To repeat what I said in my last post:
We're currently in Scotland and I don't usually blog UK trips here, because they are invariably walking-themed, and thus I blog them on our walking blog - which is where all of the photos are residing.
This is therefore just a brief overview of the last week:
Sunday 28th
Location: Hermitage Castle and Hawick
Weather: sunny intervals
Our tactic of rescheduling our next walk (a two-Marilyn circuit) for Sunday paid dividends: dry weather with some sunshine.
Both tops were successfully visited and we were back at Bertie at 2pm. Managed to squeeze in a visit to the Hermitage Castle before we left for Hawick - it didn't take long, making us grateful that Mick qualified for the concession rate. Compared with other tourist attractions we've visited over the years, this one didn't warrant the entrance fee.
Hawick has done something unusual for the UK: allocated a small area of a 400-space car park for motorhomes, who are allowed to stay for 24 hours (free of charge). There are public toilets (30p and not open 24 hours) and a tap there too.
Monday 29 April
Location: Hawick
Weather: Foggy start, but plenty of sunshine once it burnt through.
I woke earlier than the alarm to a tree dripping on Bertie's roof. As it wasn't raining that indicated fog. I had no inclination to go up a hill without visibility, and Mick expressed a preference to stay in Hawick a while for a little look around (our only other visit to the town was when we passed through on foot on our way from Kent to Cape Wrath in 2010).
At noon we returned to Bertie with our haul from a round of the charity shops, in the form of books and DVDs, then almost immediately went out again when Google told me that there was a Wetherspoons in town. Armed with electronic gadgets, we ate cheap and highly calorific food whilst downloading lots of stuff.
By mid-afternoon we had relocated ourselves to the Ettrick area, Bertie was settled into a pull-in below my next hill and I'd set up to visit its summit, whilst Mick pleaded 'ate too much lunch!' and dedicated time to reading instead.
Tuesday 30 April
Location: Ettrick
Weather: Overcast but dry
My morning was filled with a bike ride out to two hills to the NW, whilst Mick visited the hill I'd bagged yesterday afternoon. That would have been enough exercise for the day, but with one eye on the weather and another on my tentative plans for the next few days, once we'd relocated Bertie to the other side of the next hill on my agenda, I thought that a late-afternoon outing was a good idea. Mick was convinced to join me too, on the basis that it would be good exercise even if this wasn't a hill that satisfies his notion of one with merit.
Wednesday 1 May
Location: Ettrick and Peebles
Weather: Showery
My plan for Wednesday was swiftly modified when I woke to rain. Suddenly the thought of cycling 16 miles and walking up Ettrick Pen had lost its appeal. Instead I reverted to the original plan for a smaller hill more local to where Bertie was parked. Donning full waterproofs worked too: the rain paused for the whole time I was out.
I was ready for a hot drink and a snack when I got back, but as Peebles wasn't too far distant and as we were going to a campsite there, it seemed sensible to defer both until arrival.
In 2008 and 2010 (whilst walking from Land's End to John o'Groats and from Kent to Cape Wrath respectively) we stayed at Crossburn campsite in Peebles and on one of those occasions I commented that it was one of the best value campsites of the trip. Things have changed in the last decade (or maybe they're just cheap for backpacking tents?) and we declined their offer to rent us a patch of ground for the night for £28. Driving again past the plethora of blue flashing lights (fire and police) outside of a petrol station where a Dutch artic driver had failed to heed the limited height of the canopy before attempting to drive under it, we backtracked to Rosetta Caravan Park. It's a dated place, but came in at a more acceptable £20, so that's where we stayed.
Thursday 2 May
Location: Peebles
Weather: Dry until mid-afternoon then just a couple of light showers.
Having realised that one of the nearby hills on my hit-list was an easy bike ride away, our stay at Rosetta Caravan Park was extended to two nights. I'd cycled there, walked up it and cycled back within an hour and a half and over lunch realised that another of my hills was also easily reachable from the campsite, this time on foot. Mick came along and en-route, for the second time in a week, I had one of those 'We've been here before!' realisations (subesequent searching of the archives of our walking blog tells us we actually walked by the foot of this hill in both 2008 and 2010).
