Mull of Kintyre

Move day today, and after packing up and hitching the ‘van we realised we had nowhere to go!  We had a quick look in our book and found a caravan site at Lochgilphead at the top of the Mull of Kintyre, so that’s where we headed.  Today was the first day we noticed that Autumn is on the way as this is the first day we’ve seen deciduous trees for a few weeks and they are starting to change colour already. After setting up and a brew we set out to explore our new surroundings.  First we drove through the town and had a glimpse at the shops and pubs available, then we set off for the appropriately named Loch Swee

n.  We turned off onto a little B road and soon discovered the Crinan canal which has some huge locks – one of which had 2 boats going through it at the same time, we quickly pulled over and got out to watch them pass through the lock, overhearing one saying he was on his way to Glasgow.  We carried on down thinner and thinner roads until we reached the very picturesque Loch Sween, with the islands of Islay and Jura as its backdrop, eventually reaching the parking area for Castle Sween.  We got the dogs out and set off down the drive, very surprised to discover that it leads to a holiday park full of static caravans, the ruined castle was on the other side of ‘static land’ and is now owned by Scottish Heritage.  We had a walk around the grounds of the castle and read some of the information boards, built in the 1300’s by the MacSween’s it passed through a number of hands before being abandoned in 1645. On the way back to the car we picked some lovely ripe blackberries which will be going in some gin or vodka!  Continuing down the road, we stopped  at the tiny ruin of Kilmory chapel, again owned by Scottish Heritage. There is a protective roof over the chapel, and you have to use the key chained to the door to get in, once inside there are numerous carved headstones and crosses from the local area which are protected from the elements and have information about their origin.  After a look around we back tracked to where the road rejoined the canal and we drove through a

lovely hamlet called Bellanoch where the canal widens into a marina full of yachts, then we followed it to its end where it joins the sea at the tiny village of Crinan.  There were a number of boats at the small port, waiting to enter or leave the canal, and there was even one in the sea lock, engines running, waiting for someone to come and let him in. There were a few information boards for us to read here too, so we took our time and enjoyed the atmosphere. 

Phil was up early the next day and went out on his bike to the nearby Fire Tower Trail, a 15km trail which is good fun, if a little overgrown in places.  First call after this was the Arduaine gardens, which are now looked after by National Trust for Scotland. We had a wander round the lovely gardens in the sun and met a couple who were on holiday celebrating their 30 wedding anniversary and we chatted about Skye and the Outer Hebrides. The views up Loch Melfort towards the sea were amazing and the garden was lovely and quiet with just a few people around. Lack of visitors is a problem for the Trust though and the reception area is no longer manned and there is one less gardener now as they have to make cut backs, the garden is under threat but hopefully they will be able to keep it open.  Then onto Ardfern village which has a lovely marina and is half way down a peninsula. We carried on down the peninsula which is next to the sound of Jura,

and at the end of the road there was a gate which we went though followed by a couple who asked it was much further, “who knows” says us, “we’re just following the road!”  We all carried on to a small car park at the end. We had our lunch in the car then continued retracing our steps back to Carnasserie castle, which is looked after by Historic Scotland. This was very impressive and it stood on a small hill which you happened on after a short walk. It was a 16^th century build by John Carswell, a bishop. The castle was captured and part of it blown up in 1685. There was quite a lot to look at as there were complete staircases to go up to the 5th floor of the tower, all made safe of course! After the castle we headed back to the historic village of Kilmartin where we had a look at some carved stones in the village church yard and a viewpoint over the glacial plain of Kilmartin Glen.   There are lots of standing stones and cairns here, it reminded us of the Outer Hebrides. Then on to look at the standing stones and burial cairn at Slockavullin, unfortunately we couldn’t have a close look at the stones as no dogs were allowed.

On the way back to the van we stopped at Dunchraigaig which was another Historic Scotland monument free to get in, it was just over the road from a small car park so we had a quick look at the cairn and carried on to the fort at Dunadd. This is a 16th century fort that is perched on a rocky outcrop. We had a walk to the top and a mooch around at the view and then headed back to the car. We called at the pub at Cairnbaan next to the canal and had a couple of drinks sat in the sun next to a lock on the canal before heading home, what a big day out!!

