Tag: Campervan

Clachtoll to Ullapool 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

gingertravellerblogLeave a comment

We woke up to a dry morning after a night of wind and rain, and decided to change breakfast up a bit and have crunchy nut instead! The plan was a bit of everything today – a waterfall, a castle, a cave and finishing next to a beach.

Clashnessie Falls Located just a short drive from where we were staying and with a slightly bigger parking area than the falls yesterday. If you don’t fancy the scramble to get there, you can actually see the falls from the roadside, but we were up for the challenge and set off for a closer look. Due to the heavy rain the night before, the route was very boggy and very slippery. Half way into the walk we saw a sign to the falls pointing us to walk across the water, however this was impossible due to how deep it was. We therefore had to scramble across boulders and stones in a very narrow area to avoid trespassing into the grounds of the cottage by the falls (there were signs making sure this didn’t happen 🤣) The falls were full and dramatic, but also tranquil. There was an easy path to admire the falls from above as well. As long as you have the right shoes, we would definitely recommend these falls.

Lochinver I had read about the best pies ever in Lochinver, so we were keen to try these out. Unfortunate the dine in option wasn’t available today, but fortunately it was a lovely day and we were able to sit outside next to the Loch and enjoy the pies with the view. I opted for the pork, apple and cider.. and it really was delicious. Deep filed and full of flavour.. what more could you ask for. You can even get the pies posted to you! Check out Lochinver Larder if you appreciate a good pie 🥧

Ardvreck Castle The ruin of Ardvreck Castle stands atop a small promontory of land on Loch Assynt. It is easily visible from the road and easily accessed from 2 roadside car parks. Mark decided to enjoy some peace and quiet and sat with a coffee, enjoying the views, whilst I went off to explore. It’s in a stunning location, and although just a fragment of its former glory, this scenic ruin is a must-see. You can see why Clan Macleod decided to build it here.

Bone Caves We nearly didn’t visit here because all of the instructions online seemed a bit vague, saying things like its difficult to park, and look out for said boulder and if you miss it you’ve gone wrong. It also wasn’t on Alltrails, and obviously neither of us can read a map 🤣 But… we love a challenge, so why not! Luckily, the car park is very clearly signposted and big enough for loads of cars. The paths up to the caves are also really obvious, so we’re really glad we decided to do this hike. We headed up the limestone valley to visit the caves, to the loud grunting noises of rutting deer nearby. They get their name because when they were excavated, they were found to contain the remains of species such as lynx, reindeer, and polar bear, which once roamed the area. Pretty cool! You need to be ok with heights with this walk, because around the caves, the paths are very narrow, but I really enjoyed this one. Until the very end.. when the heavens opened and it absolutely poured with rain, and unfortunately we were just too late for the coffee van at the side of the parking area.

There was some lovely P stops on our way to our home this evening. It’s so difficult not to pull over into every single one! We popped into Ullapool to check out the pub scene, as Newcastle took on PSG. Unfortunately there was only one pub showing football.. and that was showing the wrong game.. so because Mark was too scared to ask a Scottish barman to change from Celtic to Newcastle, he grabbed some beers, and we got ourselves settled in Ruby, ready for a night of top quality football. I dread to think what the others on the site must have thought with all the shouting and jumping up and down, thanks to their 4-1 victory!

JOG to Durness 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

gingertravellerblogLeave a comment

We woke up to a glorious morning, and decided to have breakfast at one of the cafés in JOG. Most were actually closed 🤦🏼‍♀ but that seems to be the case on Monday’s when the season is beginning to wind down. Mark enjoyed a fry-up, complete with tattie scones and haggis!

Dunnet head Our first stop today was another lighthouse. But not any old lighthouse! It’s the lighthouse at the most northerly point of mainland Britain. A lighthouse fact – it has a range of 23 miles and flashes white 4 times every 30 seconds. In previous times it was run by a series of lighthouse keepers, whose job after dusk was to keep watch in the lightroom and ensure that the light flashed correctly and to character. How many times can you say lighthouse in one paragraph… It’s also an RSPB site as it’s home to many seabirds. But again.. we had another very poor seabird show. Another exciting thing about Dunnet head is it has a trig point. So that’s another one bagged in our trig bagging quest. We were really lucky with the weather, and because it was so clear, we could easily see the Orkney Islands.

