The tours I wrote about have most of the time a length of a few weeks. The roundtrips to the United Kingdom, Ireland and sometimes with a little shade of Scandinavia are written on a chronologic manner and every year on a separate page.

The United Kingdom has a huge covering on the internet. Every region or city most of the time has its own website with common and tourist information. By surfing the web, you most of the time find the right information, below I give you some websites links which may answer a lot of your questions. The links at these sites do help also.

The Campsites belonging to "The Camping and Caravanning Club" are clean well maintained and if you are a member you pay a lot less for a night stance than than you will pay at the “common” campsites. For instance camping card holders from the Dutch ANWB will have their fee back in a few nights staying at these campsites. If you are 55+ there is an extra discount.

A few handy links for planning your journey to the United Kingdom and Ireland are:

The Camping and Caravanning Club Sites - Scotland - Wales - England - Northern Ireland -Ireland - Stena Line - P&O Ferries Hull - DFDS Seaways - Eurotunnel - Sabien en Luc from Belgium.

Below you find a few ways by which I did or do travel and how I get my good nights sleep.

It all started with my trip to Belgium by bicycle, but soon after that I travelled a lot by motorbike, car and a small tent. A very nice way to travel was my homemade Volkswagen Camper. Luxury is now the magic word and my Eriba Puck is convenient, cosy and easy to pull along the Scottish single-track roads.

My 1978 Yamaha SR500 and a "De Witt" tent at the Edinburgh, "Little France" campsite.

The Volkswagen Homemade Camper at the Kirkwall, Orkney campsite.

My Toyota Starlet and a Karsten pump up tent. 280 cm. square and standing room at the Edinburgh, Morton Hall Campsite.

Orkney Italian Chapel

Scotland is the most northern part of the United Kingdom and is twice the size of The Netherlands. In front of the west coast there are a great number of islands, called the Inner - and Outer Hebrides. The Shetland – and Orkney Isles are situated at the north coast. Scotland is also the land of the Highlands, mountains, glens (dales) and lochs (lakes). Loch Ness is the most famous loch. The coast does consist of marvellous cliffs and out of long stretched sandy beaches. Of course Scotland is also known for its kilts, bagpipes and not to forget Whisky and this all it isn’t just folklore, but a part of life. The weather in Scotland is somewhat wetter, colder and even if you will say so, a little bit unfriendlier than the rest of the United Kingdom. The Scots are unlike the weather however very hospitable and friendly. Any wish to make a beautiful trip with any way of transport or just by walking is possible and there are a lot of nice surprises around every corner. Travelling by train from Fort William to Mallaig and from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and v.v. is a must if you like seeing nature with amazing architecture as bridges and railway stations. You only have to watch from the window, the driver takes care of the rest.

Wales has a character of it’s own compared with their eastern neighbour, England. It’s a country with a lot of castles, nice coastlines, waterfalls, high mountains and a tremendous culture. Wales is the cradle of the narrow gauge steam railways. Designed for hauling wood and other raw materials out of the mountains to deliver these into the ports. Nowadays you can make nice trip with the most of the time good maintained railways. Journeys often go by timetable and it’s a real joy. Walkers can choose out of many well-signed public footpaths and if you want to go by car it’s fun too, there are a lot of quiet roads to choose off. Welshmen are hospitable and very sociable. Their language plays a bigger role in daily life as special the last decennia. They know their own history and are very conscious of it. Maybe it’s the answer to the centuries of ruling by the English.

England is in Dutch history books, the country we did fight a lot, most of the time ruling oversees colonies was the problem.  Somewhat of this “ruling” culture you still will find in this country. English are wilful, this you find back in their culture and laws. If the whole civilised world chooses for the metric system, they only choose a part of this system. Driving at the left side of the road is also a little bit different, than de rest of Europe. Left however is in this case also sociable because if the roads are from the same order at crossroads, traffic from the right doesn’t have way of right. Than rules the "Courtesy of the Driver", that’s what I like. There are a lot of beautiful buildings and the gardens are most of the time superb. Cultivate is something English people are very good in. In the evening the local Pub is always near. At every bar you have a great choice of all kinds of beer or liquor. That’s something the British also did maintain from the old days. Lager looks like continental beer and seems to gain popularity, but a nice pint of Ale is still available in every Pub. The weather is just like the Dutch weather, unpredictable.

Northern Ireland or Ulster is almost the same as the republic of Ireland. Usually the roads are a little better, the supermarkets a little bit bigger and you have to pay with British pounds. Rules are also a little bit tougher. British Standards are all around; see the for instance uniform road signs and so on. North Ireland has nice coastal views. The giant causeway you have to see with your own eyes, to believe this unique structure of nature is for real. A visit to the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge is also a must. The oldest and first legal whiskey distillery in the world is situated here too.