The MiRiders have become part of our campervan kit and when we are not touring we are out and about in the MiRiders for some exercise. This video captures a trip to Castle Semple Loch through the countryside along the cycle track, and then cycling the Glennifer Braes to capture some drone footage of the Caplaw Dam.
We parked up on the edge of the sea at Garlieston Bay. It’s really nice here and we’ve enjoyed walking along the beach, around the harbour and watching a Heron and Cormorant. We’ve enjoyed spectacular sunrises and saw some of the Milky Way in this dark sky area. There is one pub/restaurant at the Harbour Inn and one cafe at the Hive cafe. Both are good and the people are friendly. Storm Babet created high winds overnight and since Wendy never slept a wink we decided to head home a couple of days early. We plan on returning.
We need somewhere secure at home to store our MiRiders when we do not have them in the campervan, so we bought a metal Asgard secure storage “shed” – but I want to call it the bike garage. The Asgard unit is not inexpensive, however the people are helpful and the unit is high quality and easy to build. I am delighted with it.
It’s a wee change from the Ducato in this video as we are upgrading Duncan’s Caddy Maxi, fitting roofbars so he can carry his bike on the roof, along with a single roof box and perhaps a tube to store his fishing rods.
When we converted the van we tried to be careful to fit a smaller solar panel to allow space for the roofbars and bike carrier, so fingers crossed it all fits. We bought the roof bars from DST Automotive, this version is called Can Auto Turtle.
We had a short trip to the Milton of Fonab Campsite at Pitlochry, on the river Tummel. This is a lovely site with about a 25 minute walk from the site into Pitlochry over the suspension bridge. There’s stuff to do in Pitlochry, with plenty of cafes, restaurants and pubs.
The river Tummel is damned with hydroelectric power and there is a salmon ladder too.
It’s worth a visit here and we plan on returning in the future.
We decided to upgrade the front suspension to replace the McPherson struts, the springs, the top bearing mounts and the drop links. This job was too big for me so I asked Raymond at RS Autos if he would do it and I could help and video the job as we went.
We fitted replacement Monroe McPherson struts and SACHS springs.
We had a wee day tour to Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe in Duncan’s Caddy Maxi campervan, so our Ducato had a day off.
Loch Awe looked like a mirror when we arrived and the scenery is lovely here. Sadly the pike were not biting today but there is some good fishing footage nevertheless.
Sadly we start to head north in this episode as we start the return trip home.
We stop off at Chamonix where we experience some parking problems, then head North to the lovely aire at Bonneville. We were surprised to see journalist for the Tour de France parking up here.
Then we are off to Epernay for Wendy to buy some Mercier champagne and we park up overnight at an excellent aire. One of the best I’ve stayed at so far.
We then head further north to the aire at Calais and have a nice trip to the beach, and finally we travel on the Eurotunnel, park up overnight at Carlisle and then head to Glasgow. As we cross the Scottish border our normal weather returns!
In this episode we drive from Fussen in Germany at the end of the Romantic Road to Bardolino at Lake Garda, Italy. As we arrive at Lake Gard the pace of our tour slows down a little as we planning on staying here for nine nights.
There’s lots to do here so and we have a booking at a Fiat garage in Verona in a few days to have the van checked over.
The weather is brilliant and then we experience a sudden storm one midnight, followed by a bird having a dislike to my drone.
This is our third trip to Bardolino and whilst little has changed, we are glad about this as we really like it here. It’s the first time we have seen the amphibious classic car.
We are enroute from Landsberg am Lech to Fussen in Germany, travelling along the final part of the Romantic Road. We park up in the beautiful Bandwalsee valley and tour the spectacular castles. These are a must see.
The Romantic Road has been great. It’s not always easy to follow but we got there. Sadly, as we arrive in Fussen it is complete. Next we head to Italy, in episode 4.
McNaughts On Tour 