I think we’ve had more rows since we arrived in Scotland than since we left home! All sorted now but certainly the spirit of fighting in the air affected Ady and I!
Yesterday morning we had a leisurely start, packed the van up, put the awning away and the kids had a last play and explore with Jack, Maisie and Lorna. It was so lovely to see them all, it was like the last few months melted away and we’d been with them just the week before. I do miss Julie lots and Davies & Scarlett miss Jack and Maisie too.
We pulled away at midday with a plan to get as close to the campsite in Motherwell that we had booked for Saturday night and just pull off / find another campsite for the night. It was 250 miles to the campsite so we didn’t expect to get to it but were hoping for maybe 150 miles cleared before stopping. We drove for a couple of hours and everyone was getting hungry and the radio travel reports were getting increasingly hysterical – I think every motorway in the country had queues with it being towards the end of the summer holidays, the day before the last bank holiday and according to a snippet on the Chris Evans show in the morning the most popular day of the year to move house – all contributing to the roads being traffictastic! Once we learnt the M6 was actually closed with delays of over an hour we decided to pull off and spend a couple of hours in a retail park rather than a couple of hours sitting in traffic. We ended up in Preston in a very packed retail park indeed. Davies and Scarlett had been given money from Lynda so were rather delighted to spot a Toys R Us. With strict instructions to think about available space and us Living In A Van we went in. Davies found some Pirates of the Carribean lego and Scarlett some animal Playmobil. I found another of each to sneakily purchase for birthday gifts :). I got some flip flops and some more anti histimine tablets (Nic face keeps flaring, once we are settled I will definitely get it looked into properly) and we went into Brantano to try and get some Croc buttons as Scarlett’s croc strap has broken and a button can fix it. The woman presented both kids with a packet of about 8 each for free as they went on some shoes they had sold out of (Sketchers branded) so that was good :). We made sandwiches for lunch but treated ourselves to a cake each from Greggs. Next we went to Sainsburys for fuel and I managed to get a couple of bras as I killed one in the tumble drier at the campsite (underwire popped out 🙁 ) and we picked up a half price cigarette lighter to mains plug adaptor which will come in very useful for charging laptop and cameras while we’re on the road. The solar freeloaders work well for charging phones and DS etc but are not up for anything bigger. Feeling very retailed out we decided it was probably safe to hit the motorway again so headed back off.
The M6 was just fine by then and we chugged along at a steady 50mph meaning we were on track to arrive for 9pm so I rang the campsite to check if we could get in and they said we could if we got there before 930pm. This seemed easily achievable so we decided to head for there rather than start looking for somewhere to stop overnight which had been our original plan. We would have made it too except suddenly the motorway signs declared a road closure after Junction 9. We were diverted off the motorway, Sally Satnav getting in a right paddy with us and hit traffic 🙁 The minutes ticked by, the temperature on Willow got higher and higher and the outlook got bleaker and bleaker. We eventually pulled up at about 945pm. The campsite is on the wrong side of a 15mph with regular speedbumps which cause chaos in Willow even at 5mph. We thought we were scuppered and started discussing what to do next as the barrier was down and very securely padlocked. We thought perhaps just parking there would be the best option and going in as soon as it reopened in the morning. But Ady went to look at the reception office and there was a late arrivals telephone number so I put on my best helpless female scared in the dark voice and rang it, getting through to a burly sounding security guard who promised to come down and let me in :). He arrived a few minutes later, let us in, gave us keys to the toilet block and barrier and said to just see the reception in the morning about paying :).
We found a space, parked, hooked up to the electric and decided all was well with the world. We had bacon in the fridge so everyone said they’d be happy with pesto pasta with bacon. Ady cooked Davies and Scarlett’s first and so they were eating by about 1045pm and then the gas bottle ran out. This has been expected as we changed it over at the very first campsite we parked at before we actually started WWOOFing so we knew it was due but that was *not* the perfect time. Ady was convinced the correct tool was on top of the spare gas bottle though so he went outside to change it over. The tool was not there though, so I started unpacking the bench seat in search of the tool kit while he started rummaging about in the front (made harder as I had just moved all our bedding into the front so Davies and Scarlett could go to bed. The tool could not be found, the tool I found did not suffice so in the end the dinner was finished off on the little portable stove. We ate about midnight, the pasta slightly slimy from a lengthy half time break in the cooking, tempers frayed and a barage of questions from the bunk regarding errections and freckles being fielded. The wine finally kicked in and all was well with the world by the time we went to bed at 1am.
