| Adventuremagnet 
Joined: Jul 01, 2008
Posts: 466
Day 1
We get the camper loaded the night before so it’s an early start Saturday morning. Well, early-ish. The weather is looking good. Blue skies! Lunch is at Sherwood Forest. We make the mistake of stopping at the visitor centre which is full of small children with plastic bows and arrows. A few minutes away from the centre and it’s OK but we could have done better.
We end the day in North Yorkshire, Osmotherley, for an overnight stop with family. There is a nice campsite in Osmotherley (Ghyll Caravan & Camping Park), still fully booked last week of September. We walk past it on the way to walk the dogs around the reservoir and moors.
Day 2
We head up the A19 past the industrial nightmare of Teesside and on to Newcastle and under the Tyne. Beyond Newcastle the roads change. The big busy A1 turns into a small, quiet A1.
First stop Bamburgh Castle. Impressive castle. Impressive beach. Impressive wind.
Then it’s on into Scotland ending up near Linlithgow at the Beecraigs Country Park. It’s a big sprawling place but you’re right in the middle of a huge wood complete with a large lake and deer herd. It’ll do.
We end up at the Dalraddy Holiday Park near Aviemore. It’s a long day and we don’t get there until 6:00pm. As campsites go it’s pretty grim. Big with lots of caravans. Nice spot though on the edges of a moor. It’ll do for a night though and the red squirrels seem to like it.
Day 4
This is what we’re here for, the North East coast. Aviemore to John-o-Groats today. The West Coast is wilderness and peaks. The East Coast is barley fields and hills. More civilised and more populated but still very sparse compared to the rest of the UK.
We stop at the broch off the A9 within site of Dunrobin Castle and Lord Sutherlands enormous phallus. I’ve seen better brochs and the beach won’t win any European awards, unless they do an award for stinking seaweed and scruffy old shacks.
We push on to the North. Past Wick the remote feeling sets in. Scotland really is a different country. Well it is this far North. Huge impressive ruins of manor houses, many fortified, litter the landscape. Next to them utilitarian bungalows of the descendents of those lords scratch a living from the land. Must be a pisser waking up the view of what-was every morning.
John-o-Groats is a funny little place. Add some sun, move it South a few thousand miles and it could be a ramshackle African town. Deer wander around back gardens.
We don’t stop but head to Duncansby Head with its lighthouse and stacks. We expected some wildlife but we didn’t expect a pack of wolves to be howling. Weird. Eventually we spot the howling wolves on some rocks in the sea. They appear to be wearing wetsuits. That or seals howl like wolves.
Returning from the seals we have a glider fly past us close enough to make us duck. If you’ve ever been close to a glider you’ll know the noise they make, a high pitched scream, just like the diving-fighter noises on old war movies. It’s not a glider though, it’s a fucking great big gannet, wings tucked in and doing a 150mph pass within a few feet of our heads and on over the cliffs.
The final few miles of the day takes us to the campsite at Dunnet Bay. The site is right on the bay and what a bay. It’s huge and pretty much empty.
Day 5
The North Coast is fantastic. You rarely see another car. Spectacular beaches on the right, mountains on the left.
We have an incident though. A beery one. Unfortunately I’d been entrusted with the washing up. Kitchens are an alien environment for me and I made a basic mistake. I didn’t put the lock on the fridge. The crash from behind us was the clue. We stopped and had a look. The contents of the fridge were littered over the inside of the camper. Unfortunately a large portion of our fridge is dedicated to beer bottles, one of which has exploded.
After a basic mop-up we push on, stopping at the Kyle-of-Tongue where we hose out the back then have lunch while it dries in the strong sun and strong wind. The carpets don’t dry so get strapped to the ladder on the back which looks unfortunately like we’ve skinned a dead deer.
We stop again at Ard Neackie, a small outcrop jutting into a loch complete with house and ruin. Next stop Durness, which was as far as we got last time. That’s it we’ve done West, East and North coasts.
We push South down the West coast. We stop at Ardvreck Castle on an island in a loch with the nearby manor ruin.
We end up at the campsite at Ardmair. Much like Ard Neackie and Ardvreck Castle it juts out into a loch, water on three sides but rather than an impressive old building at its heart it has a campsite. It’s their last night and they have four customers on their large site.
Day 6
We push inland today trough mountains and onto Loch Ness, past Uquabart castle and stop a few miles further down the road to walk in the Craeg Nan Eun Forest and its waterfalls.
We finish the day early at the campsite at Invergary. The sign on the entrance declares it an ‘adult only’ campsite. We have visions of Carry on Camping. Naked volley ball? Barabara Windsor’s tits? Apparently not. They’re in their last week so they’re virtually empty. Nice spot with walks out into the forest and the mountains.
Day 7
We head South West and through Fort William and on to Glencoe. We stop at the pass. There were thoughts of walking to the hidden valley, we’d failed to find it the year before by going between the wrong two mountains (it didn’t get its name for nothing). It’s only a couple of miles, but it’s a couple of thousand feet of ascent. The weather is closing in though. The rain has started. So we stick to a modest walk.
Heading South, through Glasgow and into the Lake District we end up on the shores of Ullswater. I have no idea what the Lake District looks like. Well I do, it looks like pissing rain.
Day 8
Still raining we head for home and bright sunshine. Eight days, 1600 miles.
Late September/early October was great. No midges, no traffic and empty campsites. That’s Scotland done. It’ll be somewhere in Europe next year.
Cagiva Elefant|Jeep Cherokee
[ This message was edited by: Adventuremagnet on 07/10/2009 11:06 ] |
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vtrman  Joined: Dec 18, 2008
Posts: 34
From: Nottingham, UK
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| Can recommend The Alps very highly. You'd love it. | Advertisement  |
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