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| Our van view of the 3,219 feet high mount Slioch on Thursday evening |
Wednesday 22 October
We’ve been travelling in the van for a week now, nearly all of
which time has been in Scotland. Starting from home in Flecknoe we headed up to the north coast via the Lake District. We then travelled along the top of Scotland and are now making our way down the west coast.
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| Our trip around Scotland so far |
As expected, Tuesday was another van-rocking windy night although we felt nice and cosy inside. We also heard it raining hard several times in the early hours, but it had stopped when we got up in the morning. Before setting off on the next stage of our trip we stretched our legs by walking down to the beach and then having a look at the small harbour in Scourie. We then headed off for Ullapool which, with a population of 1,500, is by far the largest town in northwest Scotland and consequently has a superstore which was lucky as we needed to do a bit of food shopping. The sun was out for much of the journey which was through yet more bleak and rugged countryside.
Arriving at Tesco we soon realised it was only a superstore as far as Google maps was concerned, in reality it wasn’t much bigger than a 7-11 shop but at least we got what we wanted. We filled up with diesel at the first 'proper' fuel station we'd seen since leaving Dingwall nearly a week ago. The garage was opposite the harbour where as well as some dinghies tied up there were a few fishing boats in and also the ferry to Stornoway on the Isle of Harris.
After travelling another few miles we stopped
at Corrieshalloch Gorge, a National Trust for Scotland location. The gorge is famous for its depth (60 metres)
in relation to its width (10 metres); it really was an impressive sight along
its 1.5-kilometre length. It’s so hard
to gauge the depth of the gorge from a photograph but I’ll include one anyway.
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| Waterfall at the top end of the gorge |
The two pictures above were taken from either side of a suspension footbridge erected in 1874. It was designed by John Fowler who also designed the world's first underground railway (the Metropolitan line in London) as well as the Forth Road bridge. The area also had some woodland paths to the side of the gorge with a few more streams and waterfalls making their way down to meet the river at the bottom of the gorge. Here’s the daily selfie we took in front of one of the falls for our children.
After our walk around Corrieshalloch Gorge we continued our journey to a place called Gruinard Bay where we parked up for the night overlooking the sea once again.
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| Wednesday night’s view |
It was a small campsite with room for about a dozen vans and
a field set aside for tents. Once we settled in we went for a walk around
the area and found a rare sight for this part of Scotland - a village store. It also operated as the post office and had self service fuels. I know other places in Europe and the rest of the world are very remote but the sign saying 41 miles to the next fuel stop rather brought it home.
Thursday 23 October
We awoke to clear blue skies with views across to the Outer
Hebrides from our pitch at the Gruinard campsite.
I went for a walk along the coast while Karen had a morning
run. She went off piste when she found a
moorland track that wasn’t on the route we’d planned but fortunately didn’t get
lost. Here’s a couple of the pictures
she took whilst running.
Once we were both back at the van and had tidied ourselves
up we set off for the National Trust for Scotland gardens at Inverewe. The 54-acre gardens were in the 2,000-acre Inverewe
estate and planting began in 1862. The plant
specimens were stunning, having been collected from around the world. Apparently,
the effects of the Gulf Stream are such that so many exotic non-native plants
are able to thrive in the gardens. At the furthest point on the garden walk we
came out on a loch and Karen just caught her first glimpse of a seal, but as I'd been lagging behind a bit I
didn’t get there in time to see it.
Among the many amazing species of plants were over 100 species of fern and also some specimens of the Wollemi tree that were reminiscent of Monkey Puzzle trees. These trees were thought to have been extinct for millions of years and could only be found in fossilised form until 1994 when some were discovered 200km west of Sydney, Australia in a rainforest gorge in the Blue Mountains.
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| A Wollemi tree |
The only part of the gardens that made us feel like we were in the UK was the walled garden which had traditional flowers such as dahlias together with the range of vegetables and fruit trees normally found in a country garden. The walled garden was very sheltered and we were fortunate to see our first butterflies of the trip, a Red Admiral and a Peacock.
We wanted to get near Kinlochewe by the evening which was at the southern end of the 13.5 mile long Loch Maree, one of the largest freshwater lochs in Scotland. Mentioning a loch reminds me that a new word we've both learnt on this trip is lochan which is the Scottish term for a pond or small loch. As we didn’t fancy staying in a campsite, we looked for likely spots to stop overnight as we drove along the side of Loch Maree. On our way we passed a sign to Victoria Falls so we stopped to have an explore. I know we’ve seen many waterfalls on this trip but I never cease to be in awe of the force of water as it cascades down a rocky mountainside. The falls were so named after Queen Victoria visited them in 1877.
