We recently returned from a 12 night camping trip at Clachtoll Beach Campsite on the mountainous west coast of the Scottish Highlands near to Lochinver. We had been here last year, and it’s pretty rare for us to visit the same place twice, but we liked it so much that we decided to go again and spend a little longer this time.

Clachtoll is just off the famous NC500 (North Coast 500) route, on the Drumbeg Loop, about 6 miles from Lochinver via a somewhat challenging single track road, which becomes unsuitable for caravans and motorhomes a bit further on. However, to reach Clachtoll from the Lochinver side of the loop is doable in a caravan or motorhome (and there were plenty on the campsite), it just requires some care.

We took our Bell Tent, complete with wood burning stove to keep it toasty inside at night. Fortunately this time, we pegged it out well using springs and storm pegs, plus 3 windbreaks, so when the strong winds hit for a couple of days in the middle of the trip, it stayed standing.

During the first 4 days, though, we had amazing weather. Summer had come late! At times it was over 20 degrees, it was also very calm, and perfect for taking our inflatable kayak out to explore the small coves, beaches and bays, including the famous Achmelvich beach. We even had a small pod of porpoises come up close to our kayak on one day.

At Clachtoll itself, and around the area, are some stunning beaches that would rival any in the Caribbean, and as our weather tends to mostly be on the cold side (and the sea even colder), it never gets busy. During these first few days when the sun was warm and there was hardly any wind, we sunbathed and braved a dip in the sea, the water is hard to resist. It was very brisk, so we didn’t stay in long, though there were quite a few hardy people that we saw during our time there, who were in swimming for ages!

As well as beaches, you are spoiled for choice for things to do in the area. Being mountainous, there are plenty of hill walks to do, ranging from shorter ones (which are the ones we do – such as Stac Pollaidh and the Bone Caves) to much higher, longer and more challenging ones such as the dramatic Suilven. For a short walk with brilliant views, we think you can’t beat Stac Pollaidh. It took us about 1hr 20mins up to the saddle (which is as far as we went, as it’s a scramble to the top and we didn’t fancy trying it), and that was including photo stops and a few minutes watching 2 stags that were close to the path.

You can also do some waterfall walks, there are falls at Clashnessie (a few miles form Clachtoll) which are easily accessible, and the “Wailing Widow Falls” are pretty cool – you can walk to the top (15 mins max) from one of the bigger laybys at the top of the hill, where the falls cascade from Loch na Gainmhich and/or walk to the bottom (20 mins) from the smaller layby at the bottom of the hill. These falls are excellent to see a birds-eye view of if you have a drone.

Although on this trip we didn’t re-visit the following places, they are definitely worth going to if you haven’t been before – Oldshoremore beach (near Kinlochbervie), Sandwood Bay (not far from Oldshoremore, but you have to park up Blairmore car park and walk in – approx 5 miles each way), Balnakeil Bay near Durness, Smoo Cave (also near Durness), the list goes on… Basically if you’re willing to drive 1 – 1.5 hours each way, there are dozens of amazing beaches and walks to do, and even if you want to keep the driving down to 30 – 45 minutes each way, you still have plenty to do. Without needing to drive, from the campsite, we would recommend the Peat Track for a very pretty, but easy walk. And for a short walk, you can walk to Clachtoll Broch, which takes about 30 minutes each way.

If you fancy a boat trip, North Coast Sea Tours do 1.5 hour wildlife watching & sunset trips for £20pp (at the time of writing) from Lochinver and are very highly rated. Unfortunately we didn’t get round to doing this, so that’s on the list for next time.

On this trip, we were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, we are usually fast asleep by the time they come out, but on our anniversary they came out early, about 10/11pm, so that was a great treat! There was quite a lot of aurora activity during our time there, but this was the only night that we were up when they came out. The photo has not been touched up, although the camera caught more colour than the naked eye (as it normally does), we did see just a glimmer of the green and purple, but the rays to the eye were just a bright white.

On a couple of evenings, rather than put the tent stove on, we took our firepit and some logs down to the beach at sunset. In the photo below we had to shelter between some rocks as the wind had picked up.

