Eriba Man

This is night No 63/2018 living in my caravan. I am now at Culloden Moor C&MC Site near Inverness. 2 night for me, the van, and the mutts (free) was £35.40. Peak season prices, it seems. It is a good place to stop and it's fairly busy tonight. There are some good forests for dog walking just a short walk away, and close to Inverness for any supplies and indulgences. I was last hear on the 16th June when I was travelling between Fraserburgh and Dornoch. It was a fairly late rise for me at 0700! The weather was grey and felt very muggy. I took the dogs along the banks of the Dee, then after breakfast, another walk, and packing the van, we left around 1000. The route takes around 2.5hrs, so I always break the journey around Huntly. Stopped at the FC forest at Bin Hill between Huntly and Keith. A great break for the dogs and a good length of walk to get the dogs ready for the remainder of the journey. Arrived in Culloden after an uneventful trip at around 1400. The we...

This is night No.62/2018 living in my caravan. It's my second night at Silverbank C&MC Site in Banchory. Woke around 0615 to some lovely sunny weather. I didn't have any heating on at all yesterday, even overnight, and it was pleasantly mild even this early. Took the dogs down to the path which follows the River Dee. Didn't see anyone at that time in the morning. After breakfast and showering, I decided on a long walk from the site into the grounds of Crathes Castle, and returning via the Deeside Way. After following one of the routes around the forest of Crathes, I headed to a path which led to the main A93 at Milton of Crathes. This is where the Deeside Railway is housed. A rather pleasant old station. And a wee locomotive named 'Salmon'. Spotted this interesting 'British Railways' vehicle. I'll bet that is a butchered Land Rover. Their yard had an assortment of interesting machinery, including this railway crane. ...

This is night No 61/2018 living in my caravan. Now at Silverbank C&MC Site in Banchory. I was last here on the 2nd of April 2018, then for a 2 night stay. Now... Then... I was last out on the 29th June. I'd been staying at a CL near Tayport and whilst driving to the next CL in Blairgowrie, some old 'goat' drove into the back of the caravan. That put a stop to all travelling until today. The van was repaired under insurance by Barry Cooper Automotive in Fordoun, and and excellent repair it is too. I'd emptied the van before it went in for repair, and I mean empty. Everything which could be removed was taken out, even the gas bottle and water tank. Amazing the amount of equipment I carry in the van. There's not a lot of weight in the kit, but there is a lot of it! To make sure everything worked and that I hadn't forgot anything, I reckoned it would be a good idea to stay fairly close to home on the first trip, just in case I needed to n...

One weakness in the design of the Eriba is it's vulnerability to dents. The aluminium panels are, unlike steel, not very elastic. Minor incidents like stone chips, dropping of poles, or stray wheelie bins often result in small dings. Most Eribas have them. My locker door at the front has a few. A common practice amongst owners is to conceal the dents with stickers. Often vans for sale have strangely positioned stickers which obviously conceal unsightly marks. Thanks to my running brother, I have obtained a few about the right size for the job. Not too shabby!

This is night No.60/2018 touring in my caravan. This is my second night at The Beeches CL near Tayport. It was a rather grey day, all day. It's a feature of the east coast of Scotland in hot summer months. A 'haar' blows in from the sea, a low fog which is often reluctant to burn off, even when inland only a few miles is blue skies. I arose around 0600 to grey weather. It was a very light drizzle, and quite cool. I used my portable shower which was excellent, although I had got the water a bit on the cool side. Refreshing to say the least. There was one other unit on the site, a small campervan at the other end of the field. To be discreet, I positioned my flexi bucket/shower tray round the rear of the van. Shockingly, as I did the 'full wash down' a car passed by the site, right past the very open gap in the fence! Rural voyeurism is acceptable, I suppose. After ablutions, I took the dogs along the track towards Morton Lochs where they got a great run around ...

This is night No 59/2018 touring in my caravan. I'm now at The Beeches, a CL near Tayport in Fife. £5 per night. I'd done all my 'domestics' at home, received any post I was waiting for, and got the washing done. With the spell of stunning weather we've been experiencing I was keen to get back out again. With the temperature soaring, I didn't want to travel far in the car. Turned out that my air con had the car freezing anyway! It was 27C as I passed through Dundee. I've been here once before, a number of years ago in my campervan. It's a great location, handy for the shopping in Tayport and right next to Tentsmuir Forest. When I arrived, I had the huge field all to myself. Perfect weather for the solar panel. There's been some improvement since I was last here. The green hut was always here, and houses the chemical dump in one side, with the bins, and on the other is the drinking water. The new development is the installation of a portac...

This is night No.58/2018 touring in my caravan. This is my second night at Drumbhan CL near Bonar Bridge. Again, it was raining and fairly blustery last night. It was showery when I woke around 0600, but the forecast was for an improving day. It certainly did, but remained very windy throughout the day. Took the dogs along the roads near the house, which are very quiet, and after a shower and breakfast, I took them down the road (by car) to Balbair Forest, just on the outskirts of Bonar Bridge. Took the longer waymarked 'green' route, which is a great walk. Some nice ponds on the way up the hill. Hamish always does his best to find and carry the weirdest of sticks. After the walk, we returned to the van for a few hours reading and generally lazing around. In the afternnoon, headed along the direct single track road from here towards Spinningdale. There's an excellent network of paths around the Woodland Trust forest at Ledmore & Migdale. I opted for...