I’m sitting writing my first Scottish blog from Gretna Green whilst I wait for the rain that has come in to clear. The beauty of not having to be anywhere, you can just go with the flow of what life provides. I love it here, maybe because I’m such a romantic!
So after leaving home on Monday 29th April I headed to stay overnight with some friends, ‘the Englands’! in Northamptonshire, for one last night of indulgency, (what most people take every day for granted) a home cooked meal, a glass or two of wine! And of course a shower (not sure when the next one will be!). Their daughter is also called Lucy so she was delighted to meet ‘Lucy’ the love van and even did a name plate to go on the fridge. It’s called ‘Suzi’s bedroom’!
The stopover broke up the journey to Scotland perfectly which meant yesterday I only had a four hour drive to reach Gretna Green.
I did a lunch stopover at a service station, used the facilities, but then headed back to the van for a homemade sandwich and a nice cup of tea. I loved it! And loved that I was not being ripped off by the prices you have to pay in the service station.
As I arrived at Gretna Green a couple had just got married, and were outside the Blacksmiths where the ceremony takes place and they strike the anvil to seal the marriage, symbolic of the blacksmith’s changing role as forger of metals to ‘forger’ of couples in marriage.
There’s not much at Gretna Green, just as it should be, although they have commercialised it at the back of the Blacksmiths with gift shops, a whisky shop – of course, and a ‘love’ restaurant! and a courtship maze where the famous anvil is and legend has it if you touch the anvil good fortune in affairs of the heart will be yours! So of course I had to touch it! You can’t help feeling the essence of love when you come here. I treated myself to an anvil magnet for the fridge, which of course will end up being a travelog of where I have been.
By this time it was 5pm so I decided to look for a place to park the van up to sleep for the night, as of course they don’t allow overnight parking here, although in hind sight I don’t think they lock the gates so it probably would have been possible if I had snuck back later in the evening! So it took me about an hour driving around the country lanes of Gretna to find somewhere I thought was safely enough off the road with a nice view.
I was a little unsure as I was parked in front of gates to a field and thought the farmer may pitch up at any point, but all was well, and it turned out to be the perfect spot. I threw a very quick dinner together as by this point I was starving.
It wasn’t long after that I decided to get the van ready for the night, as after the driving and excitement of arriving in Scotland I was pretty tired. When the bed is out, it’s so cosy and for a while I read a book that I had been given “How to Live in a van and travel” – written by a young man who has done exactly as I have back in 2015 and is still travelling! What a great dream to have! When I finally turned out the lights, with the blackout curtains pulled, it was pitch black, as there is no light pollution on a country lane in Scotland, I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me! It felt quite strange but I soon settled into it and was asleep in no time at all. I woke up a couple of times in the night, but soon went back to sleep and ended up having a good 8 hours.
In the morning it turns out that it takes a good hour to get the van ready to travel again and add into this getting washed and dressed, having breakfast, that’s 2 hours! But when time no longer matters, how long something takes has no relevance, this is going to be strange to get used to, letting go of having to do anything by a certain time, just going with the flow of life.
So I’ve learnt how to piggy back my laptop off the back of my iphone connection so I can now post this blog.
