Right....it's that time of year again. Van is nearly ready after a service etc and the campsites are organised. We're heading off soon for 2 weeks away. This year we're sticking to the mainland rather than venturing onto the islands. We're also visiting less sites and spending more time at each one to properly explore the surrounding areas. First stop is Loch Ness....
If you see Nessie, pop a few pics up..in fact pop a few up anyway as we'd love to visit Loch Ness and the surrounding area Have a good un fella
Great stuff, enjoy yourselves and keep us all up to date with photo's if possible . Not got any plans myself this year, but still time to plan something I guess.
Here; https://www.coolcamping.co.uk/camps...ness-shores-camping-and-caravanning-club-site It's a 'camping and caravanning' site so much bigger and more regimented than we're used to. It only opened last season. Friends went last year and said how nice it was. Should be a good base to explore the Loch
A wet drive up the A9 past bedraggled looking T in the Park folk looking worse for wear. Met by sunshine at Inverness and a drive along the South shore to the site. Site is very nice indeed. We've been up to the water fall at Foyers this morning which is a lovely walk. Plenty of Bay action here! A tidy Orange converted panel van (oddly with the family sleeping in a wooden wigwam thing.) Lovely looking prototype bay (very low on BRM's). We're not lowered but fully laden we clanged off the bump stops a few times on the road here. He must need new fillings! Red hire company bay...looks ok. There's also your usual T25's, T4's and T5's. I've got photos of the site which I'll stick up later.
Right....the journey from Loch Ness to Durness was a lovely one. Fantastic single track roads with passing places and amazing scenery. Picked up supplies as we drove through Inverness (which itself is very worth a visit). There is a Tesco and a huge Asda as you pass through. It's 120 miles from campsite to campsite and it took us 5 hours This is with a few relaxed breaks and a spot of lunch. Arrived at Durness and were met by a lovely lady who directed us to a pitch right on the edge of the beach with stunning views. Alas, the ground was too hard to pitch the awning (We were staying for 4 nights). We has a wander round and found a lovely spot higher up on the grass. The site is massive! This is the view we had from the van.... I was well happy with this and we started with the awning...it's was pretty blustery but the trusty Khyam was erected...for now. After retiring to bed the real wind started. Tents were abandoned, motorhomes shifted to lower ground and our awning snapped three legs and flattened itself to the ground In the morning while the wind blew and the rain lashed down we tried damage limitation and shifted the van and rescued what was left of the awning. It was pretty wild!! We had to shut our westfalia roof overnight for obvious reasons. It kept popping the hold downs and lifting itself up! In the end I had to hold it shut by tie-wrapping the mechanisms! I even had to ratchet strap the front screen cover on Anyhow....it's been nice today and the site and surrounding area are lovely. Beaches are stunning, Smoo caves are cool and the hot chocolate at the nearby craft village is lovely. Spar shop is 2 minutes away and has loads of stuff. There was a crossover here when we first arrived and today we've been joined by a late Devon with less than 100,000 on the clock which the owner bought from his dad who's had it from nearly new Anyway...off the Clachtoll tomorrow where our replacement awning joints are waiting for us. You'll notice it's been too windy for the tarp so it's cunningly attached to the rear.
Sat watching the beach at Clachtoll. Lovely site and the owner (Jim) is superb! Weather's miserable but the views are lovely Takes more than a bit of rain and wind to stop us! Superb service from Tent Spares. New joints for the awning were here waiting for us. Only ordered then on Friday Lunchtime and it's a long way from Hinkley! Ace drive over...the roads are fabulous up here. Perfect in the Bay....if you're not in any particular rush!
I'd forgotten about this! I'll finish off the trip later but spoiler alert: the weather didn't improve! @Disco_kegs @75swampy
