Day 13

Date: 13/08/09
Time: 21:00
Miles Travelled Today: 72
Location: Machrihanish Campsite
Weather: Mostly cloudy but dry all day

After a beer, a nice dinner, too long spent on the internet chatting to friends and then a good sleep, I woke up this morning ready to get going again. It was great to stay at the B&B and I certainly enjoyed my shower again this morning; it was also good to be able to charge up my camera batteries since I was about half way through my and last second one. After a good breakfast, I packed up and made my way back to Ardrishaig where the owner of the B&B had told me I could find a laundrette. After a little look around, I located it and then spent the next couple of hours washing all of, and then drying most of, my clothes; hopefully this should be the last time before going home.

After looking at timetables, ferry prices (how much to take a car across!) and the weather for Friday and Saturday, I decided to give Islay a miss this time and put it on the list of things to see when I come back. There is a 4 mile walk from the port to the campsite and although today was promised to be at least dry, the next couple of days are supposed to be horrible – I didn't fancy the walk back. So, it was off towards Campbelltown, the coastline was again superb; Scotland just doesn't let up. I stopped at a beach near Kilkenzie, a lovely sweep of sand and enough waves to attract surfers. There were quite a lot of people on the beach, mostly families and, as I sat and watched the surfers, a little girl of no more than 4, came and sat beside me. She was very pretty, red haired and fearless in the way that small children can be. She told me about her dad who was surfing, her brother who was nearby and her mum who was back up the beach, probably wondering who this strange man was who was talking to her daughter, such are the times we live in. Indeed, dad eventually appeared from the surf and had a brief chat with me, very friendly but probably getting a feel for whether I was likely to run off with his daughter. She went back and forward as she played and then came to chat to me again. In the end I actually got quite upset as she reminded me of the two children that I had come to know and love and then loose over the last year; I said goodbye and left before I lost it completely. She gave me a feather which will hopefully stay with me for the rest of the trip. Campbelltown itself was another disappointment, what is it with Scotland and horrible towns? I assume there are some nice places but, apart from Applecross, I have yet to see them, they seem to be uniformly grey and dull. After a quick stop for some fresh food, I made my way out to Machrihanish which is the other end of the beach I had been at earlier. After some time on the beach having a very late lunch and reading, I noticed clouds coming in and, fearing rain, I went back to the campsite I had noticed earlier which was only five minutes away. It is very nice and cheap with all the facilities required (including a cheaper laundrette gah!) and the sound of the sea in the distance. I set about drying the clothes that are not supposed to go in a dryer and organising the back of the car which, after 13 days on the road, had got a little mixed up.

A good day with warm, if a little cloudy, weather and a couple of lovely beaches. I can only hope that the impending weather doesn't arrive tomorrow but we will see. More driving is intended tomorrow, heading back up along a little B road on the other side of this 'spit' of land (see a map for what I mean), I have no idea how far I will get.

Day 12

Date: 12/08/09
Time: 19:30
Miles Travelled Today: 137
Location: Struan House B&B in Tarbert
Weather: Sunny with clouds

16:45
How difficult can it be to get a bed for the night in Scotland? It turns out to be very stupidly difficult if you are in Fort William or Oban. There isn't a single room to be found, its utterly insane. For gods sake, I could be home in 5 hours and sleep in my own bed, something I am very tempted to do right now.
Some birthday this is turning out to be.

19:30
Well, that was fun. It seems that everyone in Scotland is staying on a B&B! After failing to find anything in both Fort William and Oban, I drove and drove heading towards Cambeltown, continously searching for B&Bs (or even campsites!). Eventually, I came to Tarbert and had a little drive around and found this B&B. It is a bit more expensive than I wanted but at that point I didn't care. It turned out to be lovely with internet access and an amazing shower, the Niagra falls of the shower world. It was fantastic to have a shower that lasted longer than 5 minutes, was more than a dribble and that was lovely and clean. A beer in a local pub and then a meal out will be followed by an internet fix and then, hopefully, a nice sleep.

Fort William itself was unimpressive and Oban was not much better. Beautiful scenary (there is a surprise) on the route down towards Tarbert but I was too hacked off to stop and take pictures so no photos on this post. Hopefully tomorrow will be an easier day.

