The Tour of Wales

In this blog The Daphne Diaries takes you on a tour of Wales in pictures. Ivan & Jane toured Wales in their motorhome Daphne, towing their Ural motorcycle and sidecar and taking along their Dachshund Otto in May, June & July 2021.

Ivan, Otto and Jane on the tour of Wales

You will see amazing sunsets, views from hikes and some fantastic sites. Most of the tour was on motorcycle and sidecar which afforded the freedom to get out more, explore tiny country lanes, mountain sides and find the hidden treasures Wales has to offer. Enjoy castles and coasts, canals and countryside, mountains and rivers and streams: 

Ivan and Jane are happy to be travelling again!

Despite being a relatively small country Wales has over 100 castles to visit, there are many more abandoned, ruined and tucked away. Pictured below are some the castles visited:

The border of Wales and England is littered with castles galore. This is Whittington castle in Shropshire, England and is free to visit with a lovely tea room 😋. 

Flint castle is on the north coast of Wales and free to enter.

Denbigh castle was closed for the time being

Harlech castle sits majestically on top of Harlech town overlooking the sand dunes and beautiful beaches on the west coast of Wales. We parked Daphne overnight at the leisure centre at a minimal fee of £5 per night. 

Penrhyn castle in Bangor is free for national trust members 

Cricceth castle overlooks the beach on the Llyn Peninsula and is managed by the National Trust

Gwerch castle in Abergele was probably the most sprawling and majestical castle visited. It also hosted the 2020 “I’m a celebrity” TV show. It was £10 each to enter and well worth the visit.  The castle was built relatively late in the 1800s and was originally a stately home built to look a lot older. In the 80s a young lad of 12 was so upset to see it in disrepair he started up a preservation trust to try and restore it to its former glory. It’s still being worked on today. 

Cardiff castle grounds are free to visit in the centre of the capital of Wales

Ivan, Jane and Otto enjoyed travelling on their Ural Dalesman

The small mountain roads are ideal for the Ural motorcycle and sidecar with some gated roads going through forestry high up in the mountains.

You cannot tour Wales without finding plenty of water 💦. There are many reservoirs and over 800 lakes, rivers and waterways plus the lush green of the land means a fair amount of rain ☔️ 

Nant Stigallt Reservoir in Snowdonia National Park

Relaxing at Llyn Brenig Reservoir 

Ivan at the Horseshoe falls in Llangollen 

Looking out over the Menai Straight from Anglesey

Waterfalls are a favourite ❤️ 

The Llangollen canal runs from south of Cheshire in England to Llangollen in Wales. It is famous for crossing the highest aqueduct in the UK. Jane, Ivan & Otto had the privilege of hitching a ride abroad Heron across the Aqueduct. Trudy steered expertly across with Ivan next to her and Jane sat at the front of the boat with Otto & Paddy. Chris braved the narrow walkway across to film the epic voyage. 

The beaches are hugely underrated and often have spectacular backdrops. There is 1,680 miles of coastline in Wales and this ranges from huge commercial type beaches to tiny coves and cliff tops. Ivan is looking out over Cricceth beach on the Isle of Anglesey. The mountains of Snowdonia are in the background. 

One of the best times had in Wales has been meeting up with friends, either those who live in Wales or those visiting. Below are some of the friends met up with.

Phil and Reg out in the Ural. Otto is also in the sidecar somewhere!

Janes Mum and Dad were also at a vintage motorcycle rally and met them there

Chris hosted the rally and gave Jane, Ivan, Phil, Reg and Otto a lift to Pendine to view the hot rods racing in his 1925 Bentley. This was one of the highlights of the trip

Sarah and James were on holiday in Pembrokeshire. Ice creams all round. Photo by Sarah

Ian and Sue were on holiday in Cardigan Bay with thier dog Missy.  A few days were enjoyed in their company in Ceredigion. 

Thank you for reading. The tour of Wales has been wonderful especially as its the first opportunity to travel in 2021. This blog is the most difficult to write as the amount of photos has been overwhelming after 9 weeks exploring the beautiful country of Wales.  However its highly recommended and The Daphne Dairies will be back!

Even if its only for the sunsets!

Bye for now, Ivan, Jane and Otto

The springtime in Daphne

We woke up at 4am, snoozed the alarm for another 8 minutes and stumbled about in the dark to make a brew and get dressed. Armed with flasks of hot coffee, torches and a blanket we set off to the top of Wild heart hill to start our last full day at the campsite as early as possible.

We have been at Wild heart hill for 19 weeks having arrived just before Christmas to the event of the third lockdown in England. It's one of our favourite places to be, our home from home. We feel so lucky to have somewhere to hole up and wait out the winter. Coming into spring we are watching the fields, trees and plants come alive. It's such a pleasure to have the time to enjoy nature. We love it here ❤.

Today we sat at the top of Wild heart hill and listened to the dawn chorus in fridge temperatures (3 degrees!) 🥶 and we reflected on our time over the last few months. 

