West Coast Scotland tour 2019

[gvick]

Short drive this morning to Fort William.
Caught the Jacobite to Mallaig (return) lovely day - at Mallaig did the Western isle cruise round the islands and saw porpoise and harbour seals. Arrived back 4pm shopped for evening meal and arrived at Sunny Side Croft touring site 7 miles outside of Mallaig at ‘6pm - so at least closer for ferry crossing tomorrow to Skye.
Missed the sign on way in and had to turn around and caught it on way back.
Site is lovely and clean with its own private beach 2 mins walk from site.
Cooked chicken curry and rice washed down with some old peculiar for moi and red wine for Mrs.
Now back in van trying to get “Love Island “ on WiFi for Mrs Vick. Tomorrow Skye

 

[gvick]

How come your lights are on and the awning out and top raised? Is it the dreaded coming home lights, the campers friend? Superb chronicle of your travels, thanks.

tom

Hi Tom yes they come I when you unlock and illuminate the campsite if I forget to turn them off

 

[gvick]

Caught the early ferry to Skye and just as well as 30mph winds were disrupting later crossings- what a change in weather from 28 degrees to 15 - now strong winds and raining.
Drove 1:30mins from Ferry stopped off at fairy pools on the way for lunch and found a brewery called Cuillin brewery isle of sky- several pints later arrived at Kinloch Campsite at 3:30pm. Gorgeous site would definitely recommend.
Got a great pitch overlooking the Loch and parked rear into the prevailing wind. First time we have seen other Calis on site today and will say hi when rain stops. Got the Cali heater on with tea and biscuits
Now off to Dunvegan village and castle.

 

[gvick]

Well a very windy night with the wind gusting up to 40mph - to make matters more interesting was the wind shifted direction in the night - managed to sleep upstairs (previous posts said ok up to 50mph or serious rocking).
Today windy and cold which has flaired up my arthritic knee so a quieter day.
We have visited Neist point and had a pint in Portree.
With the weather forecast to rain 4-9pm I have cooked in van for first time - slow and steady to avoid splashes - chicken curry with rice and naan bread
Oh and the coolest Motorhome on site is a Bedford truck from 1969 converted with shower toilet the works.
Tomorrow Applecross

 

[Lorri]

Well a very windy night with the wind gusting up to 40mph - to make matters more interesting was the wind shifted direction in the night - managed to sleep upstairs (previous posts said ok up to 50mph or serious rocking).
Today windy and cold which has flaired up my arthritic knee so a quieter day.
We have visited Neist point and had a pint in Portree.
With the weather forecast to rain 4-9pm I have cooked in van for first time - slow and steady to avoid splashes - chicken curry with rice and naan bread
Oh and the coolest Motorhome on site is a Bedford truck from 1969 converted with shower toilet the works.
Tomorrow Applecross View attachment 46978

View attachment 46979

Been looking at photos with excitement - We hope to bring a little sunshine up with us as we are enroute for the start of our 12 days trip.

 

[gvick]

Been looking at photos with excitement - We hope to bring a little sunshine up with us as we are enroute for the start of our 12 days trip.

Fantastic- Scotland is pretty whatever the weather - but rain and high winds on Skye are very cold.
Hope you have a lovely break

 

[gvick]

So after a leisurely morning we did the Belanchna Ba to Apple cross - wow all the posts on the forum are right what a road ; would not like to do that in a Motorhome).
Feeling exhilarated me (scared witless Mrs Vick) we arrived at Apple cross around 4ish.
Walked dog to shore Street and a quick pint later now back at campsite with 3 other Calis.
I liked Skye - though it was busy windy and wet.
Apple cross has a totally different feel - small field, quaint shower block lovely village definitely worth staying - glad we made a stopover.
Pics of road and Camp set up plus walk from campsite - chilli con Carne with penne pasta tonight

 

[gvick]

We’ve had a really leisurely start to day.
Dog walked to shore Street then a lovely late breakfast (Scottish style with Haggis) at the Apple cross walled garden restaurant which is dog friendly.
Now 3hr drive to Foyers on Loch Ness for our last two day stopover before we start heading back- and oh spotted a Tartan T6

 

[gvick]

