£19.99 £17.99
Bessie Mike and Me is the account of a six-week trip taken by Jackie Williamson and her husband Mike of a tour of Ireland and Scotland in a motorhome, the eponymous Bessie. With line drawings by artist Lesley Hall-Wood and over 100 photos by the author.
240 pages + photos + illustrations
Print ISBN 978-1-8380752-6-2
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The author hopes this travelogue/biography will be useful to other motorhomers planning a similar tour, especially when it comes to the difficulties of driving a large vehicle along roads that were originally designed for horses and carts! Written in a light-hearted and sometimes self-deprecating style, it includes ideas for stop-overs, snippets of history, personal observations and lots of photographs.
It follows the original blog format (dates), and each section gives the mileage covered that day. It differs from standard travel books in that it’s about touring popular tourist destinations but keeping away from the hotspots and finding other lovely places to go. There is lots written about all the famous places in Scotland and Ireland. Bessie, Mike and Me is unique in that it offers a more offbeat type of tour.
StorytellerClive – August 24, 2020
A must have guide to touring Ireland and Scotland in a motorhome
This is a great travelogue and blog about a six week tour of Ireland and Scotland in a campervan affectionately named Bessie. The text layout is simply laid out with nice touches – like at the end of each chapter the daily mileage travelled is shown. There are many well placed photos and occasional pencil sketches which add extra interest and authenticity to the account. The writing style is humorous, chatty and engaging and details mishaps as well as enjoyable adventures. Jackie clearly spent a lot of time (probably in the evenings) making copious notes from which she produced this very informative off-the-beaten-track guide.
I particularly liked the historical snippets like the folklore concerning the Seven Sisters stone circle in Blarney and the story behind the inappropriately named Giants House near Desmond Castle. The book does not concentrate on Ireland alone and the second section continues the trip around Scotland where the humour and excellent description continues. I thought the passage about Loch Lomond and Glen Coe was fascinating and described the wild and rugged terrain well. Again the historical information was spot on with an account of members of Clan MacDonald being massacred as they slept. This is just a few snippets of what you can expect from this unusual tour blog. So if you’re planning a trip to either Ireland or Scotland this book is well worth picking up and will make an excellent travel companion. Actually, it’s also a fascinating read if you’re merely an armchair traveller!
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