One word? When seven would do…

written in word:
Sunday 9th October.
It’s all gone quiet over here

Ady and I stayed up really late last night overdosing on internet access and electric hook up related activities which made for a later start this morning. We all had showers and spent some time compiling a blog post for the WW blog about how we’ve found the last three weeks and some stuff about what happens next. Just as I’d finished typing it all up the mifi ran out of data. The original deal with three was for a pre loaded mifi with credit for ‘a couple of months’ to be reviewed after a while. No review was ever forthcoming and I suspect we used a lot less credit that expected but I had a message on it the other day to say it was an internal SIM and would be disconnected. I contacted Jo at three to say we had loved using it and would be really pleased if there was any way to continue doing so and do some more blog reviews for it but have had no reply. I know she has been off work so am still vaguely hoping it may get reconnected at some stage, otherwise that is the end of our internet connection for the meantime as we don’t have any room in our budget for it L

I managed to connect my phone to upload the blog post and will be able to check emails on my phone and maybe check in on friend feed once a day but normal blogging and uploading of photos etc will be out. We finished charging everything up, had lunch and then packed up.

Our plan was to head to the closed campsite which allows free parking off season as it is fairly central on Skye and has phone signal so we headed for that, calling in at both CoOps we passed along the way to check for food bargains. Sure enough Ady came out of the first one with 3 packs of Gu chocolate puddings, a pack of yoghurts, two bags of potatoes, two packs of sausages, a ready meal mashed potatoes, a ready meal roasted vegetables (both in foil trays which can be reused too), a packet of roast beef, a packet of ham, a packet of pork pies, a loaf of bread and a packet of rolls all for just 10p each. In the second one he got pastries for breakfast tomorrow reduced to 5p each. So food for at least 2 days for under two quid. This bodes well for hanging around on Skye wild camping and eating on a very small budget J

We peered in the estate agents window which is next to the CoOp in Broadford and spotted various plots and properties for sale for under £100K so will head back there tomorrow or Tuesday and register and maybe go and see some. We drove past that first property I’d linked to a while back too which is now under offer. The views are indeed amazing but the house looks so falling down that I think demolition would be the only option at which point a plot with outline planning permission could well end up a cheaper option.

We got to the campsite and found a pitch – there are two wild campers here in tents (but with cars, not walkers) so we’re not alone. We had dinner – pasta bake followed by fancy chocolate puddings and then stories. Everyone is a bit caged animal like after two solid days in the van so we’re looking forward to getting out tomorrow for some fresh air and exercise to blow the cobwebs away a bit.

Monday 10th October
Let’s try that again

This morning we hung out in the van eating 5p pastries for breakfast and drinking lots of tea. The kids have charge on their DSs from the campsite and have rediscovered a Namco game with retro treasures like Pacman so have been joyfully connecting on that and enjoying some old skool gaming.

After Popmaster we drove along to Portree where we registered with a local estate agents. There seem to be two main ones on Skye and this is the one I’ve been looking at online and had already signed up for their online newsletter. There is not much in our price range meeting our spec at the moment – we’d like under £100K but in theory could go up to £150K if we could move straight in (not at all sure just how much equity is in Osborne Drive and we need to clear our mortgage and all our debts but I do think my parents would help us out a bit which ups our money a bit). Our list of essentials includes some sort of view of loch or sea and at least an acre of land. In terms of building plots we could definitely get something of that size for under £70K but house building would need to be in line with planning and would push us to the top of our budget and mean a good year, even two before we actually were in a house. That may end up being the end result but we’d like to explore other options first. There is one property meeting those requirements – 2 bedroom croft house with 5 acres, loch views and big enough space inside for extension potential and flexible living space. It has mains electric and water and is liveable now at £125K. Not a chance of ending up with it as we are not really ready to put an offer in but we need to do some viewings to see what we’d really get for our money and to build a contact with the estate agent so we’re viewing it on Wednesday afternoon.

We had a look around the town including popping into the post office. Three have been in contact to say the Mifi should not have been disconnected after all but they would like to send me the brand new one to review instead so I need an address for them to send it to. I was fairly sure that post offices can have things sent to them for collection so went to check and get the address for there. I’ve now emailed three and fingers crossed that is in hand. So hopefully only a few days without internet. Phew!!

