One of the beautiful things about heading up this coastline is that it's not long before castles start popping up across the landscape. Some in ruins surrounded by fields or marking the tops of sea cliffs and others standing strong supported by lively market towns and historic villages.
I passed a lot of places That I would have liked to stop and have a potter about but I had a long way to drive over the next four days and not knowing how pickle was gonna cope I looked at this trip as a taster to encourage a future trip round the North and scottish coast.
The first castle I came across, to the left behind the trees. I'm sure you've realised by now my photo's are pretty shat.
General cruising shots from Pickle
This was the first beach I briefly called at
The above photo's were all taken during over whelming excitement due to being out on the road with no commitments till the weekend.
I didn't stay long as there was a specific bay a guy from the festival had described to me. This dude had been driving round the coast and through Scotland west to east and had stopped of at Mighty Dubfest. We got chatting after one of my sessions and he showed me some awesome photos of the places he'd been and told me of this beach that very few knew of off the beaten track on the way to Edinburgh. I planned to stay near the city and do some street performing the next day so visiting this secret beach would fit in nicely with my schedule.
On being educated of this spot he was asked not to share the location with too many so's not to ruin its vibe, and he said the same to me, so I will not say more on its location. After following the few land marks he had advised me to keep an eye out for I found the route and it was exactly as he had described.
"just before..... there's a track to the right on a corner. At the end of the track you'll find a rusty old parking barrier and coin unit".
"Put a couple of nuggets in and the arm should raise. Then just keep rolling down to paradise"
and it truly was paradise.
Clear sands, tree's, fresh water trickling down from the surrounding cliffs and mixing in to the rock pools enabling vegetation to grow in and around.
Oh and this had happened earlier on in the day before I forget. One of the reasons I don't do selfie's.
Crossing the scottish border
I continued up the East coast stopping every so often when something caught my eye. Before long I reached Edinburgh, It looked awesome and I was getting myself all geared up for a bit of street performing, then a few jars in a local pub and conversing with some new faces. First things first though needed to find some where to pitch for the night so I started to drive back to the outskirts in search of a quiet shady spot.
Next thing I know I've an unmarked police car giving me the lights to pull over.
They did me for driving without a seat belt, £100 fine.
In the space of about two minutes my mood drastically deteriorated as I thought on the point that some tosser can break in to my van steal my shit costing me about £500 and get off scot free and I don't wear a seat belt, only putting myself in potential danger, and get screwed out of £100.
Where is the fairness/justice in that?
After this event I didn't much care to stay in Scotland long so I continued driving across the country to the West coast and ended up parked in a lay by in Ayrshire having a bbq feeling exceptionally sorry for my self.
Next morning I felt better about the situation, I was still adventuring, the van was running, and I had enough cash for another few tanks. Despite feeling a lot better I was still a little bitter about my running with the scottish police and thought I would leave my scottish adventures for another time and continue to head south from here as I had to be in Essex for Battles Bridge VW Show in a few days.
I made my down through the Lakes, spending a night at a site in Ullswater, and playing in some waterfalls, then on to the Yorkshire Dales spending the eve at the top of hill with some sheep, stopped off to see the grand folks and pickle and I plodded our way slowly down to Essex.
Here's some shots from the way down.
The site I chilled at in Ullswater.
This was lower down in the falls that I had a dip in. It was odd to me cos it was roasting hot but no one else was in the water, they were all just sweating their tits off taking photo's??
This shot doesn't nearly do this tree justice, it was massive and looked like it had a woody, it made me chuckle.
The road out of Ullswater. just round that corner was a winding, steep as a mo fo, single lane road that we crawled up at about 5mph with loads of cars queuing behind. HA!
The pub at the top of the climb where I had a celebration pint and pickle had a rest. (I was so stoked we made it, was a bit hairy half way up) Oh yea and on the way down the other side I burnt the shit out of my break pads. I assume most know this already but for those that don't and are trying to save fuel. Do not cruise down steep hills relying solely on your breaks, they will stop working. Stay in a low gear, using engine breaking to assist.
This is where I stopped for the night in the Dales, It was an awesome spot.
This cave and river where at the bottom of the hill, bang tidy wash in the morning.
I pretty much nailed in to getting to Hertfordshire after Yorkshire as It was Summer Solstice the next day and I was doing a Performance in Harpenden at 6AM for BBC introducings Solstice 24 gigs in 24 hours.
Heres the link to the video and a shot, bit sketchy but it was 6AM!
Gareth Lloyd and the rest of the BBC introducing team were with me for about half an hour before scooting off to their next artist and off I went to Battles bridge VW show.
Battles Bridge was a great show, It was my first year there but certainly hope to return next.
Held on the show ground of Battles Bridge Antique centre its by no means a massive show but there is plenty to see and get involved with and you don't have to treck miles back to your van from where all the action is.
I had a wicked shady little spot to set up the live lounge and there was no need for shelter as there was no rain or gales on the horizon.
The set up
Great to have a hang with the paint Scrapers again, thanks for the BBQ as well dudes x
Signing session, awesome kids!
The sass came to have a play on the last day.
We got VW white noise, secret garden party, and VW festival to go and then I'm all caught up.
Peace! x