Day 11

Date: 11/08/09
Time: 20:30
Miles Travelled Today:
Location: Silversands campsite near Mallaig
Weather: Rainy all day but has stopped now

What a difference a few hours makes. I went to bed with a classic sunset with clear skies and woke to rain and dark grey clouds which basically stayed until about 5pm. I had decided to stay more or less in the area today before moving on tomorrow. After exploring Mallaig, which took about 10 minutes - it is basically a port with a few B&Bs, a couple of seafood restaurants and a tourist information place – I decided to head down towards Strontium as I had spotted a couple of potential beaches. To cut a long story short, the drive was lovely again but the beaches themselves where disappointing, not helped by the continuous rain. After a delicious mini mushroom quiche from a random little bakery, I headed back towards Mallaig and had a look at Morar and Morar loch which was, again, beautiful. By this time I was knackered and headed back to the tent. The rain had finally stopped and so I was able to take a walk along the beach. It is truely lovely here and I just wish the sun had stayed.

The plan for tomorrow is to head back to Fort William. It is my birthday and I intend to treat myself to a real bed, cooked breakfast and, possibly, a bath. I am also going to go out for dinner and so would like to find a B&B near a restaurant so I can walk there and back. The Scottish tourist industry seems to be doing fine as almost all the B&Bs I pass are full. So, in order to find as many as possible in one place and near restaurants, I have decided to go to the nearest biggest place which is Fort William. I also hope to find somewhere, anywhere (!) with WiFi so I can upload the last few days worth of entries and photos. Here's hoping!

Day 10

Date: 10/08/09
Time: 20:00
Miles Travelled Today: 142
Location: Silversands campsite near Mallaig
Weather: Sunny with clouds

After another indifferent nights sleep, I got up to find a vaguely grey day but with what looked like potential weather-wise. After a quick wash, I put the camping stuff back in the car and had breakfast. The plan was to go on a 3 hour boat trip from 11am but, after looking at the map, I figured that I still had a long way to travel and if I really wanted to go to places like Islay, I had better move on. I took the ferry from Glenelg as advised by the nice man yesterday and it proved great advice with a lovely drive, some time spent at an otter hide where I didn't see any otters but did see about 15 seals, a trip across the river in the last ferry of its type still running, another drive through spectacular scenery to a hill so steep that, after stopping to let someone go past in the opposite direction, I smelt something burning and found that my brakes were smoking. This seemed to be a good point to have lunch! After eating and letting the car cool down, it was onwards to Neptunes Staircase, an impressive bit of engineering that enables boats on the canal to rise 60 odd feet through a sequence of locks. Unfortunately, no boats were transversing it at the time but it was still impressive. Onwards afterwards to Mallaig along a road I had been promised was not to be missed and indeed, it was good although slightly spoilt by people who though the speed limit was 40 all the way. After a stop a Rhu to take in the scenary, I went along the coast road towards Mallaig and was rewarded by sandy beaches and spectacular coastline. It was getting on a bit so I stopped at a campsite (5 quid but a quid to take a shower! A quid! Bloody rip-off! And there is only one blokes shower!) right on the coast; I am currently writing this looking out over the sea after witnessing an amazing sunset of which I may have taken a couple of photos ;) This was after taking my BBQ kit and food to the rocks and having dinner surrounded by the sea watching the sun go down – heaven. The weather has gone back into hot and sunny mode and I hope this continues; frankly if it does I may not move from this bit of Scotland until it is time to meet up with my friends, it is that good.

Hopefully at some point I will find somewhere with WiFi to upload the last few days entries and photos. No real plan for tomorrow, head towards Mallaig and see what happens.

Day 9

Date: 09/08/09

Time: 20:00

Miles Travelled Today: 79

Location: Wild camping in Elgol

Weather: Cloudy with intermittent rain, raining right now

Yes, you read that correctly, I am wild camping! Well, if you define wild camping as not camping at a camp site then that is what I am doing. If you mean camping without facilities, then perhaps not....

