We had business to attend to in Scotland in July/August and with no accommodation we decided to take Lizzie. We didn’t fancy driving her for hours on end so broke the trip up.
Starting out on the hottest day of the year we headed to Malvern for 2 days; too hot to do much but we managed to explore the village of Hanley Swan, weeded and tidied up a war memorial in the local Catholic Church and enjoyed the old drovers path with views over the Malvern hills.
With the weather cooling down our next stop was Kendal and a lovely site tucked into National Trust woodland, alongside the river Kent and on the site of the old Sedgewick Gunpowder works. Instead of walking along the river to Kendal we took the opportunity to walk to Sizergh Castle via Low Park wood (loads of wild raspberries here) instead. The gardens were looking gorgeous, even in the rain. We lunched in the Strickland Arms and snuck in a cream tea at Sizergh Farm shop too (really tasty raspberry jam).
Then it was up into Scotland and Moffat for a couple of nights – sadly the rain came with us. We did manage a quick tour around the town, stopping to buy tablet in Moffat Toffee shop and a pint of Lowlands Brewery Twa Dogs. The next morning was dry so we explored the Annan Water walk (one of many trails in this area).
It seems that Moffat has a few claims to fame:
First dark sky town in Europe,
Oldest pharmacy in Scotland
Narrowest Hotel (The Star) in Scotland
Shortest street in Scotland.
And finally after an interesting few days we arrived in Cupar, Fife where we needed to attend to some business.
We checked out our old stomping ground and found that very little had changed and, of course, had to have a pint in our old local The Boudingait.
We managed to catch up with friends and old neighbours which was lovely.
We did escape for a day and hopped on a bus to Dundee. On the waterfront, in addition to the Discovery and V&A museum, there is now a rather lovely whale sculpture (designed by Lee Simmons). We popped into the St Andrews Brewing Co (of course) for a brew and lunch – reminiscing with staff of when we first found this ale at the local farmers market in Cupar many years ago – they still sell at the market as they want to remember where they started.
Then we went on to St Andrews which was still busy after the Open and lots of stands etc were still around the 18th hole.
We started our trip back down south with a couple of days in Berwick upon Tweed. This town has some lovely walks and very impressive Elizabethan city walls. We visited the oldest barracks in Britain, once home of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, and now kept up by English Heritage.
We were lucky enough to spot the small pod of dolpins that are around the area and also a seal who hangs around the local fishermen!
Berwick upon Tweed is a good stop off for a couple of days – the town is a little tired but has some gems – one being the Atelier where we had a delightful lunch of the seasonal sharing platter of charcuterie and cheeses and a couple of craft beers.
Berwick is also close to Bamburgh Castle and Holy Island further down the coast (we missed them out this time having explored these a few years ago).
Next stop York – 2 different sites here, 1 in the city and 1 outside. We walked the city walls, speed through the Shambles (way too commercialised these days), wandered around the exterior of York Minster, watched a wedding couple emerge from their service at the St Michael-le Belfry church next door, stroked a European owl (part of a display by the York bird of prey centre in Dean’s garden) and then got caught in a downpour so popped into the nearest pub for a very expensive pint!!! (£2.40 dearer than the same round in Berwick upon Tweed!!). York was super busy but it was school holidays and we found it to be quite expensive all round but it was nice to revisit it after nearly 30 years. We did enjoy our walk from Naburn Lock into York and a river cruise back!
Onwards down the A1 to Sherwood Pines, part of the famous Sherwood Forest (Robin Hood fame) which is now in 2 halves (Sherwood Forest near Clumber and Sherwood Pines).
Lovely to pitch in the forest especially as the temperature was climbing again so the shade is very welcome. We explored the Trench trail here which has a mock up of a world war 1 trench – the reason being that this area trained 30,000 soldiers for the Great War. Very interesting information boards all the way around too.
Next day we walked the 5 mile Rangers Walk through lovely forests of pine, sweet chestnut, oak and silver birch trees. The scent of pine was all around as the day heated up and in places was very reminiscent of our rambling days in Cyprus.
Our final stop on this trip was Moreton in Marsh in the Cotswolds. The temperature was soaring again so we didn’t do a lot here.
We enjoyed the late afternoon sun on the golden cotswold stones. We managed to get some yummy cheese from the Cotswold Cheese Company (love their bumper sticker) but sadly the Wellington Aviation museum was closed (opens Sundays only). This area had an airforce base in the second world war which was an operational training unit for Wellington bombers.
Sites we used:
Blackmore Caravan & Camping club (ccc) site – Malvern.
Kendal Caravan & Motorhome Club Site (cmc).
The Green Frog – independent site Moffat.
Berwick upon Tweed CMC club site.
Rowntree CMC York club site.
Naburn Locks – York. A Tranquil Parks site.
Sherwood Pines – Camping in the Forest site.
Moreton in Marsh CMC club site