Moved!

Hi there! I have decided to move my blog to my own personal domain, so this site will no longer be receiving updates.

You can now find all my travel postings (and everything else I feel like sharing online if it tickles you) at my website at http://www.lawrenceblair.com.

Current RSS subscribers - you should receive the new feed without having to do anything, hopefully you won't get this post in your email! If it goes horribly wrong, you can subscribe to the new location at this other feed, here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeisureLifeLarryTravel

Thank you so much for reading the past year. I would have done a much more half-assed effort if you weren't keeping an eye - I'm so glad I kept track of my overseas adventure with such detail now. Thanks so much for the support - see you on the new site!

Back in Godzone

It's been just over a week since these lovely people greeted me at Wellington airport after my very mixed-emotion fuelled flights home:

It was so nice to be able to just crash into my family here, and be taken care of. A trip back to the western hills to live with my bro a while, a bed made up - an NZ food care package sitting beside the new bedside lamp.

So that was that! I had a few days to sort out the jetlag and buy underpants, then it was back to the office to a short-term contract job I was extremely lucky to secure while overseas. I promptly got sick (as you do) but I've recovered from that now and realised I just left the blog hanging!

I knew I would appreciate Wellington more when I got home - but I had forgotten just how lovely it can be here. I've had the cellphone out a lot during my day-to-day, here're some pics from my catch ups here:

Craft-beer tasting platter at the new Sprig and Fern in Petone, catching up with an old friend from the Hutt/London!

The view on my new commute sure beats the Northern Line!

Here're some snaps from pottering about over my lunch break:

The beehive and old parliament buildings

Te Papa and Waitangi Park - waterfront walk

Public piano without Kate ain't so great

Always liked this building, no idea what it is. 

Life back on the hills is lovely. Surrounded by bush and with harbour views, I am very lucky! And while I'll miss the UK's squirrels, hearing the birdsong of Tui around my brother's place brought a tear to my eye. It's so nice to be home.

Dusk at my bros (and my temporary residence)

Not sure if you'll be able to play this - but if you can, the birds sound lovely at dusk.

We even had a BBQ! Summer to summer!

So what now? Enjoying some rest and relaxation, earning some dosh and awaiting the visiting arrival early next year of my gorgeous partner in crime, Kate! I hope to have a van here by the time she arrives, and we can tour this fine country of mine while she's here.

As for the blog, I think I'll re-theme it to be more of a holiday blog than an OE trip blog. I've really enjoyed keeping track of my adventures on here and I'd like to continue the practice, whether I am close to home or not.

I feel like this final 'tour post' should have some more finality to it, but really - it's not the end, not by a long shot. Dotty's waiting patiently for our next adventure in the UK, Kate's on her way to join me and we've got plenty of exciting adventures on the horizon. However there's no doubt the blog is going to enter a period of hibernation while I've got my feet up around here. So until we do something of note, thanks again for reading - don't be a stranger!

Birmingham to Somerset again

We're at Kate's folks place in Somerset again now. A newly MOT'ed (WOF'ed for you Kiwis) Dotty has been crammed on to the driveway with inches to spare, and we're setting up to put her in to storage for winter.

Last post we were waiting to get the van to Birmingham for some emergency repairs as she was burning oil like a retreating German army. While we were waiting we spent a bit of time at a camp site just south of the city. As we pigged out on all our remaining van food, a cat turned up and ended up being something of a snuggle whore. We easily seduced him and he hung out with us a while, getting cat hair on everything.

Check out that boof-head!

Daw

Spot the kitty!

At day break we fired Dotty up and slowly limped in to south Birmingham and the probably not nicest bit; Kings Norton. Handing over the keys was a sad moment despite our kindly mechanic saying they'd take good care of her - I packed a few bits for a day in Birmingham and off we went in to the city.

I love taking pictures of the van.

Our first stop was the train station, getting Kate on a train home (as that was why we were rushing down country anyway!) I spent the afternoon pottering about, visiting Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and exploring the Bull Ring market.

Courthouse - tidy!

City hall? 

The museum was lovely. Birmingham has a very strong metalworking heritage and the museum was not only built with magnificent cast-iron patterns and things but featured a lot of stuff around this. I liked seeing some of the old metalwork from the orient - during the age of exploration, Birmingham was well-keen on procuring oriental metalwork for the local metalworkers to learn new techniques and things. Fascinating!

