We have today published a new web page on the stunning area of Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland. We have made a few visits over the past year and done a fair bit of exploring around the area, staying in two different campsites, both of which we highly recommend!

To have a read, click here. Enjoy!

It’s been a LONG time since we did this hike (I’m talking years), and it had been in our minds to do it again soon. So finally we got round to it this weekend.

Ben A’an is approximately half of a munro at 1512 feet (461 metres), it’s short and relatively steep for much of it, and only 2.25 miles up and back down. It took us roughly the same amount of time going up (an hour), as we took coming down, partly due to my having slightly dodgy knees, so I’m always slower on the way down hills.

I was actually pretty pleased with getting to the top in an hour, my fitness is obviously improving as I lose weight.

This little mountain is situated in the Trossachs, part of Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park. The walk starts across the road from the Ben A’an car park next to Loch Achray. It’s a small car park and can get very busy, so other options are to use the Ben Venue car park, a few hundred metres away, or the much bigger Loch Katrine car park which is no more than a kilometre away. There is a £3 per day charge for parking, so bring some change.

Some of the walk goes through forest, but a lot of it affords great views both looking ahead to the pointed summit, as shown in the photos below, and looking back down to Loch Achray.

As you approach and look up to the summit, you wonder how on earth you’re going to get to the top! It looks like some rock climbing must be involved, but the trail loops round the back and there was nothing worse than an easy scramble (at that, it was only really a scramble for people like me who like to have a hand-hold at the steep bits).

From the summit there are great views in both directions, the best (in our opinion) being the view over Loch Katrine, as seen below…

Also looking over Loch Katrine to your left, there is a great view of Ben Venue, another good, but substantially longer hike (about 9 miles return, and more elevation at a height of approximately 2390 feet or 729 metres).

Finally, looking back the way you came up, you can see Loch Achray, and in the far distance (almost indiscernible in this photo), Loch Venacher.

It was a glorious day for the walk, and we enjoyed spending a bit of time at the top enjoying the views. The customary “selfie” below was taken to prove that we made it!

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The first trip in our new Bell Tent, weather was very mixed and we ended up taking the tent down in what was almost a storm! The area around Portavadie is very beautiful, the yellow gorse bushes were in full bloom, and we could see all the way over to the Isle of Arran. We spent the days walking, relaxing in the spa’s outdoor hot pools and canoeing.

Here is the link to our video on YouTube. We hope that you enjoy it!

Following on from our last post of our camping at Portavadie, as the wind just kept increasing, the rain got heavier, the ground got more and more saturated, and the flimsy tent pegs kept uprooting themselves meaning Paul was out in the freezing rain every 20-30 minutes trying to secure them again, we finally decided it was probably safer to try packing up than to continue waiting for it to pass.

The tent had become very wet inside. It was dripping from several places, especially at the A-frame door pole, and of course Paul was bringing in water as he got soaked every time he had to go out to sort the pegs.

Finally, we decided to risk packing it all up. Although we didn’t need to use it on the way out, we’d brought a roof bag for the car, just in case we needed to hurriedly pack on the way home. This was just as well, because otherwise there was no way it was all going to fit back into the car!

We brought the roof bag into the tent and put all the lighter soft stuff in it. Everything else got thrown into random boxes, which goes totally against my OCD/very organised nature. We then rammed all the tent boxes, coolbox etc into the back seats of the car, fastened the roof bag on as best we could, then set about getting the tent down.

We dropped the poles asap, threw them outside on the wet grass to attend to later, unpegged the guy lines and tent base, I took off my shoes and trampled the tent down so that we could get it rolled up and we placed some rocks on top to stop it blowing away.

Once it was loosely rolled up, we then just bunged everything into the car boot without trying to put it into the bags.

Almost everything was soaked, it will need at least a couple of good sunny days to get it all dried out. We have less than 2 weeks until our next camping trip to Langdale in the Lake District, so I hope the weather picks up very soon!

Here is a photo, it doesn’t really do it justice, but we will have a video of our whole trip, including the “storm” ready to put up shortly. The “awning” was to try to block some of the wind from the tent door and the slabs were also for some wind protection, to try to stop the wind from blowing underneath the tent (which it was doing – we thought we were ready for lift-off!)

As you can imagine, we have learnt a few important things from this trip… A) buy some decent tent pegs B) if the forecast is awful, leave the day before! and C) bring some decent waterproofs.

So now we are back home, and it has never felt so good. Heating is on, our inflatable hot tub is turned up so it will be hot for tomorrow, drinks are on the coffee tables and an Alexa alarm set to remind us to put on our electric blanket before we go to bed. Sweet!

