Fog!

 Ha, ha, so much for a beautiful view to have our morning coffee! Overnight the fog descended and to be honest, we could have been anywhere, there was no harbour to be seen! We still had coffee, obviously, but not viewing the sea birds!

However today we have to keep going, we can’t stay all day waiting for the fog to clear, we have a date with a ferry, so off we go - slowly. The fog (well I say fog, we actually think it is more mist than fog (Jane tells me it’s a sea haar) is merising, it drifts across the road like wisps of smoke, we get  glimpses of coastline, hills, sunshine then we are back into the mist. We can see the road ahead, but the horizon is shrouded in mystery, we have no idea what is round the corner, each bit of road only reveals itself when it is ready. We’ve not really experienced mist like it.  There is something very special about it. Clearly taking a photo won’t work, you’ll see mist, but if I thought it would work, I would have!

As we won’t really get a picturesque lunch stop today, and stopping at the side of the road in a grey van in mist isn’t the best idea, we stop off at Wick for lunch and stretch our legs. We thought Wick would be another pretty town, but, well.. it wasn't. There’s nothing wrong with Wick, it just isn’t pretty, and it is very small. It does however boast the most northerly Wetherspoons in the UK, and despite everyone telling us we should never frequent them in protest of their owner (yep we agree, dispicable man), we love Spoons. We know people don’t go because of him, but we aren't perfect, so in we went. It did make us laugh though, it was like no other we have been in. There were very few people in, I’d say more staff than customers, but they were running around, welcoming, good food, all of that, but how you can be so busy doing nothing is an art!

After a quick walk around to ensure we hadn’t missed the best bits (we hadn't) we were off again passing a huge oil pipeline on the way!

This bit of coast is fairly sparse, when the heather blooms it will be beautiful, but for now much of it is dark and barren, amazingly, for much of the trip we have been the only people on the road, or at least very few others are around.

But as we head north the fog clears and a few more cars appear. This is why….. 

It's one of those places you just have to do if you have come this far north, and it is absolutely worth the drive up, but there isn’t a huge amount here. There’s this, of course

And some gift shops, an ice cream shop and a cafe, but not much else. What else could there be I suppose, the only people who come are tourists and they aren’t going to stay for days.. Although there is a caravan site here if you want it. I’m glad we came, I doubt we will be back. Isn’t it funny, a little harbour nobody has ever heard of has stolen our hearts, the iconic place so many flock to is just that, a place to go and have your photo taken.

Mind you I did purchase and write the first postcard I have written for about 25 years! I needed change for the parking, so it seemed a sensible option. No idea where we will post it, but dad will get it at some point in the distant future!  

The Castle and a harbour

 

As we left or stopover the landlord said “the east isn’t that beautiful. The west coast is amazing…. Well we haven’t seen the west coast yet, but I beg to differ. This coast has loads to offer, the road winds its way north mainly along the coast, past the Glenmorangie whisky distillery (we didn’t stop, Ian is driving and he isn’t that keen on theirs anyway. And can you imagine the heat on a distillery tour in a mask!!) and the oil rigs and fishing vessels.

As we trundle along I look out for interesting places to stop on the way and hope to spot them before we miss the turning. I don’t always succeed, but I did as we got closer to  Dunrobin Castle. Ian says it’s not a real castle, it’s a big house, and I do tend to agree, but it is magnificent. All turrets and fairytailish. 

As you arrive it looks pretty impressive, but it’s not until you see it from the sea side, do you see it in all its glory. It is the home of the Sutherlands Clan and has been since the 1400’s. 

I have to say if I were to be stuck anywhere in lockdown, I think this would be my room of choice.  

Sadly the gardens look better from the upstairs windows than close up, I think they have a bad case of the Box tree caterpillar we heard about on Gardeners World recently, and if it isn’t that, it’s something just as bad, they really were in a poor state, but it was a great stop off, an opportunity to stretch our legs. I really hope they can do something to restore the gardens as they clearly were beautiful once. 

We left the castle about 4pm, and I needed to find us somewhere to stop for the night. One of the things that makes us smile as we drive along is the gorse. It is like a golden burst of sunshine along the edge of the road as we travel. There's loads of it and it’s stunning. We can see where the heather will be glorious later in the year once it flowers but for now, that gorse is really cheerful - a golden glow that we can’t help commenting on as we turn a corner. 

A few of the places I’d spotted earlier as potential park ups had no overnight parking, so we kept going to a recommended spot. Oh my…. I can see why! Helmsdale Harbour is stunning. A little tiny fishing village that welcomes campervans, you make a donation to the RNLI and stay for free. I’m not sure I have enough words to describe it, but it was perfect. When we stop for free, we like to support the local community, so where we can we eat locally, or use the shop. This time we did both. I think we had the biggest portion of sausage and chips we’ve ever had! 

There is nothing better than falling asleep knowing you are going to have a glorious view for your first cup of coffee in the morning.

