Since we have done almost half of the NC500 by accident, we decided we may as well finish it - well most of it, so off we go. Everywhere here we stopped and chatted to someone and mentioned the NC500 they asked which way are you going? Their answer ( as we are going anticlockwise) was always “Oh you have the best to come”. We’ll see! When we lived in London I always thought east is best, so it will be interesting to see if in fact the west coast is best.
Having been on a site in Orkney, we were happy to look for free park ups again, heading across the top of Scotland, it certainly was beautiful, stunning in fact. As we travelled along I was chatting to my friend Jane about her childhood holidays visiting family and we found ourselves passing Dounray Power station, just after Jane mentioned she visited as a child… I adore Jane’s mum and dad, they are very much part of my growing up and we've been travelling roads very familiar to them. So Jan, Tom, Jane, here it is, in all its glory!
Having taken a detour to find a park up we once again found ourselves in a little harbour; Kinlochbervie is set up for motorhomes to stop, with water, electric hook up (for those who need it) and toilets, all for £10 a night.
but the harbour for motorhomes is just across the road, and down a hill past the shop and cafe quiet, and stunning.
We found ourselves parked up with about 10 other vans and soon started chatting. We noticed a really unusual van we had seen on Orkney, so just had to say hello and ended up pulling up our chairs and chatting away as if we’d known each other for years. Our neighbouring ‘van’ were a local(ish) couple, braver than us, they had stuffed a blow up mattress in the back of their van and decided to have a night away. The dog, the garden chairs and a smoker for their fish. Granted the man was a fisherman who used to fish out of here, so is used to much rougher conditions than a warm van and a sunny harbourside, but still. I was impressed by their commitment!
As you can see we have a little beach, and plenty of birdlife - so much so there was no chance of concrete drying before the feathered friends landed. This did make me smile - I just hope they didn’t have heavy feet as they took off!
Lunch the next day was at Loch Dubhaird Mor just at the side of the road, but beautiful as ever.
We had however started to notice as we turned south to head down the west coast the scenery began to change, more rugged, more mountains and the road began to deteriorate. The pot holes were awful, at one point we thought we Agy might sustain an injury! We weren’t going fast as we had lots of single track lanes and passing places, or steep hills that we had to climb slowly, but we were doing fine. While we were at Kinlochbervie one of our other fellow travellers who was going the other way round had mentioned how hard they had found it to find places to stop on the west coast. Apparently there are very few stopovers and most sites are fully booked, so we were a bit anxious. Luckily they mentioned a site off the beaten track they had stayed at, so we headed to Mellon Udrigal beach and managed to bag the last pitch on site.
We’d heard about sea otters and whales visiting this beach, but no luck for us, although it was a beautiful white sandy beach - although very windy!
To be honest the next day we were a bit fed up with the west coast. The roads were in an appalling condition, in fact for bikers they were positively life threatening. We slowly rattled and bumped along, Ian doing his best to avoid the holes and bits where the road had completely worn away. The mountains were amazing, but we finally admitted to each other, we didn’t like it. We couldn’t wait for it to finish. The mountains didn’t feel majestic to us, they felt dark and oppressive. It was a slog, a real slog. We just kept going because we wanted it to be over. I can see what people loved about it, but we didn’t, for us, east is definitely best.
In fact we decided to keep going until we got to Skye, we needed to be out of the mountains and see the sea again. As we left the NC500 route ( which heads back to Inverness) we took a slight detour to see Eileen Donan Castle - you know the one the BBC had pictures of for a long time.
As soon as we were down from the mountains we began to feel better, the sky was brighter, the land rolling, wildlife returned and we saw colours again, we also saw the Skye bridge - so over we went.
Skye is beautiful, stunning in fact, our campsite - Camping Skye was brilliant, just what we needed.
Clean and close to the village of Broadford where we decided to go out for dinner. Having checked at the local shop the hotels are the place to go, so we headed to the Dunollie hotel. It was the perfect antidote to the oppression of the last few days. A lochside view from our table and yummy food, including Haggis (this was my starter!) and delicious it was too.
I’m fairly sure we would have stayed longer on Skye if it hadn't been for the midges - oh the midges, they were - according to Smidge watch, the website for midge updates/levels, few in number. I’m sorry, if this is few, I hate to think what ‘many’ is! They come in through the fly screen, and they eat me alive! I am covered in bites, itchy, blistery, nasty lumps. The fly catcher was out, but the sharp fanged critters still got me. I swear I am extra tasty and they share the news with all their mates. Ian has one bite. Clearly not as yummy as me! And so we left, promising to return, out of midge season.
To avoid the midges we either needed to go south or east, so we decided to head south.
Ian is really tired having done about 1000 miles driving, and although amazing, moving almost every day, searching out places to stop, to empty the loo or fill up with water is tiring ( I know, I absolutely know it isn’t the same as slogging away at work) but we decided we wanted to stop in one place, on a site with showers and a restaurant, where we can stay for a few days and rest, BBQ, sit out and read, not have to drive, or get up and move on first thing. Having found most places fully booked despite half term being over, Ian had a brainwave. We found somewhere that works route wise and had space for 4 nights, so we set off south back into England, passing Ben Nevis on the way,
with a very quick overnight stop here, the Kelpies to break the journey.
I’ve wanted to see the Kelpies and we have both wanted to visit the Falkirk wheel for a while, and since they were practically on route, with parking at the Kelpies for a small fee, it made sense. They are stunning by day and night. The midnight visit was well worth it, so we could see them lit up. The Kalkirk wheel the next morning was less impressive to be honest…
And so ends this Scotland adventure, We’re sorry if we didn’t get to visit you when we said we would try, we never really know where we will end up, or what will drive the next stop, so we are a bit hit and miss, but we will be back - we already know some of what we would like to do, so hopefully next time! The joy of van life is not knowing where you will go next and how long you will stay. It’s wonderful - and also very strange for people who like to plan and research everything!
No comments:
Post a Comment