Instagram story viewer> @mapleleafdrifters> Posts

🍁Susan & Hugh

@mapleleafdrifters

1.6K

followers

782

following

Canadians travelling in our LandRover Defender and Four Wheel Camper. We’ve been in the road for more that 4 years. In England now.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

We headed to Portree, which, with 2,300 residents, is the largest town on the Isle of Skye. We slept in a parking lot close to town, looking out over the water, and kept our fingers crossed that the wind wouldn’t blow us in. It’s a fishing town with cute, pastel-coloured facades along the harbour and streets lined with shops begging for tourists to enter.
We tried Tablet for the first time, it was so sweet our teeth hurt. The wind and rain continued as we made our way towards the bridge and off the island. We’d had a hot tip from @beoldlater about Lean To Coffee, near the bridge, it didn’t disappoint.
We began driving the NC500, an 830 km road that winds through the northern Scottish Highlands. Applecross Pass is a short stretch of this famous route and is widely considered one of the most beautiful roads in the country. It was built in 1822 to move cattle through the mountains and consists mainly of a single-track road. It was super beautiful, extremely windy and very narrow.
We ended up in the town of Applecross, treated ourselves to a pint of the local beer, and spent the night by the water across from the pub. All that rain sure makes for moody pictures. #defender #overland #nc500 #applecross #defendercamper taken in Applecross Pass by @mapleleafdrifters

30

4

7 hours ago

We appreciate a good viaduct, and Glenfinnan Viaduct did not disappoint. Built between 1897 and 1901, its 21 arches rise 30 metres and span 380 metres in the Scottish Highlands. The structure itself is magnificent, and thanks to Harry Potter, it has become a global phenomenon, with hordes of fans flocking to see the “Hogwarts Express”, a Jacobite steam train used in the films, some dressed in full costume.

The visitor centre gave us some insight into the 1745 Jacobite Rising and the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie. It was here, eight months before the Battle of Culloden, that 1,200 Highlanders gathered to pledge their allegiance to Prince Charles Edward Stuart. An impressive “Lone Highlander” statue stands 18 metres tall, surrounded by a Highland panorama commemorating the clansmen who gave their lives to the Jacobite cause.

From there, we continued our journey, catching a ferry to the Isle of Skye. Sunshine is scarce and rain is constant, but the beauty of this place draws tourists from far and wide. The many arrows painted on the road serve as a reminder to everyone to drive on the left!

We found a parking spot with a view in the township of Tobhta, on land that was affected by the Highland Clearances in the early 1800s. We are enjoying learning about Scotland’s history as we travel through it.
#glenfinnanviaduct #hogwartsexpress #defender130
#isleofskye #overland taken in Glenfinnan Viaduct / Harry Potter's Bridge by @mapleleafdrifters

66

2

9 days ago

After a few nights in Edinburgh, we thought it best to head north, crossing our fingers that we would catch what little was left of the summer weather without having to battle the midges. We spent the night in Rest and Be Thankful — with a name like that, how could we not stop?

We popped into Crarae Woodland Garden to admire the 600+ varieties of rhododendrons and their incredible collection of trees, including one with lightning scars (dare I rename it the Harry Potter tree?).

We celebrated my (Sue’s) birthday with crumpets for breakfast, a stop to do laundry, our arrival in Glen Coe, and Victorian sponge cupcakes.

Glen Coe is a stunning glen (valley), along with the River Coe, and is known for its dramatic mountain peaks and the tragic 1692 Massacre of Glencoe. We checked out the Turf and Creel house built by National Trust Scotland using authentic 17th century reconstruction. The dramatic scenery of Glen Coe has been the backdrop for Hagrid’s Hut in the Harry Potter movies, James Bond’s emotional homecoming in Skyfall, and William Wallace’s trek across the mountains in Braveheart.

