Speyside

Since the accident we have had many a long call with insurance companies and legal people, we have had an assessor out to visit and look at the van, and a caravan repair man who has told us we are ok to move it, and can therefore carry on, yippee! What we don’t know yet is whether it will be written off as we haven’t had a quote yet, both our visitors told us that the repair bill will be close to a write-off figure. We’ve now taped up the hole and covered it with polythene and are trundling on North…

Phil has ridden his bike numerous times; riding the Moray Monster trails at the nearby hill Ben Aigan, the 14 mile ride was a red graded route, but included a black and an “Extreme” bike park downhill. Both of which were unfortunately overgraded and were more like red’s, it was still a good fun ride though.
Also out to Fochabers where the main Moray Monster Trails are based. Once at the forestry car park Phil went off and rode the red/freeride route called the Fochabers Ring, this was a good fun 6 mile loop which after a long climb up to a huge cairn (a monument to the duchess of Richmond) then starts descending back to the car park, the downhill includes some great northshore (raised platform riding – think ewok’s!) as well as drops and jumps, so I rode that bit twice! Linda did a 2.5 mile walk which took her up to a slightly smaller cairn called Ranald’s Grave, Ranald was a tinker who used to rob wayfarers on the old Aberdeen to Inverness road, and the cairn is on the spot where he was executed.. We then headed over to Ordiequish where there were more tracks, Phil went on a 7.5 mile ride to do the black graded “Gully Monster”, a not particularly severe downhill, but a narrow bit of singletrack with a huge drop into a natural gully which made it huge fun because of the risk of falling off the edge! Linda did a 4 mile walk, and at one point joined Phil and walked/ran down the Gully Monster while he tried to keep up!

We parked up at Aberlour Distillery where we had a look in the shop and Phil bought a minature bottle of Abelour whisky, he also asked about the 2 hour tour but they were full up for the day, so it was a no go..
The dogs had to go for their walk, so we moved the car on-street and walked down to the River Spey, it was flowing quite fast but we still saw a few fishermen stood up to their waist in the water trying to catch their tea! We spotted a sign for the nearby Linn Waterfalls so decided to head up there, the small river Linn that headed past the distillery was also flowing fast (due to all the rain) so we thought it might be impressive. We weren’t disappointed when we got there with a huge amount of water cascading down the falls, the noise was immense.. After a 3 mile walk we went home to the van thoroughly soaked, so we put the fire on to dry out.


We visited Speyside Coopers which is where they make and restore the barrels for all the distilleries in the area, there was a visitors centre which we went in with an interesting display on the work of coopers, a short video on the firm and then up to a viewing area of the workplace with a interesting talk by a very nice tourguide. The coopers serve a 4 year apprenticeship and the firm has 15 coopers at the moment and 3 apprentices, which is the most they have had. It was fascinating to watch the coopers working as our guide explained what was going on and how the different machines work, though most of the work is very skilled and done by hand. We then had a little play at making our own barrels which was a great success. On to the shop where our tickets allowed us to have a taste of some local oak leaf wine which was very sweet, so the lady opened another bottle which was drier, still tasted like home made wine though – wine should be made from grapes y’know!


We then moved to a site at Grantown-On-Spey, luckily no problems on the way this time, far from it in fact as Phil gained a further 2 members of his “caravanner’s who wave at each other” club, and we arrived at Grantown on Spey in around an hour. (Phil thinks it’s unfair that motorhome drivers all wave at each other when on the road, so for the whole trip he’s been waving at other caravanners to try and start the trend, so far only 13 other people think it’s a good idea!)

For Phil’s birthday we had a nice chilled out day in the ‘van with some prezzies (see picture!), cake and a bottle of fizz! We then set out for a 3 mile waymarked walk which started in the woods at the back of the site, after spotting a red squirrel we continued up into the woods to reveal a spectacular view of the Cairngorm peaks, the tops dipping into the cloud, but we could still see snow poking out a little lower down! In the evening we headed out to The Grant Arms Hotel where we had a yummy meal then a wee dram in the pub down the way.





We have now moved to Aviemore. Our most expensive site yet and what a rip off! Site itself is a mix of caravans (mainly run down seasonals) and tents, lodges and a motel. The bloke on reception was rude and did his spiel in a drone, toilet block is closed from 12 to 3pm blah blah blah! Ahh well, we are close to the town, and still on the move!