A quick look in a couple of charity shops where Ady got his secret santa present sorted and I picked up a lovely jumper and chatted to the woman working there about Scarlett’s hair and the coat I was wearing (a charity shop purchase in Glastonbury!). We realised the chip shop at the quayside was the one Hugh visited in the Big Fish Fight tv show to sell mackrel and eyed up both that and the booking office for sea eagle spotting boat trips with longing eyes. Really liked Portree – all the shopping you would need on a weekly basis, primary and secondary schools (not that we need them but good to know they exist and therefore the associated stuff around schools will also be in evidence). It had a friendly feel and a strong sense of community.

We left and parked up to have lunch – loads of our reduced to clear goodies from yesterday, everyone agreed it was a feast worthy of lunch at Granny and Grandads!

Then into Aros – a centre including cinema / theatre, shopping, restaurant and sea eagle exhibition along with some local art and photography. That was another very reassuring thing to find – culture! Plays, films and various other stuff goes on there which means the kids would not miss out on cinema fixes. I am very conscious, particularly in reading other people’s blogs and friend feed threads that Davies and Scarlett will be missing out on opportunities if we are not able to provide all these possibilities for them once we settle again. I think this year has been an incredibly rich experience for them and one which will have taught them loads, given them many skills and be an adventure to talk of for the rest of their lives, but they won’t be able to trade on that forever and will need to pick up on interests, hobbies, social opportunities etc again once we settle. What we have seen of Skye so far reassures me that it will be able to provide all of that.

Back to the campsite which we’re enjoying using as a base. There is a steady flow of other campervans and tents – last night there were four of us here, tonight I think there are five – safety in numbers! 😉

Davies and Scarlett had some time playing outside, there are a couple of streams criss crossing the campsite and some marshy ground. They did some damming with stones, some creating other worlds and lots of playing. Ady and I drank tea in Willow and made some rough plans for the next couple of weeks. We’ve realised there is a ferry from Skye to Mallaig which looks like it would be way cheaper than the petrol required to drive all the way round. We also talked a bit about what to do between leaving that last host and Christmas camp – four weeks during November and December is probably less desirable to be driving around Scotland wild camping!

We then joined the kids outside and were shown all around their world of dams and hideouts and then walked across the road to look at the signs about the mountain range overlooking us. We realised we are at the edge of a reserve where golden eagles nest so tomorrow we’re planning a walk up there to do some spotting. We got back to Willow just as a huge rain cloud burst and had more reduced to clear food for dinner. Tomorrow we’re hoping for more bargains J

The plan this morning was to drive to a campsite on Skye and spend the day there, maybe walking for a bit if we found a campsite suitably located to do so but mostly charging everything up and having showers and getting the loo emptied. I’ve not managed to wash my hair this week and it’s started to feel decidedly skanky despite a couple of applications of dry shampoo.

We headed off and crossed the bridge to Skye having done a bit of research on campsite on the island last night and decided there were at least four open all year round. The first one was a mere 4 miles from the bridge and had rave reviews on UK campsites so we had more or less decided that was where we’d go. When we arrived though we realised we had no signal on the mifi or our phones and although the campsite had a fair degree of ‘rustic charm’ it was very basic and had zero view other than the rather ramshackle field it was based in strewn with clutter. The trouble is you can park for free in the most gorgeous locations so it really comes hard to pay for somewhere less than gorgeous. So we drove on.

We drove through Broadford which is quite a big town and stopped at the tourist office to pick up a map marked with about six more campsites across the island. Ady also nipped into the CoOp and came out with some reduced to clear food for dinner tonight (a roast dinner for under 2 quid 🙂 ). The weather was drizzly and very, very misty so the view was mostly obscured but we could see enough to realise the landscape and scenery had all the charm of the proper highlands we have been falling in love with – lochs, sea, rugged coastline, moorland and mountains, heather and pines and teaming with wildlife, we saw about 5 golden eagles 🙂 and enough of a remote feeling to leave the hustle and bustle behind but none of that ‘oh shit we’re about to run out of milk / petrol and there won’t be another shop for 100 miles!’ fretting we have had. Lots of clustered townships with local shops and community feeling and a slightly bohemian feel to the place with loads of polytunnels and veg patches and chickens, sheep and cattle about.

