The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Treloan, Portscatho and Gerrans | 2017-03-18 | First time away in the camper van in 2017. Staying at Treloan campsite on the Roseland peninsula. A short walk along the coastpath to Portscatho and then back inland via Gerrans. |
| Boscastle and Valency Valley | 2017-03-20 | It was meant to be a short walk out of Boscastle and up the Valency Valley. A slight navigational inexactitude meant that we ended up coming back down the rather steep Valency Valley on the opposite side to where the car was parked! So we trugged along the valley floor until we came to some stepping stones across the river. However, it had been raining quite hard so they were partially under fast flowing water - only Scooby was up for the crossing there. So we ended up climbing back up the rather steep valley and then all the way back to the end of the Valency Valley. Doh! So - yes - the GPS track does show us going round twice. |
| Tintagel and Trebarwith | 2017-03-21 | From Tintagel, a mixed field and cliff top walk to Trebarwith cove. Back via Tintagel Castle - without paying the £8 English Heritage wanted! Not quite as muddy as the previous day at Boscastle. At lot of probably mis-remembered memories of the last time I was at Tintagel - just over 30 years ago in my old Dodge ambulance with a group of friends. Was even rainier back then. |
| St Mawes to St Just In Roseland | 2017-03-19 | A circular walk round part of the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall. From St Mawes up along the estuary to the old churchyard at St Just In Roseland. Then back inland to St Mawes. Stopped at Pineapple bay - at least that's what the sign there called it! |
| Perranporth Beach | 2017-09-19 | We couldn't come to Cornwall and not give Scooby an outing on Perranporth Beach - probably his favouritist in the world! So up fairly early to catch the low tide. Scooby a happy but tired hound. |
| 2017 miles cycled in 2017 | 2017-12-02 | This track reaches my target of cycling 2017 miles in 2017! Was meant to be a gentle ride to Lutzys for lunch but a torn wall on the side of Liz's tyre meant that we had to abandon and get a new tyre. Then into Exeter Quay a little later reaching the 2017 mile mark somewhere near the Turf Locks. |
| Campervan at Morthoe | 2018-04-29 | An early season weekend trip up to North Morte Farm at Morthoe. The usual Scooby hound walk along Woolacombe Beach at low tide, |
| Sennen, Gwynver and Nanquidno | 2017-09-16 | Another "lets look at the map and start walking" walk. Back via Gwynver Beach - one of Scooby's top 10 beaches in the world. Unfortunately, it was nearly high tide so not much beack for Scooby this time. |
| Saunton Sands and Burrows | 2017-09-23 | Scooby's final beach walk of the holiday. Along the seemingly endless Saunton Sands at low tide. Then back inland to the east of the Burrows before finally cutting across the Burrows to give Scooby a final bit of of beach action before an ice cream at Saunton Sands. |
| Lamorna Cove and Tater-du Light | 2017-09-15 | The coast path from Lamorna Cove was marked as a bit "iffy" so we made our own route inland and then joining back with the main coastal path. Past the gloriously named Tater-du lighthouse. Unfortunately, the path we'd spotted on the map to come back via had a big PRIVATE sign on it so we ended up doing an "out and back" walk. |
| SYC to Brixham | 2017-05-26 | Down from SYC on the Exe to Brixham ahead of the channel crossing to St Peter Port on Guernsey. |
| Looe | 2017-09-12 | A walk from Bay View Farm campsite down to Looe, on to Hannafore Point and then opposite St Georges Island |
| The Lizard and Cadgwith | 2017-09-13 | From Henrys Place campsite at the Lizard (not our favourite of the holiday) long the cliff tops to Cadgwith and then back inland. Made a change to our more usual walks towards Kynance Cove. |
| Portland Bill | 2018-04-15 | A look round Portland Bill - given that I might just be sailing round it next weekend.
We got there after the "slack water" time when its best to sail sound The Bill. It was only about a F3-F4 but at the northern end of our walk there was really no way through for small boats. The waves were starting to break from about 150 yards out and beyond that there were some rather unpleasant looking overfalls (a strong southerly current at that time). No real room to get through between the two. The inshore passage off the very end of The Bill didn't look bad at that time.
