Independent overland travel through Africa in a Unimog called Moglet

So, here we are again, another year older (although possibly not much wiser??).

The last few days have been really chilly, not getting much above freezing for more than a couple of hours, and plummetting as soon as the sun goes down. The ground everywhere around us has been well churned up during the last month or so of wet weather, and has now frozen into deep, icy ruts. Plus there's lots of standing water thats freezing over every night - we took a stroll across to the visible section of Hadrians Wall about 1/2 mile from the campsite, and within half an hour of leaving Moglet I managed to wrench my ankle and aggravate an old injury thats only just healed. To add insult to that injury, I managed to do it by walking over the same section of (apparently) frozen boggy ground that Jason had just strolled over - he skips over the crappy terrain like some kind of mountain goat, and I step straight through the ice, up to my shins in a sticky mud slush puppy. Yay. We stayed out for a couple of hours more, but anything other than almost flat ground was too painful so I wimped out and we headed back to the campsite.

We took an easier stroll to the nearby Vindolanda fort remains a day or so later. Its a National Trust site, so naturally £5+ to get in each, but there you go. We also got there too late to have tea and cake in the giftshop, which is always disappointing :-( Its a pretty extensive site, apparently it'll take another 200 years of summer excavations to get it all unearthed, although how they know that, I've no idea. We couldnt help coming away feeling a little disappointed though - not sure what we were expecting, but maybe something more than footprint foundations and a huge collection of roman shoes?? Or perhaps thats just the Phillistine in me...

We eventually decided enough was enough and moved on from Hadrians Wall. The bikes remained firmly on the back of Moglet the whole time, and I dont think the terrain is going to get any easier the further north we go, but we'll have to see how we get on.

Next up was Holy Island, just a bit further north of the Farnes, for any divers out there. The access is via a causeway so you can't come and go as you please, but the times are pretty workable - there's a 6-8hour window when you can come and go from the mainland, so its not too restrictive. It worked out well for us - we arrived at the start of the causeway about an hour before the 'safe to cross' window closed down. We pootled across to the island, (which I have to admit was a little freaky in the dark, not knowing where the water was or how fast it was coming in) and found ourselves a car park. It said no overnight camping, but by the time we'd crossed and had a bit of a chat, it wouldnt have been safe to go back over the causeway, so we just had to stay overnight whether they liked it or not! The place was deserted though and we were tucked away in a shady little corner so we werent causing any problems for anyone. Our first free nights camping since we left!

Naturally the castle on Holy Island (Lindisfarne) was closed for the winter, but the island itself was well worth the visit. We even had another snow flurry to greet us, although this one was blowing horizontally in the wind! There's also a really strange collection of 'people' made out of pebbles of various sizes, adorned with seaweed hair, some walking their pebble dogs, others with rather large genitalia! Seems to be something people visiting the island do, its very casual and kind of free-form art, there's even the odd pebble snail or butterfly! Not something we expected to find at the tip of the island, and all the more special for it, especially as the sun had finally decided to come out :-)

Next on the trip was Berwick Upon Tweed, which is where we are now, at the Old Ord Campsite. It was only a short drive from the island, so for a change, we were able to check in somewhere and get pitched while it was still slightly daylight. A bit more expensive at £15 a night but its another well kept site, more aimed at people coming to stay in static caravans, but I'm happy to pay the extra £2.50 a night for the centrally heated shower block and family bathrooms with double showers and a bath! :-) We're supposed to be leaving tomorrow (8th) but we havent got much of a plan yet as to where to go next so I reckon we'll end up here for one more night.

One final comment to make for the regular checkers of the site (hi Rich! :-)) regarding how often I'm updating. It's surprisingly difficult to find internet cafe's and hotspots, which is why its taking over a week in some cases to post any changes. Its not something we've had to do before so its taking a bit of getting my head round to figure out how to get WiFi or anything else, but I'm getting there...