We ended up driving all the way up to Uig and then down the other side, finding a couple of campsites but none with any signal. I had various places where everything had loads of signal including a campsite which looked perfect with bays just for campers, hook up, water and a toilet / shower and laundry block. That closed last weekend 🙁 It did say you were welcome to stay there for free but there were no facilities (including the water, it had been turned off). We’re planning on spending at least one overnight there though as it had stunning views and signal was good :). But for today we needed showers and electricity.

We eventually started to all feel fed up – we were using loads of petrol driving around, Ady was getting stressed with me for not having researched campsites properly, the kids were getting rowdier in their playing in the back and I just wanted a bloody shower! And everyone was hungry because we’d not stopped for lunch in favour of finding a campsite. We decided we’d come back off the island and find a campsite with signal for tonight and go back on again tomorrow when we had showered and charged stuff up. The campsite we stayed in last Sunday is only 10 miles or so away from Kyle of Lochalsh so that is where we headed for, knowing it ticks all our boxes.

We were here by about 530, having stopped at the CoOp for some food (more reduced stuff for a very late lunch) and while Ady made new best friends with the campsite owner, getting his whole life story and some money off a gas bottle, I went and had a shower and the kids made everyone a drink. Hot cup of tea made by someone else after a much needed shower ticks oh so many boxes :).

Everyone was happy then 🙂 The kids watched Robinson Crusoe on the laptop, I researched property on Skye, Ady swept which he says is not as good as hoovering but comes fairly close. While I hanker after a bath to call my own, Scarlett is desperate for pets again and Davies longs for his animation station Ady thinks only of the day when he can once again hoover up after people 😆

We had dinner, watched Autumn watch on iplayer, the kids did some drawing. Davies was looking at some pictures children had done of the red kites at the centre yesterday and has been inspired to do some real life drawings alongside his more usual cartoon style stuff so has been sketching and blending coloured pencils and done some excellent drawings of eagles, seals and kingfishers today. I never got into pencils that much, always prefering felt tips for solid blocks of colour as a child, although as an adult I can see far better results for that sort of art using pencils.

I read a few chapters of story and it’s a late night all round.

Last nights overnight spot proved to be a noisy one. Ady was convinced the lorries were beeping as they drove past us from 5am onwards in a deliberate attempt to wake us, I am not so sure…

Once everyone was up we walked along to watch the seals for a while. They were quite active and even Kirsty would have been impressed 😉
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Our plan for the day was Dingwall town centre for some charity shop searching for jeans for me, then top up of petrol from Tescos and then a visit to Tollies Red Kites which I had spotted a leaflet for ages ago and marked as somewhere worth visiting if we were in the area.

Popmaster in the van and then off to Dingwall where we parked easily and had success in the fifth and final charity shop getting me two pairs of jeans for just £1.50 each. The labels in one had been cut out so no idea what size they were but the other clearly is mislabelled as it says 14 and despite weight loss there is no way I am that small and have not been since I was about 19! We picked up a few kids books too at bargain prices which we’ll drop back off at charity shops after we’ve read them. The kindle is not cheap for kids books so we tend to stick to charity shops for them really.

Tesco for petrol and then on our way to Tollies. The website gives slightly cloak and dagger feel directions which I had copied down and we managed to find it, at the end of a very long and bumpy track. It said feeding time is 130pm in the winter and 230pm in the summer. I was assuming it would be winter but decided we should get there early just in case so we arrived just after 1pm. There was a youngish woman in there who was very chatty but clearly just a visitor too so after a bit of looking around the room, which is beautifully done out with various information boards, art and things to look at we retreated to the car park to have lunch in Willow. We’d parked looking out over a field and spent our lunch break watching about 4 kites swooping about, landing and being all beautiful. Infact we had a better view while we ate than we did later at feeding time.

