It has been nearly 3 years since we posted on this blog due to a shocking event in September 2019 resulting in the untimely passing away of my beloved husband, best friend, and soul mate, Bri.
The blog was abandoned from that point but there continues to be a lot of traffic to the site and so it would seem that people are still enjoying our past content and adventures, so I’ve left it active for now. However, there will obviously be no further Jolly Majestic adventures or future posts on this blog.
Instead, I have begun solo campervan travels since losing Bri and now document these over on YouTube under the channel name of ‘CamperVanya (Solo Female Van Life UK)’so please do head over there and Subscribe to that channel to continue supporting me and following future travels as I transition from couples to solo travel, sharing places, hints, tips, etc.
Thanks for the support shown with our blog we had a blast adventuring around the UK together. Now I head out solo doing it for the both of us while carrying all of these incredible memories with me.
Happy travels and hopefully see you over on YouTube, please drop me a message there.
So, after leaving Bushmills we headed south back Belfast way to Dundonald Touring Caravan Park. Situated 8 miles from the city centre, it was £24 per night for a fully serviced and spacious pitch which we had been able to pre-select online before our visit. What’s more the site was perfectly located for us, adjacent to the Comber Greenway 7-mile traffic-free old railway cycle path running from Comber to Belfast. The length of the route provides views of Stormont, Scrabo Tower, the Harland & Wolff cranes (Samson & Goliath), Belfast Hills, and the CS Lewis statue at the Holywood Arches.
We took this cycle path to explore the town of Comber, the birthplace of Thomas Andrews junior, a Shipbuilder and head designer of RMS Titanic who sadly perished on its maiden voyage. We hadn’t realised the deep connection the town had with Titanic which educated us a little more before our visit to the Titanic Museum the next day.
Venturing on a little further through the town brought us out at the shores of Strangford Lough and Island Hill nature reserve, which offers a circular walk of 1.5 miles around the island. Note, though, that this little island is only accessible at low tide. It was very peaceful here, just the sound of the birds, and we only passed the odd dog walker or two. Blissful 🙂.
While in Comber we ate lunch at the Sugarcane cafe/bistro in the square and before returning home after our ride, we picked up some essentials for dinner back at Jolly that evening when we took time to relax.
Moving from Bushmills to Dundonald, Belfast, stopping to take in the coastal views at Magheracross viewpoint
It was an evening of stark contrast on the Saturday night in the cathedral quarter of Belfast city. Wow, what a place! This city knows how to party. It was absolutely buzzing and so vibrant. Most of the bars had great names too, not your usual Brown Cow, Black Bull, etc. We stuck in the cathedral quarter all evening and visited The Thirsty Goat, The Cloth Ear, Dirty Onion (which has a Yardbird chicken restaurant upstairs but we visited Bunsen instead), and the Spaniard bar. We only scratched the surface of the great selection of bars and eateries on offer and so we’d love to re-visit this quarter in the future. Also bobbing around the area all evening were mobile pedal bars with music, like the Wee Toast Tours which looked brilliant fun. Maybe next time we’ll give this a go.
When we turned in after a fab night out, we had a feeling that our intro to this amazing city had really set the tone for the rest of our exploration of Belfast’s rich history. We visited as many sites as we could fit in during our two full days there, which we’ll cover in our next posts.
It was mega-exciting to visit what is probably the most famous landmark of this area of Northern Ireland. We set off late morning and spent the rest of the day at this one – The Giant’s Causeway.
We decided to cycle the couple of miles there from site, along a pathway that runs beside the Giant’s Causeway & Bushmills Railway line. Many people park at the station in Bushmills and either ride the train or walk the path to the causeway. It’s a pleasant, flat route until reaching the causeway where we then locked our bikes up beside the Causeway Hotel.
Using our National Trust membership we gained free access to the causeway through the visitor centre experience. Alternatively, it is free to visit the causeway through the tunnel from the car park. It’s a beautifully scenic walk down, but there’s also a shuttle bus that regularly runs up and down for anyone unable to take the walk – I think it’s about £1 or so but free to national trust members.
As expected, the geological marvel of the giant’s causeway is a big draw for hordes of tourists. Last year there were apparently over 1 million visitors to these volcanic basalt columns … and it felt like that number were there on the day we went! We’d definitely recommend a very early morning visit if you want a little more space and peace to enjoy and consider the science and mythology of this amazing site. We found a quiet spot to sit and enjoy it, drink our flask of coffee, and take photos for a while before walking back up to the top. There are different trails and routes you can take to reach the causeway, taking in the sights of the amphitheatre, giant’s pipe organ and the shepherd’s steps.