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So the travel and overnight stay restrictions were finally lifted on the 26th April, just in time for us to get away for the holiday weekend.

The Monday (today) is a public holiday, and Paul also booked leave on the the Tuesday so we have an extra long weekend. I’m still not back working yet, so I was “good to go”.

Our first choice for our getaway was Balloch O Dee campsite in Dumfries and Galloway, however they were fully booked, so we found availability at Portavadie, on the Argyll Coast, and booked for three nights, with the intention of possibly extending our stay to four nights (more on that later).

Our new tent has a stove with an outlet for the flue already built in, however not all campsites allow them, and unfortunately this one here doesn’t, so we will need to wait until the Lake District in a couple of weeks time to try that out. That’s if our tent survives! (Again, more later…)

The weather forecast during the run up to our trip, although cold, looked very promising with full sun forecast on the Friday and Saturday, and then sunny spells. Unfortunately the forecast changed the closer we got to our trip, and we have ended up with quite a “mixed bag”.

Portavadie is a marina, so in addition to the camping (which they only started last year) they have berths for boats and yachts, an area for campervans and motorhomes, lodge rooms, cottages and luxury waterfront apartments (which we have stayed in before and we can say that they are incredible!) On top of the vast choice of accommodation is a shop, bar & restaurant, and fantastic spa/leisure centre.

Here are a couple of photos of the new tent and campground.

There are some nice walks just in the vicinity of the marina itself, although we did also venture out for a drive along the nearby Kyles of Bute. However most of our time was spent around Portavadie and the marina. The following photos are of the marina and a viewpoint close to the campground.

On a couple of evenings, we took our firepit down to the beach and stayed until after sunset, enjoying a couple of drinks and a nice dram of Glayva.

The highlight of our trip has to be the Spa, which was still being built the last time we were here. It has an outdoor heated infinity pool and hot tubs, as well as indoor pools and a jacuzzi. The photos below were (obviously) taken of the outdoor pools. The view from the outdoor pool is pretty hard to beat – what do you think?

The area has plenty of canoeing opportunities, weather permitting, and in the end we decided to launch from the slip within the marina. We paddled around to one of the nearby beaches, keeping close to land, which was probably just as well because when we got back we noticed one side of the canoe had deflated slightly. On investigation, we found a tiny hole on the seam, which then split to a centimetre or so. We always take stormsure glue with us, so we put a thick layer on and will check it when we get home, although I’m not sure I’d want to risk using it again, certainly not until we have tested it out in shallow water to see if it will stay afloat with just one side blown up!

For meals, while we’ve been here, we took some salad for the first night to have in the tent, got delicious takeaway pizza from the restaurant on Saturday, and ate inside on Sunday. We both had fish and chips, a whale of a fish! We didn’t quite manage to eat it all.

So now it’s Monday and the weather has taken a terrible turn. Heavy rain and high winds were forecast, and when we first woke up, it wasn’t yet raining too hard, and the wind, although it was strong and it would have been a struggle to get the tent down, still wasn’t too bad. We deliberated over what the best course of action would be. Struggle to pack up now, or wait it out until the (hopefully) drier and less windy weather tomorrow.

In the end, we made what I think was probably the wrong choice. We decided to book in for another night and wait it out. This tent (Klondike Grande) is supposed to stand up to 100 mile and hour winds. It is currently blowing at around 40 – 50 mph. The question is whether it will get worse. And if we pack up now, can we do so without ruining the tent? Or if we try to ride it out, will the tent get destroyed anyway, making this an even worse choice?

The centre pole is shaking, the sides are flapping like crazy, the noise is almost like thunder and the wind is blowing underneath the tent and lifting the “floor”. I think we’re doomed either way. The last people here have just managed to get their tent packed away, the others went some time ago.

Watch this space, I will post an update tomorrow. Please wish us luck! And if you have enjoyed reading this post, please share with your friends and consider following us on Facebook by clicking here.

This weekend the weather was beautiful, and for the second year running our “April showers” seem to be a distant memory. The sky was blue and it was warm enough to just wear a tee-shirt for most of the time. It’s been a very dry month so far, so we are hoping this continues for another week as we are off on our first camping trip of the year this coming holiday weekend (from 30th April) – watch this space for our camping blog!

Anyway, we tried to choose places to visit where we hoped we would find parking relatively easily. On Saturday we chose Chatelherault Country Park next to Hamilton. It’s a fairly short drive on the motorway from us, and it actually took longer to get on to the motorway (due to our usual slip road being closed) than it did to do the rest of the motorway journey.