Just before 230pm we went back in the centre and were joined by a wildlife photographer who recognised us from Chanonry Point 🙂 He looked quite familiar to me but I never really talked to anyone there, I’m sure Marcus would have recognised him! We talked about dolphins for a bit and he told us about the kites and then the rangers arrived to feed them. They put out carrion – venison and rabbit – onto a table and retreat. Apparently there are more and more kites later in the year and last winter there were sometimes 20 or 30 coming to feed all at once which would be a magnificent sight. Today only a couple were around and they were pretty shy about coming to the table, only really swooping down to see off a crow that chanced it’s luck.

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It was really cold and we were conscious of finding somewhere to sleep tonight so we headed off after half an hour or so. The plan was to head towards Skye and stop when we found somewhere nice. We ended up getting all the way to Loch Alsh and have stopped within sight of the Skye bridge. Our first real glimpse of Skye 🙂

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We felt freer and happier the further away from Inverness and built up areas we got and this is all helping to cement for us that we are making the right decisions in wanting to stay up here somewhere more remote. We’re looking forward to the next three weeks exploring properly and seeing how we feel we might fit in up here.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful view, sadly spoilt rather by two crows pecking a seagull to death 🙁 It even tried to fly off at one point and they attacked it and brought it back down again. Scarlett was very upset by it but it was too far into a very muddy field for us to do anything and of course it is just what they do. Talked a bit about nature / hunting / law of the jungle etc generally and she recovered.

We headed to Chanonry Point, mostly because we just felt like going there totally off season to see what it is like and whether the dolphins do indeed disappear or just hang out wearing jumpers instead. We stopped on the way to empty the loo / fill up the water and found ourselves handily close to the deli at Rosemarkie so popped in for cakes to take to eat at the Point.

It was very windy, bitterly cold (I should have worn gloves) and the sun was really low in the sky giving an odd early evening feel to it depsite it being before midday BUT we saw dolphins, loads of dolphins. Not doing anything except just passing by, in twos and threes, no jumping or beaching just the odd pair or three of fins rolling out of the water as they swam past but thrilling just the same and easily the largest number I’ve seen at any one time there. They don’t lose their magic, we were all grinning and pointing and being excited 🙂

We left there after the dolphins had headed off and our fingers were in danger of falling off and headed into Inverness again. This time our first destination was a laundrette, we have nearly 3 weeks worth of washing and it was becomming Urgent. We’d found one and put the postcode into the sat nav. It was close to a Tesco with a carpark so Ady and the kids sat in the van while I went and tackled the washing and drying. 2 hours and £12 later we have loads of clean underwear again :). The time of year and generally quite clean pursuits means we are not getting through too many clothes changes but it had been quite a big bag and we really don’t have many clothes.

Next stop was shoe shopping, a trial at the best of times each year with Scarlett. Fortunately both the kids were satisfied with some boys boots at Primark – Davies wanted some brown boots similar to mine and Scarlett just wanted what Davies had. I’ve no idea how much they’ll stand up to as £12 boots from Primark are primarily fashion items but they do have wellies too and if they only last til we finish up here then I’ll be happy with that. We also got sketch pads for the kids as they were wanting new ones, an all in one tiger sleep suit for Scarlett because she fell in love with it and we do need snuggly bedtime attire and finally the last item on our shopping list (apart from smaller jeans for me, but that needs to be a charity shop purchase anyway) a lantern. After lots of research we decided to go for a battery lantern rather than a wind up / rechargable one. We need it for the van once it gets dark as we can’t use the internal lights for too long incase they drain the leisure battery when we’re not hooked up. The nights are drawing in and cooking and eating by headtorch really loses it’s appeal after this long on the road. The batteries are pricey but hopefully will last a good week or more meaning the cost is pence rather than pounds per day and we can look out for special offers on them and stock up. I think it will be an investment worth making. We also got some small storage crates for everyone so general stuff (Lego, felt tips) can be swept into them each evening and stashed under the bed.

Back to the car after that spend up and ready to leave the retail world fully behind once more, we are all craving the remoteness of the highlands again. We drove around for a while searching for an overnight spot as we want to visit a red kite feeding place in the area tomorrow before heading back across to Skye and finally found somewhere just near the Cromarty bridge. We’re over looking seals and the Cromarty Firth which is very lovely despite the traffic noise of being alongside the rather busy A9. We’re looking forward to heading back to the wilderness again tomorrow, having decided towns and cities are not for us anymore at all.

