Author: ANGIECOJO (Page 2 of 2)

Scotland May 2014
Holiday started a bit rubbish as the night  before we were due to leave we discovered a nasty rash on Harley’s right side, looked infected, hence we went to the vet on Saturday morning. £73 later and a bag full of antibiotics,  drops and cleansing lotions, we were on our way to Scotland!
First stop was at Cressfield campsite in Ecclefechan
Arrived ok, very friendly and laid back owners, we felt welcomed. Harley was relatively ok in van on our way there, but still needed a walk after the long drive. Went for short walk by the river at the edge of the campsite, people raved about that walk but we failed to see what the fuss was all about. Walk was not long, quite rough and it looked more like buldozer trail but hey…it was a walk nevertheless. The site has a really nice big field next to it where you can let the dog run freely.

 

Then we went back to the van, the boys snoozed and I made notes for blog 🙂

Later on we walked into the village, literally 5 minutes from campsite. We knew there were 2 pubs in Ecclefechan, one the Cressfield Hotel right next to the campsite, and the other one, the Ecclefechan Hotel. So the plan was, we go to Ecclefechan Hotel, have a pint, then come back to CH and have a meal. The  EH was not too busy, very friendly local people in there including the owner, an Irish guy called Joe! We had a pint, a short chat with the locals and then headed to CH for a meal only to find out they dont let dogs in!! So back to the EH it was then. They all seemed so happy to see us back, we felt a bit embarrassed not to have eaten there in the first place. So we sat at the same table as before, ordered another pint and some food. Then the owner, Joe the Irish guy came over to have a chat, such a nice genuine Irish guy! Although living in Scotland, he was drinking Irish whiskey!!! Who has ever heard of Irish Whiskey in Scotland ?? And a couple of Scousers were there on a return visit too!! The world is so small! The food was really good, we thoroughly enjoyed the evening at Ecclefechan Hotel.

Then we went back to the van and listened to some music.
I decided it was a good start to the holiday!

 

Next day we woke up to cloudy sky and rain. So we decided not to go on the walk around the woods, it was so foggy, you could barely see the woods!

We set off on our way to Oban, 3 and a half hours away. It was a long drive, windy roads, bad weather and stressed dog but we got there in the end and it was worth it.

The Roseview Campsite just outside of Oban is just lovely! Nice and quiet, we had a good pitch on the hill just opposite the bbq area.

We hooked up and went for a walk straight away, Harley needed it. If you walk to the entrance and then turn left, walk down that road, it will take you to Loch Kerera, wonderful views all the way down.

We carried on around the loop, but after a while we decided the loop was too long and as the weather was getting worse and worse, we turned back and went the same way back to the site. Wet dog and wet owners….we warmed up with a nice well deserved whisky in the van.

There is not much to do around this campsite,  no pub to go to, so we ate in the van that night and watched a movie.

 

Woke up on Monday morning,  again to grey sky and rain. The thing is, we’ve been to Scotland on 3 camping trips before, each time we went the first week in May and each time we’ve been so lucky with the weather.  Didn’t seem to be so lucky this time.
Didn’t matter. Had breakfast and off we went on another walk. Got absolutely soaked again.  Then we got back to the van, packed up and went to Oban to get the ferry to Mull.
Our original booking was for 4pm in the afternoon,  but as the weather was so bad, we rang Caledonia Ferries and asked if we could take an earlier one. No problem they said, take the one at 2pm they said and changed our reservation.  We went to the ferry terminal next and saw there was a queue for the ferry already…it was only 11.50. So we asked if that’s the 2pm ferry, they say “no, it’s the 11.55 ferry to Mull”. So we asked again if we could get that one instead,  I ran in the ticket office, they changed our reservation again, and 10 minutes later we were on the ferry! Brilliant! That’s what we love so much about Scotland,  people are so laid back, so happy to help.
This was Harley’s first ferry trip.

He didn’t seem to be bothered and was well behaved on the ferry. 45 minutes later we arrived on Mull.

