Friday dawned grey and Lesley had not slept well. However, we eventually breakfasted sufficiently to keep us going for quite a long period, said our goodbyes to James and Anne and headed for the border but not before stopping at the Westmoreland Farm Shops just above junction 38 on the M6 to stock up on locally produced foods including a super lamb pie, pickle, bacon, ox cheek and a duck and plum sausage.
Back on the road we passed Gretna Green and eventually crossed the border into Scotland. It had only taken 5 days since leaving London but then we had not been in a hurry and visited friends no family en route which was a real bonus of coming North.
We camped at Barbeth Farm, a Caravan Club CL for £10 including electric. Having previously contacted my cousin Alison we had been invited to dinner and had promised to provide a dessert so we motored onto Kirkintilloch and purchased individual lemon tarts then back to the campsite to freshen up and await our taxi.
We had a lovely evening with Alison and Gen, the food was delicious, as both of them are foodies and enjoy cooking. Gen had prepared a prawn and langoustine ravioli in a seafood bisque, Alison cooked fillet steaks to perfection accompanied by asparagus and a creme de cassis sauce and we provided lemon tarts with a warm strawberry salad in a balsamic jus with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. All were accompanied by a selection of wines and constant chatter about our trip to Oz and their planned trip to China with some discussion of Scotland's proposed independence! Time flew and our taxi came to whisk us back to the campsite.
We slept very well, awoke to an overcast sky but it brightened sufficiently for us to have breakfast el fresco. Once packed we set off, buying some of the cheapest diesel ever at £1.33 but with an extra 5p off per litre if you bought two soft drinks!
The sat nav did its usual thing of cutting corners and finding one or two rather narrow roads but most of the time we travelled on good A roads and were being surrounded by ever higher ground with cloud topped mountains and U shaped valleys and eventually we passed a sign welcoming us to the highlands!
Just before this we made a lunch stop at Loch Lubnaig where many years ago, when our children were quite young, we had spent a very pleasant week in a wooden Forestry Commission cabin during the summer half term. It had snowed on the penultimate day, in June, but this did not stop us getting out and about and I recall we went to Hags Castle and the Transport Museum in Glasgow, so clearly it was a proper holiday.
We stopped several times for photo opportunities but eventually arrived in Glencoe, a spectacular gorge with high mountains on each side, a river running through with waterfalls and tinged with snow and cloud topped.
The Camping & Caravan Club Site is next to the Glencoe Visitor Centre and we have decided to stay for three nights. It has a wonderful location and we have views all around from our pitch. We partook of pre-dinner drinks whilst dinner was prepared outside and cooked in the Remoska.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment