the Lake District

We left Houghton (nr Stafford) late, and drove up to the beautiful Lake District.  In light drizzle we arrived and in heavy, cold showers we left.

We were heading to Windermere, but it was so wet, and the roads so small and tightly packed with visitors, cars and what have you, that we decided not to stop and went on to Ambleside at the top of Lake Windermere.  Lunch in a wonderful pub, with a warm fire, cheap food and a warm welcome.  The beautiful view out the window only got a brief visit in driving rain, for a photo or two, then onwards towards Keswick and finally to Carlisle, just south of the Scottish border.

 In Ambleside, looking down Lake Windermere

 Lunch at this lovely pub

 Snapshot of a Garrison spotted as we drove past

Lake District, just before Keswick

A bad day on the Motorway and Warwick Castle on the side

27th December, and we left SJ and Doms, big goodbyes all round, it has been so wonderful to see them and they made us so welcome.

Up the motorway we headed, leaving the big boys with Charlie and Abigail.  1hr north we stopped at Warwick Castle.  Unfortunately it felt like all of England wanted to spend the day at the same castle.  It was heaving, well in NZ terms anyway.  There were no massive queues or difficulties getting food, but there were so many people. It made it quite tricky inside, and hard to get an atmosphere.  What I noticed most about the castle was the fact that all the "public" halls and salons had little corridors and alcoves running in private behind them, I suppose so that servants and maids in waiting could easily get to each room.  It was really interesting from that perspective.  And it had beautiful paintings.  And an amazing cabinet made of carved wood with the likenesses of poets as uprights.  Oliver Cromwells metal hat was there, and his death mask *ewww*.

A fake duel in the grounds of Warwick Castle

We then headed for the M6 and the motorway abombination that is the Birmingham urban connurbation.  We sat in queues on the motorway, and in heavy slow moving traffic for ages, before getting out the other side just as dark was coming (4pm).  We called the Stafford information centre and booked into this very strange campervan park which is part dairy farm, part icecream shop, part caravan park.  Still, only STG 9!

No muntjac, but a cockeral, and a pheasant...just a stuffed fox

A Muntjac (said "monkjack") is a small deer, apparently prevalent around the Cotswolds, but not yet seen by us.

We have heard but not seen a cockerel, and have seen both male and female pheasants.

Still no badger!

Cardiff Castle

The morning after our night out in Cardiff we went back again the morning, on a lovely crisp, sunny (yes, believe it or not) wonderful morning and visited Cardiff Castle.

They had a really fun film which we watched.  The kids tried on medieval  helmets and gauntlets.  We also walked through the tunnels and airraid shelter.  Poor Montana-Rose was quite scared by air raid sirens.

Christmas in Oxfordshire

We are staying at SJ and Dominic Grace's house on the edge of the Cotswolds.  Such pretty country, all green, and picturesque.  With little stone cottage filled villages, and old churches.

SJ and Dominic have made us so welcome and we are loving staying here.

Today we went to  both Witney and Burford (the gateway to the Cotswolds).  In the dark, with the lights twinkling it was so beautiful.

In Witney, we saw the Buttercross, and old part of the market town.    We took both Montana-Rose, Albie and Abigail with us.  It was pretty full on, but a nice few hours.

In Burford we sauntered round the shops and then had some tea in the local tearooms.

After a few ups and downs, Charlie did manage to bring Abigail with him and it has been lovely to catch up with him and to meet her for the first time.  The little kids have played really well together and it has been a huge success.  It has certainly been a "healing" time between us and Charlie which is good for the soul.

Matthew is missing his girlfriend, Alex

60p to get to talk to her on the phone, that's what the connection charge was.  Then he managed a 3-4 min phone call before running out of money in change...

Montana-Rose learns a lesson

Not to play about on the ladder in the campervan, or you will fall, cutting your head open on the front seats and bleed everywhere

The aftermath, a sore head, some panadol, and a big sleep made it all better.

Cardiff at night

What a lovely city Cardiff is.  We are camping in the city council owned campground right in the centre of town, beside the River Taff, and a short walk from the city centre.

We walked down to town yesterday afternoon, via a riverside market where we bought some goats cheese, and into the shopping precinct.  No cars allowed here, and all the streets, and malls were filled with Christmas shoppers.  The lights were out, the Castle lit up spectacularly at the end of the main mall, and we had a great time.

Dinner was in a pizza restaurant, then we walked back in the dramatic dark.

A squirrel, some rabbits, wild horses and a murder of crows

We (well, me and the little kids) were very excited to see our first squirrels today.  Rabbits were in Lyme Regis by the dozen all through the campsite, and wild horses on Bodmin Moor.  Hamish tells me that a group of crows is called a "murder", and we certainly saw a murder of them at Stonehenge.  They must have been getting in the spirit of the Midwinter Solstice, just waiting for the aftermath of the sacrifice.

No Kitchens, Dining Rooms, Lounges, Games Rooms or TV rooms

None of the above to be found at any UK campsite so far....lots of the sites are called "Touring Parks" and they provide toilets, a potwash room, and a laundry.  Oh, often you get free WiFi too.  But no TV!

It's all very strange....

Tintagel - Cornwall

It was another damp, day in UK, but not too cold, and not too much freezing wind.  We walked around the Tintagel ruins and then had lunch in local, poky pub.

It was quite an adventure getting to Tintagel, cos our GPS takes us via the Fastest Route, which seems include some bizarre shortcuts through tiny lanes that we are not always confident we can get the camper through!

Like Mark said today about the GPS "It never says sorry".

Where was I before our broadband stopped working?

We have only just got back online.  Turns our the broadband we bought wasn't on the right plan or something and we needed to pay more STG (of course!).  Anyway, all good now.