 

Our first campsite on Mull was Shielieng Holidays, right next to the ferry port in Craignure.  This is not a big town so dont imagine a massive ferry terminal. The campsite has lovely views

and it’s also very conveniently located right next to Craignure Inn, a nice pub where you can have a meal and drink.
By the time we hooked up and had a sandwich and a cup of tea, and were ready to go for walkies, the heavens opened and we had to delay our walk. Finally about 3pm the rain stoped. We went for a walk along the shore, very muddy and wet, but nice and with great views. Then we walked into Craignure and checked what shops were there as we needed some food supplies for the next day. Then we stopped at Craignure Inn for a pint. This is such a lovely pub, with log fire and cosy bar.

We had a pint and decided to have the meal there and then, as it had started raining again, so not worth going to site just to come back again. I ordered venison stew, which was amazing and hubby had chilli con carne, also delicious.
Another pint, then back to the site in the rain, and settled for the evening with music and books.

 

Believe it or not, we woke up on Tuesday morning to sunshine!! Finally, sun was out, temperature was a bit higher….like the Scotland we remembered from previous camping trips.
We set off on our way to Calgary Bay, not far away at all, only 30 miles, but with a single track road all the way there. The road to Tobermory is the main road, ok for a drive and very scenic. Tobermory itself is a pretty little town, with a few cafes and quirky shops and of course the famous Tobermory distillery. 

We had a walk around, bought some whisky, of course, and left for Calgary. I was very glad I was not driving the van (not that I ever do!). This road was a little bit too narrow, a bit steep, both up and down, and a bit adventurous,  which is not a bad thing according to hubby! Anyway, we made it Calgary Bay in one piece and oh my God, it was worth that drive. The place is amazing!! Pictures below. Not only that, but the sun came out in full blaze, it was sooooo nice. Harley had so much fun, he recovered from the drive in no time, running around like a loony on that wonderful beach. Pictures speak for themselves.

And we found a cool wild camping spot, we parked up and enjoyed the view!

 

 

We spent the afternoon on the beach, running and playing,  Harley met Baxter, another Border Terrier, as mad as Harley and the two of them had so much fun together.
Then we sat by the van and had a beer, then cooked a curry, had another beer, and read a book. The day at Calgary Bay had been a good one!

The next day,  Wednesday morning we woke up to sunshine again, it was amazing waking up to that view, right by the beach.
By the time we had breakfast,  the rain started! Still, we went for another good walk on the beach with Harley, as we knew the drive ahead won’t be much fun for him.
Then we set off. There are only 60 miles between Calgary and Fionporth, where the next stop was, but it took us 3 hours to get there! Single track road is ok, but single track road with endless curves, with 20% descent, then the corresponding ascent,  then the odd local driver in delivery van (post, frozen meat, cement!)  thinking they know the roads so they can drive fast…..arghhhh am telling you it’s a good thing I don’t drive the van!
We finally made it to Fidden Farm Campsite in Fionporth.

And oh my God!!! This is even better than Calgary Bay, after such a drive it was the best place in the world to arrive to!

We have stayed at nice campsites before, some of them right on the beach, but this was definitely the best!! I kept calling it the new Seychelles, with that white sand and giant rock formations!! 

After a bit of lunch and a well deserved cup of tea, we went back to the beach to explore. And whilst exploring, we saw 4 seals basking in the sun. Just like that, they were sat on the rocks in the sun, so we kept quiet and tried to take some pictures, see below.

So the Scotland trip was all worth it because of those 4 seals. They were wonderful.
The sun stayed out, surprisingly enough,  so we decided to walk into Fionnporth, the small village only 1 1/2 miles away. It has a shop, a pub, The Keel Row and a ferry terminal, where you can take the ferry to Iona. We stoped at the pub and intended to have a pint outside in the sunshine, but within 5 minutes of sitting down the dark clouds came back and it started raining again. So we sat inside, lovely pub with friendly staff.

