Scotland and the South West Coastal 300. We left Edinburgh (without visiting the City as the weather was so bad) and headed off towards Moffat and the SWC300 heading clockwise to Lockerbie and on to Dumfries, before stopping at Dalbeattie. Despite the weather the views were stunning. We have driven this part of Scotland before but always on the motorway in order to get somewhere. It was so nice to be able to view it properly.
After Dalbeattie, we headed of again towards the Mull of Galloway, the most southerly point of Scotland. We’d stopped for lunch in the very pretty, typically Scottish-looking village of Newton Stewart, then headed over to Garlieston, where the Mulberry Harbours for WWII were tested, as the beach was similar to the Normandy Landing Beaches. We found a lovely, little Caravan and Motorhome Club, Certified Location at Low Glengyre Farm. We had the whole site to ourselves! Here, we found that our video from Latvia had been published by Erwin Hymer and Etrusco UK.
We carried on the SWC300 and took a sight detour to Kilmarnock, as this was on Ric’s wishlist. We headed up the coast to Stranraer and Cairnryan, then on to Turnbury Golf Course which had held the Open four times, the last one being in 2009, before being bought by Donald Trump.
From here we headed up to the Royal Troon Golf Course, which has also hosted the Open, nine times, the latest being in 2016. We ate our lunch looking over the golf course. Kilmarnock, was a surprise, not knowing what to expect the town was a beauty. We returned to the SWC300 at New Crummock and headed through Sanquhar, where the oldest Post Office is located, to Wanlockhead, Scotland’s highest village on to Moffat, where we chose to spend a couple of nights to recharge our batteries and clean up the MoHo. It was lucky we chose to stay here as the weather turned and it rained solidly for the night and the following day, so a short walk into the town was off the cards! However, we did discover an Indian Takeaway, which delivered! It would be rude not to!
We crossed back into England and down to Cumbria, avoiding the motorways. We travelled down to Kirkby Stephen and up to the Yorkshire Dales to Hawes, the highest Market Town in England. Hawes also has the tag in our memory as our expensive town, as the first time we had been there, we left having purchased two coats, a pair of Toggi boots and a pair of Barker’s Brogues! The Caravan and Motorhome Club Site at Hawes is situated about a five minute walk to the town (Albi still has a poorly foot so a long walk is still off the cards). We drove to the car park in the town centre as we left, to have Fish and Chips from the Chippy.
We continued our journey south, through Burnley, Accrington and Oldham before turning towards Glossop and the Snake Pass. All along our route the signs had said that the pass was open so we carried onwards until we were met by a sign stating the road was closed. After discussions with the locals (who were keen to use the pass) and checking the Highways Agency App, which said the Pass had been reopened, we gingerly headed up and over. It was easy to see that there had been a problem as there was a lot of water on the road, but it was now passable with care. We arrived at a campsite in Castleton in the Peak District, in the dark, so we had to wait until the morning to see the true beauty of the area.
The Peak District didn’t disappoint. The following morning, the views were stunning. It was a cold and crisp Remembrance Sunday morning. We had been advised to either leave early or later due to road closures in the village, for the Parade. We headed up the Winnats Pass towards Chester and the snow-capped mountains of Snowdonia. We were heading to a site we have stayed at before in Llanberis (we’ve found a deal 3 nights for the price of 2, so were here for a while)!
Llanberis was just as we remembered, except this time there was snow on the mountain tops. We’ve chosen to have a roast dinner tonight, complete with Yorkshire Puddings.
Thank you again for reading and apologies for the delay in our posts. We’ve had hardware issues, hopefully now all fixed. The next episode of our adventure will soon be live…