We are all in unprecedented times, unsure of the future, and when we might be able to experience something of the outdoors and our incredible countryside. While I am still working, and doing my small part in the ongoing crisis we all face, I am also daydreaming, and reminiscing of better times, which helps me get on with things for now and look to another adventure soon. Reflecting on some of the trips we have made, places we visited and where we would go back to, and I thought I might share one or two here. I will start with one of the first Bongo adventures with Ali Bongo and my wife, in October of 2018, when we visited Solway View campsite near the village of Borgue in Kirkudbrightshire.
As the school October break approached, we were looking for somewhere to visit that we hadn’t been before, and I wanted to try out the Bongo on a fully serviced campsite pitch, plugged in to utilise the mains electricity for heating and boiling the kettle. I looked especially around the town of Kirkudbright, on the Solway Firth, a lovely wee town, with loads of interesting places to see along the coast, as well as being a bit quieter than the traditional holiday destinations north of us towards Loch Lomond and beyond. The crowds of folk who visit these popular spots at school holiday time just make it feel too busy, not relaxing, and the whole idea was to get away from it all, not go where “it all” was going too! Around a two hour drive for us, with some cracking scenery down the A713 through Dalmellington and on to Castle Douglas. I settled on a campsite new to us, Solway View farm campsite, near the tiny village of Borgue, about a 15 minute drive from Kirkudbright, so ideal. I booked us in for a night.
Around £19 a night for two people, electric hookup and the van. No charge for awning, and every pitch has a picnic table and firepit! The owners really have thought of everything, and the attention to the little details is obvious. The shower block is spotless, heated, and very well appointed, with some of the best showers you will find. There are mops for the floor, hand dryers and soap. They also have hobbit houses for rent, a camp kitchen building with cookers and sinks, and even a frisbee golf course!! Excellent value, and just what we were looking for. We parked up, plugged in and got the kettle on!
After a cuppa, we decided to make use of the daylight and fine, if chilly weather and headed off through the campsite as suggested by the owner to find the paths along the shore front. We passed an ancient cemetary, which Lorraine enjoyed exploring, reading the dates and names and on to the woods nearer the shoreline, where signs marking the choices appeared. We headed for the water’s edge. What an incredible coastline, nothing like where we live, which has sandy beaches as well as rocky outcrops, but always open and usually gently sloping to the water. This was a rugged coast, with trees growing right to the shore, and looked like another country altogether.
We wandered for a couple of hours, then back to the warmth of the van for supper and an early night, the fresh air working it’s magic. It was frosty through the night, but our small electric heater kept the van comfortable, without getting too warm. It was still too, and we slept well, rising early for a breakfast muffin and cuppa, a shower then packing up to head off. I certainly could not fault the facilities at Solway View, and we have used it a few times since. Why not check it out? https://solwayviewholidays.co.uk/
Somewhere I had wanted to check out for many years was the fantastic castle at Caerlaverock, near Dumfries, striking in it’s design being basically three sided, and as it was another sunny day, we headed up to Dumfries after exploring the town of Kirkudbright for an hour. The drive was pleasant along the A75, past Castle Douglas again and on to Dumfries. The biggest town in the area, it was a bit busier, but we found our way easily enough, taking the road past the hospital and University campus on the B725 and on to Caerlaverock Reserve. There is a large car park here, with a sign showing that campervans and motorhomes are welcome to use it, provided they park with courtesy to allow others to use it too. Most refreshing attitude from D&G Council!
We wandered the few miles from this car park to the castle itself, and as we had a few hours before it closed, we elected to pay for entry. It was well worth the few pounds entry fee, the castle is unlike any you will ever see, such a strange shape, and pretty well preserved, with some roof restoration, and access to upper levels in some parts. A sprawling complex jumble of added-on later buildings within the original three sided main wall. There was an earlier castle nearby, from over 900 years ago lies just through the trees a few hundred metres away from the impressive moated “new” castle, earliest parts of which date from the 1200s. We wandered around, then walked round the outside of the moat, getting the scale of the place, it’s fortifications and how it must have looked in it’s heyday. We had a quick look round the visitor centre as well, which has a historic guide to the castle’s development through time, it’s contribution in the wars between Scotland and England, and history of the local area.
We walked back to the van, taking in the scenery along the path. There were people about, but it wasn’t by any means busy, and made us feel we had made the right choice to visit this are, and not northward. We are so lucky living where we do that the choice of north or south gives us all the options within a two hour drive in either direction.
We stopped again in Dumfries at the riverside car park, reluctant to head home just yet, and the recent rains had the river Nith high and noisy over the weirs, drowning out the traffic noise in the town around us. We brewed up and watched the world go by, before heading north up the A76 and the Nith valley toward Kilmarnock and North Ayrshire again. Dumfries is around 70 miles away, and this main Trunk Route is wide and smooth, making the drive home quite relaxing too. Life never seems too stressful in the Bongo, with the combination of the automatic gearbox, the low revving diesel engine and the high viewpoint and driving position, it doesn’t lend itself to hurrying along at all. It had been a successful trip, with another superb campsite to add to the list of places we enjoy visiting. The weather had been kind as well, a bit chilly, but dry and sunny, perfect walking weather.
A brilliant Bongo Adventure!
I know we are all suffering withdrawals right now from not being able to enjoy the great outdoors, but it won’t be forever, we will get through this, and it makes things a wee bit easier to bear looking back at adventures past, and planning new ones for the future.
Stay safe, folks.
Ali Bongo's adventures 