It was nice and quiet in there, for about 10 minutes, then all of a sudden it was packed with people off the ferry.  This is what we noticed on Mull, you can be somewhere realy nice and quiet and then a ferry arrives, and your peace and quiet is gone. It’s not a problem, don’t get me wrong, we met lovely people/tourists, Scottish, English,  Dutch and others, everyone is there to enjoy the place,  it was just a bit unusual at first.
So we finished our pint and headed back to the campsite in the rain.
We cooked in the van that evening, potatoe salad and sausages from a local farm shop outside Tobermory. By this time, the weather got really bad, see pic below…

 

That evening we just sat in the van and listened to music.
Thursday morning we woke up to mixed weather, clouds, rain and sunshine…we went for a last walk on this gorgeous beach and guess what, we saw two more seals. One gray and white, really beautiful and the other one black. 6 seals in less than 24 hours, so happy! We didnt have the camera with us that morning, so no pictures :-(.
Then we packed up and to Harely’s horror, we set off back to Craignure to take the ferry back to Oban. Another hour and a half on a single track road…
We got to Craignure with plenty of time to spare, so we went to the Craignure Inn to have lunch, which was again delicious.  Then 45 minutes on the ferry and back onto mainland Scotland.
2 and half hours later we checked in the Gleddoch Hotel outside Glasgow. We had a voucher for one night stay in this hotel and I must admit, we all enjoyed it, a nice bath and proper comfy bed :-). And this was the view from our room:

Next day we started driving back South, our last stop was at Bleatarn Farm Campsite. It is a very nice site, only 5 pitches but well run and it had lovely walks around it.

The weather was not good at all, as you can see, dark clouds and rain and wind. However we went for a walk on Hadrian’s Wall and we enjoyed it.

So did Harley, and we also saw the sheep from the Specsavers Advert 🙂

So this was our camping trip in Scotland 2014. We thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the weather, we love Scotland and am sure we will be back very soon!

 

 

So March was boring but it ended with the nicest weekend possible: warmth, sunshine and a long walk in Ainsdale in the sand dunes. Harley loves it there and he was so happy to run around freely…

…and of course to roll around in the sand!!

 

and we finished with a hike on top of the dunes, easy for Harley, strenous for us!!

It’s end of March and I finally get around to start writing again!

Work took over life, again, but no more!!

So what has Harley been up to so far in 2014?

January started ok, though all of a sudden he decided he does not like the Frontline drops anymore, went all bizerk when we put it on and sulked under the dining table for hours! So now we have a new strategy on Frontline, we only put it on on a Friday afternoon, then go for long walk so he forgets about it!! It worked ….

February was difficult. Harley decided he wants to sleep upstairs with us, no more alone downstairs. So he kept sneaking up at night, we’d tell him off, bring him back down, he would wait 5 minutes, then come upstairs again. So we had to close the door to downstairs,  that didn’t go down well at all. Whining and scratching at the door next. We were so close to giving in, read all kind of articles about separation anxiety and were really considering letting him upstairs with us. But then luckily just when we almost gave in, he gave up. All back to normal now and it’s such a relief!!

March went by without any incidents nor adventures, quite boring really,  we blame it on the weather!! Still so cold…

But spring is upon us and so is the camping season, can’t wait!!

Check back soon for this year’s adventures 🙂

Our camping holiday this year was in Anglesey, Wales. One week on three campsites, all of them close to beaches.

Amazingly enough, the weather was still good, warm and sunny, a bit too hot for Harley actually. So this is what we did:

We left for Wales on a Saturday,  traffic was really bad, it took us 4 hours to get to Anglesey.  Dog was hot and bothered. Eventually we got to the first campsite: Dafarn Rhos in Moelfre. We had booked for three nights, as it is a very popular campsite. After a bit of an unfriendly welcome we got our pitch, a nice and quiet corner of the campsite. The gate to the beach was just around the corner and oh boy Harley had so much fun on the beach!

The beach was amazing and Harley loved going to the beach, rolling around in sand, chasing and playing with the other dogs, and there were lots of dogs on the beach.

First evening hubby had the good idea of having BBQ on the beach, which was great.

