West Scotland Map - Our trip...

I think flexibility is a good idea and our first trip was really about exploring and travelling. We didn't spend a lot of time in any one place (except Arisaig which we spent a few nights at). We have always said if we went back we would spend more time in some of the places we visited and explore more deeply. We did the west coast simply because its hte most beautiful in my opinion, the east can be a bit bleak in comparison.


My experience of Skye may be one that many disagree with and may have been something to do with the weather and our mood on those days. We stopped at the Glenelg inn to catch the ferry the next day, stayed in a real room, had wonderful food and whiskey and then the next day the ferry was cancelled due to bad weather. The inn was a welcome break and a lovely place to spend an evening. The scenery around there was lovely and there was of a lot of places you could wild camp with amazing views. We didnt (sorry @Teejay for missing your earlier question) but we saw plenty of people camping and even living in their vans in these spots.

The drive into Sligachan and Cuillin hills themselves were the most beautiful parts of Skye for me, and everything else seemed a bit of an anti climax after that initial experience.

Applecross is beautiful and amazing but I agree with V's Dad that in the wrong weather there would be nothing to see. I'd also say its not for the faint hearted or those who aren't confident drivers but is worth the trip. It is a single lane road, with passing places with drop offs in places. Me I drove up there with some Muse playing and felt like I was in some kind of music video, with clouds drifting above and below us, waterfalls and lochs in the distance. On the other side the campsite is nice albeit the busiest we came across (in september) and the small pub was bursting at the seams (book tables ahead for eating).

Glencoe, Glen Etive, and even the scenery on our way home was breath taking, the sun coming out really helped! Just thinking about it now has given me a shiver, I really want to go back there!
Thanks Mat
 
My main worry is the campsites being fully booked as this is billed as the year of staycation - so I’ll need to make some prebookings I think.
We're planning a tour of western Scotland in the last two weeks of May. I was hoping we could just follow our whim each day and turn up at sites, but now I am starting to wonder if it will be necessary to pre-book.
 
I went in September and we didnt book any sites at all, even the busiest had space. I can't comment on May, but the distance and time to get to these places generally makes them less busy than a site may be in the south.
 
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There aren't very many campsites on the west coast and I've never tried them during the summer months, maybe someone who done that has can advise? It's getting busier every year though as the NC500 popularity grows.

On the plus side, it's not too difficult to find places to wild camp overnight, although obviously with consideration, find places a bit off the NC500 route, and ideal if you have an unobtrusive coloured van (our next one will be brown or grey rather than blue, for that reason).
 
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3a151207c272ad619cc4b3ea7824c376.jpg

Road to Glenelg
People were camping in these spots around Glenelg, it was very quiet, hardly anyone about and the gravel areas were huge. Rarely saw other cars around here except vans parked up.

We never found a shortage of campsites, you can wild camp around Loch Lomond with a permit but we couldn't get online to get a permit. Some of the sites we visited were tents only too to our disappointment so worth checking up front.

That said there seemed to be a few campsites in all the desirable places and we didnt wild camp once in two weeks even though we intended to before we left. Mainly because it rained so much and we wanted hook up to help try clothes etc.

If I had to choose just three places to go to I would choose Red Squirrel, Arasaig and Applecross, with maybe Sligachan close behind.

Scotland the great was the book we used, he is a bit anti camper and a bit functional but helped us..

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yes sorry you are correct. V loved that book and it saved us when we couldnt get on line. I believe there is an app version available but I cant comment on it.
 
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