Many thanks for all the comments and praise. I'll just pick out a few...
Weymard: Typically the eastern side of the UK is flatter. The western side includes Cornwall, the mountains of Wales (southern, mid and northern), the Lake District and the major Scottish mountains. This is also the side the weather hits, so tends to be craggier.
Danoren: Maybe one day I will consider a blog. I can see the advantages, though I like the way everyone here can see and comment on my reports, where-as fewer might find / bother to keep up to date with a blog if I kept one.
RobertRyan: Yes, of course you have driven around Wales in your rental car - fortunately quite a bit smaller than my camper. However the seemingly narrow roads in this part of north Wales were actually a lot better than in many other areas where the sides of the camper have been scraping the scenery. The narrow roads shown here were a lot wider and it would have been pretty easy to put two wheels on the grass to make room for another vehicle to pass.
MAV8801: I know what you mean about the aqueduct - that is why I have been there twice - it really doesn't seem right. It would definitely be interesting to ride a canal barge over it, standing on the stern looking down not at water, but fresh air.
Tiger4x4RV: This type of countryside is quite common in the uplands of England, Wales and Scotland. Originally I believe they would have been covered by deciduous forest, but that had been felled generations ago and much of the remaining land used for sheep grazing. Where there are coniferous trees these tend to be man-made plantations, so in reality although it looks very natural it is still a very man-made countryside.
Wheelholder: Yeh, there was a reason I didn't say anything about my rock climbing - I was too tight to pay to have a go myself. In retrospect I think I would have enjoyed it, especially the technical bits to do with rope handling. Our location as an Island on the edge of Europe means we have a wide range of landscapes in a very small area. New Zealand shares this, but to an even greater extent - on a scenery scale NZ is like the UK, but where someone turned the volume up to 11.
Bubtoofat: I don't think you would get away with building one of these aqueducts in the UK either - we have the same lawyers . Back in the Victorian era when many of these grand engineering projects were built there was no such thing as 'health and safety' or 'liability'. I guess that was good in that it allowed the industrial revolution to forge ahead, but not if you were a worker and could expect a short and hard life, and possibly a nasty industrial accident or disease somewhere along the way. If they rebuilt all this today there would probably be brightly coloured railings, warning signs, and in fact much of it would be out-of-bounds.
pasusan: Last time we drove past the aqueduct I was very disappointed because it was closed for renovation, but not we have seen it working I am glad it was closed then, because we got to see the unique view of it completely drained of water where they were I guess replacing rusty ironwork and re-caulking it. These canals criss-cross the UK so if you owned a narrow boat you could spend your time travelling around the country (slowly). My father always wanted a canal boat when he retired, but they were too expensive and he didn't live long enough. He managed some of the repair projects on local canals and rivers. My grandfather (on the other side) was from a family of cargo boat operators upper Thames river, so you can see where I get the interest from.
Matho: Thanks - I am pleased with the way the rig has come together. It's been a lot of work, but it is paying off now. Traditionally March / April would have been a stupid time to go to somewhere like North Wales with its horizontal rain, but in recent years this time of year has been fantastic (but the summers have been ruined), so like you say, almost no-one around - that is when we like to see places, when we have them to ourselves, not amongst a crowd of other tourists.
camper Jeff & Kelli: Hard to tell with the insulation, but Sally thought it was retaining heat better. The Solar I haven't even thought about - the big difference is that I haven't had to think about battery power. OK, we have been using hookup and running most stuff off AC (fridge, kettle, heater) with just lights and stereo running off 12v, but unlike before I now don't bother plugging in the battery charger when at the camp site because I know the solar will have fully charged it (plus in fact the truck alternator too). The skylight was slightly better than before, but the effect was ruined by a neighbour who spent a whole evening burning the timber from a tree he cut down, most of which landed on the camper as ash. I think I'll now have to get up there and wash and re-polish it; the more layers of polish on it the better it will be.
Crosscheck: You know as well as I do the advantage of having an active partner - I think we are very alike in that respect - it is just a case of trying to hold Sally back as she spots yet another thing to do "Oooo - Zorbing, White water rafting, Canyoning, quad bikes, Hobie-cats - can we have a go, please, please...". Last week she was also saying "I want to go to Iceland...", this week it is "I want to go to Jordan...". To be honest I much rather be reigning her in than have a partner who said "can't we just sit and watch soap operas?" or "I want a 2 week beach vacation".
Roadlover: You don't have to travel very far from those peaceful bits and you are amongst the extreme traffic. North Wales is about 3 hours from London with its sprawl, congestion and 5 international airports, but the trick is knowing where to find these quiet places, and when to visit them to ensure they are quiet. Lake Bala is set-up for lots of family vacation activities and I imagine in July / August it would be packed, with the narrow roads that Robert Ryan mentioned jammed with frustrated drivers.
Steve.
'07 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab diesel + '91 Shadow Cruiser - Sky Cruiser 1
'92 Suzuki Samurai 4x4 1.6
'09 Fiat Panda 1.2
'10 Citroen DS3 1.6 turbo
What a wonderful trip! Kudos to Sally for the rock climbing! Nice photos and I"m glad to see you are able to get out in the truck and camper and USE it after all your hard work!
Dak
1995 Weekender model 910 extended cabover
Calvin, the 1996 creampuff Chev Silverado 3500 extended cab dually
sabconsulting wrote: Our location as an Island on the edge of Europe means we have a wide range of landscapes in a very small area. New Zealand shares this, but to an even greater extent - on a scenery scale NZ is like the UK, but where someone turned the volume up to 11.
Steve could not agree more. I have driven from Milford Sound to the very top of the North Island, the variety of beautiful landscapes in such a relatively small area(NZ is much bigger than the UK, longer and an extra 20,000 square kilometres)is outstanding.
* This post was
edited 04/03/12 05:28pm by RobertRyan *
Steve could not agree more. I have driven from Milford Sound to the very top of the North Island, the variety of beautiful landscapes in such a relatively small area(NZ is much bigger than the UK, longer and an extra 20,000 square kilometres)is outstanding.
Yes, NZ is about 10% more land mass than the UK, and even more sheep than Wales!
It has been fun watching the changes in your Truck Camper over the last few months and even better seeing the travels you are enjoying with all of the improvements.
Thank you for showing the memorial and the links, for the crew.
Offline
. Back in the Victorian era when many of these grand engineering projects were built there was no such thing as 'health and safety' or 'liability'. I guess that was good in that it allowed the industrial revolution to forge ahead, but not if you were a worker and could expect a short and hard life, and possibly a nasty industrial accident or disease somewhere along the way. If they rebuilt all this today there would probably be brightly coloured railings, warning signs, and in fact much of it would be out-of-bounds.