Alford, Fraserburgh then disaster!

The Alford site is set within Haughton House Country Park and is owned by Aberdeenshire Council. Once we had set up we took the dogs into the village for a look round and to scope out the location of the vets ready for Smudge’s trip tomorrow. Alford village is very nice with a number of little shops, a transport museum, a narrow gauge railway and even a dry ski slope! A little later we headed 5 miles down the road to Pitfichie Forest, where Linda took the dogs on a 2.5 mile walk and Phil went on his bike. Pitfichie has a red and a blue cycle route as well as a downhill track. Phil’s 10.5 mile ride took in the red route, a great rocky singletrack ride which included slickrock riding as well as drops and jumps some of which would be classed as black if it was in England, then rode the downhill track, an awesome rocky track that had you bouncing from rock to rock between the narrow trees, not surprising the Scottish Downhill Association use it in the SDA race series!

We were up early then next day so that we could take poor Smudge to the vets for her tooth extraction. The remaining three of us then set out for Castle Fraser, a National Trust Property 30 mins drive from the caravan site. The fairy tale turreted castle is very imposing as you approach on the long drive in, and once we had parked we headed straight for the castle rather than the grounds (partly influenced by the constant rain too!). The castle is vast, and you do get the opportunity to go in most of the very well preserved, and well furnished rooms. All of which have a sheet giving information about the room, its history, the furnishings; and some rooms had a member of staff if you wanted more info. Amongst others we visited kitchens, the great hall (which was great!), bedrooms, day rooms, smoking rooms, a turret, and even a small room just for eavesdropping! We both had a great time wandering around and learning about the castle and it’s eccentricities. Once we were out we went back to the car via the walled garden, this has recently been replanted as it used to be and contained ornamental plants as well as fruit and veg for the kitchens. While we were there Linda made friends with a cat that had decided to follow us, he was really friendly and had no objection to being picked up and was even kneeding and pressing for a hug! Once Linda was prised away from the cat we carried on back to Tonks, then it was Prince’s turn. We took him on one of the two waymarked walks around the castle’s estate, it was a mile and a half and took us through the woodland to a huge pond and back via a cow field with a bull in it (behind a fence) and some more of the gardens. Prince was happy (and wet) so we jumped in Tonks and went back to Alford. We made for the vets to see how Smudge was; he took us through to the kennel room where she was stood looking very sad and doing a lot of whinging, she was glad to see us! The vet explained to us that he’d taken out 4 teeth, gave us her pills to be going with and we were on our way. She travelled to the van on Linda’s knee, and wobbled her way into the van, unsteady on her feet and she settled in and went to sleep, looking understandably sad.

Phil took Prince to Kirkhill Forest (with his bike) the next day, first doing a slow ride with Prince for around 3k which tired him out. Then went off without Prince and rode around 10k exploring the trails and riding on the short ‘fun park’. Linda and Smudge mostly relaxed and stayed in the ‘van recovering.

Next day we were up early to go into Aberdeen. We drove to the park and ride and got on the bus into the city centre, it was really busy, with the pavements crowded with people, so we headed straight for the harbour where we thought it’d be quieter. It’s a huge harbour with some massive ships milling about, so we took a few photos before heading round to the beach. It was surprising to have such a nice beach so close to the city centre and next to a working harbour, but we could see why it had won awards, with it’s huge waves and nice golden sand.

We’d picked up a leaflet which was a guided walk through Old Aberdeen, and decided to follow this route back to the park and ride. It pointed out many of the Old Town’s historic features, but the highlights for us were; the Powis Gates, with huge Turkish style minarets, built in 1833 they are now the entrance to the university. The Kings College, and it’s chapel, we sat here in the grounds for a while and watched a wedding party come out of the chapel to the sound of bagpipes, lots of bright clothes, high heels and smiling faces. Wright’s and Cooper’s Place, a lovely little 18^th century residential street which has been preserved to retain it’s character. Cruickshank Botanic Garden, part of the university, it is free to get in and you can wander around at will, we got quite lost in there! Seaton Park and the Brig o’ Balgownie, walking through this huge park with all its colourful flowerbeds led us to the Brig, one of the oldest surviving bridges in the country, starting in the 13^th century, it is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is used for pedestrians only.

After that lot we walked back up the main road to Tonks, relieved to be back after 7.5 miles of walking!

