Addy’s first tour to Scotland

[royandsharont]

Just to set the picture, our new van has been named Addy by Sharon I used to write blog type stories of our previous travels on the CAMC web site so our family and friends could follow us on our travels around Europe mainly. The Club changed software and lost all my photos in the 113 stories, I think, and despite promising they would recover them they never did.
I took my bat and ball home and never wrote any more. My son persuaded me to join and post photos of where we were on Instagram so he could see what we were up to, so I did that.

Having joined this Forum and seen some of the travels some of the members post on individual threads I have decided to have a go again myself as I’ve enjoyed reading those that do.

So here goes. New van, 20 days old, and very much learning day by day but we left home this afternoon to head for the Highlands to attend a very special family wedding. We are heading straight there over a leisurely drive from East Yorkshire with nothing booked after the wedding.

We hope to retrace some of our own honeymoon route back down the West Coast and stay up to 8 weeks away. The weather, in particular the rain, will be what sends us home early. We last toured Scotland for 7 weeks back in September 2013 and stayed personalLG dry throughout so .

We have had to make a small detour today to Holmfirth so we can hopefully get the solar controller fixed or replaced in the morning at Peter Roberts Motorhomes before we head for Strathclyde Country Park.

We arranged at last minute to stay at Holme Valley Caravan Park, a couple of miles away, and was surprised there was vacancies and the price of £29 pleased us. The site is quite nice, if a bit cramped with plenty of seasonal pitches, and the staff were very welcoming.

It is still very hot weather and whilst I said we would likely never use the van’s table to dine at outside, we did tonight, and I was surprised how stable it all was.

We’ll see how my enthusiasm to write goes with the passage of time

Ready to go

Our planned route to the top

Arriving in time for afternoon cuppa T

Table set with a well earned John Smiths for me

I even managed first attempt to drop the bike rack and get the chairs out of the garage, a first attempt, it just took a lot of thought of how to do it in sequence stepping in and out of the gap with doors opened and closed, I’ll get there

 

[royandsharont]

We enjoyed the overnight stay at Holmfirth and Peter Roberts swapped the NDS controller for a Truma one getting us on our way by 1030.

It felt like a long tiring days drive to Strathclyde Country Park after problems on the M62 and M74 causing long delays. The rain started as we got to the border unfortunately and forecast for all day tomorrow as we head for Inverness

We were greeted with a very warm welcome by the warden, Ian, at the CAMC site before we stretched our legs to dine at the very close by Toby Carvery. My Merlot went down very well and Sharon must have thought she was back in the Italian Lakes when she chose an Aperol Spritz

 

[DBK]

Best wishes on the trip. A trick I use on trip reports is to post a Google Maps screenshot showing our location, usually as a blue blob. If its grey the GPS hasn't quite decided where you are. I find this useful later when I'm trying to remember where we've been!

 

[royandsharont]

The drive up from Glasgow was very pleasant with lovely scenery in the Cairngorms. Lunch at Dalwhinnie and overnight at Culloden Moor, Inverness where we had no phone, internet or TV signal & but only light rain

Awoke this morning to 13C but dry and bright. Aldi fuel & internet in Inverness before we head north again. The heating timer worked this time

 

[royandsharont]

What a lovely days drive we’ve had today. The sun has been out most of the day and despite it only reaching 14C it was very pleasant in the sun when we had lunch at a lay-by with a view of Loth Beach from Helmsdale.

We then drove on to revisit John O’Groats 43 years & 6 weeks after our only other visit on our honeymoon tour of Scotland’s coastline and whilst the street furniture had changed we took photos to compare the years

Thenbwe found an historic church at Canisbay where we could see the island of Stroma with the Orkney’s in the distance.

Before moving on to the CAMC site, Dunnet Bay, where we found the site half empty, but fuller than Culloden, with many hire Motorhomes and camper van. Lots of Europeans here too and lots of vans seen on the journey today.

We enjoyed phone signal and internet here as well as great TV signal. Tongue tomorrow for the wedding celebrations

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[Gellyneck]

Did you go into Dalwhinnie distillery for the tour?

I used to lunch in the staff room when there.

Is that Pitch # 29 at Dunnet Bay? If so, get aff it as we're due there in a couple of weeks!

Enjoy the rest of your tour.

Where after Tongue?

 

[cyberyacht]

I'm pretty sure that's the pitch we were on in 2013.

