By keef and annie hellinger, Jul 8 2018 05:06PM Motorhome trip No34 : Saturday June 16th- Friday July 6th 2018, 21 days A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Ireland (Eire) ->NOTTS 1995 miles MENU Intro Diary Slideshows 2018 History 2000 Audiobook Travel Routes The End OVERVIEW We had a fab time in Ireland especially the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) – Sli an Atlantaigh Fhiain (in Gallic) on the west coast from Kilrush, co Clare right up as far as Fanad Head Lighthouse on the Fanad peninsular co Donegal. It was especially great as the weather was amazing for the whole time. We used the ferry from South Wales – Fishguard to Rosslare co Wexford. We stayed on a Apple tree farm in the heart of co Tipperary which was 1st fab cider smells everywhere (did you know Bulmers is from Cahir?) and we experienced our 1st ever campsite eviction at Bennettsbridge. Haha the pitchfork battle with the farmer lined up with his tractor and golf buggy. In terms of cities/ towns/ sights we loved Galway (esp Shop street music & food & atmosphere) , Cahir, Bansha, Carrigaholt, Clifden, Renvyle, Athelone, Spanish Point, Mullaghmore, Ballyshannon, Lough Eske, Muckross Heads, Slieve League Cliffs, Magheraroarty, Aran Islands, Inishbofin island , Tory Isles, Lough Gill, Parkes Castle,Rosses Point, Ramelton, Carrick on Shannon & Adare… we liked less Tipperary, Limmerick, Sligo, Donegal, Bundoran (kiss me quick hats), Portlaois (prisons and speed humps) & Letterkenny. The Irish are so friendly and chatty. Achill island co Mayo & parts of Donegal are breath taking scenery. Had a fab time in the Dog & Duck Athelone on Lough Ree where I watched England Vs Columbia with some lovely friendly folk and 3 pints of fab Guinness. We actually left 3 days earlier than planned after a combo of too much kids holiday noise and missing the Wicklows. No worries we had seen lots and loved it. We will go back again in 2 years time to complete the lower section of the WAW by ferry Holyhead – Dublin (the trip back from Fishguard home thru Wales is a little too arduous at 6.5 hours) then thru Wicklow Mountains (which we missed due to SatNav malfunction… or was it user error ;) this time) then Cork to Kerry and up the WAW as far as Kilrush (Kil means rock!) then the fastest route up to Malin Head in Donegal then thru Causeway Coastal route in NI back to Dublin. Read our DIARY or if you would prefer to hear it as an audiobook click HERE See the WAW in stages , there are 14 of them , 5 of which we are left to do which we are doing in our trip in 2023. The total length is 1600 miles approx and we have approx 400 left to do, 100 in the north from Kilcrum to Malin Head and 300 in the south from Tarbert to Kinsale through counties Kerry and Cork. Can't wait to complete it, what fabulous scenery.a Note we returned in 2023 to complete the Wild Atlantic Way. See Blog 194. Return to Menu DIARY At 2500 kilometres the Wild Atlantic Way is the longest single coastal route in the world, certainly surpassing the Great Ocean Road in Victoria Oz which we have also done. If you want to read more about the WAW CLICK HERE If you want to see a slideshow of our previous visit to Eire in 2000 please look under the FAMILY page on this site under the by year category, or by clicking HERE , if you wish to go straight to the slideshows, click HERE, thanks for looking See our video of the complete Wild Atlantic Way in both 2018 and 2023 and this is represented here by the WAW posts / signs we captured on film #legend Notes (hopefully useful to other motorhomers) 1. Last week and a half of our hols was school hols in Eire , from the weds they get 3 months off in Eire but less half terms. 2. Many towns have heights barriers on car parks and charge parking fees , not exactly motorhome friendly 3. Many campsites charge extra for electrics and showers (ranging from 50c to Euro $1.50) 4. N roads (equivalent to our A roads) & M roads – great, R roads (our B) variable and very bumpy esp in Donegal, L roads (our C) very very variable… avoid if poss ;) 5. Most signage doesn’t say “how far” but brown tourist signs great and WAW history and signs wonderful 6. Get both green books for campsites and always carry small change (i.e euros) for showers 7. Electric splitter useful for outside cooking (we used both tappenyaki and double ring as so hot indoors) 8. Diesel fuel cheaper or about the same as UK, petrol more expensive 9. Best campsites – Doonbeg Strand Camping co Clare, Clifden Eco Beach campsite co Clare 10. Get the Office of Works help sheet if you are interested in cultural history.loads of very interesting places to visit on your travels Actual route (see maps) Leinster Day1 … Counties Wexford Leinster Day19-20 … Counties Offaly, Laois, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford Munster Day2-7… Counties Waterford, Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry, Kilkenny & Clare Connaught Day 8-12 … Counties Galway, Mayo, Sligo Connaught Day 18 … Counties Leitrim, Rosscommon Ulster Day 13-16… County Donegal, Fermanagh (NI) Key to Irish counties All mileages are approximate – as planned before travel. The reality is we did 1,995 miles from home and back with 2 3.5 hr ferry crossings DAY1: Sat 16/6 :Visited wonderful friends Neil and Marice in Southerdown, Vale of Glamorgan for a lovely lunch and catch up. Stayed Caravan Club site St Davids south wales… SA626PR… 270 miles 4hrs 30 mins Booked Update: 2hrs 30 mins 174 miles to Neil’s CF32 0RW then to St Davids 2hrs 98 miles Total 4hrs 30 mins 272 miles,1/2hr drive to Ferry Fishguard – Rosslare DAY2: Sun 17/6 Ferry leaves @ 13.10 (have to be there 1hr early) Stena 75464818 Booked Arrives Eire 16.25 mins Journey ferry 3hrs 15mins Then 24 mins 11 miles drive to 1st campsite Stay at Ferrybank caravan park Private site over the bridge and owned by Local swimming pool $31 52°20'41"N 6°27'10"W acsi inspected Wexford Great views DAY3: Mon 18/6 Wexford co Wexford – Cahir co Tipperary 75 miles Looked at Wexford & Waterford 2hrs 15mins… side turning to Wellington bridge R733 which didn’t really work (a square loop back onto main road) outta Wexford into New Ross, a very interesting place on River Barrow ancestral home of JFK and old ship. Campsite is the ACSI Cahir one The Apple Farm N52 ACSI 1255. Lovely people lovely shop lovely smell lovely strawberries, apple juice and cider… try Con’s craft cider! DAY4: Tues 19/6 Cahir co Tipperary – Rathkeale co Limmerick 50 miles 1hrs 30 mins… visited Swiss Cottage at Cahir, fab visit and Cahir is a great heritage town, really liked it. Tipperary & Limmerick town en route. Adare is rated as the best visit in Ireland and have to say it was fab if a little busy! Stayed at Adare Camping And Caravan Park, Drehedtarsna Adare Limerick LK (Rathkeale area) DAY5: Wed 20/6 Adare campsite, Rathkeale co Tipperary -Tarbert Island co Kerry - Kilkee Co Clare 32 miles 50 mins… goes along Shannon river edge, caught Shannon Ferry to Killimer, Killrush… i.e Kerry to Clare approx $25 takes 20 mins then stayed at Strand Camping Killard Road, Doonbeg Doonbeg CE one of our fave campsites ever, very small owned by English couple, great showers pitches, facilities. Saw Ballycrinan shingle beach, Moyne , Carrigaholt (lunch by the waves), Kilkee (Victorian seaside town), Spanish Point (and the man who could gab for Ireland ;) ), went go to Loophead lighthouse R487, then returned up west coast of clare etc etc Gained extra day from original plan by missing out Green Acres campsite (yuck!) White strands beach nearby is deserted and possible one of the best blue flag beaches in Eire! BASICALLY FROM NOW ON WE FOLLOWED THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY – Killrush to Fanad peninsular DAY6: Thurs 21/6 Doonbeg Co Clare -Lahinch Beach-Doolin Total: 30 miles 50 mins… 1st bit of journey to Lahinch beach is 20miles 38 mins then coastal route R478 thru Luogh-Roadford-Doolin / Doolin Pier Met Mr & Mrs Welwyn Garden City and Pete & Jane from Cambridge whom we also remet at Clifden beach Eco site later , basically cos annies leg was playing up we abandoned walk into famous Paddy O’Connors bar in Doolin from Doolin Pier Stayed at Nagles Doolin Camping, NAGLES DOOLIN CAMPING GPS 53.0176827, -9.3945482. Visited Cliffs of Moher site on route, wonderful but hugely touristy DAY7: Fri 22/6 2nd day at Doolin Pier campsite (very noisy in eve as weekend and we pitched next to kids playpark, note to self DON’T DO IT AGAIN ;) )but Boat cruise Bill O’Briens boats to Aran Island, Inis Mor (biggest but called in at Meain & Oirr isles as well) $30 pp Fab day out in the sun and did tourist bus around island… glad we got out of mr wee’s first bus ;) Great jumpers tops bought Stay at Nagles … DAY8: Sat 23/6 Doolin - Galway Total: 48 miles 1hr 50 mins… 1st bit of journey to Burren was via Murrogh and Ballyvaughan… Stayed at Galway City Caravan & Camping Park, Ballyloughane Rd, Renmore, Ireland…visit lough (lake) atilia and river corrib Not the best campsite in fact the worst E$34 and most expensive, lunch at site by Galway bay in sun, fab then caught the 402 bus into Eyre square from opposite campsite and had a great time in Galway city, esp music pubs food etc in Shop street Our fave Eire City…. Had dinner with my Galway girl in a flash restaurant Swiss campers we met at Doolin also here and went in and back on our same bus, although verbal comms tricky we did a lot of hand shaking and back slapping ;) DAY9: Sun 24/6 Galway-Cleggan beach Galway - Clifden Total: 59 miles 2hr 7 mins… via various lakes and the 12 pins mountains, Stayed at Clifden Eco Camping & Caravan park, Claddaghduff Road, Wild Atlantic Way, Clifden,Co. Galway,H71W024… Loved all of Connemara, River Owenglin. Chris at Eco site had it for 8 years, knew couple at Doonbeg Strand Camping. He kindly gave us slot 1 overlooking the beach, Keef swam in the Atlantic, v cold. Outside cooking on tappenyaki (fun) plus caught up with Pete & Jane from Doolin again DAY10: Mon 25/6 went to see Omey island (didn’t drive across as tidal sand bar but you can park up at the start and walk) and then saw Cleggan ferry to Inishbofin Island (30 mins) £17.50 return pp 11.30 return 1… missed out as didn’t have time – it is the island of the white cow. Connamara National Park, v busy, not much space for motorhomes. Lonch by lough in Connamara mountains (such fab views). Letterfrack, Louisburgh, Renvyle (busy but lovely harbour) plus Cleggan to Westport Co. Mayo Total: 43 miles 1hr 27 mins Where we filled up on fuel. Then Westport –Keel West R319 over Achill isand (via bridges) Saw Killary fjord and one of the circular coastal routes on Achill , aasleagh falls, Mallaranny, Keel bay Croaghaun Total: 38 miles 1hr 13 mins then stayed at Keel Sandybank caravan and camping park, Achill island, co Mayo DAY11: Tues 26/6 Keel West – Ballina, co Mayo . Went to see the fabulous Keem Bay, wild scenery, amazingly steep road but so so worth it. Also did the 2nd coastal loop road on Achill which was wonderful. Don Allum the 1st man to row the Atlantic both ways landed in Achill island. Johnny Kilbane boxer. Doohoma, Ciede Total: 65 miles 1hr 56 mins then stay at Belleek Caravan and camping park, Faranoo, Ballina Co Mayo. Great map of the Wild Atlantic Way here DAY12: Weds 27/6 Official start of 3 months school hols…. Much more busy at sites from now on Ballina – Sligo, Co Sligo. Total: 37 miles 57 mins Continued on on the Wild Atlantic Way, saw Ballina Quay. Pronounced Bal-ina not like the ozzie Baleena ;) Many Kiwi and Oz names came from Eire, the Famine exodus presumably. Visted amongst others Innishcrone, Split rock, Aughris head, (great pub and bunnies) ,Killglass, Easkey R297… Lovely Mr Wippy in Strandhill town shop plus fresh fish from stall from man from Devon… nice on griddle with salad …. Yummy All near Sligo City, Stayed at Strandhill camping and caravan site.Strandhill rd Sligo, beautiful views of the sea but a very dangerous cliff edge and rips so sign said no swimming or paddling… did anyone take any notice ? rules seem to be made to break in Eire possibly along with driving road rules…. Debate??? DAY13: Thurs 28/6 Strandhill - Sligo, Co Sligo- Ballyshannon, co Donegal …. Bally means on a river in Gallic , taught in schools compulsory from juniors (xclent) Ulster Nr NI (UK) Ulster then back to Ballyshannon campsite, co Donegal Then to Ross Point (home of W B Yeats – William Butler, Bro John Butler (rich Irish family name) a painter (see his pic under Keel Bay pix) ) , Deadmans point, Drumcliffe Friary, Yeats graveside & St Columba, Spanish Armada view , Classiebawn castle at Mullaghmore (where lord louis mountbatten was killed) Total: 40 miles 1 hr 4 mins Road goes along the coast. Stayed at Lakeside caravan and camping, Beleek rd, ballyshannon, Co Donegal. Manged by Mungo who had a huge US pop outs van and offered to buy ours off us – No way Jose! Note very busy at weekends OK otherwise, nice Liverpool/Welsh couple next to us and our pal from Austria with doggie. It is an ACSI site No 1253 and as we had gained 2 days from original plan got 2 days at E$19 Acsi price. DAY14: Fri 29/6 2nd day at Lakeside campsite Ballyshannon – supposedly Irelands oldest town (but we saw a few of those) but definitely the birth place of Rory Gallagher. Nice cooked brekkie on griddle outdoors in the sun, plus Irish white pudding – yummy. Supposedly live Irish music on site & restaurant – just Sat for music but I did watch a rather boring Belgium vs England 2nd 11 world cup match with no atmosphere but 1 pint of Orchard thieves. We are Sunday dinner when we came back there later for a second stay and very good it was too DAY15: Sat 30/6 Ballyshannon, co Donegal along the WAW in co Donegal to Dungloe co Donegal, Rossnowlagh and beach, Donegal town itself, Castle and music festival in town square, not a great city / town, the fab Lough Eske at Arnold point, Fish town Killibeg allegedly Irelands major fishing port and like Grimsby you could smell it coming, but harbour very nice. Shopped here in Supa Value. Muckross Head, lunch at Creenveen, Slieve league cliffs, Glencomcille (folk museum not great tho’ too new)Stayed at family park in the green book at Dungloe after yet another Mr Whippy 99 Nice family who ran it, very friendly and chatty DAY16: Sun 1/7 Dungloe - Ballyshannon, co Donegal our only bad day weather wise… low cloud sea mist and very very windy. We went via Kingcasslach, Cnoc Fola (the red sea), Gweedore, Magheraroarty & beach, Queen of aran fishing ferry (passengers only) to the Tory isles, Doe Castle view for lunch, an Irish Romeo & Juliet, Island Roy view (just) and the bridge across , Fanad head and lighthouse. Realising the weather was bad and we still had a 100 mile round trip on very minor roads to Malin Head (star wars fame) and end of WAW we turned back thru Ramelton (Lifford) on the river Lennon, Letterkenny (big town) N13 , N15 , Ramelton had lovely flowers, old castle, and fishing (pity it was drizzling), back thru Donegal & castle, Ballyshannon town and Rory Gallagher (its famous son) then to campsite again for nice Sunday dinner. I had Irish beef, Annie had turkey and gammon… Yummy DAY17: Mon 2/7 Ballyshannon co Donegal, Ulster via Cartronbog & Drumshanbo to Battlebridge, co Leitrim on the edge of Lough Allen (this road slipped over the border briefly into NI unbeknown to us at Beleek co Fermanagh and we stopped to see Lough Melvin on the road to Garrison before going back into Eire. Back in Eire we saw the lovely Parkes castle on Lough Gill co Sligo (again - want to read about the spanish armada captain cuellar) and W B Yeats trail and had lunch on Gill Total: 42 miles 1 hr 16 mins Road goes along the edge of the lake. Tried staying at the Allen centre , Curraghill, Drumshanbo, co Leitrim but it is now a Luxury leisure park on the lake with chalets to buy, the campsite has long since gone so we found a new one in the green book at Battlebridge called Beirnes (not bad facilities, not great position tho) DAY18: Tues 3/7 Battlebridge co Leitrim - Athlone, co Roscommon via Strokestown House(owned by the Mahons), Gardens and Irish National Famine Museum & Roscommon on the edge of Lough Ree . Had lunch of quiche and salad in the café plus the best lemon meringue pie we have ever had (apart from Annies he says quickly )Total: 53 miles 1 hr 46 mins Stayed at Athelone, Ballykeeran ACSI site No 1252 $19 in season. Visited Dog & Duck pub to watch football ENG vs Columbia with lovely Irish people. They shook my hand as I left and wished the team well ;) wonderful DAY19: Wed 4/7 Athlone, co Roscommon-thru co Offaly - Portlaoise , co Laois (known as Queen’s county) to Bennettsbridge co Kilkenny via quick look at lough Ree, Athelone town, Tullamore, Killbeggan Distillery, Lilliput (don’t bother – its not Jonathan Swifts ancestral home, that’s Dublin)Total: 50 miles 1 hr 18 mins Tried Staying at Laois (pronounced Leash) camping and caravan, r445 portlaoise, clondouglas,mountrath rd 53°0'29"N 7°22'19"W Portlaosie co Laois, even tho we called in at a tourist office in Heritage town Abbeyleix (lady very helpful) where thye thought it was open then decided it wasn’t, we spent a long time trying to find driving almost as far as Montreath – Our satnav (or me) cocked up and took us towards Kilkenny city rather than the Wicklow mountains which is disappointing but as it would be a 200 mile round trip we decided to can it and do it on our next visit to Eire. So we stayed at Nore Valley Park, Bennettsbridge, a kid friendly site in the Green book, bad choice! This was the scene of our first ever campsite eviction… the battle of the Pitchforks… appalling campers DAY20: Thurs 5/7 Bennettbridge, woke up decided as we would probably do 3 days of kids screaming at Enniscworthy site we would reorg our Ferry and come back today, giving us a little more time to prepare for grand daughter minding – Visted Nicholas Mosse pottery in Bennettsbridge which was fab, Annie got a nice blue jug (handpainted) We watched them working and there was some great history around the grain mill and waterwheel. We then stopped for lunch at Johnstown Castle Gardens outside Rosslare for lunch and a lovely stroll around the gardens and lake, very tranquil, peacocks and our last 99 Flake of the hols (at E$2 I can highly recommend) Alas the castle was under redevelopment so sadly closed. Then it was ferry from Rosslare 6.20pm, arrived Fishguard Sth Wales 9.40 pm… then 6.5 hours of fairly gruelling driving back thru South and North wales coming out at Welshpool – Shrewsbury borders before any “fast” roads DAY21: Fri 6/7 Arrived back home as the sun was rising about 4.30 am after comfort break, coffee and pasty M54, 3 hours sleep but caught up the next day….. all in all a fab hol in the Wendy house and the best summer since 1976, can’t be bad Return to Menu SLIDESHOW VIDEOS We stayed at one of the best little campsites ever on this trip, the Strand campsite, read all about it on the associated Blog 130, thanks my hero rory gallagher, born here, member of taste before going solo, sadly died young Return to Menu HISTORY Our family holiday to Eire back in 2000 #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2018 #campsites #majortrip Return to Menu AUDIOBOOK Return to Menu TRAVEL ROUTE VIDEOS Return to Menu THE END