I thought our hometown of Chilliwack got lots of rain (1,500–2,400 mm annually), but at 3,562 mm per year, Glen Coe wins the prize! It rained pretty much every minute of the two days we were there, so we passed on the hikes. We did, however, admire the well-known “Wee White House” (Lagangarbh Hut) from our camper window, as well as the views of the Three Sisters as we drove the iconic Glen Etive Road. It was good to leave the Glencoe rain behind us but our spot for the night wedged in between two other campers lacked the views we had in the valley. #glencoe #restandbethankful #rainraingoaway #overlandlife #defendercamper taken in Glen Coe, Scottish Highlands by @mapleleafdrifters

98

6

11 days ago

We made it to Scotland, and Edinburgh was our first stop. We parked on the street across from the police station—it’s free on the weekends. Of course, the star of the show was Edinburgh Castle, perched dramatically on an extinct volcanic plug. The Royal Mile was filled with bagpipers, tourists, and souvenir shops (we happened to arrive during a parade).
J.K. Rowling penned much of her Harry Potter series here, even taking inspiration for some character names from tombstones in Greyfriars Kirkyard. The city has fully embraced its Harry Potter mania, with magic-themed stores, wand shops, and butter-beer sales.
We saw statues with traffic cones on their heads, which we learned is a traditional Scottish anti-establishment prank. We also learned about Scotland’s rich literary and musical heritage. Our tour guide, Callum, serenaded us with a beautiful folk song, while the 61-metre-high monument to Sir Walter Scott—one of the largest monuments in the world dedicated to a writer—was simply breathtaking. It featured so many intricate carvings, including more than 60 characters from his books Ivanhoe and Rob Roy.
We took in the colourful storefronts of Grassmarket and the skyline views of the Balmoral Hotel Clock Tower and the W Edinburgh Hotel, which locals affectionately refer to as the “Poop Emoji Building.”
It was a 15-kilometre-plus day, but we finished it off with a head full of memories, tired feet, and a cold beer. #edinburgh #harrypottermania #bagpipes #royalmileedinburgh #overlandlife taken in Edinburgh, Scotland UK by @mapleleafdrifters

73

7

14 days ago

After 29 nights in Ireland and 6 in Northern Ireland, we caught the ferry back to Holyhead, Wales, and made our way to the English Lake District. My parents had shared stories of visiting the area, so I wanted to see it for myself. We spent six nights exploring, and despite the constant rain, we had some great park ups and made some lasting memories. The Lake District is the home of Peter Rabbit—or, should I say, Beatrix Potter. We visited “Hill Top,” the 17th-century farmhouse she called home. Aside from authoring some brilliant stories, Beatrix Potter was also a pioneer conservationist. She amassed thousands of acres of land and, upon her death, bequeathed it to the National Trust, helping to protect the area from commercial development.

We stood in line for the famous Grasmere Gingerbread, a sweet and spicy secret recipe that has been a local tradition since 1854. It’s somewhere between a biscuit and a cake, and it was definitely worth the wait!

We saw many military aircraft conducting low-level tactical training, and one morning they flew so low over our camper that our teeth rattled.

We marvelled at the thousands of kilometres of dry-stone walls winding their way across the valleys and fells. There are 214 fells (mountains and hills) in the Lake District, many offering numerous hiking trails. We hiked the Aira Force and Gowbarrow Fell in Ullswater, as well as the Rannerdale Knots Circular in Buttermere.

We also abided by the Cumbrian saying, “Tek Care Lambs Ont Road,” as we drove over Hardknott Pass and Honister Pass, passing plenty of lambs along the way.

The Lake District is a beautiful place, and now we have some memories of our own. #overland #defender130 #overlanduk #lakedistrict #lakedistrictuk taken in The English Lake District by @mapleleafdrifters

66

16

17 days ago

Hard to believe, but it has been 16 months since we put Maple in a container in Uruguay and shipped her to London, England. Here’s what we’ve been up to during those 16 months!

After spending our first few months exploring England and Wales (my parents’ home country), we took the Chunnel to France. We hightailed it through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, then spent a week in Switzerland visiting friends we had met on our Pan-American travels.

After that, we spent a few months in Italy before heading to Spain via France, Monaco and Andorra. We spent a few weeks in Spain, and thus began the Schengen Shuffle! We are only granted 90 days in every 180 in the Schengen countries.

We took a ferry to Morocco (Africa, so not a Schengen country) and spent three months exploring that beautiful country. We left Maple at the airport in Casablanca for a few months while we returned to Canada for a visit.

With our Schengen clock reset, we took a ferry from Morocco to Genoa, Italy, then drove through Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. From there, we caught a ferry to Finland and headed north, crossing into Norway and continuing all the way to Nordkapp, the northernmost point in Europe.

