Two Go Round a Bit of Britain

[DBK]

Thank you. I’ve got an older iPhone and it’s not great. I’m looking at getting a high performance compact camera instead of my Canon Eos, just want something smaller to carry in my pocket.

It depends what you want to photograph. If it is just general "holiday snaps" then a modern device like current iPhone and Google Pixels are very good. For nature photography of birds in the distance or close ups of flowers a DSLR or Mirrorless with an appropriate lens is probably a better choice.

 

[Larafach]

It depends what you want to photograph. If it is just general "holiday snaps" then a modern device like current iPhone and Google Pixels are very good. For nature photography of birds in the distance or close ups of flowers a DSLR or Mirrorless with an appropriate lens is probably a better choice.

Cheers for the info. I’ve already got a DSLR so I’ve been looking at something a bit smaller like a Canon Powershot. It’ll be a late Birthday present to me

 

[Chrisvh]

If you pass or call into Aberystwyth these guys have some great wines plus you can get some Spanish deli items.

https://ultracomida.co.uk/

Highly recommended. As well as excellent wines they sell fantastic Spanish anchovies and white tuna. Also have branches in Narbeth and Aberystwyth. Also do authentic tapas.

 

[DBK]

We moved today to the Western Lakes side of the Lake District. The shortest route by some margin would have been to have gone clockwise round the Lake's up the West Cumbrian coast. But instead I chose the longer route up the M6 and then via Keswick and Cockermouth. I like going over Shap summit for some reason, possibly because many holidays with my parents started with a CROSSING of Shap and the place always reminds me of those happy times.

Just before Shap we stopped at Tebay services which are well known for good food and local produce in their farm shop. It was packed with people but I bought some blue cheese made from unpasteurised milk which will help bump up my gut flora population.*

We stopped in Cockermouth to shop at the Sainsburys there, just spotting in time it was a pay and display park! I had parked across three bays but I found a bay in a corner where I could park "correctly" in a single bay even though the vehicle jutted out a bit. This I hoped, after buying a ticket would avoid me being given a ticket.

Our destination was only 20 minutes or so beyond Cockermouth. The Dockray Meadow CMC site has no toilet block and some very small pitches. We only had about half a dozen to choose from and fortunately one of these was reasonable and not under trees as most of the others available were. They do have some normal sized pitches but I had booked a "no awning" pitch and these are much smaller.

The blue blob as usual shows where we are now.

After lunch we walked around the Cogra Moss lake a short distance above the site. It isn't marked on the map below but there is now a path going all around the lake. The CMC site is shown as some wiggly lines just below the word SOTLAS in the top left.

It isn't actually a lake but a small reservoir and was formerly a moss or marshy area, hence the name. A Cockermouth angling club hold the fishing rights and in this photo below you can just see an angler in waders fly fishing for trout.

The peak on the left is Blake Fell which is also shown on the map above. This is my SOTA target for Wednesday and I think it is going to be a challenge as it is some years since I did anything like this!

* Apologies if this is too much information but I know how popular TOILET threads are on MHF.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Wait til you get well north into Scotland. Every other vehicle is a MH and nearly always a rental.

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[DBK]

Wait til you get well north into Scotland. Every other vehicle is a MH and nearly always a rental.

Haven't seen many rental MHs so far but I suspect few of those renting for a short period will join the CMC. I suspect the CMC may be missing a trick not being able to grab this "passing trade".

 

[royandsharont]

my new dealer hires vans and they have CACC membership, not sure how that works but they do.

 

[pandas]

It depends what you want to photograph. If it is just general "holiday snaps" then a modern device like current iPhone and Google Pixels are very good. For nature photography of birds in the distance or close ups of flowers a DSLR or Mirrorless with an appropriate lens is probably a better choice.

the iPhone 12 pro has all I would now need even changing the aperture once the shot has been taken plus a really neat feature is the extended shot time - ie granddaughter photo she blinks just as the photo is taken - having taken the shot you can move the shot on to when she isn't blinking. how does it do that?

iPhone

Designed for Apple Intelligence. Discover the new iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

www.apple.com

 

[DBK]

having taken the shot you can move the shot on to when she isn't blinking. how does it do that?

I guess it must be taking a video all the time and storing it in memory - to be automatically discarded afterwards if not required for that sort of adjustment. Clever stuff.

 

[Gellyneck]

I like going over Shap summit for some reason, possibly because many holidays with my parents started with a CROSSING of Shap and the place always reminds me of those happy times.

