Terrafirma Travels

29 Sep: Another surprisingly dry morning, pleasant shower, porridge & ground coffee. A reluctant goodbye to the lovely campsite saw us on the road to Kirkcaldy.  We needed a halfway stop, and the House of Bruar hove into view so on impulse we went in. Well! Talk about a village for the well-heeled. Everything was SO expensive, even in the Sale building. Lesley bought a little something for K's birthday, Nic got a takeaway coffee, and retreated to the van for bagel and houmous elevenses.  Thence to Pettycur Bay where we paid £58 for 2 nights in their touring area. Expensive for small, sloping pitches and a cold facilities block. However we felt the car park at Burntisland or Dysart would be less secure. We put our ramp blocks on a space to show ownership and headed off to see Felix and meet Bootsie. Luckily Bootsie greeted us with open paws and was very happy to be stroked by, and given treats by, three people instead of one. Had a good old catch-up with Felix, inspected ea...

28 Sep: We woke after a good quiet night's sleep in the forest campsite. Had a good shower in the nearby warm & clean facilities. We had porridge breakfast made in microwave, and a filter coffee, just like we used to have on Sirena IV. We are slowly getting used to the rigmarole of putting away the double bed.  We left the campsite at ten, ready to attack the Wildlife Park, which was pretty deserted when we arrived. First stop was the snow leopard, the rarest animal of all. Unbelievably the cat was there before us in all her glory, with her thick tail as long as her body. She came up close to the edge of the enclosure and stared full faced at Lesley for a minute before going about her business. Wow and thrice wow.  We went on to see polar bears being fed apples, giant owls, a distant tiger, a sleepy wildcat, bison, exotic goats, a red squirrel, a family of wolves, and as Saturday wore on, large numbers of Scottish infants. For both of us, the highlight was the snow leopa...

Sep 2024. Half the journey was yesterday, to Tebay via an hour with Becks and Sam which was lovely despite him embracing the 'terrible twos' with gusto. It seems we escaped the middle England floods just in time ... the M5 closed behind us. We used the Tebay campsite at £26 rather than the car park for £22, but either way it's a very expensive toilet. We didn't need electricity and we didn't have a wash! Up early-ish this am but still takes a long time to get going. 6 hours to Aviemore with 2 stops, one being Cairns of course (Tebay light - where Tebay is Gloucester light). Weather great until the Highlands. Too late for Wildlife park so hit the strip in Aviemore; cafes closed at 4pm but charity shops still open. L found a Rohan top. The Rothiemurcus campsite is as pretty as it says. Pitches surrounded by trees. Feels very protected, although little wind is forecast ... just low temperature! And intermittent rain. Ah well, we're better off than the couple opposi...