 

[royandsharont]

No we didn’t do the tour, only a lunch stop and yes your right Gellyneck it is pitch 29

We arrived at Tongue on late Thursday afternoon for our 3 nights stay at a posh hotel, so busy times with all the family, but here are a few photos before we dine. You can see Ben Loyal in the background in the first one and Ben Hope later on before Skinnet Bay.

 

[Wildbill]

The drive up from Glasgow was very pleasant with lovely scenery in the Cairngorms. Lunch at Dalwhinnie and overnight at Culloden Moor, Inverness where we had no phone, internet or TV signal & but only light rain View attachment 653554
View attachment 653556View attachment 653557View attachment 653558
Awoke this morning to 13C but dry and bright. Aldi fuel & internet in Inverness before we head north again. The heating timer worked this time

I drilled the water well thare many years ago at Dalwhinnie 10 years when thay put in the new plant

 

[Lenny HB]

Have a good trip.

But, £29 a night/John Smiths & Toby carvery - there is absolutely no hope for you.

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[royandsharont]

After a fantastic 3 nights of celebrations and fine dining it’s time to chill a bit & catch up on sleep before we move on. We moved just one mile down the road and camped here for the night at Kyle of Tongue hostel & campsite. Great nights sleep and awoke to this beautiful view this morning . Heading further west today and down the coast.

Lots of midges last night though

 

[Garfields]

Going by today's forecast don't move to far.
Looks best for the far north.

 

[royandsharont]

We ventured to a popular beach area and stayed at Shore Campsite for 2 nights at Achmelvich. The views were great but to get a phone signal was nigh on impossible and we had to climb up high on the rocky headland.

 

[royandsharont]

On Wednesday we drove on past the Deep Freeze Mountains in the Geo Park

and down to Ullapool where we stayed at Bloomfield Holiday Park on the shore of Loch Broom. With dry weather we decided to do the laundry, rest up and spend a few days here. You cannot book this place so it’s easy to stay for as many nights as you like.

 

[royandsharont]

Today we did the chores all morning and then went for lunch at the popular Seafood Shack

Then had a wander around Ullapool and tried to find somewhere for a Sunday Carvery type meal with plenty of vegetable, but nowhere to be found

Ullapool was developed as a herring port in the late1700’s and these two boats looked pretty old to me

The route from Tongue

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[royandsharont]

Today we climbed Ullapool Hill. The views were fantastic. We could even spot Addy from the path on zoom

 

[Gellyneck]

royandsharont
We're toying with heading into Broomfield in the next week or two. How busy is it?

 

[royandsharont]

Gellyneck There have been lots of spaces every night. Especially if you don’t mind being a little bit back from the front line or non EHU. I would personally try to get here as early as possible for choice, opens 11 but we’ve seen them let vans in much earlier. Also I would say camp at the first lot of pitches, less busy & better toilet block. A plus is you cannot book so you can just pay each day if you want to keep stopping. We’re loving the non travelling bit and the time to help decide about how best to use the smaller van space but off towards Skye on Monday

 

[Gellyneck]

We’re loving the non travelling bit and the time to help decide about how best to use the smaller van space but off towards Skye on Monday

Funnily enough we were also thinking of moving on to Broadford after there!

Must change our forum name to stalkingRoy&SharonT!

 

[royandsharont]

Another beautiful dry day today so after a second lunch, Sharon’s request , at the very popular Seafood Shack we headed to the park to enjoy browsing the loch and then enjoyed a shoreline walk. We spotted a small fishing boat returning to port with umpteen assorted flags I presume they used as marker buoys. The zoom photo gives you an idea.

Weekend and still the campsite has plenty of spaces. I’m pretty sure from our travels so far that campers simply are not travelling as they did, due to the costs I suspect. Good for us Re finding places to stay.

At least Gellyneck your comments are keeping my interest in continuing to post.

