After 2 months in Scotland it was time to leave and to drive back South. We had no clue the beauty that was still waiting for us in Wales.
Lake District
The lake district is a region in North West England, know for its beautiful lakes, woods and mountains. Thus, a popular holiday destination.
We arrived in the Lake District a few days before the summer banking holiday. We had no clue what that meant: The majority of the working British population having a Monday off and going camping or B&B’ing the weekend before.
While were still enjoying peaceful hikes on Thursday and most of Friday, we were overwhelmed by the masses that welcomed us on Saturday. Time to pack up camp and continue our journey south.
Warning: The smaller roads (even sometimes the B-roads) are narrow and the passing places (pullouts) infrequent. We enjoy driving challenging scenic roads, but wouldn’t recommend driving these on busy days with a wide vehicle like an expedition truck. Lucky we checked them out before the start of the holiday weekend.
Tip: wild camping (both in video above)
- N 54° 21′ 48″ W 3° 5′ 47″:
- fantastic view of lake & mountains
- many walking paths
- windy
- very challenging for large expedition trucks: single lane road (barely any passing-ways) & very steep climb (we used the crawler on descend!)
- N 54° 36′ 73″ W 3° 14′ 55″:
- car park in the woods
- if you go for a walk keep an eye open for all the fairytale-like mushrooms
Snowdonia – Wales
Snowdonia is a national park in North West Wales, popular with mountain bikers, hikers and climbing fanatics.
It’s here where we met Jelly & Helen – two mountain bikers living in their ex-police van for 3 years. We were already in contact with them through Instagram, but finally met them “life” when we spotted their van on the same forest car park where we wanted to set up camp for that night.
We hit it off right away. They showed us around Snowdonia and South England later that month, took us to a talk about a kayak-expedition in Greenland, spend evenings laughing in our truck, …
In return we helped them out with the purchase of a STEYR 12M18 with Zeppelin FM II Shelter — sounds familiar??? (a.k.a. the exact same set-up we started with 3 years ago).
We miss them truly!!!
Tip: Snowdonia is absolutely worth a visit! While you’re there check out these places!
- Plas y Brenin – The National Mountain Sports Centre: The place to be for every outdoor adventure fanatic. They also organize free events and talks. (+ they have wifi, food & laundry facilities 🙂 )
- Conwy Falls Café: A café with good food and drinks, & free wifi. Most importantly, they “welcome muddy boots, beasts & bikers” and have a large parking lot. And when you’re lucky the waterfall behind the Café can be really impressive – even for those who have been spoiled by the waterfalls at Plitvička Lakes in Croatia
- Black Rock Sands (Porthmadog): You can drive your vehicle right onto this beach. (Free access after 5 PM)
Other articles and videos about Scotland & Wales:
- Overland travel: Scotland-Part 1
- Overland travel: Scotland – Part 2
- A perfect day in Scotland
- A dark night in Scotland (only accessible for our newsletter subscribers)
- Overland travel: The Wrath of Wales