Tags:
Campervan
Portland Bill
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| Buck's Mills | 2017-10-28 | A walk along the north Devon coast path. An sod of a hill up out of the Buck's Mill valley and then along the cliff tops through old woodland to Peppercombe. |
| Tregantle Beach | 2017-08-13 | Hot sunny August Sunday and we had a whole cove at Tregantle Beach to ourselves - Cornwall's "forgotten peninsula" at it's very best. Scooby had a whale of a time - didn't stop for the whole two and half hours - even kept himself amused digging holes in the beach while we were reading. |
| Kingston to Corfe Castle | 2016-05-15 | A lovely circular walk from Kingston (in the Purbecks) to Corfe Castle and back again. Lots of very old childhood memories. |
| Maker and Cawsand | 2017-08-11 | In the camper van at Maker again. Walked down to Cawsand to give the dog a swim and for a pint in the Rising Sun. The weather that evening was really gloopy for mid August! |
| Maiden Castle | 2016-05-16 | Stopped at Maiden Castle on the way home from the Purbecks. Scooby pulled all the way round - chasing sheep or ghosts of ancient Britons.
Back via West Bay.
Tags:
Campervan
Maiden Castle
|
| Start Point | 2017-06-25 | A short walk to Start Point. Makes a change to walk round it rather than sail round it. There was no "inshore passage" while we were there. A camper van trip to Slapton for the night. |
| Woolacoombe to Putsborough | 2016-10-31 | Camper van at North Morte farm for the last day of their season. Took the hound for a walk along Woolacombe beach at low tide. |
| Sennen and Gwynver | 2016-06-19 | A Scooby walk at Gwynver beach - just next to Sennen Cove (where he's banned for the summer). A beautiful beach and we were the only ones on it. |
| Burnbake to Studland | 2016-05-14 | A walk from Burnbake campsite in the Purbecks almost to Studland beach. A Little Sea and a fast road got in the way of making it all the way there. |
| Rame Head - again! | 2018-12-02 | The "Tribby" (our camper van) hadn't been moved for a couple of months so we too it on a road trip down to Cornwall. Liz's favourite walk - from Cawsand to Rame Head and back again. |
| Putsborough and Woolacombe | 2016-11-01 | Overnight in the camper van in Putsborough car park. Fearsome expensive but stunning views to wake up to. |
| Perranporth in the mist | 2016-06-20 | Back to Scooby's joint second favouritist beach in the west of England - Perranporth. We've been here a few times before with the hound - sometimes sunny - sometimes foggy - but this was the foggiest yet. Scooby ran from one end of the beack to the other as usual. Lots of small jelly fish on the low tide beach. |
| Mount Edgcumbe May 2015 | 2016-05-01 | From Maker Heights down to The Earls Drive and round to Cremyl. Then up to Mount Edgcumbe House for luch and the Stables and then back through the rain and the gloopy mist to the camper van at Maker Heights. Next to no visibility for the rest of the day. Glad to be in a campervan rather than a tent! |
| St Peter Port to SYC | 2017-06-04 | A very fast sail back from St Peter Port, Guernsey to SYC on the Exe. For most of the way the wind was quite strong - maybe a force 5 - but was on the port rear quarter. This meant that most of the sail was done with just a small amount of reefing and lots of sailing down the following waves. Long and tiring - but fun! The speed meant that we were unexpectedly back at the Exe before low water so we were able to sneak in and be back on the mooring at SYC just before it got dark. |
| Gwithian Towans | 2017-09-17 | From Gwithian FRam Campsite, a short walk along Gwithian Towans Beach. As the tide was coming in, we came back along the cliff top. Another top beach according to Scooby. |
| Hartland Quay | 2017-09-20 | A short walk to dinner from Stoke Barton Campsite on Hartland Point. Hartland Point is a scary place if you think about sailing near it in the wind or fog and the granite "teeth" of the rocks only enhance this. The Hartland Quay Hotel was a really nice pub doing good food. |
| Woolacombe and Putsborough | 2017-09-22 | Scooby wouldnt have been happy if we'd come to north Devon and not given him a run along Woolacombe Beach at low tide. In a fairly wet and windy two week holiday, this was the only walk where we actually got soaked by the rain. However, we dried out a bit in the cafe at Putsborough and then the walk back in the wind meant that we were dry by the time we got back to the camper van on Marine Drive. The photos include a couple from North Morte campsite looking at the sunset over Lundy Island. |