We have arrived at our penultimate campsite Loch Ness Shores by Foyers. The drive from Applecross to Loch Ness took over 4 hours. Mrs Vick wouldn’t go over the “Devils Elbow” again so we took the coast road vis Sheilig ( which was single lane all the way).
We stopped off at Aldi Inverness for Garlic bread cheese and Mrs Vick bought a house plant for the van
We’ve had reheated chilli from yesterday and walked the dog on the shores of Loch Ness.
The site is very picturesque and won the best campsite in Scotland 2017 award.
Tomorrow castle and loch cruise.
Parked up next up a lovely 1979 bay painted with hammerite and favourite film lines (I’ll see if I can get a pic in am) van belonged to chaps dad from new
Above is the view from the van - you can just see the Loch.

 

[pjm-84]

I'm came back on Monday so back at work and already missing Scotland.

I have been wondering how you got on with Polly on the train. We looked at it when we had one dog in 2015 and gave it a miss. This year we had 3 dogs with us (two are ours / the other is a friend's)

 

[gvick]

A lazy morning and on to Loch Ness proper via Fort Augustus and the Caledonian canal then to the Nessie centre and a cruise on Lochness via Urqhart castle.
We then returned via the Falls of Foyer and a steak and Salmon dinner at the Craigdarroch Inn. An early night for an early start and the first stage of our return journey to Borough Bridge @630 miles.

 

[BayCatOne]

Very much enjoying reading about your trip. When I hiked across Scotland, Fort Augustus and Braemar where on my top three towns. Keep posting and have fun!

 

[gvick]

I'm came back on Monday so back at work and already missing Scotland.

I have been wondering how you got on with Polly on the train. We looked at it when we had one dog in 2015 and gave it a miss. This year we had 3 dogs with us (two are ours / the other is a friend's)

It’s wasn’t brilliant on the train with just the one dog - he ended sleeping in the isle and everyone just stepped over him. 3 would have been challenging. We then ran off the traits d did a harbour cruise again with Dog so a long day for him. We did walk him for a good 90mins in the morning

 

[gvick]

We left Lochness Shores at 10am Friday and after an hour stop over at the M74 services we arrived at Borough Bridge bang on 5 pm (@369 miles ).
We had a lovely walk into the little town centre and a pint at the Grantham Arms.
For dinner I cooked spicy potatoes fromAldi with sweet corn and steak - washed down with more beer and red wine for Mrs Vick.
An early night and we left campsite at 10am with a 229 journey home, which as I was feeling alert, we did in one go arriving at 2pm - 4hours in total.

 

[gvick]

Reflections on our trip.
Comfort.
In total we covered 1875.5 miles with an average fuel consumption of 31.5 - (this did increase markedly when we emptied the 30 litres of water on Saturday morning changing the trip average from 30.3 to the 31.5 just on the journey home.)
The Cali was brilliant- the only fault being the ash tray / change holder won’t shut - probably because something’s stuck behind it. The comfort and quietness of the Cali cabin surprised me (quiet red than my merc with acoustic hood) . The elevated driving position was relaxing and the only downside is that fully laden one tends to wallow in the bends a tad - the answer- slow down.
No issues parking or on ferry’s all good.

Options on Polly - like could have avoided.
Dsg and 2litre 4motion were very good.
2 tone paint made me smile every time I came back to the van.
Could do without
Safe and magnetic flash light.

Highlights of the trip.
Isle of Mull campsite right on beach and the isle Ulva trip/day.
Apple cross cane a close second.

Best beach
Calgary beach on Mull and Sunnyside Campsite’s beach (Mallaig) were both stunning.

Tips for anyone planning a similar Adventure

1) If you stay by the coast don’t worry about midges ( use the local middle cream when they do show)
2) Book ahead - the nicer sites do get full even at end of June and a bit of research/planning means you can enjoy that Loch view rather than that of a car park- this was the feedback from previous posts on forum and it was invaluable.
3) 2 nights at each site plus a few where we only did 1 was a good mix for us as this was a sort of road trip around the west coast.

4) Do include Edinburgh and Glasgow - the free walking tours we did were good fun and really insightful.
5) prioritise - we had a dog so this helped us decide what we wanted to do - even then in 2 weeks we couldn’t do everything we wanted ( we missed out Outer Hebrides, Orkneys and sterling to name few).
6) pack as minimal as you can and most of all enjoy the journey