Having already been over to Islay a couple of years ago (read about it on our webpage here), Paul’s friend Sean had been asking about going, so we arranged a long weekend trip over Easter.

By this time, Sean had decided he was giving up drinking, however the bets were on that it wouldn’t last during our trip, and sure enough he caved on Day 1! (He’s back “on the wagon” again now).

Four of us (Paul, myself, Sean and his girlfriend Helen) went over on the ferry, all bundled into our car complete with camping gear including our big bell tent! It was a squeeze, but I’m impressed that we managed without too much discomfort.

The ferry time was changed since we had booked it, and they had moved us to a later one, which would have meant pitching the tents in the dark. However, it wasn’t much trouble to get swopped on to an earlier ferry, which not only allowed us to pitch in daylight, but also to take in a couple of distilleries on the way.

It was a smooth journey on the ferry from Kennacraig on the mainland to Port Askaig on Islay, and once we drove off the ferry we headed to Ardnahoe and Bunnahabhain. The latter is in the most stunning setting, overlooking the water to the “Paps” of Jura.

I was driving as despite being Scottish I really don’t like whisky! However, I had checked out in advance all the opening times and worked out a plan that would let us take them all in. I still really enjoyed visiting them, especially as they are in lovely locations. And of course, I was able to ask for some “driver samples” which gave Paul a nice wee collection to bring home. Having been to all the distilleries before, we knew that all offered free tastings (some more generous than others), and this was still the case now, 2 years later. Generally the free tastings are in the visitors centre / shop, and sometimes in the bar.

We also just managed to squeeze in a visit to the Bruichladdich distillery before it closed for the day, which not only does whisky, but also the Botanist gin. The gin driver samples were drunk by myself and Helen later, along with some tonic. Helen did also get to try some gin samples at the distillery, but they were served straight (no mixer) so they were actually nicer when sampled later with some tonic. On both visits to Islay, we found Bruichladdich to be the most generous for free tastings – they have a shelf full of their whiskies and any you want to try on that shelf are free to taste.

By about 5pm, we arrived at our campsite (again we stayed at Port Mor Campsite, a great well run campsite with nice places to eat both at the campsite itself and in Port Charlotte, a 10 minute walk away). Having pitched overlooking the sea on our previous visit, this time we knew better (having seen the winds that were forecast) so we pitched further back near the playground (which, given that it was Easter weekend, was surprisingly quiet, as was the campsite).

We got settled in and enjoyed an Indian takeaway that we reheated for our dinner, plus of course some beer and wine (and a couple of drams for the boys) before settling in for an early night.

Saturday started with some rolls and sausages before heading out to see some of the island and tour some more of the distilleries. After a grey start to the morning, the weather picked up beautifully and stayed lovely pretty much all weekend (a dry tent when put up, and again later when packed away, so we got very lucky!)

We started in Bowmore, a quick walk through the village and up to the round church, followed by a visit to the distillery. The bar wasn’t open as it was still before 11am, but we were all given drivers samples (on asking). All the distilleries we asked in gave free drivers samples (except Kilchoman which had a token charge) but you did have to ask. They were all quite happy to oblige though, so definitely do ask!

Next we headed to Kilnaughton Bay / Carraig Fhada Lighthouse (next to Port Ellen – follow the road signposted to the Oa) and from there to the Singing Sands, a short walk from the lighthouse. It was a beautiful day and the water looked very inviting, in fact a couple of girls were in swimming, though it must have been freezing!

Our next stops were Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroig. I had checked in advance and was gutted to hear that the food van selling the amazing haddock chowder at Arbeg wasn’t yet open. Instead we bought some lunch from the Co-op in Port Ellen. Still having plenty of time, we then headed back towards the campsite, but turned off to visit Kilchoman on the way. Helen and I headed off to nearby Machir Bay for a walk, while the boys tried the 2 free tastings followed by some more paid ones.