By the time we left, it was quietening down considerably as most of the coach loads of tourists had left, and so we decided to have our evening meal at The Nook pub which is on the corner opposite the visitor centre. It’s a very welcoming listed building built in the 1850s and originally used a school house. It was spotless and the food was excellent so thankfully our experience didn’t reflect some of the less favourable reviews we’d read before visiting.
After our meal we headed back to site along the same route we’d taken in. By this time the cycle track was all but empty and the sun was beginning to set which created a tranquil end to our day. Once we’d returned to Jolly we relaxed for the rest of the evening, and planned our further adventures.
We took so many photos and a couple of short vids, so we’ve compiled this video which hopefully captures the day …
Jolly’s Northern Ireland jaunt began with a leisurely 4 hour evening drive up to Cairnryan, Stranraer in Scotland. We decided to kip overnight at the StenaLine terminal at a cost of £5 so that we had an easy, stress-free boarding for our early morning crossing over to Belfast the next day. We used the reception facilities, open between about 6am-10pm. It was quite a noisy night on the car park with comings and goings at the port but we slept fine.
Jolly parked up for the night
Overnight
We’d pre-booked StenaLine Flexi E-tickets at a total cost of £243.90 for return travel for Jolly and us. This option guaranteed 100% refund on cancellations up to 24 hours before departure and 50% refund on cancellations up to 2 hours before departure. We needed this flexibility in case the trip didn’t go ahead because of other responsibilities. Fortunately though, our holiday proceeded as planned 😀.
History of Cairnryan port area
StenaLine charges
Parked up
StenaLine Loch Ryan Port, Cairnryan
Feet up and chilling on a smooth crossing
A very quiet early crossing
Approaching Belfast Port
Returning to Jolly to drive off at Belfast
The duration of this route is approx. 2.5 hours and they run 8 crossings a day, we’d booked outgoing: 07:30 hrs Tues 3rd Sept & Return: 11:30 hrs Tues 10th Sept, and check-in closed 30 mins before departure. The early morning crossing was very quiet compared to our return, but both ways ran on time and were very smooth crossings.
On arrival at Belfast port, we travelled up to the village of Bushmills on the north coast of County Antrim, which derives its name from the River Bush flowing through it and a large water mill built there in the 17th Century. We’d originally planned to take the quickest route there and stop off for brunch at McLarnon’s Ramble Inn on the A26. Instead though, we grabbed the opportunity of seeing as much of the dramatic coastline as we could by driving up the Coast Rd/Causeway Road (A2) through Carrickfergus, Magheramorne, and Larne, with short stops at Ballygally and Glenarm. It was definitely the right decision, giving us an immediate taster of Northern Ireland’s rugged charm.
Catching some sea air and coastal views at Ballygally
Taking in views at Ballygally
Interesting rock markings at Ballygally!
A wander around Glenarm
A wander around Glenarm village
The scenic Coastal Road
Driving by Carrickfergus Castle
Views along our coastal drive
Bri at the bridge over the Glenarm River, Glenarm
We pulled in a little further up the coast in the picturesque harbour village of Carnlough which is situated at the foot of Glencloy, and had brunch at the Harbour Lights Cafe. It was a cosy cafe, good food, and we were lucky enough to get window table overlooking the little harbour.
Game of Thrones used steps in the harbour for a scene (bottom right pic)
Harbour steps used in a Game of Thrones scene
Harbour Lights Coffee Bar & Cafe
Window seat, lovely view
Welcome brunch stop – prawn salad sandwich & bacon, soft cheese & honey bagel with a piping hot pot of tea. 😋
Harbour memorial to Paddy the fastest message-carrying pigeon during the Normandy Landings in WWII
Peridot Memorial Plaque in the Harbour
Carnlough Harbour
Carnlough harbour
Boats in the harbour
Carnlough
Carnlough harbour
With full n happy tums we then headed on up to our destination of Bushmills, knowing that the surrounding area has a helluva lot to offer the tourist. We couldn’t wait to experience it!
Here’s a short vid of this first part of our Jolly adventure 🙂
So, we were all fired up ready for another weekend away when we noticed that the fridge light wasn’t coming on. It was one of the hottest days of the year too! Jolly had recently been into Marquis for some work on the fridge so we (rightly as it turned out) assumed that something was amiss with their finishing off of the job. To cut a long story short, we took in a detour to call in at Marquis and ask them to sort it out which they did and once sorted we were out on the road again …
Waiting patiently at Marquis Leisure
Job done and on the road
En route to Meathop
Jolly’s new bumper sticker – honk if you see it!