The next day we moved, leaving Alford just before 12, and arrived at a CL at Boyndlie near Fraserburgh. A lovely little site, just a grassy field with a view down the valley towards the sea. The CL owners Mr and Mrs Ironside are very friendly and invited us to see their 15 vintage tractors and the fell ponies that they breed and show. After setting up we popped to Fraserburgh and had a little walk on the beach and a look at the very busy harbour which is the busiest shellfish port in Europe and also a busy white fish port. While on our way into town we got caught up in a traffic jam from a football match that had just finished and our traffic light got stuck on red, after about 10 minutes of sitting there the car in front changed lanes and went through on red closely followed by us, annoying the cars behind by swopping lanes with gay abandon, yippee what renegades!

Shortly after setting off for Banff the next day we saw a small road going off to the right which looked like it dropped off into the sea, it was signposted Pennan, so we thought we’d go for a look! Pennan turned out to be a tiny village, just a single row of cottages that hug the Cliffside at the bottom of a small cove, it’s been there since the 1700’s and even has a pub! We had a walk along the front and dangled our feet off the village’s harbour wall, before heading back to Tonks as there wasn’t much else to do! Continuing along the B-road, we then came to another tiny cliffside village – Crovie. This village is perched so far on the cliff edge that no cars can get to the houses, and any large deliveries have to be wheelbarrowed along the footpaths to the residents! Visitors are strongly deterred from driving down due to the small turning area available, but there is a viewpoint at the top of the cliff where you get a great view. In 1953 a storm of such ferocity forced all the residents to flee, and nearly all of the cottages there are now holiday lets. We then went over to Gardenstown, the next village over, again a clifftop village but a much bigger place than Crovie. We parked by the harbour and had a walk along the front where we could see all the boats rowed up on the recently refurbished moorings, this village was much busier than the other two, but just because it was so much more accessible in comparison! We carried on and drove through the fishing town of Macduff (spotting some large fishing boats on the way) before we arrived in Banff. We set off for a walk along the front and onto the small beach, then walked out on the harbour wall where we saw a bunch of lads competing to see who could jump off the highest bit, we didn’t envy them though as they were saying the water was freezing! Back at the van the campsite owner and her daughter had brought their ponies back from the show so Linda went over for a chat and met the ponies, it turns our Mrs Ironside can talk for Scotland, so Linda was there for most of the afternoon!

We saw a shipwreck a few days ago off the coast of Fraserburgh, so we drove a bit further round the coast to get a closer look. The ship was wrecked at Cairnbulg Point in 2005, when at midnight on 19 December it was returning from a fishing trip it ran aground. The 5 crew members were rescued by the coastguard and were all ok, the ship was later declared a constructive total loss and it remains wrecked just off Cairnbulg to this day. We got a good view of it from Cairnbulg harbour, so took a few snaps from there. Back at the ‘van Phil took the money to the site owners and hoped to get a look at some of the old tractors, trouble is he got collared by Mrs Ironside and she talked at him for about half an hour! Mr Ironside came round later in his car and took Phil over the road where the workshop is. Mr Ironside and his son had built the huge workshop (warehouse) and even installed their own mechanic’s pit, they must have had 9 tractors in there in various stated of repair as well as an old Austin covered in dust.. He showed me around and explained in a heavy scotch accent how he and his son had renovated some of the more pristine tractors, they even started 3 of them up! When they were talking to each other the scotch was so fast I could’nae understand a word!

The sun was out the next day and it was time to move on again, so we packed up, waved goodbye to our neighbours and Mr. Ironside and were on our way. All was going well until we reached Banff, where

we got stuck in a row of traffic. As the traffic moved off and we pulled away there was an almighty bang! A man who was parked up in his Porsche decided to open his door and get out just as we pulled forwards, our caravan hit his door pulling it right back and putting a huge hole in the caravan. We waved down a passing police car who witnessed the accident and luckily they calmed the situation and took everyone’s details very efficiently and we were soon on our way again feeling very glum.

We arrived at the Speyside by Craigellachie Camping and Caravan Club Site, pitched up and had a proper look at the big hole in the front of the van. Hoping that the insurance companies can help us to sort it out quickly.

Braemar - The Cairngorms

After a journey of about 2.5 hours and one biggish long hill we landed at the Braemar site having gone past the Glenshee ski resort with its chair lifts and cable car, it seemed very odd after only driving a short way to be this high up! We even saw patches of snow on a few of the mountains!

