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Lucy & Chris are first-timeSpace Travellers from the USA (aged 28 and 30). Their 2014 guest post shows you how easy and how much fun it is to do a road trip in the UK, even if you have never done a road trip before. The floor is yours, Lucy & Chris... How was your #spaceshipsroadtrip?
Well, we started out our journey where you might expect, at the gas station. Luckily we didn’t experience any driving-on-the-wrong-side nightmares and pulled up in one piece. We did have a bit of a funny conversation with the station attendant that really made us feel quite silly (mini culture shock haha):
- Chris: Hello there. Can I pay?
- Attendant: For what?
- Chris: For the fuel.
- Attendant: You haven’t put anything in yet. You pay after you put in the fuel. This is England, we trust you here. Whoops!
Memory lane
Lake District
Off to the Lake District! We drove in around 7 pm in the midst of heavy fog and intermittent rain, which felt very medieval. Having accidentally Google-mapped ourselves into the middle of a lake (we did, in fact, stop before actually entering the lake), we turned back and found refuge in a lovely campground in Brotherswater.
We had planned on having our first camper meal of pasta cooked out of the van that evening, but due to the fog and rain, we decided to opt for a pub dinner and a cold ale and attempt some cooking the next day. Chris scored another local brew, keeping up with his local-ale-drinking challenge.
It was an extremely rainy and windy night—we felt sorry for the people in little tents, while we were all warm and snuggly inside our Spaceship (named Rocket!). The next morning was lovely and clear, so we set up our little gas cooker and made some coffee, eggs, beans and toast—a breakfast of champions!
After breakfast, we found it was the perfect weather for a hike (1500 feet!) up a shepherd’s trail, which gave absolutely beautiful views but ended up in some soggy socks for those who were unprepared (ahem—Chris)!
For lunch after the big hike, we happened upon the Daleman Estate, where we had a wonderful estate and garden tour, followed by a delicious Ploughman’s lunch in their tea room!
Scotland: The Highlands
After an enjoyable jaunt around Glasgow, we headed up into the highlands and it was absolutely beautiful! The campsites were bountiful and in gorgeous locations (can it get better than a campsite with a view of a castle?), and we even enjoyed some unusual campsite fare in the form of kangaroo sausages.
Scotland: Isle of Skye
Skye itself was absolutely beautiful, especially the Fairy Pools. We did, however, have a bit of trouble with finding a good campsite that evening (they were so full!), so we ended up travelling back out of Skye and settled in a nice cosy campsite on the other side. Had a local pint and a wander around a local castle, and we were happy as clams!
Check out the other blog posts for more info about the Isle of Skye.
Update: this guest post was written in 2014 but it is still a great read for first-time roadtrippers. Back in the day, we still had these classic orange Toyota Estima Spaceships in the UK fleet. Times have changed and nowadays, the UK fleet has completely changed. Check out our current range of Spaceships campervans & motorhomes.