The next day we were off for another big day out on the Mull of Kintyre.  We drove down the main road to Tarbert, a small fishing town, which now has a huge marina in the bay with loads of expensive yachts moored up. We parked up and had a nice walk around the little town and down to the harbour front, then up the hill t

o Tarbert castle. Not much left of the 14^th century castle, but the view of the surrounding area was stunning.  We saw a couple of chaps lugging stuff up the hill and asked what they were doing, they were setting up for a fireworks display for the yacht club, they said it was due at 10pm and we should go and watch!  We headed back down the hill and Linda went into a little coffee shop and bought us both coffees from a man who looked like ‘Doc’ from Back to the Future!  Back on the road, we drove down the west side of Kintyre until we got to Kennacraig where we spotted the ferry from Islay had just landed, so we turned in to watch it go off again!  We couldn’t get down the road due to all the traffic coming off the ferry, but some smart alec behind us thought it was a good idea to squeeze past, but got egg on his face as a big lorry came and they blocked the whole road between them!  We sat at the port and watched the ferry load up and sail off while we had our sarnies.  We carried on down the road with stunning scenery over to Jura and Islay and stopped for a walk on a beach at Bellochantuy.  Not much here but a few houses, a hotel and lots of static caravans next to the beach, some of which were residential and even had extensions built on!  Then we moved on to Campbeltown, the ‘capital’ of Kintyre, surprisingly it was quite a bustling place, and we had a walk around the harbour with a good view of the busy industrial port with a huge boat busy unloading using a crane. We then headed off down the B road to the Mull of Kintyre, the road soon gave way to a narrow track which was very steep in places until finally it ended at a locked gate and a car park.  We got out and went for a walk down to the Mull lighthouse, which looks out over to Ireland 25 miles away, on the way we stopped at a cairn which was there to commemorate the 1994 chinook crash which killed all 29 people on board including 25 intelligence experts from MI5.  Continuing down the very steep track we eventually came to the lighthouse where we spotted someone coming out to their car. We asked if they lived there and they said they were just on holiday and it was a let from the National Trust, when they had gone we had a nosey around the lighthouse and looked in the windows!  The walk back up was very steep and we were amazed that you could get cars up and down it!  We drove back along the narrow road and through Campbeltown and headed back up the East coast.  We stopped at Peninver when Linda shouted “Seals!!”, there was a group of 4 seals sitting on the rocks enjoying the last of the days sun.  We got out and walked down on the rocks, managing to get within a stones throw of the seals without them even flinching, they even

waved their flippers at us!  We continued the long drive up the east coast with fantastic views of Arran in the setting sun.  Eventually getting back to the ‘van just after 8.  Later on Phil went off back to Tarbert to watch the fireworks, which were good, but lasted about 15mins before it was time to head home.

Morvich and Bunree

We stopped on the way to Morvich an the National Trust car park for the Balmacara Estate, chancing that there would be room to park the car plus caravan. Luckily there was, and we set off with the dogs to do the woodland walk and have a look around the gardens. It was nice to have a walk surrounded by trees after the lack of them on Skye and the Hebrides, and when we were in the estate gardens we got chatting to a couple who were there with their dog, a Lab called Teddy. They were staying at the Morvich site and when we arrived there later we were only a few ‘vans down from them, so at least we had friends there already!

The next day we set out for Eilean Donan castle which sits on an island on Loch Duich, we went over the footbridge and had a great time walking round the castle grounds and exploring the inside of the castle. The castle was originally built in the 13^th century but was almost completely destroyed in 1719 by the Spanish. It was lovingly restored in 1932 by the MacRae family, and is now one of the most photographed monuments in Scotland. On the way back we went via a minor road and stopped at a viewpoint with a great view over Loch Duich, when we got out of the car we heard a strange noise on the other side of the road, and it turned out to be a pig oinking so we went over to say hello to the big friendly chap, who just wanted his back scratching (pork scratchings, anyone?!). In the afternoon Phil went out on his bike up to the Glomach Falls, a 7 mile ride with some beautiful scenery over Kintail and Morvich.