Phil got up at 7 to go out on his bike, and did an 8.5 mile ride in the sun up a nearby mountain called Morrone. The climb was up a long landrover track that rose up to the 2,875ft summit, approaching the top it got more and more windy and luckily the last part of the climb had the wind pushing me up. On the top there is a trig point and communications mast that was whistling in the wind. The view over the Cairngorm mountains was breathtaking. The descent took me down a brilliant walkers path, dropping 1,700 feet in 2 miles it was excellent, twisty and rocky meant you had to really pay attention! Smudge had an appointment to have her bad teeth looked at and for her boosters at the vet in the next town, so when Phil got back we piled the dogs in the car and set off for Ballater. Once in the surgery the vet was a friendly lady who said that Smudge would need at least 2 teeth out, so we booked her in to their other larger practice for next week, poor Smudge.
After this we had a mooch round the village and got some supplies from the posh butchers (by Appointment to Queenie don’t you know) as well as some Balmoral bread from the bakers.

We had already decided to go over to Loch Muick the next day (as recommended by the bike shop the day before). As the crow flies it is only a few miles away, but because of all the mountains it took over an hour to get there! Linda set off for a walk around the loch, this ended up being a 7.6 mile epic, the first part round the far side of the lake was just a well kept track so was a bit boring but after the house by the loch which was built by Queen Victoria (I’m sure she had some help!) it turned into a path through trees and then after the beach at the far end of the loch it became single track back along until it rejoined another track for the last bit. We passed two lots of deer on the final bit, 3 stags up on the hill and 3 does on the estuary fields, we got back to the car in 2 and half hours and we were all exhausted! Meanwhile Phil went on an equally epic 14 mile ride, as recommended by the bike shop. The first climb went on, and on, and on, but it was worth it for the descent down the other side, very steep singletracks with rocks drops and switchbacks it was like an alpine downhill. Once at the bottom the view was like a scene from the Alps too with the mountain river and the fir trees giving way to dramatic mountainous rock faces and even some snow on show! The climb out of the valley steadily got tougher and tougher until I ended up with the bike on my back as I scrambled up the steep track, on the way I met a few walkers who I stopped and talked briefly to. Once at the top the last downhill to the Loch was no place to rest with large rain gullies which you have to hop the bike over, it was physically exhausting, and after the last rocky singletrack back to the car I was beaten, time to head home.

Right in the heart of The Cairngorms National Park and sitting on the banks of the River Dee, Balmoral Castle is the Scottish home of the Royal Family. As a private house, the only room the public are allowed in is the ballroom, as a visitor though you are given unlimited access to the gardens and the grounds that the castle is set in, as well as some exhibitions and a gift shop. We parked up and walked into the Balmoral Estate over Isambard Brunel’s bridge. Initially we walked down the drive to the stables where we picked up our audio tour and had a look around a couple of the exhibitions. We then headed around to the castle which we walked around the front of and headed into the ballroom where we both went in for a look. The castle itself is actually a hunting lodge built in the French Chateau style by Prince Albert over 150 years ago to replace an earlier castle which sat on the current castles front lawn, it’s picturesque turrets and its location nestled amongst the trees and mountains gives it a real fantasy feel. The inside of the ballroom is as grand as you would expect, but it isn’t as large as you might imagine, especially given that it is the largest room in the castle. After we had both been in we walked along the riverside walk, and of course Prince had to go in for a dip! The walk brought us back around to the stables, so we continued to follow the audio tour into the gardens, huge beds of baby plants, large conservatories, lawns, fountains and big trees all followed until we came to the cricket field, with its tiny pavilion and few benches. On the other side of the field is a wooden deer, which had loads of holes in it, and a particularly big one by it’s heart, this is where the family fire their first practice/checking shots before they go out stalking! We then opted to follow one of the waymarked walks into the estate woodlands which took us up one of the surrounding hills where we saw various cairns erected to commemorate members of the Royal Family, it also gave us a great view of the castle itself as well as a variety of wildlife including Deer, Red Squirrels, Beetles, Butterflies, Caterpillars, Giant Ants and Slugs! Having walked around 8 miles and happy with our lot, we headed back to Tonks and back to the ‘van.
After tea Phil went out on his bike to see if he could photograph the Lions Face. This is a rocky outcrop that we walked to the day before where the notice said you needed to be on the other side of the river to see a clear outline of a lions face in the rocks. So I rode past the rocky outcrop and out the other side, over the river bridge and up into the woods opposite, once in a clearing I looked back at the rocks. No matter how much I squinted, looked sideways, closed one eye, or looked at it upside down I could not see a Lions face! Ahh well, the 10 mile ride in the woods was good fun and tired me out for the rest of the night

