Hessisch holy grail

texture and colouration detail on a patina barndoor bus

On a mission Hessisch 2022 was sadly drawing to a close. Still, there is plenty more to see and do, including getting decent-quality rocker gaskets for the journey home. Should be able to find some suitable gaskets in the trade/swap meet area of the show. With my friend Caroline’s expert supervision, I should be able … Read more

Exploring the Isle of Lewis

my kind of road…

Island hopping Kind of odd that within the first few days of being on the Isle of Lewis, I’m already hopping onto another Island! The Western Isles are made up of literally hundreds of different sized islands that go to make up the island collective that is the Outer Hebrides. Of these, there are six … Read more

Friends by the sea

making new friends by the sea

Great garden, great people Sometimes you find a great stopover and don’t really want to move on. The beautiful Sandown Castle community garden was like that. A beautiful location right by the sea, you can understand why it has won awards. Currently, it’s been shortlisted for the 2020 community garden of the year within the … Read more

Art from the ashes of a bus fire

the sumptuous exhibition catalogue of Julie Mehretu retrospective

Transformative art Strange how art can often bring a transformative experience. When embraced, it can turn things around and make you see things from a new perspective. When I lost my last bus in a dramatic fire, I had no idea where this event would lead me or even end up. On a very practical … Read more

Island hopping to Iona

stunning landscapes everywhere you go on this road trip

Mulls spiritual neighbour Getting to the final destination on a road trip is as much a part of the experience as the destination itself. This is seriously the case on the Isle of Mull as we headed to Iona. The roads and landscape are just so engaging. You want to stop every 5 mins just … Read more

Meandering on the Isle of Mull

making the most of the sunshine on Lochbuie

Memory making on Mull.

Initially, we’d thought Lochbuie might be a one-night stopover for us on the way to other places on the Island of Mull. However, we both fell in love with the area as soon as we arrived.

at home in the Lochbuie landscape
at home in the Lochbuie landscape

Initially, we were thinking of going to the small Island of Iona next, but being the Easter holidays, thought that it might be pretty busy then. So more than happy to be staying here over the Easter weekend, plus a few days afterwards too!

Surrounded by beauty

Lochbuie is a wonderful place to just unwind and relax. Interesting places to walk to and see nearby, or just a very chilled area to relax and simply be. Just what the doctor ordered!

a wonderful view to wake up to
a wonderful view to wake up to

Then, of course, there are the views. It’s hard not to be inspired when you wake up with views like this all around you. That and all the surrounding wildlife too of course!

Lochbuie landscape
Lochbuie landscape

From micro to macro, there was always something interesting to see or experience. It’s a place that makes you just want to explore more.

the remains of Moy Castle at Lochbuie
the remains of Moy Castle at Lochbuie

Island inspiration

Often it’s inspiring to see a ‘new and different horizon’ on each day on a road trip. It can equally be important to make the most of any special places you might find along the way. To us, this place was very special, and we loved spending a few days in the area.

Mingling with some Lochbuie locals
Mingling with some Lochbuie locals

It’s important to take time out to make memories. Experience more of what a place has to offer. We felt that we did that here in Lochbuie… and then some!

exploring Lochbuie
exploring Lochbuie

The lack of facilities and remoteness is maybe not for everyone, but it was great for us! Having the solar panel set up and some great weather, we were all good! Plus of course, there was the Old Post Office for any additional food supplies too.

Marvellous Mull

We got to see the birth of a baby lamb, fish jumping in the sea. A tiny chapel all to ourselves on Easter. Getting woken by the sound of passing sheep in the morning. Even saw an otter pop above the water to say ‘hello’.

Highland cattle grabbing a bite to eat
Highland cattle grabbing a bite to eat

Cows on the beach, rocks on the shoreline that made perfect chairs. Night-time fires, a castle ruin and some delicious food cooked on our little Trangia stove. This has been a brilliant start to our road trip!

natures designer rock chair
natures designer rock chair

Heading to the Island of Iona

The Isle of Iona was a nearby island that we wanted to visit. With its historical Christian heritage, Easter would have been a very busy time there. Having enjoyed a quiet Easter at Lochbuie, we decided to hit the road again and make our way across the Island to catch a ferry to Iona. Hopefully, it should be less busy now, so a better time to visit?

making the most of the sunshine on Lochbuie
making the most of the sunshine on Lochbuie

Although sad to move on and leave our time at Lochbuie, it was great to be back on the road again. The weather remained glorious and the views on the road fantastic. Living the road trip dream! 🙂

living the road trip dream
living the road trip dream

Looking forward to our next road trip destination of Iona, although we won’t be able to take our camper on the island itself! Time for a change…

 

Isle of Mull’s raw and rugged beauty

shorefront camping… here will do nicely

Lochbuie experience Being able to catch the earlier ferry to Mull was a real win. Not only did we witness a beautiful sunset, but be we also still had some late evening sunshine to drive in when we arrived. A big help when driving on the unfamiliar ‘interesting’ winding single track roads to our destination … Read more

Ben Pon Barndoor and vintage VW show 2018

super cool barndoor bus with its distinctive flush front peak above the front windows

Ben Pon Show Well, looks like I have another really cool road trip to look forward to! I’ve finally booked my tickets to the Ben Pon 2nd Barndoor Gathering and Vintage VW Show that takes place on the weekend of 19th-20th May 2018 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. ‘The original idea for the T1 van or Volkswagen Type … Read more

Heading south to Nuremberg

beautiful landscaped grounds with lakes and trails for walking/running or biking in

Auf Wiedersehen Wolfsburg After a couple of happy days at Wolfsburg looking at old cars, it was time to push on to somewhere new and do something different for a bit. I did a some looking around and found what sounded to be an interesting Stellplatze (German stopover equivalent of French Aires) in Nuremberg, a city … Read more

meeting interesting characters and the rarest of buses on our road trip

beautiful early morning start at the Metal bridge Inn

Well after a good nights sleep, it was an early-ish start as we had to push on and get back home in the next couple of days. Fortunately our route home would take us near the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, so not the worst scenery ahead for the first part of the … Read more

simple things are often the best – making dreams come true at Loch Lubnaig

a simple dream come true, tea on the banks of Loch Lubnaig

After a fantastic day out at Jupiter Artland, we pushed on to find somewhere to stay for the night. We decided to head to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park region for the evening as we wanted to spend some time taking in some of Scotland’s natural gallery, that is its scenery and landscape. Not a bad little view … Read more

old skool technology, heritage, cashmere wool and an awesome Mississippi mud pie!

hands up if you like Cashmere

Apparently this trip is not all about me! After last nights bar room sing along, much to Lornas delight, we found out that Hawick is famous for Cashmere wool and knitting! So after a full Scottish breakfast with some Haggis, we headed off to explore the town and find the knitting heritage museum and visitor centre of the … Read more