tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48442679956409141062024-03-28T23:42:36.612+00:00Small Van - Big AdventuresBag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-57739462440499194972024-03-28T08:18:00.001+00:002024-03-28T20:35:50.478+00:00Not giving up blogging - but . . . Thank you so much Rambler, for kicking me up the bottom and asking if I was still blogging.
Err, yes I am blogging, sort of, but only in my head, nothing has got as far as the screen. I do not really want to stop because over the years blogging has been a balm, a joy and a mostly wonderful experience. I really miss the interaction and companionship. So why have I not published a new post Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-81102661467734163302023-12-19T20:05:00.006+00:002023-12-19T20:09:44.462+00:00Oh, I needed thatA break in the clouds, the only one we are forecast to get all week. I knew it would be so good for me to make the effort and get outside. Even so, I nearly managed to talk myself out of it and turn the sewing machine on instead.
But I kicked myself hard up the bottom and took Blue Bus out rationalising that I could just park up, make a mug of tea, turn around and go home . . . but I am so Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-57673188567250392512023-12-18T09:43:00.006+00:002023-12-18T09:46:35.845+00:00Go outside. Sit down. Wait. Morning all, been a bit quiet around here, hasn't it? No reason other than 21st century life getting in the way and seeming to consume nearly all available hours, plus a 10-year-old shoulder injury decided to make a return visit and that has somewhat slowed me down. But in the context of political lunacy, economic uncertainty, climate change and wars in places there really should not be Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-50013564537291118332023-11-20T06:43:00.007+00:002023-11-20T07:07:40.534+00:00Glass half fullHow can it possibly be more than a decade - ELEVEN YEARS - since I brought home a starved, terrified, bag of bones?
That same walking-skeleton-with-fur-sprayed-on who became Little Miss Perfect, the chunky monkey who never put a foot wrong.
I have released her Spirit; I did so long ago and know that she's out there somewhere living her very best afterlife with her original human. The Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-81294447123011069572023-11-18T08:46:00.002+00:002023-11-18T08:48:33.441+00:00Priorities ?This is not a "complaint" blog because multiple times a day I realise how incredibly fortunate I am to be in a position where too much to do in the house and garden is an exceptional privilege, and one I do not take for granted.
BUT, does anyone else sometimes think they have their priorities stuffed up? Right now, that feels like me.
There has been something of a radio silence here because Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-5256081254266061562023-11-10T13:03:00.003+00:002023-11-10T13:03:43.763+00:00First snow ! ☃️ ☃️ ☃️ It would be mean to keep this all to myself. 😀 Today, the sky really is that clear, that blue.
First snow picture of 2023. Skiddaw.
Absolutely bloomin' gorgeous outside today, and much being accomplished in the garden.
Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-70685488263109183752023-11-08T07:46:00.002+00:002023-11-08T07:46:44.138+00:00Comments - this is bizarreThank you for visiting yesterday, and for the comments.
I am having the most bizarre time with Blogger at present. Clearly I am signed in because otherwise I would not be able to post this - but I cannot reply to any of the comments left yesterday. I have tried in Safari (both regular and private mode), Firefox and Chrome. I'm on the same computer I used yesterday which has not been rebootedBag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-3932549138333683522023-11-07T07:53:00.001+00:002023-11-07T07:53:45.221+00:00Crossing Borders, and Accidentally AWOLOoops. Where did the last month go? It has been fully and thoroughly occupied by gardening, builders doing some long-overdue work to the house undercroft, more new windows, and the minutiae of “life in general”.
All very time consuming accompanied by many thoughts of how lucky I am to be doing it all.
All completely irrelevant to a blog which I am trying to keep focussed on my campervan.
Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-63466324158099395392023-10-06T10:14:00.003+01:002023-10-06T16:56:59.913+01:00It Begins AgainThis post is not about camping or "campervanning", other than very indirectly. It is about books and as I usually take a book with me when I'm out in the van (and it is my blog, my rules 😁) I can make an unrelated post fit the brief.
A very long time ago (I was 10 years old) I first discovered The Hobbit and remember reading it over the Christmas holiday. The following summer I got hold of aBag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-54615937207679812172023-09-22T10:05:00.000+01:002023-09-22T10:05:01.114+01:00I do not need . . .This year I really do not need to buy any Christmas decorations. I already have dozens, so many that there are years when not everything makes it out of the boxes. But I admit my wander through Lakes Home Centre last week did whet the appetite so I popped back in to see how the shelves were looking laden with this year's temptation. They were looking fairly sparse and bloody expensive.
This Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-84225238842670025312023-09-15T13:31:00.000+01:002023-09-15T13:31:42.781+01:00100 DaysWe interrupt our normal broadcasting . . . because driving to Aldi, Sainsbury's and the swimming pool are not particularly blog-worthy and I have not been anywhere more interesting in the Blue Bus since returning from Scotland.
On the way to stock up with veggies today I stopped at the housewares/DIY/garden/all-sorts-of-bits store on the outside of town. It's a lovely place and often has Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-19158496499018407152023-09-01T06:42:00.009+01:002023-09-01T15:52:32.666+01:00Going it aloneSue in Suffolk left a lovely comment and said she would like to be brave enough to do a similar trip, and Vix egged me on, so here goes. I have included Amazon links not because I expect to earn any money from you but to show what I am talking about (assuming they work . . . I may not have set them up properly). Most items have increased in price since I purchased them, but I did not buy Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-41009593802372322122023-08-29T07:10:00.001+01:002023-08-29T07:10:14.969+01:00A different route homeI cannot lie - the journey up to the Highlands two weeks earlier had not been one of my best. Traffic on the motorway around Glasgow was foul, getting over the Erskine bridge was quite unpleasant and the 'top section' of the A82 as it runs next to Loch Lomond was horrible in the extreme (and I later found out that an hour or so after I went through it was closed because of an accident for three Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-69129687072380715812023-08-28T06:00:00.001+01:002023-08-28T06:00:00.157+01:00Caledonian CanalFinal day, beautiful weather, 200 mile drive tomorrow so a plan to just putter around gently.
