Gartmon Dam, Tasty Breakfast and The Hermitage

Gartmon Dam, Tasty Breakfast and The Hermitage

The highlight of today was planned to be Stirling Castle. However having negotiated the steep narrow road up to the huge car park on the esplanade outside the Castle we were told in no uncertain terms that motorhomes were not allowed – not even for the day. There had been signs saying no caravans but we had assumed that this would affect us in a motorhome. Eileen was not happy and we have never been back to Stirling since that

Sweetheart Abbey

Sweetheart Abbey

We arrived at New Abbey and found a place at the end of the car park with a good view of the Abbey but away from the busy area. By the time we had our, now rather late, lunch and then had a good chat to the full-timers in the motorhome next door it was too late to try and visit the Abbey or the watermill at the other end of the village. We did have a walk around the

Barrow-in-Furness and the Lake District

Barrow-in-Furness and the Lake District

We left Walney Island after a lazy start and were back across the bridge in Barrow-in-Furness at the Dock Museum for when it opened at 11am. We spent a good two hours exploring the superb museum which is all about ship building and the development of Barrow-in-Furness. Well worth a visit. We had lunch in the car park there and then headed north to a CL campsite at Broughton-in-Furness as we needed services. We had a relaxed afternoon at The

Across the sea to Heysham and on to Cumbria

Across the sea to Heysham and on to Cumbria

After all the excitement of the last few days we had a very smooth crossing back to Heysham. First thing to do was to fuel up at Asda and go shopping at Lidl – we were low on both food and fuel as prices are quite a bit higher on the Island. I should clarify that Manx people rarely refer to the “Isle of Man” it is always called “the Island” and England is “across” (eg “I am going across

Nobles Park and Ophelia Related Delays

Nobles Park and Ophelia Related Delays

We had some excitement on our way to Douglas after leaving Eary. This was not due to a fallen tree but an accident closing the main road between Peel and Douglas just east of Glen Vine. The police had closed the road and all traffic was waived off the main (A1) road and on to a residential street.  We pulled over as soon as we safely could allowing other vehicles to pass us and consulted the Sat Nav. This reckoned that

Eary Farm at last

Eary Farm at last

My sister, Judith and her husband Alan have lived at Eary Farm since they married in 1977 (I was 11!!) and as a child this was somewhere  the family came most years at least once. Since I left home my visits are far less frequent (once a decade or so) but I have always loved this amazing spot. They farm over a hundred acres high in the hills above Kirkmichael. The land is in a small valley below Sartfell and

Peel and its famous Castle

Peel and its famous Castle

In the interests of full disclosure I have to own up that I am writing this under Lockdown in January 2021! I have decided that it is high time I brought Bertie’s blog up to date and I filled in the dates between arriving in Douglas in October 2017 and leaving on our Big Winter Bumble in October 2019. That is two years of missing Bertie Travels. I have our daily log that Eileen maintains which tells me where we