Ironwork in the Birmingham museum

Amazing craftspersonship!

Waiting to hear news of my precious van, I wandered around some:

Around the back of the museum

The new brick/library

Canals n that

A central city pagoda.

Around four the mechanic called me. The call quality was crap, I was on the street, and the guy was a fast talking mumbler at the best of times. I caught a few things:

'...needs lots of work...'
'...£500 pounds or so...'
'...weekend in Birmingham...'

So I said 'do it' - what choice did I have? And booked a coach for a 3.5 hour journey to join Kate and family in Somerset. This was a good plan in the end, as it took an entire week to get the van fixed.

The final cost? £711. Yes that's right, $1,400 NZD for a warrant. Lovely! Two new tyres, completely replaced rear brake system (apparently it could have killed us on the motorway so that was lucky!), something something service, something something. I could understand barely a word! However he was a lovely chap, and the van was looking like a million bucks when I headed back up and got her back. No smoke, running like a champ. Not too bad for a six month thrashing - well done Dotty!

We haven't been sitting on our hands down here in Somerset. We've been tidying up a bit - check out this before and after of Kate's teenage room!

Before: Note the David Duchovny.

After: Note the sad lack of anything. 

So what is next for us? I've paid the tax for six months so Dotty is all sorted. We're going to look at storage for her on Monday, and head to London around the 20th. Until that time we'll keep helping out here. I've been doing a little homework on NZ vans and upgrades for Dotty and just generally enjoying a bit of a holiday before I'm back at the coalface.

Budget: Six months of motorhome finances

"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart."

- Jonathan Swift

I (and more recently Kate and I) have been rolling for six months now - so I thought it'd be good to do a post about our spend. Pulling all this data together will help me plan for future trips, but I hope it will inspire others to see it isn't out of reach if you are inclined to do similar!

I didn't keep a budget whatsoever on this trip - I just smashed my mortgage to bits having a blast. But thanks to technology I can retrospectively construct one by downloading my UK banking history and categorising the data. So here it is - total tour costs, mid March to the end of September:

Doing a monthly breakdown was fun - you can see a few themes:

The Camp Sites green line went down as I got more in to free camping - and there's a kicker in Van Misc where I had to pay for unreasonably shitty insurance coverage, otherwise the spend there was set up costs. 

Using cash has been a shame for the stats! I spent it on pints and burgers, cheap attractions, parking, ice creams, gas bottles and other bits and pieces. The specifics are lost forever, which is a bit annoying now.

The other bugger has been alcohol on the grocery docket - no way to track that. But we've been eating and drinking like alcoholic monarchy, and this has been our spend.

Interestingly the cost of travelling alone (March - June) is about the same as travelling for two - sans the grocery budget!

Not in sexy graph form, but here are the totals:

• March: £792.97
• April: £1,274.98
• May: £1,021.36
• June: £1,081.91
• July: £1,597.60
• August: £1,133.93
• Total for six months touring: £6,902.75

So what can one take from this? Six months of exploring the United Kingdom, boozing up a storm and missing nothing: roughly $14,000 NZD. Though I travelled alone four months of that, the trend suggests it's about the same for two, so if you consider doing this with a friend or partner, halve that.

Based off my expenditure, for a six month jaunt for two around these fascinating isles, you're looking at about $8,000 NZD per person ($1,333 per month, all inclusive!) Add up the cost of your flat over six months and if this kind of thing rattles your dags - get in to it!

...I also know a guy with a van you could borrow...

UPDATE: A £711 MOT was had at the end of this - service, tyres, headlight, wipers, tow bar, both rear brakes. Keep a couple of bucks in the back pocket for unforeseen emergencies!

Nothern England, unplanned detours and mechanical nightmares

The itinerary is shot, and Dotty is ailing. This entry covers the last hurrah's before mechanical issues have taken us down on our express route to Somerset.

26.08.2014 - 01.09.2014

After a few days hanging out on the border of Scotland in Newcastledon, we headed back in to England to check out Hadrian's wall. An impressive feat, the Romans built this three metre high wall and ditch across the width of the isle to contain the 'Scottish Problem'. The wall was monitored by watch towers every mile or so. The remains are not quite so high, having been used as farm fences and all sorts over the years, but it is quite something.