By keef and annie hellinger, Jul 14 2018 12:13PM Possibly the best campsite we have stayed in the world over after many a year of camping and travelling. We can highly recommend this 5star unique site, if you want to see all the sites we have been to in the UK take a look on the home page Run by a couple from the UK, both from Cornwall, who have a motorhome of their own which gives them a great insight into what people want. It is a small family site with a limited number of hard standing pitches and the wifes attention to detail on a beach theme design is sublime. Nearby is White Strand a blue flag beach. I would have to say that the shower and washroom facilities are possibly better than ours at home. 5 STAR... If you are in the area motorhome travels suggest you give it a try. Note: For cyclists it even has a cosy bike barn where you can bed down for the night Its in the Ireland Green book campsites. There are 2 of these , suggest you pick them up from any tourist office and often the campsites themselves have them Another campsite we would recommend in Ireland because of its private beach and Eco set up by owner Chris is the Clifden Eco beach site, it only gets 4 stars however as if busy (and it was when we were there) there really are not enough showers... only 2 unisex for whole site can be tricky To see our full trip to Eire (Ireland) please look at associated blog 129, thanks Travel Route Videos associated with this trip where motorhome-travels can highly recommend this site

By keef and annie hellinger, Sep 13 2018 09:18AM Motorhome trip No35 : Aug 27th- Sept 12th 2018 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog MENU INTRO SUMMARY DIARY SLIDESHOWS TRAVEL BLOG ROUTES RETRO SCOTTISH FAMILY TRAVEL VIDEOS THE END OF BLOG INTRODUCTION NOTTS->Scotland and the Isles via Lake District ->NOTTS 1313 miles Troutbeck nr Penrith, Greystoke, Glasgow, Mull, Iona, Ulva, Kintyre including the Mull of Kintyre, Bute, Arran, much of Argyll & Keswick, Lake District HISTORY OF THIS BLOG Slight boo boo - we had 2 trip 34's... Eire came first so made this Trip34A on 12/7/20, no worries , hardly matters just means in reality we have done one more trip in the van than we say , updated 5/5/22 Decided to shift this and each subsequent blog on by one up to the latest at the time which was 177 (now Trip 49, was 48) Back to MENU SUMMARY OF TRIP A fab time away visiting our dear friends Chris and Allyson in their new home at Ardtun (pronounced Hard – Ton) on the oh so peaceful Isle of Mull plus pulling in 7 ferry trips, 5 Scottish islands, a lot of miles, 2 great days out in Glasgow (which is a truly fabulous city – much better than when we cowered under the bench overnight in Buchanan street bus garage 40 years ago – city of culture now), a great Sunday dinner with friends Lawrence & Yvonne, Strathclyde country park - the old lady who had lived there all her life and not found the Roman fort (lol), classy Charles Rennie & Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh, the Glasgow Boys,Riverside Museum, Hunterian, George Square, Murals, Kelvingrove, real pizzas, Sir John Moore and true scotch food, Hard Rock Cafe, HOHO bus, Bellshill station, scotch mist,wind and rain a plenty on some of the isles plus lots of sunshine, Connel, trying to find the amphitheatre in Oban, humming Mull of Kintyre, Chris reminding me about a lift we had on Mull all those years ago where the lifter played Planxty, the burg, Cnoc Mor, tea and cakes Bunessan, a revisit to Threlkeld, Keswick and a first visit to Tarzan’s Greystoke, Fionnphort, great walk to coast on Iona in the sun (now costs to go around the abbey - progress?),learning something about crofting and de-crofting,that multi-seen french yacht, 2 busted ferries to and from the Isle of Arran, Crab & Lobster soup in the Boathouse Ulva, Shiela's cottage,Lachlan MacQuarrie's mausoleum Mull (Benmore estate - born Ulva as were Dr Livingston's grand parents) , Uisken beach and the big chair, Ardalanish beach rain and red admirals,Bob Ryan MBE Ardalanish weavers,Tarbert, Campbeltown, Mull of Kintyre, Machrihanish, views of Islay, Loch Fyne, revisiting Tighnabruaich,Rothsay, Winter gardens and harbour, Port Bannatyne, Ardrossan, Brodick and castle and grounds, shifting from the dog lounge to the coughing suite on Arran ferry, the Big stone (both Arran and campsite Troutbeck), Corrie, Lochranza and castle, hills of Sannox (lunch twice),fake sheep and a very convincing seal, my first red squirrel in the UK, seal shores views - kildonan, Kinloch, Old byre visitors centre - Machrie, wild camp A83, learning more functionality on our camera, waterfalls galore in Loch Lomond NP and oh so much more, very relaxing, we really enjoyed ourselves. Back to MENU UPDATED PLAN / DIARY DAY 1 Mon 27 Aug 3hrs 30mins 178 miles Home to Penrith (straight there 6hrs 10mins 284 miles… too much for 1 day!!!) stay at Troutbeck head site, Troutbeck, Penrith, CA11 0SS (a C&M site) Booking confirmed £33 0008542092 DAY2 Tues 28 Aug 3hrs 4 mins 155 miles Morecambe Bay to Strathclyde Country Park Caravan Club Site L&Y Bothwellhaugh Road, Bothwell, Bothwell, G71 8NY Booking 0008543275 £70.50 DAY3&4: Wed & Thurs 29 & 30 Aug 3 nights with Lawrence & Yvonne, 2 days in Glasgow… note that is 12 miles away by bus.. see Y&L tues eve , they are off Weds so we will probably do 2 days in Glasgow. Park and ride (free) at Bellshill train station, only £4.40 return to Glasgow Central station. What a fab place it is. The hop on hop off bus is only £16 for 2 days. Guess what Glasgow has a Hard Rock Cafe DAY5: Fri 31 Aug 3hrs 106 miles to Oban, stay at campsite there North Ledaig Caravan Club Site Connel, Oban, Argyll & Bute, PA37 1RU, Scotland C&M club site booked ref 2450 £28.20-£10 deposit paid. Had a quick drive up to find the Victorian amphitheatre at Oban but couldn’t find it, interesting climb on single track road. Campsite wonderful, on beach front with clear views of the isle of Mull DAY6 – 11 Sat 1 Sep – Fri 7 Sep Ferry Oban to Craignure : on Mull with Chris & Allyson. Leave Fri am 6 full days. Take tickets BOOKED leave oban checkin closes 8.10… leave craignure checkin closes 9.25 £41.20 return #wow . Drive to Cnoc Mor takes about 1 hr, allow 1hr 30 on way back because of traffic. panorama, the burg from cnoc mor, ardtun, isle of mull #bliss DAY12: Fri 7 Sep Ferry Craignure to Oban Then on way back 50 miles 1hr 30 mins Oban to Tarbert ferry via Lochgilphead (all Argyll & bute) Camp near Tarbert @ killegruer caravan park, woodend, glenbarr, tarbert, argyll pa29 6xb email sent to book/ now confirmed pay cash We called in at this campsite and it was YUCK! So carried on and stayed at a lovely site just outside Campbeltown (a great town) on the Mull of Kintyre , Macrihanish Holiday Park. Such lovely views, if a little (understatement) windy. DAY13: Sat 8 Sep Ferry Tarbert (Argyll mainland) to Portavaidie (across loch fyne) Turn up and go, see timetable then around loch riddon, drive Portavaidie to colintraive ferry terminal 40 mins 19 miles, then Colintraive - Rhubodach Ferry £5 1 way for motorhome plus passengers. Now on the isle of Bute, Spend the rest of the day on Bute… camp there then head to Rothsay. Camp at Roseland Holiday park, Serpentine Road Canada Hill, Isle Of Bute PA20 9EH email sent to book response hardstanding pitch secured. Not the greatest site but high up on the hills overlooking Rothsay so close to ferry. Hardstanding was in basically a car park £20 all in so cheap. Washrooms adequate (just) DAY14: Sun 9 Sep Ferry Rothsay to Wemyss Bay , then Drive Wemyss Bay to Ardrossan 45 mins 18 miles, Ferry Ardossan to Brodick - Isle of Arran stay 1+ full days (lots to see and much bigger than Bute)camp at Seal Shore Camping & Touring Site, Kildonan ,Isle of Arran ,KA27 8SE ,01770 820320 £23/night 2 nights.. go anti clockwise around the island… 25 mins 14 miles Brodick to Lochranza, see castle… email sent to book Take tickets BOOKED Arran leave ardrossan checkin closes 12 noon… leave brodick (11th) checkin closes 9.15 £46.70 return Update… due to crane crushing drive on / off ramp had to take a later ferry so had nice lunch and coffee in Asda near the terminal. Drove up to Lochranza – nice place, hills of Sannox fab DAY15: Mon 10 Sep Day on Isle of camp at same site Seal Shore Camping & Touring Site, Kildonan ,Isle of Arran ,KA27 8SE £23/night £20 deposit paid by card, sending confirmation. Fab views across to lighthouse on an island. Bit wet and windy though! Drove right around Arran 30 miles top to bottom so about 60 miles in all. Called in at CalMac Brodick after text re ferry cancellation. As the second ferry from Brodick to Ardrossan was also damaged (how careless, winds from storm , ramp cracked – dry dock) and no vehicles over 2.8 meters high could leave we travelled (for the 4th time) back to Lochranza and got the 5.05 pm small ferry back to Cloanaig (Kintyre), very choppy and getting off was fun. Then A83 Lochgilphead, Inveraray (nice) and wild camp just outside Cairndow with own private waterfall DAY16: Tues 11 Sep then back to mainland via drive Kildonan to Brodick 30mins 13 miles ferry Brodick to Adrossan, then drive Adrossan to Penrith Lake District 3 hrs 6mins 158 miles Stay at Troutbeck head site, Troutbeck, Penrith, CA11 0SS (a C&M site) Booking confirmed £26.80 0008542045 Update from Cairndow (up early) drive A83/ A82 past Glasgow back to Troutbeck campsite DAY17: Wed 12 Sep Penrith home 3hrs 30mins 178 miles longer time wise via M6 about 186 miles See all our Scotland Travel Blog routes HERE If you would like to seen details of our other trips to Scotland most in the wendy house please have a look at Blog 38 & 152, thanks, they are associated here for your easy navigation, plus our family trip in 1988, use FAMILY page by year, thanks for looking If you would like to see details of our trip to the Shetlands in 2001 or you would like to see Slideshows of our trip to the Isle of Lewis, the Uists and Benbecula in 1988, Edinburgh in 1993 when we holidayed in Lowick, Northumberland or Tighnabruich, Cowal peninsular which we revisited on this trip and it was Craig's 1st holiday back in 1982 visit our FAMILY page here on the site and go to the appropriate year, thanks Back to MENU SLIDESHOWS #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2018 #campsites #majortrip #timeline Back to MENU SCOTTISH TRAVEL BLOG ROUTES Back to MENU RETRO SCOTTISH FAMILY TRAVEL VIDEOS In 2023 i started to redo many of our very old you tube videos (utubeo) and here is what you get, better quality images and sound #utubeo Return to Menu THE END

By keef and annie hellinger, Nov 19 2018 09:53AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No36 : Nov 16th- 18th 2018 NOTTS->Waterloo Farm Leisure, Great Oxendon, Northamptonshire ->NOTTS 127 miles 258 years and counting and 30+ camping years under our belts collectively 😉 We returned again in 2020, see blog 142 We visited Waterloo Farm with our dear pals Pete and Joy. One of the few adult only sites open at this time of year. Although late on in the year we had 2 very sunny (yet crisp) days and one overcast day on arrival. We were on grass pitches 53 & 54 next to one of the 3 fishing lakes on the site. An anglers paradise only none of us fish, only eat it! Lakeside hard standing pitches were only £17.50 per night at this time of year, a bargain esp. when the early morning sun rose over the lake a fantastic breakfast outlook. The facilities were not bad but one would guess in high season inadequate in number. The very large shower /loo/washrooms could be converted into a greater number of separate loos in my humble opinion however we were not complaining. I didn’t even get time to read the National Geographic on offer. Such fun to catch up once we all set up over a few bevies. We had a lovely goulash meal on Friday eve that Pete had prepared earlier and Joy rustled up in the van, fantastic and oh those cheesecakes to die for. Saturday after bacon butties we walked along the old railway track into Market Harborough past all the sloes and rosehip bushes. The farm seemed to grow masses of winter feed type greens. We crossed the border into Leicestershire (smile) At the outskirts of Market Harborough the Millennium Mile starts and we took that past allotments, Bowden recreation park into the town centre. A lovely place with great architecture, the old grammar school / butter cross, indoor market where Keef bought some black bomber cheese. P&J had bought some from their local butcher, a huge slab, I love it! The church , Crimbo Deccies, River Welland, Old town hall and Everest & West shop were most interesting. We then rested and refreshed in the Old Swan pub and finally caught a cab back to the site for more chat over cheese and bikkies. In the eve we had a meal up in the site restaurant and very nice it was too in their conservatory. Sunday after brekkie A&I went back along the old railway line to collect sloes, which were in abundance, for homemade sloe gin. A task to be undertaken with relish! We then all packed up and said our fond farewells. Another fab relaxing weekend with our pals. #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2018 #campsites

By keef and annie hellinger, Jan 13 2019 08:37AM Not the Motorhome trip No 11 : 10th December 2018 – 10th January 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Gatwick to Singapore to China to Singapore ->NOTTS 19,346 miles Spent Christmas and New Year with Doug , Phoenix & Charlie in Singapore and China. Wonderful times and so nice to be able to spend so long with them all. It should be noted that the concept of Motor homing in Singapore (not big enough, but tent camping is possible in East Coast Park) and China (just culturally so foreign to their nature) is unlikely but who is to say in the future whether or not it will happen. When our daughter-in-laws parents visited us in the UK way back when and I showed her father around our Wendy House he asked if English people lived in them. This trip allowed us the opportunity to repay the visit by spending time with them in their home town of Foshan, Guandong province, China and most welcome they made us too. It is fair to say that language is a barrier but Phoenix and Charlie (as interpreters) and a snazzy app on the iPad meant we could communicate just a little. We loved China, what an opportunity, not somewhere I suggest westerners try without some language skills and WeChatPay and Alipay or a whole stack of cash. Most purchases are via the aforesaid app via your phone! We were extremely lucky travelling with Norwegian from Gatwick to Changi that we got a Premier economy upgrade, the extra comfort and luxury made the 14+ hours journey to Singapore a whole lot better. Top films in my humble opinion – Hoover by Clint Eastwood (way out), Bad times at the El Grande (way back) We went to Balalaki Greek Taverna in the historic Tiong Bahru heritage area for Doug’s birthday, and very nice it was too, plus a revisit to Muddy Murphy’s for Xmas dinner, although a new venue this time at the other end of Orchard Road. We flew out to China the day after Boxing day and spent time in Foshan, Guangzhou and Zhuhai (on the border with Macao). Such an experience, loved every moment. We celebrated Annes’ 65th birthday there at a local village wedding and the Western New Year (clearly not Chinese New Year.. 2019 being the year of the Pig). We returned to Marine Terrace, Singapore on the 4th and made good use of the pool etc at Nora & Michaels at Cote D’Azur near Parkway Parade before sadly saying our good byes and returning home to a somewhat cooler UK. Singapore was 34c, China sometimes 3c and UK 6c Among the many highlights in Singapore apart from seeing family were the Q8 at SAM , Singapore Art Museum's spin off for new Artists (the old colonial art museum is currently closed for refurbishment for 3 years), this is located at Bras Basah, The Singapore Heritage Museum, Muddy Murphys in Orchard Road, The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum in Chinatown, Parkway Parade, the ever wonderful East Coast park, Cote D'azur pools, Tiong Bahru heritage area, Gardens by the bay, Asian civilisation museum, Cavenagh bridge area of the Singapore river and the Paranakan Museum and restaurant in Armenian Street. Among the many highlights of our time in China I would list shop and chop house establishments, Starry Four Seasons Hotel, Lingnan quarter, Lion dancing, old orange peel, turtle soup, Zumiao museum, firecrackers, Titian village family wedding, Annies 65th, Nanfeng ancient kiln, Ming & Qing pottery, the Canton or Pearl river, Guangzhou south station (so busy), High speed trains, Yuwenquan hot springs resort, Macao boat trip, MGM studios (Macao),Tea, Dim Sum, cantonese food, deep fried scorpion, gooses intestines, worms, beef knuckle, Hong kong-zhuhai-macao bridge, Cold and Warmth, Rickshaws, Paw-Paw & Gong-Gong, straw hats, Air B&B, Chen Clan academy, Starbucks, Guandong museum, Fans & western trade historically, Canton Tower, young chinese girls wanting their photo with me (what an ego boost ;) ), Buddha in many forms, chinese weighing scales, crocodile and goat, buttons and zips. Looking forward to the next family meet up, “missing you already” Longer term 2020 Beijing for 600th anniversary of the Forbidden city but hopefully also before then! To see more family fun, visit our FAMILY page here on the site #family #majortrip

By keef and annie hellinger, May 2 2019 03:51PM Motorhome trip No37 : Apr 30th – May 1st 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS (home)->Clumber Park, C&MC site, Nottinghamshire ->NOTTS (home) 98 miles Almost exactly 7 years on from our first trip in the Wendy House we returned to the Caravan and Motorhome clubs site at Clumber Park, an area of preserved special interest. How nice to see the wild life, trees everywhere especially Lime trees and listen to the endless bird sounds of Cuckoos, Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Robins and a whole host more. Beyond relaxing! This time we were on pitch 9, last time Blog 60 retrospective we were on pitch 7. We can thoroughly recommend the site, it is peaceful and extremely well serviced with new facilities and at least 3 motorhome service points. Whilst there we were principally trying out the van for the season after its engine and hab services. All tickerty boo thank heavens! We decided to walk into Hardwick Village on the understanding it was 10 mins away and less than a mile, 2 ⅔ hours and 5 miles later we returned but it was a fun walk. Stopping for coffee and a mars bar / kitkat at Beryl the land rover café on the edge of Lake Clumber by the weir. It was so so sunny and the views spectacular. Even the village owned by the Dukes of Newcastle was spectacular. We will return! #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites

