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Thanks for this Jonathan. We always use the P4N App for recommendations, but in our opinion some of the sites listed on Shetland were not appropriate as they were too close to houses or on grassy Machairs. All of the places we stayed were on the App, and we used a lot of the community provided facilities that were just fabulous. It was quite usual to visit a community site, stay, use the the power and facilities and not see anyone. It all runs on a honesty box system that we loved and freely contribute to. It was actually really forward thinking of the communities and felt really welcoming. There weren't too many vans travelling around, and everyone seemed to adhere to similar values of respecting the islands. Long may this continue 🙏

@@earlyretirementwanderlust thankyou again for the reply

Thanks Alan👍

Thanks Alan👍

Thanks for this Neal- wow what a trip to China! That will be amazing. Glad that you are loving retirement- it's great isn't it! Have a good one👍

Thanks for this Barry and regards to Canada. We love your country! When I was teaching I led a couple of rugby tours to BC and Victoria Island and had a blast. We had the privilege a few years back of watching our son play rugby in BC on tour and then road tripped around BC and Alberta. We intended to go back as a family in 2020, but Covid put paid to those plans. We definitely want to get across and spend some time in the US and Canada, but it will probably have to wait a few year yet. Glad that you are enjoying the channel and welcome along. Have a good one👍

@@earlyretirementwanderlust good to know you've visited out west (at least) over here. Yeah, some great scenery, etc. Salve has a sister and family in Seattle, Washington. We've flown, different times, out that way through Vancouver (including enroute to the Philippines) and we've driven from here back in '08/back later by train. Like yourselves, we enjoy camping during our summers! Are you folks familiar with Norm and Tina (older British couple) who have a channel "This is our Retirement"?; it's been a favourite of mine. They moved to Canada, years ago, and are seasoned travellers! All the best..! Barry

Thank you - it was the most incredible trip with Zion National Park being one of the highlights. Seeing the Grand Canyon covered in snow was also an amazing experience

Hi Peter thanks for this. Midges were only a problem on one isolated evening when the wind dropped and conditions were perfect for the little blighters. Apart from that, we didn't even notice them. Mainland Shetland roads are really good, but the further you get off the beaten track, the tighter they get. We hardly saw any 7m+ vans on Shetland. This may be due to the higher ferry prices? Life for us in a small camper meant that we could go pretty much anywhere. Thanks for the comment. 👍

@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thanks.

Thanks for this. To be fair, we didn't see many MH's at all, particularly on Shetland. The ones we did see were quite small. This may be due to the extra costs on the ferry (we count as a small van). The roads on Shetland mainland are really good, but the more you get off the beaten track, the tighter they get. Unst was very tight in parts for a 7.5m van. Hope this helps?

Thanks so much for that, appreciated ❤

Thanks Peter- we have been genuinely surprised at how good Shetland has been- far surpassing our exceptions. The opportunities for wildlife spotting, the history and the beaches have been amazing. We have been particularly surprised with the beaches that were not really mentioned in our research. They are world class! Thanks for the comment👍

Thanks Allison- gotta do a handstand on a beach just to keep checking that we can do them😂 Glad you enjoyed the cookery- we never going to be master chefs, but do love our food and cooking together. 👍

Thanks for this Janet, your support is always really appreciated. You must be getting really excited for 2025. We loved the prep for our retirement, but the result has turned out to be even more enjoyable than the prep! Have a good one👍

Not really...feels quite odd when you think about it. The only time we saw a few trees were when they were planted around the odd homestead. Even treeless, it was a wonderful place to visit. 👍

@@earlyretirementwanderlust yes it looks beautiful, in some of the old buildings I see lumber and the old Viking ship but no trees. Very beautiful thank you Richard and Jackie

Apparently, historically the islanders relied on driftwood that came across the ocean from North America/Canada. Found this really interesting. The neolithic sites had excavated holes that archaeologists surmise were for roof poles.

@@earlyretirementwanderlust Wow cool thanks for the info I was wondering where they got the lumber from👍

Thanks Angela...everything is better with bacon😂 Glad that you are enjoying what we are doing. We are having so much fun exploring this amazing place❤️

It’s great. Enjoy!

We got them from CSI parts on Facebook years ago. They have a link on Facebook to their website. The product is very well engineered, secure when in place and does the job of letting air in and bugs out! Thanks for the comment. We are glad that you enjoy. 👍

Thanks Graham- we have had a wonderful time exploring this amazing part of the world. Glad that you are enjoying. Many thanks for the comment.👍

There are dog friendly cabins on the ship, but be aware, like on most boats the cabins are limited in number and book out very quickly. Dog owners confirmed this on all of our crossing. Good luck with your plans👍

@@earlyretirementwanderlust thanks, we will have a mega planning process once we retire and decide when we want to travel.😀

Hi Emma, not sure at all about this. Please check on the Cadac Website for further information. Sorry we couldn't help out.

@@earlyretirementwanderlust many thanks for the reply. I'll let you know if they respond to me.

Oh I was! TBH most of them were a distance away, but the ones hoping around me in the sunny evening are the ones I will remember most fondly. Their groaning little voices warms my heart❤️

Thanks Lena- we are happy to accept that life isn't always sunshine and rainbows- and it definitely wasn't on that boggy walk 😂 Even if we are grumpy, in our hearts we know it will make the next lovely experience even better! Thanks as always for your support. 👍

Thanks Peter- that's what we thought, although the locals said it was like that all the time😂😂😂 We were more pleased to get a smooth crossing on the boat- apparently it can be horrific at any time of year🤢

Thanks Janet- it really was magical at this time of year. The Puffins combined with the weather and the long hours of daylight was wonderful. We are going to find it hard to resist a return journey in the future.