I have lots of photos and things to add to previous posts, so bear with me while all that happens.

Last night we stayed in a small caravan park outside Lyme Regis, and went into town to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingsall's River Cottage Canteen.  Actually, I was decidedly disappointed.  Whether this is because we were all really tired, or what, I'm not sure.  The food was very simple, very cheap (compared to other meals we have eaten) and the Canteen was pretty.  But I really wanted to know where the things we were eating had come from, whether they had grown what we were eating, or whether it was something bought in.

Albie had mussels, of course!

Mark and I had an Italian Pinot Gris, which was not very drinkable....I had a Mackerel Pate (very nice) and Rissotto with Gurnard (very nice, but the rissotto was brown rice, which Matt, who also had it, did not like).  Mains were cheap at STG12-15 and the starters STG5-7, the kids meals were only STG5 which was fab value.  

Damp Day in Portsmouth

Today, cold and damp, a real UK chill to the bones kind of day.

We finished the washing (drama, drama trying to get the dryer working in the campground), then off to Portsmouth to their Historic Waterfron and Docks.

We visited both HMS Warrier, and  HMS Victory.  We took ourselves around the Warrier, but the Victory was  by guided tour only.  Amazing boats, and to think that 700 men lived on them together, all crammed in.

The Mary Rose, tudor boat, was unavailable and being refurbished.  In fact it was having a huge exoskeleton added around it to protect it.

After that it was onwards and upwards to Stonehenge, where there were hundreds of people gathered ready to celebrate the Winter Solstice by doing a lantern walk around the stones, accompanied by the odd Druid and a group of Morris Dancers.

Mark was looking for the scrificial human!

Lunch in The George Inn

After Leeds Castle we had lunch in The George Inn, with a lovely sign of St George slaying the dragon.

Then we drove to Portsmouth, with the intention of tomorrow going to see HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's ship.

We stayed last night at a funny camping site called Thriftwood, funnily enough we did not make use of the swimming pool on this trip.  Although the sun was shining it was about 6C, and it clouded over later on, and was just damp and cold for the afternoon.
Tonight we are Dibles Park, in Southampton, which is very clean, and has lovely warm showers and toilets etc.  But we are finding it very strange, neither of these camping grounds have kitchen facilities!

Leeds Castle is so beautiful

Montana-Rose what did you think of Leeds Castle "It was so beautiful:
Albie liked "the pictures of the people best"
Hamish thought it was so cool
and Matt said he loves castles and could visit as many as we can cram in.

Even Mark liked it!

My favourite things were the period furniture pieces in the drawing rooms and bedrooms.

Catching the "train" through the grounds to the Castle and...

Walking back...

where's the f****ing toaster?!

where's the f***ing toaster, the f***ing big frying pan and the f***ing oven?! this is meant to be a camper for 7 people and you cant even cook a bloody meal for 3 in it. and we most certainly do NOT need a microwave in it. and why the f*** is there a smoke alarm in the bloody camper?! this seems to be the most ill-equiped camper that i have been in. - Matthew

Baptism of Fire

What's the first thing you should do when you land in a new country?  go on their biggest motorway of course!

First up, off we went, down the M1 and round the M25 ending in Sevenoaks.  We are staying in the Thriftwood Holiday Park, which is fine.  We had a bit of an excursion trying to find the local supermarket, it was not on the main road, but tucked away down a sidestreet, a bit of a palaver finding it really.

It has drizzled all day, and is misty and cold with it.

Hamish took some great pix of the traffic on the M25 and we even had the fun of paying tolls to go over the bridge at the Dartford River Crossing.  The Queen Elizabeth Bridge, built in 1991.

Lovely to see Morny, Charlie, William, Lynne and Lulu, and Gilby and Anna

Yesterday afternoon, after all the drama of Albie's tooth, we met up with Gilby and Anna in a pub at the end of Queensway.  Mark and Gilby had a great catchup, and we all had a good pub feed.  Poor Albie completely couldn't stay awake.  He missed out on his meal because he was asleep on Hamish.  Then as soon as she had finished eating, she slept too.  Both asleep on the pub couch, it was so cute.

In the evening we travelled on the London Underground to Parsons Green station and walked down to Morny's house.  Charlie was there, he had been shopping and cooking all afternoon I think, as they put on a huge spread.  William and Lynne were there too, and Lulu, and Morny herself of course.  We had a really nice time.  There was lots of laughter and it was great to catch up with everyone.  Surprisingly it was not too awkward!  Lulu ribbed Matt and Hamish about drivers licenses, and how like Charlie they are.  Charlie really made me laugh, as he had brought with him a jumper I knitted for him all those years ago, a Kaffe Fassett pattern with diamond points, and he wanted me to mend it! it has holes in it.  Goodness knows, I have sent him away to get a needle and some thread, as I certainly don;t have any here.

The night finished very late, with Christmas crackers, presents and a little too much wine...  All round a very nice evening.

Today we packed up and taxi'd to Luton to our campervan company.  Believe it or not it was not much more expensive to take a taxi than it would have been to take the train.  I guess because there are so many of us.  6 x rail tickets was going to work out at just over STG90, and we would have to taxi or underground to St Pancras ($12 on the underground and a bit cheaper by taxi).  Then the campervan company would have to come and pick us up.  But this way we were taken straight from the hotel to the campervan company for STG130.

The camper is lovely, big and with lots of storage...we are all a bit tired tho!

The campervan company was near Markyate and we had lunch in the pub there.  STG3.95 for a typical breakfast of sausages, beans, eggs, fried mushrooms, toast and a cup of tea!  you can't get more English than that.

 Matt at the Campervan Hire office

Mark in The Swan, Markyate