As decided yesterday, I drove to Elgol today intending to camp nearby and get a boat trip tomorrow. When I got here, via a little cafe in the middle of nowhere and some very nice homemade carrot and coriander soup, I discovered that it is tiny and there are no campsites. As I was pondering what to do, I noticed a couple of tents on a level patch of grass and got thinking. After a conversation with a very nice guy who happened to own one of the tents, I decided to camp there that evening. The reason I am hesitant to call it 'full' wild camping is because there is a public toilet (with hot water!) nearby so am not completely without modern day conveniences. Still, it means no shower tomorrow; mmm that will be nice for everyone and will remind me of festivals. After being advised that the camp area was quite still and so heavy with midges, together with the fact that, after being ok most of the day, it started raining at about 5pm, I cooked and ate dinner by the car which is parked just above the area. I am now in my tent with the rain still pitter-patter'ing down, this is the weather I had been told to expect!

Skye continued to be beautiful if stark and, with the rain easing up during the day, a little less depressing. I am leaving Skye tomorrow, the original plan was to go back over the bridge but the friendly man told me another way involving a short ferry ride and then a lovely drive through a mountain pass that I might try...

Day 8

Date: 08/08/09

Time: 21:00

Miles Travelled Today: 151

Location: Campsite near Dunvegan

Weather: Rain :(

Today was my first day in Skye and my first day of rain. Yes, the rain has finally arrived and with a vengeance, it only let up for short intervals all day. Skye is beautiful but somehow depressing, although that might be the rain. It is full of stark mountains, empty heathland and un-inspiring villages/towns. The scenary in general is still very impressive however. I did a fair amount of driving with some walking inbetween including a walk to a 'coral beach' which didn't seem to have any coral on it; I am guessing the tide was in and covering the coral – the beach, although small, was very nice and the water amazingly clear; a feature I am finding all the way through the trip.

During my travels I came across a big Co-op and so was able to stock up on some provisions which was welcome. After quite a lot of driving, I ended up in Dunvegan and found a campsite which turned out to be cheap but has everything that I need. All of the campsites so far have been fine; what has made me laugh a little is the variety in the rules and regulations in force. For instance, todays compsite is refreshingly free of notices and rules; indeed the little tag that you put on your tent has a section called 'Rules and regulations' on which it says 'Have a lovely time'. Some of the other campsites have had great boards full of things you may, or more usually may not, do. I almost expected men with clipboards to be patrolling the site checking up on everyone! However, generally everyone has been friendly enough and, to be fair, all the rules have been pretty much common sense.

I found a leaflet when I was in Applecross about a boat trip that operates out of Elgol but not on Sundays so my intention is to get there tomorrow, find a campsite and then go on a boat trip on Monday. That should keep down the number of miles I have to travel tomorrow which will be good.

Day 7

Date: 07/08/09
Time: 21:50
Miles Travelled Today: 0!
Location: Campsite in Applecross
Weather: Again. amazing all day

What a lovely relaxing day, just what the brain ordered. I have done exactly no miles in the car today which was sooo nice. I have done some walking, washed my clothes, done a lot of sunbathing and not a lot else. I have also discovered that this campsite actually does have WiFi and so I am finally able to upload the photos from the last few days. Today I took a lot of photos of the sunset for which I am unapologetic, it was very beautiful and I hope I captured some of that. I also got eaten alive my midges for the first time – there have been a few over the last few days and I have been bitten but outside the pub was insane particularly as the sun went down. The joys of the West coast of Scotland ;)

Not a lot else to say really, it has been a very lazy day which was very much required. I am a big people watcher (that is I am big into watching people, not just watching big people) and it was interesting to watch the campsite empty and then fill again as existing campers left and new ones arrived. I walked over to the 'local producers market' at the village hall which I hoped would be full of jams and chutneys and the like but had one cake/bread stall and the rest were stuff like friendship bracelets, paintings, cards, drying up cloths, etc., a bit disappointing; I bought some home made, over priced but very nice cheese and tomato bread anyway and resisted the over priced, very fattening but lovely brownies. I managed to miss the queues for the showers by being lazy and not going until about 10am, good plan.

Tomorrow I hit the road again. I will miss this place, I love its laid back and relaxed attitude (apart from in the pub which was utterly manic, apparently it has a reputation for good food and was heaving when I went), its beauty and its charm. I aim to get to Skye tomorrow and we will see what that brings....