Rain and more rain

It really was a beautiful overnight spot and with great timing, the rain stopped and we walked along the road for a couple of miles. One or two vehicles passed and as is normal here, everyone waved. The coastline is rock and sand with steep slopes just inland from the road. Copious rain meant water everywhere and new streams tried to get over or under the road whichever way they could.

We posted a card in the loveliest letter box too, saw some highland cattle and then admired the view from our spot.

I really wanted to try a drive across at the peninsula on the other side, from there to a point further round the coast. However it’s only a track and a sign clearly said “No” at the point where we would have turned to it.

We stopped for picnic lunch at Tayvallich, well actually the west side which is Carsaig. Tayvallich is a fantastic natural harbour on Loch Sween whereas Carsaig is on the Jura side. It’s only half a mile between them.

A local lady, of pretty much four score and ten, was interested in our Land Rover but also pointed out the sights - mainly the island of Scarba.

We talked about CoVID19 and she asked me where we are from. When I said the Peak District, she hesitated and then asked for confirmation that “That’s in England isn’t it?”

continuing innocently, “Were there any checks when you crossed the border?”.

So we continued to a promising overnight stop, shown on Park4night I think. Again we turned off the primary road and followed a smaller one past cottages and houses, plus a very big boatyard and marina. The road got narrower until a gate signpost pointed to the car park. This really was at the end of the road and what a spot it is.

No sooner had we arrived than the rain started again. The humidity was off the scale inside the Landy and we could hardly work out if the wet inside was leaks or condensation!

However. as ‘wild camping’ spots go, this is about the best. At the end of the road, no lights and no one else interested in coming to stay.

Comments

On y va

Hooray. We are off. The ferry was booked a few weeks ago and the pressure was then on to get all sorts of jobs finished on the house and Landy. Major cosmetic work was to cover the grey front doors with paint that matches the rest of the vehicle. On the engine a coolant leak had developed behind the water pump and so the P gasket and adjacent core plug were renewed. Also a cheapy head unit from those Chinese people replaced the old Sony fm radio. Now we have opened up the wonders of Car Play and all that comes with it. Finally the 9th gen iPad with WiFi became a 9th gen iPad with WiFi and ‘cellular’. This means we can use OsmAnd Maps which need no data and get their gps position off the ‘cellular’ chip in the iPad. More on this useful map in subsequent posts. We headed towards Portsmouth for a mid morning ferry via our old neighbours in S-I-V. There we had a great few hours updating each about our families and then proceeded to save the NHS, the country and the world too. I mean why no...

Burgundy

We thought that after the descent from Col du Galibier, we would be done with cols. They are brilliant to drive but hard work. The narrower the road the harder it is, especially at hairpins. These are almost always steep and so the vehicle speed and engine revs need to be correct before the turn. If it’s a right hand bend then the driving line is obviously on the right part of the corner which is always the steepest. It’s all about teamwork, especially as those bikers love the roads and like to be close to the middle. A Land Rover 110 needs a wide turning circle and so we have to look out sideways and either up above or down below to see what’s coming. After Galibier the road finally descends to the ski area of Valloire and on to Col du Telègraphe, which from the south isn’t much but those ascending from the north will feel the height gain. Then down to the Maurienne valley and we think we are done with hills. However there’s one last surprise as we turn right off the motorway route to...

Onwards

You can’t visit a classic car enthusiast without admiring their car and we got our timing right, as it was the monthly club meet on Sunday. This was held at the Hippodrome in Maisons Laffitte, so it was just up the road. The definition of ‘classic’ here is 30 years and so many of the vehicles there looked very familiar to us 😳. TR5 and TR6, MGB, RR, BMW, Maserati, of course the Jensen Interceptor that our host drives, 2CV, Caterham 7, a beautiful Austin Healy 3 litre and then this… This is identical to mine, a Fiat 850 Sport Coupé, that I owned from 1978-81. Seeing it, brought back memories of welding, brazing, stripped driveshaft splines, clutch on the M1 and many miles of amazing touring. We drove around France on a camping road trip for all of September 1978 and the following year did the Ardennes for a month too. Here’s Nige’s Jensen… Maisons Laffitte is a very nice area to the west of Paris centre. The mansion is now owned by a trust I think and is a beautiful building. All we ne...

Peelies travels

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