The next day we moved to a Caravan Club site just south of Fort William at Bunree after setting up we had a cuppa when Phil realised that he had left his biking waterproof, two pairs of riding shorts and his riding shoes in the drying room at Morvich, 70 miles away, whoops! We rang the site and the warden hoped they would find someone else heading our way to bring them down, fingers crossed.

While we were here we wanted to head to Mallaig. The road follows roughly the path of the Jacobite railway line from Fort William to Mallaig, and the journey has been voted the top railway journey in the world 2009 and 2010 by ‘Wanderlust’. We stopped en route at Glenfinnan where we had a walk to the 21 arched viaduct made famous by the Harry Potter films, it’s an amazing structure, and the only viaduct we’ve seen which goes round a bend! While we were there we spotted loads of ripe blackberries, and set about picking as many as we could in the shadow of the viaduct so that Linda can make some jam later! We also visited the Glenfinnan monument which sits at the head of Loch Sheil, erected in 1815 to mark the location where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the standard at the start of the Jacobite Rising (see our visit to Culloden in August). You are allowed to walk up the narrow spiral staircase to the top of the monument where you get a great view down the Loch at one side and the viaduct at the other. Mallaig is a small fishing village at the end of the A830, with its harbour made busier by the ferry going to and fro from Skye. We had a walk around the port and the village, getting some supplies from the butchers on the way. On the way back we took a detour off the main road to stop at a beautiful white sand beach called Silver Sands at Toigal, we had a walk to the end of the bay and back undisturbed by anyone else. Back on the road Phil spotted a Scotrail train making its way along the track in the same direction as us, and took much delight in pointing it out every time he could see it, much to Linda’s annoyance! Our final stop of the journey was at Neptunes Staircase, a set of 9 huge Locks which take the Caledonian Canal down the hill to sea level and into Loch Linnhe. It takes a boat two and a half days to get from Inverness to this other extreme of the canal, which we didn’t think was bad given it had taken us over a month by road!

We’ve also been for a day out in Glen Coe. Went to the visitor centre and had a look round the exhibition where we learned about the massacre, when in 1692 the governments troops were sent to stay with the MacDonald clan (supporters of the Jacobites), where they enjoyed their hospitality for 14 days before they were ordered to slaughter the lot of them. 38 were killed by the soldiers and at least another 40 men women and children died of exposure as they tried to escape, there is now a memorial in Glencoe village to commemorate the loss of life.

Then we set out in the rain for a walk. We’d heard there was a woodland walk just up the road, but after a mile of trudging up the busy A82 we gave up and went back for the car. The walks were actually about 2 miles up the road, so we moved to that car park and took the dogs for a nice walk in the woods (still in the rain). Back to the ‘van and the lady in reception told us that someone had come from Morvich and brought Phil’s biking gear, so we called round. The friendly chap had plenty of tales of woe for us as he had a bump in his car a few days ago while on holiday and spent 2 days in hospital, we thanked him profusely and shared our own tales of our dented ‘van!

Phil set off with his biking gear for the Nevis Range the next day, a ski area which has a world class downhill and cross country MTB facility. Unfortunately the ski gondola closed to bikes on 15 September, and only the cross country tracks were open. Not to be put off, Phil walked up the new red downhill track to the gondola station at 2,200 feet (which took an hour!). Riding down the world cup downhill course I was told off at one stage by a course repair guy, who said it was closed, but I could carry on anyway if I took care, yippee! Once at the bottom I had a banana before walking all the way back up so that I could ride the new red downhill (phew). It was really good fun and worth another hours hike-a-bike! Then I set out on the 2 cross country routes, the ‘World Champs’ track was better than the ‘10 under the Ben’ but they both had lots of fun bits. After 25 miles and around 4,500ft of climbing I was beat, so headed home to the ‘van.

