The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Back to England - and a rip off | 2022-05-28 | Left Portavidie and crossed the Argyll peninsula to get a ferry across from Dunoon.
Unfortunately, we didn't read the tiny icons on the CalMac timetable and turned up in a campervan at a ferry for foot passengers only.
After a minor panic, we saw there was a "Western Ferries" car ferry at the other end of town. No sign listing the prices on the way on to the ferry. Turns out the bastards charge everything over 5m at some sort of commercial rate as it cost us over £40 for about a mile of travel. So unlike CalMac who charge reasonable prices for small/medium size campervans (up to 6m), this lot scalp just about every tourist in a van. We won't be back. Bastards.
Then past Port Glasgow, through Glasgow on the M8 and then down to the Lake district on the M74 / M6.
Now trying to get used to the hordes of friendly northeners at our North Lakes campsite (a bit of a culture shock after a month of small sites and few people).
Tags:
North Lakes
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| Moretonhampstead dog walk | 2022-08-21 | Took the Tribby for a run and gave the hound a walk from Moretonhampstead to North Bovey. Scooby left the sheep and cows alone but thought he might be hard enough to take on some horses. Why he can never be let off the lead in the countryside.
Tags:
North Bovey
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| Arthur's Seat | 2026-06-17 | Another stomp around Edinburgh - this time with the aim of getting Liz back to Arthur's Seat.
Stopped at Holyrood for a coffee and a laugh at the entrance prices for the Palace.
Then on to Arthur's Seat where I "mutinied" a little below the summit and sat it out with the hound. Liz marched onwards and upwards.
Then back via the Royal Mile.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Edinburgh | 2026-06-16 | Doing the tourist thing in Edinburgh. Princes Street, Royal Mile and Calton Hill.
Didn't bother with going in to the castle itself.
Good buses from the campsite (Mortonhall) to the centre of Edinburgh and Tye does appear to now be bus trained!
Oh - and my vertigo didn't enjoy driving over the Queensferry Bridge on the way to Edinburgh.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Pitlochry and Black Spout | 2026-06-15 | Down from Drumnadrochit to Pitlochry on the A82 alongside Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal. Then the A86 along Glen Spean and the A9 though Glen Garry. All very picturesque and Scottish!
Into Pitlochry for some wandering and lunch.
We did a short walk from Pitlochry to a local viewing point which left us a little underwhelmed. We weren't expecting "herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain" (TM) but maybe the views on the morning's drive had raised our expectations too high! Then on to the Black Spout waterfall that met with our approval.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Fraserburgh | 2026-06-12 | OK - so Fraserburgh wasn't our bestest ever choice for a night's stopover. We didn't really give it a fair chance - it was raining and the food wasn't too inspiring (please no - not another fish and chips!). And then the Friday night boy racers in their "hot" hatches were all parked up just near us.
But, then again, the beach is great and the hound liked it.
The size of some of the trawlers in the harbour is thought provoking though.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Glen Affric and Dog Falls | 2026-06-14 | A good walk round three Scottish forestry ancient Caledonian pinewood walks in Glen Affric. Another case of going back to Liz's childhood holidays.
Then we tried Plodda Falls which was a big mistake - worst road we've ever subjected our poor campervan to!
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Drumnadrochit | 2026-06-13 | From Fraserburgh, a pleasant drive along the A96 and the Moray Firth. Got a bit gnarly round Inverness with some roadworks and a sudden plague of roundabouts.
Now at the very nice Lock Ness Bay campsite after having gone looking in Drumnadrochit for somewhere to eat. Confusingly, the Lewiston Arms is now the Loch Ness Inn - presumably because if you look at the word Inn all squinty and with just the right font it could just look like nessie. Or not.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Newburgh Seal Beach | 2026-06-12 | You'd think after 5 weeks in Orkney and Shetland we'd have had enough "seal spotting" but a stop off at Newburgh Seal Beach proved otherwise. Hundreds of them hauled out on the beach for a rest at the entrance to the River Ythan estuary.. A lot of eider ducks as well. Some grand dunes on the beach and the misplaced WWII defences showing how much they move over time.