There was a short shower as we drove back, which produced this lovely rainbow…

In the evening we all went out to the Lochindaal Seafood Kitchen for dinner. The meal was lovely, although this time I’d say (between all of us) that our meals at the Port Charlotte Hotel had the edge (we thought the opposite the last time, as both are very good, it really depends what you have from the menu). For Paul, he loved langoustines, so we had arranged in advance for him to have this as his main course, along with salad and chips. Seafood needs to be ordered in advance, and is normally served as a mixed seafood platter, but we asked for langoustines only and they were happy to oblige.

On Sunday not surprisingly the boys were rather hungover, so we didn’t visit any distilleries. Instead we headed up to Killinallan on Loch Gruinart. This is part of a nature reserve. We parked up and trudged through peat bog to the long sandy dune-lined beach, where we took a long walk to blow away the cobwebs. I reckon we must have walked a couple of miles and we still didn’t reach the end of the beach.

In the afternoon we then drove down to Portnahaven, a cute little village with a small beach. It was warm by now as the wind had dropped a bit, and very sunny. We had lovely homemade cake and cold drinks at a wee “cake cupboard” at Burnside Lodge in Port Wemyss, the next village a short walk away.

For dinner, as mentioned earlier, we went to the Port Charlotte Hotel. I had their “posh fish & chips” (same as I had the last visit) and it was lovely. It’s a beautiful hotel with a lovely dining room (same menu / prices in the bar and dining room).

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in our tent with a few drinks, and no rush to get up early on the Monday as our ferry home was in the afternoon (about 3pm).

After getting the tents down and everything packed away (which was quite challenging as the wind had picked up), we just took a short walk to the lighthouse at Port Charlotte, then drove to the Caol Isla distillery, our final one and the one nearest to the ferry port (only a mile away) for the last lot of tastings. We had dinner on the ferry on our way back, which was surprisingly good, and finally made it home quite late in the evening.

We’d had an excellent weekend, and had been so lucky with the weather, especially coming home with a dry tent, always a huge bonus!

For whisky lovers, Islay is a must visit, but even if you’re not a whisky fan, it’s still a lovely island to spend a couple of days or so.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please use the buttons to Like and Share. Thanks!

Check out our Youtube channel to watch our videos, we have just added 4 new ones recently. Watch our trips to various locations and islands in Scotland, including a trip to Knoydart, the most remote part of the British mainland, accessible only on foot or by boat.

We also had a brilliant trip over to Jersey & Guernsey – a long haul as we drove from Glasgow and took the car with camping gear, kayak & our new folding bikes over on the ferry from Poole.

There’s a nice little video of our camping trips of 2023, one of which we were treated to a show of the Northern Lights!

Here is a link to our Driftwood / Knoydart video, with links from there to all the others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBwMyeapUjA

If you have any questions, please just ask.

Happy travels!

Yvonne & Paul

We always like to include a trip to Perthshire during autumn to see the glorious foliage. This year’s autumn holiday included “glamping” at Loch Tay, “leaf-peeping” as our friends in the US like to call it, spa relaxation, kayaking, wallaby spotting and an island camp.

First was a trip to Loch Tay Highland Lodges to stay 2 nights in one of their “glamping domes”. Like camping but with a real bed, a wood burning stove and no need to put up or take down a tent. Our own Bell tent has a wood burning stove and they are great for giving out lots of heat and keeping the tent toasty, so we knew we would be nice and warm in the dome too.

As well as a real bed, there were two bean bag loungers and a low table next to the “window”. Great for just chilling out with a drink and enjoying the view.

Although a bit of a walk away, the shower & toilet block was good and there was also a great campers lounge & kitchen where you could cook and eat dinner and/or just chill out. We used this on both nights for dinner before retiring to our dome.

On our only full day there the weather was rather dreicht, however this did not spoil our enjoyment of our foliage drive. We headed along to Kenmore first, then on to Aberfeldy to Dewars Aberfeldy Distillery where Paul picked up a bottle of 14-year old Aberfeldy whisky. Next was Pitlochry to see the Black Spout Falls, Loch Faskally (where we had a lovely lunch in the lochside cafe), Loch Dunmore and Killiecrankie Gorge. We came back via Loch Tummel to make it a circular trip, arriving back at the dome shortly before dark.