The next day we noticed a sign saying NO BBQ on the beach…oops.

Second day we went for a walk in the morning. We tried to set off early due to the heat, but it wasn’t too bad that morning as it was quite windy.  We followed the coastal path, well according to the map we had.

Part of the walk definitely made you think you got lost, but we made it in the end. It was like walking through a sugar cane plantation. Eventually we made it back to the road, which we followed all the way back to the site. Chilled by the van, actually had a snooze as we were both tired from the night before. Harley had decided he was going to sleep right in the middle of the bed and would not move whatever we tried to do. He was on top of the covers so we did not have enough duvet on either side and  could not stretch and turn as we pleased. Ah well, the joy of loving your dog as much as we do.

So we had some lunch, had a snooze, then we went to the beach. Because the weather was so great and with it being Sunday the beach was packed but still plenty of room for the dog to run around having lots of fun. We also bought an ice cream from the little shop on the beach. They do chips and bacon butties too. Then we went back the van, sat outside and read our books. I was reading Inferno by Dan Brown, very good book, and hubby was reading a travelling book about a couple who went around Europe in a campervan! Then we both had a shower,  the facilities on this site are very good. For dinner we had Jalfrezi curry with a beer, of course. Second day into the holiday and I felt like I had been off work for a week already. We slept a bit better, we were allowed a bit of duvet this time 🙂

It was very hot on Monday morning, so we tried to set off a bit earlier on our walk. We found a woodland walk, bit shadier for the dog. If you walk up the road from the campsite, straight on at the crossroads and then after a while take the sign posted footpath on your right. It takes you to the ancient village of Din Lligwy.

It’s not a long walk but very pleasant and with plenty of shade.

On our way back we went to the beach again, where Harley all of a sudden found all his energy and started running around like a loonie, in and out of the water. It’s amazing that no matter how tired or hot he is, the second he gets to the beach he is fine with lots of energy!

Then we headed back to the site for some rest, reading and music listening.

In the evening, well late afternoon we decided to walk into Moelfre. The footpath is from the beach, turn right and carry on. Quite a long-ish walk, a bit overgrown at times, but so nice and the views are amazing.

By the time we got to Moelfre we were so ready for a pint 🙂 We went to the pub, The Kimmel Arms and had a nice cold pint whilst sat outside and enjoying the view and watched the world go by. The pub is right on the corner,  and has a nice view of the little cove of Moelfre.

For food we went around the corner to the Fish Bar, bought some fish and chips and came back, sat on the bench by the little cove and had fish and chips with a view! It was very tasty. Harley enjoyed it too! We walked back to the site then, enjoying the views and the sunset,  and took some more pics as you can see 🙂

We all slept so well that night!

On Tuesday morning we woke up to a cloudy sky. We had breakfast and packed up to leave. Next campsite was in Treaddur Bay. On our way there we stopped in Llagefni and went for walk at Dingle Nature Reserve. It was meant to be a circular walk, but as the path just went on and on, we just turned around and went back the van. We were trying to get to the other site as soon as possible, as Harley was getting worse and worse when travelling. On our way to the Nature Reserve he actually managed to pull the harness off himself, don’t really know how he managed that as it was quite tight around his body, and jumped on my knee on the passenger seat and just whined and whined and whined.

The campsite Tyn Rhos was not far, nothing is far on Anglesey, got there about 2 in the afternoon.  Didn’t quite manage to settle and it started pouring down. We thought: great, can’t even get the dog out to chill out after the journey.  But luckily it never lasted long and that was the only time it rained all week! We sorted the van out, hooked up to electricity and went for a nice walk.

We ended up at the little cove with a small pebble beach and Harley had his first swim! He wasn’t quite sure about it and kept turning around when he realized his legs were not touching ground anymore, but he did it in the end. And it definitely cooled him down.

Then we went back the van and had some food. There is a family pub on this site, we went there in the evening and had a drink and a meal, it was not bad at all, albeit food was expensive for the type of bar that it was.

We woke up to a beautiful Wednesday morning.