Phil was up at 8:00 (again!) this morning to do an 8 mile ride up Sron Dubh, a 584 metre peak just up the road from the site, tired legs got me to the top just before the weather closed in and the drizzle started, but I’d seen 3 stags and it was downhill all the way back so that didn’t matter! We set off in the rain to watch the Breamar Youth Highland games in the village. Unfortunately when we got there the lady on the gate told us that dogs weren’t allowed in. Very disappointed we trudged back to the ‘van.. After a brief mope Linda decided that we should go down the A93 to the Glenshee ski area, which we passed on the way here, there was a café there so we had a brew and some very stodgy carrot cake. As we looked around all the ski lifts and café area we spotted that there was a mountain bike track and you could take your bike up on the lift! We decided to get the dogs out and walk them up the track to have a nosey.. It turned out to be just a landrover track which is used to access the top lift, but the walk we had was amazing with some fantastic views over the ski area, we could see most of the 19 ski lifts they have there and many of ski runs were marked out with fences, we just had to imagine the snow! We walked to the top of Cairn Aosda which sits at 3,000 feet and had a look down on Loch Vrotachan and the valley which it sits in before heading back down through the clouds.

Next day due to the rain we stayed in the van until early afternoon with Linda reading the paper and Phil listening to the Grand Prix. Once the rain had eased we had a wander into the village with the dogs, we heard a marching band coming through with the drums and pipes going strong, we followed them to the square where they stopped walking and continued to play for a bit, so we headed home to get away from the racket! After a brew Phil took Prince into the woods across the road, Phil had his bike and they went on tracks that took them round the small pool in the woods and then back to the van. In the evening Phil went off to a packed Fife Inn to watch the world cup final, stood next to some Dutch with the Spaniards behind us the atmosphere was great!

The next day, because they were getting mucky, we had to give the car and the caravan a wash. We’ve done this a few times now, and sometimes get funny looks as people wonder why we’ve come on holiday to wash the caravan! Still, it got us chatting to our neighbour who told us about some of the epic walks he’d been doing while walking the munroe’s (mountains over 3,000ft).
In the afternoon we went out in Tonks to the Linn of Dee and the Mar Estate, a huge area of countryside owned and managed by the Scottish National Trust. From the car park we did one of the recommended walks, first we had a play in the river Dee with Linda going in the freezing water barefoot and Prince putting his face in and pulling out big rocks! We carried on round to the River Lui, where we came across a manmade salmon staircase, a series of small pools that the salmon can jump in and make their way up the river to spawn. After that we carried on back to the car meeting a lady with a friendly Scottie dog called ‘Caber’, great name! At the car we got chatting to a man with a mountain bike, he had used the bike to take him to the end of the track and then walked the rest of the way up a monroe! The ride saved him a 2 and a half hour walk either end. He lived in Aberdeenshire, and told us they had the worst winter ever with snow from Nov to April! Once back at the ‘van Phil went out on his bike (again!) up the nearby Creag Choinnich, a 1,700ft peak that overlooks the campsite. The downhill was so good he had to go back up and do it 3 times, steep with rock steps, slabs roots and gullys!

We have now moved to a council run site in the small village of Alford (pronounced Afford)

St Andrews

It’s a good job we had the sat nav on for the directions to this site as the directions in the book were rubbish! On arrival the man from the van next door introduced himself and his son and we had a chat for a while before setting up the van and heading out to the beach at Leven, down the road. This was Prince’s birthday treat and he loved it, playing around in the sea and digging holes while we walked and had our lunch. Back at the van we had a brew before going on another short walk from the site up to the top of the hill up the road, we had fantastic views of the sea and St Andrews and saw some horses near the top of the hill, a fox wandering through the meadow, and even a deer who was hiding in the gorse. Barbeque for tea then watched Ghana lose to Uraguay in a tense match that went to penalties, shame Ghana didn’t win as they were the last African nation in it, Linda was gutted as she was supporting them!