Hadrian's wall from some crags

We popped in to a fort as well. Not much to see these days, but as you drive along the length of the wall you get an appreciation of the scale!

Driving alongside Hadrian's wall

Part of the fort

Sheep enjoying the fort-side lawns.

We spent the night next to the wall. In the morning we realised a distinct lack of food and high-tailed it north-east to Alnwick to resupply. Alnwick is a gorgeous town, but we didn't stay long, heading even further north-east to Dunstanburgh Castle. The castle is reached by a mile-long headland walk from Craster (a lovely wee seaside town in itself!)

Craster

The walk was lovely, with tame cows munching alongside the many walkers. Kate couldn't resist bothering some cattle:

The walk provides ample opportunity to appreciate the imposing silhouette of the castle - it's pretty cool. Inside there wasn't a lot left, but a fascinating place none-the-less!

Dunstaburgh Castle

One of the towers

A hairy caterpillar

As we returned to the van we realised a problem: no internet signal. We need internet access to investigate places to sleep - without the internet nor area guidebook or touring maps, we were a bit up the creek in Craster! So we headed back to Alnwick, to get the access fixed in the morning. We stayed just outside of town in a layby with lovely views of Alnwick Castle.

Alnwick Castle

As we played scrabble a wee camper pulled up and a retired lady popped out. Kate invited her in and after dinner in she came. Being a solo traveller the conversation was decidedly one-sided from her end, but it was nice to have a guest!

Come the morning and we had a knock on our window - our guest was making sure we'd catch sight of something. Opening the curtains we were so glad she did - the bourgeoisie and their hounds were riding out to kill some stuff on horseback!

In the morning we had some hours so popped in to Alnwick to explore the town some. A market was up - we took a look then perused the charity shops.

Alnwick market

While we were potting about we got a text from Kate's folks. A mishap had occurred and she was requested home urgently. So off we went!

Well, not quite. Having two days to get back to Somerset, we stopped in on our final attraction - Cragside.

Cragside

Cragside has an interesting history. The owner was William Armstrong, a chap who studied law but always had a passion for engineering. Due to his passionate tinkering he became a massive magnate of the industrial revolution - a self-made success story. Inside the building there is a neat, still working hydro-powered spit turner in the kitchen, and the remnants of a hydro powered pneumatic lift the servants used to ferry coal to the higher floors in the house.

Sweet study!

After a quick bite we hit the road and the much-avoided M roads.

I hate motorways over here, they're so boring and Dotty doesn't much dig 'em - but we had somewhere to be, pronto - and that's what they're about. So we flew down to just south west of Sheffield and found a freecamp site up by the Redmires Reservoirs (the internet had started working again).

A fly by of the Angel of the North, Newcastle. 

In the morning we had 200 miles to go. So off we went and things were going fine until the oil light started flashing. You can't pull off motorways here that easily so I was losing my mind over the engine seizing and blowing itself to pieces; but luck was with us and a services was a mile down the road. We tentatively pulled in and discovered the oil pan to be bone dry - we put 2 litres of oil in.

Maybe this was too much - we're new at this breakdown stuff - but the level looked OK to me and on we went.

Miles down the motorway again, I noticed huge clouds of blue smoke billowing from the rear of Dotty. Again we pulled off on the nearest A road and did some homework. Apparently we put too much oil in and the engine would burn off the excess - so we kept off the motorway and watched the blue smoke diminish to nothing. Thinking we were all good, things were fine, we were making progress! Then the light came on again. I was horrified.

So we found a service station, put a pint or so in and pootled to the nearest camp site to book a service. This is what we're doing now - no-one could see her on a Sunday, and they were all booked up today - so we're just sitting pretty until tomorrow when we can limp in to Birmingham and someone who knows what they're doing can rescue my delightful Dorothy!

I haven't changed the oil or fitted a new filter this whole trip. That's 7,000 miles so far. Terrible really, so I suspect this is the culprit. As luck would have it we had her booked in for a service in Newcastle today, so if we didn't try and gun it down the country we probably would have been fine! But that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes I guess - fingers crossed the damage is minimal.

Lousy!