Linda did a 12.5 mile walk with the dogs, first off was the forest walk over the road at Inchree, quite a steep climb up to a section of General Wades military road and then a loop through the forest , back at the car park again we then did the waterfall walk. Due to the heavy rain the falls were amazing and very noisy. Then off to the ferry at Carron, the next hamlet to Bunree, with a diversion to see what Bunree is like (tiny – about 10 houses!) . The ferry is still free to foot passengers and I got chatting to 2 couples who are on holiday here and just wanted a ride on the ferry across Loch Linnhe and back. Off the other side and did a walk along the loch and then through a forest and past a couple of lochans to Ardgour , which is a lovely quiet little village across the loch from Bunree. Back to the ferry which was again full for the return journey and back to the van, what an epic walk!

We visited Kinlochleven the next day, where Phil set off on an 11 mile bike ride which was classed by MBR as their ‘trail of the year’. The route, called the Ciaran Path, followed the line of the pipeline from Kinlochleven’s hydro electric power station. The pipeline takes water from the Blackwater Dam 1,000 feet further up the mountain, and channels it through a set of turbines to generate lots of lovely ‘leccy. On the way up I passed a graveyard which is deemed the remotest on the Scottish mainland, the few gravestones there represent the final resting place of some of the navvies who worked on the construction of the dam, one of the stones simply reads ‘unknown’. I rode over the huge dam and on the other side entered a peat bog, which I promptly fell in right up to the top of my legs! Then it was the descent back to town, via the Ciaran Path, an awesome rocky descent which really kept you on your toes!

Linda did a 5 mile walk initially following the West Highland way up the opposite hill then turning right and going round the side to the Grey Mares falls, another nice waterfall but not as impressive as those at Inchree yesterday! Very warm with a steep climb at the start to 800 feet and a tricky downhill section of loose scree where the path has been washed away and replaced by loads of rocks and hardcore.

Back at Tonks we had lunch then went into the Ice Factor for coffee and cake, this former smelting works has now been transformed into an amazing climbing facility, with multiple climbing walls and even a huge ice climbing room!

We then went into the visitor centre where we learned about the town’s aluminium smelting history, as well as finding out that the road between Glen Coe and Kinlochleven was built in the 2^nd world war by German prisoners of war. It’s a really twisty road because they had to go round all the mountains because they couldn’t use explosives!

We were due to move the next day but it rained so much and so hard, we just hunkered down and waited it out another day!

Outer Hebrides part two - Uist

The ferry arrived at Bernera and we trundled our way down North Uist to the RSPB reserve at Balranald, as recommended by Dave and Lorna. We parked in the car park by the visitor centre and walked down to the beach, on the way back to the ‘van we saw some young kids (no older than 11 or 12) razzing a Peugeot 205 down the farm tracks! While we were there 2 ladies walked past with their dog, one waved and told us she lived in a cottage just up the hill, she was really friendly and said if there was anything we needed we should go and knock, what a great welcome to Uist!

We moved onto a campsite the next night, just so that we could put stuff on charge, our mobiles, the laptop, GPS etc were all flat, so we needed electric hookup! On the way we had a brief stop at a smokehouse where we had a look at the exhibition and shop, it smelt of fish and smoke though, so we didn’t stop long! The campsite was at Liniclate with a nearby beach, and we quickly put everything possible on charge before giving the ‘van and Tonks a quick wash to get all the saltwater off after the ferry journey.


We found out that there was a dentist down the road so we walked down to see if he could fit Linda in sometime (for her broken tooth) he said he could do it straight away, put a temporary cap on and she was out in about 10 mins, great! Tonks’ Mot had ran out the day before, so we then went to the local garage, and they could fit us in later on! We moved the ‘van a few miles down the road to a wild camping spot next to a beach at Cill Amhlaidh (as recommended by Dave and Lorna), it was a lovely spot on the beach with a view out to sea. We set up and took the dogs on the beach where we met a local man who was collecting in his lobster pots, he said he used to do commercial fishing here but now just has the lobster pots as a hobby, he was taking them away for the winter, but they’ll come out again next year!
While we were waiting for Tonks’ MOT we took the dogs for a 4 mile walk to the beach, on the way we spotted the RBS cinema lorry set up in a hotel car park so later on that evening we came back to watch a film, we were amazed with how big and loud it was inside! Tonks failed the MOT due to low tread depth on the front tyres, but we were expecting it and the next day he got new tyres and we were on our way again!