So you're a masochist too John! Nothing like being stuck in a queue of artics crawling up Shap before it was the motorway!

Haven't seen many rental MHs so far but I suspect few of those renting for a short period will join the CMC. I suspect the CMC may be missing a trick not being able to grab this "passing trade".

A neighbour a few doors along had a rental motorhome for a festival in Keswick at the weekend. SwiftGo show this on their website "Access 2,700 Caravan & Motorhome Club sites across the UK & Ireland" and this was confirmed when they collected it. They'd pre-booked an independent site though.

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[Larafach]

the iPhone 12 pro has all I would now need even changing the aperture once the shot has been taken plus a really neat feature is the extended shot time - ie granddaughter photo she blinks just as the photo is taken - having taken the shot you can move the shot on to when she isn't blinking. how does it do that?

iPhone

Designed for Apple Intelligence. Discover the new iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

www.apple.com

Just had a quick look and the 12 Pro would cost me £60 a month!
I currently have a sim only deal for £16 with plenty of data. I’m way too tight to pay £60

 

[Tonks]

Just had a quick look and the 12 Pro would cost me £60 a month!
I currently have a sim only deal for £16 with plenty of data. I’m way too tight to pay £60

I too said 'no thanks' when offered the iPhone 12 for £64 per month...
Instead, I recently bought an iPhone 11 Pro outright at a massive discount, presumably from one of the companies supplying phone contracts who have now all moved to the 12. I stayed on my SIM only deal. I've been very pleased with the camera the 11Pro has, as well as the flexibility of using apps which my last phone was too old and creaky to run! To be honest, my phone is only used as a phone for about 2% of it's usage. The rest of the time is for messages, apps, email, 'tinternet searches etc.

 

[pandas]

I too said 'no thanks' when offered the iPhone 12 for £64 per month...
Instead, I recently bought an iPhone 11 Pro outright at a massive discount, presumably from one of the companies supplying phone contracts who have now all moved to the 12. I stayed on my SIM only deal. I've been very pleased with the camera the 11Pro has, as well as the flexibility of using apps which my last phone was too old and creaky to run! To be honest, my phone is only used as a phone for about 2% of it's usage. The rest of the time is for messages, apps, email, 'tinternet searches etc.

Yes the 11does most stuff except the telephoto and the camera results are really good.

 

[DBK]

We had a gentle day today, partly because I wanted to rest a bit before tomorrow's ascent of Blake Fell. Also, any plans we might have had would have been derailed by "pumpgate" which started last night with the water pump playing up. I've covered the replacement of the pump this morning in a seperate thread.

The Joy of a Spare Pump - and Easy Access!

A couple of years ago I thought our Whale water pump was on the way out as it was running for a long time after a tap was turned off. So I bought a replacement and stored it at the bottom of a cupboard in the MH ready to be installed when necessary. However, the existing pump cleared its throat...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

After lunch I did a short walk from the site using footpaths to the village, more a hamlet, of Lamplugh.

I took this shot just outside the site.

Only for those who think CMC sites are prison camps.

Nearing Lamplugh Church we came across some cattle.

And the church itself, in the red sandstone many churches around here are constructed from.

Just outside the village some new houses were being built.

And for the adventurous there is a complex of barns on sale just down the road from here with planning permission to convert into 4 dwellings for £180,000.

Tomorrow's episode should include some bigger views.

If I get up the hill.........

 

[DBK]

The weather on our last full day in the Lake District before we head off to Scotland tomorrow was perfect, blue skies, not a breath of wind and not too warm

Due to my own fault I was a bit late setting off for Blake Fell this morning from the Dockray Meadow CMC site near Lamplugh. Taking the traditional path described by Alfred Wainwright past Cogra Moss then by Low and High Pen it took me about 90 minutes to reach the summit of Blake Fell, pictured below:



The reason for walking up to the top of this hill was to play with my radio!

There are views from the summit at the end of this post but before that here's the boring radio stuff.

I started with 40m CW - Morse code for non-Hams.

Several station responded to my first call but I recognised Manuel (callsign EA2DT) transmitting from Spain amongst them and he was my first QSO in the log. My awful CW skills were front of stage for the next 15 minutes while I added another 8 QSOs. It is only looking at the log which showed me it was all done in a quarter of an hour. At the time it felt much longer and my brain was starting to whimper and wanted to hide in a corner of my skull.

