Scotland

Sat 13th April - Day 1 - Drive to Loch Lomond

Leaving early we headed M180 /  A1 / A66 / M6 / A74M / M8.  Weather on the trip up wasn't great, but the sun arrived briefly in Glasgow.  Alan saw Roy Chubby Brown in the services, something he was more excited about than Louise.  Arriving at loch Lomond we had heavy rain showers, so tired set the van up and took Harvey to the beach on Milarrochy Bay.  Campsite was C&CC and was nice (if wet)

Sun 14th April - Day 2 - Loch Lomond

With rain showers forecast in the afternoon we got up early and headed up Conic Hill, longer walk than expected, we should of definitely took sandwiches but Tunnock bars to the rescue.  Had pizza for tea in Balloch as we were knackered and it was raining 

Mon 15th April - Day 3 - Loch Lomond to Glen Coe

Alan got up for a run, slipped over and confirmed Scottish granite is harder than skin.  After breakfast we headed to Glencoe, a fairly short trip but took 5hrs as we kept stopping and also went down to loch Etive as we wanted to do our own version of 007 Skyfall and Harvey wanted a swim.  Arrived at Glencoe C&CC site which was great 

Tue 16th April - Day 4 - Fort William / Nevis Range / Glen Roy

Headed to the Nevis Range to go up the mountains on the gondola.  Louise and Harvey very brave.  Had lunch at the café on top of mountain, to get the full swiss alps experience this cost 15 quid for a fancy cheese toastie.  Walked to the two viewports and saw Ben Nevis.  Heading down we headed to Glen Roy to see the Parallel roads, this was exciting, but not as exciting as the singletrack road to get there.  From there we went to the commando memorial, Neptune's staircase, Fort William and then back to the campsite

Wed 17th April - Day 5 - Hidden Valley / Oban / Argyle Coast 

We were close to the main walking routes in Glencoe so decided to get up early and head up to the Hidden valley,  Alan told Louise this is a quick walk and we wouldn't need sandwiches.  Turns out its a long scramble  and you do need sandwiches.  Tunnock bars to the rescue again.  Was a tough climb and Harvey was great at scaling the rocks and jumping the streams.  Weather was very sunny so when we got back to van Alan had a great idea to 'Pop' to Oban for an ice cream.  The trip to Oban was really nice, if long.  We bought a blanket in Oban that would be useful later in trip when temperatures plummeted.  Alan wasn't tired when we got back so went for a run

Thr 18th April - Day 6 - Glen Coe to Morar

A rainy day was forecast so after a coffee at Glencoe Vister centre we headed to Morar on the slow road via the Corran ferry, was a nice route along Loch Sunart, up through Acharacle.  We saw a quiet beach at Ardtoe on the map and with time to spare went to investigate.  Headed north up to Mallaig and them back south a bit to our nice site at  Camusdarach. We had a great beach here (filmed local hero there) and Harvey loved it so much

Fri 19th April - Day 7 - Morar / Mallaig

Alan went for a long run along Loch Morar and louise did the washing on the site, arguably more useful than running.  In the afternoon we went to Arisaig Land, sea and Islands centre which was great, the man in there told us the history of the place we were staying.  Following this on to the Glenfinnan 'Harry Potter' viaduct, this was good although the carpark was busy and Alan made us walk a bit far and had to go get the van to pick us up.  In the evening we went to Mallaig for chips and then home via another Silver Sand beach

Sat 20th April - Day 8 - Mallaig / Skye

One last visit to the beach today for Harvey to play and then on to Mallaig for the ferry to Skye.  We booked the ferry months in advance which was lucky as they were turning lots of people away at the terminal who thought you could just turn up and go.  The sea was like a mill pond and the crossing was great, we saw Porpoise and seals and everyone was having fun in the sun.  Once on Skye we thought we would avoid doing what everyone does when they got to Skye, so instead went to Broadford to fill up with diesel.  Next stop was Elgol, was a scenic road over there and we stopped at the Torrin pools and had the place to ourselves.  At elgol we had the best ice-cream ever from an Argentine lady who makes it at home, and Alan and Harvey went exploring on the rocky beach.  Returning to Camping Skye in Broadford we had an excellent pizza for tea from the place near the site

Sun 21st April - Day 9 - Skye

We had a lazy get away from the site and stopped briefly at a waterfall, follow by Sligachan bridge and views of the Cullins.  We then headed over to Neist Point and the lighthouse, was a bit of a stressful drive along the very long single-track road but on way back we were rewarded with spotting a white tailed eagle.  Alan manged to get some good shots with the SLR. When back to the site Alan went for a short run and found some home made snacks in the local village

Mon 22nd April - Day 10 -  Skye

Was a showery day, but with limited time on Skye we headed to the Fairy Glen, we got here early so was quiet.  Then on to the Quiraing which was the most spectacular scenery we had seen.  Quick stop at the dinosaur footprints in the rain, then down the coast through Portree and back to see the Coral Beach, Harvey went for a swim in the sea and let us know it was freezing, before going for another swim .  We were tired at the end of the day

Tue 23rd April - Day 11 -  Skye to loch ness

We were heading to loch ness today to get over eventually to the Caingorms.  We stopped at Portree and got an art picture we liked, from here we headed over the bridge and along the A87, then A887, more stunning scenery.  We had a brief stop at Fort Agusta and saw the lochs working then on to the site on the south side of loch ness

Wed 24th April - Day 12 -  Loch ness to Avimore

Alan went for a run before we left for Aviemore, we went the slow road and got more great scenery.  We stopped in Aviemore to restock the cupboards and buy a hot water bottle, the old one having been condemned earlier in the trip by safety officer Alan.  Then on to Loch Eilein for a pleasant circular walk around the loch in the sun.  After this we went to the site at Glenmore, Alan had been here briefly when he was 15, the site is at 330m and can be a bit chilly.  We didn't have a hook up so were using the van diesel heater and camping in the woods right by the loch

Thursday 25th April - Day 13 -  Cairngorm

Going to Scotland anytime of the year you can guarantee it will rainy, sunny, windy etc.  As it was nearly May we thought we were safe from snow, but waking up with an odd flake falling was novel.  We headed up the to Cairngorm mountain base, the snow getting heavier the higher we got.  We decided that worse case we could sleep in the van in the car park and headed up Cairngorm for a play in the snow, it was tough going and when the snow started hiding the path we decided to turn back at around 900m.  Alan was relieved when the whiteout ended and we could see the carpark had been ploughed and gritted.  Lou got a cup of tea and we had lunch in the van and headed off on another walk, this was more enjoyable and we got good views of the peaks.  We headed back via Aviemore and to have a look at shops

Fri 26th April - Day 14 -  Glenmore

Waking up again to a dusting of snow, Alan went for a 20 mile run to Nethy Bridge via the mountain pass / track.  The run was great passing the green loch and being pretty much totally isolated the whole run.  In the afternoon we let Harvey have a swim finally in the Loch and did a circular walk around the edge of the loch.  For tea we went to the Pine Martin Bar and had nice food and drink in the quirky atmosphere.

Sat 27th April - Day 15 -  Glenmore to Dunbar

After one last swim for Harvey in the loch we took the slow road around the edge of the cairngorms down south.  Was a long day driving but the scenery was great and we saw Glenshee and lots more.  We stopped at Queensferry which was very busy to get a picture of the bridges.  We stayed at C&CC site in Dunbar which was nice

Sun 26th April - Day 16 -  Dunbar to the centre of the universe 

Up early leaving the site at 8am we headed home in the rain all the way.

Some Videos we took (coming soon)