Sun was out again, in full force. So we tried to set off on our walk early again. We walked all the way into town, Harley had a proper swim this time and a good play with other dogs on one of the beaches.

Full of little coves and beaches on the way into town.  Dogs are not actually allowed on a part of the main beach in Treaddur. We had a little walk around town, it’s not big, then we went to the Seacroft for tea and coffee, and as we had a nice shaded table outside and the place was really nice, we stayed there for lunch too. Food was really good, gave us the energy to walk all the way back and uphill to the site.

We chilled for the rest of the afternoon and had a BBQ in the evening.  Harley spent half of the evening watching bunnies out of the van. He probably would have loved to chase them around the field.

On Thursday we moved on to our last site – Bodfan Farm in Rhosneigr. The site is in a great location, plenty of space, but with very basic facilities.

The town is pretty, with plenty of nice cafes and restaurants. There is a massive wide beach close to the site, really nice, but with a river running right in the middle of it. Quite deep river too, so can’t really get across from one side to the other depending on the tide – or we just didn’t know where to cross it!

There is nice walk around Lake Maelog – starting from the site too. We did the short version of this walk :-). The long version is all the way around the lake -about 2-3 hours.

We loved our holiday in Anglesey and am sure we will be back again!

It appears that the summer has well and truly arrived! The week was not too good but the forecast for the weekend was very promising and I know it’s only a forecast and God only knows we can get that wrong here, but hey…the forecast was right and the weekend weather was amazing! So we planned another camping trip. At the Red Bank Farm Campsite in Bolton le Sands, near Morecambe Bay. We had visited this site before, a year or so ago, and remembered it as being nice, cheap and with lovely walks and a beach close to it! So with the good weather forecast it seemed the perfect campsite to return.

We had another stressful journey there, seriously don’t know what to do with Harley and his phobia of travelling in this van. The van is perfect for us, so we won’t change the van!

Site is really nice, very green, a bit on a slope if you’re not careful where you park…

but we were lucky and found a perfect pitch.

We had an al fresco lunch, all Mediterranean snacks as we had to fit in with the weather 🙂

Then we went for a walk. It wasn’t as long as we intended due to the fact that the sun was really blazing and Harley was too hot. If you come out of the campsite and walk right, you can follow the footpath all the way to Sandside Caravan Park. The footpath actually continues, well theoretically continues, but in reality it’s all a big muddy marshland area and when someone we met on the way mentioned sinking sands, we decided to turn around!

There were lots of kids playing on the beach having the time of their life!

So we went back to the site and just chilled, sat out in the sun or in the shade in Harley’s case, listened to music and read.

In the early evening we had a BBQ, ate well and had a beer. About 8 in the evening we went back to the beach and oh my God, I have never seen Harley so happy! The sun was setting, the temperature was just perfect and he just went mad, rolling around in the sand, jumping in the muddy water channels, then rolling in the sand again and then looking at us with a big smile on his face as if to say “see what I can do?”. It was so funny! We had to give him a quick shower when we went back to the van as he was so muddy and full of sand. He didn’t complain.

We had a good night sleep, albeit hot and woke up to sunshine!! Really felt like we were on holiday abroad 🙂

So we had breakfast and went on a walk again. Hubby’s knees were giving in by this time 🙁

We walked the other direction this time, so out of the campsite and left. The terrain is a bit rough, lots of stones and lots of ups and downs on these “marsh” thingies.

I just realized the photos above don’t show the rough terrain so you just have to take my word for it 🙂

If you carry on in this direction you actually get to Morecambe town, we could see it in the distance.

After an hour walk we went back to the site, had a nice cuppa, then packed up and came home. We tried a different tactic with Harley’s journey home, seemed to be a bit better…will see!

 

Summer, well the British summer started and with it our camping season. This was our second camping trip this summer and we were so looking forward to it. We picked the Baysbrown Farm campsite as we’d been there before, a couple of years ago and remembered the site being nice with great walks around it.

It was just the same: a nice laid back campsite,  surrounded by mountains (so no phone signal lol), a river running through it and really great walks directly from the site.