A very ‘back to the real world’ day today. We needed food, petrol and a long list of other stuff so made a start of ticking some of it off. Tescos was first for food supplies – we’re now stocked back up with tinned and packet basics, some fresh fruit, emergency supplies of things like chocolate, peanuts and chai latte, rations of peanut butter and marmite etc. Then to Boots where I needed a few bits, to Argos for head torches for the kids, to Pets At Home for Scarlett to look at the rabbits and gerbils and to Carphone Warehouse for a new phone for me. We still have phones on contract and given our credit rating are tied to that provider but want to keep them as it is at least building our credit rating a little. On that basis we may as well get the reward of a decent phone from being locked into the contract so I upgraded to a HTC Wildfire S which I am really pleased with :). I was in there for over an hour getting it all set up and sorted so the others went back to the van for some lunch leaving me to it.

When I finally rejoined them I had some lunch too and we looked at a couple of outdoors gear shops at shoes for the kids but found nothing right. It was getting late by then so we decided to call it a day and find somewhere to park up for the night and head back in to Inverness again tomorrow for shoes and laundrette before leaving for Skye. The loose plan now is Chanonry Point for morning coffee and then back to Inverness and then heading off depending on the time we are finished. We’ve found a great overnight stop on the road to Rosemarkie – off the road and next to the water.

Some interesting conversations in the van the last few days – one last night about Rosa Parkes, Martin Luther King and civil rights, civil disobedience and terrorism. All sparked off by hearing Nina Simone on the radio singing my one of my favourite songs ‘I wish I knew how it would feel to be free’ and Scarlett recalling the story I’d told her years ago about Nina Simone refusing to play at a piano recital until her parents, who had been moved to the back of the room to make way for white audience members had been moved back to the front again. We talked about how everyone has something they feel strongly enough about / for to die for and whether it is justified to hurt others in the name of a cause or not. We compared non violent forms of protest and talked about how we had participated in lobbying parliament and making lots of fuss about Home Ed a couple of years ago to terrorist attacks and wars. Interesting and stirring stuff.

Today we were talking about one of my jobs in Retail Management and discussing what Retail is and jobs and careers in general. It makes me realise again how very much I missed spending time with the kids while we were WWOOFing and I was working all day and we were sharing mealtimes and evenings with hosts. I know a community where family time was curtailed so much really would not be for us. I always miss them when we have been at camp or staying with friends but can justify that as we are all temporarily enjoying spending time with others, a lot of the time with hosts felt like biding time instead.

In sorting out the settings on my new phone I cleared loads of old emails from my gogglemail account which I really don’t use and discovered several emails from a friend who has gone WWOOFing abroad with her family including the email where she sent me all the quotes from around the room at our Bye Then party. She had taken them away to type up into a word doc for me and I had since slightly regretted letting them go as I’d not recorded them anywhere, now I have them in a word doc all beautifully formatted. I am really pleased 🙂 🙂

Popmaster this morning – Ady scored more points than me but we both did better than the contestants AND I got 3 in 10 so would have won the digital radio 🙂 Little things…

We had marked a couple of the walks in Glen Affric as suitable with decent car parks according to the online research I’d done, but we were very conscious of limited petrol in Willow so decided to only go 20 miles as we knew the nearest petrol station was 5 miles behind us so that would be 45 miles back to get fuel.

We did Plodda Falls walk first and were rewarded with a sighting of a red squirrel which was very cool 🙂 Far too sprightly to hang around long enough to photographed of course but a good clear sighting for us. The pine forest was gorgeous, all springy underfoot and smelling of Christmas :). We had a good long walk around there, finishing at the falls itself which was fairly small fry compared to some of the falls we’ve seen the last couple of weeks but quite a long drop so mesmerising to watch the water fall so far.

Back to Willow for lunch as we were all hungry. Then on to Dog Falls. We didn’t do the full walk but walked alongside the river for quite a bit, went over the bridge and then decided we needed tea / coffee so headed back to the van. Ady and I had tea and coffee and I made pizza dough while Davies and Scarlett played beside the river outside the van. Am definitely conscious that they need some time to let off steam each day outside and do their running, shouting type stuff that living in such small confined space means they struggle not to do otherwise.

