A quick update on our life after leaving Scotland. At the moment we have both got a bad bug. Now I normally like bugs and will often sit and watch them, take photos etc.

But this bug/ virus is one we don’t want. Nikki has been ill for over a week and I got the bug on Friday. Of course I got it worse. Aching body, even my bones ache, shivers even though my skin feels hot, feeling sick and can’t stay awake. I know I am ill because I am not eating like normal and don’t fancy a beer at all.

We have had to cancel seeing people and luckily we are here in Cirencester for another week so hopefully will be well enough to drive off then.

After we left our friends in Settle we went to Chirk. An area we know and the area we want to settle down in. Nikki has been looking at houses for weeks, even months now, well before we got to Chirk. The plan was to chill out at Chirk then head to Cirencester and then to Devon and then back to Chirk and start to look for a house.

I love the site we stay at because from there I can walk in the fields or along the canal so off I went on a six mile hike talking to the trees and waving to the people on the canal boats. They always seem a happy bunch. Such a slow pace of life.

When I got back from my hike Nikki showed me a house. It ticked a lot of boxes, not all of them but a lot. So she rang up and we had a viewing booked. So much for waiting until we got back from Devon .

The house was nice but the viewing was so rushed with only a 15 minute slot which we were rushed around by the tenant in the house now opening every door for us and almost pushing us along. We also looked at anther house, a new build but it was so small with nowhere to put anything like my bike so we ruled that one out.

We had a email to say we didn’t get the other one anyway. Oh well more will turn up. But I must say this house hunting is a nightmare. Because we are relocating and don’t have jobs I feel we are on the bottom of the list from a landlords view.

Storm Amy came and went and was not as bad as we thought it was going to be. The day of the storm Nikki found another house to view. Now this one ticked all the boxes apart from being free.

We went along to view it only ten minutes drive from where we were staying and right on the canal side. We met the landlady there who was so nice and within ten minutes of being there she said it’s yours if you want it. She had a lot of viewings but it was furnished and people wanted it unfurnished because they had furniture etc already to put in it.

We on the other hand have nothing to go in a house apart from our toothbrushes and clothes. She was so pleased that we were willing to take on the house with everything in it. And when I say everything I mean everything. It used to be run as an air b& b so is fully equipped for six people. She is even leaving the bedding.

So we can just walk in with our tootbrushes put the kettle on and chill out watching the canal boats go by. We have accepted it and it’s all going through the procedure as I type this. We move in on 17th November. After sixteen years on the road we will be back in a house.

Bertie the camper will be sold at some stage and I will buy a smaller camper so we can still get away. And the best thing I left to last, is it’s got a garage. I will have a garage again to potter about in. We have had stuff in storage for sixteen years like my record collection photos etc so it will be great to sort all that stuff out. To be honest I can’t even remember half the stuff that’s in the storage.

The next challenge was getting rid of some Scottish money I had in my wallet. The shops in England won’t take it so I went to a post office and they said no you have to go to a bank. You try finding a bank that’s still on the high street. Nikki was going into Oswestry so she took it and deposited it into my account there. I checked.

After viewing the house we walked along the canal the next day from Chirk to view the house from from the other side of the canal. We had to pass a pub on the canal side to get there so on the way back we stopped in the pub garden for a drink or two, thinking it was only a ten minute walk from the house. Very convenient.

The next day I went for a short walk in the mist but the aqueduct looked just as nice but in a different way. The mist soon cleared and once again the aqueduct looked stunning.

We left Chirk and headed for Cirencester. I took a scenic route as the road I normally travel on was closed according to my sat nav so I ended going through Stroud. That’s not a problem but then there was a road closed in Stroud and I went off down a road thinking I was going the right way. I was and I wasn’t so after going up and down some narrow roads and big hills in the torrential rain I finally got back on track. Not a lot of fun in a five ton 9 metre long camper. I could tell by the peoples faces in the cars coming the other way.

Finally we got to Cirencester, another site we have stayed on before once or twice. I did manage to get out for a nice walk before getting this bug, which was nice and the colours of the trees in their autumnal state look stunning.

After walking through the Bathurst estate I went via the Abbey grounds on the way back and spotted a heron checking himself out in the lake. He was just so motionless waiting for a fish to swim by and was not bothered by me at all. Thank you Mr Heron for standing still while I took your picture.

Further along a swan was trying to get some sleep without people poking a camera towards it. And even a camel although he was not real or he was lost.

With Halloween soon there was also a pumpkin trail, pay your money and choose your pumpkin. They were also doing tractor rides for the kids. I walked on by because I didn’t want a pumpkin and the tractor ride was closed.

So that’s us up to date as I sit here shivering and aching. I have been up since 4 am because although the clocks changed my body still thinks it was about five o’clock when I would normally get up. It will sort itself out soon. The last photo is an air ballon going over campsite at Chirk. Again something I would love to do.