The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
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North Morte Farm
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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.
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North Morte Farm
Morte Point
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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.
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North Morte
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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.
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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.
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North Morte
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| Woolacombe Beach | 2025-04-12 | Tye's first outing at Woolacombe Beach. Didn't disgrace us too much - except at the end when he went a bit "long range" and was slow coming back when called.
Overall - a success.
A start of the season 3 night stay at North Morte Farm in the camper van.
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Morte Farm
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| 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.
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Morte Point
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| Morthoe walk | 2022-09-18 | A slightly new take on an old favourite walk around Morthoe.
A long walk for us - especially given the slightly fearsome uppy/downy bits on the coast path.
The final climb to Morte Point was just as super-scary as I remembered it.
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Morte Point
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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.
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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.
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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.
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North East Scotland
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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?
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North Uist
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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.
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North Uist
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| 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).
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North Lakes
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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.
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North East Scotland
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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.
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North Bovey
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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.
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North East Scotland
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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.
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North Devon
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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North East Scotland
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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
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North Devon
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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.
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North Lees
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| Pandorra Inn | 2023-05-16 | Dinner at the Pandorra Inn.
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Tregunwith Farm
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| Liz, Jill and Ben stroke Agas | 2013-07-05 | Liz, Jill and Ben cycle to Darts Farm and lust after the Aga cookers. Jills son probably not so impressed. Back via Topsham.
Average speed severely affected by taking GPS with them when Aga stroking.
Rather unbelievable max speed generated when Liz heads towards the till mistakenly believing she can actually aford an Aga.
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Darts Farm
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| Scooby takes Julian for a drag | 2013-12-28 | A walk round the local fields. Scooby shows his enthusiasm for 2nd walk in one morning!
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farm track walk
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| 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.
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Treen Farm Campsite
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| 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.
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Tregunwith Farm
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| 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.
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Tregunwith Farm
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| 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.
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Demense Farm
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| Blackthorn Farm | 2016-09-14 | On to Blackthorn Farm campsite.
A nice spot just outside Holyhead,
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Blackthorn Farm
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| Midhowe broch and tomb | 2026-05-21 | If you like your history or archaeology, Rousay is a simply stunning place! Known, apparently, as "the Egypt of the north" for the concentration of ancient sites, a few miles along the south west coast of
Rousay is full of archaeology.
First up, the "Westness walk" and the stand outs of the Midhowe Broch and the Midhowe Tomb.
The broch is one of Scotland's best preserved and dates from about 200BC to 200AD.
Right next to it is Midhowe chambered cairn which is about 5000 years old. It is now housed in a "warehouse" with gantries that allow you to walk above the cairn. It housed 25 bodies in their own "stalls" (leading to the nickname the "great ship of death").
A wealthy local distiller in the 1930s excavated and "preserved" a lot of the Rousay tombs with steel and concrete which has its pros and cons. With all the places we visited on Rousay we could walk right into the sites and were the only people there.
The "Westness Walk" continues through sites with iron age, pictish, viking and later origins. For example, it was great to know we were walking through the site where Earl Paul the Silent was abducted by Swein Asleifsson while hunting for otters. Tye was strictly on the lead as he was hunting for otters in the same spot a 1000 years later.
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Skaill Farm
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| Darts Farm and back | 2017-01-07 | Off to Darts Fram to hire a tandem for Liz's birthday next week. Liz bought a leek!
Average speed distorted by the time spent shuffling round Darts Farm while Liz looked for other stuff to buy.
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Darts Farm
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| St Teath | 2024-09-18 | Dinner at The White Hart in St Teath. Nice enough pub with decent food.
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Rosebud Farm Camping
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| Budleigh on a tandem | 2017-01-14 | Darts Farm, Topsham to Budleigh Salterton and back. Liz's birthday present - a ride on a tandem. Quite a nice tandem - a Dawes hired from Darts Farm at Topsham.
Some of the cycle track between Exmouth and Budleigh was being dug up so we had to go "off piste" for a bit and that meant going up some hills!
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Darts Farm
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| Looe | 2017-09-12 | A walk from Bay View Farm campsite down to Looe, on to Hannafore Point and then opposite St Georges Island
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Bay View Farm
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| St Agnes | 2023-09-12 | Scooby Hound was feeling a bit poorly (not eating - very unlike him) so his walk on Perranporth was cancelled).
My mid afternoon he'd picked up and wolfed down a late lunch. So we had a short walk to a alter lunch at the Wheal Coates Tea Room.
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Beacon Cottage Farm
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| Trevose Head | 2019-04-23 | Four beaches in one walk - Scooby in doggie heaven.
In the campervan at the very nice Trehias Farm Camping - near Trevose Head (just west of Padstow).
Walk via Treyarnon Bay, Constantine Bay, Long Cove and Harlyn Beach - all dog friendly beaches.
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Trethias Farm
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| 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.
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Gwithian Farm
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| Mylor Harbour | 2022-09-06 | A dog walk from Tregunwith Farm to Mylor Harbour.
Managed to avoid the heaviest rain while having coffee at Mylor.
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Tregunwith Farm
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| 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.
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Stoke Barton Farm
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-10-23 | Round to Lympstone with Liz and back via Darts Farm
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Darts Farm
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| Lympstone and Darts Farm | 2018-01-14 | Round to Lympstone and then on to Darts Farm to buy some new walking boots for Liz.
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Darts Farm
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| 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.
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Penwarne Farm
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| Chapel Porth | 2021-09-18 | In the rain and mist. Always seems to be mizzly when we come to St Agnes.
Wheal Coates mine very atmospheric in the mist.
Surprised at how little beach there was at Chapel Porth at mid tide. We'll have to come back closer to low tide.
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Beacon Cottage Farm
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| Bolberry and Hope Cove | 2021-09-10 | A walk down from Bolberry Farm Camping to Hope Cove for a pint.
Fxxx me - £10 for two pints! Are we in London? Wow.
Nice walk and campsite though.
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Bolberry Farm
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| 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!
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Tregunwith Farm
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| Topsham cycle ride | 2020-03-09 | Round to Darts Farm. Stopped at Topsham Quay to see who was working on their boat and for coffee and a hot cross bun.
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Darts Farm
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| Darts Farm boot shopping | 2020-01-20 | Round to Darts Farm and Topsham with Liz to buy some new walking boots.
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Darts Farm
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| St Agnes and Trevaunce | 2019-09-17 | From Beacone Cottage Fram along the coast path to chat to a very friendly chappie in the St Agnes Head NCI lookot. Then on lunch in a cafe overlooking the beach at Trevaunce and then, of course, some Scooby "ball action" on the beach. Back via Sta Agnes and The Beacon.
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Beacon Cottage Farm
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| Dinner at The Pandora Inn | 2019-07-12 | From Tregunwith Farm camping down to The Pandora Inn for dinner.
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Tregunwith Farm
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| St Agnes and Wheal Coates | 2018-09-11 | On to Beacon Farm Cottage camp site and the only day of the two weeks that was really lost to the weather.
As soon as we got to the campsite and sat down to admire the view, the fog and mizzle came in with a vengeance.
So we only did a short walk to the Wheal Cotes mine - very atmospheric perched on the cliff side and appearing out the gloom. The photos of fog and mist may not be the most exciting if you weren't there...
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Beacon Cottage Farm
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