Next day we headed into St Andrews, a town which is known worldwide as the home of golf. We parked on the sea front in a car park by the famous club house, and then walked into the town past some of the large grandstands which were currently being constructed ready for the big event. We walked down one of the side roads and past some of the university buildings, the St Andrews university is also a famous institution and is where Prince William received his university education. We spotted a university quadrangle which was open and so we went in for a look around and took a few photos of the lovely old buildings within the square. Further down the road we reached the ruins of St Andrews castle, an imposing ruin which looks out to sea to its North side and guards the town to the south. Finally we went down to the harbour, past the large ruins of the cathedral which was, in its day, the largest in the country. Nowadays all that is left is 4 of the towers, the foundations and lots of gravestones, it is free to wander around but you have to pay if you want to go up any of the towers. We had a look at the little harbour, which looked very colourful in the sunshine and then we headed back into the town centre. On the way back to the car we had a walk onto the golf course (The Old Course), we walked over the 1st and 18th tee in amongst all the grandstands which were ready for the throngs of people that would be here next week for the Open Championship. We took some photos in front of the club house and on the famous Swilken Bridge which has seen so many of the open golf champions making their final walk to the last hole. We’ll have to watch it on the telly next week now, just so that we can see where we’ve been! We moved the car from the pay and display and drove round to the huge St Andrews beach where we took the dogs for a play in the sea. We both paddled in the sea up to our knees and managed to encourage Smudge to come in up to her knees too, she even looked like she was enjoying it! Prince was swimming around with his new Dogobie (Frisbee) which he had for his birthday, and having a great time. We went up to the dunes where we sat in the sun and ate our butties, while being peppered with sand which was being blown by the wind, it made our sandwiches crunchy! We then went back to the waters edge where Phil went in the water up to his chest, it was bloody freezing though so he was soon back out! Wet through, we made a bid for the car and drove back to the campsite.

Heavy rain was forecast for most of the day today, and we awoke to the sound of rain and wind that didn’t sound like it was going to let up anytime soon. After waiting for it to stop for a while we gave up and headed into St Andrews. On arrival the rain had stopped and the sun was peeping through the clouds, so we decided to take the opportunity to take the dogs for a walk on the beach. We parked at the same spot as before and had a nice walk down the huge beach. On the way back to the car we spotted that a kite boarder and 2 windsurfers on wheels had turned up and were whizzing around on the beach, they must have spotted the sunshine too!

Back at the 'van we got chatting again to Ray, our next ‘van neighbour who said he was just back briefly as he had to head back to Cupar, a town down the road where they were having their summer highland games. He recommended we head out there, so we made a packed lunch and drove down the road. One thing Ray didn’t tell us was that the main road from our site to Cupar was closed due to a collapsed bridge, so we had to drive round the houses to get there. The signage for the car park was terrible too, and we ended up in an empty school car park wondering where the event was! We got out and took our picnic across the road where we could hear a loudspeaker, and just as we got out the heavens opened again! Lots of people were leaving and it looked like the event was over, so we went back to the car and had our picnic sat in the car park before driving back home!

The next morning went out for a 6mile walk down to the nearby Cameron Reservoir, a manmade lake that was used to service St Andrews, but is now retired and just used for recreational fishing and walking. When we got there a noticeboard told us to look in the anglers shed for examples of stuffed fish, and when we stuck our heads in there was a guy in there who showed us a few mounted fish before taking us out to the freezers where he pulled out this year’s biggest catch, a 7lb brown trout! Prince was licking his lips! We carried on over the dam and continued our walk round the reservoir and back towards the ‘van. The path was signposted but very overgrown, and in places we were just following our noses, we eventually came across a series of ramshackle buildings with a load of dead cars surrounding them, where we had to go through overgrown nettles and brambles to get to the path along the drive to the road. We then picked up a path which took us alongside a potato field back to the ‘van, we spotted a lone figure in the massive field walking up and down and pulling out the occasional plant. We later learned from the campsite owner that he was probably pulling out ‘rogue’ potatoes, and normally there would be a team of them, it is an organic farm so they have to do everything the natural way.. We wandered what constituted a ‘rogue’ potato, and surmised that it must be one campaigning for the use of chemicals! After lunch we headed out in Tonks to Tentsmuir Forest, a huge Forestry Commission enterprise just North of St Andrews which has picnic and barbeque facilities, walks, cycle and horse rides, and is right next to a huge beach. We had a walk over the dunes and onto Tentsmuir Sands, a vast expanse of flat beach where both dogs had a great run around and even Smudge had a few paddles in the pools which the sea had left behind

The next day we moved to a Caravan Club site in Braemar, a lovely little town in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park.