| Porthcurno and Porthgwarra | 2017-09-14 | From Treen Campsite (one of our favourites), a mixture of clifftops and a little inland to Porthgwarra. Back past the Minack Theatre. |
| Brixham to St Peter Port | 2017-05-27 | After a delay of 12 hours waiting for the weather to improve a little, we set off at lunchtime for the channel crossing to St Peter Port. The wind was a fair bit stronger than forecast making the first part of the journey much harder work than expected. A decision was reached (as the wind started to ease a little) not to abandon and return to Brixham. This turned out to be a good call as the wind continued to drop. The TSS crossing at night - with no moon - was eerie. We had to stop at one point to allow about 5 boats to pass ahead while allowing one to pass behind. The completely dark night (no moon) made this TSS crossing very different to previous night crossings. Also the tide was very strong - as can be seen from most of the track across the TSS where we end up being taken down much of the TSS while still maintaining a boat aspect at right angles to the traffic!. The last part of the crossing was under motor arriving at St Peter Port just at first light (with an easy trip down the Little Russel). |
| Cheswick Beach | 2016-09-09 | On the advice of Scott C from work, we took the back roads to find Cheswick Beach. Another top Northumbrian beach according to Scooby hound. The beach was pretty much deserted. May be that was due to the warning signs about unexploded ordnance and areas of quicksand? We took the view that that was just the locals trying to keep the grockles from their favourite beach (is grockle the correct term up north?). Anyway - we didn't explode or sink but maybe we turned round slightly earlier than we would normally have! |
| Tregunwith Farm to Mylor Harbour | 2016-07-09 | From Tregunwith Farm campsite to Mylor Harbour and a little way beyond. Saw Pat T and Graham I just coming back from a Tideway outing. |
| Woolacombe | 2017-10-30 | We couldn't go to north Devon without giving Scooby a walk along Woolacombe beach. It was near high tide but neaps so there was still plenty of beach for Scooby to chase his ball from one end to the other and back again. |
| Dinner at the Pandorra | 2018-07-06 | Walking the hound from Tregunwith to the Pandorra Inn. At Tregunwith Farm with the camper van - great location, friendly owners, relaxed atmosphere and great prices. Don't tell anyone else! |
| Eype, West Bay and Bridport | 2018-04-16 | From Eype over high (Jurassic) cliffs to West Bay. About a F4 but southerly so entering West Bay harbour by boat would have been problematic - and a bit bouncy one inside on the outer pontoons. Then up by the Birt River to Bridport. Not sure why the usually excellent South West Coastpath web site (https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/) recommended going into Bridport - just some muddy fields and a housing estate! |
| Warkworth | 2016-09-09 | Stayed at a lovely campsite just outside Warkworth - Walkmill Campsite - recommended. Walked into Warkworth and had a look at the outside of the castle - my do English Heritage know how to charge! Then tried a couple of the pubs in town. The GPS looks as though it went a little crazy while we were in The Sun in Walkworth - that's understandable as the decor is really something. Not sure how to describe it - maybe a mix between Camelot and your favourite local. Still - surprisingly - a big "thumbs up" from us due to its friendly staff and the (huge) size and quality of our dinner! |
| Uplyme to Lyme Regis | 2018-04-14 | From Hook Farm Camping to the end of The Cobb in Lyme Regis. First outing for the camper van in 2018 |
| Maker Heights to Rame Head | 2017-08-12 | In the camper van at Maker Heights again. As usual a walk to Rame Head and back again with a stop off at Kingsand Beach for Scooby to do some swimming. Liz and I got married at Polhawn Fort (the other side of the peninsula from Cawsand). There musty have been another wedding that day as someone had hired a pilot to "paint" hearts in the sky. Ah - sweet! |
| Maker to Rame Head | 2017-04-09 | The usual walk from Cawsand to Rame Head - only slightly longer as we had the campervan up on Maker Heights. A gloriously hot sunny day at the start of April. |
