FOR MILES SMILES

Touring Hybrid

Whatever you do, wherever you go, the Touring Hybrid will be there with you. Beautifully integrated into its sleek frame, the third generation Bosch drive system and Bosch Smart System put extra pedal power at your fingertips. And safe, neutral handling and a comfortable ride position mean you‘re all set to tackle life‘s challenges and adventures head on. Ride adventurously, travel often.

park in a pitch of dappled sunshine, and enjoy a small glass of Bladnoch before planning the next day’s outing. A few people have mentioned on this tour that Ayr, once Glasgow’s holiday destination of choice, feels down on its luck, but the seafront still has great bones – handsome architecture and a magnificent beach – and the racecourse continues to bring life to the town.

This is Burns country – there’s even a Rabbie Burns Fish & Chips on the seafront –and, having always enjoyed Burns Night, but never understood the Address to a Haggis (“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race! Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm…”), I dive into the life of Scotland’s national poet and writer of the New Year’s Eve favourite, Auld Lang Syne . Burns Cottage, a modest, single-story thatched house, and the Burns Birthplace Museum, add flesh to the bones of this political radical, a farmer with a complicated private life who found fame through poetry and later became a taxman for the excise service. Fans can drive the Burns Heritage Trail from his birthplace to final resting place in Dumfries.

Far more glamorous and luxurious is Dumfries House, a popular local visitor attraction, says Ffiona, the Site Manager at Ayr Craigie Gardens. In 2007, a consortium led by the then-Prince of Wales, now King Charles, purchased the building and saved its collection of Georgian furniture for the nation.

7

Strathclyde Country Park

Club Campsite

Convenient for stopovers, this is also a brilliant basecamp, with a country park on its doorstep and Glasgow 20 minutes away.

Pitches: 107

Max outfit length: 9m Tent camping available.

“Glasgow is a really vibrant city, and the hop-on, hop-off open-top bus tour costs £16 for one day and only £17 for two.”

Food & drink

Ox and Finch, 920 Sauchiehall St, Finnieston, Glasgow G3 7TF

Contact: oxandfinch.com, 01413 398627

Culture

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AG

Contact: glasgowlife.org.uk, 0141 276 9599

Outdoor fun

Go Ape Aberfoyle, Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, Aberfoyle FK8 3SX

Contact: goape.co.uk, 01603 895500.

10%

Member saving available: see camc.com/ greatsavingsguide for details, terms and conditions

For the family

M&D’s Theme Park, Strathclyde Country Park, Bellshill, Motherwell ML1 3RT

Contact: scotlands themepark.com, 01698 333777

Scan here to book a pitch at Strathclyde Country Park

Cycling

You can enjoy an easy, circular 16.5-mile route from Garlieston Club Campsite in the company of our cycling expert, Jonathan Manning, by downloading the July issue of the Digital Magazine. The route visits picturesque Isle of Whithorn where you can take in stunning sea views. The Digital Magazine is available for free via Google Play and the App Store. You can also download directions from our Strava page at strava. com/activities/ 9318770655. You can watch a video of the route at youtube.com/Caravan andMotorhomeClub

Glasgow Bound

From these peaceful backwaters, the pace of the tour picks up immeasurably as I leave the SWC300 and head for my final stop, Strathclyde Country Park Club Campsite. As its name suggests, the site sits on the edge of a country park that includes a large lake and the popular M&Ds theme park. This is a site busy with stopovers heading to and from the Highlands, but racing through misses the chance to explore Glasgow, a gem of a city. The site’s fabulously friendly team provides me with a lengthy list of ‘must-visit’ Glasgow attractions, and, thanks to a rail strike, I find myself driving into the centre rather than using the local train service.

Less than 25 minutes later I’m parking the campervan outside Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, a place so blessed in riches that I saunter slack-jawed from room to room. There’s an LS Lowry painting of VE Day that looks for all the world like the King’s coronation with its bunting and trestle-tabled street parties, alongside paintings by Van Gogh, Dalí, and some extraordinary works by the Glasgow Boys (A Highland Funeral by James Guthrie is particularly arresting).

In one hall, a full-size Spitfire hangs over life-size models of elephants, while in another a crowd of suspended white heads catches playful purple light. Turn left and there’s a hall of native Scottish wildlife, turn right and discover Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the pioneering Glasgow designer. There’s so much to see and so many histories told that Kelvingrove deserves a full day to itself.

Failing to heed my own advice, I race off to see the Riverside Museum on the Clyde, home to one of the world’s finest transport collections. I nod respectfully at a 1973 Volkswagen campervan, half a century older than my own, and gorgeous cars, displayed like Matchbox models on shelves along the wall, catch my eye, before I spy my real passion - bicycles. The collection extends from potentially the world’s oldest bike (made from wood) via pennyfarthings, to Chris Boardman’s radical Olympic-winning Lotus 108, to Graeme Obree’s extraordinary Old Faithful, on which he rode farther in 60 minutes than anyone in history, smashing the World Hour Record.

At the back of the museum, the tall ship Glenlee offers a glimpse into Glasgow’s trading, maritime and shipbuilding traditions. When the ship docked for the final time on the Clyde, it had circumnavigated the globe four times, a fine example of touring and adventure for any caravanner and motorhomer to follow.

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