By keef and annie hellinger, Jul 6 2019 04:38PM Motorhome trip No38 : May 5th – July 3rd 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS (home)->Faroes & Iceland via Holland, Germany & Denmark ->NOTTS (home) 5257 miles MENU Introduction Diary Calendar (3 months) Campsites (1) Faroes Slideshows (8) Iceland Slideshows (11) The Talkies (3) Full Slideshows with Audiobook (3) Audio Diaries (3) Tags / End of Blog James Bond #spoileralert on Kalsoy Arctic Circle (+ Arctic Henge, Wiltshire's equivalent ) The Wild Arctic Way (the Wild Atlantic Way in Eire) Introduction What a fantastic 2 months away, scenery to die for, lovely people, couldn’t have asked for better weather in Iceland, as an example the preceding June it rained non stop for 28 days. We had 16 consecutive days of 24 hour sun. You get used to the sun falling and then re-arising moments later. It just never got dark in either the Faroes nor Iceland so it was really weird when returning to Germany via Denmark when it did go dark. This trip meant along with our previous trip to Scandinavia (Blog 100) we have now been to all the countries in Scandinavia in our lovely Wendy house, VW Autosleeper Clubman Anniversary motorhome #proud Suggest using the menu to find your way around this blog if you want to dip in and out of specific bits, or you can of course just carry on from here and go all the way through, the choice is clearly yours Here is a selection of some of our photos to get you started, you can also see them with others across our motorhome-travels via the gallery in the dropdown, enjoy. Back to the Menu Diary It is worth saying that the Faroes has 18 islands connected either via Ferry, Bridge or undersea Tunnel. Some we weren’t able to do especially Sandoy… ferry over subscribed and the far north islands as the tunnel at 3.1m was a little too low for comfort when taking the van thru. The Smyril line provide you with a booklet for download of the Faroes campsites. A selection of our fave places where Gasadalur on Vagar, Torshavn campsite views of Hestur, Kaldbak on Streymoy,Vestmanna, Gjogv on Eysturoy, Hosvik, Saksun (both Streymoy),Vikings at Leirvik, Trollanes on Kalsoy. See the pictures to get a feel. We loved it , a week and a half is probably enough but you are guided by the ferry timetable! Also glad we went there 1st before Iceland, I think on balance it’s the right order. Iceland is a magnificent place to visit. Absolutely bowled over by it. Apart from my scary 2nd day morning climbing over the mountain out of Seydisfjordur in driving snow and winds where you could barely see the road, much less that it was surrounded on both sides by frozen lakes… it was all a joy! Get an Iceland camping card if you are staying more than 2 weeks, sites are plentiful in the east, south west, western fjords and the north… not so in big stretches of the southern coast. Sites are not great but mostly adequate with the exception of Reydarfjordur, Isafjordur and Siglufjordur which are wonderful. If you are not using the card it can be very costly. Reyjkavik for example is not part of this scheme and about £39 / night. Take as much canned food, rice, pasta etc with you that you can fit in your van to control your expenditure. Sadly whale watching for us at Husavik was off, foggy and blowing a hoolie! A selection of our fave places were Reydarfjordur (east) and areas out to Nordfjord, whole of the western Fjords, Vatnajokull NP, Jokulsarlon Lagoon Icebergs,Porshavn (north),many of the lovely fjords and Waterfalls, the Kerfla active volcano area (north west) , Siglufjordur (north),Husavik (north), Grindavik (south west) and as a city Akureyri. See the pictures to get a feel. We went past Sumburgh head , the Shetlands en route , if you would like to read about our time in the Shetlands see Blog 82, thanks Sunday 5th May 2019 Having packed the van in advance we set off once again for Harwich, we had booked into the Castle Inn just outside Harwich but when we saw that it was just a pub car park decided against that. We stopped in Harwich town for a good look around, including the harbour area with the Boat that rocked from the film of the same name featuring Bill Nighy, the garden areas, sea front, real ale beer festival on the pier, old town areas, most nautical, a nice fish and chip supper and finally decided to park up opposite the care home on the front. Went to bed early as up early for ferry to Hoek Van Holland tomorrow. After seeing the campsite last time and this in future if we are going across to Europe via Harwich, we would do the same. Not really having seen Harwich before we would rate it, a very interesting place with history, Samuel Pepys and the Mayflower, men of war ships built here 1660-1827, the treadwheel crane, Gill cartoons, house of correction and fab architecture. Monday 6th May 2019 As we were effectively wild camping, we got up early, it was a very quiet night, and drove the short distance to the port and joined the ferry queue for 8 a.m. The Stena line ferry was not leaving until 9 a.m. so we had our breakfast and read in line. The ferry was incredibly empty of passengers, mostly cargo lorry drivers who get sleeping quarters on board. We wouldn’t be surprised if this service dies like many of the DFDS services, as just not enough passengers. Eventually sadly it will probably only be possible to cross at Dover to Europe making journeys up to Scandinavia very long. Indeed, this trip is that already. Back in the day when we were in the Orkneys you could go to the Faroes via Aberdeen – Stromness – Lerwick – Torshavn, indeed we did think about it back in the 80s but as the kids were very young gave it a miss. Now you can only go either flying from Copenhagen or as we are doing ferry from the top of Denmark. On board we sat and read in the café and had lunch there. Annie didn’t fancy any of the movies, having fallen asleep just when Harrison Ford died in the last one when we saw the latest Star Wars movie in 2016. Keef went to see the hustlers movie with Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway, quite amusing but I and only one other were in the cinema. On arrival we faced the same issue at the same roundabout with our TruckNav but eventually mastered it and got out of Rotterdam, then drove back to Gouda, missing however the right turning for the Klein Amerika Aire behind the Library which meant we travelled the narrow canal side roads, not clever, lucky no one coming the other way. Eventually got there, parked up, no electrics as all slots taken for that but no worry, still a very convenient site #recommended We walked into Gouda again and visited the cheese shop where they last told us that we had a royal heir. We bought quite a few nice cheeses. We love the town of Gouda. Tuesday 7th May 2019 Up early having part filled the water tank at the aire and set off to join the A1 bypassing Utrecht, Apeldoorn and onto near Osnabruck where we headed north entering Germany still on the A1 past Bremen (almost the same route as on the way back in 2016) Turned off at K15 through rural Buntberg and onto Heidenau, Germany. It was quite a weird site and we stayed almost alone in the grassed motorhome section outside the main entrance, however it had a barrier which was control by a payment machine, took us quite a while to work out what you need do with your credit card but once in we were ok, filled to the top with water and set up the electrics. The facilities were quite a way off through the bigger site. We had a bit of a look around got changed and went to the Greek restaurant on site for an evening meal, all very nice, then to bed, we had driven for about 4 hours and done 270 miles through two countries, just a wee bit tired. Wednesday 8th May 2019 Left the Heidenau campsite for Flensburg today, just below the german border with Denmark. Luckily the barrier opened for us and we didn’t remain trapped inside that strange campsite field, we had lost all confidence in the auto payment scheme and its automated control, we would never stay there again although the traditional wooden hut with woodland creature carvings was a joy. Anyhow it was back onto the A1 and turned onto the A7 near Rosengarten, then bypass the amazingly busy Hamburg, there is always a hold up there in our humble opinion and this time was no exception, a huge port had massive roadworks pulling traffic down into 1 lane most of the way around, when crossing some of the bridges on route we got a glimpse of just how large the port is. I have a certain allegiance to Hamburg as it was the port my ancestors used to escape the Pogroms back in the 1880s. After Eidelstedt we turned off the A7 onto the E45 and steadily made our way north from Saxony into the state of Schleswig-Holstein and Flensburg, here we turned off onto the B199 to the very nice site we had pre-booked at Medelby, we would use that site again to break the journey on our way back from Iceland. Mr and Mrs Lund a nice Danish couple run the site, we were on pitch one , huge green open fields, fab facilities block, lots of space, nice indoor pool, although we didn’t use it, and outside seating area for an ice cream which we did do. All in all, a very pleasant stay #recommended Thursday 9th May 2019 Packed up after brekkie and left the Lund’s, checking out and saying goodbye, we will be back as Arnie once said. So back along the B199 having had a quick look around the area and re-joined the motorway E45 up across the border into Denmark, there we a few borders crossing folk at the checkpoint, but they took one look at our number plate , UK, and just waved us through. On past Kolding and Vejle which we had seen in 2016 and through Arhus to our ACSI campsite at Lisbjerg called Aarhus camping off Randersveg. It was in a very green area, nicely laid out, we were on pitch 83. Set up and had a good look around and used the facilities. They had nice little huts for kids to play in, a huge outdoor chess set, and flowers blooming everywhere, a very nice site, we had driven for about 2hours 10 mins and 120 miles to get here from Germany. We then left our marker on the pitch and set off to have a look around Arhus, a university town, that we had not been into in 2016. Quite nice in parts but not that interesting, some unique Danish architecture though, the Danes are so good at design, have a look at the Danish images if you want to see what we saw in Arhus. We then returned to our Roholm mose area campsite in Lisbjerg. Friday 10th May 2019 Left Aarhus camping site and travelled the hour journey via the minor road to Odum and then back on the E45 motorway turning off onto the 507 through the big town of Randers , its huge hospital and bridge across the Gudena onto Hadsund across the Marianger fjord. At Hadsund we called into a Lidl to do our food shopping, we like Lidl both for price and layout in goreign lands, they often keep the same layout so it makes it easy for us to find stuff. After stocking up with provisions it was on from Hadsund to Oster Harup heading out on the 541 road towards the coast and going along the coastal road turning at Aals which was a very interesting old village with nice traditional buildings. It was only 20 minutes to Oster Harup. We parked up in what is quite a touristy area and went for a nice breezy walk around the marina, boardwalks and jetties plus had a look as some of the for hire coastal holiday shacks, which all had fab views and Danish style. Quite impressed. This was a true seaside town. We then carried along the coast to Egense where we waited for and caught the ferry across the Limfjorden to Hals. An interesting experience as you had to purchase your ferry ticket via a machine before travel, clearly saving them work on the chain ferry for this short journey. What fun. Fab views out to sea as well. From Hals we carried on up the coast to the larger town of Frederikshavn (havn meaning port in Danish) We stopped in the town centre but weren’t sure of the parking charges or how to pay so decided just to drive around as much as we could seeing the big port area which felt very industrial, so we then moved onto our campsite for the night at Hjorring. It was only a 45-minute drive through Sindal and some very green hilly terrain. A large site with not many people on it, we set up on the grass with electrics , the first thing we saw was a huge mountain hare, fascinating, as we had arrived quite early in the afternoon we went for a brief walk around the large site and then returned to chill, listen to music, read, eat, and bed. Happy bunnies as they say. Saturday 11th May 2019 No rush today our ferry doesn’t leave Hirtshal until 3 p.m. Had a leisurely breakfast , packed up the van, disconnected the electrics, wound up the rear steadies, made sure the cable flaps were pushed in, step and waste bucket securely stored away in the side pannier and then saying goodbye to the campsite guy, he was very friendly, we initially went into old Hjorring parking in the supermarket area for free. Had a good look around the older area and gardens, especially liked the old warehouse. We then set off the short 25-minute drive to Hirtshal, Jutland from Horring. We had been here briefly in 2016 but did not visit the port. Some aussies we met back then were using it to get to Norway. We stopped on the hill approaching Hirtshal town to take a lot of photos then Keef realising he had forgotten to bring his hat and gloves and it was going to be cold went along the port area to a fishing type shop and bought his Icelandic hat and gloves, I am so proud of them, I even wore them at night when we did the NC500 in 2022 as it was so cold (Blog 177). We then had a good look around town having paid to park. After that we had lunch and then drove from town to the port to join the queue for the Symril line ferry. In the queue we saw some outlandish motorhomes, one from guys from Czech Republic which was a true outback almost armoured vehicle with solar panels for power plus a huge lorry transporting what can only have been a bridge under wraps. We eventually got on the ship but not without some interesting stuff, Annie had to go on as a passenger leaving the van and being driven to the gang plank. I waited patiently in line as was the next to last vehicle on the ship, boarding 20 minutes after the scheduled departure time ha-ha #scary. Parking was reversing and wedged in as close as possible but as I am right hand drive, I had to shimmy over to get out of the motorhome. I carried lots of stuff with me and had to wait ages to get the lift to our floor and our cabin where Annie had been waiting ages a little worried that the boat would leave without me, as if, ha-ha. Nice cabin had all we needed for our 3-day , 2-night boat trip. I think we were on floor 13 but could be wrong. Our ferry was the MS Norrona. As it departed, we went outside sunny and windy on deck 8 to wave goodbye to Hirtshal, Denmark… next stop Torshavn, Faroe Islands, Denmark, but the Denmark bit is another story I will cover later. Went into the bar on deck 5 for coffee, cinnamon bun and keef bought his new fave chocolate covered liquorish, a Faroese delight! Keef went outside to take some pictures as we went past Sumner Head on the Shetlands, where we had been way back when (2001), see Blog 82. Sunday 12th May 2019 At sea. The MS Norrona by Symril Lines, wholly owned by the Faroes, has fab food. Whilst queuing for some drinks for us a guy started up a conversation with us, he lived in the North of the Faroes but had been working away from home in Norway. He was so friendly and indeed at the end of the trip as we got off in Torshavn gave us a book of the Faroes and his phone number and said if we were in his area come and visit him and his family how kind is that! Sadly, we didn’t have time to do so. Mealtime was allocated by the lady at the door, breakfast, lunch and dinner. On our first dinner the table allocated was already full so we went back to let her know, not repeating a camping pitch calamity we experienced in 2016, ha-ha. They shifted us to nearby tables with apologies. We struck up a conversation with the folk on the table who were teachers , with fab English, returning with their teenage school party from a singing visit to Copenhagen. They invited us to their decktop concert given by the teenagers at 10 p.m. It was lovely, lots of traditional Faroese folk songs and they even did a few classic tunes in English especially for us, just wonderful, we slept reasonably well that night although as the winds and waves got up it was especially rocky, we found we had to cling on to get dressed. We watched the TV in the room briefly to get a hang of Danish culture but mostly ads. Keef watched a Danish subtitled version of Morse, ha-ha. Not one I’d seen before. Monday 13th May 2019 The ship finally docked in Torshavn harbour at 6 a.m. and we went up on deck to get our first views of the Faroe Islands, just magical as the sun had already risen, indeed this far north in the world at this time of year it hardly even sets, not sure I’d want the reverse of total darkness in winter though. It took a while to get off the boat, cargo first, and the smell of fish near out van was intense, they carry in frozen storage containers and sometimes they defrost, ugh! We drove off the ferry up to the car park by the sports stadium and had a snack and a drink whilst planning what we would do this morning as not allowed in the campsite until 1 p.m. We then drove back to the harbour area and parked in the car park area by the ferry and had a good look around there taking many photos of our ship, before it departed for Iceland. We then drove back to the empty car park near the marina and more central for town, looked for pay machines, couldn’t find any so naively assumed it was free. We then went off for a long early morning walk around the marina area and along some of the back streets. Although sunny grateful for hats and coats as a bitter wind. When we returned the car park was full of shoppers and workers. We had what seemed to be a