This morning the wine had worn off and when Ady confessed he had realised the tool he’d been searching for and swearing blind had been there earlier this week was infact still in the tool kit I’d told him to look in I was less than understanding and ranted, at length, about logic and order and lack there of in the van. It was quite fraught. Swearing may have happened. I may have gone to stand outside in the rain to calm down for a while. Fortunately while my rage may burn bright in the moment it rarely lasts for long so I went back inside again quite quickly 😉
Davies and Scarlett were on a promise for a KFC – the only real fast food I will eat and now their favourite too so we planned to walk into the town – Hamilton – and get that for lunch, find a jewellers as both my watch strap and watch battery were needing replacing and we needed to pick up something for dinner tonight.
The walk into town is about 3 miles, just over an hour and is mostly alongside the Strathclyde Loch which is very beautiful. Also on site is a themepark, M&Ds and various other water sports based attractions. M&Ds rollercoasters looked very good and had us all being wistful for the Wickstead weekend which we missed this year – the kids and I do love a good ‘coaster 🙂
In the town we had a quick peruse of the charity shops – very expensive and with nothing of interest, checked out Poundland – I got a very lovely little glass chopping board which is something I had felt Willow was lacking and we listened to a busking bagpiper for a while in full Scottish dress.
We had our lunch, the kids and I had a look round a Pets At Home store so Tarly could get an animal fix (she is hankering after a house rabbit, poor child is so pet deprived!) and we had a quick wander around the Low Parks Museum which was very good and had loads of interesting and interactive displays. There were lots of dressing outfits for kids which D&S made the most of 🙂
” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />
” alt=”” />
while I took a call from Jill. We’ve been playing phone tag for the last two days and had finally caught up with each other. We’d been keen to see if we could stay with her in the winter but last time we talked she had found someone to move in already so we didn’t suggest it. She left me a message yesterday to say she now had accomodation if we wanted somewhere to stay though and that has fallen through. I suggested mid December for up to 3 months and she jumped at it with the idea that they can go on holiday and as it’s a quiet time maybe we can all get cracking with some exciting changes there which was precisely what we were hoping so it’s pencilled in and we’ll talk more over the coming weeks to sort out finer details. From our point of view it gives us breathing space over the cold dark months when living in Willow would have been a bleak option, the house is still rented out (and without jobs we couldn’t afford to live there anyway) and WWOOF hosts are hard to find, let alone ones with accomodation for four people so we would have been rather stuck. We did have contingency plans but this was our prefered option so we’re really pleased it looks like a definite possibility (not taken anything as guaranteed this far in advance!).
We called into Asda for some food for tonight before starting the long walk home again. We stopped to feed the swans – an old man kindly handed over his big bag of bread to Davies and Scarlett so they got mugged by arm breaking birds 🙂
” alt=”” />
Back at the campsite we called in to pay (Ady had tried to pay earlier but they prefer cash so we had got some out in town) and put the awning up. It takes less than twenty minutes so was worth it even for the one remaining night as everyone else has sat out there this evening to eat and watched stuff on iplayer – I meanwhile have enjoyed the peace to laptop inside on my own :).
We had dinner, I ordered Davies’ birthday present and have enjoyed littering friendfeed with posts and comments. We’re slightly nervous about new hosts tomorrow, although we are now old hands enough that we probably shouldn’t be, but very much looking forward to this chapter of the adventure, particularly with the next chunk now taken care of so the scary ‘but what about when it’s snowing?!’ question answered we can relax and get the most out of this bit. Bring on the dolphins, Northern Lights, golden eagles, leaping salmon and gorgeous rugged landscapes, don your best tartan and fling like you’ve never flung before :).