STARTING A FRIENDSHIP WITH A BIG BANG

I am loving life on the road in my motorhome but there is something about a girls weekend in a country house to recharge the batteries. My dear friend Nicola @ncmedialtd celebrated her 60th at a fabulous place in Herefordshire www.thefreeth.co.uk with a fantastic group of friends.We ate, drank and laughed so much. Savouring the delights of a personal chef on the murder mystery night. 

As well as discovering Chase gin, on a tour of their distillery @chasedistillery.co.uk nearby. Of course I could not pass up the opportunity to soak in a lovely bubble bath with a glass of wine on several occasions throughout the weekend.

I headed off further north via Manchester to catch up with some family. My nephew Michael and his partner Steven and their friend Ryan took me for a fabulous meal and night out on Canal street in Manchester.

The next day I went with my cousin Clare to see ELBOW. 

We got the tickets two years ago but they were cancelled because of COVID, it was just by chance that I was back in the area in time to go and see them. I was very anxious because it was the first time in two years I had been into a music venue with crowds of people. It was an amazing night. I then caught up with my sister Liz, @bizzylizzyartistry She even got me to bring out a bit of my artistic side and do a little painting, as we chatted over a few glasses of wine.

 I actually enjoyed it and it may be something I will learn more about in the future but for now I will just stick to my motorhome madness.

I was not used to all the socialising and partying I'd been doing for the last week, so when I crossed the border into Scotland I stopped off at a lovely campsite in Moffatt for a couple of days, to detox and recover. 

 I went for several long walks in the Moffatt hills, which are beautiful, I certainly cleared my head.

My heart really does skip a beat as I drive into Scotland I just love the landscape and the beauty of it. I could not wait to explore more of it.  

The next day I drove to Glasgow, were I was finally getting to meet Ged, @gedstaxis , who is one of the @theyestribe 'Yes Tribe' founder members, who I have got to know on the Yes Tribe zoom coffee mornings, that I joined during lockdown. I have made so many lovely friends through it and she had invited me to stay at her place in Glasgow. 

I tentatively pulled into the driveway of Ged's house and was pleased that I managed to squeeze in. Then this smiley friendly face popped out from the side door and she beckoned me to pull further forward, so I moved the motorhome further up the drive, when all of a sudden, there was an almighty crash, and Ged's face was one of shock! The top of my motorhome had bashed into her overhanging porch. She had not realised when she told me to pull in further. Thankfully I stopped immediately and reversed. She said that it squashed in but popped out again as I reversed and thankfully when she scaled a ladder to inspect it there was no major damage, just a black mark which remains to this day until I can find a way to remove it.

What a greeting! but it did break the ice and we can laugh about it. 

We were soon off exploring together the next day in my motorhome. 

First stop, the amazing Falkirk wheel, a rotating boat wheel connecting the Forth and Clyde canal with the Union canal. It opened in 2002 and it was the first time the canals had been connected since the 1930's.  It is the size of eight double decker buses stacked on top of each other and its mesmerising watching it rotate to move the boats. 

If that was not enough the next port of call were the Kelpies. They are the most impressive 30m high horse head sculptures depicting Kelpies (shape-shifting water spirits) They represent the lineage of the heavy horse of Scottish industry and economy, pulling. the wagons, ploughs, barges and coal ships.  

I then made us a spot of lunch before driving up through some lovely scenery to the Lake of Menteith, 

which is often called Scotland's only lake. (although it is actually a Loch) It is beautiful and I was tempted to go for a swim in the Loch but then decided I would rather spend time before sunset exploring more.

I was not disappointed with the views. We pulled up for a cuppa tea and a biscuit at the Campsies, a place overlooking Glasgow and just took in the wonder of the surroundings.

Ged even spent a night in the motorhome with me at a campsite in Strathclyde Country Park, to fully emerge herself in the van life. It was good fun and we had a lovely walk around the loch where the commonwealth games were held in 2014.

There were also some interesting Roman ruins in the Park from the time when the Romans pushed further north from Hadrian's Wall and built a second wall along a new frontier between the Forth and Clyde estuaries. It was called the Antonine wall.   

During my time in Glasgow I was also able to meet up with @JoyceWilliams_ Who is known as Grandma Williams, she is in her 80's and I have followed her on Twitter for a long time as she is one of my inspirations. 

She has championed positive ageing and challenged ageism for many years. She even challenged Phil and Holly when she was on This Morning, when Phil said she "looked good for her age" she let them know that was ageist. Joyce came along for lunch in a quirky Indian restaurant that she had chosen to meet me at, with her husband and we had a lovely lunch and a great chat. I could have gone on talking with her for hours, I look forward to meeting up with her again one day. I do love the power of social media that you can find your tribe of people who support what you are doing and I can support them. It is even better when you get to meet up with them in person and they are just as inspirational as you hoped they would be.