parking ticket under the windscreen, as it was written in Faroese I couldn’t read it, asked a nice lady next to us who said we had to pay a fine as we were not displaying the timer clock, which you set to say how long you will be there based on your arrival time, e.g. if you arrive at 10 a.m. you set it to 10, then if you are only allowed to stay for 2 hours the wardens know and will issue a fine if you overrun. Clearly as new arrivals we knew none of this, a different culture. She told us we had to pay the fine at the local police station, it took us a while to find it, Keef had a bit of a row with the Chief of Police claiming it wasn’t a great way to greet tourists, I had to pay about 200 Danish Krona £25. The police chief claimed it was the ferry’s responsibility to tell passengers of these rules, I told him they hadn’t and if I was him and they wanted the tourist economy he should use his position to influence them, anyhow his secretary told us we could get the clock disk from any petrol station so we did, now we know what to do we would not fall foul of that again. Anyhow despite this totally un-transparent process we had a nice morning, arrived at the campsite, locked, rang the number on the gate and the lady who lived nearby came and checked us in, and we got coins for showers and washing machines and hooked up overlooking the sea, a lovely view, and a nice site. Did some cooking, cleaning and washing and then relaxed for the rest of the day. Tuesday 14th May 2019 Had a shower, pretty good facilities, talked to some folk in tents in the very high winds today, so glad we have progressed to a motorhome at our age, breakfasted , had a look up at the traditional dwellings overlooking the site and the sea, and then headed back out of Torshavn centre along to where they are building the new hotels and turned right out of town. Initially we visited Kaldbaksfjordur, so many waterfalls on route which the drizzle helped to swell. Had a lovely look around, took some photos, so quiet so peaceful. Even the sheep were trying to get out of the rain and the road. Saw quite a few salmon farms in the fjord. We then decided today we would not use the 550 tunnel to get through the mountain which became a firm favourite in latter days and often essential. So we turned back into Torshavn at the opposite end and headed south west to Kirkjubour, the mist high up was so close to your nose, meaning you could hardle see anything, so glad I was going slowly as a Faroese guy pulled out right in front of me from a side road going so fast he could easily have hit me, he just didn’t see me, a lucky escape but quite shaking, so I drove even more slowly to Kirkjubour, luckily hardly any traffic. We parked near the bus station, basically the end of the line. Had a look around the grass thatched tourist house which doubled as a bus terminal. Then we walked up the road to the oldest inhabited house in the faroes, named Roykstovan. Free entry and very interesting it was, we then walked further up to the now derelict St Magnus’s Cathedral, it had no roof but was under repair as a historic building, it was even true that the nearby domkirke (church) with fab views across to kirkjuboholmur island was also being repainted and repaired after a winter bashing so we couldn’t enter as workman were busy. What a lovely setting though really liked Kirkjubour. The stromo island mountains were still in mist as we made our way back to Torshavn, highway 54, so once again I took it easy and safely. From here we headed out to our campsite at Vestmanna, also on the island of Streymoy, 40 minutes back out of town on the 550 through the mountain and past Hoyvik (a place we would later come to love). The road to Vestmanna was so scenerific, we were stopping endlessly to take pictures. We went through Leynar and Kvivik on the 40 and around the fab bay between Valur and Vestmanna, holding the hydro electric plant on its mountain side, self-sustainability for the locals. The campsite was fine, interestingly with metal hoops concreted into the ground to tie vans and caravans down during high storms, not something I have come across before. The lady who ran the site was just lovely, a sea captains wife, he being away fishing off Greenland in a huge floating canning factory, you learn something new every day #tick Nice facilities, nice new showers and inside rooms Her English was great, we even broached the subject of the whale killing festivals and understood her culture but not the practice, she said dried whale meat was a treat for the Faroese people, we have seen images of the mass blood and culling during their festivals #notnice for us Brits. Had a very nice stay here, so much so we decided to return later on in the holiday. Wednesday 15th May 2019 Now as far as we can go on Stromo island in the west, had a leisurely breakfast then traversed our route back just past Leynar, which we stopped at for both the views and a look at the village or town if you prefer, then onto highway 40 to join the tunnel (vagartunnelin) across to the island of Vagar. You must pay your toll for the crossing in a petrol station which we did and kept the receipt, it was the price as well for the return journey. Vagar Island has the Faroes airport on it and quite a few Americans come over to trek. We decided we were going to see the whole of Vagar today and set off up to Gasadular in the northwest of the island. Initially we stopped at Sandvagur, parked up and walked to the church which like all Faroese churches was locked, sadly they have had a spate of thefts from churches on all islands, so it was a government directive. We walked over the bridge and had a look around some of the houses, all very interesting. Lots of school kids walking around. It was then back on the road past miovagur and all the way along the edge of sovagsvatn (vatn means lake in Faroese) , great views, then we joined the Buttercup route (road 452) just past sorvagur. This ran all the way along the edge of the sea inlet, fab sunshine and great views of the island of Tindholmur with its pointy rock side. Lots of pictures were taken. So much better weather today, how lucky were we. There were lots of waterfall and towards the end we got a glimpse of the small island of Glasholmur. We had to take the tunnel to emerge at Gasadular. What a place parked up and went for a walk down to see the cliff edge waterfall called mulafossur. We then came back through the island to have a look at the campsite we had proposed staying on Vagur, just awful, looked like camping on a garage forecourt so we decided to give that a miss and travelled back through various tunnels to Kaldbakfjord and this time took the coastal road down to Kaldbak to have a look at the ancient church and the village, all amazingly interesting and well worth the visit. We then returned to the site at Torshavn, rang the warden lady and booked in again for the night. It wasn’t very busy. We met an American couple who had returned on the ferry from Iceland but because of the cargo going to Hirtshal were told they couldn’t get their Motorhome off in Torshavn and had to wait for it to be returned on the next trip out, they were loaned a car and a caravan whilst in the Faroes. It was their honeymoon, I would have been furious with Symril line, just not acceptable. Thursday 16th May 2019 Up early for a shower, put our coins in it was freezing water, had to call the lady out, no recompense of money but an apology, these things happen, she got someone out to sort it. Whilst she was there I got her to sort the padlock on the chemical toilet disposal lid, it was still locked from winter which surprised me as meant no camper up to May had ever emptied their waste unless they did it down the loo, not good. Anyhow the warden couldn’t open it, so I struggled and eventually freed it, the lock had rusted in the inclement weather. So, it was a late start for us , we went back into Torshavn and had a look around the town, and walked up to the parliament buildings. Then it was back to the Torshavn campsite to relax, lovely views outside our campervan window. Friday 17th May 2019 Time to leave Torshavn again, it really doent take very long to get anywhere on the Faroes so as we liked the lady in Vestmanna so much we went back there this time taking the road over the top of the mountains rather than through the tunnel to the top of the west coast of Streymoy, Stromo island, just spectacular views from the top and clear enough, mostly, for us to take pictures. Wow! We settled into a slightly different pitch this time refilling our water which the campsite lady helped us with, what a lovely lady. We relaxed after another walk around Vestmanna, there being some craft shops on the harbour area and some lovely bridges and boats to look at, all in all a lovely day. Saturday 18th May 2019 Said our goodbyes to Mrs Campsite, sea captain’s wife, and returned as far through Streymoy as Oyrareingir and joined highway 10 heading northeast as far as you can go on Stromo. Why it is called both Stromo Island and Streymoy I’m not quite sure, maybe one is English the other Faroese, but who knows. We stopped at Hosvik to have a walk around the harbour, keef picked some wildflowers for annie to press in her book. Lovely yellows everywhere, no wonder it is called the buttercup route. At Hvalvik we turned off onto the single track road to Saksun where we parked up for a walk around, past the old museum with its grass roof and down to the church on the coast. A nice place, we then returned and carried on up the 10 to Haldarsvik where we stopped to see the sailor’s memorial and the town houses with goats and sheep kept on a cliff edge. The church was closed but as the vicar was there we asked if we could come in as from the UK, he said yes which was so kind, some lovely views through fascinating windows, then it was back in the van and onto the end of the road at tjornuvik a traditional fishing village, parked up with view of the rock stacks known as the giant and the witch we had some food then went for a lovely walk through the village where we came across a brit who had lived there for 14 years with his Faroese wife, she had wanted to retire their when they retired in Birmingham. He still had his accent, they sold pancakes to tourists. We walked all the way around and along the coast with vegetable plots that would have severe wind bashing. How did they ever grow anything I wondered? Then we left drove back down and across the bridge from Streymoy to the island of Eysturoy and all the way up roadway 62 to the town of eidi to our campsite for the night on a football field outside the town, its facilities were the changing rooms ok if you don’t mind a communal shower, haha, but keef did use the showers in the morning. We pitched just next to the goal posts, as it was a weekend it was quite busy. We went for a walk outside the site along both the lake and the coast looking for whales. An interesting place to stay, we saw the church as well. Bit breezy over night. Sunday 19th May 2019 Eysturoy Island, packed up from the football field, no water fill or chemical toilet disposal so filled all our water bottles in the changing rooms, very cold wind today whilst packing up blistering in off the sea, so grateful for my Icelandic hat and mittens. We left but not before hearing the whooper swans on the lake and having one more look, and photo opportunity, at eidi’s magnificent church, quite a population here and they had 2 campsites, wonder on reflection if the non-ASCI one would have been better, who knows. We then drove the 20 minutes initially to funningor , a little village off the main road and then onto the magnificent Gjogv (pronounced gee-oar-gee) where we camped for 2 nights. The road was very windy and steep with some very interesting inclines both up and down as it helped traverse the 882 metres high mountain called Slaettaratindur. Funningor village was off the main 662 and was clearly a tourist visit as we saw coaches, but the approach road was probably too narrow to get down to the car park, not for us, however. Parked up and had a lovely walk around the village, little bridges, livestock, river views, lot of old traditional dwellings, all very interesting, we really liked funningor. So, then we came back out of the village traversed our route back up the 662 and turned up to Gjogv up the 632. It is the highest point north in Eysturoy you can get to by road with fabulous views over to the island of Kalsoy which we visited later. Anyhow great site. You had to check in up at the huge hotel and gift shop. The motorhome park was out on the cliff edge a bit of a way away. All hard standing, reminded me of Sango Sands, Durness Scotland (see Blog 177) although not quite so windy. There was only us and our next-door neighbours who were Austrian. We found the key they had provided for us for the facilities block did not work, but as the kind Austrians were leaving they swapped keys with us. The site left the block open initially which meant 3 coach loads of tourists visiting the village trashed the place. We decided to lock it up after that just for our use once they had been cleaned, and very good they were, showers, loos, wash sinks all heated with flowers and perfumes and nice smelling soaps. Loved this site. Monday 20th May 2019 Keef cooked breakfast outside on the griddle and even sat out for a bit, blanket, hat, scarves and gloves reading, admiring Kalsoy views and watching our ferry the Symril line Noronna go past. After breakfast we went for a long walk around the village, all very green and peaty, trad houses, farming, bridges, old school houses and what remains of the old chain hauling system to get down to the very steep harbour bottom, a very nice walk and then back to the site to chill for the rest of the day, this area was probably our favourite in the Faroes although we do like the town of Torshavn, especially its old Faroese costumes shop. Tuesday 21st May 2019 Sadly, we had to leave our fab views and pitch 2 at Gjogv, we loved it here, so relaxing. Then we drove south through Eysturoy almost as far south as you could to our site for the night at Aeduvik. We travelled along the edge of the magnificent funningsfjordur inlet outside Gjogv, the road was flat surrounded by that unpronounceable mountain (Slaettaratindur) tee-hee. We stopped briefly at Skipanes for a photoshoot on the 662 especially the tulips, this was a halt we would get to know quite well in our time on the Faroes. We then joined road 10. Got some great views of skalafjordur inlet and then turned off past gotueidi onto road 70 stopping at sydrugota, gotugjogv and nordragota, all very interesting, on our way up to the larger town of fuglafjordur at the end of the road as far east as you can go on Eysturoy. At Nordrugota we had a good walk around the harbour, visited the blasatova heritage museum , but it was closed, would have been interesting , the sideways standing man artwork along a town square, this artist is famous throughout the Faroes. Can’t find his name though, Joannis something is memory serves me right. At Fuglafjordur we had lunch on the harbour area which also doubled as a campsite with electric hook up, if only we had know #camspites. Keef saw a giant jelly fish in the water. The long jetty had many pieces of rusted metal arches, done to look like whale bone arches, all very interesting. After this we returned back to highway 10 and down the skalafjordur with views across to Skala, which we would visit later, and onto Aeduvik. We had to ring for the guy to come and check us in, it was deserted. We did see the start of construction of a tunnel over to Streymoy we had seen the other end just outside Torshavn, what a difference this will make in travelling times when complete as it goes under the sea to link the 2 islands. The site had nice views was quiet and a great heated room, comfy chairs and big screen TV, after dinner we went to relax in their and watched Faroese TV a first, English subtitles helped ha-ha. Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Left Aeduvik on the 687 going past the current Faroes football stadium, lots of tributes to when they beat Austria in a world cup qualifier, and just outside town up in the hills and the mist was the remains of the old Viking parliament and settlement, very interesting to us descendants , then we retraced our route back to Gotueidi alongside the inlet, such fab views, and then through nororagota where we turned on to road 70 and parked up by the church at Leirvik. We walked backed to the best-preserved Viking settlement in the Faroes for a good look around. We then drove through the Nordoyatunnelin which connect the islands of Eysturoy and Bordoy. As the lady warden at Torshavn had told us that many of the tunnels on Bordoy and Kunoy were old and therefore very low ceilings we decided not to explore any further in these islands but stayed on Bordoy and went straight to the port town of Klaksvik, the largest town in all the northern islands. We had to wait in line for quite a while to get our ferry to the islands of Kalsoy, the one we could see across the water for our pitch in Gjogv. It was £44 for the ferry return, not bad for quite a lengthy journey on a small car ferry. So glad we went. We had pre booked our campsite on the island of Kalsoy in the tourist information office in Klaksvik and had to call in to see Olivia Dogg Friofinnsdottir, the lady I’d sorted all this out by email before our trip, what a helpful lady, we paid the 150 Danish Krona fee . So, we had instructions of where to go to. We arrived at Sydtadalur off the ferry and it started to rain, the mist making it a little tricky to see that well along the coast, Kalsoy being a very long thin island with only one road way really down its east coast. Stopped at Husar to let most of the locals ferry traffic past, us being tourists who want to travel at our own pace. We loved the remoteness of Kalsoy. We drove all the way north on Kalsoy , the road up to about Mikladalur was fine but then we entered 2 very lengthy badly lit lowish tunnels to get up to the top at Tollanes (subtitled the end of the world) ha-ha. Parked up with quite a few tourists and went for a nice and interesting walk around the village and across its huge village green populated by many sheep, and goats roaming free. We learnt that before the tunnel out to Trollanes was built in 2010 only 2 families lived out in this remote area as it was a 3 and half hour up over the mountain to get back to relative civilisation at Mikladalur, our views was the village was not civilisation either. After Trollanes we returned through the tunnel avoiding the school party with torches who were walking back through it with the teacher barking safety instructions, not great as so dimly lit inside the tunnel. At Mikladalur we pulled up near the statue of Kopakonan, the famed statue of a mermaid, the seal woman of Mikladalur. 