On The Move

Setting off on a spontaneous week to Scotland, we borrowed Hels' mums car,  chucked in a little tent, a double air mattress, sleeping bags, camping cooker, some food .. and of course some wine! 

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The first night we soon realised that just as Hels had said, the double bed we'd bought for Tylers injured back (which was double the size of the tent ) would not fit..... and the next day we had to buy a 4 man tent in Mountain Warehouse for £69 in Perth. We were also pleasantly surprised by a fantastic coffee shop which served us the best bacon buttes we'd ever had, at the best price too! (We think it was called 'Brew and Chew')

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We roamed around Edinburgh for the day before making our way up to Aviemore, bought the worlds worst Subway for lunch and camped at beautiful Loch Morlich (Subway employees recommended camping at Loch Morlich which made up for the lack of sandwich making skills grrrr). This is where we found some of the best tips and local gems - by asking people in shops, cafes .. anything!  Aviemore is a bit of a nothing town in summer with just a few cafes and a Co-op although amazing lakes, mountains, biking and hiking all within a short drive from the town. Every other shop was a ski shop which we thought was bizarre, so the next day we drove up to the Cairngorm mountain - it was amazing to see a real ski resort in the UK - albeit so aggressively windy that we couldn't manage to open the car doors. 

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We set up camp on the lakes beach and were set in for an amazing night camping ahead… oh if only we knew. We had a little picnic and beers on the sand as the sun went down and enjoyed taking it all in. As the sunlight dipped behind the horizon, it took with it the perfect blue skies, the warm air and all calm weather. We tried making a fire but with no luck as for strong wind and lack of dry wood. Cooking dinner was a disaster with the unescapable strong winds blowing out our tiny portable cooker and sand blowing into our food. We ate a very crunchy curry dinner in the cold behind a rowing boat, after which we retreated to the safety of our tent (or so we thought). We battled hurricane like winds all night long, only got a few hours sleep. Tyler had to get out of the tent every 10-15minutes to re-instate tent pegs that were pulled out of the ground with an empty bottle of Crabbies, whilst Hels was holding the tent walls out all night so it wouldn't collapse/take off! We thought that was a freak storm... we were surprised to learn that it was Scotland's forte most nights. 

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We travelled up to Inverness (which no offence wasn't reaaaaaally worth the trip) but you live and you learn. Loch Ness was huge and we thought we caught a glimpse of the famous nessie .... we drove round as far as Urquhart Castle. We didn't pay to go in because we're stingy and broke but we got the beauty of the castle from the grounds. 

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We then made our way to the Isle of Skye via Plockton after hearing some glowing reviews. Be warned these will be the smallest roads you EVER drive on! We were desperate for a tea/coffee but there was nothing there to quench our thirst. Lovely seaside village, but VERY small and wouldn't go out of your way to get there. 

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The Isle of Skye was everything we'd dreamed of and more (apart from the weather, which was becoming less of a shock to us). The mountains rose dramatically out from behind the water and driving up was one of the most beautiful drives ever. 

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Sligachan - the MOST EXPOSED campsite ever. BUT would 100% recommend pitching up there for one night and one night only. You are surrounded by incredible mountains and positioned opposite the best pub which had 400 + different types of whisky ... and some of their own brewed ales! They had massive great food portions as well which is exactly what you want to fill you up for the long night ahead. From Sligachan you have very easy access to the Fairy Pools and the Talisker Distillery. The Fairy Pool walk was beautiful and definitely lives up to the name, it seems like a magical place. But be warned - the stream at the start is wide and very fast flowing, take wellies or a jetpack!!! We did the tour of the Distillery, when in Rome, and it was super informative, interesting and you get to taste the whisky at the end! Even if you don't like whisky I think this is a great one to look around. 

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From there we drove up via Portree, stocked up on camping gas in the shop there, and had fantastic fish and chips sat on the wall of the harbour. Very typical coloured seaside houses and very pleasant down by the water. We pushed on up to visit the 'Old Man of Storr' which was magnificent! The Scottish weather was classicly grim, but with short bursts of sunlight shining through. Unfortunately it was too windy for us to drone, and Tylers broken back meant that we couldn't go walking around. We drove over the hills to the other side and sought out Coral Beach - which looks like the bahamas on google images. As always we were a little too optimistic and carried with us swimwear and towels... we ended up snuggling up on the grass wrapped in the towels! 

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Sick of the wind we tried to find a cheap hotel or B&B around the area - but they were all full!! We ended up staying in a campsite in Dunvegan - which by some miracle was sheltered from the wind and also had extremely well looked after facilities ! 

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On the drive back onto the mainland we also stopped off at Eileen Donan Castle - again we had no money to actually go and look around. But the photos we wanted were from outside and above the castle anyway! We camped overnight at a campground in Fort William - we had originally planned to go mountain biking there, and although we were restricted sportswise we still wanted to check it out. We saw Ben Nevis and the town - it was all quite grey and not pretty so we'll leave it for a mountain biking trip next time. BUT we had some coronas at the tent and celebrated our last night out in the cold!! 

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The next day we tried to catch the 'Hogwarts Express' going over the Glenfinnan Viaduct - we looked at the supposed timings online and there were plenty of other people who must have done the same. But the train was a no show! It was still awesome to see and we had our first experience of the famous Scottish Midges - something that we had been lucky to avoid thus far on our journey. 

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We carried on down the country, swung by Glasgow to check it out, then back across to Edinburgh for a treat night in an Air BNB. We had a rogue night out just Tyler & I. Saw some hilarious and some strange comedy acts at the 3 sisters, then onto many more random bars before crashing into bed! 

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After our night we had to make it back down to home... but it would have been rude not to see some beauties en route! On a family holiday as a child Hels remembered Northumberland having stunning beaches and a cool island with a castle on it. Hels was DETERMINED to show Tyler that England had good beaches and he was finally impressed!! Driving over the causeway to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) was exciting, watching the water in the distance and we were delighted with some fresh prawn sarnies. 

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All that in one week! A hell of a lot of driving, a hell of a lot of getting lost and finding random local places and a hell of a lot of good times!! 

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Definitely recommend spending a bit longer, and breaking up the camping with a few nights inside, and going with a decent tent! 

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