Time was against me due to the late start. I had promised Mrs DBK I would be back by 14:00 and keen though I was to try 20m CW I switched to 2m FM (VHF) for a little experiment. What would be the response if I called CQ on the 2m calling channel without posting any spot in advance?

The answer was another mini pile-up and 4 QSOs were logged. I could have worked many more but the clock had ticked its last tock and I had to come down off the fell at this point.

The results of my little experiment confirmed what I already knew I think - 2m FM is very popular around here. If I’d tried this in Devon I suspect there might be no replies at all.

Here are a couple of maps of today’s activity.

The UK only:

A wider view:

And some views from the summit. The identification of peaks is provisional and I’m sure LD experts will correct me if I’m wrong!

Grasmoor in the centre with Whiteside to the left.



Looking south east into the centre of the Lake District.



The glimpse of water in the distance might be Buttermere.

And finally looking out west over Cogra Moss.



I was back at the MH with five minutes to spare and was rewarded for my punctuality by an excellent lunch which I accompanied with a cold beer.

Tomorrow we drive to Fort William.

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[royandsharont]

Is that your silver PVC in the photo? If so do I spot side tie down straps coming from half way up your canopy. I’ve never seen anyone with extras here, how do you fit it or is it the long one going over to the opposite side. Why have the 2 sets of tie downs rather than just the canopy rail ones? Nice scenery

 

[DBK]

Is that your silver PVC in the photo? If so do I spot side tie down straps coming from half way up your canopy. I’ve never seen anyone with extras here, how do you fit it or is it the long one going over to the opposite side. Why have the 2 sets of tie downs rather than just the canopy rail ones? Nice scenery

You've lost me there. A picture of our PVC is in the first post on this thread. I do have tie-downs which fit to the outer rail bit but we haven't used them on this trip.

 

[royandsharont]

This one you posted earlier today of the site. The PVC in the middle of the shot almost seems to have 3 or 4 tie downs with lights on the legs. I guess it’s not yours then

 

[DBK]

Yesterday we left the Lake District and drove to Fort William on the Scottish West Coast. Traffic was generally light but it still took us nearly 6 hours including a lunch stop and a supermarket shopping stop. The latter at the large Asda just north of Carlisle which is a stone's throw from the M6 and has plenty of parking for MHs.

I've done this journey in a car many times but after leaving Glasgow and crossing the Erskine bridge the stretch up the side of Loch Lomond can only be described as unpleasant in a MH. There are some quite narrow sections which almost anywhere else would be no problem but here the main issue I'm afraid, in my experience yesterday, were other MHs. Several times I had to brake fairly hard and pull over to the left to avoid a rapidly moving MH with its wing mirror over the white line. It didn't seriously upset me, I gave up trying to teach others how to drive years ago, but it was mildly annoying and detracted from the enjoyment of the journey.

When we got to my brother's house in Fort William, where we are staying for the weekend, and told him of my experiences he replied with "I never go that way now, even in a car". The better way is to turn off as you approach Glasgow onto the M73 for Stirling, then Callander to Tyndrum. It takes a few minutes longer but avoids the traffic around Glasgow and of course Loch Lomond. But then if you haven't seen Loch Lomond you will miss seeing the largest freshwater lake in Britain by surface area, although it is only the third largest in the UK as there are two larger ones in NI.

But whichever route we had taken it would have ended at Fort William and under the blue blob on this map.

We woke to a damp morning today but it was raining only very lightly and we weren't put off a short walk in Glen Nevis this afternoon.

Glen Nevis is the valley of the River Nevis which flows below Ben Nevis. In the map below it run just to the east of Fort William running NW to SE where "Achintee" can be seen on the map.

This is looking up Glen Nevis.

This is as close as we got to seeing Ben Nevis.

"The Ben" is up there somewhere, in the clouds. And far above what you can see in the photo below. The summit of Ben Nevis is about four kilometres beyond the top of this "sub-summit" called Meall an t Suidhe.

You can see a number of cars parked to the right of the building in the photo above. This is the start of the most popular route to the summit of Ben Nevis, often called the "Tourist Trail". It is hard to see in the picture but it stretches off to the right, gradually climbing and following the boundary between the fields and the slope of the hill.

Scotland has had a very dry summer with less than half the usual rainfall in this area. Which is reflected in the amount of water in the River Nevis. The river bed would not normally be exposed like this even at this time of year at the end of the summer.

And if you live and work in Glen Nevis what other registration number would you have? It's genuine in case anyone is wondering.

Another hill and some radio beeping beckons tomorrow.