Scotland: East Lothian and the Borders

This post covers our time in East Lothian and the Borders, heading out of Scotland:

20.08.2014 - 26.08.2014

After my sniffles had dissipated we kicked off our post-Edinburgh touring with a trip back north to Roslin, and the Rosslyn Chapel. We had heard good things! It is a pretty substantial tourist haunt after the Dan Brown novel (find it in every secondhand book store). Despite the two coaches in the car park it didn't seem too busy - the stone carvings inside are so detailed, it is one of a kind. They have this cat in residence, William - he just sleeps on a pew. Gets patted thousands of times a day. They have William themed keepsakes in the gift shop!

Outside of Rosslyn chapel

Creepy monkey statues

After visiting the chapel we saw there was a nearby walk in the Roslin Glen to an old Gunpowder mill. I was curious and we wanted a wee walk - so off we went on to the nearby un-signposted, thistle covered trails. Eventually we found the correct route, finding lots of wild raspberries on the way before finding the old waterwheel water feeds and drains, and the remnants of the old mill. Left to ruin, nature was taking the area back and it was a lovely and romantic spot. A coach driver caught up with us, he pops down there while his tourists are in Rosslyn Chapel. This is what Rosslyn Chapel was like before it got all fixed up - must have been quite something in those not-quite-ruinous years!

Ruins of the gunpowder mill waterwheel housing

A wild raspberry. It was eaten shortly after this picture was taken.

After this we returned to Dotty and drove on past Edinburgh and to North Berwick. The scenic coast road was windy, deserted and beautiful. As you approach you can see the North Berwick Law for miles - a wee jut of earth rising from the coastline - the remnant of ancient volcanic activity. We drove straight there and climbed the 20 minutes to the top.

North Berwick Law - you have to climb it. It's the Law.

The proper gentle-lady. 

On our way up the Law we came across a band of wee ponies. A couple of horse-whispering ladies were taking photos of them, and they were quite in to posing for the shots:

Posing ponies on the Law

"Draw me like one of your French ponies"

At the top we had lovely views of Bass Rock, an offshore island that is the home of no less than 22,000 gannets:

Bass Rock. See the circling gannets!

I haven't photoshopped out my lovely southern-cross lens-dots in this shot. Lovely. 

Panorama from the top - complete with fibreglass whale ribs

Cottage ruins on North Berwick Law - Bass rock in the background.

Returning to the car park, we checked all the signs. None said we couldn't stay for the evening - so we did.

In the morning while I tidied the van Kate foraged in the neighbouring bushes and found copious amounts of wild blackberries. We ate muesli with blackberries and yoghurt for breakfast then headed a short distance to the National Museum of Flight.

Natural!

The National Museum of Flight is on an old airfield used in both world wars. The prize horse is the Concorde Alpha-Alpha - I saw a prototype Concorde but seeing the real deal was a treat. The hangar featured a lot of information too, and it was a bit of a surprise to me to learn Concorde only stopped flying in 2003!

Concorde Alpha-Alpha. Too long for one photo!

"of and before its time"

Other hangers had bugger all WWII planes but lots of jets and civilian planes. There was a lot of interesting information, each had a neat 'tidbit', a wacky event to happen to someone in each type of plane. For one of the jets, I believe it was a Lightning, the tidbit was a mechanic triggering a fault and accidentally starting the jet. Minus a seat, and having only flown wee Cesnas or something, he managed to land this military jet without any major problems. Crikey!

Vulcan. See what we did there? Oh yes you do.

In one building was also a hands-on area, with lots of flight-based activities for you to do. We had a lot of fun making and testing paper airplanes, crashing the R34 airship (simulated!) and landing a plane in a simulator. Absolutely worth the £10, this place!

Dart-launcher

Head in a wind tunnel

North again, we arrived at Tantallon Castle. Little more than an enormous six storey wall against the coast, we'd seen it from the Law and were curious to see more. Though it is pretty ruinous there ended up being quite a lot to run around in, and it has some interesting aspects - I quite liked the rooms filled in with cement and rock (the result of later re-fortification).

Tantallon Castle

In the corner was a wee telescope to help get better views of Bass Rock - that was cool too.

Bass Rock, as through the cellphone camera through the telescope - HIGH TECH!

In the evening we headed past a concrete mill and nuclear power station toward Dowlaw and found a nice piece of gravel on a rarely travelled one lane road with coastal views. Good spot for the night!

Our evening park enroute to Dowlaw. The campsites wanted about £28 per night - get out of here, we get this for free!

