The What and The Why
I work in the education sector (specifically Conductive Education but I am not going into that here) and therefore get summer holidays. This summer I decided to explore part of the UK that I have only really had a little taste of: Scotland or, more specifically, the coast line of Scotland. I spent a week in Ardnamurchan a few years ago and thought it was beautiful and wanted to explore more. I grew up by the sea in North Wales and went to Uni the first time on the West coast of Wales so have a natural affinity for the sea and coasts. I gave myself the month of August to do this trip which, after some um'ing and ah'ing, I decided to do by car and camp most of the time (a mixture of wild camping and campsites) and then B&B's if camping got a bit much! It was this or getting a campervan but the additional stress and cost of this put me off in the end - we will see if I regret this.
I originally wanted to do the whole coastline of Scotland but, after discovering that it was about a 2000 mile round trip, I decided to concentrate on the North and West coasts. This was becuase, although 2000 miles is doable in a month, the whole point of the trip was to find beautiful beaches and spend 1 or more days there with no stress before moving on. Trying to do 2000 miles would mean a constant urge to move on, not what I wanted. I also arranged to meet some ex-uni friends in the North-West of England around the 19th of August for a couple of days which cut down my time somewhat. I may go across to the East coast after this, not sure yet.
The Route
So, what is the route? Well, there really isn't one beyond the first couple of days. Basically, I will try to get to John o'Groats in two days with a stop near the very top of Loch Lomond at the end of the first day. From John o'Groats, I will head East and then South, hugging the coast and looking out for beaches, cliffs and generally interesting and beautiful places, stopping as required and getting to my meeting place in North-West England on the 19th of August.
The Weather
When I had this plan, it was when we were being promised a high likelyhood of a 'BBQ summer'. As of a couple of days ago, the Met Office have admitted that, really, that have no bloody clue when it comes to long term forcasting; indeed they can barely do more than a couple of days as far as I can tell. So, it looks like I am in for a lot of rain - not that I didn't expect a fair amount as it was Scotland I was going to in the end. However, some sunny days would be nice!
D-Day minus 2
So, here we are, 30th of July with about 36 hours before I go. I am mostly prepared, although not packed, that fun comes tomorrow. The list of equipment I have so far, some of which I already had and some of which is newly purchased, is as follows:
The Blog
So, why do a blog? It serves two purposes really apart from being the 'cool' thing to do nowadays (if you know me, you will know how 'cool' I am). The first is to keep those who are interested, most probably my close family and perhaps a few friends, updated with where I am and what I am doing. The other is as a diary/reminder for me about what happened, where and on which days. I hope to take lots of good photos, some of which I will try to upload here. I have no idea of the availablity of Wifi/Internet access where I will be so it might be that the blog is updated about twice in the whole trip, but the theory is good ;)
Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow when I attempt to sort out the equipment and pack the car. Could be fun.
I work in the education sector (specifically Conductive Education but I am not going into that here) and therefore get summer holidays. This summer I decided to explore part of the UK that I have only really had a little taste of: Scotland or, more specifically, the coast line of Scotland. I spent a week in Ardnamurchan a few years ago and thought it was beautiful and wanted to explore more. I grew up by the sea in North Wales and went to Uni the first time on the West coast of Wales so have a natural affinity for the sea and coasts. I gave myself the month of August to do this trip which, after some um'ing and ah'ing, I decided to do by car and camp most of the time (a mixture of wild camping and campsites) and then B&B's if camping got a bit much! It was this or getting a campervan but the additional stress and cost of this put me off in the end - we will see if I regret this.
I originally wanted to do the whole coastline of Scotland but, after discovering that it was about a 2000 mile round trip, I decided to concentrate on the North and West coasts. This was becuase, although 2000 miles is doable in a month, the whole point of the trip was to find beautiful beaches and spend 1 or more days there with no stress before moving on. Trying to do 2000 miles would mean a constant urge to move on, not what I wanted. I also arranged to meet some ex-uni friends in the North-West of England around the 19th of August for a couple of days which cut down my time somewhat. I may go across to the East coast after this, not sure yet.
The Route
So, what is the route? Well, there really isn't one beyond the first couple of days. Basically, I will try to get to John o'Groats in two days with a stop near the very top of Loch Lomond at the end of the first day. From John o'Groats, I will head East and then South, hugging the coast and looking out for beaches, cliffs and generally interesting and beautiful places, stopping as required and getting to my meeting place in North-West England on the 19th of August.
The Weather
When I had this plan, it was when we were being promised a high likelyhood of a 'BBQ summer'. As of a couple of days ago, the Met Office have admitted that, really, that have no bloody clue when it comes to long term forcasting; indeed they can barely do more than a couple of days as far as I can tell. So, it looks like I am in for a lot of rain - not that I didn't expect a fair amount as it was Scotland I was going to in the end. However, some sunny days would be nice!
D-Day minus 2
So, here we are, 30th of July with about 36 hours before I go. I am mostly prepared, although not packed, that fun comes tomorrow. The list of equipment I have so far, some of which I already had and some of which is newly purchased, is as follows:
- 1 car (Nissan Almera 1.4 3 door for those who care)
- 1 Sat Nav
- 1 map
- 1 tent (originally I was going to take my standard 2 man tent but now have decided to get a 2 second popup tent to make things easier)
- 1 single air mattress
- 1 battery powered pump
- 2 pillows + 1 duvet
- 1 sleeping bag + sleeping roll (incase I go too far away from the car to be bothered to carry the mattress and duvet)
- 1 car battery powered coolbox which, although small, allegedely is capable of making ice, can you say G&T on the beach ;)
- 2 coolbags and ice packs
- 1 portable BBQ (made up of a 'fire bowl' and a grill with legs, pointless, overpriced but shiny)
- 1 gas burner with 3 gas canisters
- Various camping cooking equipment, plate, bowl, etc.
- 1 Acer Aspire One netbook on which will be various films, TV programmes and MP3 collection with cigarette lighter powerpack and seperate speakers
- 1 Cannon 300D with a standard and a 75-300 lense
- 1 bag of kiting equipment including a Revolution 1.5 SLE (very into my kiting and intend to do a lot of it on beaches)
- Foldable carriable chair
- Clothes including full waterproofs, shorts, swimming stuff, etc. etc.
- Waterproof hiking boots, comfortable casual shoes, sandals
- BBQ brickettes, food, water, torch, etc.
The Blog
So, why do a blog? It serves two purposes really apart from being the 'cool' thing to do nowadays (if you know me, you will know how 'cool' I am). The first is to keep those who are interested, most probably my close family and perhaps a few friends, updated with where I am and what I am doing. The other is as a diary/reminder for me about what happened, where and on which days. I hope to take lots of good photos, some of which I will try to upload here. I have no idea of the availablity of Wifi/Internet access where I will be so it might be that the blog is updated about twice in the whole trip, but the theory is good ;)
Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow when I attempt to sort out the equipment and pack the car. Could be fun.