Our sat nav didn’t take us to the main car park, but instead to the closest entrance. However, this was next to a quiet estate, which had plenty of street parking. We entered the park and took the route along the Avon Water.

After about a mile, we headed up to the Visitor Centre (which was still closed due to Covid). We photographed these unusual wooden sculptures next to the Visitor centre. I have been unable to find out what they are supposed to be of.

The Visitor Centre, which also includes a cafe, gift shop and exhibition area, is within the Duke of Hamilton’s former hunting lodge. We had our picnic lunch on the grass outside, which has open views as far as Ben Lomond on a clear day. You can also see the Hamilton Mausoleum in the distance (see photo below), a landmark sight we have passed many times on the motorway.

After our picnic, we headed to the Duke’s Bridge, from where there is a good view of the ruins of Cadzow Castle. There is not much left of the castle, but the bridge over the gorge looks pretty awesome.

We continued on the path following the river, passing many pretty wildflowers, until we reached the far end of the park, at which point we crossed the bridge and returned to the Visitor Centre via a higher path on the other side of the river. From there, we took the Deer Park Road back to our starting point. Altogether, we walked around seven miles out of the ten miles of trails in the park.

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On Sunday, given our delay getting onto the motorway the previous day, we decided to head Northwest instead, to Balloch Country Park. There is no motorway, but the surprisingly quiet A82 gave us a quick drive there. We parked up at Loch Lomond Shores, which is (obviously) on the banks of Loch Lomond and has plenty of parking. At the “Shores” there are shops, cafes and restaurants, a Sea Life Aquarium, various children’s activities, water sports, and lots of walks including the 200 acre Balloch Country Park. On top of that, you have the small town of Balloch, which the River Leven runs through from adjacent Loch Lomond to the River Clyde. There is a marina on the river, where many of the loch users moor their boats.

In the park, we began by following the path along the loch shore, where we stopped for a picnic before heading up towards the castle.

There were lots of lovely wildflowers along the paths, and next to the castle were gardens with beautiful Spring foliage and flowers.

From the castle we headed back down towards the loch shore, stopping for a couple of photographs of the loch and Ben Lomond, before heading back to our car for the drive home. On this walk, we did about five miles in total and covered most of the paths.

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Watch out for our Portavadie camping blog next week!

On Friday we took another trip out in our Intex canoe. Loch Lomond is handy for us to get to, and with many islands to explore, it has so much to offer.

For this paddle, tHe best place to park, if you are lucky enough to get a space (we just managed to squeeze in), is the lay-by at Aldochlay which fits around 6-8 cars depending on their size and how well they are parked. From there you can get into the water right opposite Inchtavannach. If there are no spaces, then you can drive about a mile further on to Luss, which has a big (paid) car park. From there, you can launch from the beach, but it’s a little bit of a walk from the car park.

Inchtavannach and the other two islands have lots of little beaches where you can picnic or even camp overnight. As you paddle around the top end of Inchtavannach, you have some great open views looking up the loch and towards Ben Lomond.

Once we rounded the top end of Inchtavannach, we then paddled through “The Narrows” between Inchtavannach and Inchconnachan. We made a stop at one of the little beaches on Inchconnachan to go and look for the elusive resident wallabies, but failed once again (we’ve tried a few times, but never seen then, even when we camped overnight last year – they are there, and some people have been lucky to spot them, but generally they keep themselves hidden away).

The next island we visited was Inchmoan. This has the best beach we have seen on any of the islands that we have visited, a long crescent shaped sweep of sand on the south side of the island (the north has one too, but we think the one on the south is better). It’s a great place for a picnic or even a swim stop. As it was a Friday afternoon, it was fairly quiet. On weekends the beaches here get very busy with overnight campers and boaters, and it can get quite rowdy. We would love to come back one weeknight to camp out here. The next 3 photos are of the south beach on Inchmoan…

We continued our paddle around the island to check out the beach on the north side. Again, it was quite a long crescent shaped beach, and there were great views up to the north of the loch, but we still prefer the south beach. What do you think?

Finally, we paddled back to Aldochlay by rounding the south end of Inchtavannach and paddling up between Inchtavannach and the “mainland”. We didn’t track our route, but reckon we paddled about 5 miles in total. It was a perfect day for it – calm, warm and mostly sunny. Bliss!

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Until I get time to write my blog post, here’s a wee teaser from today…