Friday 3 May
Location: near Peebles
Weather: a few squalls passed through in the afternoon and the windchill was biting.
Saturday's weather forecast looked better than Friday's so this was declared a rest day. The obvious thing to do would have been to stay on the campsite again, but it's a Bank Holiday weekend, thus (even though they clearly were going to be a long way from full) the price was going up to beyond what we were prepared to pay. So, we moved on (incidentally, the facilities at Rosetta may be dated and not entirely clean, but the showers were fantastic!).
By 'moved on' I mean we parked Bertie in a car park in town, took a walk around and went to Wetherspoons for a substantial second breakfast and more wifi downloading (audiobooks, podcasts, TV programmes). The afternoon saw us visit the John Buchan museum and an art exhibition in the library building - the latter more diverting than the former.
The end of the day took us to an out-of-the-way viewpoint car park, where we encountered just one dog walker and one 'yoof'. He came and went, with various numbers of passengers, four times between late afternoon and 11pm and their activities seemed to be limited to vaping, phone-staring and giving us a good blast on the horn as they left.
Saturday 4 May
Location: Peebles
Weather: Gloriously sunny start, but bitingly cold, with clouds gathering and a few showers this afternoon.
The walk that we deferred until today got deferred again when I found out last night that there's a parkrun in Peebles. Thankfully, once I'd checked the location on the parkrun website, I took a peek at their Facebook page. If I hadn't done that I would have completely forgotten that Scottish parkruns start at 9.30, not 9am.
I ran the 3-and-a-bit lap course around some pleasant parkland being manned by very friendly and encouraging marshals, whilst Mick spectated. Then (dare I admit?) for the third time this week, we went to Wetherspoons. Three cups of coffee/tea apiece, two pints of lime and soda and two very substantial meals for
£13. It may not be award-winning food, but you can't fault it for being cheap and full of calories! Didn't take much advantage of the wifi today - there's only so much stuff I can find to download in a week! After sitting in the warm for more hours than was strictly reasonable, we ventured back to Bertie. Gosh, it's biting out there! Is it really early May?
We're currently in Scotland and I don't usually blog UK trips here, because they are invariably walking-themed, and thus I blog them on our walking blog - which is where all of the photos are residing.
This is therefore just a brief overview of the last week:
Sunday 28th
Location: Hermitage Castle and Hawick
Weather: sunny intervals
Our tactic of rescheduling our next walk (a two-Marilyn circuit) for Sunday paid dividends: dry weather with some sunshine.
Both tops were successfully visited and we were back at Bertie at 2pm. Managed to squeeze in a visit to the Hermitage Castle before we left for Hawick - it didn't take long, making us grateful that Mick qualified for the concession rate. Compared with other tourist attractions we've visited over the years, this one didn't warrant the entrance fee.
Hawick has done something unusual for the UK: allocated a small area of a 400-space car park for motorhomes, who are allowed to stay for 24 hours (free of charge). There are public toilets (30p and not open 24 hours) and a tap there too.
Monday 29 April
Location: Hawick
Weather: Foggy start, but plenty of sunshine once it burnt through.
I woke earlier than the alarm to a tree dripping on Bertie's roof. As it wasn't raining that indicated fog. I had no inclination to go up a hill without visibility, and Mick expressed a preference to stay in Hawick a while for a little look around (our only other visit to the town was when we passed through on foot on our way from Kent to Cape Wrath in 2010).
At noon we returned to Bertie with our haul from a round of the charity shops, in the form of books and DVDs, then almost immediately went out again when Google told me that there was a Wetherspoons in town. Armed with electronic gadgets, we ate cheap and highly calorific food whilst downloading lots of stuff.
By mid-afternoon we had relocated ourselves to the Ettrick area, Bertie was settled into a pull-in below my next hill and I'd set up to visit its summit, whilst Mick pleaded 'ate too much lunch!' and dedicated time to reading instead.
Tuesday 30 April
Location: Ettrick
Weather: Overcast but dry
My morning was filled with a bike ride out to two hills to the NW, whilst Mick visited the hill I'd bagged yesterday afternoon. That would have been enough exercise for the day, but with one eye on the weather and another on my tentative plans for the next few days, once we'd relocated Bertie to the other side of the next hill on my agenda, I thought that a late-afternoon outing was a good idea. Mick was convinced to join me too, on the basis that it would be good exercise even if this wasn't a hill that satisfies his notion of one with merit.
