Thursday - Britt Ekland don't live here anymore

OK so today's title has absolutely nothing to do with the posts title picture!

Strange sort of day today. A slow start and 30 mins drive out of the forest into Newton Stewart. Probably slow because of our hitch-hiker

Despite the outdoor shop 's website showing what looks a promising replacement for my aging backpack (having to stick the zipper teeth back to the fabric with superglue this week was the last straw) they didn't stock it. Apparently they are a chain of 4 (none of the others are local) and it's probably in stock in one of the others. Still Newton Stewart is a pleasant enough little town deserving a better photo

Yes it was that sort of day, sunshine and grey and oppressively sticky. 

There's another outdoor shop but this caters for the shooting fraternity, all Barbour and Dubarry, not us. They didn't have a rucksack but I probably could have got a good side by side shotgun. Fascinating chap working there and we spent a good twenty mins in conversation. Given yesterday's experience the conversation turned to midges and I commented that Avon Skin So Soft is recommended but our midges seemed to love it

Look how many are on the bottle**

Anyway he recommended a product called Smidge. Even more than that, he insisted we took a bottle gratis to ensure we continued enjoying our trip. That stuff ain't cheap so a random act of kindness I will need to pay onward. 

There's a few charity shops, a fabric shop and an Aldis food shop that needs doing. We decide we'll lunch in the van now we've finished. Tea is made, smoked salmon wraps made (using local crumpets, more like Staffordshire pancakes than the ones we're used to). We just start eating and I notice the time. We are right on our three hour parking limit in Sainsbury's car park. No problem. Liz walks the steaming mugs of tea across to the adjacent Aldis car park whilst I drive round in the van. Lunch is resumed. 

Just a spoiler, that won't be the only time Liz is walking with steaming mugs of tea in her hand today! 

Next stop a distillery, Bladnoch near Wigtown just a few miles away. Bladnoch, hands up all those thinking of The Goon Show! Sadly not very photogenic but Scotland's most southern distillery. A rush of blood to my head as I bought a bottle of 11 year old at a price a bit beyond my norm. Mind you we also bought a bottle of their New Make Spirit which is spirit from the still but not barreled. It comes in at a whopping 63.5% abv, is clear, and has distinct apple and pear drop aromas and a distinctive grain flavour.

On round to Wigtown Scotland's book town, the equivalent of Hay On Wye. Almost every shop is a second-hand bookseller. Having been here a few years ago and not wanting anything we didn't bother stopping 

It's almost but not quite camp time (we are staying in a forest carpark and pay additional parking if we arrive before 6). So we pop round into Creetown

A tiny, one street town. It's claim to fame is its association with The Wicker Man film (another of my all-time favourites, the original, not the abysmal Nicky Cage remake).

https://www.findingthewickerman.co.uk/creetown

Sadly the Ellangowan is closed, probably forever and enclosed by mesh site fencing. It was so sad I couldn't even bring myself to take a photo. A few years ago it would have been high on my must do list to sit in the bar with pint and sing The Landlord's Daughter (just to myself of course) 

Campsite now. Well large carpark at one of the Galloway forest's visitors' centres.

I'll copy something I wrote to my Small Motorhome friends earlier this evening

Recently we were parking in a large, designated overnight stay, forest car park. Neatly laid out rubber mat surfaced bays with a slight, but distinct downhill slope. We parked and then noticed the grass ridge between bays was raised slightly and definitely firm enough to take the van front wheels without surface damage. So despite being parked, steering lock on, I nipped into to drivers seat, let off the handbrake and let the van gently coast forward into the desired position, reducing the van's slope by a couple of degrees.

Silver screen on, seats forward, boxes from luton into position behind them. Gas on, tea made, and Liz is just starting on dinner.

All is good.

Then the van starts to roll! Some numpty hadn't put the handbrake on. Liz jumps out of the back, followed rapidly by me, the van picks up speed, Liz is thrown to the ground, followed rapidly by me. I get up and try to race, painfully, sock-footed, towards the accelerating van. Keystone Kops, this was our tribute!

Then the gods smiled. I'd parked badly and left the front wheels at a bit of an angle. Slowly the van started to turn and become more side on to the slope, decelerating as it did so, and before my flailing arms could quite reach it, it glided gently to a halt. Holding on tight I opened the door, pulled the hand-brake up and disaster was averted. Not even had any tea spilled from the freshly made mugs

So we sat with our teas Liz shaking, me just incredulous at our luck and Liz says "Yu'know you could have probably just lent forward into the cab and pulled the handbrake on rather than all that running around after the van!.

Doh!

Wonder if any of the other parked vans noticed and filmed it, is my idiocy going to become Facebook fodder?

Yeah, it was a bit scary and very stupid. After I rescued the van I drove it back to the original parking spot and securely applied the handbrake. Whilst I was doing that Liz rescued to two mugs of tea from the back and walked them back to where I was parking the van. See, I told you this lunchtime would't been the only time she did that! 

Just 50 local miles today

** I discovered later that midges can't get through layers of Avon So Soft and stick to it and die, that's why so many were on our bottle.