Posts filed under 'Trips'
Hi Guys,
Thanks to the magic once again cast by Tony… “Clive-O Rides Again”.
Not as terminal as at first thought although old Clive had us worried for a little while but now he’s all fixed up and running schweet once again.
Explanation for those familiar with engines… the fault was a single hydraulic cam-follower.
Explanation for those who don’t care for engines… a bit that kinda connects one of the roundy-round things to the uppy-downy things fell poorly and needed Doc-Tony to put a new one in so that the roundy-round things and the uppy-down things liked eachother once again.
We bought genuine Volkswagen bits too which cost a few pounds more but then you know the last lot went for 17 years so the little extra is a good investment and Clive is worth it.
So, he’s purring once again and we’re planning our next trips away already… wish he had been good for Trowbridge but we enjoyed the spot we had for our tent just as much 
Trowbridge Festival Update….
We havent really posted much on Trowbridge as we’ve been a little busy since so… here is a small write-up…
We arrived late Friday and even though we had passes from the gov’ner we couldn’t get in as the screws had locked the place down like a lockedy down thing and wouldn’t let us pass, so, with a little help from our friends H+S 
we snook in the ‘back-door’ (oo-er missus… Frankie Howard moment… lets remember. . . . . . ok) and pitched our tent in the space between a stall a van and H+S tent (very kind of them to give up their view of Stage1).
A few ciders and JDs flowed and we got to meet some nice folk, listen to some music and then crash …zzzZZZ *<|-)
Saturday we were up early-ish and went for a wander and really just spent the day drinking cider and sitting around on the grass, taking in the stuff on the stalls... by about 11pm we had been drinking all day (sensibly of course... LOL) and we retired to listed to Stage1 and get some sleep as we were stll suffering from the honeymoon the week earlier.
Strangely we slept like logs... got up about 8am for brekkie in the brekkie field then back to bed for more snoozes then up for a bit of shopping before travelling home.
The trip really did us both a world of good and weirdly (what with the cider and constant noise) we caught up on tons of sleep and came home refreshed... very odd.
So, Trowbridge... in summary it's a very cool, chilled place to be and we would recommend a trip there although whether we would stay on the camping field or not is another question. If you do go.. as with anythin like this TAKE TOILET ROLL and a peg for your nose as you WILL need them, but then that's half the fun ?:-/
Thanks to H+S for the invite and for introducing us to some cool folk.. we enjoyed it totally and will defo come along again!
Thats all.... oh... original Trowbridge post is here and photos from Trowbridge are here.
C+S
July 30th, 2006
Helloooo…..
This weekend we’re at Trowbridge Festival which is near Bath… well actually we’re still in the car on the way there.
We should have been there early this morning but as you may have read poor Clive aint too well and we have to tuck him in on the drive and make some small adjustments to the trip(ie: now in a car and a tent) and get back on the road which puts us a little late.
Trowbridge is a small festival(3 stages) and has a folky kind of feel and musicians this year include the likes of Suzanne Vega and last year Sir Bob headlined(we missed that one… humm).
Anyhow… we will be in a tent in a field and the festival is sponsored by a brewery and there is beer and cider a-plenty.
All kinds of scrumpy and ciders will be drunk this weekend and of course we have bought a box of water too as it’s kinda hot out there!
We’ll drop a post over the weekend and maybe drop some photos into the blog too show you what we’re up to and stuff… oh and show you the smallest tent in the world… hmmm…. we miss Clive already… and no fridge for icy ones either… life without Clive sucks!
So… have fun and Happy Birthday to Phil who is like 102 or summat over the weekend!
Catcha later…
C+S
************** UPDATE ***************
Nearly there… now dark and soooo glad we have a pop-up tent….. take out of bag… throw in air…. tent lands…. crash …zzzZZZ
Steven kinda had a cider accident on the way and flooded the car with Strongbow but the car at least smells nice now
*********** UPDATE ENDS *************
We’ve uploaded some photos here and an update here
July 21st, 2006
Hi Guys,
Well… sad news today… Clive-O has a cold… well… kinda bad flu really… looks like he used his last ounce of steam to get us safely home from our Scotland trip(HE’S OUR HERO!)… looks like the TLC we promised him when we got home is gonna have to dished BIG TIME!