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| Victoria Falls |
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| View down Loch Maree from the falls |
A few miles after leaving the falls we found a small car park at a nature reserve where overnight van parking was allowed for a suggested donation of £10 towards the upkeep of the reserve. There was room for half a dozen or so vans and only one other turned up in the evening so we practically had the spot to ourselves. Looking out of the van windscreen we had wonderful views of the 3,219 ft high Slioch mountain.
As you can probably imagine we had a very peaceful evening.
Friday 24 October
The cloud was quite low when we awoke so we couldn’t see a
lot but we as we fancied an early walk we went out anyway. We walked through
the woods at the bottom of Beinn Eighe, the mountain opposite the one we could
see across Loch Maree from our overnight stop. Once we got above the tree line it became
quite misty so we decided not to climb any higher and stayed within the wooded
areas.
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| Grey morning at Loch Maree |
We’d booked into a campsite on the Applecross peninsula and set off soon after our walk and having breakfast. We were still on the NC500 and most of the journey was yet again on single track roads. It rained on and off during the day so the views weren’t particularly good but we could see that they would be quite stunning on a clear day.
We stopped at one of the many beaches we saw on the way so
we could have another walk before reaching the campsite. It wasn’t until we'd donned our wet weather gear and got out of the van that we
realised just how much the wind had got up.
It was easy walking down to the beach with the wind behind us but
walking back up was a real struggle.
We arrived at Applecross a few miles after setting off again and immediately we could see that it was an old fishing village based around a large bay and natural harbour. The campsite was part way up a hill overlooking the village and once we’d settled in we went to have a look around Applecross.
On the
way down to the village we passed a deer that was happily grazing and totally ignored us.
We also passed a derelict looking croft and looking inside
we could see it was full of what we guessed was thatching material. As one of
our friends back home is a master thatcher I sent him the picture below to see
what he thought of it. His response was.
‘Ah yes, a few bundles of ye olde Scottish water reed. Cunningly hidden from the
haggis, who voraciously consume it if left out in the open’.
There was a busy pub at the harbour, so we popped in for a couple of pints.
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| Applecross Inn |
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| Old fishermen's cottages next to the pub |
Whilst in the pub we had an interesting chat with one of the older locals who’d retired to Applecross 30 years previously. It transpired that he’d lived most of his life in West Sussex in a village next to one I lived in for many years in the days before I had so many children. We also drank in the same local, the Onslow Arms at Loxwood which sits on the, now being restored, Wey and Arun canal. Even though our paths probably crossed before we didn’t recognise or remember each other.
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| View from the pub |
The pub was busy with holidaymakers and seemed to be doing a good trade and as we were enjoying the atmosphere we decided to stay and have dinner there. When we went on a walking holiday in south Cornwall a few weeks ago we both ate seafood every night. We also had different dishes apart from the night we both had lobster so you can imagine that we tried quite a few different types of fish and seafood during our holiday. One thing we didn’t find though, was locally caught crab but as they had some available in the Applecross pub I had to have some.
Some of the holidaymakers were being taken around the NC500 in a group of Defenders with roof top tents and towed sleeping quarters. The group stayed over at our campsite and here is one of the set ups with the roof tent stowed away.
Needless to say it was pitch black by the time we staggered back up the hill to the van.
Saturday 25 October
The forecast was for sunshine and showers and we definitely
had both during the morning. Karen
managed to get a run in around Applecross bay and only got caught in one shower. Today
was going to be the day we left the NC500 as we near the end of our trip around
Scotland. First we headed for the small fishing village of Plockton which, once
again took us along miles of single track roads. As much as we love driving on these roads we
hadn’t realised how much concentration is required when in a van. As not only are we constantly on the look out
for approaching vehicles and roaming animals, we have to keep an eye out of the
rear in case a local comes up behind and we have to pull in at a passing
place to let them by. To make it worse
on today’s journey we had hailstorms to contend with and then on the tops we
had snow which at that height was settling on the road. We heaved joint sighs
of relief each time we got back down to sea level where the roads tended to be
wider too.
It started raining when we arrived at Plockton which was a
shame as we didn’t see it at its best.
The fishing village is advertised as the Jewel of the Highlands and it
had also been recommended by two sets of our friends.
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| Plockton harbour as the rain started |
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| Plockton from the main quay |
We found the old post office which still had its original posting box:
The box was now out of use and had wood across its aperture to stop people using it. Strangely there was no indication of the age as there was no monarch’s cypher to be seen but at least it still had the enamel 'LETTER BOX' plate attached.
