In 2015 my wife and I travelled around England and Scotland with our caravan. Here is an account of our journey in Scotland.
Moffatt
We arrived at Moffat mid-afternoon after a journey from Cheshire that can only be described as wet. We stopped at Tebay Services on the M6 and were astonished at how different it was from any other services we have visited. The main part is a farm shop with artisan bread, a deli and a butcher. The café sells lovely food from the shop. There is a duck pond, a dog walk and an indoor children’s play area. It’s very clear that the ethics here are different to what one normally gets on motorways. Needless to say, we bought lots of lovely pies (diet? what diet?) and some gorgeous treacle and walnut bread. We were very lucky at the camp site because there was a break in the rain which was just long enough for us to get set up. It dried up in the evening to produce wonderful pink tinged clouds.
Moffat boasts the widest high street in Scotland. There are two 2-lane roads with a central area as wide as a 2-lane road., making a street 6 lanes wide. Moffat also boasts the shortest street in Scotland. The town is small and full of various versions of Edinburgh Woollen Mills using different names but all belonging to EWM. There’s also lots of restaurants, cafes, antique shops and hotels. Speaking of hotels – The Star is apparently in the Guinness Book of Records as the narrowest hotel in the world.
The River Annan runs through the town and we enjoyed a walk along the bank. It was so peaceful. Birds singing and the river alternating between gentle burbling, “looping” as it gathered itself for an area of stones then gushing over the stones to fall back to gentle burbling once again.
Oban
We stayed at the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Oban, which is actually 13 miles north of Oban at a village called Barcaldine. The site is in an old walled garden and is across the road from the shore of Loch Crerran. When we arrived on Friday, we knew that some very heavy rain was forecast but that Saturday would be fine. So, we booked on the Three Isles Tour for Saturday.
Mull, Staffa and Iona
This involved crossing from Oban to Mull on the car ferry, as foot passengers; being met by a coach at Craignure on Mull and being driven across Mull to Fionnphort. From there we took a boat to Staffa and then on to Iona and eventually back to Fionnphort for the coach journey back to Craignure and ferry across to Oban. The start from the ferry terminal at Oban was at 9.30 am and the crossing took 45 minutes. We sat outside at the stern of the ship and had lovely views and shelter from the wind. The coach journey across Mull was 37 miles on a single-track road with passing places. We had a running commentary from a funny driver from Leicester who now lives on Mull. The scenery was amazing and the commentary interesting. It was really nice to be able to sit back and let someone else drive while I gazed around me. Apparently eagles (golden and white tailed) are frequently spotted and the driver said he had seen one that morning but unfortunately, we didn’t. We did see wild red deer and highland cattle. The deer looked more domesticated than the cattle! Mull is full of lochs and mountains – stunningly beautiful. The attraction of Staffa, of course, was Fingal’s Cave, made famous by Felix Mendelssohn in his Hebrides Overture. The boat ride to Staffa took about 35 minutes along the coast of Mull. The uninhabited island is composed of basalt (a type of lava) and, like the Giant’s Causeway in Ulster, it has formed into hexagonal columns. Staffa is a breeding ground for Puffins. We saw them in a flock on the sea, but they haven’t moved to nest on land yet.
But the cave – oh my! – what an experience. It is majestic, awe inspiring and strangely spiritual. A place where earthly and ethereal worlds meet. It’s a bit of a trek across the basalt to get to the cave but there are some handrails part of the way. Inside the cave the roof is made of hexagonal basalt and the reflections of light from the sea in the cave makes a fascinating display on the roof. Having visited the cave, we just had time to climb the endless number of steps up to the cliff top before the boat came to take us to Iona.
Although Iona is not particularly beautiful, and is certainly not spectacular like it’s surrounding islands, it is the birthplace of Christianity in the north of Britain and has an interesting history. It was here that the famous illustrated gospel book called the Book of Kells was created. It was taken from Iona to Kells in Ireland as a response to raids by Vikings. The monks set up a new monastery in Kells and that’s how the manuscript came to be kept in Trinity College in Dublin.
I was fascinated to see the grave of the Scottish King Macbeth because I hadn’t realised there had actually been one. I had thought Shakespeare had invented him!
Iona reminded me of the Scillies. I think it would be a great place to spend a simple quiet and peaceful time. I guess that’s why there is still a Christian Community there to which anyone can go for retreat etc.
Iona also has the best-preserved medieval nunnery in Britain. It’s a ruin but apparently is still the best preserved. How times have changed! Nunneries were places where unmarried noble women, widows and “fallen” women were housed although they didn’t retreat from wordly life. There is a very faded Sheila Na Gig above one of the window arches.
We arrived back at Oban at 7.45pm and by the time we got back to the caravan we were very tired but felt that we had experienced a once in a lifetime special day.