We chose Camping Portree as a base so we could spend 3 separate days doing 3 routes and hopefully managing to get all the views if not being able to do much walking, with a couple of nights at Kinlochewe on the way to hopefully see some wildlife

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[CWH]

off towards Skye on Monday

... and on Monday I'm heading north from Skye, back on Thursday though, not a mega-tour like yours. When will you be here? (ie Skye)

 

[Frederick Flintstone]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
We are hoping to get away up to Scotland from Norfolk within the next couple of weeks, it was the early nineties when we were last there.
We’re still learning how to fit things in, what not to take, what we still need to get.
Jim’s beginners tips have been really helpful.
And stories like yours will help us plan and give us ideas.
Like your ‘Then & Now’ photos when on your honeymoon . . . you haven’t changed a bit!
It’ll be 46 years anniversary whilst we’re up there, and I swear we haven’t changed much either . . . apart from my eyesight, which could account for why there doesn’t appear to much change

 

[royandsharont]

... and on Monday I'm heading north from Skye, back on Thursday though, not a mega-tour like yours. When will you be here? (ie Skye)

CWH we arrive at camping Portree on Wednesday and after speaking to Duncan at the site he suggested 3 days to do 3 routes to cover most of the island. Not sure Sharons knees will allow any difficult terrain so we thought we could drive and view with stops to walk where able. Booked 4 nights through to Sunday but we may stay longer.

Nothing booked ahead but hoping to spend some time at Fort William so we can cycle the paths on the Gt Glenn, had a recommendation of Gt Glenn campsite, so looking for dry weather there

Our intended route there

 

[royandsharont]

Frederick Flintstone Good look with your trip and glad to hear such as this helps. I think we are pretty experienced after 10 years, and on average 5 months a year in the van travelling, but fair to say after downsizing to this beautiful Adria PVC we are struggling a little with the changes needed.

I’m pretty certain it is a frame of mind thing and the need to cope with much less physical room to move around and access to the things we carry, but we’re getting there and making fantastic advances in storage and access.

The smaller size for driving, especially on the NC500 narrow roads, is a really big plus. I started a review thread when we got it 6 weeks ago and keep adding bits as we go along. At the end of this tour I should be able to give a much better review of the van

 

[CWH]

we arrive at camping Portree on Wednesday and after speaking to Duncan at the site he suggested 3 days to do 3 routes to cover most of the island. Not sure Sharons knees will allow any difficult terrain so we thought we could drive and view with stops to walk where able. Booked 4 nights through to Sunday but we may stay longer.

Is that the one at Torvaig? - I always thought it looked a nice place to stay. 3 days touring the island is good advice. There are some lovely drives to gorgeous 'kodak' spots.
If you're planning on evening meals out, I'd advise booking. This time of year it's difficult to say whether you need to or not, with an uncertain tourist population, but better safe than sorry.
I hope the weather stays good for you - and the midgies don't plague you! (Locally, we all swear by Smidge.)

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[Gellyneck]

Nothing booked ahead but hoping to spend some time at Fort William so we can cycle the paths on the Gt Glenn, had a recommendation of Gt Glenn campsite, so looking for dry weather there

Jist you haud on a wee minute there!

Ah hope tae h*ll yir no goin here -

Campsite — Glen Nevis Holidays

www.glen-nevis.co.uk

or we'll really be stalking you!

 

[royandsharont]

Yes the one at Torvaig CWH Thanks for the advice

 

[Funmeister]

Shame you are missing out on Applecross ! lovely site there and a great pub on the water's edge ( good food too)

 

[royandsharont]

Well the trip from Ullapool was a delightful drive with a visit to Corrieshalloch Gorge and Inverewe Gardens on the way, both NT sites.

Before arriving at the CAMC site at Kinlochewe for 2 nights. We enjoyed some walking and had no phones again

Today we had a slow journey along the narrow roads of the NC500, with some fantastic views over the Torridon Estate, before finding our lunch stop viewing the Skye Bridge.

and then arriving on Skye to spend 4 nights, or more, at Camping Portree. This is the view from our pitch, and the sun is out

 

[royandsharont]

Well we have enjoyed the freedom a smaller van has given us, particularly it being a bit narrower on these single track roads, and have spent for the first time ever taking the van off site for days out! We have spent 3 full days travelling pretty much all over Skye and I have attached a selection of our views. The roads are busy with many hired Motorhomes and camper vans, as well as foreign tourists in hire cars, and the lack of experience in driving such vans or on these narrow roads is abundant with damaged mirrors evident. The road surfaces are pretty bad too

We will have spent 6 days here by the time we leave on Tuesday heading for Fort William.

The views are of the following places, Old Man of Storr, Mealt Falls, Kilt Rock Falls, views from Duntulm Castle, Armadale harbour, Eas a ‘Bhradain Falls, Highland Cattle outside of Sconser and the Cuillin Hills viewed from Portree

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