Itinerary #2

 So, carrying on from where I left off, I will be spending the night of the 26th June in a bed at my brother's place near Glenrothes in Fife. Won't be hanging around though, as I've got quite a distance to cover on this...

Day 8 - Making my way to the small seaside town of Hopeman which is a few miles north east of Elgin. I want to stop off in Aberdeen on the way there. Hopeman is the site of Spliff Island, the lump of rock so christened by the band one evening for obvious reasons. I got this location after reading "Do It For Your Mum", the brilliantly informative and entertaining book about the bands early days by Roy Hamilton.

Day 9 - A quick stop at Cromarty Firth before zipping up to Scrabster (via John o'Groats - gotta be done) to catch the evening ferry to the Orkney Islands where we will be based for four nights. During this time, I hope to find Barrel of Butter, Deer Sound, Muckle Skerry, Old Man of Hoy, Ruff Reef, Tomb of the Eagles and of course Scapa Flow. Our base will be St. Margaret's Hope on the island of South Ronaldsay.

Day 13 - We take the over-night ferry further north to the Shetland Islands where more island hopping will take place in order to find Fetlar, Muckle Flugga, Out Skerries, Sullom Voe, Ve Skerries and Vidlin Voe.

Day 17 - Late afternoon ferry back to the Orkney Islands which will hopefully give us a view of Fair Isle, which sadly I couldn't manage to schedule a visit to.

Day 18 - No places to visit today, so just a relaxing drive on the A836 from Scrabster to the campsite near Laid overlooking Loch Eriboll. What is the chances of Guy going for a dip? All will be revealed on the day.

Day 19 - Up early to get to Keodale. I'm really hoping we can get the elusive Cape Wrath trip done - it is dependent on tides, the MOD, and whether the man who drives the minibus will allow dogs to travel with us. This trip should take up most of the day, and afterwards, it's heading south to Ullapool for our last night together before Guy & Morgan return to London.

Itinerary #1

 After a couple of requests for a more accurate itinerary, I'm going to put up a list of places, dates and campsites that I should hopefully be at. The Alphard has had it's final visit to a garage to have the tracking aligned - apparently all the engine work (and there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into it by the wonderful Lex Tec team in Droxford. We will be forever grateful to them) had left the wheels all pointing in different directions. I was supposed to get this sorted the day before, but I had driven from Highbury to Reading only to find I'd left the keys back at home. Decency prevents me from repeating what Guy called me over the phone, needless to say it was all completely deserved. I am an idiot.

But talking of directions, back to the point of today's blog - my itinerary. So starting on the 20th June, here goes....

Day 1 - Canvey Island (the more observant amongst you will already be saying "That's not on the  Germinal CCXXIV mug/T" - I'm also adding as many places coastal place names that either get a mention in Sea Power songs, or that were written onto copies of the "Carrion" 7" single - I have a few copies). Then it's a quick jaunt to Shoeburyness, where I will hopefully find one of six Phoenix Caisson that are dotted around the coastline. After that, I will be setting up camp at Court Farm, near Brantham, Essex.

Day 2 - Felixstowe I'll probably head for the fort at Landguard Point rather than the container port, for obvious reasons! Felixstowe is a bit of a dead end at the bottom of the A14 - it's one of the few "there and back again" kind of journey on the whole trip. I then head up and around the entire bulge of East Anglia to reach my second nights campsite in the Sandringham Estate. Depending on my timing, I might get to find The Scalp. This was a bit of a guess. There is a place called "The Scalp" in the Republic of Ireland, but I'm assuming all the Germinal CCXXIV places are within the United Kingdom, and the only place I could find with "Scalp" in the name was Snettisham Scalp, so that's the one I'm visiting.

Day 3 - Today takes me across The Wash and up into Lincolnshire for my first stop - Donna Nook. Just how close I can get is dependent on if the seal pups have been sufficiently weaned to allow human onlookers! I then make my way to a campsite near Spurn Head (handy, as I think you can only walk to the end of the sand bank).

Day 4 & 5 -  I'm going a bit off piste and visiting Beverley Minster (just because) and then heading Durham way. I'm going to be staying here for two nights in order to visit all the places in and around Tynemouth, which include Sunderland, Roker Beach, South Shields, Cullercoats, Whitley Bay and Seaton Sluice.

Day 6 - I really will have to pull my finger out today. Booked a boat trip to see The Farne Islands, then it's into Scotland for Tantallon. If time allows, I just might be able to do another boat trip for a close up of Bass Rock, which is very close to my evening campsite "Yellowcraig" to the west of North Berwick.

Day 7 - Buzz past Edinburgh, over the Forth Bridge and hang east to Burntisland and then I head into Fife to stay with my brother and if all goes to plan, meet up with Guy and Morgan who are joining me for the next 12 nights!