We went out for a walk next morning just east of Gramasdail, it was a walk that we had got from a little walking book Linda had bought, and it said that at low tide ‘you will see seals’! Following the instructions we set out on the farm track, past the abandoned car and the sign pointing out which way to the Seals, but alas when we got there all we saw was a lot of pretty coloured sea weed and a few seagulls! Still, Linda did take the opportunity to sit on an abandoned tractor on the way back and pretend she was doing a bit of ploughing!
Later on we moved the ‘van again to an excellent beachside spot further south at Gearraidh ma Monadh, again recommended by Dave and Lorna (thanks!). When we arrived there was already 2 motorhomes set up. We pitched up, making sure that we were out of everyone’s way and went out for a walk along the massive beach in front of the ‘van. We walked for just over a mile and over a causeway onto a little grassy island where there is a jetty used by a couple of fishing boats, we watched one of the boats come in from its mooring to unload before carrying on back to the ‘van. Had a brew sat outside in the sun, and two more campervans showed up, it was like a caravan site! Later on a local man drove up the track in his car. Not one to turn down a chat, Phil went over and passed the time with him. He had lived on the island all his life and did a bit of fishin, farmin and taxi drivin. We talked about the weather and a dislike of cities before he carried on his drive along the rough track!

We left the ‘van where it was the next day, and drove over the causeway to Eriskay, the southernmost island of Uist. We parked by Am Politician pub and did a 2.5 mile walk which was in the guide book Linda had bought. It took us over a lovely beach and up to the ferry port where we saw a ferry come in and unload. We then headed up onto the moor where we spotted a couple of the “Famous” Eriskay ponies (as it said in our book). Walking back to the car, we had a great view of the village of Bhalla, which because of its multicoloured roofs and moorland situation looked just like a scene from Iceland. Once back in the village we put the dogs in the car and went in the pub where we had our lunch looking out to sea. Am Politicean is so named because a ship of the same was wrecked nearby in the 2nd world war. Its cargo was Whisky and there were many stories of the locals plundering the spoils and having many a merry day! The pub still has some of the original bottles from the wreck, one of which is still full of Whisky!


Out walking on the beach the next day we thought we saw basking sharks. We ran down to the end with the binoculars and saw lots of triangles poking up out of the sea, they turned out not to be sharks, but a pack of nosey seals! An old chap came wandering up in a suit jacket and wellies, said hello and started telling us all sorts of interesting stuff. He lived in a house just up the way, which he pointed to, they don’t get sharks here very often, but lots of seals, porpoise and dolphins, the guy who runs the old seaweed processing plant is a bit of a rogue, the locals campaigned for a road to the beach and built the picnic area we are staying on to force the council to build the road and now some of the locals are complaining about the campervans using it! There used to be a graveyard near where we were stood and a human skeleton was found not long ago! He once found a metal cylinder washed up which turned out to be a bomb, bomb disposal had to come and remove it! We also asked him why there were so many abandoned houses on the islands, including old crofters houses, he said some people build new houses and just leave the old ones to fall to ruin, and the shrinking population on the island doesn't help either. After a while another couple bounded up and the man announced that they had just moved into the area from Greenwich in London, he told us about the seals and announced that he was now a local before finally wandering off! We carried on our chat with the old guy for a bit and then his mate came and said hello so we left them to it.. We hitched up the ‘van and headed off towards Loch Druidibeag where we had seen a car park on the map. The lane was very narrow and when we got to the car park 2 motorhomes were already there and we had no chance of turning round, we said hello to the wild ponies that were wandering around there before deciding to risk carrying on in the hope of finding a turning spot. At the bottom there was thankfully a house with a drive big enough to back the ‘van into, so we trundled back along the lane. On the way we passed a young couple of backpackers who we had seen on the way down, and he stuck his thumb out hoping for a lift, we didn’t have room because of all the stuff on the passenger seats, then Phil said “what about the ‘van?!”. Linda opened the ‘van up and settled them in on the sofas, and we continued our way up the road! They got out at the end of the road and said it was dead comfy, especially after their night in a bothy! We then carried on up the main road to Lochmaddy, where we decided to stay at the port. We found a spot on the car park and booked our slot on tomorrows ferry back to Skye. We took the dogs up with us into the ferry this time rather than leave them in the car, and we sat in the lounge reading a newspaper for the trip. Once we landed in Uig we drove down to the site at Portree where we had stayed before.