During our 12 nights camping, we mostly cooked (the Spar shop in Lochinver is a good place to stock up), but we also had some great fish & chips to take-away (the fish & chip van in the village usually opens 4 days a week, you can get details at the campsite) and had a couple of lunches and an anniversary dinner in the village of Lochinver. For a small village there is a good choice of places to eat. We had our anniversary meal in Peets (you have to pre-book online, and they also do take-away), a couple of lunches in Delilah’s (we didn’t pre-book and managed to get a table both times) and a couple of take-aways from the Lochinver Larder, famous for their pies (which are very good – we even brought some home with us!) Paul said his seafood chowder and steak in Peet’s was superb, amongst the best he’s ever had. The cullen skink soup in Delilah’s was also excellent, although the second time I had it, there wasn’t much fish in it, so maybe it’s a bit hit and miss (it still tasted good, though). All the pies we tried from the Larder were very good.

Speaking of food, the campsite have freshly home baked cakes on most days, and they are very good! They also sell some basics such as milk and eggs, and have fish delivered regularly too. There is also a small store a very short walk from the campsite called Flossies, although for a big shop it is worth going into Lochinver. Flossie’s do lunches (such as sandwiches) and coffee etc as well.

If you fancy a trip to Clachtoll and would like to stay in the campsite, it is worth booking several months in advance if you want an electric pitch, and particularly if you want a sea view. The non-electric pitches don’t book up as fast, but the campsite was fully booked on every night that we were there, and that was from the end of August till the 9th September.

Clachtoll is roughly a 2 hour drive from Inverness and 5.5 hours from Glasgow if taking the A9 (going via Fort William is more scenic, but takes longer, even though it’s a few less miles).

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Happy travels!

Currently on the Scottish Isle of Jura (famous for it’s whisky) and tomorrow heading over to Islay (even more famous for it’s whisky!)

Our campsite is on the field in front of the Jura Hotel. Only £10 (per tent) per night and with good toilet/shower/dishwashing facilities, plus of course the hotel itself where we ate last night before enjoying listening to a local band in the bar.

This morning we woke up to a herd of deer on the campground. Amazing!

So keep a look out for more soon! Next 5 nights are on Islay (if all goes to plan)!

Having gone camping with Haven last year in Yorkshire, we are now on their mailing list. A few months ago I clicked to have a look at the Haven in Berwick on Tweed, and found a basic 2 bed caravan for rent in June (our summer) at only £99 for 3 nights Friday to Monday.

We arranged a date to meet up with Paul’s sister and brother in law mid June. The caravan park is walking distance from the town and there’s plenty to do in the nearby area (which we knew as we had visited before, albeit not in a caravan).

The main things we didn’t do this time, having done them before (and with the tide times not working too well for us) was a visit over to Lindisfarne and a trip down to Bamburgh (both well worth it if you are visiting for the first time.

We had planned a bbq on the beach (there are 2 beaches at the campsite) but the weather (fresh winds) had other ideas. Instead we had to settle for a drink on the beach rather than risk sand in our food.

So, we ended up cooking our bbq in the caravan on the first night (can’t fault the kitchen facilities) and then take-away fish & chips on Saturday and take-away pizza on Sunday. We had planned to eat out in town on one night, but settled for a couple of drinks in a couple of the pubs instead.

On Saturday we headed south from Berwick to the long (seemingly endless) stretch of beach at Cheswick Sands, where we saw a dozen or so dead gannets (we found out later they were suspected to have succumbed to bird flu). The dead gannets didn’t, however, detract from the beauty of the area (many were already half buried in the sand), although it was sad to see.

After Cheswick, we headed to Ross Back Sands, another beautiful and seemingly endless stretch of beach which is always very quiet due to the (approximate) one mile hike in. We set up our windbreak and picnic rug to have our lunch in front of the dunes.

Finally, a walk around Berwick town walls, with a visit to a couple of the pubs, before heading back to the caravan with our take-away fish & chips.

After a good “fry-up” breakfast on Sunday, we decided this time to head north over the border and into Scotland. Our first stop was the pretty small town of Eyemouth where we had a stroll along the beach and then part of the coastal path, before heading to the harbour where we watched one of the local harbour seals being fed.

A few miles further north was a gem of a place called Coldingham bay (near Coldingham village) with it’s beautifully painted beach huts, turquoise sea and pale sand. It’s on the coastal path heading north from Eyemouth and goes on to St Abbs a mile further on, and beyond. We walked the short one mile stretch from Coldingham bay to St Abbs and back, an easy and popular stretch of the coastal path.

St Abbs is another pretty (fishing) village and the walk is well worth it. There are some great spots for photography as you approach the harbour.

Back at Coldingham bay we had some refreshments before taking another short walk in the opposite direction. If you were heading one-way, or had plenty of time and energy to retrace your steps, you could easily walk for miles along this coast. From Eyemouth to St Abbs and back is around 9 miles return.