After 40 days exploring Norway (probably the most beautiful country we have visited), we crossed into Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, then hopped on a ferry to England with just three days left on our Schengen countdown.

From England, we stopped in Wales to get some much-needed maintenance done on the truck, then got on yet another ferry — this time to Ireland and then Northern Ireland, where we spent 35 nights.

We had hoped to put this post together to celebrate our four-year anniversary on the road on June 1, but as you can see, we’ve been pretty busy!

Better late than never.

#overlandlife #overlandtravel #defendercamper #lifeontheroad #homeiswhereyouparkit taken in Anywhere and Everywhere by @mapleleafdrifters

109

29

20 days ago

Kilmainham Gaol was open from 1796 to 1924 and imprisoned thousands of men, women, and children for crimes ranging from minor offences to participants involved in some of the most momentous events in Ireland’s history. The 1798 Rebellion, the 1916 Easter Rising, the Anglo-Irish War of 1919–1921, and the Irish Civil War of 1922–1923 all have chapters in this jail’s history. However, it was the execution by firing squad of 14 men, including Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett, for their part in the failed 1916 Easter Rising that turned them into martyrs and inspired those who came after them, ultimately helping shape Ireland into the country it is today.
The jail was left abandoned and derelict for decades until, in 1966, a group of volunteers began working to restore it and open it as a National Monument. Today, managed by the OPW, it stands as a powerful symbol of Ireland’s struggle for independence. We toured the chapel where Joseph Plunkett married his fiancée, Grace, just hours before his execution. We walked through the dark hallway of the original prison, peeking through the peepholes to see the dismal cells, wandered through the bright, open East Wing, and saw the Kilmainham Madonna that Grace painted in her cell during her imprisonment. We also paused in silence in Stonebreakers’ Yard, where James Connolly, already mortally wounded, was strapped to a chair and executed alongside his fellow rebels. In a way, I think it was better that we had to wait for tickets until the end of our Irish adventures. By then, we had seen and learned so much about the country’s history and its struggle for independence, and it meant far more to us.
After our day in prison we returned to a campsite, filled up with water, and had an early morning date with a ferry. #kilmainhamgaol #easterrising #kilmainham #overlandtravel #defender130 taken in Kilmainham Gaol Prison by @mapleleafdrifters

42

0

21 days ago

Upon arriving in Ireland, we purchased a joint OPW membership (just under $100 CAD). However, tickets for Brú na Bóinne, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were booked out until September. We decided to return at the end of our Irish adventures to check out the prehistoric passage tombs of Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth.

These tombs are older than both the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge and were built by Stone Age farmers along the River Boyne more than 5,200 years ago.

Newgrange, the star of the show, is a mammoth 85 metres across and 13 metres high, with 97 surviving kerbstones. The inner passage is 19 metres long and leads to a main chamber that branches off into three smaller chambers. The beautiful corbelled roof has remained intact, keeping the tomb watertight all this time.

The special roof box at the entrance is aligned with the Winter Solstice, allowing a narrow beam of sunlight to illuminate the inner chamber at sunrise from December 19–23. Our tour entered the tomb, and we shuffled along the cramped passageway into the inner chamber, where our guide turned off the lights and used a flashlight to show us what the beam of sunlight would look like during the Solstice.

No pictures are permitted inside the tomb, but it was incredible and something we won’t soon forget.

The carvings on many of the kerbstones—spirals, zigzags, and lozenges—are some of the finest examples of Neolithic megalithic art. We also wandered around the outside of Knowth, a site with one large mound, 18 smaller ones surrounding it, and 127 massive kerbstones, many of which are adorned with even more art.

The whole area was so beautiful that it makes you think location, location, location is not a new platitude. We had to wait a month, but it was worth it. #brunaboinne #newgrange #overlandtravel #ireland #neolithic taken in Brú na Bóinne - Newgrange and Knowth by @mapleleafdrifters