Whilst doing my research I’d found a bright pink cake cupboard which is situated on the side of the road at Bettyhill. Everyone raved about it, saying it was the best cakes and treats they’ve ever eaten. Today however.. it was closed.. obvs. A bit further up the road we found a cute little cafe and treated ourselves to a haggis sausage roll. We found a scenic P along the route and stopped to make a coffee and to enjoy the sausage roll with the views.

Coldbackie beach A lot of the places we have marked on our map are a bit of a faf to find.. and this was no different. Once we found somewhere to park Ruby, we then had to find out how to actually climb down to the beach. We eventually found a gap in fence and headed down the hillside to the hidden shores below. Golden sands and clear blue water, with little signs of life.. it was absolute heaven. We had the whole beach to ourselves. If we didn’t need to reach our next campsite by a certain time then we would definitely have stayed there a lot longer. It was just so peaceful! And the photos really don’t do it justice.

Castle Varrich Because we missed out on Castle Sinclair, we really wanted to make sure we got to a ruin. Castle Varrich is perfect because it has a superb prominent position overlooking the Kyle of Tongue. We parked up in Tongue in the small parking area outside a hotel, and began the climb up to the castle. It’s such a beautiful walk, with views over the dramatic rocky peaks of Ben Loyal. After zig zagging our way through the trees, and a final ascent we made it to the castle ruins. The views were incredible, and you are now able to climb a metal staircase to the top for an even better lookout. The precise origins and age are unknown, but it is thought to be associated with the Bishops of Caithness, the Mackay clan or the Norse.

The rest of our day was taken up driving, but with each turn came something more breathtaking. There are so many places to pull over and take in the views and get some incredible photos. It is a game of dodge the sheep however! We arrived at our campsite for the night – Sango Sands Oasis. We were really keen to stay here because we had heard good things. And they were right! It’s situated on a cliff top with views over the award winning beach below. We had originally parked Ruby on the edge overlooking the sea, however it was on a bit of a slope and the wind was getting up, so me being a massive wuss, we moved further back so we didn’t roll off during the night. The rain then came and decided to stay for the rest of the night, which meant cooking in the van. I made a bloody good chicken curry which enjoyed with a glass of wine. We also decided that sleeping in the pop roof probably wasn’t a good idea due to the weather, so spent our first night on the ground level bed, which was actually very comfortable!

NC500… The Road to John o’ Groats 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

gingertravellerblogLeave a comment

Before we get started.. this Scotland series is in memory of two very special people who we sadly lost this year. First is to my wonderful Grandad, who spent many happy years in Scotland. Second is our dear friend Jayne, who also had a love for travel, and a love for these blogs 🕊

After months of research and multiple post-its on our map, it was time for the long drive to Scotland to collect our campervan. Because of the distance (and due to Mark finishing nights on the Friday morning) we chose to break the journey up by staying in Stirling (because this was far cheaper than Glasgow or Edinburgh!) Obviously the M6 had other ideas, and after only 2 stops, one of which obviously including Tebay, and 8hrs later, we eventually arrived in Stirling. As a treat before 10 days of potential terrible sleep, I booked a posh room at the Premier Inn. Unfortunately, due to my terribly English accent, he couldn’t understand what I’d said my surname was, and told me they didn’t have my booking. The hotel was also full due to a wedding and a run happening in the city that weekend. This was not the news we needed after such a long drive. I gave him my booking ref, and after a few minutes said ohhh Hannah WOOD. I asked him what he thought I’d said, but he didn’t want to say 🤷🏼‍♀️