Edinburgh

We were rudely awakened this morning by a plane coming in to land at 5am! Luckily this was the only one and they didn’t start again in earnest until around 8, the site is on the flight path to Edinburgh airport, so we got used to the noise by the end of our stay here! Today was the day that Phil was booked in for a session of wakeboarding. The Loch where the waterski centre is based is over the Forth Bridge from where the campsite is, so the trip over was when we got our first glimpse of the road bridge and iconic rail bridge. Once we arrived at the centre the instructor gave Phil the option of going straight onto a wakeboard, or going on waterskis first (which are apparently easier), then progressing to a wakeboard. I opted to do this, and had a very brief instruction on dry land (from the young female trainee instructor, woo woo!) before they had me in the boat and out on the Loch. The water was surprisingly warm and first off they started by having me hang on to a fixed pole off the side of the boat (rather than a rope), applying the technique from dry land we were off, and I was stood up on the ski’s before I knew it! Next up it was time for me to hang on to the rope, “Ready?” a nervous “Yeah!” was my reply and we were off. The pull from the boat feels like an immense force, and I found myself just hanging on and trying to apply what I had learned, luckily it worked and I managed to get up onto my feet and a huge grin spread on my face as I whizzed along on the two thin planks attached to my toes. We did a few runs up and down without any spills when they asked me to wave at Linda who was taking photos from the jetty (to try and get me to fall – no, really!), I waved and still didn’t fall (I can be infuriating at times – Yes you can, The Editor). In the end my back and arms were killing me, so it was time for a break before the wakeboard. Linda came in the boat this time for a bit of moral support (read: laugh). The board was like a shorter version of a snowboard (except it has fins) so I hoped I could master it, but after a good initial start, and even turning the board straight it was time for my first fall. Faceplanting into the water makes you loose all sense of up or down, and I had to trust my lifejacket to bring me back up to the air, while I lay there waiting for the boat to come round I tried to rest as much as I could as I was aching all over by now. I got a bit further on the next run before getting a wobble on and smashing into the water, coughing and spluttering for air, the boat came round quicker than I’d hoped and we were off again! This time I stayed up, treating it like a snowboard and even managing to turn the board over the boat’s wake a few times, before I knew it time was up, but given how battered my body felt I was actually quite glad! The instructor was quite pleased and said most people don’t manage to stand up on their first go, let alone turn (cue swollen Sweeney head)!
On the way home we stopped at a hotel where there was a great viewpoint over the Forth Bridges, so before going in for a pint we had a walk round the grounds and onto the road bridge footpath where we took a few photos before heading back for a drink.


After breakfast the next day we made the 10 minute walk to the bus stop and headed into central Edinburgh. The dogs were no trouble on the bus, we both took a pair of seats each and the dogs sat/lay on the floor very patiently. Once we arrived in the city centre Prince was in city-dog mode straight away, which means he doesn’t pull on the lead or try and play, and he doesn’t growl at people (unless they try and tickle his chin or stare at him face to face from a foot away!), in other words he’s surprisingly good. We got off the bus outside Edinburgh’s central train station and from there headed up the hill to High Street which is on the Royal Mile (the bustling street which follows a straight line between the Palace in the East and the Castle in the West.) We walked up the busy street towards the castle until we came to Gladstone’s Land, a furnished 17th century tenement house which is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, we took it in turns to go inside and explore the lovely rooms from the kitchen to study and bedrooms complete with four poster beds. While each of us was outside with the dogs they drew a lot of attention as they tend to in cities, a Japanese girl came over and gave Prince a hug while her dad took a photo (that’s when he growled at the chin tickle), and a very nice lad rushed over to give him some fuss, amongst others. We continued up the hill until we reached the castle entrance which was obscured by a huge temporary stadium for the Edinburgh Tattoo, at the entrance we discovered dogs weren’t allowed, but at £14 a head nor were we! Prince got some fuss off the security man though, who also has a white German Shepherd. We made do with a walk around the castle walls, heading down the steps and around the bottom of the huge cliffs which it sits on. This brought us into Princes Street Gardens, an open area of parkland which is overlooked by the castle; we sat on the grass in the sun amongst all the other tourists (and business suits on their lunch hour) and had our picnic. Continuing along the parkland, we passed the Scott monument which is an iconic symbol of Edinburgh (the city council have it in their logo); it is a Victorian gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, an ornate structure which Bill Bryson describes as looking like a gothic rocket ship! We then went up the steps to the top of Calton Hill, a 320ft hill in the centre of Edinburgh which has unprecedented views over the city and the surrounding area. The top of the hill has a number of monuments sited there including Nelson’s monument (a tower dedicated to Horatio Nelson) and the unfinished National Monument which was to be a pantheon, but soon ran out of money and work stopped, the grand columns of the front of the building are all that stand. We went down the other side of the hill and into the Holyrood area of the city where we saw the Holyrood Palace and the controversial parliament building, opened in 2004 it was 10 times the original budget and coat a total of £414m to build and is a complicated mishmash of spikes and curves, it is also covered in what we thought looked like rusty sticks! Outside the front there is a fountain, and while the policeman stood there had his back turned Prince jumped in and had a paddle! Luckily the policeman didn’t follow the subsequent footprints around the corner! From Holyrood we headed back up the Royal Mile and over the North Bridge before jumping on our return bus back to the caravan site.


