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Apologies as I've been meaning to update this blog for weeks now. My original plan was to update it in real time, best laid plans and all that, but it didn't quite happen. I did write stuff down most days and these are my ramblings.
Just to set the scene, we went touring with Lucy Liu and Logan in our campervan from the 26th July to the 18th September, a little over 3 glorious weeks. I've called it our North Coast 1500 as over the 3 weeks we travelled nearly 1500 miles. Starting from Alloa in central Scotland, heading north and east past Aberdeen up to Fraserburgh, west along the Moray coast to Inverness, Noth to John o Groats, spent a week touring Orkney then headed west along the north coast through Thurso and Durness. Headed south down the western coastal road to Ullapool and Gairloch then back to inverness, along the Moray coast, East coast and back to Alloa.
26th - 28th July
Van packed and were off on a bit of a Scottish adventure for the next 3 weeks. Our broad plans are to travel up the east coast of Scotland, starting from our base location in Alloa in the heart of Clackmannanshire, along the Moray coast to Inverness, north to John O' Groats, spend some time in Orkney, head west along the north coast then south down the west coast then back to Alloa.
We set off in a bit of a heatwave, the day before saw record temperatures across the whole of the United Kingdom, Edinburgh recorded the hottest temperatures for 70 years and Glasgow recorded the hottest temperatures ever.
Make a list or Nor to Make a list that is the question????
My wife is somewhat organised, prior to every trip she will make a list of everything she needs and cross them off as she goes along. As for me, well ?? For the most part I would class myself as organised and just tend to keep a mental checklist, relying that I will remember to pack everything I need. On this occasion not having a list was a BIG MISTAKE
About 45 minutes into our Journey we stopped off for a comfort break and the thought randomly popped into my head out of nowhere. Anniversary Card. The reason for the extended trip of 3 weeks is because on August the 6th my wife Kathryn & I will have been married for 25 years and I forgot to pack her anniversary card. Not only that but I also forgot her present as it was lying right next to her card 😬 I should have the opportunity to pick up a card along the way but no chance for her present.
Not long after that another random thought popped into my head, Fitbit charger, I only went and left my charging cable for my fitbit in the house. There goes my 2 year streak logging 70,000+ steps a week 😒 Your probably wondering what the 3rd thing was as bad luck normally happens in threes. Well I also forgot my headphones for my iPhone.
The moral of this story
MAKE A LIST !!!!
Weekend at Cruden Bay
Usually when we head up the east coast we stop the Friday night in a small coastal town just outside Dundee called Monifieth. This is only about an hour and a half from the house and ideal if we leave late afternoon after work. We decided this time to head further north to an old favorite of ours, Cruden Bay (see previous post).
We arrived at about 19:15 at port Erroll where we normally park and it was packed. We counted about 20 vans and motorhomes which is far more than we would normally expect with the majority having either German or Dutch number plates. We still managed to get parked up though it was definitely the busiest we have ever seen it. We took Lucy Liu and Logan along the beach as soon as we got there. Both were chomping at the bit to get to the beach as they ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. The weather was amazing also !
Saturday 27th July
We got up early on the Saturday, it was a bit cooler compared to the big temperatures of late. Lucy Liu doesn't mind the heat that much but Logan really struggles in the heat with his thick black coat. We headed out along the beach for a good hour and a half and then chilled in the great weather for the rest of the day. Feel like a BBQ this evening.
Sunday 28th July
Blue sky's met us in the morning and after a few cups of coffee we took Lucy Liu and Logan for an early morning stroll along the beach. Logan was really excited to be going back to the beach and after about 15 minutes he was totally knackered and we had a slow stroll back to the van.
Kathryn got stuck the wrong side of a steep sand dune at the bank of the river and really struggled to get up. It must have taken her over 5 minutes to get up the 3m bank and when she eventually got up her face was like a beach ball 🤣🤣🤣
Prior to coming away we got a small 800w petrol generator and I powered it up for the first time and it worked a treat, managed to get my laptop and all our electricals topped up. WE decided to stay another day as the weather was amazing and start heading north the next day