Back over on Skye we had our first visitors for months! Jane and Neil were on holiday in the area and we arranged to meet up. First Phil went over to Sligachan with his bike. Once the heavy rain stopped the sun poked through and Phil set off on a 9 mile out and back route took him between the Black and Red Cullins mountain range over some great rocky terrain. Jane and Neil (and Floss and Nell the collies) had called at the ‘van in the meantime so we all had a cuppa and scones while we caught up on each others news. They then went off to the Talisker distillery and we arranged to meet up later in Portree. After a walk with the dogs, in peat bog and rain, we dried out and set out to meet up with Jane and Neil. First we went into The Isle, a great pub in the centre of Portree we had a couple of pints in there while the locals were getting ready to watch the Man U v Rangers game in 3D, they all looked like Eric Morecambe in their 3D glasses! As it got noisier and noisier, we headed off to find somewhere to eat. We went to the licenced café up the road and had a delicious meal. We had a lovely time and it was really good to have visitors, we reluctantly said bye and headed back to the ‘van, ready to move on to Morvich the next day.

Outer Hebrides part one - Harris and Lewis

This was to be our first proper experience of wild camping (albeit with the luxury of a caravan!), there aren’t many caravan sites on the Hebrides so we decided we would mostly stay wherever we found enough space to park! The first attempt proved to be a failure as we drove in to a narrow parking area (marked with a “P” sign) only to find there was no way out. We had to reverse car and ‘van out into the main road in order to carry on, Yikes! Eventually we settled on a drive through layby with a lovely view looking out onto Loch Eireasort We awoke to a glorious sunny morning, with no clouds in sight! Phil was up and out of the van taking photos while the sun was out! The view from the layby we were in had transformed from wet dreary sight to gorgeous blue skies reflecting off the greeny/blue loch.

After breakfast we hitched up the ‘van and drove up towards Stornoway hoping to find another layby to leave the ‘van in and explore the area. A series of impatient drivers and a lack of signposted laybys saw us drive straight past Stornoway and out onto the moor on the other side. As we continued over the moor with no stops in sight Phil was getting anxious and we had to change our plan, so we drove up the A857 up to the top of the Hebrides as far as it goes. At the end we reached Port of Ness where there is a harbour and just enough room to turn a caravan around. Linda went into a local café and ask if there is anywhere nearby we could pitch for the night, the very friendly girl in there said we could go down to the harbour and pitch there next to the beach.. After checking it out we drove down the steep narrow track and found we had the perfect spot right next to the beach overlooking the boats in the harbour. We set up and then spent the afternoon on the beach, it was so warm that before long we were both in the (very cold) sea! Later on we went for a walk on the headland out towards the Butt of Lewis (the most northerly point of the Hebrides). Back at the ‘van we got chatting to a couple who had come for a walk on the beach, she was an internet secretary, and had lived on the island for 2 years, she lived in Devon and one day decided to move here, so sold her house and bought one on Lewis before ever having set foot on the island!

