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....

Day 6

Date: 06/08/09
Time: 21:30
Miles Travelled Today: 140
Location: Campsite in Applecross
Weather: Again. amazing all day

Today has been the first day that I have felt lonely on this trip. It hasn't helped that I am, once again, very tired thanks to the noisy neighbours not shutting up for a while, Ullapool harbour continuing to be noisy into the night and the rats with wings screaming in the campsite at about 5am. It took a coffee in the morning and another during lunch at The Torridon (best pub in Scotland 08-09 and I can see why) to get me through the day. I don't have a problem with my own company and don't mind being on my own at all, however a combination of the sight of lots of happy couples and families at each campsite I stop at together with the amazing sights that I am witnessing and wanting to share them with someone, has lead to a slight feeling on loneliness. It doesn't help that I am not one of those people who can randomly strike up conversations with people I don't know. I am rubbish at parties, I am not the man charming everyone, I am the one in the corner watching that man. In the end it was my decision to do this trip on my own so I have no one else to blame. Still, it would be nice to have someone to say 'look at that' and 'look at THAT' to on occasion.

I would have had plenty of opportunities to do that again today and Scotland continued to bombard me with beauty. Every turn in the road brings more sights to behold, this country is stuffed full of delights and, even with the amount I am travelling, I am only really scratching the surface. Talking about the travelling, today took me over the 1000 mile mark which is a lot in 6 days. It is not easy driving either (ignoring the first couple of days), this is full on, total concentration driving with a high proportion of single track roads, loose sheep, slow campervans, etc., not helped by constant distractions through every window. Looking back, I have made a mistake with my choice of transport. If you get nothing else from reading this blog, take the following two things:

1) Come to Scotland, I expect any part is lovely but the North coast is spectacular and the West coast is shaping up to be more of the same. Ignore the nay-sayers with their talk of rain and midges and the like; if you like scenary, mountains, lochs, coastline, beaches then you should be heading here immediately. Obviously if you like 30 deg C heat and a swimming pool by your villa, this perhaps isn't the place

2) Either bring a campervan with at least a toilet so you can take advantage of the opportunities to wild camp (turns out to be not so easy in a tent although it could just be me being a girl) or, if you like driving, bring a decent car (oh, how I long for my Lotus Elise) so you can enjoy the roads which, surprise surprise, are amazing. I have done neither, although faithful and dependable, my Almera is not an entertaining drive and I long for something that would extract the maximum out of the roads

There you go, you knew there was a reason you were reading this.

Due to the tiredness and the concentration required for the driving, I have decided to stay in Applecross tomorrow too and do some walking. It is a rather lovely little village on the coast with a beach, a few houses, a pub, a community hall, a campsite (which is cheap but, with only four showers, could result in queues) and not much else. Apart from the views of course which, true to form, are to die for. So, no driving at all tomorrow to give my brain and my car a rest and then probably onto Sky on Saturday. Unless I decide to stay here longer, who knows. The only thing it doesn't seem to have is WiFi so, by the time you read this, I will probably have left anyway. It feels odd to write a blog but not be able to post it until sometime after writing it but I am enjoying putting down what has happened during the day so as to aid my crappy memory when I get back home, if nothing else

Day 5

Date: 05/08/09
Time: 22:20
Miles Travelled Today: 88
Location: Campsite in Ullapool
Weather: Again. amazing all day but now raining

I have fallen completely in love with Scotland and am looking meaningfully at any houses that I pass that are for sale. I have run out of words to describe what I am seeing, I guess you are sick of seeing the words amazing, beautiful, etc. come up again and again but they are all I have.

After a much better nights sleep, I set off again this morning to be greeted by more lochs, more mountains, more moorland, more coastline, more more more. It is unstoppable, this wave of visual delights, unceasing, unrelenting. Another lovely beach was my venue for lunch followed by a short trek to a waterfall where I pretended I knew what I was doing with my camera and got all arty; I haven't looked at the resulting photos yet although I already know I have to learnt more about what to do with light, I keep getting overexposed photos. A longer trek to the 'Old Man of Hoy' was enjoyable but did result in a bit of a burnt neck. After more driving, I arrived at Ullapool where I had been advised a nice campsite was to be found. I must have missed the signs as I drove straight through and beyond, still searching. Eventually I turned around and managed to find it the second time. The campsite is ok, nothing special which is what I could say for Ullapool itself. On the plus side, I did manage to find a pub with free WiFi and so was able to upload a couple of posts plus the photos from the last few days. On the downside I am near to the noisy family from hell, it is now 10.30 and they are still loudly talking about crap and seem pretty drunk. This is the first problem I have had with other people on a campsite so far so I guess I should be thankful. Hopefully they will all pass out in a little while and STFU. I will let you know tomorrow...

Day 4

Date: 04/08/09
Time: 22:00
Miles Travelled Today: 65
Location: Campsite in Scourie
Weather: Amazing during the day before raining towards the end

Another night with little sleep left my very tired today. The scenary and the beauty, however, was unrelenting, just as I got over one view I would turn a corner and be presented with another. This included one of the most perfect beaches I have ever come across. It was in Talin and required a few hundred metre walk from the road. As you hopefully can see from the pictures, it was a sweep of sand framed by cliffs with crystal blue water (still unbelievably cold) and, best of all, only two other people on it. It was truely amazing. After a coffee and a sandwich at a lovely little restuarant in Tarbet, I continued on. However, I was still very tired and as soon as I saw the campsite in Scourie, I decided that I would stop despite it only being about 1.30. I was lucky enough to bag a pitch over looking a lovely bay with a small beach on one side; crystal blue waters again. I crashed out for a while, wiped out from the driving and the lack of sleep. Later on I had a little wander around and visited the local shop to stock up on rolls for the enusing BBQ. The weather had been lovely again all day but as the evening drew in, ominous looking rain clouds started appearing. I had just enough time to cook my burgers before having to dive into the tent to eat them as the rain fell. The shower didn't last very long however it was to be the pattern for the rest of the evening.

A highlight of the day was watching two seperate seals play in the bay; popping up, having a little look and swim around before disappearing down again; it was a privileged moment to experience. I tried to get a couple of photos but the light was rapidly disappearing and they didn't come out; I did get a couple of the sunset however.

I am experimenting with a new bed setup tonight: fake-thermarest with duvet and then sleeping bag on top, I am hoping that this will enable me to sleep better....