Wednesday 1 May
Location: Ettrick and Peebles
Weather: Showery
My plan for Wednesday was swiftly modified when I woke to rain. Suddenly the thought of cycling 16 miles and walking up Ettrick Pen had lost its appeal. Instead I reverted to the original plan for a smaller hill more local to where Bertie was parked. Donning full waterproofs worked too: the rain paused for the whole time I was out.
I was ready for a hot drink and a snack when I got back, but as Peebles wasn't too far distant and as we were going to a campsite there, it seemed sensible to defer both until arrival.
In 2008 and 2010 (whilst walking from Land's End to John o'Groats and from Kent to Cape Wrath respectively) we stayed at Crossburn campsite in Peebles and on one of those occasions I commented that it was one of the best value campsites of the trip. Things have changed in the last decade (or maybe they're just cheap for backpacking tents?) and we declined their offer to rent us a patch of ground for the night for £28. Driving again past the plethora of blue flashing lights (fire and police) outside of a petrol station where a Dutch artic driver had failed to heed the limited height of the canopy before attempting to drive under it, we backtracked to Rosetta Caravan Park. It's a dated place, but came in at a more acceptable £20, so that's where we stayed.
Thursday 2 May
Location: Peebles
Weather: Dry until mid-afternoon then just a couple of light showers.
Having realised that one of the nearby hills on my hit-list was an easy bike ride away, our stay at Rosetta Caravan Park was extended to two nights. I'd cycled there, walked up it and cycled back within an hour and a half and over lunch realised that another of my hills was also easily reachable from the campsite, this time on foot. Mick came along and en-route, for the second time in a week, I had one of those 'We've been here before!' realisations (subesequent searching of the archives of our walking blog tells us we actually walked by the foot of this hill in both 2008 and 2010).
Friday 3 May
Location: near Peebles
Weather: a few squalls passed through in the afternoon and the windchill was biting.
Saturday's weather forecast looked better than Friday's so this was declared a rest day. The obvious thing to do would have been to stay on the campsite again, but it's a Bank Holiday weekend, thus (even though they clearly were going to be a long way from full) the price was going up to beyond what we were prepared to pay. So, we moved on (incidentally, the facilities at Rosetta may be dated and not entirely clean, but the showers were fantastic!).
By 'moved on' I mean we parked Bertie in a car park in town, took a walk around and went to Wetherspoons for a substantial second breakfast and more wifi downloading (audiobooks, podcasts, TV programmes). The afternoon saw us visit the John Buchan museum and an art exhibition in the library building - the latter more diverting than the former.
The end of the day took us to an out-of-the-way viewpoint car park, where we encountered just one dog walker and one 'yoof'. He came and went, with various numbers of passengers, four times between late afternoon and 11pm and their activities seemed to be limited to vaping, phone-staring and giving us a good blast on the horn as they left.
Saturday 4 May
Location: Peebles
Weather: Gloriously sunny start, but bitingly cold, with clouds gathering and a few showers this afternoon.
The walk that we deferred until today got deferred again when I found out last night that there's a parkrun in Peebles. Thankfully, once I'd checked the location on the parkrun website, I took a peek at their Facebook page. If I hadn't done that I would have completely forgotten that Scottish parkruns start at 9.30, not 9am.
I ran the 3-and-a-bit lap course around some pleasant parkland being manned by very friendly and encouraging marshals, whilst Mick spectated. Then (dare I admit?) for the third time this week, we went to Wetherspoons. Three cups of coffee/tea apiece, two pints of lime and soda and two very substantial meals for
£13. It may not be award-winning food, but you can't fault it for being cheap and full of calories! Didn't take much advantage of the wifi today - there's only so much stuff I can find to download in a week! After sitting in the warm for more hours than was strictly reasonable, we ventured back to Bertie. Gosh, it's biting out there! Is it really early May?
I wondered where you were.
ReplyDeleteHi Mick and Gayle. I'm just reading you on this other blog. Can you tell me how to set it up so I get email notification of new posts? I can see how to receive ssme for comments and have ticked the box.
ReplyDelete