The next day, when we were due to check out, was glorious sunshine, so we headed on a circular drive through the Ben Lawers Nature Reserve, up past the dam to Bridge of Balgie, and on to the Glen Lyon drive (another of our favourite drives to do in the autumn). At the end of the drive you turn towards Fearnan and come back onto the main road along the loch. We would have tagged this on to the previous day’s drive, however it would have been a LOT to try to cram in, and we thought the through-road was closed (we found out later that it had re-opened). It all worked out well anyway as our next booking was for four nights at the Carrick on Loch Lomond and check-in was not until 4pm, so we had time to kill.

After our drive, we headed south again to the Carrick. We had booked one of the two bedroom Mansionhouse apartments overlooking the golf course and the loch. This also includes daily use of the Spa, including your arrival and departure days, so we had booked the Spa “Thermal Experience” for 2pm, which worked out just right.

It had been a long time since we had stayed at the Carrick. After being taken over, the prices shot up, so it was only when we saw an advertisement for 40% off that we decided to book again. The four nights, with the offer, cost just under £700. It’s actually a pretty good deal considering the quality of the accommodation, the spa usage, and especially that it can accommodate up to four people. We had a ground floor apartment this time, with a huge terrace (which was fantastic for going out on to watch the firework display that was put on while we were staying).

Including arrival and departure days, we spent a lovely five days relaxing, enjoying the spa and kayaking on the loch on three of these days.

The spa is lovely, especially the thermal pool and rooftop infinity pool, where we spent most of our time.

We made a visit to Luss for a short walk around on the Wednesday when it rained (a lot!) and was too wet for kayaking. One of the shops there had a huge box of pumpkins outside with a sign saying to “help yourself” so we took one of the smallest ones to bring home to make soup with.

When kayaking, we paddled over to Inchconnachan on a couple of the days, where we went looking for the elusive wallabies. We had only ever seen them once before, despite making several trips to the island. We went looking in the same area where we had spotted them last year and we got lucky! One of them was just sitting there watching us, and it didn’t move off until we got pretty close. It was so exciting to see them again!

On our last day, we drove round to Balmaha and paddled over to Inchcailloch. We put a bag of logs in the kayak and hid them in the dead bracken, as we planned to come back again on the Saturday night to camp. Once that was done, we headed up to the summit, just a short walk, for tremendous views over the loch.

So we got home on Friday and looked out our camping gear, with the intention of trying to fit it all in the kayak given that we had already dropped off the logs for a campfire. We had only done summer camps so far in the kayak, and this time we needed extra sleeping bags and warmer clothes, so we just hoped we could fit it all in!

After my class on Saturday, we had a quick lunch and then put everything in the car and the kayak on the roof, and off we went back to Balmaha. We have left the car overnight in the car park there previously, so we were quite happy to leave it again. You can pay using the Ringo App, so if you need to top up the parking fee it is easy to do on the mobile phone whilst on the island (although on this occasion the 24 hours parking was enough for us).

Somehow we managed to get everything in (or on top of) the kayak, albeit we had less legroom that usual so the paddles were knocking off our knees if we weren’t careful.

On arrival Paul retrieved the bag of logs and we set up camp. We were a little disappointed that there was already a boat moored up as we had hoped to get the island to ourselves, however we got chatting to them later and they said they weren’t staying overnight.

Port Bawn on Inchcailloch has an area of grass behind the beach that is classed as a “campsite” during the permit season of March to September (no permit or fee required out with these months). There are composting toilets, picnic tables and a couple of firepits.

We got dinner and the fire going quite early as it was cold. As we were having dinner another boat came in on the jetty. It turned out the people on both boats were friends, and in the end they did stay overnight. One party had kids and they came onto the beach to put on a fire, have drinks, and do a wee firework display for their kids. Later on they headed back to their boats, so we thought we were in for a quiet night, but as it happened the adults partied until late, so it wasn’t quite the camping experience we had hoped for. In fairness, the couple without the kids did say that we were welcome to join them, but we declined in favour of an early night.