Today we moved from Port of Ness to Callanish, and found a little pitch down a dead end road which lead to another tiny harbour wall. It was just beyond the car park for the standing stones visitor centre! We went into the visitor centre and art exhibition where there were lots of info boards showing how/when the stones were erected. We went up to the stones which were quite busy with tourists and also a “new age pilgrim” who lived by the site in a shanty style tent. After that we went on to the Black House Village at Carlabhagh which was very interesting, one of the houses was still set up as it was left in 1974, other houses had an exhibition on the houses and a film on the making of tweed and cutting peat. Some of the houses had been modernised and are now holiday lets and one of them is now a hostel which we sneaked in and had a look at the bunks and the kitchen. Then on to Uig bay, an enormous expanse of white sand, so big we couldn’t see where the sea was! We had a run around and managed to find the sea to get our feet wet in (the sand was really squidgy in places and bubbled when we trod on it, who knows what was living in there, eewwww!) We stopped on the way back to the van to admire a huge sculpture of a Viking norseman which is a replica of a chess piece found in a former settlement on the island. Back at the van we went back up to the stones to watch the sun setting, it was very busy with other people doing the same thing, and also busy with midges!

The next day we moved to Stornoway and parked up in a layby on the causeway which had toilets and fresh water available, we got chatting to a local lady who recommended we move to Pabail instead as it would be much quieter and away from the main road. First we went into Stornoway for a wander round, a nice little town but with loads of boy racers going backwards and forwards, we saw the same ones lots of times! There were 2 huge cruise ships sat in the harbour, one from Florida (not sure where the other was from) so there was loads of Americans wandering around the town. We went for a walk up to the Lewis war memorial sat on the hill, a huge tower with a great panoramic view, it also has a circle of stones with all the names of those who died in the wars etched onto them. The walk took us via Lews (not Lewis this time) Castle grounds along the river and back via the golf course (with golf balls literally flying over our heads!). We showered in the local leisure centre again before moving the ‘van to the Pier at Pabail. When we got there some kids were having a party on ‘our’ pitch so we parked on some hardstanding and had a chat with a woman whose husband was out fishing, at the same time a couple with an identical dog to Prince called JJ (who was a bit nutty) turned up, the man insisted on petting Prince while JJ was going nuts and then Prince snapped at the man, missed though, phew! Some canoeists arrived and got set up to go out to sea, Phil asked how far and one said not far tonight, just around the headland. Once set up we went for a walk down the harbour with some locals who told us you could sometimes see whales and dolphins, by this time another load of kids arrived and set up for a party, our new friends said they would call the police if it got too noisy! The canoeists arrived back well after dark and luckily they seemed to scare off the kids who had now set fire to all the wood they could find.. Time to go to bed, but we still heard 2 loud cars coming into the car park later on.. So much for a quiet spot!

Had a play on the beach and met 2 locals who had got a Labrador and a retriever, the chap had retired onto Lewis from Suffolk and found the pace of life here much slower, he recommended a car park at Luskentyre for our next stop,so that’s where we headed! Once we got there we left the van in a lay by and went to check it out first (before dragging the ‘van down the lane), it wasn’t as good as we hoped so we found a layby on the Leverburgh road, which had a huge beach right next to the van. Phil went out on his bike over the Bealach pass which was a great ride and only 9 miles, a bit boggy in places but getting used to hike-a-bike now! Linda stayed with the dogs and played Frisbee with Prince in the sea. When Phil got back he ran into the freezing cold Loch for a wash, hoping no cars would see him in the nuddy!

Went into Tarbert for a look round, and met a couple called Dave and Lorna who are wild camping in their campervan, they had seen us a few times on the island and recognised us from the dent in our ‘van! They kindly bought us coffee and cake while we chatted in the café and marked some suggested sites on our map, giving us lots of helpful tips and websites on wild camping. Went back to the ’van for lunch and the dogs had a run before going back to Tarbert for showers (which were available in the public loos!).

The next day we revisited the Luskentyre tweed man who was recommended by Rose and Ivan but unfortunately he was still closed, so we went back to Tarbert to the Tweed Warehouse where Linda bought a metre of tweed. Phil took a t-shirt back to the tourist info he had bought the day before (it was too tight – too much beer methinks). Hitched up and set off for Leverburgh for the ferry over to Uist

Isle of Skye

First trip on Skye was to the Talisker whisky distillery! The distillery isn’t in Talisker but in the neighbouring village of Carbost. We had a look around the small visitor centre before going into the shop where Phil bought a wee bottle to try later. We then drove over the glen into Talisker itself where we’d seen a small beach marked on the map. Parking up at the end of the road, the beach is a mile walk away, on the way we passed lots of people heading the other way, this meant when we got there we had the place to ourselves. Talisker Bay is a lovely spot with the beach hugged by high cliffs, one of which has a waterfall falling straight into the sea.