After a lovely sleep in the posh room, we decided to have a little walk around Stirling and then head to Culloden battlefield. In hindsight, we should have booked a guided tour, as to us we were essentially walking around a massive field with a few flags, with no idea what we were looking at! We headed to Tesco to get some shopping before getting the van, but unfortunately picked the enormous Tesco Extra which is next to a retail park; and that meant not being able to find anything because the Tesco was so big, and then getting stuck in traffic on the way back onto the main road. We then got stuck in more traffic heading over the bridge, which meant we had a phone call from the campervan hire, essentially asking where we were. Luckily, at this point, we were only a few minutes away, but she informed us we had got stuck in the two main traffic jam areas in Inverness. After a very long (but much needed) lesson on everything our camper Ruby does, it was time to be on our way. Unfortunately we were booked into a campsite that required you to be there at 6pm, and due to the time it meant we had to just go straight there, rather than do one of the waterfall walks we had planned.

We arrived at Dornoch campsite and parked up, ready for our first night. We walked to the beach where we got some food from The Highland Larder – a seafood focused food van. We both had the haddock wrap with tartar sauce and a side of truffle fries. They were absolutely delicious. After a walk along the beach, it was back to the van to set everything up ready to sleep. We decided to go in the pop roof as the wind was at a minimum, and after a bit of faffing about, we managed to get everything sorted ready for our first night sleep.

We woke up to a glorious morning, so were able to have our porridge pots and OJ Al fresco. We battled with the pop roof, packed Ruby up and got ourselves ready for our first full day of adventure. During our research, a popular recommendation was Cocoa Mountain – which apparently does the world’s best hot chocolate. To be fair.. they were right. It was delicious and not too sickly.

Big Burn Our first stop was Big Burn (or for the football fans out there, Big Dan Burn as Mark calls it) a lovely short woodland walk, up a gorge criss-crossed by footbridges and ending in a waterfall. It was so peaceful and we only saw two other couples.

Dunrobin Castle A romantic castle and the ancestral home of the Earls and Dukes of Sutherland, and often called the Jewel in the crown of the Highlands. It has 189 rooms that you can walk around a good chunk of, which are accompanied by good quality information boards (saving the awkward and super long chats with the sometimes slightly over enthusiastic room volunteers). There is also the beautiful grounds to explore, and a falconry display twice a day. It’s £14 per adult to get in here.. such a shame it doesn’t belong to NT!

Whaligoe Steps After a quick stop at a scenic P for a coffee and a pastry, we arrived at the tiniest car park for the walk down the 365 Whaligoe steps. Whaligoe Haven is surrounded on three sides by 250ft cliffs and forms one of the most remarkable harbours in Scotland. There is also a ruin of a building once used to store salt for curing fish. Unfortunately after the decent, comes the ascent.. and it really is one to get the heart pumping. But as long as you can get a space, we 100% recommend coming here.

Castle Sinclair Considered to be one of the earliest seats of Clan Sinclair and comprises of the ruins of two castles: the 15th-century Castle Girnigoe; and the early 17th-century Castle Sinclair. Unfortunately the one and only road to this Castle is closed until 10th Oct.. we could have walked from the closest town, but this was just over 2hr round walk, and we just didn’t have enough time to do this ☹ which is a massive shame!

Duncansby Stacks Sat just off the northeast corner of mainland Britain lies the natural wonder of the Duncansby Stacks, as well as the lighthouse guarding the perilous shores. The first is a rocky arch, the second a group of large jagged sea stacks. This area is often missed for the much more touristy JOG, but this is technically the ‘real’ northeastern tip of the British Mainland and the furthest point to Land’s End in Cornwall by a mile or two. There is usually a wealth of seabird activity here, including puffins. We however didnt even see a single gull. There is also a lighthouse built in 1924, and it became fully automated in 1997. With the added bonus of free parking, the stacks and lighthouse shouldn’t be missed.

John o’ Groats We arrived at our 2nd campsite still with enough light to explore what JOG has to offer, included getting the all important photo by the sign. As I was walking towards something else super touristy, I nearly went arse over tit because someone had left their fishing rod buried in the grass. Safe to say he wasn’t happy about it.. but neither was I! As the weather was still relatively warm we decided to have a BBQ, and then pop to JOG brewery for a fantastic finish to the day.