Those who have visited the Highlands will know what it’s like. Those who haven’t need to do so. I can’t begin to do it justice. It reminds me a lot of Ireland. Everywhere you look there are breathtaking views and it isn’t easy to capture them on a camera. Especially when the camera is just a mobile phone!
On Sunday, the day after our trip to Staffa etc was a day when we didn’t go anywhere until the evening. It rained so much I thought we were seeing the beginnings of a remake of Noah’s Flood. We are on a hard-standing pitch thank goodness because the grass around us became a lake, with ducks actually swimming on it! After our exertions and excitement of the Three Isles Trip we were content to have a lazy day. It was my birthday, but I had my special treat the day before
Monday started wet but we ventured out to Oban and we were rewarded by a bit of fine weather. We “did” the four charity shops, had fish and chips and walked along the esplanade. Our car parking time having run out we decided to drive to Glencoe, about 30 odd miles north.
Glencoe
The visitor centre has a very interesting exhibition about the Glen and how it was formed. Glencoe is probably best known for the massacre of the MacDonalds by the Campbells, but it has much more interesting things about it. The mountains were formed when continents collided. The Glen was formed by volcanic activity and is actually the collapsed rim of a huge volcano It was here that the geological phenomenon called caldera collapse was first understood. The glaciers of the ice age then played their part in shaping Glencoe into a U-shaped valley. Here are some serious mountains with Ben Nevis just a few miles to the north.
Having taken on fuel in the form of iced mince tarts we decided to drive the length of Glencoe, across Rannoch Moor and round in a huge circle via Tyndrum back to the caravan. What a landscape! I could only describe it with a long string of superlatives. I’m glad I bought the guidebook to Glencoe at the visitor centre. The photographs in it will remind me of a wonderful experience.
The Great Glen, Loch Ness and Dingwall
Dingwall is in the North East of Scotland about 15 miles north of Inverness. To get here we travelled from Oban to Fort William and then through the Great Glen. The Great Glen is composed of two long lochs, Loch Lochy and Loch Ness which are joined by the Caledonian Canal. On the map the glen appears to cut Scotland in two as it runs from one coast to the other. It’s almost like a rift valley.
We stopped for a couple of hours at Fort William and we thought it was a delightful little town with a long pedestrianised main street and Ben Nevis looming over it. Its peak was shrouded in cloud. Here’s Mona at lunch on the loch side at Fort William. It was lovely and sunny until I decided to take a photograph! We looked very hard for Nessie but we didn’t see her. Actually, if I had looked anywhere but at the road, we would have probably joined Nessie! The main roads around here are so full of S bends that you have to concentrate more than at speed on the motorway.
The camp site at Dingwall is on the edge of town and so once we had pitched and eaten, we walked into town and found a riverside walk back to the site. It was a pleasant short walk along a bank lined with trees and we spotted a heron. Unfortunately, I had just put my phone back in my pocket when it took off and flew right past us. That would have been a great pic.
Dingwall was once the Viking capital of Scotland. Its name is derived from place of the “Thing” which means something akin to “parliament”. Sadly, it is now no more than a town suffering from a struggling economy. The riverside path continues past the site and follows a canal right out to the shore of the Cromarty Firth.
Strathpeffer
This village has a name that is easier to type than to say. It’s about 5 miles from Dingwall and in its heyday was a Victorian Spa of some note. There is still an enormous and striking hotel set back from the road. We spent a bit of time in the old pump room looking at an exhibition of the spa’s history, then had coffee/tea at the nearby Pavilion which was built to provide entertainment for those staying in the spa. We discovered something called Ecclefechan Butter Tart. Raisins, nuts and gooey syrup in a cake mixture foundation all in a pastry case. Oh my – enough said.
The Pavilion had a lovely hills side garden and we discovered some huge wooden sculptures. My favourites were the Three Norns. The Norns are mysterious beings and their names suggest their ability to construct the content of time: one is Urd (“The Past,”), the second Verdandi (“What Is Presently Coming into Being”) and the third Skuld (“What Shall Be”). They live in a hall by a well, “Well of Fate” beneath Yggdrasil, the mighty tree at the centre of the Norse otherworld. I had been reading the Warrior Chronicles (on TV as The Last Kingdom), by Bernard Cornwell which are set at the time of King Alfred and the Danes (Vikings) so I had come across the Norns quite recently and was delighted to see the sculpture.
The Roogie Falls
Whilst in Strathpeffer we saw a small map which indicated the Roogie Falls a few miles up the road – so off we went.
The Forestry Commission provide many, many paths, car parks and toilets all across Scotland and usually there is no charge. That’s the case here at Roogie. Just a car park in the middle of nowhere with toilets and a map board. There are way marked paths which were easy to follow, if a little steep in places. Stunning river falls and bridges across them. On the way back we saw a lovely slow worm – which is of course a legless lizard. Our walk was fully rewarded.
From here we drove North to the ferry for Orkney.