Daphne in the early morning sunrise

Ivan heading out of the campsite on our 1959 Matchless motorcycle. We have been using this bike for our main transport to and from the site.

In the last month we have dug out our Ural sidecar out of storage and got it ready to take with us when we go on our travels. Luckily our dog Otto has taken to it well and he is snug in the sidecar on one of our laps 😊

We have encountered all kinds of weather over the winter, however a fresh dusting of snow took us by surprise in April and the early mornings and night times have been chilly 🥶

By contrast this photo was heavy frost, taken in January on the south downs.

However, spring is finally here and coats are off, in the daytime at least!

Otto checking out the daffodils on Wild heart hill 🌱

The fields are coming alive with cowslips and violets on the hillside

We are foraging in earnest and making the most of the abundant wild garlic and dandelions 🌿.

Finally, we can see friends again and go to the pub 🍻🥂. Photo by Karen

Otto spent time with his best mate Dave 🤩. Photo by Vanessa

We can go on walks in groups of up to six. Photo by Carol

Picnics outside are allowed 🥖🍏. Jane with her sister Carol and Mum & Dad. Plus Otto and Casper 🐾

Ivan, Otto and Ivan's Mum plus Trixie the dog in the bluebell woods 🌿

Our neighbour Bill giving treats to Otto and his lovely dog Tilly 🐾

We spent some fun time around the campsite with our nephew Lewis 😀

Altogether the time has flown by and we are looking forward to travelling again. Restrictions are lifting. Most campsites are opening with limited facilities. Shops and pubs are opening up. So, tomorrow we are off again. We are trailering our sidecar and motorcycle behind Daphne and heading west to Wales. Hoping for adventure we will see what we can find. We will keep you posted. 

Thank you for reading and stay safe and well 😊.

Bye for now xx 

One last photo of the sun rising behind our tree of life at the campsite ❤

The two year anniversary of life on the road

Well, life is certainly different to what we expected in January 2019 when we first moved into our motorhome fulltime and headed off on the first of many adventures. Today marks the 2nd anniversary of life on the road and we cant imagine going back to live life in a house. We love our motorhome Daphne and the life we have chosen, despite the challenges we are facing.

Jane and Ivan 

Motorhoming is one of our biggest pleasures ❤. We love taking our home with us wherever we are. Life before motorhoming fulltime was very different. We have both always worked fulltime mainly in jobs we enjoyed. After decades of camping in tents we brought a Toyota hilux pick up truck and found a second hand hard top so we could make up a bed in the back. This was our first motorised camper and we loved it. We made it cosy with a cooker and old sofa cushions and spent weekends and holidays travelling around the UK. This was when we weren't on our motorcycles with our tent attending rallies abroad and at home. We have always had a lust to travel and enjoy new sights. We love being out in nature and fresh air, alongside the elements. A house to us was a place to sleep and over the years we spent our money on vehicles that enabled us to indulge in our wanderlust lifestyle. 

Our Toyota Hilux 😍

As time went on we were on our second hilux and after 2 years ownership were shocked and devastated when it was stolen from right outside our house. We used to watch other motorhomes travelling and read blogs on their adventures and say to each other "they are living our dream." We always said that one day this would be us. 

Thats when we chose our first motorhome Vern. He was a 1989 Fiat Ducato Highwayman and in need of love and attention. We used our insurance money from our stolen pickup to start our new chapter in motorised transport and painted and polished to make him our home from home.  

Vernon, our first Motorhome, we had him for five years 😍

The freedom, independence, the fact you are in your own self contained bubble was just perfect. We fell in love with motorhoming and wondered what it would be like if we never went home after our weekends away. We loved having the comfort of our favourite sheets on the bed, our favourite coffee and tea on the cupboard. There was a home for everything we enjoyed. We had our books, records, art stuff and walking kit all in their place in our tiny home and it afforded us great pleasure. 

Two years ago we swapped Vern for a more modern motorhome Daphne and took the plunge to live our dream. We worked hard to make it happen and plan for a future of freedom. We gave up our jobs, sold or stored our belongings and rented our house. We moved into Daphne fulltime and headed off on our first adventure abroad. In July 2019 we added a miniature dachshund into the mix and now share our tiny home with our tiny dog Otto. Despite the recent restrictions we have absolutely no regrets.

Daphne on a misty morning in lockdown 3 😍

It's just a fabulous lifestyle and we would not swap it for the world. In the last two years we have found so many new places and many of them have not cost money. The simple pleasures in life have become so meaningful to us. The walk on the downs, the cycle to the coast, the discovery of new places, the peace and joy of being free and independent is amazing. 

In two years we have traveled to Spain, France and Portugal, spending the rest of the time in England. We are lucky enough to say we are living our dream and will no doubt continue to travel when restrictions are lifted. We have lots of plans! In the meantime we make the most of each day, enjoy our cosy tiny home and appreciate we have wheels and can move. 

Otto ready to go for a cycle ride at our lockdown campsite.

Thank you for reading and following our journey 😘.