I have updated (literally, I added content and then changed the Publication date) the post made originally on the 15th, when we were about to set off for Glenmore. When I wrote it initially I completely forgot to mention a side trip to Wilsontown when travelling from New Lanark up to Cellardyke.
We made a leisurely day of it and began by stopping off at an NTS property, Crathes Castle, not long after crossing from Fifeshire to Aberdeenshire. It was a rather lovely morning, fresh and sunny and perfect for a woodland walk with Nell. we followed the walk with a cuppa and cake.
The route that we took was the one over The Lecht… old stamping ground and a great sense of homecoming as we drove into the Glenlivet Estate.
We cut across country by the back road to Nethybridge, thus coming in by Rothiemurchus and missing out Aviemore entirely.
Glenmore
The weather was still fair as we arrived, though cold – hats and gloves were required to take Nell out on the beach. The sun was shining when we left the van but by the time that we cleared the trees, the first flakes of the predicted snow had begun to fall.
The remainder of our stay was wet and quite chilly. Snow, up to six inches of it, had been promised for Thursday night and we did actually see some falling around tea-time, but nothing lay overnight.
What we did get on Friday was rather a deal of rain. This did not deter us however. We wrapped up and walked to Ryvoan in very similar weather to the day that we walked up there almost exactly a year ago, except it was a little less misty and rather more wet this time, and we took the same route too: Blue to the lake and then back down Blue to the Purple route to Allt Mor car park, then we picked up the White trail and joined the red/Yellow trail back to camp.
The rain did not cease…
… until we woke up to sunshine on Saturday morning and had to pack up and leave.
It was while Mr Snail was preparing the van for departure that the waste hose finally gave up the ghost, splitting entirely in two and thereby being rendered irreparable. Worse still, we would be unable to empty the waste tanks without a deal of unpleasantness…
The travel plan was to go on down to our usual Britstop in Perthshire, stopping at one or two NTS sites on the way so that we arrived about 6pm. Then a short hop back to base on Sunday. The overnight stop does not provide facilities after closing time (8pm).
We discussed the difficulties and agreed that the best plan was to come all the way back to base where we have facilities on hand and would be able to avoid burdening Vincent’s tanks any further. We also decided to call in at a Motorhome dealer’s in Perth on our way.
We got lucky at Dickson’s and were able to buy new pipe even though they could not help out with fitting it.
As we were driving down the M74 in Lanarkshire, Mr Snail asked how I fancied cutting across country again. “What – go by Leadhills and Wanlockhead? I asked. Fine by me. “Go for it!” I said, “so long as you aren’t too weary.” and so, we did. And it was lovely to see and I felt a pang of the heart and even looked to see if by any chance our old house was on the market (it wasn’t.)
It was all but dark by the time that we reached Kippford.
On Sunday morning, Mr Snail took a look at the waste pipe problem and he fixed it… very quickly, It is not a perfect fix yet but it will get us home without gaining us too many dirty looks from fellow campers.