Week 5
Sunday 16th August 2015.
Well that shows what sort of week we had last week as I managed to finish it on Saturday not Sunday - Oh well.
Just found out that R & F will head south tomorrow. Their daughter has got a job in Dubai and rather than a start in a few months as originally thought it is in just a few weeks so their whole family is heading for York for a get together and a big family party.
So what will we do now??
We have spent a lot of time with R & F since Christmas so it will seem quite strange to be on our own again so to get used to the idea we are going to stay here for a couple of days then travel west to a site we have long fancied a little south east of Loch Lomond then south stopping in the border country on the way.
Thursday 20th August 2015.
After lazy (but still wet) days we have now gone, not quite south, but south west to a CS (Certified Site) with a fabulous view over Loch Lomond and - shock horror - the sun is shining.
Week 6
Tuesday 25th August 2015
We have had five very pleasant days here. The sun didn’t shine for very long but at least it has not been constantly raining.
While getting ready to move on I started chatting to another happy camper, also getting ready to move and our immediate neighbour joined in the chat. Turns out he was a caravan engineer who noticed our battery, the super Rolls we bought last Christmas. “If your caravan is still under guarantee” he said “you ought to replace that battery before it goes in for its next service.” I asked why and he explained that the battery was of a much later technology than the chargers used in UK caravans and motorhomes which cannot keep up with the demands of the battery. Apparently using this type of battery voids the aforementioned guarantee as sooner or latter it will cause charger problems. Our van is in for service in just eight days - oh bugger!!
We have moved to a part of Scotland we have not visited before, The Borders, and have camped at Newark Farm, a Caravan Club awarded certificated location. It is a very pleasant site just outside the small Dumfries and Galloway town of Sanquhar.
Saturday 29th August 2015
We have spent a very pleasant few days around Sanquhar. The town is close enough to walk to and although we spent the first day trying, unsuccessfully, to locate a “Banner” or “Numax” leisure battery (hurrah for t’interweb and next day delivery) we have determined to return and spend a greater time in the area. As well as many walks around the immediate area we have visited a local lead mine, local to which are the two oldest lending libraries in the world. They came about because the original mine owners were Quakers and required every employee and his family, men, women and even children, to learn to read and write. While at the mine you can have a go at panning for gold, and one lucky chap panned a nugget worth ten thousand quid when he had a go in July this year. Linked to the lead mining industry was a narrow gauge railway that local enthusiasts have restored and with engines owned by individual members - big boys toys!!! - how good is that?
Sunday 30th August 2015
Moving day, not particularly far. We are off to Ulverstone in Cumbria where the caravan will be serviced by our supplier Bardsea Leisure, and no, they will not see a Rolls battery on board they will find a Banner.