Once up and about we headed out on the bus again today. This time we got off before central Edinburgh and instead headed for the Royal Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in so Linda went in on her own. The gardens cover 70 acres and were lovely, with some very informal areas and then more formal areas. I went in the palm house which was very impressive and then saw the Queen Mothers memorial garden. There were some horticultural students there who each have a 6m x 2m plot which they have to grow certain things in and then whatever they like in the remainder, I had a chat with a couple of students who were watering their plots then carried on round the gardens. There were lots of people about having picnics and playing on the grass, the gardens are free to go in (you just have to pay if you go in the glasshouses, I didn’t bother just walked around the outside of them, they are massive!) Phil took the dogs into Inverleith Park, the large grassy park next door. On the way in I bought an ice cream then let the dogs have a run round on the grass, we made our way round to the small lake where there were loads of swans, and there was a great view over the city, after a while we moved round and sat on a bench nearer the entrance where Linda met up with us. We sat on the bench and had our lunch watching park life go by, dog walkers, mums and kids and people with personal trainers were all milling around as we left. We got an ice cream each (again!) and headed towards the centre, and the ‘New Town’ area of Edinburgh. The walk in took us along the Water of Leith, a small river that flows through Edinburgh, and in the area of Dean it has formed a huge gorge. In 1833, in order to span the gorge Thomas Telford was enlisted to design a bridge. The result is the lovely 4 arched Dean Bridge which stands 106 feet above the Dean Gorge. After passing under the bridge we headed onto the top and into the New Town area, this is the Georgian area of the city and has some fantastic Georgian buildings. No 10 Charlotte Square is owned by the Scottish National Trust, so we went in one at a time and had a look around the inside of this well preserved Georgian town house. Afterwards we had a bit more of a walk around the new town, looking in some of the shops, then sat outside the Wetherspoons in George Street for a pint in the sun watching the commuters rush by, glad not to be one of them! We headed back home on the bus, and that evening went out in Tonks in search of fish n chips, the chippy we found had a nice guy behind the counter who used to work in Market Drayton, interestingly he said he preferred it in this (rough) area of Edinburgh because his family got less racial abuse than they did in small town Shropshire.

We decided to spend our last day here outside of Edinburgh the next day and headed instead for Falkirk. We knew we wanted to go here because we had previously heard about the Falkirk Wheel and wanted to see it for ourselves. It was raining heavily in the morning, so we waited in the van for it to clear before heading out. We parked in the main car park and were soon within view of the massive structure. The wheel is basically a huge canal lock, capable of moving up to 8 boats at a time up or down the 24 meter rise between the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal. The canals were previously connected by a series of locks but these had fallen into disrepair, so when the canals were regenerated for the tourism trade a new solution was needed. Opened in 2002 the wheel has now won numerous engineering awards.
We had a walk around the site and watched the wheel rotating a few times before heading through the canal tunnel at the top of the wheel, at the other side of the tunnel there is a set of 3 locks which we watched some novice boaters navigate through before we went back through the tunnel to the Falkirk Wheel visitor centre.

We have now moved to a Camping and Caravan Club CS on a farm just outside St Andrews, the home of golf.