Reflection on Bongo Moments over an open fire...

This blog is now temporally out of order - we've come so far and some many things have happened in such a short space of time each time, I set my mind to write about - deep breath - the dinner at Loch Fyne, Peter & the Nut Lady, The drive thru Glen Coe, the great welcome at Robroy, wild camping with no electricity, Scotland's rain, SCOTTISH RAIN. Shetland's greetings, Unst's QUIET & new aesthetic, being part of the late night weather forecast (Dogger Bank, German Bite etc), Arbroath Smokies restaurant, frightening experience crossing bridges over valleys, Lidl's great value wines&beers, running out of my pills ..and many other Bongo Moments - something else happens leaving no time to catch up... 

However now back in England things have slowed down a bit so we have time to reflect on all that was Scotland and Scottish over an open fire in a wood on the out skirts of Newcastle.

......and all set to Bongo thru England & Wales. 

🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐🚐

The Beach at Arbroath

Woke up early to take a stroll along Arbroath's seaside aka Victoria Drive where we wild camped overnight - despite the NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING sign further down the beach. 

Couldn't resist the opportunity to stay as this must be one of the biggest skies there's been so far on the trip. Inevitably the panoramic shots could not do it justice.

Ominous steep cliffs at the east end with bunches of decaying flowers indicating some sad incidents. With a continuous concrete defence wall protecting the drive & playing fields running the length of the beach. 

Interestingly it was impossible to make a mobile call within twenty feet of either side of the wall. You either walked towards the sea with the wall behind or stayed on the manicured playing fields. Walking towards the wall the call would be cut off. The reason for the failed calls was all that steel inside the reinforced concrete. 

Scotland's Rain

Many of my friends who know me, know I’m not the complaining type , someone would even say long suffering even!

But Scotland’s driving, dreek, dismal rain has taxed me, when layered on top of the up hill,  down dale, round corner SLOW signed roads with queues of much faster moving traffic, lurking impatiently behind and huge articulated lorries dragging containers the size of Texas behind them causing a temporary hurricane of spray and wind as they flash by on the other side. All making for a really dreary, depressing and at times dreadfully stressful drive!

It was bad enough for me in the Bongo goodness knows what it’s like for those towing a caravan on these roads, in these conditions

I was minded to paraphrase what  Orson Welles  is reported to have said on flying in a plane, with driving in the rain in Scotland "There are only two emotions when [driving in Scotland’s Highlands in the rain]: boredom and terror."

I was worn out about when I finally abandoned all attempts to drive on thru to Glen Coe,  agreed to stop at the next campsite sign regardless -  just needed to stop driving !

So here we are in Bunroy Park literally as its catchphrase says a haven of peace in the heart of The Highlands.

For  few moments the sun came out long enough for me to set up camp before IT started again……

But from inside of the Bongo with a nice meal of grilled chicken sweet corn and tomatoes with some nice bread and Tunnocks teacakes supported by nice price Lidl Red – a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon – all was back to loveliness in Bongoland!

As for Scotland's rain - when you're not driving - it ain't all that bad....

 

The Midges

We were warned about the midges but words & warnings in no way prepare you for the nightly enslaught. 

Loch Lomond was were the first real encounter took place: late evening, a nice meal , a few glasses of wine , sun setting then the itching scratching starts. In my case an irrantant in Ebun's case a real pain as she was painfully bitten all over. For me as nightfall it was not so bad but for E it became worse and worse to the point we now have a midge reppellent routine involving nets for the Bongo , nets for E's head ( as you can see :-) & no end of sprays and potions & a candle burning , no ritual dancing yet, depends how bad they get. All this to defeat something that is so tiny individually,  it's almost invisible only being made manifest by it's bite - it has twenty teeth biting for the blood it craves - interestingly it's only the females that bite.

No easy ready solution to the critters just a list of things to do deter 'em.

Military Campervans

The size snd style of campervans I see continues to amaze me, as examples here are a couple with a distinct military look:

No room for sleep waking in that jeep, while I guess this van is useful if you ever become caught up in a riot. 

North Berwick 2 Loch Lomond

On the back roads to the M8 out of North Berwick in the most foul weather dreek , driving rain we came across this remote desolate junction, which even through the atrocuios weather had a certain magic.

The beauty of the sun over of Loch Lomond more than made up for that harrowing journey across Scotland. We now have pitch with electricity on the banks of the Loch. After three days with no direct electricity, having to plug in at cafes, libraries and friends continuous electricity is a joy at 'only £5' a night. 

The pitch is in the woods right by the Loch, in a very quiet corner of the site:

The views of the morning sun and evening sun are glorious.

Came across a lovely couple with a Bongo set up very similar to ours:

We enjoyed some wine, some whiskey ,some beer, some vodka as well as sharing music and memories with them till late into the night, a very enjoyable, memorable evening. 

The journey to and the evening by the Loch two very different but equally magic moments. 

Bongo on a Beach in North Berwick

Wild camping packed in with several others from all over the UK & Europe by the most beautiful beach at North Berwick. Weather glorious unlike the citizens in this architectrially sterile  gated-community aka the Scottish Rivera.