What a spot!

After a leisurely morning we headed east to St. Abbs head. A lovely coastline with sheer cliffs, it was a nice hour loop walk. The coastguard performing (hopefully just) manoeuvres ruined the peaceful, natural ambience somewhat but were interesting too.

The coast around St Abbs head

St Abbs head - stunning!

On our returning inland track, we walked by a wee loch, finding a trove of unpicked ripe blackberries. We pigged out until we could pig no more, then continued on - and stumbled upon wee voles on the track! So tiny!

!!!

After this, we returned to England! The shock horror! But only briefly - we got petrol and food from Berwick-upon-Tweed before crossing back to Scotland. Then we changed our plan and headed back over the border to Flodden Field. The battle between the English and the Scots here in 1513 cost 14,000 lives, which is huge now but enormous back then! The Scots lost 10,000 men and their King. The hills are drained and peaceful farmland now, but the memorial and info boards along the memorial trail are poignant. Why can't we all just get along!?

Flodden field memorial.

In the morning we headed back over the border to Scotland, and the lovely border town of Kelso. The Abbey sits prominently by the town centre, and after some harrowing narrow parking we toodled about the abbey and the town.

Kelso Abbey

The abbey is pretty chipper these days

Some blokes fishing and rowing the Tweed.

Floors Castle from Kelso bridge - we did not visit!

Heading on we arrived in the gorgeous town of Melrose. It seems all of these border towns are lovely! Melrose particularly though, with their nice red stone. We had some wraps in the van then headed over to Melrose Abbey, the most intact of the abbeys in the vicinity.

Melrose Abbey

Around the back of the Abbey is a small museum, containing various things discovered on site and that. I quite liked the piss pots - monks would carry these about and discretely piss in them under their robes.

Piss pots

Kate as monk.

Nearby was the Priory Garden - a National Trust garden. Since we're both members we went and had a look, and found it to be rather mild. Pretty much just a regular garden and orchard!

The Priory Garden, with Melrose Abbey in the background.

Following the tourist signs we headed up a nearby hill to 'Scott's view'. This was a favourite haunt of Scott, the famous Scottish writer. During his funeral procession his horse stopped at the viewpoint out of habit! A lovely view of volcanic mounds, and a wild bunny hopped by to see what the deal was.

The Tweed valley from Scott's view

Our furry friend

A little down the hill was the 'Wallace Statue', built during Victorian times by an eccentric nut:

The Wallace statue

Pottering down the hill we visited the 'Temple of the Muses', also built by this same chap. Interesting! Unfortunately we had to walk back up the hill afterwards, during which time Kate got stung by a wasp so that put a dampener on these wee monuments in the middle of nowhere!

Temple of the muses

Returning to the Wallace Monument car park, we intended to settle in for the night - but discovered a hulking great motorhome with a family of Germans in it rolling on to levelling blocks for the evening. Two motorhomes in a car park for eight didn't sit well with us, so we left, heading for a layby near the Rhymer's Stone which we had visited earlier that day.

Having just been there we were confident we could find our way without navigational assistance. After driving around the area for 30 minutes we realised this was not the case! But we finally made it and spent a nice evening at this dog-walking spot.

The legend here is that some chap fell asleep, got taken away to fairy land and when he returned to the land of the living he had the power of foresight. He said, if you stood under this tree here, you'd see a bridge over the river - and lo! This huge high bridge now crosses the river, and you can just see it in the distance in this picture. He became something of a popular writer after all that.

The bridge

View from Rhymer's stone

In the morning we headed south, along lovely one-lane windy and lonesome roads in the Borders. We had one more Scotland stop before our night-four camp site stop - Hermitage Castle.

Hermitage Castle is pretty spooky - right on the border with England, it has been through the wars and is fortified to the nines.

Spooky Hermitage castle

Our campsite right now is the camp site Lidalia in Newcastleton. Our first night in Scotland was spent here, so it was fitting we stopped here on our way back! And it is also the nicest, most peaceful camp site we have stayed at.

So that's the end of Scotland this tour. What a blast! A great country, I'd like to see more of the Highlands and visit some of the islands next time.

Next stops: an MOT for Dotty (hopefully not too expensive), then toodling down through England to fly out of Heathrow on the 25th. Plenty more adventures to come!