On our last evening, instead of heading into town for dinner, we headed down to the beach with some wine, and then got pizza from the on-site Papa Johns. It was still pretty windy, but we had been lucky enough to have been indoors during the few short showers we had over the weekend.

After checkout, G&T headed south on their way home, while Paul & I decided to divert about 8 miles to stop for a look around North Berwick (south of Edinburgh and only a small detour on our way home).

North Berwick had been on my “list” of places to visit for some time, so it was great to be able to stop off for a while on our way home. It’s a lovely seaside town, with 2 long sandy beaches, a harbour, and loads of cafes and restaurants. One of the beaches has a stone wall built to hold the seawater as the tide goes out, and make a paddling/swimming pool. It put me in mind of Margate (at the time we visited, about 40 years ago), which had a similar set up. A really cool idea.

I liked the Milsey Bay beach best, as it was lined with wildflowers, had the “swimming pool” and looked out to Bass Rock, a steep sided volcanic rock which is home to a colony of gannets.

However, the West Bay Beach was also lovely, lined with houses, many of which had wooden steps leading down from their gardens on to the beach.

North Berwick is around 90 minutes from Glasgow, and Berwick on Tweed around 2 hours. Our home town of Glasgow is handy for so many places, we are very lucky.

Our next trip is to the islands of Islay & Jura, so watch out for our next blog, coming soon…

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Up until now we have only done a single night camp out on the islands, but as it was a holiday weekend, we decided to make the most of it and have a couple of nights on different islands.

As well as our inflatable canoe, we also have a 3-man inflatable dinghy that we use if we are camping, as this allows us to bring more gear (we would be pushed to even fit the basics into our canoe). The dinghy has an electric outboard powered by a battery, which we recently upgraded to a lithium one as it lasts longer and is a lighter weight.

Paul added some netting across the end of the dinghy, which allows us to pile our gear up quite high without risk of it falling overboard. We even managed to bring a big bag of logs for a campfire. The tent is a roomy 3-man with a decent sized porch, but it packs away relatively small.

For our first night, we had a late lunch / early dinner at the Oak Tree Inn, Balmaha, which saved us having to cook on the first night. We asked permission to use their pontoon / jetty to launch from, which is handy as we can drive up there to offload the dinghy and all our gear, then one of us starts loading up the dinghy while the other takes the car back to the car park. By then it was around 4.30pm, well timed as the car park was starting to empty a little bit (whereas earlier in the day you often have to wait around to get a space).

As far as parking goes, the car park in Balmaha is no longer free. However, a day ticket lasts for 24 hours and you can use the Ringo App to top up whilst on the islands. Another option would have been to use the car park at Millarochy Bay, which is still free and which we have used before for an overnight trip, but Paul wasn’t keen to leave the car there for 2 nights; instead he felt it would be safer in the paid car park.

Initially we were headed for Inchlonaig for our first night, however the beach that we had chosen was actually quite sloping and pebbly, so after a bit of deliberation, we decided to head over to the north end of Inchconnachan (about a mile away) and check out what looked to be a nice sandy beach over there.

The white sand beach was indeed stunning, but when we were looking for a good place to pitch, we realised (after Paul got bit by one) that the whole beach was covered with quite big ants! So we got back in the dinghy and hoped we’d get luckier with the next beach along, which we did. There were still some ants around, but not in the same abundance, and we found a good bit to pitch up between the beach and the foliage (which was stunning as it was dotted with several rhododendrons in full bloom).

We set up camp, put our camping chairs and small table out, took some beer and chilled wine from the coolbag and snacked on some leftover pizza I had from our earlier meal.

A little later, we set up a small campfire using a firepit that had been set up previously by another camper. We watched the sun set and had a wee nip of whisky before bed.

During the night, twice we heard what we assumed to be one (or more) of the resident wallabies bouncing past our tent. I popped out to see if I could spot any of them, but either they kept well hidden or I wasn’t quick enough. It would have been really great if we had seen them again, having only successfully spotted them on one previous occasion.

Breakfast the next day was a roll with sausage (veggie ones for me) and potato scone. We decided against going looking for the wallabies as the foliage was now much thicker than it was when we saw them earlier in the year, which would A) make them harder to spot, and B) make it much more likely for us to get tick bites. Instead we had a relaxing morning before packing up and moving on to Inchmoan in the hope that the long sandy beach on the south of the island would be quiet.

On arrival at the huge crescent shaped south beach, we saw that there were already three BIG tents pitched up, so we decided that if we wanted a quiet night it would probably be best to move on and find another spot. The next decent stretch of beach we tried was full of broken glass and poo (animal poo as far as we could tell, but poo all the same), so again we carried on.