We then had to decide what to do next as the petrol gauge was reading red. We decided to head straight for the petrol station rather than back to the overnight stop we’d been at last night so did that and then realised Inverness was only 15 miles away. So we headed in that direction as we will need food and more fuel tomorrow and it seems silly to head the other way and pay little village shop prices when Inverness and supermarkets are so close so we’ll head there and stock up with everything before going back to the wilderness again :). We ended up parked in the same layby we used on our very first night wild camping, nearly a month ago.

Pizza for dinner, hot chocolate and stories and then bed. Can’t believe we’re back where this whole part of the adventure started having been in the big loop all the way around the top now. After stocking up again we can head back across the middle taking in the things we missed the first time and then across to Skye to start looking at property – exciting 🙂

This morning dawned just as I have been waiting for Scotland in the autumn to be. Beautiful colours but cold, wet, windy and on the wild side. Much though the amazing sunshine and heat has been lovely for all the outdoors walking type stuff we’ve done I do want to experience Scotland at it’s worst weather wise so we can make informed decisions about moving this far north so I’m sort of glad it has started to turn. See, you knew I’d find a positive in there didn’t you!? 😉

The wind and rain was really lashing the van though – glad we weren’t parked on the side of a mountain like we have been a few times!

Ady and I both had showers, the kids refused on the basis that if they can happily go a week without they certainly don’t need another one less than 24 hours after the last one! We got the last bits of charge in everything before unplugging the hook up and heading off on our way. Plans for this week are very loose, basically we want to be in Inverness next Monday so have a week to kill in this area. I’m not at all sure what there is in the way of actual things to do but we feel we know this area a bit having spent time here on holiday twice so can happily hang out around Loch Ness or in the Rosemarkie area just watching the world go by and drinking tea in the van.

But first we needed petrol and some food for the next couple of days. So we drove to Fort Augustus for both and to tick off Calendonian Canal Visitor Centre. We had lunch in the carpark having topped up supplies of cheese and fruit. Ady had his second ‘it all goes wrong without Nic’s supervision at the petrol station’ incident which ended up with a public flashing of his bum! 😆 On Saturday we stopped for petrol and Ady went over a bump on the way out which knocked over one of the water containers which spilt all over the floor in Willow, wasting precious water and making a mess. Today was even better though – I had gone into the shop and he appeared soaking and stinking having splashed petrol back from the nozzle over himself and his clean jeans he was so proud of having handwashed and gotten dry. I sent him off to change out of them quick and when I arrived back at the van and opened the door I found him naked from the waist down, bent over sniffing his pants!!!! A coach full of people parked up opposite appeared to have also seen! 😆 😆 He was smelling his pants to see if the petrol smell had gone though the jeans on to them and hadn’t expected me to open the door. It was very funny and I intend to keep reminding him of the incident for many years to come. Davies says I am a mean wife 😉 I think this might be a good way to put him off selecting an unsuitable bride in the future.

After lunch we walked to the locks on the canal and spent time in the visitor centre. The waterway is a Telford design, as is Menai Bridge and Llangollen canal, both of which we have visited this year and looked at so that was good to show Davies and Scarlett another feat of his engineering career. There were quite a lot of people milling about taking photos and although it kept raining we walked around for a while and took some pictures.
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The kids then spotted a little bird sitting down and went up to it. It was quite fiesty but looked scared. Scarlett was worried about it and I thought it looked quite young but we left it to see if it sorted itself out and carried on walking. Scarlett remained fretful so I said we could go back to check and found two men from the Waterways with a cardboard box collecting it. Scarlett talked to them (having watched their rather comical attempt to get it in the box, she could have done it far better!) and they said the RSPB were on their way to collect it and they were fairly sure it was a guillemot that had been blown off course by the very high winds earlier today. I remember from childhood hearing about seabirds getting blown off course and getting exhausted and needing to rest.
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After that we decided it was time to start finding somewhere to sleep tonight and ended up going further than we anticipated – we’re trying to get to Glen Affric, and are in a woodland I have now forgotten the name of.

Ady and I got dinner on (steak pie with shortcrust pie and suet pastry top to please everyone’s pastry tastes, served with potatoes (from a tin, roasted), sweetcorn and gravy) while the kids headed off into the woods with penknives to do some whittling.

