Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Our stay in the fancy campsite of Silverknowe is uneventful, except for wonderful heavy rains during the night. We parked under a massive old oak tree, which made the sound of the rain on the campervan even more spectacular. It is clear that there are classes of campsites – this being one of the more posh ones. All in all though, it has been a very pleasant experience so far. Well, now we have to pack, clean up and return the van to Uphall, just outside of Edinburgh. Fortunately (and rather unusual for the two of us) we kept the van quite clean, which was not easy with all the rain, mud and the weird habit of campsite owners to insist on mowing the lawns while the rain is ******* down. So with a mixture of mud and freshly mowed lawn on hiking boots, I became the nagging mother – “wipe your feet please”. So now we have to get everything we bought (whiskey, books, writing paper, top hat, Stirling bear etc) into our suitcases. Not to mention all the food. We do a good job of most of the cleaning, until I want to sweep the floor and find that we have lost our little broom and dustpan. Pain in the butt, but thanks to friendly neighbours we borrow one to do a good job of it. I cannot figure out how we could have lost the bloody little brush and pan, but it is gone. Totally gone. Pain! We empty the grey water and toilet tank, and now have to make a beeline to Edinburgh, where we are going to take a chance of dropping off our cargo at the apartment, which is only available from 16h00. That means venturing right into the middle of the city, find the apartment, and pray that we can leave all our stuff there. We also have to fill the van with diesel. Easier said than done! The city is chaos, we have to make two u-turns before we spot the apartment on the opposite side of the road, with not a parking space in sight. The spot that we should use is occupied by a cleaning company hosing down the outside of the block of apartment. Eventually the friendly hosing man sees our distress and pulls his van away to make space for the camper. Now, for the first time, it feels as if we are driving a pantechnicon. I manage to squeeze into the small space with the help of Victor and the hose man. We get into the block, but cannot figure out how to open the apartment door, in spite of emailed instructions. Eventually someone opens the door from the inside – a nice young man called Paul, from Cape Town! He lets us in, we drop our bags and realise that we are now late. (There is a 56 pound for returning the vehicle after 11h00). And we still have to find a bloody little brush and broom!! Heading out of town to Uphall of course every traffic light will be red. In Uphall itself we find a Hardware store where Victor jumps out and finds a brush and pan. Saved! It is now 11h20, and I am irked by the fact that we will have to pay a fine! And we can’t find the depot. The GPS has taken us into the village, we have no idea how to get to the Industrial Park where we are supposed to drop off the van. By some fluke – we happen to drive past it. U-turn and voila, we are there. No one says a word about the fact that we are late, everyone is checked and we are ready to go. I do a last check to see that we have not forgotten anything – only to find THE BLOODY BRUSH AND DUSTPAN. And we both looked everywhere. Yea right we did. A short walk to the station in Uphall and we take the train into Edinburgh. We decide to take a walk up the Royal Mile, with thousands of tourists from all over the world who had the same idea. It is a beautiful sunny day, and at 13h30 we have breakfast in a little sidewalk cafe. The sun is now quite warm and suddenly one can actually consider calling this season summer. We stroll up to the Edinburgh Castle where preparations are under way for the annual Military Tattoo. (I attended this in the late 80’s – an unforgettable parade of 1000 pipers with the most incredible firework display. It is also the official opening of the Edinburgh Festival, where I saw a performance of “Curl up and dye”, a wonderful South African production with Christine Basson in the lead). We do a walking tour with a guide with the most charming drawl of a Scottish accent and a very, very dry sense of humour. Touching (more that the blood and murder of royalty and clans) is a tiny little graveyard for the dogs of the soldiers and officers – prime position in the castle for man’s best friend. Now while the whole motorhome expedition might sound very strange to the average person, we decide that it is a fantastic way of travelling. Car and house in one tortoise style, it is great to stop en route, make a cup of tea and have a little lie down (or a wee). The campsites are very clean and comfortable, usually in great spots that have spectacular views. There is no rushing into cities, having to find accommodation when you arrive late, getting lost on the way to hotels or apartments. The privacy of your own little boudoir is wonderful, no need to pack and unpack suitcases all the time or stress with checking in or out times. So – this will be our new way of travelling in future!