On our return, we saw a Scottish wedding party taking photos at the local beauty spot - seems to be a Scottish thing as we saw the same at The Bridge to Nowhere at Dunbar the last time we were in Scotland.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Potarch Bridge - meeting old friends | 2026-06-12 | Off the Lerwick to Aberdeen ferry at 07:00 and along to the river Dee to Potarch Bridge to meet one of Liz's childhood friends.
Arrived a couple of hours early so went for a short stomp around the local woods.
Met Claire D and Colin at Potarch Cafe - logon for photos. First meet up in over 20 years!
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Slains Castle | 2026-06-12 | Stopped off on the way to Fraserburgh to have a look at Dracula's Castle (i.e. the 2nd Slains Castle).
Interesting history - https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/crudenbay/slainscastle/index.html - built after the original Slains Castle was destroyed and added to over the centuries. But abandoned and in disrepair for over a century now.
Tags:
North East Scotland
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| Morte Point | 2023-09-16 | With Scooby now a bit of an old boy, we did a shorter than usual walk round Morte Point. Age is no barrier to him lunging for sheep (he's on the lead) and eating sheep shit.
Tags:
North Morte Farm
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| Morthoe and north Devon coast | 2012-09-04 | A stomp around the North Devon coast on the only misty day of our stay at North Morte campsite
Tags:
North Devon
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| North Uist and Stone Cairns | 2022-05-12 | Another rainy day with 40 mph winds so we set off in the van to do a circumnavigation of North Uist with a gtrip up to Berneray in the north.
The drive round North Uist is maybe 30 miles on very good single track roads with the usual (for the Hebrides) very well marked passing places every few hundred yards. Makes for a lovely, slow, unstressful drive.
At the top of North Uist we took the causeway across to Berneray to give the hound his daily beack walk.
Noth Uist is approximately 50% moorland and 50% water. Masses of inland lochs and also convoluted sea lochs. If the damn wind had dropped a little, there were some ideal spots to go kayaking.
On the way back round, we stopped on a 5000 year old cairn. The tourist guide books talk about it being one of the earliest stone "buildings" in northwestern Europe. It then goes on to make comparisons to the Pyramids. I'll leave you to judge but "pile of stones" I say! Especially, as after 5000 years of just sitting there there had apparently been a dangerous collapse meaning we couldn't go into the burial chamber for a nose around.
We did stop at a stone circle shortly after but they'd neglected to build it next to a parking spot and as it was pissing down (yet again) we headed back to the campsite.
Still - top day out.
Tags:
North Uist
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| Balranald - North Uist | 2022-05-11 | A short yomp around along Balranald beach to keep Scooby Hound happy and then continuing on round the headland that is Balranald nature reserve.
Avoided most of the rain and the bogs and only got slightly lost once (which is hard to do on a headland and with a GPS with 1:25000 OS maps on it)!
Liz has joined the "stone bothering" sorority - can you spot her effort in the photos?
Tags:
North Uist
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| Morthoe Fish and Chips | 2021-05-17 | First campervan trip of the year. To North Morte Farm as usual. Got lucky with weather - much better than forecast.
Out towards Morthoe Point for our fish and chips.
Tags:
North Morte
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| Back to Morthoe | 2019-04-25 | Back to Lizzie's favourite campervan site - North Morte Farm at Morthoe.
A rather wet and windy day (it got windier!) so we did a pub crawl of all of Morthoe's pubs (the Chichester Arms and the Ship Aground) and then took some rather good fish and chips to the bench below Morthoe Cemetary for a stunning view over Woolacombe Bay.
Tags:
North Morte Farm
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| 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.
Tags:
North Morte Campsite
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| 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.
Tags:
North Morte
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| 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.
Tags:
North Lees
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| Lynmouth to Watersmeet | 2012-09-06 | A walk up the valley gorge from Lymouth to Watersmeet. Very like the Teign Valley from Dogmarsh Bridge to Fingle Glenn except bigger. Much bigger. Path detailed in the guide book didnt seem to exist.
Tags:
North Devon
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