Crossing the Cairngorms

 

Wow, just wow. The A9 is one of the most picturesque roads I think we have ever driven. It just keeps on giving. We didn’t stop at Perth as we wanted to make it further north but somewhere at home I have a fabulous photo of me, Rachel, and Jane ( I think… ) Having checked with Jane she says …”yes me you and Rachel!”  in Perth in the mid to late 1980’s - for some reason being the 3 wise monkeys, sat on a bench. We were visiting as part of the BMYC Scotland tour and this was clearly how we chose to amuse ourselves!

Anyway, on we went, stunning view after stunning view. The photos from Agy on the move, really don’t do it justice as you have reflections and swatted flies, but honestly, you should come…  It is beautiful.

I said before we would have more stunning lunchtime locations, well we did. Not too far from Aviemore, we found a place to stop and eat, soak up the view and generally appreciate how fortunate we are. There isn’t much to say as we were driving a fair bit, but the photos probably say enough.

We were really hoping to stop in Inverness and have a wander, we have been once before, but wanted to have another look around. Unfortunately, it seemed everyone else was driving through Inverness at the same time as us and car parks were in short supply unless you wanted to go underground. Underground car parks and tall vans do not mix, so we kept on going and started looking for a place to spend the night. I’ve mentioned ‘search for sites app’ before, but it really does come up trumps every time, I quickly looked up where we could stop and found The Old North Inn pub and hotel  https://www.oldnorthinn.com/ that came highly recommended - and we can stay for free in the car park, and so we did. The landlord gave us the warmest welcome and there was haggis on the menu, so I was very happy - Ian did not partake of the furry little creature for dinner. If you want somewhere to stay, I should think the hotel is great too. 

We’d previously thought about doing the NC500 https://www.northcoast500.com/ a stunning 500 mile route along the north coast of Scotland, but hadn’t considered we might do it on this trip. This time we wanted to go as far north as possible, and didn’t think that where we wanted to go, might just be on the route. In fact a friend Dee posted on Facebook commenting on one of my posts that we should look at it - so Dee, we did! It turns out, the Old North Inn is on the NC500 and it basically follows the route we found to head north, so off we go!

Crossing the Boarder

 As we left York we headed north up the A1 through Northumbria, past the Angel of the North and into Kielder forest.  A stunning drive that the photos don’t do justice to. Mind you there was one bit of road that was clearly Roman. I suppose you could say straight - it certainly was straight, but there were several expletives uttered, along with the odd ahhh, eek and woah! It was exactly like being in a roller coaster, up and down, blind summits, no road to see underneath you, in a 3 ton van with all your household belongings rattling about! It was spectacular, but I can tell you we were very pleased when it stopped!

As we headed up and crossed the border into Scotland we stopped for lunch at Carter Bar - no, not a bar, a car park with the most amazing views, literally on the border. There is nothing like sticking the kettle on, making a sarnie and eating it wherever you happen to be at the moment you want it. I’m predicting stunning lunch stops for several days.

Edinburgh outskirts were busy, but we were soon through crossing the Queensferry crossing bridge trying to catch a glimpse of the famous Forth Road bridge. Slightly tricky when the wind deflectors on the bridge hide the view, but maybe you can spot it here.

We weren’t really sure where we were going to park overnight so kept driving for a bit and turned off at a little turning to Silversands Beach in Aberdour. I’d read it was a great place to stop overnight and the authors weren’t wrong. It was stunning!

Looking out over the Firth of Forth, just us and a couple of other vans.  All we could see was the sea, the rabbits and the birds. Utterly stunning, I’m not sure we will get a better view than this to park up for the night. Having spent a lot of time on the road we wanted a walk, so pottered off to the end of the road to find the lighthouse and discovered that this was the site of the Hawcraig Admiralty Research Experimental Station in World War 1. This was the centre of the research to defeat the German U boat. It was the navy hydrophone research and training base, the forerunner of modern sonar.  Seaplanes also operated from here.

A stunning location well worth a visit if you happen to be passing.. I mean some of you might be passing, at some point I guess!    

The rain in York says mainly on the….. Visitors

We’re in York! We managed to get a 3 night booking in the much talked about Caravan Club site. It’s much talked about because it is perfectly situated for a 10 minute walk to the City, it is always fully booked and impossible to get into (so we are told) and it frequently floods.

Ian hadn’t heard about the troubles booking and promptly managed to book us 2 nights at the last moment, and I got us the 3rd when we arrived - no idea what all the fuss is about. The river was high, so we were praying for no rain and no flooding. Luckily the flooding held off - the rain did not!

We were in York - partly because we love it, and mainly because two very important people live not too far away and any chance we get to see them, we do! We were so busy talking, laughing and eating we forgot to take a photo of Kate and David, but hey ho, if you know them, you know what they look like, and if you don’t, you probably don’t mind!

Many of the attractions are still closed, or only open Wednesday to Sunday ( we arrived Sunday afternoon!) or pre-booking only with limited access, so we decided to walk the walls and see what else we could do outside.  Great thought, and we did achieve some of this in that we managed to walk the walls, but we also got very wet!

We started walking the walls in the dry, getting a glimpse of the Minster peeking through the tree tops  and into the gardens of the Dene. The walls that exist now are mainly Victorian, but they certainly are imposing and great to walk, even though some people really didn’t grasp the system of clockwise walking to ensure Covid distance. How hard can it be?

