We Did it Solway

Well I think the sun must be over the yardarm somewhere. Time for a beer, an episode of Pointless and a bit of iPad blogging by the sea. It’s so good to back in Vince by choice rather than by necessity. During the cold, homeless and relentless winter we lost sight of why we spent all our cash on the big fella in the first place. It’s for days like today when we packed him up and headed off to explore new horizons.

We haven’t gone far, as we’re new to this part of the world anyway so there’s lots to see. An hour and a half east of our chosen town of residence we find ourselves parked up on a pier in the village of Glencaple on the Solway Firth. It’s absolutely free to park up here overnight although donations are optional to contribute to the upkeep of the spotless car park beside the riverside café. And of course we’ll drop a few pounds in the box so others can enjoy it too.

Glencaple (no I hadn’t heard of it either!) was once a bustling port with its own shipyard where around fifty tradesmen including carpenters, rope makers, sail makers, sail cloth weavers and cabinet makers were needed to build the schooners at a rate of two per year. All the names of the ships built here are carved into one of the oak benches overlooking the swirling waters of the Solway.

Goods imported through Glencaple included tobacco from the USA , lime and coal from Cumberland, timber from the Baltic and rum, dried fruit and port wine from Spain. You wouldn’t think it now as the Glencaple of the twenty-first century is a sleepy village with one hotel and a pier-side café and gift-shop.

That didn’t stop us from parking up and taking a long walk along the estuary. We stuck mostly to the road as there were shouty signs by the side of the road warning us to BEWARE QUICKSAND and BEWARE CURRENTS and BEWARE TIDES, eek! Talk about putting off the tourists, we held on tightly to each other – just in case. Despite the terror we managed to spot a few signs of spring. All the reports today have been of 29° temperatures in the south-east. Trust me, they didn’t reach the south-west of Scotland where we had 11° and a biting breeze! Our daffodils are still in full bloom and there’s barely a bud to be seen on the trees.

Our plans for this evening may include a stroll over to the hotel for a beer, or maybe we’ll watch the sunset from Vince’s front window. Maybe we’ll have a read or just chat. And that’s the pleasure of travelling around in Vince – we’d forgotten how relaxing it can be just suiting yourselves with no particular need to hurry anywhere.

Oh. Hang on. We have to be in Carsethorn early tomorrow as we heard there’s a great pub there which serves lovely food and lets motorhomes park overlooking the beach. They only have two spaces though, so we need to get there early and prime Vince to get his elbows out!

See you there 😀