JULIA'S HOME FROM HOME TRAVELS

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

DAY 2: GRETNA GREEN, KIRKCUDBRIGHT, THREAVE GARDENS AND LUCE BAY

Monday 22^nd July

Had not spotted the hen coup in the adjacent field when choosing this pitch, so alarm clock not needed as a cockerel greeted the sunrise with great enthusiasm.Breakfast in the sunshine was a leisurely treat as this Monday morning was NOT a work day (yippee!) and I was packed up and off in good time, for the next part of my JOURNEY: New England Bay, in Scotland’s unspoilt lowlands region of Dumfries and Galloway. En route I stopped at Gretna Green, just over the Scottish Border, famous for the Blacksmith’s Shop where fugitive English couples could get married quickly and in secret, and escape the legal requirement of a licence, church wedding, and parental consent. I quickly headed on as the place was crawling with tourists and highly commercialized.

Passing through Kirkcudbright, I was reminded that this was where the 1970’s cult version of ‘The Wickerman’ was filmed, which I had shown my students 3 years ago when we did our own Wickerman art installation project at Black Rock Sands. Sadly I had just missed the annual Wickerman Music Festival at which the giant wicker sculpture is torched.

Kirkcudbright's Wickerman Festival

This town (bizarrely pronounced Kir-coo-bree) was also the home of Edward Hornel who established an artist colony there around 1900.


Edward Hornel 1864 -1933. This typical painting shows the seascape around the first coastal area I am visiting

Half way on the second leg of my journey, I stopped off at Threave Gardens (National Trust of Scotland) and took dozens of photos of the richly landscaped grounds. Highlights were the highly productive walled garden with its abundance of fruit, vegetables and flowers, the gorgeous island herbaceous flower beds, and the ranks of astilbe and gentian in the peat garden. Plenty of inspiration to take home to my own gardens at ‘Oak Bank’ here. Sadly I had to continue my Journey without visiting the adjacent Threave Castle and walking in the footsteps of ‘Archibald the Grim’, first Lord of Galloway, so called because his party trick was to invite rival clan members to dinner and then murder them by the time dessert was served!

My day’s travels ended at New England Bay on the South-west corner of Scotland, an unspoilt region that many, including me often miss out on the sprint up the motorway to Glasgow get to the highlands. The Caravan Club site perches prettily on the edge of Luce Bay and has a wealth of wild flowers and bird life to explore, but its main attraction for me is as an ideal base to explore several famous gardens where the exotic plants of the southern hemisphere can thrive in the mild gulf stream climate of the west coast of Scotland. My selected pitch has a sea view, with the beach a 1 minute stroll away, so Ruskin and I wasted no time in exploring the surroundings. My bird feeding station was erected and supplied with every tantalizing bird treat imaginable, to tempt the local feathered friends to come a visiting!

DAY 1:D-DAY! (Departure Day).THE EDEN VALLEY and ENGLETHWAITE HALL

Sunday 21^st July

Up at dawn, final garden watering (heat wave still in full swing) whilst also allowing my eye to linger on the wonderful plants in flower that will be over by the time of my return – notably my spectacular yuccas, and the climbing rose, ‘The Rambling Rector’ which is coming to a gorgeous crescendo of blooms, having now completed its own 4 year ‘JOURNEY’ clambering in tandem with the honeysuckle in a race to the top of my damson tree. Then there is the packing of final items, checking the checklists (again), fond farewells to parents and friends, before finally departing mid- morning for Cumbria and the first leg of my JOURNEY.

3.5 hours later, I arrive at the beautiful Caravan Club site of Englethwaite Hall, near Carlisle – a favourite stopping off point used several times on previous trips north of the border, and set in the serene Eden Valley, with its gentle, rolling hillsides and sheep-studded fields. I pitched amidst the rhododendrons in what was the garden of the former old hall, with views from the motorhome windows over the Lakeland fells, and a backdrop of the High Stand Forest. After a salad lunch, I headed through the adjacent kissing gate into the woods and along a track that takes you past the 3 pools where owner/entrepreneur Joseph Robinson had once extracted gypsum, and the remains of the railway line that took his unearthed treasure to the nearby Low Cotehill Station.


The first leg of my Journey to Scotland took me past The Lake District and onto the North of Cumbria and the Scottish Borders. Progress was quick as the route was nearly all motorway.

'Be Prepared!' PAINSTAKING PREPARATIONS FOR MY JOURNEY

As Baden Powell instilled in his young scouting disciples, ‘Be Prepared’, my 25 years of motor-homing experience has taught me that the success of a tour is doing your research beforehand, careful planning, and taking the right things with you. Trouble is, packing ‘the right things’ varies depending on where you are going, and I spent several days packing and then removing things from the increasingly small cupboards on board ‘Bellulu’ before I was happy that I could cope with all that Scotland may throw at me. This particular expedition involves, coping with potential swarms of biting insects, hiking, swimming, bird and wildlife watching, garden researching and general sightseeing in a climate that could be very hot or very wet, and creating numerous meals miles away from food shops, so my checklist takes on epic proportions. In fact it seems that the challenges my Motorhome Meanderings around Scotland require as much planning and resourcefulness as my travels to Japan, Australia and Bali last summer. But for me, the anticipation and preparations for a motorhome holiday are all part of the fun and build anticipation of what adventures lie ahead.

Driving an 8 foot wide and 22 foot long motorhome is fine on our major roads, but turn off the beaten track and hunting down petrol stations, navigating narrow roads without bumps and scrapes and boarding ferries to islands with primitive roads and no breakdown assistance are some of the unique features of mobile-home travelling that can get the nerves jangling. Still, at least the reassuring voice of ‘Jack’ my new truck- programmed Sat. Nav. best friend should make things a little easier.

Saturday 20^th July 2013

A very early start and teetering on the MANIC! Final shopping and packing of the motorhome and COOKING – chicken casserole, garlic and cream mushroom pasta sauce, boeuf bourguignon, bread, meringues; fresh salads and herbs from my potager garden, fruit and veg, tinned foods, drinks;wet, cool and hot weather clothing, wetsuit mask and snorkel, disposable barbeque, insect repellent cream (kindly sourced by my colleague Gail with her experience of deadly African pests), electric fan, numerous water toys for Ruskin my wire fox terrier companion …fortunately I didn’t need to pack the kitchen sink as Bellulu has one built in!

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Welcome to JULIA'S MOTORHOME MEANDERINGS and my new JOURNEY!

The time is drawing near, and I am busy making lists and packing up my motorhome ready for my latest Home from Home Travels. This time it is a little nearer to Home... Scotland, and yet where I am bound is another world, where time has stood still and nature and tradition have stood the test of time. My route is planned and the sites where I will stay are long ago booked. I do hope that you will Journey with me on this latest adventure.

Will I discover the wee Bagpipe Beestie or will Ruskin find true love at last? Will I get consumed by the third largest whirlpool in the world, 'Corryvreckan', off the coast of Jura, when I sail from the island of Islay? Watch this space and find out the answers to these and other questions about all things Scottish ........