Everyone rose late today on purpose.
Apart from Angus, Mr Moore, Tom and his mate Matt. Those guys are machines and want to walk and climb everything. The climb and walking yesterday had been tough on my knees, so today Laura took us to a spot nearby with a cool dark waterfall and little river to relax beside.
We had planned to up and out early so as to avoid the heat of the day. We had gotten up at a reasonable time, watered and breakfasted ourselves, made lunch for the day, packed climbing and walking kit, sun-creamed up, tidied up and still people weren’t awake….
Perched high up on the cliff tops overlooking South Stack, the sun was brilliant in the morning. It was completely clear but very windy so we decided to find a more calm place to cook up breakfast. I was really looking forward to some legitimate free range eggs!
The morning sun doesn’t penetrate the van. Afterall, a skin of solid metal is pretty opaque and once the windows are covered up with bits and pieces of material and foil (I’ve not yet sorted proper curtains) it stay dark for a long time into the day. The heat however, that, picks up fairly quickly once it lands on the van. Even as insulated as I could make it, once the sun is up, you are sleeping in an oven and have limited time before it becomes unbearable and you have to open a door. Best make sure you’re dressed when this happens…
Seems like recently I’ve been running around at 1000mph. Obviously not literally, that would be pretty incredible but you know that feeling when your brain is just full and buzzing with the days events? It feels like a tin of bees left on a portch on a sunny day. I’m fine if you leave me alone to deal with it, but open me up and it will be loud, messy and someone will get hurt.
Due to the unique way I choose to live my life, I am now moving into my van full time. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I read Vandogs blog and I’m super excited to give it a go! This means the little bits and pieces that I’ve put up with being not quite finished need to be done, and soon!
I’ve got a motorbike, a big one. I’ve had it for MANY years and occasionally it breaks down. When it breaks down its a ball-ache to push to a garage. So, one of the reasons for owning the Van is to move the bike when this happens.
We had chosen to stop at a caravan park last night because we thought it prudent to shower before meeting our friend for a night out. After 4 nights wild camping with only a brief dip in the ocean to quell the growing stench, we could not have chosen a better place. The campsite facilities were amazing with actually hot, powerful showers and decent washing up facilities.
There is a joke in England that throughout the ages, after all the clan wars were done, the political arguments settled and the bar brawls ended, the border to Scotland is actually demarcated by the sudden absence of the midge. A vampiric little blighter that serves no other purpose than to make the inhabitants of Scotland want to peel off their skin for the itching. Luckily, up to this point we have avoided them. However I think this morning they had a meeting and realised they had let us slip past so converged on us in mass at sunrise. Buzzing around the van, there was a midge cloud so thick you could have described it as midge soup. Instead we chose to drive away and fix breakfast somewhere less dangerous for our skins. They must have been so annoyed not to even get a taste of our exotic southern blood.
Grey misty weather greeted us, like a fluffy throw that’s been left in the summer house after a rain shower. It was dank but still comforting as the warmth of the sunshine attempted to start the day. In the words of a young boy from skye, “What makes a great view – distance”. The clouds smothered any hope of a view from the top of Old Man of Stowr and as beautiful the coastline is, there was no distance to be had this morning.