From memory we knew there were some small beaches towards the east end of the island where it narrowed, and we found a perfect one, just big enough for us and with a nice flat bit to pitch up the tent. The sun was out, the water was warm for a paddle (funnily enough it was noticeably warmer on the south side of the wee beach that we were on than it was on the north side…) It was tempting to go for a swim, but we settled just for a paddle.

We had enough logs left for a small campfire, and again there was a firepit already there that we used. The clouds that had been there earlier cleared away and it was a beautiful afternoon & evening. We still had some chilled wine and beer, which we had with some cold food that we had brought for dinner, before moving on later to our boxed red wine and another wee nip of whisky (well Fireball for me) before bed.

We couldn’t believe how quiet it was for a holiday weekend, as past experience had us expecting a couple of quite noisy nights. It helped to choose spots that were away from the main beaches, but even so, there seemed to be very few people about. There was a group of youngsters camped not far from us on the second night, they seemed to be on an outdoor / canoeing skills course, but they were very quiet overnight, and we had some entertainment earlier on watching them doing rescue drills & capsizing their canoes!

On our last morning, we awoke to this view…

We cooked up more sausage butties, then went for a paddle and soaked up some sun before packing up and setting off back home in time for a BBQ at my brother’s.

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Happy camping!

So we found a campsite on the shores of the lake that wasn’t far from Ambleside. The campsite was Low Wray, run by the National Trust, and the location was perfect! We had a huge pitch very close to the beach, so handy for launching our inflatable canoe.

We were able to paddle across the lake, about one mile, to the Wateredge Inn in Ambleside for lunch/dinner. Much better than driving!

After our late lunch, and once the trees shaded the sun from our pitch, we took our chairs and wee folding table on to the beach to catch the sun and have a drink and some light snacks for dinner, shooing off the swan who rather fancied what we had to eat!

The castle was only a miles walk from the campsite, along a good and easy to follow path. We went later in the evening, just before sunset, and practically had the place to ourselves.

On the second day, the weather wasn’t as warm or sunny, and the wind had picked up a bit, but at least it stayed dry. We went out for a paddle south towards Bowness (but didn’t make it that far, as when the wind picked up, it got quite choppy). Then we were out again later for another paddle across to the pub for a refreshment.

In the evening, after the sun had set, we had just opened a second bottle of wine when we heard cries for help! There was someone in the lake, about 400 metres out, and his kayak had sunk! There was a family camped right on the beach who had kayaks, and the guy was right out there straight away. Paul then followed in our 2 man inflatable, which worked out well, as the first guy got the one who was in trouble to hold on to his kayak which he paddled to shallower water near a wee island, then they got him into the spare seat in Paul’s kayak. It all ended well, although the poor guy lost his phone to the lake. He didn’t have a life vest or wetsuit on, so it brought home to us just how important it is to (at the very least) wear a life vest / buoyancy aid.

On our final day, the rain came. We had to pack away a wet tent and do countless runs with our gear in a wheelbarrow to get it all to the car (the one downside of having the parking separate from the camping field).

Less than a week later, and just a few days after finally getting the tent dried out, we were off to Mull for another camping trip (blog to follow soon)! Lets hope we can bring home a dry tent this time…

Click here to view on YouTube our short (3 min 20) video of our holiday, culminating in some Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) clips at the end of the video – enjoy!

If you liked the video, read our full blog post here.

Camping at Loch Drunkie has become a fairly regular thing for us, we tend to do a few trips each year. It’s close enough (about an hour’s drive) to go for just one night, although we’ve had a few two night trips too. Although it’s essentially “wild camping”, from 1 March to 30 September, you do need to buy a permit for a small fee (for this year it has gone up to £4 per tent per night, plus the £3 fee to take your car into the forest drive). We normally take our inflatable canoe and combine the camping with a paddle on the loch.

On Saturday we made an impromptu decision to see if there were any permits available, which there were, so we booked area “I”, which has a few good spots to pitch a tent. There’s a lovely little peninsula about 1/4 mile from the Fisherman’s car park, and a good spot on the hill much closer. Although we saw very few people that weekend, the spot on the hill was already taken, so we decided to pitch up on the peninsula.