44

5

25 days ago

Belfast is the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, where the doomed ocean liner was designed, built, and launched by the shipbuilding firm Harland & Wolff. We could hardly visit this city without learning more about the Titanic.
Here are some interesting Titanic facts:
• 3 years to build
• 3,000 workers involved
• 3 million hand-hammered rivets
• 27,000 tons of steel
• 8 fatalities during construction
• Consumed 600 tonnes of hand-shovelled coal per day
• 13 days at sea
• 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink
• 1,503 souls lost
• 706 survivors
During the building years, the RMS Titanic was the pride of Belfast. However, for decades after its fateful demise, the ship became a blemish on the city, and it was almost taboo to talk about it.
In 1997, the film Titanic was released, and Belfast decided that it had a story worth telling. The city created the interactive Titanic Belfast museum on the very slipways where the great ship was built. The SS Nomadica, the world’s last remaining White Star Line vessel is permanently docked in the Titanic Quarter and open to the public.
Belfast City Hall is home to the Titanic Memorial Garden, which commemorates those who lost their lives in the disaster.
Being Canadian, we found it particularly interesting to learn that 150 of the unclaimed bodies were buried in Halifax. When exploring cities we usually stay in parking lots, so after a few nights in Belfast we returned to the truck ready to move on. #titanicbelfast #titanic #belfast #overlandlife #northernireland l taken in Titanic Belfast by @mapleleafdrifters

70

13

a month ago

Belfast is a place to go if you are interested in learning more about “The Troubles”. We learned many terms that are associated with The Troubles; Loyalist, English, Protestant, Ulster, Unionist, Irish, Catholic, Nationalist, UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), IRA (Irish Republican Army), Orangemen, Blanket Protest, Dirty Protest, paramilitary, UDA (Ulster Defence Association), Real UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters), Bayardo Bar, Hunger Striker’s, Sin Féin, Home Rule, Divis Tower, Falls Road, Shankill Road, The Peace Walls, The Good Friday Agreement, to name just a few. We were shocked to learn that there are gates that still close at night to separate the two communities, and despite the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the walls that were put in place in 1969 remain and some have increased in height. It is a beautiful peaceful city with a turbulent past that remains close to the surface. #belfast #belfastpeacewall #thetroubles #goodfridayagreement #northernireland taken in Belfast, Northern Ireland by @mapleleafdrifters

18

7

a month ago

After 27 nights in Ireland we crossed into our 45 country of this adventure, Northern Ireland, and jumped on A2, Causeway Costal Route. The Giant’s Causeway, a World Heritage site, is an area made up of more than 40,000 interlocking hexagonal basalt columns estimated to have been formed through volcanic activity some 60 million years ago. Of course the Irish have a different version of the formation, as legend has it Finn McCool, an Irish Giant, built the stone steps to cross the sea and fight with a Scottish Giant. The place is so magical it makes me want to believe in the legend over the science. Next up was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, and, although it was kind of gimmicky and did not compare to some of the ones we saw in South America it gave us views of a pristine coastline as far as the eye could see. We continued on the coastal road to a small car park overlooking the ocean and the ruins of Kinbane Castle. Build in 1540’s the castle sits on a narrow rock promontory accessed by a steep trail. The views were amazing as was wandering through the remains of something that was built more than 500 years ago. I did not like the steep drop offs although I can see how it would be advantageous to the castle dwellers. It was a wonderful place to spend the night. #giantscauseway #carrickarede #kinbanecastle #overlandlife #defendercamper taken in Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast by @mapleleafdrifters

127

6

a month ago

Glenveagh National Park covers 16,000 hectares of protected wilderness, featuring rugged mountains, pristine lakes, and a beautifully preserved Victorian castle. Between 1867 and 1873, John George Adair built the castle and created a massive private hunting estate, while forcing 244 tenant farmers off the land during the post-Famine era in the infamous “Derryveagh Evictions.” The remoteness of the land, the refined elegance of the country castle, the elaborate gardens, and the stories of its past set it apart from our other castle visits.

Still in County Donegal, we drove to the most northerly point of the Irish mainland, Malin Head, the final stop on the Wild Atlantic Way route. This otherworldly landscape was aptly used as a backdrop for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. During WWII, more than 80 large stone “Éire” markers were built along the Irish coastline to signal Ireland’s neutrality and help pilots navigate safely. The one at Malin Head was the most impressive of those we have seen.

We settled in for a peaceful night not far from Malin Head, where the waves have tumbled the beach rocks to a smooth polish. #donegal #glenveagh #malinhead #overlandlife #defendercamper taken in Malin Head Most Northern Point of Republic Ireland by @mapleleafdrifters

47

2

a month ago