Meathop Fell C&MC Site was the destination for our camping trip with friends. It was a pretty late booking for a bank holiday weekend but luckily Meathop had available pitches, and having all been there before at one time or another (see previous post), we agreed it’d be a lovely site to visit again.
Arrival at Meathop Fell C&MC site
Drive up to reception
Pitch up n chill time
Site views
Pitch 18
Site information hut
I beg your pardon, I never promised you a …
What FANTASTIC weather we had too! Wow, so sunny and warm. The two of us spent time out cycling for a large part of one day because it was just such perfect weather that we had to get out into the countryside. We also spent lots of time together as a group sitting at our pitches and walking/cycling into Grange-over-Sands on the first evening. It’s a leisurely 2.8 miles into Grange from the site along a country road and then along the prom as you enter the town. We all sat out and had tea at The Commodore Inn on the first evening and thoroughly enjoyed the grub there 👍.
Scenery on the road to Grange from the site
Scenery on the route from site into Grange
Cheeeeeeeeeese! 😎
Grange over Sands
Bay views from the prom at Grange
Grange station panorama
Prom view
Signs along the prom about the railway
Estuary life
Grange and the railway
The following day part of the group drove into Kendal for the afternoon for a wander and to listen to a music event in the park. However, we opted to hop back on our bikes again and cycled part of NCN route 70 from the site entrance through to Town End, Witherslack, where we turned right at The Derby Arms (after a flyer!) and continued along a long, straight, quiet country road which runs parallel to the A590. The views on such a day were fab and the ride although a sweaty one 💦 made for a lovely afternoon.
We rode to the small village of Levens (one that we intend to re-visit to see Levens Hall Deer Park), past the The Gilpin Bridge Inn before reaching the absolutely delightful Hare & Hounds just a little further over a bridge and up a steep hill. We only went in for a loo break and a beer, however, our cycling had given us an appetite and it was clear to see that this place was a little bit special so Bri ordered Sunday roast pork & Suzie the pan fried seabass on saffron mash. Both were absolutely delicious! 😋.
We were then re-energised for our cycle back to camp which was just a reversal of the route we’d taken in and which we took at a leisurely pace, stopping to take in the views and breathe in the fresh air. Perfect.
A flyer in the Derby Arms, Witherslack
Parish of Witherslack, Meathop & Ulpha
Derby Arms at Witherslack
Scenery on the bike ride from Meathop to Levens
A perfect bike ride
Open road.
Stop off to take in the views
Not a cloud in the sky all afternoon ☀️
We’d driven past here many times on the main road so stopped off for ‘refreshment’ 🍻
We stopped at the Hare and Hounds in Levens
We found a cosy corner in the shade indoors
After initially only intending to have a drink we satisfied our cycling hunger with a meal. One of the nicest meals we’ve had lately. Big 👍
Nicely rounded off with a coffee
On arrival back at camp later on, we met up with the rest of the gang again who’d also had a great day in Kendal listening to music in the sunshine with a couple of beers. We all enjoyed a cold meats, olives, pate, cheese, bread and salad supper together later and sat around sipping Pimms, chatting, laughing and listening to music in what was a cosy round-up to the weekend.
The next morning, after a cooked breakfast bap, we headed our own ways back home after what had been an excellent weekend.
Our next Jolly Jaunt is only a week away and is a 9-nighter. We have the house/cat-sitter sorted so roll on that one because it’s been a long wait for us and it really can’t come soon enough.
Just back from a cheeky weekend Jolly jaunt to Haverigg, a quiet coastal village just outside Millom in Cumbria.
We stayed at Harbour Lights Campsite which is a very short walk from the picturesque and tranquil Haverigg Beach. We were lucky enough to be able to enjoy some time on this beautiful beach with the sun shining down and not another soul around us – it’s pretty rare to find that kind of privacy in such locations these days! We saw house martins landing on the wet sand to collect materials for their nests. They are so quick that the photos aren’t great but capture some of the action of these little beauties.
Just further on from Haverigg Beach (opposite the Inshore Rescue Team Building) is a 7-tonne sculpture looking out to sea. It’s by the famous sculptress Josefina de Vasconcellos, called ‘Escape to Light’, and dedicated to all UK inshore rescue teams.
Haverigg village is quiet and we found a little pub for a swifty during our exploration of the area – The Harbour Hotel. It seemed to be the hub of the community and there was a very friendly cat that lives there and which joined us for our pint by sprawling over the table. He/she really enjoyed a tummy tickle (well, don’t we all?).
We enjoyed a day out cycling from the site around the beach area, and out around the coastal lagoon which is the site of a former iron mine, and is now a nature reserve and the site of RSPB Hodbarrow.
