Tim and Sue's big adventure

[Tim]

Hello everyone. We are new to motorhoming and a few months ago bought our pride and joy and thought long and hard about where we would go over the years to come. Well to cut a long story short we decided over several glasses, well bottles really, to have a ‘gap year’ leave our jobs and ‘do the UK’. We want to see some of the wonderful countryside, buildings, villages, history, cities etc that make up this fantastic country, so we are looking to start off this March and come home sometime in the autumn. The idea is to wildcamp as well as use CL’s and CS’s and of course some mainstream sites. We are starting off in Fareham on the south coast and then going around the country anti clockwise calling in on Kent for some of March round to Suffolk staying with family and then up the east side. Around about Flamborough Head we are going to head west calling in to the Dales and Lake District. After chilling out there it is up to Scotland and the western isles getting there before May hoping to miss the dreaded midges! Then it’s the rest of Scotland in June with the idea being to let gravity bring us down the country through Northumberland and Wales, finally ending up in Cornwall by the autumn. Well, that’s the idea……! Over the last couple of months we have been looking at all the information that is so kindly given by the members and guests and wonder if any of you could let us know of any really lovely places to visit on our route so that we can appreciate what you have seen, in fact any advice you can give us would be most wellcome. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Deleted member 3802]

hi guys:wave: and welcome i am pleased you want to spend time looking at our great country there are lots of good places and don't forget the west coast of wales

 

[Rubbertramp]

When you find yourselves in Scotland you'll find it very easy to wildcamp, especially on the west coast. Places I would reccommend are; Cape Wrath....ferry and minibus from near Durness....Applecross, over the Bealach na Ba pass from Kishorn ....and The Isle of Bute. And in Northumberland, Bamburgh Castle is awe inspiring! Where ever you go though there will be a WOW!! around every corner.
Have a great trip
:welcome:

 

[n brown]

when we were younger we just had a strong urge to get to the sun,so all our efforts led us south,now we hardly know our own country,never been to scotland or the lake district,so i really envy you,have a brilliant time!

 

[tugga]

If you like gardens, then I suggest NTSissinghurst. You can park a motorhome in their car park - they have special bays - but if you are not a member you will have to pay to park and an entry fee. If you like houses then join as you can visit castles, houses and gardens for free in England, Scotland and Wales.

If you get in the Forest of Dean area then visit Symonds Yat, not sure if its Suffolk or Norfolk but Southwold - real ale - is worth a day visit. York is nice and there is plenty to see there (if you are interested in Quilting then the Quilters Guild has their HO and have exhibitions) the CC have a site there and you can walk in and around the town from there. Coniston in Cumbria - there may be wild camping here (others may advise).

Will post again if there is any where else that I can think of.

Cheryl

 

[Canalsman]

Don't forget to download the Wild Camping POI files ...

 

[barryd]

Sounds great although I must admit when I do a long trip it tends to involve a channel crossing!

My favourites in no particular order in the UK are

Interestingly Flamborough!
Lakes
Devon
Cornwall
West Coast of Scotland
Isle of Arran
Hebrides
Orkney and Shetland

Quite a bit of stuff on our website on the above Hank the Tank Motorhome website

Hope you have a blast!

 

[oldish hippy]

do a blog but only the wet day when u stuck somewhere u never know who will come up and say hello if they roughly know where you are as member are spread far and wide across uk and scotland #(just for the sepratist) lol cormnwall is better in the autum you avoid the emmets

 

[Tim]

A big thank you to each of you that have replied; some really good ideas that are coming in for us to plan into our route. We would also love the idea of travelling south across the channel but we have our faithful old retainer ‘Harvey the hound’ who seems to ‘like’ visiting the vet occasionally, so north it is. The west coast of Scotland and Northumberland sound particularly brilliant. When we are travelling we will look forward to letting you all know the places that we have found so that we can repay you. We are going to join the NT as they are giving 3 months free at the moment so that sounds too good to miss, and we might even be able to stop for the occasional night in their car parks. If you have any other ideas of places to stay or visit en route, anywhere in the UK, please let us know. Also thank you for your kind wishes re the journey; hope we meet up with many of you on our travels. Tim and Sue

 

[witzend]

Read somewhere that the Scottish NT is half the price to join and they have reciprocal arrangements with the National Trust as do the New Zealand national trust which is cheaper still both can be joined no matter where you live

 

[Tim]

Any dark sky locations out there?

I forgot to ask if any of you have visited places in the UK that have particularly dark skies, as we just love looking at the stars of an evening. We live on the Isle of Wight where sometimes the night sky is amazing, so it would be a real bonus on our big adventure while wildcamping to pitch up in some secluded places and see the show above us.

 

[mitzimad]

weve seen wonderfull skyscapes all over the country its a combination of no light pollution and clear skys altitude helps as well more for field of vision than being any closer

 

[2cv]

I forgot to ask if any of you have visited places in the UK that have particularly dark skies, as we just love looking at the stars of an evening. We live on the Isle of Wight where sometimes the night sky is amazing, so it would be a real bonus on our big adventure while wildcamping to pitch up in some secluded places and see the show above us.

Galloway Forest Park specialises in darkness, see Forestry Commission Scotland - Galloway Forest Park Dark Skies