Thanks Janet- we have had our eyes opened to the tinned food emergency options. Great shout out for Tesco and their range. Packing cubes are seemingly becoming inevitable- thinking of investing for our Thailand backpacking trip👍 Thanks as ever for your kind words.

Many of the community facilities had spaces and catered for tent campers so that would seem fine. On our travels we did see lots of tent campers dotted around, but I guess the normal "rules" of wild camping would have to be adhered to, such as leave no trace, arrive late, leave early, no campfires, avoid populated areas and housing, etc. Is there an app similar to P4N for tent campers that you could use?

Exactly my thoughts, well said 👍

Hi Fiona, many thanks for these kind words- they are very much appreciated! We do try to be honest in everything we do...and we both get grumpy once in a while😂😂

😊

I know we caught it with an amazing weather window that definitely helps but we absolutely loved the Shetland islands - it was truly beautiful and we met some wonderful people in the communities that we visited.

cheers - we have definitely left a piece of our heart on the Shetlands. Looking forward to a day of catching up on your USA videos now we are home 😊 🇺🇸

@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yeah I know what you mean. It’s difficult to be watching RUclips videos etc when you’re away in the van and spending so much time creating your own videos etc. Glad you got home safely. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.

Thanks for watching - We did a round trip of Aberdeen to Lerwick (12 hr overnight with a cabin) then Lerwick to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally Stromness to Scrabster on mainland Scotland. The total cost including the van and cabin was £610 which may seem alot but we got a lot of ferry for that price!! The island hopping on the Shetlands cost us £19.30 return to go to Unst, Yell and Fetlar which was amazing value.

@earlyretirementwanderlust thank you a trip to consider doing in my camping car and tent. A VW van one day is the dream. Keep up wirh the videos, love em!

We did a round trip of Aberdeen to Lerwick (12 hr overnight with a cabin) then Lerwick to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally Stromness to Scrabster on mainland Scotland. The total cost including the cabin was £610 which may seem alot but we got a lot of ferry for that price!! The island hopping on the Shetlands cost us £19.30 return to go to Unst, Yell and Fetlar which was amazing value. We were on the islands for 4 weeks so we thought it well worth it 😊

@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you so much for the detailed answer, much appreciated. A thank you from Sweden

Thank you so much - such kind words! Hope your plans are going well 😊

We had a van packed full of wet weather winter hiking gear that we never got out in the 4 weeks we were on the islands - I can't believe what a great weather window we had. We found the Orkney Islands very windy but that was fine and we had 2 days with rain which is quite remarkable!

We have visited many parts of Scotland over the past 7 years in our van, and absolutely love it - both in the sun and the howling gales of winter. We love getting out in the mountains and the stormy skies of the coast in Autumn 🚐

Neither did we really! We have used it as it is for the last 6 years. Cadac have very kindly sent us a Paella pan after seeing the video so we will see how we get on with it - it looks fantastic and will double up as a great big frying pan for stir fry's.

Hi Angela- thanks for reaching out and welcome to the channel! If you can cope with Canadian winters, Central Europe will be nothing😂 Be aware that many of the big European passes do close in winter and become ski runs! We love our winter travel and will be out in the Alps again this winter. Have a great time planning and enjoy the retirement👍

Thanks for this...there are so many options out there that look the same...it's a minefield- but we feared what you have confirmed👍 Jackie is very proud of her van kettle...we imported it personally from our last US trip😂 Imagine the security X-ray of that particular bag😂 Thanks for the comment.👍

We had a little taster of what the crossing could be like on our second leg from Lerwick to Kirkwall! Wow - I don't think I want to imagine what it is like in the howling winter gales!

@@earlyretirementwanderlust its very rough lol

Hi Thanks for watching 😊 At the moment we can pretty much travel anywhere in the van as it is no bigger than a Range Rover which is great as it is our daily drive. We do not tend to visit cities which is where we come across must height restrictions. We have found places like Cornwall have many carparks height barriered which is pain if you are just visiting for the day from a campsite but the P4N app is great at highlighting carparks that you can use both for overnight or if you just want somewhere to fit the van to park in the day. In general height barriers have not been an issue to us and our van is 2.10 with the pop top roof and solar and the type of places we visit I can't see it being an issue when we swap to a slightly bigger van that will be much taller as we want the standing up height. Hope this helps a little 🚐

Thank you - It is amazing how quickly those university years pass by and they were actually a great transition for us to have the house to ourselves and get away for lots of weekends and holidays while we were still working with no guilt about abandoning the children 😂 Hope she enjoys her time at Uni - ours both went to Cardiff and loved it!

Thanks Mangal- it's not really a thing we tend to talk about, but there is one certainty in life that we are not going to live forever. We have loved our early retired life so far and everything that it has given us. I am sure you will love it! Many thanks for the comment. Have a great week👍R

Thanks Bryony- you can probably tell that we had a brilliant time with all the wildlife opportunities. We have been to Mull a couple of times and absolutely loved it, but not to Lunga- we will look into it as we are already thinking of the location for our Puffin fix for next year😂 Have a great week👍

Many thanks Ian- glad you enjoyed.👍