| Berwick On Tweed | 2016-09-08 | A quick walk round Berwick on Tweed - the last English town before heading into Scotland. Probably didn't do it justice but saw some of the town walls that Elizabeth I spent so much on! |
| Godrevy and Hells Mouth | 2017-09-18 | From Gwithian Farm campsite, past Godrevy Beach and on past Godrevy Lighthouse. Then on past an inaccessible cove where about 15-20 seals were resting, Then on to the rather splendidly named Hells Mouth where the lonely Hells Mouth Cafe did a great cappuccino. |
| St Peter Port to St Helier | 2017-05-30 | A lovely sail from St Peter Port on Guernsey across to St Helier on Jersey. Ideal winds and weather. |
| Helford Passage to Gweek | 2018-07-08 | On yet another stunning 2018 summer's day, we put the canoe in just past the Helford Passage and paddled up to Geewk at the top of the Helford. Then a dawdle back stopping at an old lime quay. Highlight of the day for Liz was teaching Scooby to enjoy swimming! We think that his buoyancy aid may have helped. At Penwarne Farm Campsite - lovely views in a field overlooking the sea between Falmouth and the Helford. |
| Blackthorn Farm | 2016-09-14 | On to Blackthorn Farm campsite. A nice spot just outside Holyhead, |
| Kielder Observatory | 2016-09-11 | Into Kielder Forest and up from Kielder village to Kielder Observatory. Stunning view - but not of the observatory which unsurprisingly looked at little like a wooden box from the outside during the day time, |
| Seahouses to Bamburgh | 2016-09-05 | First walk along the Northumbrian coast. From just north of Seahouses along to just south of Bamburgh. The Northumberland beaches are just as stunning as expected. Scooby very impressed if this was to be the quality of the beaches for the next two weeks. |
| Loe Beach to Flushing | 2017-07-08 | A paddle along the Fal estuary. Down from Loe beach round the Flushing. Almost ideal weather - light winds and tide with us on the way back. |
| Croyde and Saunton Sands | 2017-05-06 | From Croyde Bay towards Saunton and then down onto Saunton Sands to give the hound a low tide run about. Think Saunton Sands is might make it into Scooby's all time top three beaches! Some photos from Woolacombe Beach (on the next day) may have snuck in somehow. |
| Birthday dinner at the Devonport | 2017-04-08 | Liz and the hound took me to the Devonport for a birthday dinner. Down the cliff path from the campsite at Maker Heights to Cawsand. |
| Tregunwith to Pandora Inn | 2016-07-10 | From Tregunwith Farm Campsite to the Pandora Inn on Restronguet Creek for dinner. Two pints of Rattler helped out on the walk back up the hill from the Pandora. |
| Transat start at Plymouth | 2016-05-02 | From Cawsand to Penlee Point to watch the start of the single handed Transat yacht race. Breakfast at Kingsand and then sat in the drizzly rain at Penlee Point for a couple of hours but the gloop mostly cleared in time for the start of the race. As much fun watching the milling spectator boats as the competitors. |
| Maker and the Devonport Arms | 2016-04-30 | First trip in the new Fiat Ducato Tribute campervan. Camping at Maker Heights and down to the Devonport in Kingsand for a pint. |
| St Helier to St Quay Portrieux | 2017-05-31 | After a light wind start, a lovely sail down from St Helier, Jersey to St Quay Portrieux on the Brittany coast. Sailed under cruising chute for most of the way. St Quay has the huge advantage of being an "all tide" port (i.e. no need to wait for there to be enough water over a marina cill). |
| St Quay to Ile De Brehat | 2017-06-02 | Up from St Quay-Portreaux to Ile de Brehat. The Ile de Brehat is a small island on a rocky shore. Somewhat similar to Sark (no cars and a very small population like Sark but no cliffs). |
| Ile de Brehat to St Peter Port | 2017-06-03 | After getting up an hour too early (confusing French and English first light times!!!), we sailed from Ile de Brehat for St Peter Port on Guernsey. The sail around the north east corner of the Ile de Brehat was notable for two things. First, we hit some fairly strong overfalls. It was neaps and a middling wind so we weren't expecting much. Given how lumpy it was, this is one to avoid at Springs. Secondly, Peter S caught a bunch of weed and plastic around his prop while going through the overfalls. Peter was able to sail on OK and got enough motor back to be able to motor into St Peter Port later. The rest of the sail was lovely - under cruising chute for a large part of the journey. |