Leaving Plockton we headed for the Isle of Skye where we
planned on staying for a night at a community run motorhome stop at An Crùbh that
had been recommended by campervan friends.
We found the spot which had wonderful views and also a café which was community run too, so we had to make a visit for afternoon tea. There were spaces for five vans and
surprisingly we were the only van there.
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| Our spot at An Crùbh motorhome park |
After settling in we walked just over a mile down to the
harbour where we’d booked to have a meal in the hotel there.
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| An Crùbh harbour |
Many signposts, especially those for village names, in the Highlands are bilingual but we noticed that the majority of those on the Isle of Skye were in Gaelic only. We found out later that Skye is where the majority of those who still speak the language live. As with Welsh we haven’t a clue how to pronounce the words. After wandering around the harbour we went into the bar attached to the hotel for a drink or two.
We got so comfortable in front of the fire that, as the menu in the restaurant and the bar was the same, we ended up eating in the bar. Funnily enough four other people came to the
same decision as they’d got cosy in the bar.
They started talking to us as they recognised us from Plockton, we’d
take photos for them as they were holidaying together. We hadn’t recognised them as it was raining
at the time and they were togged up in their wet weather gear. We had a lovely
meal of locally caught fish and when we returned to the van found that one
other had turned up for the night.
Sunday 26 October
We’d been unaware that the clocks had changed until we
realised how light it was when we checked the time in the morning – that’s the
trouble with modern phones that automatically update at the beginning and end
of daylight saving time. As we’d stayed
at a community run campervan site overnight we thought it would be rude not use
their café for breakfast especially as it was my birthday. After a hearty Full
Scottish, which means haggis in place of fried bread, we set off for Glencoe
where we planned on finding a layby by a loch to park up for the night. It
turned out to be the worst day for weather of the entire trip as it rained on and off for the whole journey, consequently we didn’t really get any views on
the way.
Our journey took us through Fort William and we’d forgotten
how busy it is in that area and were contending with coaches for the first time
since leaving Inverness ten days previously.
As with the previous day the rain was falling as snow on the tops and for
the sake of the ski resorts we hope it turns out to be a good winter for them.
The last time we went to the area was to walk up Ben Nevis and it looked like a
great many of the tourists were going to be or had been doing the same thing. When we arrived in Glencoe we went to the
National Trust for Scotland visitor centre to follow one of the trails we’d
seen advertised. We were a little
disappointed as the longest trail was only a couple of kilometres long, so we
ended up having to devise our own walk afterwards.
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| Looking in the general direction of Ben Nevis |
Glencoe sits at the end of the sea loch called Loch Linnhe so we walked around some of it.
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| Looking down Loch Linnhe from Glencoe |
The main road from Fort William to Glasgow that we’d been travelling on was quite busy so after our walk we took a side road out of Glencoe to find an overnight stop. We drove alongside Loch Levin which feeds into Loch Linnhe and found a convenient layby overlooking the water.
Monday 27 October
We were making our way further south today, leaving Scotland
and visiting the Lake District as we did on the way up. As it was going to be a
long driving day we set off after our morning coffee, tea and pain au chocolate
intending to stop after an hour or so for a proper breakfast and a walk. After yesterday’s rain we were driving under
lovely clear skies and stopped at a place called Tyndrum where, after
breakfast, we went for a walk along part of the West Highland way.
After our walk we drove alongside Loch Lomond to reach Glasgow and after another hour or so we were back in England and heading for Keswick in the Lake District. The 22-mile drive along Loch Lomond seemed to take forever as were in a line of traffic following a very slow tanker. If you’d read part 1 of our Scotland trip you may recall that Karen lost her National Trust card near Ullswater on the way up here. The office had rung her and said it had been handed in so we made a detour to pick it up. While we were there we went for another walk, this time along part of the Ullswater Way. At least we had some decent views compared to when we came up a couple of weeks ago.
We then carried on to Braithwaite at the far side of Keswick where we set camp for the night. We've now travelled 1,300 miles since leaving home and this is the route we took around Scotland.
Tomorrow we have a further 250 miles to go to finish our
trip which we have thoroughly enjoyed.
We loved our time in the van and would have no hesitation in doing it
all again. What would we do differently
next time? We would make sure we had
time to spend more than a night in each place as we’ve been on the move every
day. This is something we quickly learnt
when we started boating too but in our defence, as we’d hired the van for a set period of time, we were working to a timeframe whereas on the boat (or if we had our own
van) time is not so important and if somewhere takes our fancy then we can
always tarry a while.
Favourite beer of the holiday?
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| Also available on tap |