It’s sounding like a possible engine out and a rebuild… spoke to the Pit-Crew earlier AKA:Tony …and we’re gonna formulate a plan which probaby involves a trolly-jack and some serious spanners… so we’ll keep you posted and let you know when he’s all fixed up and ready for his next adventure.
Sorry you can’t be with us at Trowbrifge Festival this weekend Clive-O mate but we will defo sink a few ciders for you and be thinkin bout you.
C+S
July 21st, 2006
Hmmm….. ok….. today is our first day home from our honeymoon and Scotland roadtrip and hmmmm… need say no more 
The dogs(Megan and Bruno) are of course VERY happy to see us and we called over to Cat’s mums earlier to collect Penny the cat who is hmmm well she’s a cat so doesn’t give much away but Megan is pleased to see here too.
We unpacked Clive today which was a MAMMOTH task in the baking heat…. oh… a note on the “heatwave”… as usual, a few odd days of sun or wind or snow or rain and the country stops, proclaims that this is the hottest, coldest, windiest, snowiest… day/week in the history of the universe… and so on… hmmm… maybe we should look a little further afield and check-out some REAL scary weather and realise just how lucky we really are… ok… personal rant over 
As you can probably tell we’re on a bit of a downer atm what with being back home… although, it was nice to sleep in a proper bed and we do like our home so it’s defo not all bad and of course we’re wifey and hubby too to that’s always gonna be top
Clive-O is all clean and tidy now too and the boxes and bags are refilled and he’s all ready to Rock and Roll again as soon as we can take some more time out which will be soon given half a chance.
Oh… still not been shopping so still living off all the stuff out of Clive and the cupboards… although… the cupboards are still quite well stocked as is the bunker in the dining room from when Cat went panic-shopping following the Bird-Flu warnings some months ago.
We also started to pull all the photos together today from the Wedding Weekend and the Honeymoon and so far we have about 800 from the wedding and about 2200 from the honeymoon… anyone with photos from the wedding that needs help getting them onto CD/DVD give us a shout and we’ll sort it. We estimate by the time all the photos come in from friends we should have ablut 2000 from the wedding too so we reckon we should be able to make a half-decent album from that
We’ll be back again soon when we find some inspiration and we’re considering a photo gallery for wedding and honeymoon out-takes so let us know what you think as you guys will be in there if we kick it off!
All for now… Mr+Mrs C @home
July 18th, 2006
Hi Guys…. Drink… Blurrrrr… Fall Over… That’s about it for tonight but there are some photos here and we’ll write more when we can… top, top and very crazy day… love to see the CCTV of us arriving back into the reception at the hotel
July 17th, 2006
Helloooo,thought you’d all enjoy an update….we’re still out in Edinburgh at some bar on Rose St a few Strongbows n JD’s under our belts n lovin it,Edinburgh rocks,Cat is lookin stunnin today!Were defo goin out in style… been out since this aft…prolly roll in sometime early n then in the mornin.. home to Moog and Doog Were defo gonna pop in and see/heckle David and Duncan later
July 16th, 2006
Hi guys,
Just a quickie, we know you like to be kept updated so… as we’ve only just got up and were almost ready to go out… think were gonna go to the pub … we’ve not got a problem honest, well maybe we do, a problem with mornings that is and problems getting enough beers in before closing time and of course that the Scotland trip is coming to an end so what better way to finish off the trip but with a few drinks in this top city!!
Ok guys hope you’ve all not been working too hard whilst we’ve been away and we’ll try to get a few more posts and pics in before we get back and we’ll see you all very soon.
We can hear the pub calling so we’ll catch you all very soon… oh breakfast was very nice btw, huge in fact not mean with their portion sizes here, thought at one point Steven was gonna throw… he didn’t though, very impressive :/ if you like that kind of thing.
Bye for now all,
Mr and Mrs C
July 16th, 2006
Helloooo….
Today we awoke at Pitlochery to visitors… a family of ducks and ducklings came to visit Clive(see photos) very cute!
After a hearty breakfast we set off South again down the A9 to Edinburgh our last stop off before heading back to sunny old Wigan(hmmm…. bah)… I think we will be away again soon!
Cat is feeling much better today and is back to her usual smiley self too btw.
So we eventually sailed Clive into dock at Edinburgh and before entering the madness that is city living we called off under the old Fourth Bridge to see the Sea Creatures at the Deep Sea World centre.