It’s breeding season and as you can probably imagine, the whole site was alive with the chatter of birds and sight of parents carrying food back to the nests for their young. We sat in a hide and watched/listened for a while, taking photographs. We recorded a little vid …
We later cycled into Millom for a wander around and saw the statue that stands in the square of ‘the scutcher’ (the man whose job it was to stop the iron ore tubs with an iron bar) placed there in commemoration of the town’s iron industry history.
During our visit we ate at two places – Herdwicks, which is about a 10-minute walk from the site and The Clocktower Restaurant in Millom which we got a taxi to one evening. By far the best in our opinion was Herdwicks but you need to pre-book because they were full and turning people away, so it is obviously known to be good grub. The meal at the Clocktower was a little disappointing. There’s a lovely bar downstairs though so it’s well worth a visit for a drink, but we probably wouldn’t eat there again. Also, both taxi drivers recommended the Da Vinci Restorante so we’d probably give that a go next time.
All in all a very chilled out weekend with fantastic weather and beautiful scenery. Haverigg feels like our new little find, our special secret. Psst, *whisper* but we don’t mind sharing it with just you!
Finally, we’re getting a little more time to get this year’s adventures underway. It’s been wayyyy too long! Probably start with a trip back to our beloved Lake District … hmm, decisions, decisions …
Well we’re fresh back from another weekend in the Lake District, Cumbria. This time we re-visited the peaceful coastal hamlet of Ravenglass. It has been one of our favourites to return to over the years. The journey up was smooth and the weather remained dry but very misty in places.
We stayed as usual at the Ravenglass Camping and Caravanning Club site. It’s a beautiful site with good size pitches and a friendly, cosy feel. When we arrived there was just a choice of 3 or 4 pitches left but we managed to choose ourselves a quiet corner pitch (No. 33). One thing we would say, however, was that it rained a lot during the nights. We’re seasoned motorhomers now and always bear tree overhang in mind when choosing pitches when rain is forecast. However, due to reduced choice we found ourselves beneath a torrent of heavy rain droplets from branches throughout both nights but it was particularly noisy on the second night. We needed a few catch up 💤 when we got home 😴.
Anyhoo … Ravenglass is beautiful with everything so easily accessible. Literally 5 minutes walk from the site is the estuary which gives the most beautiful sunsets. There are benches to relax on as you watch the sun setting from an orange hue to a deep red as it sets fully. Pretty stunning. This time of year the sun set around 4:30 pm and even with more cloud cover the colours were beautiful. Here’s an earlier post from our 2014 visit when we captured a really, fantastic sunset – Ravenglass sunsets
There’s an interesting Roman history to Ravenglass and not far from the campsite is one of the largest surviving 2nd Century Roman buildings in England. It’s a Roman bath house, known as ‘Walls Castle’ which is cared for by English Heritage. We’ve cycled past this on previous visits and had a wander round around the structure. Check it out.
We arrived mid-afternoon and walked down to the estuary just as the sun was beginning to set. We had a drink in the pub along the front, The Inn at Ravenglass. 🍻
It’s a busy little drinking pub which doesn’t serve food at the moment but may do again in the future. The Landlady was welcoming and a good laugh. We sat by the log burner warming our tootsies up after standing out by the estuary.
Sunset
We ate on both nights at The Ratty Arms which never disappoints and we always pre-book just to be sure of a table.
The Ratty Arms is situated between the site and the estuary, alongside the Ravenglass & Eskdale Steam Railway line. You can’t visit Ravenglass and not ride ‘Ratty’s Railway’. If you do, what is wrong with you!? 🤪
We travelled the full route to Dalegarth Station in the small village of Boot. There are a couple of places to eat and drink there if you wish – The Boot Inn, Brook House Inn, and the Hardknott Bar & Cafe at The Woolpack Inn just a little further walk away. We didn’t eat in Boot but can vouch for a good pint in each establishment 😉👍.
On previous visits we have taken our push bikes on the train (you’ve to pre-book this beforehand) to Dalegarth and have cycled the Eskdale Trail back to Ravenglass. More details and pics of this along with other things to do around Ravenglass, including visiting Muncaster Castle, are included on our previous blog post. This time though with it being mid-winter we took the train both ways and just enjoyed a saunter around Boot for the afternoon. This included stopping a while to talk to a few gorrrrgeous Aberdeen Angus cows we passed grazing in a field.
We then caught the last train back to Ravenglass.
Well that’s been our last Jolly Jaunt of 2018. What a year we’ve had, so many adventures. We feel so lucky to be living our motorhoming dream. Hope you’ve enjoyed the posts too.
A lovely night spent with friends over Burnley way this weekend. We decided to make a weekend of it – any excuse for a Jolly jaunt 😉.
