France, Spain and Portugal 2017 – 2018
We sold our house in September 2017 before leaving for another winter tour of Europe. Leaving a small number of possessions in a storage unit in Scotland we set off, this time unsure where we would eventually choose as our next home. We have a temporary base in Scotland and will buy another house when we get home in the spring but in the meantime, we have chosen to overwinter in the warmth of southern Europe and to explore anywhere that takes our fancy. Read about our travels, the routes we have taken, the overnight stops and the many wonderful people we have met on our way.
Read About This TripEurope 2016 – 2017
After our tour of Scotland in the first half of 2016 we went home for the month of August. Four weeks later we left for our extended tour of Europe. We visited The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal. Following the sunshine we had our first Christmas and New Year in the motorhome and had a wonderful time.
Read About This TripThe North Coast 500
We drove this wonderful route beginning in Oban, diverting via the Isle of Tiree then north west before following the northern coastline of Scotland and down the east coast. We took in some of the wildest and most rugged countryside in the UK. The standard route is a 500 mile circuit and some of the roads aren’t suitable for a big motorhome so we made a few changes along the way. We took the tour slowly, taking five weeks to complete it and taking the time to stop and breathe the fresh air, play some golf, eat some local food and just live slowly. If you are planning the tour please be aware that since we did it in 2016 it has grown enormously in popularity and you would be best advised to book some stopovers along the way. Many motorhomers believe that it is easy to find places to stop in Scotland but on a route like this, where hundreds of motorhomes are almost constantly travelling, it can become overcrowded. It is also not so easy to find places to empty and refill your tanks. Some of the machair (grass near to the sea) is very fragile and there is a real danger that motorhomes are damaging it beyond repair. Please note that on single track roads the laybys are passing places, not places to pull up and take a rest. We’ve noticed that motorhomes are becoming unpopular in lots of places because of the behaviour of a few thoughtless people.
Read About This TripFrance & Spain in the Autumn
In September 2015 we toured France and Spain for 10 weeks. We had three aims in mind. The first was to take our time visiting some of the smaller, less touristy parts of France and simply enjoy the lifestyle, the fresh air, the good food, the cheese and of course the wine. We have toured in France many times before but often with a timetable, meaning that we passed by many places that deserved a longer look. The second aim was to drive through Spain and warm our bones after a very wet Scottish summer. The third was a very practical aim – we wanted to find out if we could wander through Europe and spend the same or only a little more than we do at home. We are retired but still full of life – the question is whether we can indulge our travel bug on the fixed income that retirement brings. In the blog you can read of our adventures and see our final accounts. You might be surprised.
Read About This TripScottish Islands
There is nowhere quite like the islands off the west coast of Scotland. We have toured a number of them over the years, from the tiny beauty that is Cumbrae just off the coast of Largs near Glasgow to the wild magnificence of the Outer Hebrides. In 2016 we visit two of them beginning with a trip to Tiree to visit our friend Rhoda who is making an incredible job of renovating and running her croft. We also popped across to Skye for a few days, mostly to visit the Edinbane Hotel to listen to live Scottish music.
Read About This Trip