007 Kalsoy is now famous for the place James Bond (Daniel Craig) dies in no time to die. We then went to the campsite which was actually in the car park for Kalsoy united , it had electric hook up, and the amenities building was wonderful. We filled up with water, the wind was strong and chilly however and our electric cable flapped against the edge of the van for most of the night. Glad we had stayed on the island however, a very interesting place but I suspect because of the James Bond connection will be so much busier after 2022. #spolieralert #notimetodie Return to Menu Thursday 23rd May 2019 Up early, had a shower, wonderful facilities, then drove back along the coast road early back to the ferry terminal, which was just a road queue, as we were catching the first ferry across there were not many people waiting. Got on and showed our ticket and then enjoyed the fabulous view of Kunoy on the Bordoy outcrop, on the ferry on the way back , it had a light dusting of snow even towards the end of May. The ferry journey only takes about 30 minutes. The next few days we were going to stay at the Fuglafjordur harbour campsite and continually return under the tunnel to see all of the outer northern islands but as the tunnel heights were dangerously close to the top of our van we sadly took the decision to return to the Torshavn campsite for 4 days , we were booked in for the last of those but I rang the lady warden who said it would be no problem as not very busy yet. So back in Klaksvik we had a good look around, quite an impressive town it is the Faroes 2nd city after Torshavn, then it was back across the tunnel from Bordoy to Eysturoy at Viking Leirvik, also a nice place. Once back at Skalafjordur near Skippanes we decided to drive the length of Skala fjord on the other side through Skala to the end at Strendur and then back, at the time the tunnels back to near Hosvik were not built but I’m sure they are now which would certainly cut down the journey. It was then back across the bridge to Streymoy, and we stopped for quite a while again at Hosvik harbour, a place we are very fond of. It’s on the buttercup route and is probably the place we have seen the most buttercups. Pulled up the van on the harbour and used the benches provided for lunch and reading in the sunshine, we watched folk repairing their boats and walked around eth old harbour boardwalk again. Just so relaxing. After hosvik we returned to the Torshavn campsite with our sea view for the remaining days on the Faroes. Friday 24th May 2019 Took the van into Torshavn centre and parked in the small car park where the ferry to Nolsoy goes, we watched it fill up and go before walking through town past the hotels and restaurants, we visited the oldest street, costume shop and community buildings, all very pleasant then it was back to the site for the afternoon to relax. Saturday 25th May 2019 Up early we set off again to the south west of the main island back to Kirkjubour, this time there was no fog so easy driving, where we joined the queue to get on the ferry to Sandoy island, without realising as it was a weekend and Sandoy was a favourite spot for the locals to go and they get travel priority , we realised there was a risk we could get there and not get back and our ferry onto Iceland was tomorrow, this was a risk we could not take, so decided to quit and get out of the queue. We then drove back to the Magnus Cathedral and pulled up for a relaxing time looking at the speed boats in Hesturfjordur and looking over to Hestur island. All very nice before we returned to the Torshavn site , a little disappointed that we did not get to sandoy but also relieved there was no chance of missing the Symril line. We went to bed early Sunday 26th May 2019 We just stayed in the site today and relaxed, lots of eats, chocolate and generally relaxing, thing we went for a little walk along the coast wall and saw the castle but nothing strenuous, we were moving on tomorrow. Monday 27th May 2019 We had to be at the ferry terminal 3 hours before it leaves for Iceland which was 2 p.m. We heard the ship coming in from Hirtshal to Torshavn in the early morning, so it was already in dock. No great rush had showers and breakfast, read for a bit, filled the van with water and did dump station duties. Then finally broke camp and joined down to the check in and had our papers and tickets checked then joined the boarding queue. Not that many vehicles were joining so the public queue was short but the cargo lorries one was very long. This is the main mode of product movement between Denmark, The Faroes and Iceland. We were both allowed to stay in the van to board this time, parked behind what seemed to be a fish container well the smell would indicate that, ensured all windows and doors locked, we took our overnight stuff and valuables up in the lift to the cabin. This time I think we were on floor 15 , one off the top. Settled in had a nice evening meal and then just one night’s sleep and we would be in Iceland, so looking forward to it, we loved the Faroes but maybe a week and a half would have been enough, however ferry crossing times would not have allowed that anyhow. So, onto the next stage of our fantastic journey. Tuesday 28th May 2019 We both slept we even if it was a little rocky. Up early packed and then went down for breakfast and very nice it was to. We were then called over the tannoy as the boat docked at 9 a.m. in Seydisfeyordur, Austerland, Iceland which borders both the Norwegian and Greenland seas. It is the most easterly town in Iceland. Get ready, your next adventure begins. #tick Here is a list of top towns by population in Iceland, we visited quite a few of them on our journey but tried to stay as remote in general as we could, it is what we like. We got off the boat amid flurries of snow. It was cold and I mean cold. We drove through the town to the campsite near the old church, we checked in and hooked up to electrics and immediately put the fire on, so grateful for Icelandic hat and gloves whilst setting up. We then went for a long walk around Seydisfjordur, around the lake, through the old streets, into the church, back to take pictures of the Norrona in port, and inside the ferry terminal for a warmup and pick up tourist brochures. We then visited a craft shop on the lake edge, all very interesting, back past the school, town hall and into the supermarket to buy a few things especially Skir youghort why wouldn’t you, note food prices are extremely high in Iceland, expect to pay for a basket of goods what you pay for a whole trolley back in the uK, but that is the nature of the beast. Wednesday 29th May 2019 It had snowed quite a bit overnight. Because of the snow and the more mountainous area in the north we decided to go around Iceland clockwise. This meant heading south first. Anyhow we bit the bullet and left to go up over the mountain, my most scary drive ever in the van, driving snow meant we could hardly see anything even with the wipers on their fastest, the road was so covered in snow you could not see it and on either side of the road, wherever that was, with no barriers or markers was frozen lakes #scary #frightening, I drove very slowly, we seemed to climb and climb on the highway 93 on what is known as the Seydisfjordur mountain pass, all 17 miles of it, past Heidarvatn at the top and onto Egilsstadir, the relief as we started to descend was palpable. We had made it. I’m sure the views were spectacular as we can attest to as we returned at the end of the holiday when the weather was so much better but on this day, we only stopped at one huge waterfall for a photo opportunity but otherwise it was just a case of get out and be thankful otherwise we could have spent quite a while hemmed in in Seydisfjordur. We visited the museum in Egilsstadir, very interesting, lots of cultural stuff and especially liked learing about moose and winter survival techniques. After a good look around this town and discovering its supermarkets and petrol station, we replenished the diesel just in case, we headed out on highway 1 (the main circular route around Iceland) through the fabulously scenerific mountain pass and valley to our favourite campsite in Iceland at Reydarfjordur (note I got the spelling wrong on my images) tee-hee, hardly surprising the difference between sound and spelling with some of the Icelandic names. We set up on the site on the only hard standing we could find in case of heavy snow, near the amenities block which was very good. Couldn’t work out how to pay until a lady came along in her car and knocked on the window. We now know as stayed here again at the end of the holiday. Its lake, river, waterfall, mountain views, ducks and clean air made it a pleasure to stay here. Thursday 30th May 2019 We left Reydarfjordur having had a good drive around the town and harbour area and headed east out around the fjord the 12-mile drive to Eskifjordur, on highway 92, stopping initially at the point at stromholmi at the tourist viewing point. Along the fjord edge there were masses of wild lupins growing making it just so colourful. We had to cross the bridge on the 950 to get into Eskifjordur past the swimming pool and onto have a look at the campsite there, not good, far too hilly and in fairness to close to last night’s site. Across the bridge is the Helgustadir Spar Mine. Having had a good look along the harbour front we returned and travelled under the tunnel on the Nordfjardarangong coming out in beautiful, lush green farming deep valley countryside full of livestock near Holar. We then drove all the way to the tip at Neskaupstadur on the 92. This only took a further 15 minutes. The tunnels in Iceland are a whole lot better than those on the Faroes. We then returned to Eskifjordur and back through Reydarfjordur heading south and turning back onto main highway 1 all the way down to where the river dalsa met the fjord. We briefly stopped in Faskruosfjordur at a craft shop where we talked to the very nice lady there who told us currently because of overfishing her husband’s boat was holed up in port so times were hard. However, she then told us in the next breath she was driving to Reykjavik and back the next day to do some clothes shopping. A 16-hour trip, what, she must be nuts, it would mean travelling at night which I guess she would be used to, but in the dark, moose elks and all, no way! After Faskrousfjordur where we also had lunch, and tried to visit the Aurora exhibition we had found out about at in the amenities block at Reydarfjordur, which was sadly closed, we went onto see the gardens of the rock lady at stoovarfjordur, the volcano (benign hopefully) , craft brewery and post office (shut) at breidodalsvik, had hoped to get fish and chips here we eventually pulled into Djupivogur a nice harbour, and the campsite behind the café on the harbours edge, it was quite a touristy area, but the site was ok for one night. The facilities weren’t great but we set up, had a tea and then went to the café for a lovely meal of fish and chips, and looked at the kiddies books, ha-ha. The curry batter on the fish was a very enjoyable novelty. It took 1 hour 30 minutes of driving from lunch to tea with a bit added on for photo opportunities obviously, ha-ha. Friday 31st May 2019 Packed up the van and had a quick look around the harbour area before driving our around the Djupivogur headland to see the eggin I gledvik egg sculpture display not far away, at gledivik or merry bay in English, truly amazing, we parked up and walked from one end to the other. So pleased to have seen this, found it on one of our many tourist brochures. Just classy when we consider they were hand ground by the artist and his crew. We then stopped at the waterfall between hnaukar and hvalnes for a view of the magnificent waterfall there, it also had a statue claiming to be the site of the birth of Christianity in Iceland. We then travelled across the longsvik grit bowl a weird gravel shelf that in fairness folk had lived on back in the day, but such poor farming land. The wind wiped up across it and to this day we still believe there are bits of grit buried in the window frames. We had been warned but had no choice, we stopped at an information board at one point where a young couple were trying to start their outdoor stove to cook on but really with no hope, the winds were far to strong and even if the flame did ignite it would sadly be pebble-dashed with grit. It took about a further hour and a half from here to the town of Hofn where we were staying for the night. We had lunch in one of the less windy areas along the way. As we approached Hofn we could see the Vatnajokull glacier in the distance, the largest glacier as far as I know in the world, and certainly in Iceland, its huge, going from south coast to almost the north one, sadly receding nowadays because of global warming. We went in the Hofn museum , very interesting, and had a nice walk along the harbour and saw all the ice-breaker ships. We even had a look at Hofn beach. The lady at the check-in office wouldn’t let us in before 3pm so we read in the van and then set up on our pitch, hard standing and grass with fab views, there were 2 Dutch couples in front of us who set up awnings attached to their small VW vans, not clever in those high winds, took them forever. We liked this site, it had nice surrounds and Keef went to explore and almost got blown off the cliff, tee-hee whilst taking pictures, still even if cold it was sunny, we liked Hofn a lot. Saturday 1st June 2019 At Hofn I looked at the speedo in the van and realised we had now driven 2000 miles and loved every moment of it. Just found out Vatnajokull is Europe’s largest glacier, that settles that then. We filled up with water at Hofn Camping before setting off along the south coast with fantastic views of both the sea and the Vatnajokull glacier. A truly wonderful drive of just over an hour and 50 miles to the Jokulsarlon area. We parked up in the free car park, wrapped up warm and set off for some fabulous views of blue icebergs, highlighted by the clear light. Initially it was teaming with tourists from the many coaches that stopped there. You could also do a boat trip around the sea water fjord to see the ice bergs close. We didn’t do that. After a while all the coaches left and apart from a few motorhomers we had all the views to ourselves. We took lots and lots of pictures not having seen this since St Andrews in Newfoundland Canada in 2010 at iceberg alley, just a wonderful site, we even saw bits break off and float out to sea. Duck tours had finished for the morning session, tee-hee. We stopped at the memorial at hjallanes on route to Jokulsarlon. We then drove a further 2 hours 20 minutes along the south coast moving into the south region from what was officially the eastern area of Iceland arriving at Campsite Vik at about 3.30 p.m. We saw Skatafell on route and some great scenery, lakes mountains and rocks carved by glacier movement. A big campsite with limited electrical hook up but we found one. It had reasonable facilities in a long block at the end of the site. The strange, shaped office and cooking area was full of back packers so we decided to cook in the van. It had been a long journey today so we read, relaxed and went to bed early. We will have a look around Vik tomorrow. Have a look at the slideshow of images of this fascinating section of our journey. Sunday 2nd June 2019 Up early, had to do one thing at a time, electricity wise this morning as very low amps on the electricity. So, it was kettle, then hot water, then heating, as more than one outley and the trip switch flipped and Keef was forever outside resetting the electrics, not great, indeed the worst we had come across on our travels so far, reminded us of our French trip in the van in 2014 (Blog 71). We noticed at the site that people were arriving and using the showers and then driving off, all for free as Camping Vik had no barriers or look out plus we saw one family obviously driving go Reykjavik who had the son laying down in the back of their low level van, totally illegal, who all popped in for a shower then popped off, as it was so busy us paying customers didn’t bother, grrr. We then drove out of the campsite at Camping Vik up to the church and had a walk around taking in the magnificent views of the nearby Katla geopark. We also visited the village and the weird Britannia type sculpture outside the main Vik hotel on Austervagur. We then drove the short 15-minute trip off the main Highway 1 down to Reynisfjara beach which was part of the Katla (active volcano) geopark. This beach is noted as the most dangerous in Iceland because of the freak sneaker waves. We parked in the rough carpark and walked down past the café onto the mostly black sand beach, with views of the rock stacks just off the coast called the Trolls fingers (Reynisdranger) we also saw the cave and basalt fingers collectively known as Dyrholaos and what looked much like London bridge that we saw on the Great Ocean road in Victoria Australia in both 2008 and 2017 or Durdle door in Dorset in the UK, on Iceland their equivalent is called Dyrholeay. A very interesting beach, as always there were a whole bunch of young tourists right on the beach edge foolishly tempting the freak waves despite the explicit warnings #fools The board showed the most recent deaths, a Chinese man and an American woman who had already visited 5 times. From Reynisfjara we returned to the main highway and continued on clockwise past the incredible volcanic terrain of Katla’s geopark, with its larva rock covered over by a thin green clear air growth that remined us of oakmoss, just not sure what it really was. From here it was a 35-minute drive to the town of Skogar in Sudhurland (or south land) and the magnificent waterfall called Skogarfoss, just breath-taking, see the images. From here we drove onto hvolsvollur where we had lunch in the larva centre carpark before paying to visit a very interesting museum where we learnt about Iceland's volcanic background, indeed its heritage was to rise out of the sea as the result of an undersea eruption. It still has many active volcanos, witness the one that bought much of the worlds air flights in 2010 to a halt called Eyjafjallajokull. The museum had sights, sounds, shaky replicas to make you feel you were there and facts galore, we learnt a lot. Heads full and buzzing we travelled onto our