Category Archives: England

One of the major downsides with our motorhome-based lifestyle is that we never stay in towns or cities. We’re always in a field somewhere, which is lovely but sometimes I do miss the joys of urban living. I’d quite like to be able to stay in town every now and then and walk to a funky little cafe and do … Continue reading

Katherine has been looking forward to visiting York from before we left Australia, so this is a biggie! We weren’t sure we were going to get around to it this time, but it turns out our ferry port, Hull, is just to the south of York. What’s more, we’ve been invited by a fellow travel blogger friend, Mike who lives … Continue reading

It’s time to get down to the task of covering some serious mileage. We pull out a rather good audio book we’ve been listening to set in 18th-century Scotland (read with some beautiful Scottish accents!), while Nettle stoically devours mile after mile. We spend quite a while following the wooded edge of a big picturesque loch north of Glasgow, before … Continue reading

We awake to an ever-increasing bustle outside Nettle as our free camp for the night — a small car park by a stream, stone bridge and all — fills up with the other half of humanity whom I will never understand — morning people. It’s yet another beautiful day, although still very hazy, so we decide to take a sedate … Continue reading

Here’s what the Lonely Planet has to say about the hike up to the peak of Helvellyn: …the ridge narrows to about 2m in width and you’re on the jagged teeth of Striding Edge, with precipitous slopes on either side. You’ll need to use your hands in places and less experienced walkers may feel decidedly vulnerable. Our actual experience of … Continue reading

We spend the next four days recovering from our long trudge. I’ve never been this sunburnt in my life. I didn’t even know you could get sunburnt in the UK. I would dearly love to have a shower after our hot, sweaty hike but the best I can manage is a sponge bath a couple of days later. When I … Continue reading

An early start (well, for us), and we drive into the little village of Ambleside, all cute slate cottages and outdoor gear shops. We park in the overnight motorhome parking area, whip up some sandwiches, dutifully put our wet weather gear in the pack despite the summery day unfolding outside, put our hiking boots on, and set out for the … Continue reading

We set out towards the Lake District, scooting around Manchester and then back amongst the emerald fields that are becoming so familiar. Some scouting ahead I did in Google Earth while sitting in a supermarket car park along the way revealed a few possibilities for wildcamping by Lake Windermere, so that’s where we are headed. The roads narrow, and soon … Continue reading

To the frustration of my itchy feet, we ended up spending almost a month perched on the outskirts of Birmingham attending to life-overhead — dentist checkups and a Nettle check-up. Eight hundred pounds later and Nettle has new shoes (what those with less anthropomorphised vehicles might refer to as “tyres”). We spent some time before her check-up feeling anxious that … Continue reading

So far in this leg of our journey, we’ve planned to take things fairly easily. One of the surprises of the past year and a half has been the prominence that our projects has taken: Katherine’s art, and my software development. We both take great enjoyment in “working” — as much, and possibly more, than the actual travelling around. This … Continue reading

Well, we’ve finally done it and left Cornwall! When we decided to settle down in Cornwall for a bit and get some work done, neither of us anticipated we’d be there for six months! Until recently, we hadn’t any idea what we were going to do over winter. We didn’t particularly fancy travelling during winter, but nor did we want … Continue reading