Planned motorhome tour leading to Covid 19 isolation at our friends in rural Scotland

13th March 2020 to 30th July 2020

Its amazing how things can change in an instant! One moment we were heading off to Europe again in Big Ted, our motorhome, and the next we were still in the UK due to the coronavirus shutting down most of Europe. 

Here's what we wrote when we set off from The Midlands in mid March: 
'We have the vaguest of plans and much depends on the Coronavirus spread as to what we do and where we go (we blame the 1960's pop manufacturer - Corona!), but our main aim is to go to Costa Blanca in Spain to visit Jackies dad and Elizabeth to help them with house maintenance prior to them selling up and moving back to the UK.

So we will catch a ferry from Dover to Calais on 13th March and head down through France to them, taking 7 to 10 days and then stay for a few weeks there. Following that we'll head north through Spain, France and possibly Germany, ideally heading to East Germany as we'd like to tour there.

We have a date of 19th June to be back by as Big Ted is booked in for a full exterior valet and polish, so we'll plan as we go and be back for then.

More details as we go....'

Well, we didn't catch the ferry to France on 13th, but we did get nearly to Dover before we aborted and headed for a UK campsite. We thought long and hard about what to do next, as we were near the south coast and have never really explored that area, we thought about a trip right along to Exeter, but as the news about the Coronavirus got steadily worse and more and more places closed down and brought in restrictions we decided that wasn't such a good idea.

Our contingency plan was to get somewhere safe to sit it out, many of our  friends had said to go and stay with them, but the ones we thought best to descend on are Tony and Nicky, who own the large steading north of Aberdeen. They have been steadily refurbishing it over the last 9 or 10 years and we've been going up to see them each year to lend a hand. So that was our plan, to head north and stay with them for the duration of the restrictions. 

It just so happened that the restrictions were longer than any of us had foreseen, but it was a fabulous place to sit it out. Set in an acre of land in open countryside, they had chickens, ducks, geese and guinea fowl to look after (including hatching chickens from eggs), three vegetable patches, an orchard, a polytunnel with more vegetables and various fruit bushes in the grounds. The main interest for us was the refurbishment work on the Steading they are gradually renovating and we got involved in various projects learning new skills along the way. We'll probably never use those skills, but it was very interesting and a great way of keeping fit (we walked miles!). We would have stayed for much longer, but we were approached by a couple near Cheltenham who asked is we would housesit their two cats for the month of August while they went off to their yacht in Greece.

Thinking Tony and Nicky would be quite pleased to get their house back we agreed, but they seemed genuinely upset we were going and hope we'll go straight back after the housesit, picking up two pussy cats on the way that they want to adopt. This may well be what we do, particularly if |Covid19 is still causing havoc. Time will tell.

The interactive map below shows our progress from leaving the Midlands on 13th February to arriving at Tony and Nicky's and returning to the Midlands on 30th July. It shows the places we visited (mainly Tony and Nickys!) and includes photos, information and links to blog entries for each place. You can access these details either by clicking on a map marker or enlarging to full screen and clicking the box (top left) to reveal a list of places in order and click on each one in turn.

Thanks for looking, we hope you enjoy reading:



Below is a list of places we have visited along with links to blog entries:

13th March 2020: Preston in Canterbury, UK - click here to view blog entry

14th to 19th March 2020: Canterbury (Kent), Cold Aston (Cheltenham), Alvechurch (Worcestershire) & Audley (Staffordshire): Click here to view blog entry

20th to 26th March 2020: Lochmaben (Nr. Dumfries & Lockerbie), Errol (Nr, Dundee), Tony and Nicky's (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

27th to 31st March 2020: Tony and Nicky's (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

1st to 9th April 2020: Tony and Nicky's (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

10th to 15th April 2020: Tony and Nicky's (Nr Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

16th to 23rd April 2020: Tony and Nicky's (Nr Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

24th April to 5th May 2020: Tony and Nicky's (Nr Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

6th to 13th May 2020: Tony and Nicky's (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

14th to 27th May 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

28th May to 2nd June 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

3rd to 10th June 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

11th to 16th June 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

17th to 24th June 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

25th June to 2nd July 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

3rd to 13th July 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

14th to 20th July 2020: Tony and Nickys (Nr. Elgin): Click here to view blog entry

21st July to 2nd August 2020: Tony and Nickys, Metal Bridge, Alvechurch, Cheltenham: Click here to view blog entry