View of the site from the farmhouse:

We invested in some good walking maps before this trip too, the Ordnance Survey ones, so we were well prepared.

We got to the site about 11-ish in the morning. The journey there was a bit stressful as Harley still hasn’t settled in our new van, he kept whining and generally stressing in the back. We actually missed a turn cause he was disturbing the driver, hubby, we ended up in a one way system in the middle of Ambleside…arghh never mind. We made it there.

We parked up, the field was not busy at all and once Harley was out of the van he ran around it a few times like a lunatic, happy to be free and in the fresh air 🙂

We settled, then made the compulsory bacon butty :), then set of on a walk. We walked towards the farm house, then followed the footpath sign just before the shower block. Once out of the site we turned left and walked down that path. If you keep straight on (there are some paths on the left to Little Langdale and on the right to Great Langdale) this path takes you to the Britannia Pub, see below.

Britannia Pub behind a wonderful old tree

Nice sitting area outside, great if the weather is good!

We didn’t stop for a drink at this point as we had only been walking for 15 minutes 🙂
We followed the footpath by the river (part of the Cumbria Way), which is so lovely.

There are a couple of beaches where Harley went swimming, or tried to, he didn’t quite swim!

Harley checking the territory…

Hubby trying to fool him into the water…

Ok, am going in….

Too cold, am coming out!

You can carry on on this walk for quite a bit, we only went up to the bridge, then turned around.

By this time we had been walking for a couple of hours. So we turned around and went to the pub for a well deserved pint. We love trying local ales when we are in the countryside, some of them are nicer than others! This time we tried the Britannia Gold, brewed by Eden Brewery especially for Britannia Pub, as per the label by the bar! It was delicious, really nice and refreshing, not too bitter! Perfect with some pork scratching lol

All of a sudden, after one pint, we all felt a bit tired, so we went back to the campsite and had a nice snooze in the van. Well, I had a snooze, hubby tried but ended up reading and Harley decided to keep an eye on all the walkers passing by!

Then about 6pm went back to the pub and had a nice meal there and of course another pint of Britannia Gold.

One thing good to know about this pub is that they let dogs in, in the bar. However we tried to grab a table in the bar area but it is so small, they really only have 3 or 4 tables. We were lucky with the weather, it was warm-ish enough and of course still light so we could eat outside.

Then we went back the campsite a different way than the one we came. It’s a bit quicker. From the pub, go over the bridge and on the right there is a road with a dead end sign. Take that one and stick to the foothpath, especially when you come to the sign on the road that says “no pedestrians allowed” here take the foothpath on the right, well right-ish, it’s not really a turn. If you follow this path, it takes you to the narrow path at the entrance of the campsite.

After a bit of reading, music listening and Harley cuddling, we had a good night sleep and woke up to a very cloudy Sunday morning.

Very cloudy! And rainy! Well I have to admit, it wasn’t pouring down, we’ve experienced that in the Lakes before, but still. Was cold and miserable. And to top that, the milk went off (cause I never checked the expiry date when I bought it!) and the morning coffee and cup of tea were not very good!

This said, we had some breakfast, then Harley had a good ran around with Nelly – another border terrier we met on site. She was 9 months old and think she fell in love with Harley. Well, not difficult, he is so handsome 🙂

Then we decided to ignore the weather and go for a walk. We went out of the campsite again, same footpath at the top, but this time we turn right. Through the woods and hills, followed the path to the New Dungeon Ghyll – or Old as someone scribbled on the same sign! We still don’t know where the Old one is! We came out by the road, and here you have a choice- you can either walk to the Dungeon Ghyll on the road or on another path that runs parallel with the road. We took the footpath but it was very stony and we ended up carrying Harley for a bit as he would not move/step onto the sharp stones anymore. Wimp!

Anyway we finally got there and we decided we needed another breakfast at the Stickelbarn Tavern. Sausauge butty for hubby (and Harley!) and baked scone with jam for me. Yummy!