Just before we headed off to bed, we saw some fireworks going off on the mainland, across the water, so we went to watch them, and also caught a glimpse of the aurora on the camera between the heavy clouds.

The morning was so calm and still. The loch was like a millpond. We had a relaxing breakfast before packing up a thankfully dry tent and heading back, with the hope that the weather would be kind enough for us to do another island camp soon.

Watch out for our next blog, coming soon – Inchconnachan camp and the Northern Lights!

Please have a read of our recent Jersey & Guernsey web page, just published

Permit Area “L” on Loch Achray

So with the road closures for the cycle events affecting us, I decided to remove the stress and get my Saturday morning class covered, therefore allowing us to get away at the weekend for 2 nights (when usually we can manage Saturday night only).

We went online early in the morning 4 weeks prior (which is the earliest that you can book) only to find that our favourite spot was already taken. There was space at area “L” on Loch Achray and we hadn’t camped there before, so we decided to give it a try.

Having been there just a couple of weeks before for a Saturday night camp at our favourite spot, we decided to scout out what spaces were available at L as we passed on our way out. In area “L” they allow for 9 bookings (so one of the Rangers told us) of which 7 are for tents and 2 are for motorhomes. The prime spot/s are very accessible and right on the lochside with room for two tents, maybe three if it’s dry enough. The other spots were set back in the trees, and spread out a bit more, but all were relatively close to the loch, albeit loch access from some of them was quite marshy / muddy. We figured if we ended up in one of the latter spots that we would take our kayak in from the more accessible place.

On Friday we were lucky enough for Paul to get away from work early, so we hoped that perhaps we just might get lucky and get that lochside spot. However, it was not meant to be. On arrival there was already a huge tent there and a large group of 2-3 families (10-12 people) spread out next to it with their chairs and tables. They said they were pitching another tent in what we would call the second space, so all that left was space further back under the trees perhaps 30-40 yards from the loch or another spot just a little further round that looked marshy, though when we checked it wasn’t too bad.

As we were keen on being right at the loch, we decided to set up on that spot. However, someone’s dogs came running along and knocked over a tub which had been left there. The lid came off and out spilled what we think was the remains of fish guts and maybe bait (we didn’t want to look too closely as the smell was dreadful). So I guess it was just as well the dogs had knocked that over before we pitched our tent!

Instead we pitched up in what we thought was the better option of two potential spaces further back. We still had a view of the loch, so it turned out to be quite a good spot. However, and this unfortunately is something we have come across at other spots, in the bushes next to and across from where we were pitched was lots of toilet paper, so essentially we were pitched next to some previous camper’s toilet! And the irony is that there are toilets a little over 5 minutes walk away which people can use! We had hoped to see the Rangers while we were there so that we could complain about this, but we never saw them on this visit. It’s an issue the national park needs to seriously address. It’s all very well asking people to “leave no trace” but they don’t do checks and enforce this. I fear the end result will be that either they will stop people from camping, once again the few ruining it for the majority.

So the toilet paper, smelly fish guts and having a large group pitched close by (making it feel more like being on a campsite than “wild” camping) were the downsides. No harm to the large group, they weren’t particularly noisy, and they were as entitled to be there as we were. The booking system doesn’t seem to limit either tent or group sizes.

Now the plus sides, and there are plenty for area “L”. As mentioned before there are toilets just over 5 mins walk away just as the forest road turns away from the loch. Heading in the other direction (about 25-30 mins walk or 10 mins cycle) is Achray Farm, where you can have delicious home made ice cream, and just a little further on through the gate is Brig O Turk, a tiny village with a pub (The Byre Inn) and tearoom, both of which we visited. So our permit camp this time wasn’t really like a “wild camp” experience, although we thoroughly enjoyed having these places to visit, and having proper toilet facilities was a bonus.

Having got set up, we relaxed for a while (deciding to leave our kayaking until the next day) and then we took our new folding bikes out for a test ride to the Byre Inn, which we had already booked for dinner.

The new bikes were great – what a brilliant idea having bikes that folded up and fitted on the back seat of the car! I think we shall make lots of use of them!