We pre-booked a 2 night stay at Smithson Farm Campsite in Reedley Hallows which is just outside Burnley, in the heart of Lancashire. The owners, Carole & Harry, are very friendly and welcoming and can’t do enough for you. They gave us a tour of the facilities on arrival and this included the shower/toilet block which is currently mid-refurbishment. We used our own on-board facilities though.
River Calder
Road to site
Tunnel under the M65
Road to site
Entrance to site
Track up to site
The site has grass or hardstanding pitches with EHU. There’s a CDP and grey waste can be disposed of there also. Just a little heads up though, you’ll need a long water hose to fill your unit as the tap is quite a way from where you park up. There is also a shepherd’s hut, camping pods and a larger camping hut, so something for everyone. There’s a cafe/shop on site selling jams & chutneys but it was closed as it was out of season. Carole still kindly offered us breakfast but we’d come well prepared with provisions to make our own. The site is also home to the small Woodend Mining Museum which is an interesting piece of mining history of the area.
Woodend Mining Museum
We paid £40 for 2 nights on a hardstanding pitch with EHU. It isn’t a large hardstanding pitching area, and Jolly at 7.2m in length just about fit. Bigger units would struggle. Also, there were 2 or 3 caravans on site that seemed to be permanent fixtures leaving a very limited choice of pitches. The power supply was low and tripped a couple of times during our stay even though we weren’t drawing much from it. Overall, however, the site was perfectly adequate for our needs this weekend.
Site accommodation
Glamping pod & facilities block
Glamping pods
Jolly preparing for home :🚐
Our first evening we enjoyed a meal at The Forest, Fence just a short taxi ride away. We used Cavalier Taxis and it was £10 for the journey, not cheap but it was ‘Mad Friday’ one of the busiest nights before Christmas 🎅🏻🍻. They were a friendly and reliable service. Our meal at The Forest was delicious even though TripAdvisor shows mixed reviews. It seems it may be a bit hit and miss there, in which case we were lucky that night because we couldn’t fault our meals. The atmosphere was great too.
Mmmulled wine🍷 🍺
Inside The Forest, Fence
Seabass and a turkey dinner. Yum 😋
Dessert
The second evening we met up with friends for a Christmas get-together at The Fence Gate Inn, Fence which was a fantastic evening too. In fact we were so immersed in the night we forgot to get any photos! We’d recommend giving both places we tried a visit. A really lovely weekend with excellent company and plenty of laughs.
We’ve just had a lovely weekend over Chester way in Jolly. We headed out on our annual Jolly Christmas Market Jaunt with the parent folks, and thought that Chester would make a nice change and would look pretty magical at this time of year. We were not wrong!
We booked a room at the historic, and apparently haunted, ‘Pied Bull’ for Lesley & Malcolm which was a very comfortable stay for them. We also ate there together on our first evening and the food was lovely.
The Pied Bull
Bar area
Our base for the weekend was a little gem of a find, approx. 3 miles outside Chester, in Bretton. It’s a Caravan & Motorhome Club CL site called Digby Farm in a peaceful, off road location. The owner, Barry, that we dealt with from the time of booking was great with detailed directions and a warm welcome on our arrival. It’s very easy to drive past the site lane entrance, even the taxi drivers struggled. The lane is beside a small Methodist chapel with black railings outside. Blink and you’ll miss it!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
We would happily recommend this site and will definitely return. The CL area is a circular area of 7 well spaced hardstanding pitches with grass area and views looking out across the fields. There seems to be an area for other caravans in a separate field also. Facilities were as you’d expect, although as usual we used our onboard shower and not the site one which requires 20p pieces.
Through here for drinking water
CDP behind the trees
We used the local taxi service to travel into the centre – KingKabs Taxis, tel: 01244 343434 – but found it much quicker to download their app and book that way. The average cost of the journey was between £8-£10.
Here’s a few photos of our weekend …
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
The second evening we had a really excellent meal at Chez Jules (left outside the Pied Bull and just a few yards along the street). Top notch 👍. For both evening meals we booked well in advance as it was busy and places were turning people away who hadn’t booked.
The weather was quite wild at night but we were cosy as we were buffeted about in Jolly and we awoke to glorious sunshine before the rain set in one and off for much of the day.
We woke to sunshine
Beautiful morning view
A little Jolly brunch
And before we knew it our weekend was over and it was time to head home. The weather was kind, it had stopped raining and the journey home traffic-wise was fine.
Home time leaving site
Gate out of the site
Not long til our next Christmas jaunt with our camping buddies. Roll on that one!
THE JOLLY MAJESTIC 