On our way back to the site we had a good run around in the field with Harley, mainly to make sure he gets tired enough to sleep on the way home, instead of whining and stressing! It didn’t work!

Harley loves running in high grass, he thinks he is a kangaroo!

Then we made our way back to the campsite and after packing all up, we left about lunchtime and headed home.

We really enjoyed this camping trip and will definitely go back to this campsite again.

 

We love Scotland!

So does Harley our border terrier dog. We spent a wonderful week traveling around the North West of Scotland in May 2012. We drove, well my hubby drove as I could not/would not drive the left-hand drive VW T25 camper we had then, approx. 1000 km. We were very lucky with the weather and thoroughly enjoyed it.

As it was our first camping holiday with Harley, we tried to keep the daily driving relatively short. This was our first campsite in Dalston, Lake District: Dalston Hall Holiday Park and Golf Club

It was a lovely campsite with nice walks around it.

There was also a golf course and a club house – guarded by a massive Alsatian, so we decided not to go in for a drink 🙂

Second campsite was at the north end of Loch Lomond, in Ardlui: Ardlui Campsite

It was a nice campsite, but it didn’t have any walks around it. Had a bar/restaurant very close though, so we could have a pint in the sun 🙂

On our way into real Scotland we could see the mountains were still covered by  snow. Chilly at night, thank God the heater in the van was working well.

On our way to Glencoe, we took a shortcut – that didn’t work out very well as the road ended all of a sudden and we had to turn back – but the good thing was, we saw a herd of deer!

Third campsite and the best – The Red Squirrel in Glencoe.

View from our pitch.

When we got there we were welcomed by 3 stags on the other side of the river.

We absolutely loved this campsite! It was close to Glencoe, it was quiet in May when we went, we had a very big pitch and Harley could run around freely. There is a lovely pub close by, the Award Winning Clachaig Inn.

Next campsite was in Cannich: Cannich Caravan & Camping Park

Nice site and some nice river walks around it, but didn’t really go for any walks there as Harley was very poorly that day 🙁  Poor little muppet was so sick, I almost phoned our vet back home to ask him if he didn’t fancy a trip to Scotland to see the dog!

The weather was great though so we had our dinner al fresco!

The next day though all was back to normal and we went to Glen Affric National Nature Reserve  – this is only a short drive or bike ride from Cannich Camping & Caravan Park. Glen Affric is a forest, loch and mountain paradise and has the largest area of Caledonian pine forest left in Great Britain. The Glen is a walkers paradise with several Munros but also marked pathways and forest trails that take you around the beautiful Loch Beinn a’ Meadhoinn and Loch Affric and the waterfalls of Dog Falls and Plodda Falls.

Next campsite was in Ullapool: Broomfield Holiday Park.

We fell in love with Ullapool and had a great stay there… and a very good Indian Takeaway in the evening! There is a pub and a fab indian restaurant right at the entrace of the campsite!

Campsite is set on  the banks of Lochbroom in Ullapool, looking out to the Summer Islands and  Hebrides. Great walks around it.

Nice pub in town where we sat outside and enjoyed a pint of Scottish lager and a portion of fish and chips from Seaforth Inn, the famous Fish and Chips Shop in Ullapool.

Sunset in Ullapool.

Next campsite was in Clachtoll, in the very north of Scotland: Clachtoll Beach Campsite

Clachtoll has 2 lovely sandy beaches. It looked like a beach from the Caribbean…the temperature was a bit different though!

And Harley made a friend on the beach – and amazingly enough the name of the other dog was also Harley!

Having fun on the beach. Harley even went for a swim in the freezing water!

Next campsite was in Reraig, close to Kyle of Lochalsh: Reraig Caravan Site 

Lovely site, perfect location by the loch and with nice hotel/pub very close to it: The Balmacara Hotel. Dog was allowed in the bar area where we sat and had a nice venison burger with chips!

There were great walks around this campsite with breathtaking views from the top of the hills.

We had a great holiday and can’t wait to go back to Scotland again!

If you’d like to follow our route through Scotland, here is a map of it. Click on the map for larger image.

Have fun!