Brae. A gay woman's tale!

Well… Sprout and I have arrived at Jedwater near Jedburgh for 3 nights of chilling. I have to say I am a wee bit disappointed after the beautiful wee site in Cumbria… but it will do… the river is 20 feet away and some nice walks for Sprout.

I drove alongside Hadrian’s Wall for a good part of the journey here and I did plan on doing the forest drive at Keilder but got to it to find it is closed until 25th!!… but my Satnav found me another beautiful drive along single track lanes and through the hills. Unfortunately too many sheep around to stop with Sprout, which is a shame!

Anyway after 2 days of unexpected great fun, it is now time to chill!… I will probably head back and do the Forest drive on Friday.

Can’t believe how many dead flies I have collected… my windscreen is just as bad…. so will be shopping for a squeegee!

I have just come back into the safety of the van… it seems the midges have followed me!

Well… part two of my wandering comes to a close today and it is time to move on to my final wee stop near Jedburgh.

I’ve had a lovely time here… and loved the site… I will return as it is a handy stop over!

The past couple of days have made me feel alive again… even if I have woken up with midge bites and a really bad runny nose! (Serves me right for going paddling!).

I really don’t want to leave here.. but my journey has to continue…

After a few glasses of wine a paddle in the river seemed a good idea…. the scrabble down the banking resulted in nettle stings…. and disturbing the midges even worse! Now holed up in my friends van drinking more wine to kill the itching!

Cumbrian midges are just as bad as Scottish ones! Hopefully won’t be as bad in Jedburgh!! But then again it will just be me and Sprout, so chances of making bad decisions through alcohol are slim!!… god help me on our next trip though!

I decided against going out today… my friend is away out to get more wine and shopping but I’m feeling a bit delicate… and decided to tidy Alice Alice and chill…. I also had to fix the dog gate (superglue is a marvellous thing!) as one of the legs came loose after a very bumpy drive yesterday.

I put together the new hoover (which took me ages because my brain wouldn’t work!) and took all the empties to the bins! But that will be the limit of my efforts for today!

The sun is just beginning to peak out and I think a wee bbq is on the cards tonight… not sure how much wine I will manage though… I’m definitely not cut out to be a party girl very often these day!

For now I’m chilling and trying to get rid of my hangover head!… and hoping that not too much wine is on the cards tonight as I have a long drive up to Jedburgh tomorrow!

We all have our own ideas about how things “should be” and what we expect from life.

Arriving here in Cumbria has taught me a wee lesson, in more ways than one!

What we perceive as being perfect is often not… and what we first think as “not what we want” often gives us much more pleasure and joy than we first imagined!

I shall give one example… the loo and shower here are very different… basically each is housed in a shed with a red light that comes on when occupied ( or as it was referred to last night ” the shite light of shame”)… I was a bit doubtful about them to be honest… but they are great… different, quirky and they make me smile!

Sometimes it is the least expected thing that makes you smile!!

Wine, laughter… and chips… life doesn’t get much better!

I left Craig Tara early this morning and had a wonderful drive down the coast to the Galloway Forest Park… although I have to say the condition of some of the smaller roads was terrible… huge potholes that were not only long but deep too! Apart from the roads it was a fantastic drive with a mix of beaches, forests and rivers! … and we had a great lunch in the visitor centre at the forest.

Now in Cumbria and all set up on the most beautiful little site, Riverside Tourer Park in Millhouse, Hesket-New-Market… not a lot of water in the river though! But the weather is fabulous! Some photos of our day!