Deep Sea Word is kind of an old quarry with buildings underground so when you arrive there all you see is a car park… wierd… surely there should be stuff?? … then you get the whole idea and find the steps down into the ‘Deep’.
At DSW there are all kinds of fish both UK and foreign… tons of other stuff like tree frogs, shrimps, crabs, anenomes, seals and some pretty major sharks, rays and some Pirhana with those nasty pointy teeth.
Underground, DSW is on different levels and you can walk down into the depths and into a glass viewing tunnel where you are underwater for some distance and above and around you there swim all kinds of fish including BIG sharks and rays and even a couple of divers.
After seeing tons of cool stuff in the tunnel we went outside to see the seals which are very cool.
The seals here have been bred in captivity and will never be reintroduced into the wild as they have no survival skills(except for dialing Dominos) but the Seal Sanctuary here also looks after sick wild seals too which are nursed back to good health before being released into a local seal colony.
The seals that are resident here are called Morag and Heather and they are mum and daughter… they are very friendly seals and love to shake a paw/fin whatever and roll over and jump for a ball and stuff in exchange for fish… cool life… free fish for tricks
The people looking after the Seals looked like they totally enjoyed their work and being with the seals which was real nice too.
Ok… so… when we had done the whole fishy thing we jumped back into Clive and headed into town over the Fourth Road Bridge to find our hotel… yeah we know… another girly card but we kinda planned a couple of days in Edinburgh and we kinda like to ‘roll’ in if you get the picture and you can’t do that very easily if you’re camped 6 miles away.
Anyhow… to cut a very long story short… 1st hotel was pretty bad… so we swapped…. 2nd hotel was a joke… so we swapped… 3rd hotel(Novotel)… totally top… location is a bit of a downer as we’re used to being right on the main street but hey ho can’t have everything and at least this one has locking windows, a TV that works, lightbulbs, two bathrooms, neither of which crawl and even a few extras like AirCon and a Mini-Bar(Rock n Roll).
When we had exhausted the hot water and played with all the shiny gadgets in the room we wen’t for a few beers in town and a sexy Pizza and now we’re back here for a quick blog and then to sleep(…zzzZZZ) as we’re crackered and up early for full Scottish Breckie(we are looking like the Rolly-Pollys since going away) and then off out for the day as it’s our next to last …for now at least
So catcha later and check out todas photos here.
C+S
July 15th, 2006
Hi,
Todays blog post comes to you from Pitlochery which is on the A9 south kind of half way between Aviemore and Sterling.
Ok… today… from the top…
9:00am … Those evil little b*****ds (Tweenies) wake us up again and we begin to hatch a plan to rid the globe of all Tweenies, Tweenie tunes, lookalikes, toys and adult-sized tweenie-style fettish items from dubious catalogues and internet sites and other evil little creatures.
10:00am … breakfast arrives… hmmm… someone needs to teach chef what breakfast really means for the under 60’s.
12:00pm … drag our sorry asses from the hotel room into the Camper (this took a little while as packing included plates, cuttlery, food, a well-stocked bar and TWO carrier-bags of sweets and crisps).
12:10pm … checkout… and whatever you do… don’t mention the broken toilet seat… lid snapped off… oops!
12:15pm … in Clive making a swift exit… ok…. made it through passport control on the gatehouse and we’re off
From Aviemore we headed down the A9 with every intention of making it down to Sterling to see some stuff there or maybe to vere off to take in Glamis Castle on the way… but on the way… “Cat got real sick”(cold and blue and stuff… scary) and needed a nap and some sustinence so we pulled off in a layby(ooer missus!) and Steven cooked and there were no fires at all… for those of you who know Steven’s record for cooking and kitchen fires then you’ll know this is good… his list of disasters include… the time he cooked cheese on toast and the toaster burst into flames which set fire to the boiler and this cost a toaster and a boiler… the time the potato caught fire set fire to the microwave and the plate it was on shattered… and the many many times he has tried to cook microwave popcorn and still can’t manage it without the bag bursting into flames… oooh and the recent bacon with added melted plastic bits incident.
Anyhow… the food(veggie fajitas and ginger cake and custard) and couple of cups of tea did the trick and Cat was up and on here feet again within hours… we actually enjoyed sitting on the layby chatting all afternoon as it was a bit of time-out from travelling and time for chats and stuff.
Ok… eventually we reached Pitlochery and found a campsite, parked Clive-O up for the night in pitch number 23 and took off into town(street) for a beer and some food.