In an ideal world I would have driven one mile to the Corran Ferry and crossed over to Ardgour - something I have done a dozen times in the past (I even have a scan of 30 year-old photo to prove it) and theoretically a good way to get over this illogical ferry-fear.
This is another essential, Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-65248298833926160542023-08-24T20:03:00.002+01:002023-08-24T21:25:33.916+01:00Nearing the end - Fort WilliamTo be truthful, whilst I didn't want to leave Morvich and Glenelg themselves, by this time I was just about ready to go home. But I can be a bit bloody-minded and this was one of those occasions. When the trip was planned it was a complete fortnight which would have been the longest I had been away in any van (caravan or motorhome) and I was determined to see if I could do it, for no reason Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-65004495695549375862023-08-23T07:03:00.001+01:002023-08-23T07:03:24.520+01:00"Just think of something lovely"Isn't that what Anaesthetists say as they are putting you under? "Just think of something lovely as you drift off to sleep". This day was one of those (up there with Torridon) I would bring to mind if ever I have to have surgery.
It started with a drive up Mam Ratagan pass, a steep and narrow old military road and through Glen More to get to the small hamlet of Glenelg. I had built up this Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-18804947095002131122023-08-21T06:30:00.001+01:002023-08-21T06:30:00.165+01:00Morvich: hit a wallAfter having to completely change carefully made plans, being constantly on the go for ten days and driving hundreds of miles it was about time I "hit a wall". Thankfully a metaphoric one and not a brick-built item which would inflict damage on darling Blue Bus. After Plockton I travelled a little further to the Caravan Club site at Morvich. The moment I pulled in everything just "breathed outBag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-21911140217565143972023-08-20T07:00:00.006+01:002023-08-20T07:32:59.551+01:00A "squeaky-bum drive" to PlocktonLeaving Kinlochewe for my next campsite only 60 miles away I had plenty of time for a leisurely detour via Plockton, another fondly remembered location. Clearly I was too relaxed and getting cocky at this point because I plugged the destination into my SatNav and did not take the usual step of actually checking the route Garmin had chosen before setting off. Compared to the horror which was the Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-3585766880198106972023-08-19T07:59:00.003+01:002023-08-19T11:14:37.084+01:00Another memory day, Gairloch & PooleweI really need to get a wiggle on otherwise I will still be writing about this holiday when I go on another one! Not complaining though, a little break in the weather means I have been outside continuing the never-ending job of trying to stop the garden going completely feral and getting us ready for winter.
Today we have the edge of Storm Betty and I am rather looking forward to a day hunkered Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-64052017967583281202023-08-12T06:48:00.001+01:002023-08-12T06:48:36.733+01:00Days like this . . . Part two, Am Ploc and CallumOn a rocky outcrop in the middle of the bay is Am Ploc, an open air church. It's a gentle walk across a concrete causeway to reach the promontory which also contains a house that is completely hidden from view unless you approach by boat.
Built into a natural amphitheatre the history of these open air places of worship is just as complicated as much of Scotland's past, and when you mix 'Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-37241035634878733982023-08-11T12:36:00.001+01:002023-08-11T12:36:20.481+01:00Days like this . . . Part one, Torridon VillageEvery now and again a day comes along which is quite magic, the one which you hold jealousy to yourself and bring out the memory in the dark days of a long winter. This one had wall-to-wall sunshine, some of my favourite scenery in the world and just flowed in Soft Time from start to finish. If a day had an anthem this one would be Elbow:
Throw those curtains wide. One day a year like this Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-34466360599341423972023-08-09T10:39:00.004+01:002023-08-09T15:37:39.658+01:00There is something weird about UllapoolHad the most peaceful night at Altnaharra the only downside being constant cloud - with absolutely no lights it would be a marvellous place to look at stars and the night sky.
Another lovely single-track road drive down to Lairg and then a sharp turn right to head west.
I came into the hamlet of Elphin and saw a sign for "Craft Fair" - it would have been rude not to stop. Very lovely Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-62136718010480194092023-08-07T06:15:00.022+01:002023-08-22T07:48:20.462+01:00AltnaharraEvery good holiday has one or two tales that are to be repeated often and remembered most fondly. One of mine from this trip will be the main road from Tongue ➡︎ to Lairg ➡︎ . It's an "A" road - you know about them, yes? They are the big, major trunk roads which make up the backbone of the road network in this country 🤣.
The single track section actually starts back at Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-34492003864372985392023-08-05T09:34:00.004+01:002023-08-05T09:37:05.955+01:00Heading into uncharted 'waters'Took place 18th July.
After what may have been an unnecessary rest day in Culloden (although I did enjoy it) and a "lost" day at Ferry View trying to work out what the heck to do next, it was day five of my holiday before I feel it really began. The uncharted waters - well that is because I was travelling across Caithness and Sutherland's "Flow Country", a landscape I had read about but no Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4844267995640914106.post-34979956521850890472023-08-03T06:33:00.002+01:002023-08-03T06:39:49.603+01:00A random sight-seeing dayPicture-heavy. Happened on 17th July
I had a brief stop at Dunnet Bay, decided I didn't like the campsite there (It is one I had thought I might stay at one day, so it was good to have been able to have a look) and wondered - not for the first time - how the hell it is that so much sand still gets into the van even when you've changed shoes!
I stopped off at Thurso which has the most Bag End Gardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06190496929132717769noreply@blogger.com10