3:30! I was woken by the birds at 3:30! It was an explosion of sound. The dawn had come early this far north. I listened for a while in my tent and tried to identify some of them. Green-finch, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Wren.... It wasn't long before I drifted back to sleep.
I next woke at just gone 7
Where we where in Cumbria was one end of Hadrian's Wall. In fact the remains of the wall ran just behind the camp site.
After breakfast we chose a path to follow and all went well until we came to a heathland marsh. The designated path seemed to have disappeared. I sort to trail blaze a path in a macho sort of way. This failed! I was finding a way through when suddenly a leg disappeared down a boggy hole right up to above my knee.
Because of this we had to return to our camp site early to get changed. We had made sandwiches for the journey so we had lunch at the tent.
Being back at camp gave us opportunity to sit and relax and let the stresses and strains of London wash off us. It was only then that we started to enjoy the holiday.
In the evening we walked along the coastal path to the local village. The path actually went through someones garden. I'm sure I would have liked that.
As we arrived at the village we were surprised to see a disused railway station. The platform was still there and the sign seemed to show how it was quite a busy station.
The local village pub was fairly full. We ordered a pot of tea for two and did some people watching.
We returned to camp around 10pm and was still very light. We went to bed ready for the journey north tomorrow.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Steve's Scottish holiday Day 1
I had been planning a camping trip for some time. As a couple, my wife Andrea and I are very interested in birdwatching. The pound was very week so I thought it would be good to have a "stay-cation".
I decided on Scotland because of what I saw in Birdwatching magazine which I subscribe to. They feature walks around the country depending n time of year. A forest walk in Glenmore caught my eye. The trouble is living in London, it was a long way to go. This got me planning camping.
We had packed the car the night before in readiness. we finally got away about 10 minutes to 8, Ahead of us was, what I thought would be, a six hour journey, or at least that was what the GPS told us. As it turned out, and probably always the way, it took longer than we hoped. It did not help by the road we were due to travel on was closed as a lorry had shed it's load. This meant it took ten hours to get to our first camping place.
We used our new car. Even with it's size the car was still packed full. We always tend to take things “just in case”. I had packed the car the previous evening but we still had things to fit in in the morning.
We arrived, as I said, about eight hours from start. I nearly missed where it was and would have driven past if it wasn't for Andrea calling out the name of the farm. I parked up in a little lay by and entered the farmyard. I was greeted by a nice Lady and her dog. Immediately she offered a cup of tea. Andrea was still in the car so I went to collect her.
We told her of our journey and complained of the traffic. She listened with interest and offered us her home-made biscuits; she seemed very kind and welcoming. It was a pleasant end to our long journey.
The camping field itself was a little way up the road. so we chose our spot and pitched the tents. We had two tents, both were throw-up and easy to pitch.
We were right by the sea so, after settling in, we went for a short walk. Straight away we were able to see some lovely birds: Curlew, Shelduck, and herring gull, to name a few. When we returned to the campsite we were able to spot a Bulfinch! This bird is quite rare and is on the RSPB endangered species list. Fantastic we thought, such a rare bird right near where were camping.
Being so far north, the evenings were very light. In fact the sun did not set later than 9 pm leaving it still light until gone 10:30.
Many would have followed what we we were doing over the holiday. I posted my daily adventures on Twitter and Facebook. Many times I used my mobile phone to post them, but trouble is the text did not come out as I had hoped.
We went to bed nice and early ready for day 2.
I decided on Scotland because of what I saw in Birdwatching magazine which I subscribe to. They feature walks around the country depending n time of year. A forest walk in Glenmore caught my eye. The trouble is living in London, it was a long way to go. This got me planning camping.
We had packed the car the night before in readiness. we finally got away about 10 minutes to 8, Ahead of us was, what I thought would be, a six hour journey, or at least that was what the GPS told us. As it turned out, and probably always the way, it took longer than we hoped. It did not help by the road we were due to travel on was closed as a lorry had shed it's load. This meant it took ten hours to get to our first camping place.
We used our new car. Even with it's size the car was still packed full. We always tend to take things “just in case”. I had packed the car the previous evening but we still had things to fit in in the morning.
We arrived, as I said, about eight hours from start. I nearly missed where it was and would have driven past if it wasn't for Andrea calling out the name of the farm. I parked up in a little lay by and entered the farmyard. I was greeted by a nice Lady and her dog. Immediately she offered a cup of tea. Andrea was still in the car so I went to collect her.
We told her of our journey and complained of the traffic. She listened with interest and offered us her home-made biscuits; she seemed very kind and welcoming. It was a pleasant end to our long journey.
The camping field itself was a little way up the road. so we chose our spot and pitched the tents. We had two tents, both were throw-up and easy to pitch.
We were right by the sea so, after settling in, we went for a short walk. Straight away we were able to see some lovely birds: Curlew, Shelduck, and herring gull, to name a few. When we returned to the campsite we were able to spot a Bulfinch! This bird is quite rare and is on the RSPB endangered species list. Fantastic we thought, such a rare bird right near where were camping.
Being so far north, the evenings were very light. In fact the sun did not set later than 9 pm leaving it still light until gone 10:30.
Many would have followed what we we were doing over the holiday. I posted my daily adventures on Twitter and Facebook. Many times I used my mobile phone to post them, but trouble is the text did not come out as I had hoped.
We went to bed nice and early ready for day 2.
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