| Kennexstone Camping | 2016-09-15 | Down from Anglesey to the Gower Peninsula in south Wales. Kennexstone Camping was a lovely spot on the south west side of the Gower. The camp site and the Gower were so nice we slowed down a bit a stayed for three days, |
| Skyside Campsite | 2016-09-11 | No doggie walk here but an absolutely stunning setting for our anniversary dinner outside a pub in the Lake District. I thought the Lake District was about, er, lakes. This campsite was surrounded by crags and pikes and, let's be honest, mountains. A stunning setting. Now known as Skyfall to Lizzie and Aidan (rather than the slightly more prosaic Skyside). |
| North Lees Campsite | 2016-09-03 | An over night stop in the peak district - near Kinder Scout - on the way up north. First injury to my back falling over pushing a stalled motor home out of a rut. |
| Mylor to Malpas | 2018-07-07 | On one of the stunning summer days in 2018 we put the canoe in at Mylor and paddled up towards Truro - getting just a little way past Malpas. Just about everything was great - the tides were as planned, the sun was hot and there was a cooling sea breeze (OK - that had to be paddled back in to on the way back!). |
| Last days of summer? | 2016-10-02 | A lovely summy summer's day - maybe one of the last of 2016? So we took Scooby on one of his favourite beach walks - from Exmouth to Sandy Bay. Got there a little late - just past low tide - so as we were unlikely to get back round Orcombe rocks without getting a bit wet on teh way back, we came back on the cliff top walk. |
| Demense Farm In Bellingham | 2016-09-10 | Heading west, we were back just below Hardrians Wall at Demense Farm campsite in Bellingham. A campsite on another working farm, Lizzie may object to me mentioning that she complained about the cow mooing overnight. |
| Aidan's fall on Hadrian's Wall | 2016-09-04 | A march along some of the best bits of Hadrians Wall. Sheltered behind the wall from a sudden rain/hail shower and felt very "Roman Centurion" like. Didn't feel quite so Centurion like when I slipped coming down one steep part of the wall and bounced badly on my side buggering up my back for much of the holiday! Stunning walk though. Then on to Vindolanda. |
| Lligwy beach and Moelfre | 2016-09-13 | On to an Anglesey and the rather excellent Lligwy Beach. Scooby happy that the "beach quotient" picking up again. Then along the cliff top to the pub in Moelfre and back again. The campsite we were staying at was good with a gate right on to the beach. However, the rules and regulations were a little OTT Actually, we'd recommend the place but they do themselves no favours with their rules and regs so we went on looking for the more liberal parts of Anglesey (well - one can live in hope). |
| Alnwick | 2016-09-10 | A short walk around Alnwick, Again, we were too tight to pay the entrance fee for the castle. Mainly we wanted to see "Barter Books" - the second hand book shop in the old train station. An excellent, excellent shop. Long may they flourish after Starbucks, Next and all the others have fallen out of fashion and had a quick bankcruptcy. One can but hope - I could have spent hours in the place! |
| Treen coast path walk | 2016-06-18 | A coast path walk from Treen campsite (near Porthcurno which is near Lands End). The guide book said 4.5 miles but it ended up being 7.2 miles AND with lots of up and downie bits as well. Very nice though. |
| The Levellers and Maker Height | 2018-06-24 | A weekend in Cornwall meeting up with Richard T to see the Levellers. Friday night at the Fishermans Arms in Gollant. Saturday at the Eden Project for A Beautiful Day Out with Ginger Wildheart, Dreadzone, Reef, New Model Army and the Levellers. The Levellers were just about as good as I've ever seen them - everyone was dancing! Then Sunday night up on Maker Heights at Rame. Slight disappointment that the usual camping field was closed - meaning the views of Plymouth Sound weren't quite so good. After a couple of pints in the Devonport Arms in Cawsand and drinking wine until it got dark (about 10:00pm), things got messy! |
| Rhossilli and Llangennith beach | 2016-09-16 | In a holiday of stunning beaches, this was probably the best. Or was that Llanddwyn Bay? I don't know but this was a sure fire entry into Scooby's all time top five set of beaches. Or probably even higher. |