At the pub, it was warm and dry, so we sat on one of the picnic tables outside. The tables were set around a fire pit and we had a lovely couple of hours enjoying a meal and drinks and chatting to the people at the other tables. Both of us had pizzas made in the wood fired pizza ovens (yum!) We were very impressed with the Byre Inn, however, it is worth noting that their opening times can be a bit random, so it is definitely worth booking ahead if you plan to eat there.

After dinner, we enjoyed some wine back at the tent. We had a tarp set up partially over the front of the tent, which allowed us to roll up the front door so that we could enjoy the view to the loch. Paul also set up his wood burning stove, for which we had bought a small fan to circulate the heat. We took plenty of wood with us, so we could have it on for a decent amount of time on both evenings. That said, it wasn’t particularly cold, although we did get a few showers.

We had a cosy and comfortable nights’ sleep and a great excuse for a lie in and late lazy breakfast (of home made protein pancakes, banana and blueberries) as the rain came on – and it was torrential – from around 7am until 11am. In fact, it was so torrential that the families who were camped on the lochside found their tent got flooded! They said their sleeping bags were soaked and they had no choice but to pack up and head home. It was a shame for them and we did feel sorry for them, but it was also nice that we could take our own seats down to the lochside on the Saturday night to enjoy the sunset without feeling as if we were encroaching on anyone else.

The rain seemed as if it was never going to stop, but by around midday it started to dry up. A couple of people went out on their paddleboards even before that, kitted out in their wetsuits and booties, which encouraged us to get kitted up and get out in our kayak. We were lucky that by the time we’d got the kayak off the car roof and got our wetsuits on, the rain had stopped and the sky had started to clear. The rest of the day changed between sun, cloud, and just the odd bit of drizzle.

We had a lovely paddle round the loch and then came back to change and get the bikes to cycle to the pub for a drink, but it was closed, so we stopped and had a drink and ice cream at the farm. They have a great set up there, with picnic tables to sit at and friendly goats! They also sell fresh farm grown veggies.

Back at the tent, we had brought dinner with us – steak and prawns for Paul and a veggie quiche for me, all with a cold pasta. The coolbag had kept both the food and the wine chilled.

There was a bit of a sunset between the clouds, and we took our chairs down to the beach to enjoy it, until the midges got too much for us. Then back to the tent, as the wood burning stove and mossie tablets seemed to keep them away (mostly).

Overnight into Sunday, and in the morning, there was some more torrential rain (we were lucky that the worst of the rain always came when we were sleeping or in the morning). We reckoned there wouldn’t be much pressure to pack up, partly as most people come at the weekends and partly due to the rain, so we left the tent up to let it dry a bit while we went out for another paddle in the kayak after breakfast.

When it came time to pack up, the wind had dropped to nothing and the midges were out in force biting us, even on the eyelids! We started to pack the tent away whilst swatting at the midges, and then next thing we see is a big herd of goats from the farm headed straight for us! We managed to steer them away from trampling over the tent, which by then was on the ground ready to be rolled up. The goats started eating at the bushes nearby, then they clocked a couple who had stopped to eat their lunch by the loch – they then proceeded to try to share the couples lunch! It was really quite funny.

Eventually they left, we got our damp tent packed away, fastened the kayak onto the car roof, and got the bikes unfolded. Leaving the car where it was, we headed over to the pub for lunch. We were too early. The sign said they were opening at 2.20pm, and it was only 1.20pm. So we ended up having some home baking at the tearoom, and then when we were back at the car, we took out the samosas that we had brought for lunch anyway and ate them on the beach.

By the time we headed home all the cycle races had been and gone and the roads were all open. It had been a great weekend, and we were glad that the road closures had given us an excuse to get away.

If you enjoyed reading this blog, please use the Like and Share buttons below. You may also be interested in out other blogs and pages about our wild camps in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park. The blogs can be found by typing “three lochs”, “achray forest” or “loch lomond” into the search fields. Or check out our web page Achary Forest wild camp (Achray Forest is the name of the forest on the Three Lochs Drive).