The next day was bright and sunny, so we did some boring jobs like laundry and Phil gave his bike a clean with the mobi wash (a 12v pressure washer we won in a competition – it’s brilliant!). In the afternoon we went for a wander round Portree, the ‘capital’ of Skye. It’s a lovely, pretty little town with lots of busy shops and hotels. The town hugs the hillside and at the bottom of the hill is a lovely little harbour with a line of multicoloured buildings that looked fantastic in the summer sun. We popped into the only bike shop in Skye, a tiny shop with more fishing gear than bike gear, and Phil bought an extortionately priced tin of degreaser! We drove a bit further down the road back to the Aros centre, which is mainly a shop and a café, but there is also a sea eagle exhibition, a gallery and a lovely little theatre/cinema which we sneaked into and had a sit in the comfy seats in the dark!
We drove back around to North West Skye to Waternish where Stella McCartney is rumoured to be looking to buy a 30 acre estate. The Skye Skyns tannery in Waternish is one of only 3 remaining tanneries in Britain, and Linda went in and had a lovely chat to the girl working in there. Not necessarily about the leathers and sheepskin rugs they had on offer, but more about our trip and her story of being made redundant and coming to Sky for a 2 week holiday only to end up staying for 20 years! After this we drove down to the Stein Inn, the oldest Inn on Skye. We got the dogs out and Prince got wet in the sea while we found a bench at the front of the pub and had a pint. That evening we went for an Indian in Portree, not recommended, expensive and not that good!

The next morning a couple from Dundee arrived next to us who are touring around for a little while and heading over to Lewis tomorrow, we were booked on the same ferry! We wanted to see north Skye today, so first we headed to Uig, there was a ferry on it’s way in so we walked out onto the rocky beach to have lunch and watch it sail in. Unfortunately Linda broke her tooth on the incredibly hard butties we were eating, and after feeling faint had to lie down while the ferry sailed past.. From there we headed North up to Flora Macdonald’s memorial, who saved Bonnie Prince Charlie from certain death after the battle of Culloden by hiding him on Skye before he sailed for France. A bit further round we passed the ruin of Duntulm Castle, and got out for a walk further on where there is a viewpoint of the castle ruin from a distance. Where we parked there was a film crew filming some crazy dude on a bike riding over a red telephone box with the aid of a ramp made of peat, very entertaining! We stopped again on the way around at a viewpoint over the Sound of Raasay, which also had a great view of the Old Man of Storr, a freestanding column of rock at the end of the Storr Cliffs. Back at the van we had a drink sat outside chatting to our new neighbours, Nigel and Anne, before it got a bit too cool and we headed in.

The next morning Phil took the dogs up to The Old Man of Storr. There is a walk which rises steeply from the road and goes up to the Old Man before heading back down. The car park was quite busy, and we passed about 4 sets of people on the way up. Luckily when we got to the Old Man there was no-one about and we managed to enjoy the views in peace before making our way back down. We took the dodgy route down, very steep with lots of loose rocks, but once on the main path it became like a motorway, passing loads of people and constantly saying “hello!”. While Phil was out Linda went on her bike into Portree, downhill all the way with the wind in her hair going “Weeeeeeee!”, meant uphill all the way back, and not enough gears on the bike! We packed up the ‘van (and left the awning, unicycle, oven and Linda’s bike at the site, as we’ll be back here after visiting the Hebrides) before heading off for Uig for the ferry. It was a big ferry and driving on was easy-peasy, Nigel and Anne were on the ferry too so after we had a look around we joined them for a drink in the lounge and passed the journey chatting, this meant the journey went so quick we were sad to wave them bye!