| Conniston, Wray and Windemere | 2016-09-12 | Via Kirkstone Pass and Connistone Water and then on to Windemere. An NT campsite on the shores on Lake Windemere. A lovely campsite and a walk along Windemere and back past Wray Castle |
| Walkworth to Amble | 2016-09-10 | As Scooby had seen the signs to the beach when we were in Walkworth the previous day, we had to come back to try the beach out. Unfortunately, as we were heading on later in the day, it meant that we had to be on the beach before low tide. To be fair, Scooby didn't complain too much but the "tennis ball bounciness" was below par compared to the rest of the holiday. Walked as far as Amble looking for a breakfast egg & chips but reluctant to swim across the harbour just for a second breakfast. |
| Dunbar and Belhaven | 2016-09-08 | Up to Scotland and to Dunbar. Found a good campsite and Belhaven Bay just to the west of Dunbar. The campsite backed on to Belhaven Bay - another excellent beach walk (not shown on the GPS track) for Scooby - his first Scottish one! Watched a group of Scots getting married on the "Bridge to Nowhere" at Belhaven Bay. Then an evening cliff top walk into Belhaven, past the harbour and then on to The Volunteer for a smoked haddock and mashed potato dinner. |
| Hadrians Wall Campsite | 2016-09-04 | A comspite near Hadrians Wall - the middle bit! |
| Dartmoor walk | 2016-06-05 | Because Scooby gave me such a nice welcome after being away for a week sailing (me - not Scooby), we took him for a walk on Dartmoor. Up high on the moor near the Warren House inn. A lovely short walk on Dartmoor. |
| Morte Point | 2017-10-29 | From Lee Bay along the coast path to Bull Point lighthouse and then on around Morte Point. Some big up and downie bits along the way and some scary (for me) cliff top paths! Camera was happy with the sunlight though. |
| Lindisfarne - Holy Island | 2016-09-06 | A walk around the island of Lindisfarne. The journey there was as expected with the road being a causeway accessible at low tide. Once there though, any thoughts of peaceful contemplation etc were blown away by the huge crowds. Skipping swiftly on past the priory and the castle (not least because we'd forgotten our NT cards), we yomped on to the north of the island which was much more pleasing. Scooby's second Northumberland beach well up to scratch apparently. |
| Beaches on the Roseland Peninsula | 2016-07-10 | Three beaches and four visits - Scooby was in heaven. Along the eastern coast of the Roseland peninsula for a change. Timed right for a falling tide so Scooby got maximum "ball action" on several beaches (including Porthcurnick and Portbean). Then back inland looking for the footpaths that had been moved. |
| Llanddwyn Bay and Island | 2016-09-14 | The stunning Lllanddwyn Bay on Anglesey at low tide. . A heatwave hit (for one day) and we went along Lllanddwyn Bay with the mountains on Snowdonia in the misty background. On this day, with the heatwave, it was as good as any beach either Liz or I had wandered along anywhere in the world. And it was on Anglesey! Skipping on past most of Ynys LLanddwyn island (dog ban until end of September) we wandered on a little to the next huge bay. Wow! |
| Helford Passage to Padagarrack Cove | 2017-07-09 | With Winguru and the Met Office differing in forecast speed by about two and a half times, we wanted to avoid the possibility of too much incoming tide against the westerly wind. So we had a short paddle from Helford passage down to Padagarrack Cove and then up past Port Navas. |
| Three Cliffs Bay | 2016-09-17 | The last of the beaches on Scooby's "Tour Of Britain's Best Beaches". After 1650 miles and 16 days and ten beaches, our final beach was was at Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower. Not quite all to ourselves and there were several thousand people doing a 14 mile walk for Macmillan Nursing. |
| Dunstanburgh Castle and Craster | 2016-09-07 | Another day, another Northumberland beach for Scooby. A great walk along to the evocative ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and then the excellent beaches at Embleton Bay. Back via Craster where the famous smoked fish shop / restaurant was advertising an interesting take on Cullen Skink soup. Unfortunately, they were shut at the time... |