We also booked ourselves into a free walking tour. We love a walking tour and in our experience, the volunteers who guide the free ones are usually the best. They do it for the love of the subject, are passionate, and know so much more than those who are paid to follow a script and don’t really know anything. We were not disappointed. Our guide David was incredible. He was also a Minster guide and a City guide and his passion is history. Yes the history of York, but history in general, so he wove in tales about how York’s history connected with other stories and we were captivated. We were soaked, frozen and yet, we could have listened for hours, in fact we did. He asked what we wanted to see, what we wanted to know and shared so much with us. I was so enthralled I forgot to take photos, but here are some highlights….

We (possibly) saw the  first church mice carved by Robert Thompson rhttps://www.robertthompsons.co.uk/visitor-centre/history/ in a door near the Minster, we heard about and saw the giraffe carved into the fresco above the door in the Noah’s ark scene. This is special because of course a medieval stonemason would have no idea what a giraffe looked like, how could they? So how did it get there? It seems it was a long and complex process with many officials of many organisations needing to agree for the giraffe to feature. David told us that the modern stone masons didn’t want anyone to think in a few hundred years that the carvings we see now were original, they wanted people to know it was part of the restoration. The best way to do that, was to carve something only a modern stonemason would know about. It took a long time and lots of discussions, but he is there, and beautiful. If you're in York, he is above the main door on the right as you look at it, about the 6th scene up. I wish I had taken a photo as he is beautiful, peering round Noah's head.

We also heard about Fidocus, the dog skeleton that was found in the Minster undercroft several years ago. Now Fidocus was named by our guide and a fellow Minster Guide as a way to engage kids on the history tour, he was fluffy and fun in their story. However, Fidocus has morphed into a fierce beast that bites necks and terrifies children. Apparently David and his friend couldn’t understand why the kids on the Minster tours were now screaming when they talked about Fidocus, hiding behind parents legs and running away. It turns out Fidocus has become a legend on the many city ghost tours, a terrifying animal that roams the city at night. Poor Fidocus, no more a fluffy fun friend to engage kids in Roman history. It’s impossible to tell you all about the facts we heard and the places we saw, but let's say we were the last ones standing and David was happy to keep sharing his knowledge until we needed to stop to meet Kate and David for dinner. He was amazing even taking us to the door of the craft beer bar we were meeting at - via a cashpoint as my purse hadn’t got enough cash to reward this incredible guide.

After a fabulous catch up and meal with Kate and David we headed back to Agy to rest up, clean up Agy, top up, and empty out the essentials ( the loo!), and headed into town for one more day with Kate.

We had grand plans to walk miles, investigate interesting places and educate ourselves. In fact we had a delicious lunch, went in search of Dick Turpin's grave (which I did remember to take a photo of) and then the heavens opened again, so we headed for the pub and stayed there!

Sorry about the lack of photos in this blog. I have scattered those I have about the text, but you know, sometimes the memory isn’t great and I get caught up in the stories and forget I am telling you one too.  

      

God’s own county

Having left dad, and a quick change of plans as a friend wasn’t available for us to visit, we sat in a supermarket car park and decided to head north a day earlier than planned. I say planned, we don’t really have an actual plan, but we do know how far we want to go north and we know I have to be in London for a hospital appointment early July. I am also back at work then too (I know I left, but they asked me to come back for a bit). So I suppose that is a plan, just lacking a bit of detail! 

Sometimes our overnight stops are in campsites, sometimes in pub car parks, sometimes in a beautiful location, and sometimes, just car parks. There is a fab app we use called ‘Search for Sites’ and it logs where people have stayed with their comments, so I got searching. Agy is such an easy van to drive and she just eats up the miles at her slow and steady pace, so before we knew it we were in Yorkshire! We were starving, having not eaten all day, and having spotted a Toby Carvery in Bessacarr on the app, we called in. They were more than happy for us to stay overnight and the food was delicious, just what we needed. I’m hoping we will have more attractive locations as we head further away from civilisation, but for us this was perfect

Next stop, Scarborough, Ian has never been and I spent many a day there when I was small as my sister went to school very nearby, so it was a must do. To be honest, I don’t really remember it, but I was little when I last went. We stayed in another car park above North Beach and got the Beachcomber tourist bus down to the main tourist area. 

We couldn’t believe how busy it was! Everything was packed and no dinner reservation to be had. We did have a fab, although brisk, walk along by the harbour and spotted the funicular.

We both love a funicular, so despite the fact we could easily walk, we took the chance to take a ride, and it was well worth it. Gorgeous views and a little mouse to keep Ian company!

All the trendy bars and restaurants in town were full and although we had supplies in Agy, it wouldn’t be right for Ian not to have fish and chips in Scarborough, so we eventually found a chippy that had indoor seating - by this time it was freezing! So in we went. Old fashioned seaside chippy with homemade pie  for those who don’t eat fish and a warm welcome. Just perfect!  I knew we were in Yorkshire when a family sat nearby in the restaurant and the little girl who was about 3 said “I want a cup of tea,” and tea, she got!