Scotland - The scenic drive home

 29 June

After our usual morning routine we hit the road once again, and this time back to Loch Lomond.  The first stop we made was at “Neptune’s Stairs”. It is a series of locks at Fort William.  The girls liked it as it really did look like a massive set of steps.  They were only sad that we did not get to see a boats go through. 

The road to Loch Lomond was gorgeous.  The scenery while familiar to what we have seen so far, was still different at the same time.  It made the drive just fly by!  

 

Along the way we stopped a few times.  Including at one of the most (apparently) photographed cottages in the UK. And another time at a strange tree just growing out of a huge boulder in a soggy bog.  Both times was obviously to find a geocache (2/2 found)… Todays total geocaches 286 and counting. Goal is to get to 300 in UK before we start our new part of the adventure and head south to Africa and Madagascar. 

Eventually we made it our camp and while the sun was still out, decided to go for one last dip in the Loch. It was probably one of the coldest dips of this trip!  

To celebrate the swim, we headed into the local village and tea and ice cream!  Just what was needed after a cold swim.  We tried to make the most of the day as tomorrow the weather is forecasted to be very very wet… 

30 June 

Woke up this morning to constant rain, and this did not let up for the rest of the day. So… we played van Tetris to get morning routine done, then went to sit at the indoor picnic table in the campsite facilities and got a few hours of school done. 

When lunch time rolled around we went back to the van, made Cajun chicken, tomatoey grains and onion, beans and corn, as well as a hot cup of tea! Think we all needed it to warm up a little. After lunch we mooched for a bit and read books/embroidered/crocheted for a while but then we were all really antsy. The Wozny family are not well known for our ability to sit still…

So we set off to find a geocache trail, nearby was a super trail loaded with caches (like every 300m) and we all took turns to jump out and find the cache… Harriette found a frog in stead of a geocache one time, and screamed! Mish picked up his new friend, and event tried kissing it - but alas! No princess. We had a few DNF, but mostly highly successful and we upped our finds to 300! By this time we were soaking wet and decided to head to the pub for a pint and some diner to celebrate our 300th geocache. Girls are already talking about trying to get to 400 before the end of the year. 

Robyn decided that we are nearing the end of our trip around Scotland, and have yet to try Haggis, it was time. We ordered a starter of Haggis, and I’m really proud to say 3/4 of us had more than one mouthful! Only Harriette was very unwilling after her initial bite, but that’s ok - our rule is to try something, not like it! 

After the pub it was back to camp and more Tetris in the rain to get everything set up for bed. Tomorrow is our last night in the camper van and a reasonable distance travel day towards Stonehaven where we give the camper back.

1 July 

Last full day in the campervan, and it started with a drizzle.  Without wasting time, we quickly packed up after breakfast and some schooling and hit the road.  As soon as we did the sun came out!  

With the sun, we took our time and drove along the scenic back roads.  On this trip it seems that the landscape changed every 10-15 miles.  We had pine forests, marsh covered mountains, birch forests, rivers, etc, with plenty of castles along the way.  

Another thing we have noticed about Scotland is that there are a LOT of golf courses! We know that Scotland was the birthplace of golfing, but it bordering on the ridiculous. Makes you wonder is every Scottish child is given a golf club set as soon as they are able to walk...

We eventually got to our campsite in the lovely village of Ballater, after pass Balmoral castle.  And as a treat we got Chinese take away for dinner.  We have been working hard on steadily reducing food, so we have less to take home.  Tomorrow we give back the campervan and head towards home via a short stop over at Hadrians Wall and of course Yorkshire Dales.

2 July

Early early start this morning, as we had to fuel up and return the van.  It was a very smooth operation and within a very short time we had repacked our car and we said our good byes to the campervan.  It was our little home on wheels for the last 3 weeks and we will look back fondly on this Scottish adventure.  However, we are also all looking forward a proper bed and more space. 

So we hit the road and headed to Stonehaven to meet up Mish’s colleague from AVEVA, Barry.  After meeting Barry, Robyn and the girls went to explore Stonehaven whilst the boys caught up.  It was great for Mish to meet Barry face to face for the first time, all previous work has been remote on both sides. 

The girls enjoyed their walk through the town.  Along the way they found these fantastic steel sculptures made to reflect various events in the town’s history.  The girls also did not complain about the ice cream that Robyn treated the girls to.  Nor the fun play they had on the beach. 

Then we drove down towards Hadrian’s wall, along the back roads.  It took a while and along the way we got a bit of a scare.  We ended up driving on fumes as we passed a few closed down petrol stations. The last 5 miles before we found fuel, the car register 00 miles left on the digital display!  Thank goodness for hidden reserves… 

Getting to our AirBnB, we were amazed and thrilled by the space we had for the night.  Not to mention the soft beds with lots of head room! 

3 July

Today we set off from the AirBnB relatively early to get to Hadrians wall. We spent a few hours at Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which pre-dated the wall. It was interesting to see the excavations and archeology in action with digging happening during our visit as well as what has already been found. 

Vindolanda is famous for artefacts found in the anaerobic soil layer, which preserves really well, and included leather goods like shoes and script tablets. These really give some insight into the type of life and communications that occurred during this period in history. 

As we were leaving we got caught in a horrendous downpour and were pretty soaking! We went about 6miles down the road to the Roman Army museum. It depicts Roman army life in a fort on Hadrian's Wall through artefacts, reconstructions & 3D film, which the kids were very engaged with. 

Rain continued as we left here, and drove south back to the Yorkshire Dales to spend a stop over night with Amelia and Ed. Arrived in time for about an hours tree climbing with Ed, and the kids were very excited they climbed higher than the roof of the house, and saw the baby pigeons that last visit (3.5 weeks ago) were just eggs. 

Ed rushed off to Cricket, and Rachel popped over for make your own pizza dinner - delicious! 

Early night as driving back to Wales in the Morning! It’s been a fabulous trip and a totally different kind of adventure, Scotland’s scenery is absolutely beautiful.   We will continue our blog on our next adventure in a month’s time