Taking a Defender to every County in the UK..
With a few days off work we decided to head down to South Wales to see some scenery and tick off a few counties. Unfortunately after 1 almost dry day we were hit with torrential rain and high winds.. camping in that is not fun! Still.. the tent did us proud and we had a giggle driving around. The weather did mean very few photos were taken.. hey ho.. 16 counties is nothing to sniff at 🙂
In total 660 miles were covered in 2.5 days.
After a few days off work visiting family and friends we had 1 spare day to head out in the Beast. Doing a circular trip is tough in 1 day.. can’t go too far and have to do some motorway miles just so we can get further afield.
In the end we headed over to the Cotswolds and then the Malvern Hills before heading home via Stratford. The Cotswolds were pretty and delivered an amazing pub find (The Lamb Inn, Great Rissington) but the real show stopper of the day was the Malvern Hills.. stunning place with little towns hanging onto the edge of steep hillside, definitely on the ‘go back for longer’ list.
In total we did 285 miles in 9 hours, with a couple of stops for food and coffee. A long day but great to tick off 4 counties and give the Landy a good run.
Next long trip will be in 2017.. plans are afoot to visit Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of White. All the ferries!! 😀
Our 2nd trip in the Beast is to Scotland and the North! The Map isn’t perfect but gives a good idea of where we went..
Starting at home we headed up to Edinburgh and spent a day sightseeing in the city. We then headed up through the Cairngorms, ending up camping at a site in Aviemore. From there it was up to Inverness and then a gorgeous drive down the south side of Loch Ness and others before meeting up with friends at a cottage in Spean Bridge. After a day of climbing ‘mountains’ and sampling whisky we headed out for a trip up to the Isle of Skye via Eileen Donan Castle… of Highlander fame. At that point we leave our friends and head down through Glencoe and the Trussochs to the Lake District, spending the night in Keswick. Our last day is a leisurely mooch through the Lakes and Yorkshire Dales before blasting down the A1 to home.
In total 1363 miles were covered in the Beast… amazing 🙂
For more info please see the posts below:
There are also galleries with photos from the trip and the map has been updated to show which counties we covered. Overall a fantastic week with amazing views and drives.
Ah, our final day. Today we head home.. but first we take a scenic route through the Lakes and Yorkshire Dales 🙂 
The weather is damp but not shocking today and after a fry up we’re off.
I do love the lakes, Cumbria is a beautiful part of the UK, well worth a visit. Having spent the last week driving around the highlands of Scotland it was interesting to do a comparison. Both regions are stunningly beautiful.. but where Scotland is rugged and impressive, the lakes is picturesque. After driving down through the lakes we head over to North Yorkshire and the Dales. The road is a great one to drive, small but not tiny.. nice and bendy with awesome views. Yup, liked this one 🙂
Stopped for a drink at a pub at one of the many villages along the route and pushed on towards home. After an amazing week we were keep to get there and had a dull stretch of motorway to end on. All in all, a great last day 🙂 244 miles covered.
Well.. this day was sponsored by rain. Heavy, unyielding, constant.. rain.
We had a long way to go so hadn’t planned in any stop points.. just a few nice roads and some scenery (standard for us.. I know). Glencoe is gorgeous, very ruggedly beautiful. The road is busy and that combined with rain meant no stopping for photos, but that just gives us an excuse to go back 🙂
Driving by Glasgow was less painful that i thought (though the motorways are in a bizarre layout).
We stopped for lunch at a small village called Luss.. Scotlands most pretty village, apparently. It was actually quite lovely and for 5 minutes the rain stopped.. hurrah.
Plowing on we continued down to the Lakes and into Keswick.. nothing was booked for this night but we had planned on camping. Weather and the fortuitous find of a pub with rooms available lead to us staying in doors… marvelous 🙂
264 miles covered.
An early morning saw us on the road at 08:30 in the Beast. Toddler in a baby seat and 2 adults in the back, me and Simon in the front. Our destination? The isle of Skye.. with a few stops on the way 🙂
The drive shown on the map is one way.. we came back along the same route. That’s not normally something I like to do but honestly, I’d drive the road through Glen Shiel and the Five Sisters any day.. a truly awesome drive.. seriously, go do it.. amazing.