 

[DBK]

There was a promising sunset tonight. Not the most spectacular but it suggests a better day tomorrow.

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[Nirvanauk]

We are at fort William at the moment and heading south, believe me the number of motorhomes gets far worse as you head north. There are some nice campsites on the other side of Loch Lomond , if you can get in.

 

[royandsharont]

We were fortunate enough to see the summit on our honeymoon 42 years ago and once again, for one day only, around 2013 whilst we were camped at Bunree for a week and we took the Coran Ferry with our bikes and rode north along that very quiet side of the Loch. It was nice to see again

 

[DBK]

The weather yesterday was excellent and after a little bit of shopping in Fort William in the morning my brother and I walked up a local hill in the afternoon which you can see on this map a little south west of Fort William as a green blob with the number 47 on it.

The hill is marked on the OS map as Druimarbin although my map of SOTA summits (above) gives it the Gaelic name of Druim na h-Earba. Of course the reason for coming up here was to do a little bit of radio stuff, which I won't describe, but between us we took a few photographs which might be of interest.

Me (looking my scruffiest) and Charlie. Ben Nevis in the background.

Putting the mast up. (Ben Nevis in the background again. )

Looking south west down Loch Linnhe. The figure is my brother. There was no breeze and the temperature was a reasonable (for Scotland) 15C.

Looking the other way over Fort William. The dip in the horizon the other side of Fort William is the start of the Great Glen which leads via Loch Lochy and Loch Ness to Inverness.

There is a small parking area at the start of the path to the summit which is regularly used by MHs to overnight.

Tomorrow we drive further up the west coast to Morvich but sadly the weather forecast is not looking hopeful. It may be damp.

 

[Nirvanauk]

We wernt to far away staying at Corpach for a few days. Now, left all those tou and bad drivers behind and in Luss.

 

[royandsharont]

All looks great. Not sure whether you will pass this CAMPSITE but if you did & were able to give it a quick once over I would be very appreciated. We fancied staying here for some weeks as it was in the edge of Fort William, so easy for shops & we could easily access the Great Glenn cycle path so we could keep occupied for many days & catch the scenic train to Mallaig. It is an ACSI site too which enables us to look up in detail the facilities Linnhe Lochside Holidays PH33 7NL and It seemed pretty good for a longer stay.
Enjoying the info & photos thanks

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[DBK]

All looks great. Not sure whether you will pass this CAMPSITE but if you did & were able to give it a quick once over I would be very appreciated. We fancied staying here for some weeks as it was in the edge of Fort William, so easy for shops & we could easily access the Great Glenn cycle path so we could keep occupied for many days & catch the scenic train to Mallaig. It is an ACSI site too which enables us to look up in detail the facilities Linnhe Lochside Holidays PH33 7NL and It seemed pretty good for a longer stay.
Enjoying the info & photos thanks

Sadly we won't be going that way but from I can see it looks a nice place. I have camped there before but it was literally 50 years ago so things may have changed a bit in the intervening years. There is more cycling at Nevis Range. Although it has some hairy mountain bike routes there are forest tracks which go for miles. We were there today and I'll write it up in a while.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Sadly we won't be going that way but from I can see it looks a nice place. I have camped there before but it was literally 50 years ago so things may have changed a bit in the intervening years. There is more cycling at Nevis Range. Although it has some hairy mountain bike routes there are forest tracks which go for miles. We were there today and I'll write it up in a while.

If you want a relaxing break on your way down then I can well recommend Luss campsite but you will need a reservation.

 

[fat haggis]

All looks great. Not sure whether you will pass this CAMPSITE but if you did & were able to give it a quick once over I would be very appreciated. We fancied staying here for some weeks as it was in the edge of Fort William, so easy for shops & we could easily access the Great Glenn cycle path so we could keep occupied for many days & catch the scenic train to Mallaig. It is an ACSI site too which enables us to look up in detail the facilities Linnhe Lochside Holidays PH33 7NL and It seemed pretty good for a longer stay.
Enjoying the info & photos thanks

I have stayed a few times linnhe site good clean and has its own pvt beach and good woodland walks. I highly recommend the site.

 

[royandsharont]

Thank for that assistance DBK & fat haggis. I think we shall give it a go. We loved Bunree but the main road was too narrow & fast for what we consider proper safe cycling, although I believe it is now all cycle lane, but too far from shops without moving the van. The new one will be much smaller so we could but we like to cycle (under our own steam) around the area.

 

[Spriddler]

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