I wouldn’t say that we were finished jumping through hoops exactly, but with the camper van under contract it felt like the ban on having fun was officially lifted. Most of what was left to do involved a lot of waiting and as our final act of contrition, the circus of returning the car all the way back to Sheffield and then returning to Glasgow via train with luggage in tow and perhaps a little more waiting at the Travelodge of Glasgow. Trains have not been kind to us, but really, what could go wrong. This leaves us free to…wait for it, Coddiwomple!
Yes there’s gas in the car, but castles are awaiting. First a stop at Bowling Harbour where the end of a canal terminates with several locks to dam up enough water for a small marina while leaking the rest into the Clyde.
It does this old sailor’s soul a lot of good to see this clever boat harbour.
Pressing on regardless we pointed the hood or bonnet of our Vauxhall mini suv towards Drumlanrig Castle, a 17th century number with, it says here, a lavish interior, featuring paintings by Rembrandt and DaVinci among many other works of art.
The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch are still in residence at the Queensberry Estate. After a long and winding path through deep dark forest, We found it…closed.
We continued south and ran into this Burns memorial.
I don’t think anyone has ever done an accurate count of how many Robert Burns memorials there are but this one is quite substantial. It’s now an art gallery. Closed.
In the meantime Marce booked us into a charming garden cottage to deal with substantial admin on the camper van. This will be our view for the next few days.
Sounds lovely, so long as you are not over a pub!
It’s delightful reading about your adventures. Only wish I’d made it possible to reconnect all those years ago.Best of luck with your new chapter.