campsite for the night at Stokkseyri, limited but perfectly adequate facilities and a real bonus Icelandic ponies just behind our pitch, the area was quite flat after what we have travelled through on the south coast. The sunset was fab. Monday 3rd June 2019 We left our campsite at Stokkseyri initially visiting the nearby coast and walking around the small village and harbour wall area. Then today was a true tourist day, we drove the 2 hours plus initially along highway 1 turning just past Heidarbaer onto highway 30 to do the 190-ish miles of the Golden circle, views of ingolfsfjall initially, then stopping at haukadalur in the huge tourist car park there and walking across with the other millions to see the geothermal hot water area with its bubble and trouble. We watched the main water explosions of Strokkur and Geysir and we then drove onto Gulfoss and walked up to see the amazing waterfall there, quite spectacular. We then turned back down through the Golden circle via miodalur near the apavatn lake via the very weird but huge pingvallavatn down to selfoss , and the along the hugely geothermal rocky volcanic south coast where many of the active volcanos still exude their fire every now and then, hopefully not when we were around, through porklakshofn stopping at the stamper crater which was amazing as was the road surface, just so bumpy, this is where we believe we lost our front mud guard / wheel cover. Anyhow it was then on to the fabulous Grindavik area which we truly rated #recommended and finally onto our campsite for the night up on the coast at Sandgerdi. It was a very long drive today but hugely satisfying in terms of all we had seen, loved it all, amazing waterfalls, lakes, and volcanic scenery, just spectacular. Thank you, southwest Iceland. We have to say that in a way the Golden Circle even though hugely touristy is the least interesting part of our trip so far, is that sacrilege? We went past the famous Blue Lagoon which wasn’t open. Have a look at the slideshow of images of this fascinating section of our journey. The campsite at Sandgerdi caused us no end of electrics fun, we just could not get the ones we were on to work, so we moved and couldn’t get that to work either, spoke to a very nice lady married to an Englishman who said in general the electrics on this site were dodgy but she told us one point shared with her’s that did work, she had tried it, so we plugged in there , yippee success, we had wasted ages on this. When the attendant came for his money we complained, he said he knew about it and were in the process of fixing, sometime never, as long as he had his dosh he didn’t seem overly concerned #notgood Tuesday 4th June 2019 Packed up and left Sandgerdi early and visited Keflavik airport where we had landed in transit on our Canada trip back in 2010, parked up and had a bit of a look around, didn’t stay long as thought we may get charged for parking, skinflints that we are, tee-hee. It took 1 hour about 38 miles into Reykjavik from the campsite. The trucknav helped us navigate our way around Iceland’s capital to the campsite, a large, gravel site laid out in long rows to accommodate a very large number of caravans / motorhomes. We chose one right at the back with grass at the back facing the National Sports Stadium and pool complex at Sundlaugavegur 32. We checked in at 1 p.m. had a look around the facilities, filled up with water then went outside the gate where the Hop On Hop Off Bus (HOHO) stopped. We bought a 2-day ticket and proceeded to do our usual complete rooue around back to the site to get our barings. Second time around on this 1st day in Reykjavik we got off at the opera house whilst it was waiting to do its circuit and took photos of the lovely harbour area, the opera house and Videy island in the bay on which Yoko Ono had built a memorial to John Lennon, called the Imagine Peace Tower. Indeed, there are so many tributes now to JL on our travels i.e. Durness, Scotland (Blog 177) we may have to adopt him as well as James Cook (JC) as out travel hero. We rejoined the bus and returned to the campsite, knowing the sort of places we wished to get off and explore tomorrow with our HOHO bus pass. Here is a write up about the Durness stuff, indeed In My Life off rubber soul which he wrote was inspired by childhood stays at the croft in Durness. We thought the campsite was very expensive for what you get but I suppose it was the capital of a very expensive country so probably to be expected. Wednesday 5th June 2019 Got on the bus again outside campsite and got off at stop 2 to walk around the old harbour area including see there was a brewery tour, which sadly we did not do, but we did see the maritime museum and the various boats in the harbour, including the very old dry dock Gullborg and ice breakers a plenty. We loved walking around this area including the old warehouses converted to craft shops, amazing murals, chain bikes, so clever, plus old trad buildings in bright colours looking out onto Kollafjordur, there was even a Greenpeace boat in harbour, we had last seen one in Auckland harbour back in 2007. We then walked back towards the Art Gallery and Craft market, sadly both were closed but we peered through the glass to get a feel of what we were missing. Opposite the Kollaport market was a permanent heritage display with boards about Reykjavik’s maritime history, all very interesting especially the Viking and Scottish links, we then walked into the centre of the city restaurant area, some very disturbingly strange menus i.e., puffin & whale, not to our taste but respect their culture. The area even had an old steam railway engine on display. We then re-joined the bus and got off at the Tjornin stop walked around the lake, called in at the council building to find a doctor’s for Keef’s incessant cough which we would do later, we went to the Hard Rock Café nearby for a chocolate milkshake and then walked back to the doctor’s surgery, had to wait a while and pay about £30 for an appointment but got anti-biotics prescribed which eventually cleared it up, Annie would get it later, read on (Isafjordur hospital). After the surgery we caught the bus back around to the Opera house from the nearest HOHO bus stop, this bus was the last of the day, so we had to catch an ordinary bus back to the stadium which we managed without much trouble. Like Reykjavik, it has a nice feel. Thursday 6th June 2019 Left the campsite and had to visit the dump station down near the cruise ship terminal, ha-ha what a welcome for the tourist to watch Keef emptying our waste, class eh? Then after refueling we left Reykjavik and headed north, stopping at the far end of Hvalfjordur in the sunshine for lunch overlooking a mass of lupins in flower. After this we carried on to our campsite at Varmaland now in West Iceland. We called in at Leira where there was a campsite which we didn’t rate and was busy with folk in the thermal swimming pool next door. The total journey was about 60 miles on highway 1 over the long hvalfjardagong bridge across open water, very interesting, great engineering. We called in at Borganes on route for a few provisions and to look at a craft shop, just too expensive. The Varmaland campsite was basically an open field and quite lumpy at that , we found the best bit we could , and laid the cable across the muddy track to one of the few electric hook up. No way to pay we eventually were able to when a young lad (presumably) the farmer’s son arrived in a car and knocked on our door, luckily we had cash as they don’t generally accept card in these remote places. Friday 7th June 2019 We left the Varmaland camping site, Vesterlund 311 and headed back to Borganes turning as we got towards the town onto the exquisite highway 54 with just such fab views eventually along the Denmark straits. We stopped at the viewing point just past Hjardaharfell after it had turned into highway 56, where we got out and had a walk over some of the open volcanic landscape with Hraunsfjardarvatn views in the background, what a spot, just magical, took loads of pictures. Many people had stopped here to walk right down to the lake, we didn’t. We then carried on the 56 turning back onto the 54 then the 58 into the historic fishing port at Stykkishholmur at the end of the Borgerland peninsular. Loved the village , walked around the harbour, talked to the fishermen landing huge catches of lumpfish, famed for its red caviar. The views of Landey island in the background were fab, we listened to music from folk performing in front of the fancy sheep van. We walked around the heritage area and museums then we left the harbour car park and drove up to the church high on the hill, a very modern building, great photo opportunity. We then left to travel into the snaefellsnes national park area, such scenery. We went anti clockwise around the highway 54, some of the best scenery so far, with the snow covered Snaefall mountain in the centre of our road loop which hugged the coast. The north coast views were the Denmark Straits.We visited Grundarfjordur then headed around to our campsite at Tradir camping near budir . We visited olafsvik harbour and the lighthouse at rif and the tourist info office at rif, which was busy. The site had a nice café area. I got us coins for the shower, sadly some parents had allowed their child to totally flood the shower and when I put my coins in there was no hot water. I lost it Keef with terets, I stormed into the office wet and cold and let them have both barrels, they accepted there was something wrong with the boiler, and let me use the lovely shower for free in the hotel area, wonderful, I also negotiated the same for Annie, the views at the site were great but there was a lot of distance to walk. If you want to see more images click here, thanks Saturday 8th June 2019 Left Tradir campsite after taking a look around again at the sea and the beach. Such a nice area, not the best site as the amenities (before the Terets) were poor and nowhere near enough if the site was full. The café looked nice though as an added facility. Here is a little summary of Budir which sums up the area well. Búðir is a small hamlet in Búðahraun lava fields in Staðarsveit, which is in the western region of Iceland, on the westernmost tip of the Snaefellsnes peninsula where Hraunhafnará falls to the sea, the original old name of Búðir having been Hraunhöfn. I filled up with water before leaving then we set off back across on Highway 54 to Borganes, stopped here again and got some provisions before using the main A1 route north stopping again at Bifrost for a rest almost 2 hours into the journey and had a look at what seem to be the deserted lava hotal there. We then turned off the A1 near Klettsia onto the magnificent high 60 up across the mountains heading north, spectacular views on this road all the way up to alfheimer where it merged with the 54. Despite the signs luckily at this time of year you didn’t need snow chains, can’t imagine taking the van up over this road in winter, it would be so scary. We stopped at Laugar a very small village off highway 60 which had both a hotel and a geo thermal pool, the campsite was very bumpy and lumpy and the facilities were not yet open, we found the best compromise site we could to be level and put the ramps on. As time passed a few more motorhomes pulled up but it was very sparse. Eventually the girls arrived to open and clean the facilities, presumably from the hotel. They collected our fees. We can safely say this is the worst campsite in Iceland that we stayed at. If memory serve me right it was off highway 60 to the right, may even have been a little way up the 61, can’t remember. Sunday 9th June 2019 Called in at Reykholar on route today and discovered a campsite we will use later. Today I convinced Annie to go off road, we headed west on 17 miles of gravel road to Flokalundur around the fabulous twists and turns, mountain climbs and bridges , it took and age and shook just about everything in the van, we only did about 20 mph, once we reached the campsite we decided that we could go no further on this road, had hoped to use the gravel road to go all the way around the peninsular but chickened out. The fire had come off the wall and needed refixing. The campsite was nice with lovely views of the coast, we parked up, hooked up, went for a little walk then relaxed after what had been quite a harrowing drive, realising we had to go back over it tomorrow, reflecting on Chris’s flat tyre in NZ back in 2017 we were going to be mega careful, just cannot afford a flat tyre this far out in remote Iceland. Indeed, we didn’t see that many other vehicles on the whole journey and the ones we did we stopped for in essence in passing places on a single-track gravel road. Monday 10th June 2019 We then left the campsite at Flokalundar and travelled very slowly back along the gravel road with the Denmark straits on our right, yet again majestic scenery and all bathed in glorious sunshine. Once off the gravel track and back on tarmac on highway 60 we turned south past Bjardarvatn lake on the 607 down to the town of Reykholar, this road took us along superb coastal scenery again, with so many inlets on the Denmark Straits with lots of salmon farms our in the clear waters, when the tide was out there were lots of rock pools. We filled up at the fuel station at the entry to the town of Reykholar, diesel is expensive this far out, but you just must do it. We then drove through the town across the many coastal rock bridges to the harbour where there was a herring canning factory, some yummy smells NOT! The local green dredger ship was in the harbour used to pick up the mass of strangling green weed but also the lovely nutrient used for gardening, seaweed which was plentiful. After that we returned through the village to the campsite alongside the road opposite the church. It was on a lovely farmers field. We hooked up along the fence edge in the flattest bit we could find although in general it was mostly flat. The sun was out, the facilities were good. The lady in the office who had seen us arrive provided a hose through the wall so we could get water in the tank. She filled the hot tubs for us as well with sea water. We got changed in the massive changing room / shower block and had a lovely time in the hot tub using the facilities to shower and change on the way out. Just so relaxing sitting in it looking out on the mountain ledge surrounding the valley, all green and sparkly in the sun. This campsite is one of our favourites and the lady farmer was so helpful, so much so that we returned to it again later in the holiday. We had a bit of a walk afterwards down to the old houses and playpark with an old heritage wood. We had our meal outside tonight on the table and chairs as so mild and sunny, just blissful. Tuesday 11th June 2019 A long drive today so we set off early leaving the lovely site at Reykholar , we will be back, and travelling on the highway 61 past the turning for Husavik, which we will return to later and along the Greenland Sea on our right. I was a magnificent 3-and-a-half-hour journey which we loved every moment of, seeing fosses (rivers) a plenty, snow melts and frozen lakes on the mountain tops. This area is called the western fjords and in our humble opinion is the best scenery in the whole of Iceland and let me tell you there is a lot to choose from. We stopped at Reykjanes just off the highway as needed diesel. It was a very odd pump system which took a credit card, eventually ha-ha, but not funny at the time, quite frustrating. Whilst here we had a quick look around , there were tourist coaches parked up outside what seemed to be a somewhat run-down hotel whose real attribute was a geothermal full sized Olympic swimming pool outside. We circled mojifjordur and skotufjordur and then stopped at the heritage house in Litibaer, from here we walked down the country path to the waters edge, the town folk had kindly left a pair of binoculars, very powerful ones, to allow visitors to see the seal colony on the outer rock crop. Another family in front of us had borrowed them but passed them onto us and we saw the seals, just lovely, so like seeing wildlife in their natural habitat. We then went on around the fjords stopping to look at some spectacular waterfalls, emboldened by the melting snows from above, and next stopped at Sudavik where there was an arctic fox centre, not really the right season for us. The mountains here are breathtakingly high and sadly they had an avalanche in the village not that long ago #scary Sudavik has an active volcano as well. After Sudavik we carried on into the city of Isafjordur and as we approached, we saw a cruise liner just coming into port. We had a quick drive around the city to get our barings, quite a big place, lots of supermarkets and fuel stations. The campsite was just off the main road up by the waterfall surrounded by lovely lupins in flower. The site had a river running through it off the waterfall and was landscaped on various levels. We chose an upper one with close views of the waterfall. The facilities were at the other end f the site in the valley but very good. We were staying in Isafjordur for 3 nights which was a very good choice. See the images Wednesday 12th June 2019 Annie had the same bronchitis I had so we visited the cities hospital and waited until she was seen by a doctor who prescribed anti-biotics , they were all very pleasant and helpful, the consultation cost about £25 and the pills themselves a further £30 so at Iceland prices a bargain. After this we went back into the harbourside area parked up and had a good look around. A very interesting city. We then drove out to Boulungavik and Flateyri through a myriad of tunnels the first we have seen and been under with a traffic intersection in to cope with conjoined tunnels, all seemed to work very well. Both these places were interesting but especially Flateyri with its fish drying racks on the outskirts and the book museum in the high street which we walked around as well as the harbour. The guy in braces in the bookstore museum was a 3rd generation family member and showed us around the home, just so interesting. We bought some cards and took lots of pictures. A very nice day, back to the site to eat and relax, walked around the site down to the amenities block to fill up our water bottles, sat outside for quite a while catching the sun’s rays. Thursday 13th June 2019 A campsite day today, washing, reading and eating outside and getting sunburnt in Iceland, now just how good is that it was a surprisingly hot and sunny day. Not much else to report today. Friday 14th June 2019 Packed up and