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!

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 ........

Artwork inspired by my Blog by 2 great Yale College students!

Thanks to Tom and Deanna for their lovely cards and words.

Look forward to working with you both on Level 3 from September 2013.

Well, it's the end of the academic year and the summer holidays beckon, along with new adventures. 

A very happy holiday to you all....

Follow me on this Blog spot for my latest adventures

'JULIA'S MOTORHOME MEANDERINGS'

Coming SOON!

My Home from Home themed Christmas Card 2012

This is the Christmas Card that I sent to family, friends and colleagues with its message of 'There's no place like Home at Christmas!' The reference to the travelling gnomes is about an incident that I recall from my childhood in Wem, Shropshire, when a garden gnome was 'borrowed' from a front garden by a sailor, who then sent postcards back to the owner from her missing gnome from the many places around the globe that they travelled to together. Since then, the practise of stolen gnomes sending back photos from famous landmarks has gained a cult following, and appeals to my sense of the surreal. The  gnome I used in the artwork is from my Cabinet of Kitsch Curiosities in my Understanding Art Studio at Yale College, and had a former life in the back of my first car, my beloved red Fiat 126, when I was a student in Liverpool. The gnome tableau was completed with the inclusion of artificial grass and flowers made from lips. Yes, I was just as eccentric then as I am now!

I assembled the card into a folding concertina, rather like the books of postcards you can buy.

John who just about steals the show from my fox terrier, Ruskin, wrote the poem below which appeared inside:

GNOMES FROM HOME

TRAVEL SNAPSHOTS

Two garden gnomes had just vanished, poof… gone!

One was called Julia, and the other was John.

Their adventure started with a lovely photo,

Taking tea with a Geisha in Gion, Kyoto.

Then the two gnomes with excitement did shudder

As their picture was taken with Nara’s Great Buddha!

To Sydney next, the grand Opera House view,

That iconic landmark they loved through and through;

After snapshots they entered to see what they’d find,

And Bizet’s ‘Pearl Fishers’ just blew their minds.

The wildlife in ‘Oz’ was diverse everywhere,

And the gnomes had a climb with a Koala bear!

Their last port of call? A delightful finale,

Exploring the paradise island of Bali.

With its shrines and its temples, calm people in tune,

The gnomes made offerings at Taman Ayun.

Their travels now over, these cultured cognoscenti

Were returned to ‘Oak Bank’, their garden of plenty.

And a lesson they learnt, that wherever you roam,

There’s nothing like having CHRISTMAS at HOME!

And of course, to explain to any bemused recipients who received the card but had not heard me going on about the great theme we have for the new academic year of 'Home/Cartref', I wrote the note below:

‘HOME/CARTREF’

This is the current theme that Julia has been exploring

with her art students, in her job as Contextual Studies

Lecturer at Yale College, Wrexham.

The two of us went on a primary research trip to

JAPAN, AUSTRALIA and BALI this summer, to witness how

other cultures live, and their concepts of ‘Home’.

Our adventures were chronicled in an illustrated

Travel Blog which you can visit online at

http://juliastronguk.blogspot.co.uk/

The Blog was created to provide the opportunity for

students and colleagues, friends and family, to share in

the epic month-long global journey of discovery.

‘Home’ as a theme is rich territory to investigate,

both in the inspiration it provides to artists past and

present, but also to engage us with the issues of

Homelessness, and at Christmastime especially,

to remind us how fortunate many of us are to

have a place that we can regard as

‘Home sweet Home’.