Wild Camp a Month 2019 Challenge

9/9 Blog:-

September was wet and windy so our opportunities had to be phased in with the weather, health appointments, grandchildren care duties, and replacement car viewings!! We had a couple of excursions to Aberdeen to view cars, and since the wife was hoping to get to a 'Next' sale, we coordinated a night stop on friday, 20th September at the Berryden car park near Next in Aberdeen, so she could shop till she dropped at 7am on Saturday; parking there turned out to be quite flat and unrestricted on the middle section (ToysRus) part of the retail park, and no signage to prevent overnight stopover.

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Later on Saturday we went down to our favourite spot on the esplanade for another overnight and were surprised by the amount of motorhomes present, some had been resident there since our last visit, it's become very popular lately.

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26th September saw us tripping down through the torrential rain to Glasgow where we overnighted at a hospital car park (with permission) for an appointment at 8am the next day.

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Then it was straight up to the Science Park for another appointment and series of tests for me, but all results were good, so no worries there; we stopped overnight at their car park, and early the next morning we got a visit at the van from one of our son's who lives in Glasgow. After that we headed off to Paisley to view a promising car, which we subsequently bought, and drove in convoy straight back home, through the occasional downpour.

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An overnight stop at Grantown was tempting but we just stopped for a cuppa and got home just as darkness fell.
 
9 of 9.
Just got Sept in after having the service and MOT work completed, plus a few minor interior upgrades and exterior tart up (I really must update my build thread :LOL:) I managed just the one night near Consett on Friday. Was planning a 2nd night near Morpeth but a domestic issue that needed to be dealt with put paid to that, but I'll make up for that in October when we go away for a week.

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9/9
No pics sorry as I'm at work:
6-8 at The Crown Inn, Cholderton, near Salisbury. Lovely pub
12 The Highwayman, Sourton, Devon. Another lovely pub
16 NT car park at Stoke Head, South Devon - one kid came round in his racer but disappeared when he saw 2 bongos there!
18 Who'd Have Thought It Inn, near Saltash - close to Cotehele. Good walking
20 Forestry Commission car park on the Camel Trail, just north of Bodmin. Fantastic place
25 Anchor Inn, Epney

Think that's my best month so far.
 
The monthly round up.

Jillygumbo 9/9
Wheelie 9/9
Herman 9/9
Suneye 8/9
Floratheexplora 1/9
Nabsim 9/9
Brucews 9/9
Igofafish 9/9

I think that's everyone that's posted this month, let's see where October takes us.
 
Weather was looking promising for Thursday 17th October, so we shot off on Wednesday late afternoon to get a spot down at Banff beach, arrived in rain but the evening sun came out, and was picturesque with the waves rolling in.
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Photos a bit poor as only got an old phone to use..

10/10 ticked off.

Thursday was lovely, and we spent most of the day parked up between Banff & Macduff;
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we decided to stop over an extra night (very unusual for us), and parked up in another quiet spot, Duff House in the background.

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Friday started nice, so we headed towards Turriff but the rain was becoming very heavy & difficult to drive and we pulled up for a couple of hours to let it pass, before going into Aberdeen. The plan was to stop over for the night there, but as I sat in the van waiting for Pat to come back from shopping, the rain got heavier & heavier, and I drove off to pick her up instead. Roads were flooded in many areas, with no hint of the rain easing, so we chose to go back home. Unfortunately, travelling through Aberdeen at 4pm on a Friday is manic (worsened by the poor viability), and then we hit the queue past Inverurie that stretched for several miles to roadworks at the bridge near Insch, that delayed us by an hour. We were nearly home by dark, but stopped for Fish&Chips at Fochabers (highly recommended), the rain had virtually stopped when we parked up. Later we learned that several cars were under water in Aberdeen, so we were glad that we gave up on stopping over that night.
 
10/10

Going to get this one in now before I forget again :)
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Parked up here Wednesday night and this was my view on Thursday morning, it’s about 4 miles from Buxton in Derbyshire, just a pull in on a quiet country lane but fine overnight stop for me. I seem to be fairly lucky weather wise a lot of the time and am still getting decent weather with showers or heavy rain more at night.

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Moved Thursday night and after heavy rain during the night that woke me up a couple of times I woke to sun on the water on Friday In Goyt Valley
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I find this area a great spot whatever season it is and it was about a mile further along from here where I got snowed in for 8 days in January but I was a bit higher up than this :)

Spent all day here walking the dogs and decided to move on that night when the rain came in so drove 130 miles to my next park up.
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So here we are this morning waking up to the sun shining through the trees at LR Naunton. Solar in the sun was 0.0amps lol, maybe something to do with where I parked.
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Its amazing how temperature changes when you drop almost a thousand feet and head south, didn’t need heating on last night or this morning. The bushes still have blackberries that you can eat which wasn’t the case at Buxton.

i have the next two nights booked on the CMC club site at Bourton on the Water now to get the battery’s fully recharged. I will decide on Monday if I am exploring the Cotswolds or going over to the stones to recharge my soul :)
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10/10
On the sea wall at Fairborne. Wild and wet but it calmed down enough for a good night sleep after a couple of drinks in the dog friendly Penhryn Bar.
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The not strictly to the rules as we paid £8.25 for 24 hrs parking at Aberdyfi. Well worth it.
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😂😂😂 got my October one in by default we were heading for Shell Island to the Oktoberfest but we missed the tide on the causeway so had to wild on the dry bit of the causeway until morning. 😂😂

We do this regularly, I don't see the point of paying for the night then arrive the next day and make the most of a full day. Usually stop on the round car park.
 
10 / 10
Enjoyed a couple of weeks in Scotland this month, so here's a photo at Saltcoats on 7/10. This was the calm before the storm........ the wind the following day was so strong it kept setting off our smoke detector every time we opened the door!
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10/10
Just back from a few days travelling around the Trossachs, Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park and Galloway Forrest. Stopped 1 night per region, 1 being a campsite nr Largs.

Overnight stop nr Loch Chon before proceeding to the cafe at Stronachlachar Pier the following morning for coffee and cake. Then headed off to Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park

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View from the campsite nr Largs before setting off down to Galloway.
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Having spent much of the day around the Clatteringshaws Loch area, settled down for the night nr Loch Trool. Was going to overnight in a remote spot on the Raiders Road Forrest Drive, but the No Overnight Camping/Parking signs at the main car parks along that route put me off that idea.
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and although we didn't stop here, I thought I'd just add a pic from Murray's Monument to finish off as the other pics don't do the areas or the tour justice. We'll defo be going back.
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Connors Quay to brake the journey home from wales last stayed here about 20 years ago probably be another 20 before I stay again
Cheers Cass, but at the risk of being pedantic, but in good faith for future searches, its Connahs Quay
 
End of an era! Some big changes for us. Our lovely four legged companion to our travels has passed on :'( and our van 'Flo' goes to a new owner this weekend. To mark the changes we went back to the very first place we stayed in our van. This was pre knowing there was a community such as this to tap into and we just drove and parked and followed the music to a pub with live music. This got us hooked and four and a half years later we decided to go back to the same spot, this time we had to brave a monsoon to get to the pub! Our new van is already on the drive but might be a while before it is finished and ready to spend a night in. This time we have a Citroen relay in order to put a full sized bed across the van and more importantly this one is a high top. Hope to see you on here soon. Here is a photo taken this morning and one taken four and half years ago.
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