As usual Scottish weather brought us rain most of the day so photos are not as multiple as they could have been, but I’d not be able to do it justice anyway.
Our first stop was Eilean Donan Castle, the castle used in Highlander and also The World is not enough. A stunningly picturesque castle situated at the convergence of 3 lochs, the current castle is a modern restoration as it’s predecessor was blown up over 2 centuries ago.. still a kewl visit though, recommended. Nice coffee shop as well, and not expensive.
From Dornie (where the castle is) we headed over the sea to Skye 🙂 It’s a bridge crossing now with no tolls so quick and easy (though it is sometimes closed due to wind).
On Skye we had no real plan, just wanted to take a look and grab some lunch. The rain came down in buckets but it was still a beautiful place, plan in longer than a few hours if you’re going.. I’ll go back to see more at some point. 225 miles covered this day.
No driving for me today (well, did a mile or 2 to see what was down the road) as Katy volunteered to allow the rest of us to sample some Whisky!! 🙂
First things first.. the view from the cottage!! Wow!!
The hill at the back on the right.. the dark sliver you can see.. that’s Ben Nevis that is!! 😀
One of the hills in front is a sky resort that runs it’s cable cars all year round, i give you one guess what we’re up to today!
Gorgeous views from the view point and the new found knowledge that toddlers are mesmerized by being in a cable car 🙂
After that bit of exercise a wee dram was in order.. so a visit to the Ben Nevis Distillery occurred, it would be rude not to. It’s a great tour to be fair, interesting and not too long with the added bonus of a whisky at the end.. we may have bought a bottle, I can not confirm or deny 😉
Once back at the cottage we put on Highlander (the original movie) to get us in the mood for tomorrows trip. Oh dear, that film has not aged well 🙁
After a chilly yet comfortable night in the tent we had a lazy morning drinking coffee and chatting. It has stayed dry all night so putting the tent away was easy and leisurely. We were blessed by
someone as 2 minutes after we finished packing away the rain started 🙂
Today we traveled up to Inverness then down the south side of Loch Ness and others.. awesome road to drive, lots of cyclists though so beware of them.
We stopped for lunch at a random pub and slowly made our way towards Spean Bridge where we met up with some friends who had hired a chalet for the week.
Along the route we stopped at Oich Bridge and Simon got rather excited about seeing a Dipper! wow 😉 No photos of the elusive bird, apologies.
91 miles covered this day 🙂
After a good Scottish fry up for breakfast we packed up the Landy and headed off into the wild.. well, further North 😉 
The main reason we do these trips is the love of driving around on small roads being part of the scenery. And wow.. what scenery! The Cairngorms national park is gorgeous. We drove on tiny roads with the lovely ‘Passing places’ and waved at the royals as we passed Balmoral (actually the queen had been in residence in Edinburgh so we’d already popped in for tea.. hehehe).
We were planning on driving via Corgarff and so not leaving the Cairngorms but road works hampered us with a massive diversion. Simon did his awesome navigator thing and we headed down some awesome little roads.. one of which took us past a pub, be rude not to stop really!
They had over 200 optics with different whiskys!! Wow!
And not only that but cases of unopened bottles.. old and expensive bottles. Very kewl place 🙂 The Grouse Inn if anyone’s interested, they also have a tea room.
Once we got to Aviemore we found a campsite and set up our home for the night then headed out to buy some beers and Fish & Chips. Sometimes sitting outside your tent with a beer is just whats needed.. there may have been cigars too, and a cheeky little visitor 🙂
In total we covered 212 miles this day.
No driving today but plenty to see. Once again braving the buses (they’re great to be fair, £1.60 single fare anywhere in the city) we head into the town to see some stuff! 🙂
Edinburgh truly is an awesome place, 1 day is really not enough but it’s all we had so we mooched about for a bit, visited the Gallery, saw the Castle and did a tour of the Vaults.
The vaults was something recommended by a friend, we did a tour with ‘Mercat Tours’, really interesting view into life underneath the city.
The Castle is definitely well worth a visit, we were lucky and saw it while the sun was shining but on any day it would be impressive and interesting. Check it our if you find yourself with a spare few hours while in Edinburgh.
Obviously we took a picture of the Defender we saw guarding the castle 😉