Harvey RIP

Our poor little darling cat was hit by a car on Monday night. Dee found her next morning after spending a sleepless night worrying for her - she hadn't been out all night before.

We only had her for some months but she had found her place in our home and our hearts... Missing her..

Eshaness campsite, Shetland

Finally I have an internet connection that stay on long enough to post photos! Best not risk it though, so I'll just send this photo on it's own.

The photo is from the Shetland campsite in Eshaness, with fantastic views to the sea!

Another day - another round of planting and weeding

The amount of weeds from one small section of the bed I was working on is amazing!



Potato plants showing up in bizarre areas! Perhaps we didn't get them all out, Em! - right next to the raspberry plants"




How our raised bed looks now with:
Courgettes, lettuce, radish, garlic plant (tiny one to the left, above the leeks), and of course leeks.














This pic shows the drills I dug to plant 2 rows of cauliflowers and one row of broccoli.




Spud plant up close..











The finnish flowers!







The area I worked - where the amount of weeds came from!
I planted the little spinach plants the Greek lady gave me!

Allotment update

Ah! It's been a while since we've posted about the allotment. I've spent some time there recently and it's beginning to show an improvement. The current plantation is:

Leeks, onions, potatoes, carrots, raspberries, courgettes and lettuce and some Finnish flowers! Over the weekend, I hope to get there to plant some corn, broccoli and cauliflower, and perhaps some sunflowers. We've decided to keep the tomatoes at home as last summer's crop was great and so accessible.

We've some new neighbours - and I'm horrendously jealous of their plot. Seems to be weed free. All they've had to do is clear the grass and the top growth. Our plot was, and still is, inundated with all sorts of weeds, especially the dreaded bindweed. You could spend the whole year clearing the plot and still have some bindweed in there :@








Now for some pics of our plot:







This is where I've been focusing my attention recently. Spuds are in and so too all the carrots and onions in this space.











The leeks in the raised bed - next to the leeks are lettuce and courgettes















The raspberry bushes









before all my hard work today - more pics tomorrow

Burntisland

Again, beaches attracted us and we set up camp in Burntisland - across the water from Edinburgh.

The site was part of a massive holiday home complex...not the best in terms of facilities but it did the job.

From Burntisland, we made our way to visit Scotland's secret bunker! (check it out: http://www.secretbunker.co.uk/ )














Onwards to St. Andrews

Scotland! Finally...

We finally made it to Scotland! We had a pit-stop along the way..in a town I can't remember!!

Sheep talking!

Sheep talking is surprisingly easy!

It's a long way to....er....Aberdeen!

Thurs 24th April:
We left Manchester after 3pm with a full tank, instructions left with Steve for the cat and the map on my knee. Our first destination was north of the Lake District on the Cumbrian coast. The idyllic views of the countryside were welcome after the hecticness and aggression of motorway driving. Our fears of big hills were quashed when Fritz showed he was more than capable of tackling the longest and steepest hills (albeit slowly and grudgingly!)

Our campsite for the night was in St.Bees. With the sun close to setting we arrived and set up Fritz for the night!
Below some pics..


























The site was more or less on the beach and we had terrific views. The site was mostly static motorhomes & caravans.

Friday 25th April:
We crossed the country the next day using A roads instead of the motorways.
Our target was Hadrian's Wall at Haltwhistle. We set up camp in a site very close to the wall..with a duck & pond for a neighbour!















We did some walking along the wall
and eventually found the pub!

Preparations for our first trip

Not long after buying Fritz (the camper) we had a long list of things that needed fixing, scrubbing, mending, stitching etc.
Emma set about making new covers for the seats & cushions and brand new curtains (from second hand curtains bought for a pricey £2 from Oxfam). She worked like mad yoke every evening to get them ready for our departure date which was fast approaching. As you can see, Harvey oversaw the process keeping Emma on her toes and to schedule!


While Emma was busy with needles and thread, I set about the task of giving Fritz his first bath and a good auld scrubbing.

We had the van serviced unfortunately he was unable to find the source of the leak in the front footwells (see pic.).

This needs further investigation in June when Fritz is due his next MOT.

So, we had been getting ready for ages - getting all the bits and pieces that would make life easier on the road and on-site.

Time drew nearer to our departure day to the north...