It took a few trips back and forth to the car to get all our gear down there (no problem getting my 10,000 daily steps in!) Although “wild camping” we are not very savvy at packing light (actually not savvy at all) hence the blog heading of “wild glamping”! As well as our “basics” i.e. tent, airbed, sleeping bags, duvet, food & drink, cookware, water, camp chairs, picnic table and coffee maker, we also brought our toilet bucket, wood burning stove & logs, an electric blanket, invertor and the battery that is normally used to run the electric outboard on our wee dinghy to run the electric blanket from!

After carrying all that down, we decided not to bother taking the canoe as well, but instead to just chill for the rest of the day. It was already mid-late afternoon by the time we had finished setting up, so we just popped our camping chairs by the loch to enjoy a few beverages and the lovely views.

There was no doubt that we had gone over the top, but we had a lovely comfortable night (until the battery running the electric blanket ran out at 4am and then it got really cold! – Paul blamed me for putting the electric blanket on the highest heat setting, he reckoned it would have lasted all night on a lower one). The stove was fantastic because, as opposed to the firepit, there was no smoke blowing at us every time the wind changed direction. We will most definitely take it again. We didn’t even need our camping stove, as we just cooked on the wood burner (we had brought enough logs to do us for the evening and a few spare for cooking and a quick heat in the morning).

Normally when you camp where a permit is required, the Rangers come round just to check that no-one is there who hasn’t booked, but we never saw them this time.

When the wind dropped around tea-time, we were tempted to go back up and get the canoe to blow up for a quick paddle, but we decided it was too much effort. Next time we are camping there (soon) we have booked area “G” which is next to both the water and parking, so if the weather permits, we hope to get out on the loch then.

After a partially warm night’s sleep, we got up and put the stove on with the few logs we had left, and put the kettle and coffee pot on top of the stove to heat up before cooking breakfast.

We hope that you have enjoyed this very short blog, and if you are interested in the stove, here is a link to the one we bought.

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For a few years now we have known about the elusive wallabies that live on the island of Inchconnachan on Loch Lomond. We have gone looking for them a few times now during our canoe paddles and once when wild camping on the island, but they had always eluded us – until now!

It has been a long and dreicht winter, lacking in those nice sunny crisp days that we usually see at least some of the time. Instead we’ve had lots of winds and rain, which, coupled with the short days and working Monday-Friday, has meant there’s been very little chance of getting out in our canoe.

Finally, as we head into March, and as the days slowly start to draw out, we have just had the most fantastic weekend weather; just what we’d been waiting for – the days stretched out longer than usual due to the clear skies, the wind dropped at last, and both Saturday and Sunday were stunning! We were out canoeing on both days, and on the Sunday in particular, the loch was like a millpond.

On the Saturday, we paddled over to Inchlonaig to check it out for a possible future wild camp. The water level was very high, so there wasn’t many landing spots big enough to set up camp on, but when the levels drop, we saw a few spots that should be nice to try out. We did hit some quite blowy wind and waves as we paddled to the north of the island, but it calmed down nicely on the south end, and stayed calm for our paddle back to Millarochy Bay.

As Sunday was even better weather-wise, we decided to head out from the west side of the loch to Inchconnachan and have another try at looking for the resident wallabies. There are a few small beaches where you can leave your canoe while you go off exploring.

The wallabies were introduced to the island in the 1940’s and some 10-20 years ago were reputed to be quite tame and easy to spot. However, due to culling that has taken place, there are now less of them and they tend to remain rather elusive. There is currently been talk about removing the wallabies from the island, and a petition has been set up to challenge this.

Check out the photo below and see if you can spot the baby in it’s mother’s pouch! We didn’t actually see the baby at the time, it was only later when looking through out photos that we spotted it. We saw two plus the baby but they are pretty hard to spot as they blend in well with the foliage. It took us about an hour of looking and we covered a fair part of the north of the island before we saw them.

If you would like to watch a short video we took, check it out on our Facebook page by clicking here.

As well as wallabies, you can see Lady Arran’s old abandoned summerhouse, with an old neglected sawmill at the rear. The house is literally falling apart and is unsafe, so we wouldn’t recommend going inside, so instead here are a couple of photos we took of the house and of the fantastic mural inside depicting the loch and it’s islands.

We had our picnic whilst on the island, sitting perhaps just 30 metres away from one of the wallabies. It must have got used to us and realised we weren’t a threat.

Afterwards, as it was still quite early, and the sun was splitting the sky, we paddled on to the southern end of Inchmoan, which is one of the most scenic islands with it’s long strip of sandy beach and the yellow gorse in bloom. We’ve always fancied a wee camp on this beach, but it would be better done in winter / early Spring (a beautiful day like this one would have been perfect) as it gets pretty busy with overnight boaters and jet skiers in summer.

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