On the way we took time to take in the “Fish Ladder” which is an ingenious invention that allows migratary salmon to ‘climb’ up and over the dam that stands in Pitlochery which houses the Hydro Elecric Power Station. The way that this works is simply there are MANY concrete ‘tanks’ next to eachother and linked by underwater tunnels starting at the lower water level and each raised 18 inches from the last that ’snake’ up towards the top of the Dam…. the last ‘tank’ is at the same level as the top water level behind the Dam… the Salmon actually use this and about 5400 migratary salmon use the ladder each season…. lol… catch our next report on John Cravens Country File.
There were tons of salmon jumping which was a cool sight and as the sun was going down we took in the sunset over the loch.
From here we went into town(street) and went for a few JDs and tried to get food… hmmm… we ended up in an Indian as this was the only place open after 10:00pm yet again… had starters and popadums and then decided to take main course back to Clive-O for eating later as we were a bit full by this point.
Indian Takeaway smells cool in a small space like Clive-O (hmmm…. honest)… there is a photo of Steven eating his ‘fairly hot chefs special sauce’ in the photos.
Ok… enough already… time for sleep… so check out todays photos here and we’ll catch you tomorrow… C+S
July 14th, 2006
Hi Guys….
We awoke today to the dull distant tones of….. (drumroll) The Tweenies! WTF …..our Girly Card Room back at Aviemore turned out to be right overlooking the kids entertainment area… some days life can suck even in Aviemore… Tweenies are now oficially evil creatures especially at 9:00am!
Todays trip was to Cawdor Castle which is a very nice castle up near Nairn and it was at Cawdor Castle by the river just 10 months and 1 day ago that Steven asked Cat for her hand in marriage and of course if you’re upto-date with the blog you’ll know she said yes… scary times though.
If you have never been lucky enough to visit Cawdor Castle then you should make time and take a trip up there… it’s a totally chilled atmosphere and still also a family home for the winter months and you’ll love it if you take time to take it all in and kick back and take time to enjoy the gardens which are very cool.
The other bonus relating to Cawdor Castle is that there is a Organic/Freerange Pig farm on the road leading to/from the Castle and the Pigs and Piglets are very cool and its worth stopping for a little chit-chat, maybe compare reciepes and take some group piggy photos with them…. when we eventually get the farm we want… pigs are defo on the list of ‘none-edible’ pets we will be inviting to live with us.
On our return to Aviemore we went for a few beers around ‘town’(street) and as usual Scotland had finished serving food at 9:00pm which is actually quite late for some areas!…
~~~~~~~~~~~~cut-here~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Quick Aside….
During our travel around the Scottish Highlands we’ve learnt the following…
1. Don’t forget the midge cream.
2. Don’t expect to eat after 9:00pm (7:00pm in some places).
3. Many shops don’t serve fresh fruit and veg nor skimmed milk.
4. Don’t expect to buy petrol after 9:00pm (7:00pm in many places).
5. Some petrol stations still won’t let you use the pumps and one you have to ask in the local hotel for service.
6. Bunnies are not in short supply in Scotland… they’re everywhere which is good… bunnies rock!
7. Some parts of Scotland are like the Emerald City…. you think they are just around the next bend but they never are.
8. In the distant past many folk here liked to hunt wild animals with guns(that’s fair) stuff them and brag about it.
9. Coos…. the favorite of many weary traveller are oficially in very short supply… finding authentic Coos is very difficuly.
10. Scottish folk are in the main very friendly and accommodating folk!
11. Scottish pub singers do not know any Slipknot …but they are forgiven for now until we heckle ye once again
12. If you take a trip to Scotland make sure you pack adequate Duck Tape as you will need it to rebuild many parts of your vehicle.
13. Steven cooked and didn’t burn down the camper van (for those who know Stevens reputation for kitchen fires then you know this is good).
14. Clive-O is a star and deserves some TLC and some time out when we get home.
15. Don’t expect to recieve Freeview in a camper in the Highlands as it aint happening.
16. People in Scotland will do almost ANYTHING to sell a car. (see photos).
~~~~~~~~~~~~cut-here~~~~~~~~~~~~
cont’d… …we managed a few beers and wen’t back to the hotel, ordered breakfast blogged and that’s all folks… catcha tomoz…. todays photos are here.
C+S
July 13th, 2006
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