drove up to the entrance on the upper road for the campsite, where the motorhome service station was, after 3 days the water tank was empty, and we needed do dunny man. The site is called the Tunguladur. So refilled with water and a clean blue loo we went to the supermarket on the way out of town, wow those chiller tents where they keep the meats etc are cold, tee-hee. We also filled up with diesel before setting off again. We drove back along the 61 through Sudavik and all the other twists and turns up and back down fjord after fjord off the Greenland Sea overlooking the island of Vigur which still had a dusting of snow on it. There are 4 long fjords on this journey, but we loved all of them, such scenery, the best. Stopped at Amernes point for a while to take in the views. We then drove across the Greenland Sea over the 2 islands of Hrutey via the road bridge, a stunning construction. Stopped again seals and binoculars. Finally arrived at our campsite in Drangsnes overlooking the island of Grimsey late afternoon, big grass field site, we were the first on it, small amenities block but perfectly adequate. Set up and had a cuppa. A few others arroved later in the day. All tourists from other countries. The total journey from Isafjordur to Drangsnes was about 150 miles but took well over 4 hours with some of the roads around the fjords, but I am not complaining, spectacular stuff, it’s what Iceland is all about, I don’t really get this feel anywhere else in the world apart from maybe New Zealand. Saturday 15th June 2019 Left the site at Drangsnes and had a good look at the town along the foreshaw, lots of holiday cottages, but a lovely old school house and church, there were 3 hot spring pools along the front for general use, as we had come into the town yesterday we had seen those along with endless plumes of steam emitting from the waters edge, this was quite a lively active volcanic area hence the public baths for all to use. Keef went over for a closer look, sadly one of them had so much gunge in it you would never want to use it. As it was blowing a hooley decided not to try even the perfectly OK ones. We then left Drangsnes and headed back out around the fjord to join the 61 through Holmavik and stopping in Husavik, which is the whale tour capital , we went down to the harbour and around the church and old town areas, a very interesting place , we will be back. We carried on to Hvammstangi our campsite for the night parking up on the flattest bit of grass land not too far away from the limited number electric points, so our long cable stretched. The field backed onto the heritage church with its picket fence, after setting up and having our usual cuppa we went for a walk to have a look at the church, all very interesting. Quite liked the area and the sunsets were just wonderful, had tea, relaxed and went to bed. Sunday 16th June 2019 Left the site at Hvammstangi after breakfast and disconnecting. Drove the short distance to the town and its harbour where we parked up and had a good look around. A very interesting place with both the seal centre and palmason house, a traditional style trader dwelling and fish house with dried fish hanging out on the wooden construction we had seen often as we did on the road to Flateyri, but this time close so we could examine the drying process, all fascinating. After a good look around, we drove onto Blonduos about an hour further north with views of hunavatn on our left, until that is the fog set in off the sea and we could hardly see anything. We refuelled here and then parked up in the old town and did a walk around what is the heritage walk with information cards in front of the old houses and church, a very interesting place. We then drove a further 30 minutes up the skaginn peninsular to the seaside town of skagastrond and from there across the peninsular on the 744 to Saudarkrokur with its giant horse statue, not impressed with this place if we are honest, saw the campsite there which looked to be on the back of some industrial works. Anyhow we moved onto Hofsos around the next bay and up the next peninsular as the 744 turned into highway 75. This took a further 40 minutes. At Hofsos we stopped for a good look around the old harbour area with its sea bridge and fishing houses in old dark weatherboard, a fascinating place and then drove back out to a layby just outside the main town with fab sea views where we parked up for lunch, the area was quite touristy with lots of coaches. We had seen quite a lot today already, loved every moment of it. After lunch we drove onto the fabulous Siglufjordur which would be our home for the next to days. Surrounded by mountains still with snow and lupins on them to create colour. The site was in the harbour and very busy but small with good facilities which sadly were also shared with tourists. It took an hour on the scenerific highway 76 to get to Siglufjordur from Hofsos. Parked up and set up we walked to the local supermarket and had a walk around the town gardens and shops. Asked a guy at a fish store about fish and chips but he said they only supplied wet fish to shops, not cooked it, shame, still we returned to the van to eat and take in the truly tremendous views, we absolutely loved Siglufjordur. A huge tick. Monday 17th June 2019 The day started off sunny we had a lovely walk around the harbour area after breakfast and a nice shower in the amenities. Today was Iceland’s public holiday and the pub at the front of the pier thronged with Icelanders making merry. So like Siglufjordur, the views, the harbour, the long trad wood building that doubled as a restaurant and the carved wood characters on benches outside. We even got to look close at many of the fishing boats in harbour. Opposite the site across the bay was a posh hotel and holiday lets, this is a popular place with both home grown and foreign tourists, so glad we had a pitch in what is a small but compact nice central site, great for walking anywhere #recommended Saw lots of hire vans where you raise the roof and sleep up top, a little chilly we would have thought in this mountainous area. The day sadly turned to mist and murk later in the day with endless drizzle which was such a shame. Tuesday 18th June 2019 It rained most of the night. Had finally stopped after breakfast so we packed up quick and said our fond farewells to Siglufjordur one of our fave places in Iceland along with Isafjordur but there were many. We headed out around the lake on the 76 to Olafsfjordur about 20 minutes away a quaint touristy town then onto dalvik on the 82 with views out across to the island of Hrisey. All the area around here and the river (or fosse) frindland svarfadardalur was green and lush mostly with a sea of blue lupins. From here it was onto the second city of Iceland and the 1st of the north Akureyri another 45 minutes away at the head of the sea fjord. We parked up on gravel in the harbour area, took some photos of cruise ships and then used the boardwalk to come back into what was the old town hall or Hof and now a shopping area with theatre , cinema, and museum, all very interesting. It was blisteringly cold with winds whipping in off the sea. We then came out and attempted to walk along the preserved heritage fishing industry high street with its information boards and old buildings, quite a history lesson we both remember well. We then drove the short distance to the oddeyri district of Akureyri, where we parked up and walked around the old heritage buildings and cultural museum and church, the nonnahus is famous, nonna being a celebrated Icelander. We then drove up the mountains to see akureyri from above, great views back down to the harbour, we decided we much preferred akureyri to Reykjavik. We now left and out through the tunnel 30 minutes’ drive to the spectacular waterfalls at Godafoss, almost as good as Niagara in our humble opinion. We then headed north on the 845 to our campsite for the night at Heidarbaer, it is also subtitled the Husavik Highway no 85. A very thermal area, crops grown in greenhouses heated by the steam of hot springs, we had a little drive around. The campsite was grass and muddy at that with only a few electric hookups but we got one. The pool at the site was thermal waters and basically too hot to swim in. Wednesday 19th June 2019 - Arctic Circle Packed up from the site , it was raining so not much fun, and headed off back up the Husavik Highway no 85 to initially Husavik then onto the Vatnajokull National Park at Asbyrgi. It is fascinating to think that the national park stretched from the south to almost the north coast of Iceland, just amazing. We stopped in Husavik for a good long look around, parking initially in the supermarket car park on the coastal road then driving around the town centre, many hotels for tourists doing whale watching, plus a fab old church we had come across before. It took an hour driving to get to the national park. At Asbyrgi we parked up and had a educational visit at the visitors centre learning once again about volcanoes (Krafla in particular) but more importantly about Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier by far. So much of Iceland is covered by it, but sadly because of global warming it to is beginning to shrink. After the visitor’s centre, we drove through the park a bit to see what Krafla had done to the landscape after it last exploded, amazing lava crater and valley edges, such weird rock formations now very verdant with grass and wildflowers, especially lupins a true feature of our Icelandic travels. We then carried on for another hour on the 85 initially north along the Greenland Sea but turning sharply right just past the Prestholalon lake and across the most northerly peninsular in Iceland to Ruafarhofn the most northerly town in Iceland. We were determined to get into the arctic circle which wasn’t that much further north so we travelled out on its gravel road past the lava works park or arctic henge with its copy of Wiltshire’s finest (Stonehenge), a tourist attraction under construction, but one had to wonder how many people would travel this far north to it. Anyhow we did make it officially to the arctic circle, pulled up and took lots of photos as memorabilia #arcticcircle #fame #achievment #tick After this we returned down the gravel roads into Ruafarhofn again. This whole place including its hotels and harbour were very run down. It had a feel of a utilitarian Russian hovel. Sorry, that was rude wasn’t it but accurate. The old church plus the campsite were potentially the only redeeming factors. The rest could do with a big dose of TLC (tender loving care) #fact We were initially the only people at the campsite and could not work out where to pay. Someone as is normal in Iceland came to collect our fees, we showed our Iceland Camping card which if you haven’t got one, I would suggest is essential. Our campsite had a lake just over the hill surrounding the site, presumably protection against flooding. I climbed up for a walk and a look at pistilfjordur. After tea we bedded down for the night, amenities block was fine and one other lot of campers joined us, they asked for help with their van the next morning, can’t remember what it was about but we helped get it sorted, something to do with their water I think. #proof #arcticcircle Thursday 20th June 2019 - Wild Arctic Way We left the Arctic circle this morning returning on the 874 out of Ruafarhofn and turning east onto the 85, also known as the wild arctic way (similar to the wild Atlantic way we saw on our trip to Eire Blog 129 in 2018) taking that road over the hofaskard stopping at the viewing point at the top, just spectacular views from here looking down and around, still unmelted snow everywhere and almost the end of June shows how this this is. The Greenland Sea was easily visible from here. It took about an hour into the port town of Porshofn where we saw school parties doing roadside clearance and gardening for all, very good stuff, community spirited. Porshofn is a big fishing community, the church was lovely and the harbour activity, views and information boards. #fabroutes #4000miles We then travelled back all the way along the wild arctic way back to the west coast of this most northerly peninsular and then as we hit the coast turned right to travel north up to Kopasker, here we could look out amongst the lupins at Viknafjoll’s snow covered tops. From Kopasker it was an hour’s trip back to Husavik where we parked up on the outskirts high up and watched the whale watching boats leave harbour, we had lunch here as the sun shone on the opposing peninsulars mountains, just blissful, do like Husavik and surrounds. From here after lunch it was back once again to the site at Heidarbaer, this time we patked in the front field and ran our cable through the woods to the few electric points that they have, we made sure we arrived before the masses came to get one and had learnt our lesson from last time about the muddy field behind. We met a nice german guy also camped around the front with the most massive motorhome, pop outs and a small car parked up a ramp at the back in its hind garage. The next morning, we watched and filmed him using the pulley system to get the car up the ramps back into the garage, what a palaver. I looked at the speedo, today we had done 4000 miles on the clock on this trip. Friday 21st June 2019 Some Icelandic for you, husbilar = motorhome, tjaldstaedi = tents, hjolhysi = caravan, fluent, eh? NOT! We left Haeidarbaer and travelled onto the Myvatn lakes area and travelled all the way around them. Once around the lake we pulled into the car park in front of the visitor’s centre and had a good look around it and learnt loads. A volcanic crater lake, views fab, the downside was the number of pesky black fly. After Myvatn we carried onto the truly wonderful Krafla volcanic lava fields area off highway 863. This is a hugely touristy area as it is an active volcanic area, boardwalks provided , steam, colour in lakes , it so reminded as of the artist palette thermal area near Rotorua in North Island New Zealand, click here to see. On route from Myvatn lakes as we climbed the mountains we stopped at Reykjahlid to see the sulpurous lake, bubbling and smelling just like stink bombs of your youth. We climbed that mountain above it and stopped at the viewing spot, amazing views all around. Then it was onto Nammafjall. After a good look around the lava fields we said goodbye to Nammafjall got back on the road and turned off back up to the edge of the Vatnajokull National park on the 862 and stopped in the car park for Dettifloss. We walked a bit across lava fields probably about a mile and a half to the waterfall, spectacular views. We then returned to highway 1 and turned off down a long gravel road taking it slowly to the farm campsite we were to stay at that night, called modrudalur farm, the highest campsite in Iceland. What a lovely yet quirky place, clearly a tourist mecca, we were greeted with goats at the site office chewing their way through campers back packs, hilarious. Checked in, it was both a restaurant, shop and café as well as the campsite office, all very helpful. Found ourselves a level pitch , parked up , had a cuppa and then went off for a bit of a walk. This road is closed in winter, snowed in obviously as so high up. Saturday 22nd – Tuesday 25th June 2019 Left the farm campsite, nice weather, travelled slowly up the gravel track avoiding the coaches travelling too fast and spraying grit and stones onto my window screen, don’t need it broken. Rejoined highway 1 and travelled back to Egilsstadir in just over the hour stopping on route to have a look at the river from a picnic viewing spot, sadly graffiti has even made it to Iceland. In Egilsstadir we filled up with diesel , went shopping in the supermarket buying some gifties for family and friends, and went again to have a look at the campsite we had looked at on day 2 of our Icelandic adventures, we decided it was not for us, and took the decision to return to the lovely campsite at Reydisfjordur so we travelled back through the magnificent valley cut by glaciers , eyvindardalur, to get there, river , huts and viewing points for photo opportunities, we stayed for 4 nights relaxing and going for walks into town and along the harbour, just so pleasant there and hugely relaxing. Parked up in the same spot as we had before and paid the lady for 4 nights when she came around in the evening. We walked around the lake, saw lupins, waterfalls, newly born chicks, info boards, bought some stuff at the local garage and just generally lapped up the good weather, suntans all round. Wednesday 26th June 2019 Did dunny man, filled up with water. Left our lovely home for the last 4 days at Reydisfjordur and travelled back through the spectacular valley to Egilsstadir and then back to the Seydisfjordur campsite we had started at as we arrived on the ferry in Iceland, what a whole different day and a month’s advance of weather makes, the views up over the mountain tops on the fabulous highway 93, the Seydisfjordur mountain pass, were breath taking, we stopped at Heidervatn, which we couldn’t even see last time for a photo shoot. There was still snow on the mountains and iced lakes on either side of the road but you could see them all, we stopped at the Gufufoss waterfall for a good look around and took some pictures. Wonderful and warmish. We went through the village of bjolfsvirkjun as we descended once more into Seydisfjordur. Went to the campsite which was already hugely busy, the ferry was in, and everyone was obviously either there to catch it tomorrow or had just arrived on it, we got one of the last electric hook-ups cramped in between two vans close on either side, if fire regulations were an issue this would have been forbidden. Anyhow once set up we went for a lovely long walk around Seydisfjordur in the sunshine, what a nice place it is. Even saw the gardens. There was also a cruise ship in the harbour, so the place was full of American tourists. After a fab walk, a visit to the shop for more Skyr and chocolate we came back to the van for a meal. Early to bed as an early start joining the ferry queue 3 hours before departure. The van next to us had diesel heating so quite noisy all night, I did ask him what it was the next day as not come across this before, I know now, the disadvantage is its shared with your driving fuel obviously so if you are travelling long distances in remote areas it is an issue. Thursday 27th June 2019 Up early packed and joined the MS Norrona boarding queue at 7.30 a.m. Boy it was busy, way more so than when we came across from the Faroes. When they collected our ticket we told them that Annie’s legs were not great, which is true, so they let her stay in the van with me this time. Eventually we drove on about 20 past 10, reversed into position in the hold and slid across to the passenger side to climb out with our overnight bags and headed up in the lift to our room. Had a nice lunch and evening meal, walked around the deck for exercise and views. Slept reasonably well. Friday 28th June 2019 At sea all day, knew we stopped in the dark at about 3 a.m. at Torshavn but that was quite a quick stop of about 30 minutes just to onboard and offboard a few vehicles. Saturday 29th June 2019 Had a nice breakfast on board and then went up top to watch as we went past Sumner head off the Shetlands and later started to see the Danish mainland past some of the outlying rocky islands. We eventually docked at Hirtshal and after a while we were able to go back to the van and disembark. Now we had a long journey driving all the way through Denmark on the motorway, to near Flensburg and turned off back to the nice campsite we had been at in Medleby on the way up. Pitch 2 this time, it was 1 last time, I think. Sadly, Annie was not well overnight and was sick a couple of times, we cleared up the damage on the duvet and she drank a lot of water which helped. It was not great as we had a lot of driving tomorrow. Sunday 30th June 2019 A long tedious drive back through Germany past the massive usual hold ups around Hamburg but the good news was Annie was slowly recovering, not feeling so bad she was able to take on a little food. We arrived at our campsite Osnabruck on Bullerby lake, which doubled as an outdoor swimming pool for locals, quite a nice site, good pitch with views and very hot weather so we were able to set up outside and have dinner out there. Keef strolled down to the lake to see what was going on and although it was hot decided against a dip, it didn’t look that clean. Monday 1st July 2019 Left the Bullerby lake site and travelled the 170 miles onto Leiden in Holland, the early home of Rembrandt a hero of mine. We got to the town about 2pm and drove around looking for somewhere to park, even though there was a festival on, there was nowhere, very frustrating would like to return one day and go in by bus for a long look around. Checked in at the Acsi campsite at Leiden, a huge site with full restaurant, café, shop and a free mega swimming pool. After setting up we walked back out of the gate and into the village of Rijnsburg, named after Rembrandt. A lovely village, many flowers nice posh houses and lots of waterway channels and all seen in lovely sunshine. After returning to the site, we sat out in the café and had an ice cream. Tuesday 2nd July 2019 The ferry back to the UK wasn’t due to leave until 2.35 p.m. so it was a leisurely breakfast , did all the usual motorhome chores, packed up and left in good time for the hour journey from Leiden to the Hook of Holland i.e., Hoek Van Holland port at Rotterdam via the Hague, a very interesting area of mostly large embassies. Joined the queue for check in reasonably early. Got on the ferry and then heard the announcement that sailing was delayed. Finally got back into Harwich at 7.45 p.m. The A14 was a nightmare and closed in many places, so we finally got back home about 3 a.m. Knackered but happy, a lovely time, can well recommend the Faroes and Iceland. Back to the Menu Calendar The calendar here shows our day by day activities and whereabouts… enjoy x Back to the Menu Campsites Back to the Menu Faroes Slideshows Back to the Menu Iceland Slideshows Back to the Menu The Talkies Features our discussions, observations etc in our own words... covers both the Faroes & Iceland Covers both Faroes & Iceland, not talkies but all the images from our old windows phone and the antequated iPad at the time Back to the Menu Full Image Slideshows with Audiobook intro Part 1 is 53 minutes long and covers from home to all our time on the Faroe Islands i.e the period 5th to the 26th May 2019 and includes that audiobook Part 2 is 42 minutes long and covers from arriving in Iceland at Seydisfjordur in the snow to arriving outside the heritage church at Hvammstangi in the north of Iceland, i.e. its Iceland part 1 with audiobook for the period 27th May to the 15th June 2019 Part 3 is 29 minutes long and covers from visiting the harbour area in Hvammstangi Iceland to mostly the northern and eastern areas of Iceland to returning home i.e. its Iceland Part2 17th June to 2nd July 2019 Audio Diary That's all folks! #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites #majortrip

By keef and annie hellinger, Jul 15 2019 05:11PM Motorhome trip No39 : 12th-14th July 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS (home)->Sherwood Forest Holiday Park, Nottinghamshire ->NOTTS (home) 59 miles A fab time with all the family at the campsite, in a lovely setting with many amenity blocks and playgrounds for the grand daughters. Also a lovely raised stream walk around the edge of the park backing onto Sherwood Forest. Outside the far end gate is a fishing lake and inside a duck pond and stream for kids to paddle in. Nearby is Sherwood Pines and the Sherwood Forest steam railway and associated playpark both of which we visited. We camped on pitch 1 and 2 at the far end of the park, lovely large grass pitches but the place was heaving , not a slot left so well done to Craig for booking. It was the first time they had put up their 8 person tent with awning so that was a fun family experience with all chipping in. Mostly good weather except overnight Saturday. We had lasagne and garlic bread for Friday eve, BBQ Saturday and lunch old at the nearby fab Dog & Duck Inn in Kings Clipstone. We did the Gruffalo orienteering course thru the Sherwood Pines woods with varying degrees of success… the girls loved the assorted wooded play parks, and minus granny and granddad they all did the Green route cycle track. It was so nice having Doug and family over from Singapore to be able to do this. I have included all our slideshows here and they are repeated again under the FAMILY page, Sherwood camping first then the rest Doug Phoenix & Charlies visit 2019 (sadly because of Covid the last time, more later I'm sure) SINGAPORE HELLINGERS VISIT 7-19 July 2019 Just before they left for Singapore we visited Mum (Supernan) in her Nursing home , Charlie said hi to her great grand mother saying hi to supernan #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites #family

By keef and annie hellinger, Sep 9 2019 06:51AM Motorhome trip No40 : Sept 6th- 8th 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Swiss Farm Touring and Camping, Henley-on-Thames ,Oxon->NOTTS 290 miles Almost 260 years around the table and 30+ camping years under our belts collectively , you could call us the Master Campers *smile* We visited Swiss Farm Touring and Camping with our dear pals Pete and Joy. A very well laid out site with good amenities, camping ground for tents, café and swimming pool (heated outdoors). If the weather had been warmer outside I would have gone in but on Sunday morning chickened out as 10c but it certainly warmed up later in the day. We were on hard standing pitches 37 & 29 respectively on the same row but sadly not adjoining as we had rather gate crashed their weekend away and booked later, also we were on a 6m(etre) pitch and Pete & Joy on a 7m pitch. The lady on reception however had done a good job of getting us reasonably close. After setting up we all walked into town , about a 20 minute walk at my slow pace. A lovely old market town on the river Thames with some amazing architecture. We had a few bevies in the 3 Tuns pub and a good catch up. In between it bucketed it down, just glad we were inside. Henley seems to have more pubs and dogs than people and the dog of choice for how shall I say this , “the somewhat wealthy” is the pug, not the most beautiful dog in my humble opinion. Stands back to deflect hurls of abuse *smile* We then strolled down to the old river bridge sandwiched between the angel and red lion pubs, see what I mean about the number of hostelries and surprisingly they are all still trading, great views, great stories, great pictures. We then moseyed back to the site along the edge of the boating Thames, well as best we could. Between Henley and Hurley is the Leander club, home of some very famous rowers. More chatting and supper of lasagne, garlic bread, salad followed by cheese and bikkies and some good wine, #bliss Saturday we made our way back into town for a slightly longer explore and a bit of retail therapy. Asquiths world famous TEDDY bear shop was a real hit. Amazing animals in there as well as the very expensive Stief bears under lock and key. We then strolled along some of the back streets , half timbered houses, Georgian palatial abodes down to the river and back up to the Angel Inn on the bridge where we had lunch and ale / wine / soft drinks. Pete Joy & I had seafood chowder and very good it was too. Annie had terrine salad and rustic toast. The place was packed! Bit more shopping as we strolled back to the campsite, sitting outside for a bit until the chill set in. Lovely evening BBQ steak, halloumi, kebabs, burgers salad and cheese and bikkies. Yummy! Thanks Pete & Joy. Sunday after breakfast of croissants, pack up time and fond good byes until the next time. We went via Beaconsfield in search of Annie’s granddads grave in the historic Jordan’s Quaker burial ground 1688 and with the help of John in the Quaker meeting house found it easily. After that we returned via M25 / M1. All in all a lovely weekend and would recommend campsite and area. We will be back #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites #friends #timeline

By keef and annie hellinger, Oct 11 2019 05:55AM Not the Motorhome trip No 12 : Oct 4th- 10th 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Dorking, London:- Centre, Raynes Park, Clapham, Tooting, Wimbledon and Kent :- Chestfield, Margate, Sandwich, Whitstable, Meopham->NOTTS 397 miles Left early on the Friday morning for London, M1 closed so used M42 amd M40 to get down to Surrey to visit Mum in her care home, she was bright and cheery and I fed her lunch. Annie packed away all her winter clothing we had delivered. After that we called back in at Mums house to pick up post, eat lunch, and update neighbours. Then it was off to the Travelodge at Raynes Park for our 2 night stay. Friday evening I went up to meet Chris in London for his 65th birthday. We went to a blues bar in Kingly Street just off Oxford Circus and then after to a Lebanese restaurant. Saturday was the 3rd White Horse Bent (WHB) reunion (near Scales Cumbria in the shadow of Blencathra) at initially the Windmill on Clapham Common, then the Spice Village Indian restaurant in Tooting and finally the pub at Tooting Bec with Chris, Allyson and Kev, the rest having to get away to various things. Lovely to see David and Cathy over from Canada. Annie got to finally use her new bus pass as we rediscovered the delights of London travel, over ground, underground wombling free bus pass 😉 Sunday morning after our mega breakfast for the 2nd day at the Travelodge we went to see Mum again via Wimbledon where Keef took family residents pictures, then onto Kent to stay with Brian and Gina. Had a lovely time with them visiting initially Margate, Turner contemporary and seeing entrants for Turner prize 2019, weird and wonderful! Plus a Earl of Sandwich sandwich in Sandwich. Nice circular walk around Sandwich, a very interesting place. We had a quick walk around Chestfield the next day and finally a quiz walk around Whitstable, all great fun. Loved Gina's home cooking plus a fab Thai meal in Whitstable. The odd laugh thrown in *smile* On the way back home we called in at Meopham for Keef to sell some old concert programmes and to see Craig and Leanne, all in all a lovely week away. #friends #family

By keef and annie hellinger, Oct 18 2019 03:44AM Motorhome trip No41 : Oct 14th- 17th 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Greetham, Rutland and Surrounds ->NOTTS 247 miles This was our second trip to Greetham after a failed attempt with Craig and Edie in August because of too much rain. Having packed last minute stuff we headed off initially to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire where we did the Treasure Trail quiz similar to that which we did in Whitstable. Sadly it was raining so a brolly for our walk around the town and parks was essential. The trail quizzes are a great way to get to know a town better and although we had been through Melton on many occasions it is not a place we really knew. It is a lovely place with many blue plaques celebrating the famous, especially Thomas Cromwell, Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII amongst others. Ye old Pork Pie Shoppe for which Melton is famed allowed us to buy at a reduced price a huge chicken, ham and pork pie, just so yummy! By the time we got back to the van after our 2 hour quiz it was very dark and what can only be called a dramatic storm, which sadly was to continue for the rest of the day and night causing some rural flooding. Back at the van we had pre made sandwiches and some of our lovely pie. Then it was onto the campsite at Greetham. Although we have been there before in November 2017, see Blog 120 we had forgotten how to get to the site as the SatNav coordinates don’t work. Luckily whilst pulled up opposite the Plough Inn Terry from the Camping and Caravan site rang as they wished to close early because of the weather and gave me great directions. It was almost 5pm. We will not forget if and when there is a next time. We were on pitch 25 for 3 nights,in the adult only area. All pitches have all 3 services i.e electrics, drinking water and drain for your grey waste, there is a mixture of grass and hard standing pitches We went out each day, the weather being slightly better on the Tuesday and much better, indeed some sunshine on the Wednesday and typically full sunshine on the way home on Thursday. We visited amongst others Apethorpe Palace, Northamptonshire – closed after English Heritage sold it to a French Aristocrat for a snip, Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, Rutland Water, Eyebrook resevoir, the River Eye (very swollen), Lyddington Bede house, Lyddington, Rutland plus lunch at the Old White Hart , yummy and most of the villages in south east Leicestershire, the best of which in our humble opinion are Great Easton, Tur Langham and Carlton Curlieu. All in all a very relaxing 3 days away in our lovely Wendy house. As a grand memory we so remember that chicken, ham and pork pie, I have been calling in on almost every trip from 2020 onwards and even requested 2 for Xmas 2021 but they may not do them again, sadly... now owned by Morris and Dickinson #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites

By keef and annie hellinger, Feb 22 2020 06:40AM Not the Motorhome trip No 13 : Feb 17th – 21st 2020 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Knockerdown Farm, Peak District, Derbyshire, DE6 1NQ ->NOTTS 103 miles This was our 4th visit as a family to Knockerdown Farm, twice when the boys were younger and then for Annie’s 60th and now again during the half term break with Craig, Leanne and Edie. Lovely time although the weather as expected in early February was not that great being both very cold and wet, however this did not dampen our spirits one iota. Our full list of visits is 1. 3-6 Dec 1993, Wisels Cottage 2. Feb 1996, Wisels Cottage 3. 3-6 Jan 2014, Farwell Cottage 4. 17-21 Feb 2020, Sabinhay Cottage Left home about 1 pm on the Monday and went to Carsington water (see BLOG 49) where we had a bit of a damp stroll to the Visitors centre and a lovely cup of freshly brewed coffee in the mainsail café overlooking the lovely waters. We could not get into the cottage until 3pm and were surprised how close to the visitors centre the Cottages were. This time we were in Sabinhay, the one over the archway. In the past we have stayed in both Wisels and Farwell. Leanne and Edie arrived very soon after us and we all spent a bit of time unpacking the cars from in front of the cottage and then reparking them in the car park out front. Having settled in we went off for our daily swim. A ritual (including sauna for Grandpa) that we re-enacted daily, one of the real advantages of Knockerdown when the weather isn’t so great. Edie is really coming on in the swimming stakes, won’t be long now before she is a fully fledged dolphin ;) The other advantage is the very close proximity of the Knockerdown Inn, 2 yards over the road where we ate on both Tues and Weds evening. A very friendly family run pub with great food and Edie loved their doggies. We also discovered they run a campsite with facilities at the back of the pub so we may well yet we back in the motor home. Craig arrived after work at about 5.30pm. Grandpa cooked halloumi burgers with salad accompaniment for tea. We all retired pooped fairly early which was quite a theme throughout the hols , mostly a combination of fresh air and relaxing in my humble opinion. On the Tuesday C&L cycled around Carsington Water, a distance of about 8 miles. We took Edie to the playpark, Stone Island, button pressing in the Severn Trent exhibition area and then for a massive slab of choccy cake in the mainsail café. C&L joined us there after their ride. Wednesday we visited Matlock Farm park where Edie cuddled a guinea pig called Cinnamon. We saw lots of other lovely animals but it was seriously cold so we warmed up with lunch in their café then some indoor fun for Leanne and Edie in the Rainforest shed on the big slide. Thursday Leanne left for her spa days with Claire and we headed off to the Crich Tramway museum only to find on arrival it was sadly closed. Maybe we should have checked first, DOH! Anyhow no worries we spent most of the day at the Unesco World heritage site of Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills, great fun and educational. Grandpa cooked Hunters chicken, Jacket pot , Cauli cheese and carrots for tea. Friday morning we were all up early to breakfast and pack the cars, then we visited the National Stone Centre at Wirksworth where Granny bought Edie some polished stones. Quite an interesting walk around and somewhere we had never been before. We then returned to the Priory at Loughborough for a final family lunch together before heading homewards. All in all a fab family break. Annie and I loved spending time with family! If you would like to see the slideshows and videos please CLICK HERE Historical view of our current and previous visits to Knockerdown farm, love it! #family