After dinner we finished the Morpurgo book we started last night – we’re running low on kids books, need to get some on the kindle for them really and had hot chocolate before bed.

Woke up this morning and watched the mists clearing over Loch Carron. Very beautiful there 🙂

The plan was to head towards Inverness and stop at the first campsite we found with hook up, showers, internet signal and laundrette. We found one at Ardleve which was run on a curious basis where you find a pitch and settle in and they come round each evening to collect payment. Showers are 50p coin operated, electric hook up also on coin meter, loos and wash up free. It was right on the shores of the loch and very pretty. I had loads of signal but the price for the night was not to be found anywhere and we only had limited cash. Ady talked to a woman in a caravan there who said she *thought* it was £10 a night but wasn’t sure. After some debate we decided to carry on and find somewhere with a laundrette.

That turned out to be the wrong decision really as nothing turned up for the next 10 miles or so and Ady and I got more cross with each other as he thought I should have researched a campsite while I was online last night and I was trying to explain researching the sort of little campsites we want is tricky and time consuming and I had limited online time so didn’t want to waste it doing that. We decided to turn round and go back and then realised we’d missed a campsite while arguing so pulled in there to check it out. Signal was good, showers free, hook up on tap and CDP / drinking water all easy. Price was £16 so we went for it.

There is no laundrette, although for £5 a load they will take washing away between 10am and 1pm and wash and dry it for you in their own machine. We have about 3 loads though and I feel slightly odd about handing over all my dirty washing to a stranger to be dealt with so we’ll hang on and find a laundrette in the next couple of days.

The man running the site (and the petrol station and shop and previously presumably the restaurant which is currently closed) is really friendly and the site is very laid back with no rules about time to be off in the morning etc. He took time with us to show a few nice walks on a map nearby.

Once plugged in, set up and fed we went for a walk up one of the footpaths the man had pointed out – lovely views, naturally 🙂

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We spent ages talking about what we want to do next – we’ve been compiling a list of what our priorities are in finding somewhere to live. Everyone gets to add their personal ones and then we use them to help decide. So far we have view, woodland, water (beach, loch, river), land to grow. The kids were talking about animals – we have said we will get a dog when we have a home and will definitely get cats again aswell as chickens and ducks. Davies has been talking about falconry for a while which is something Ady is also quite interested in so we were discussing that too. We were talking about what we’ve all learnt this year and what we’ll miss about this existance when we eventually settle and what we’re looking forward to about having a home again. We all agree we are loving this part of the adventure and there is a definite temptation to do more travelling like this I think. I’ve been having email chats with Vikki, who has been WWOOFing with her family for 6 months but goes back to work tomorrow and it’s great having someone to talk to who has had such a similar experience to ours.

Back at the campsite the kids sat in the van playing and watching some Rolf Harris stuff on Youtube. They are currently in the throes of a Rolf obsession so we’ve been listening to lots of his songs and Ady had been telling them about Cartoon Time so found them some old shows to watch. They adored that – Tom & Jerry, Rolf Harris *and* drawing lessons! 🙂 Ady and I sat in the sunshine and drank cider and caught up online. I now have all the photos flickr’d, secret santas allocated, all blogs up to date and stuff to visit for the coming week researched.

It got cold when the sun dipped behind the mountains to the west – about 5pm, so we came in and got dinner sorted, cheesy bacon pasta bake. The kids watched Swiss Family Robinson which we’d read the abridged version of earlier this week and they really enjoyed and then Ady and Davies watched PotC4 together while Scarlett DSd. Davies has been desperate to watch it with Ady since he got it at Rosemarkie. It did make for a very late bedtime all round but I’m sure we’ll catch up tomorrow when we’re back on headtorches and limited power again.

An earlier start than preferable when Scarlett woke with daybreak having had a nightmare. She came down for a cuddle and got into my sleeping bag with me which was lovely and snuggly but meant less sleep after that. Funnily enough I had bad dreams and so did Davies last night…
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It had been our plan to head to Applecross campsite and see if we could book in for the night but we had no phone or internet signal (which is usually one of the campsites marketing plus points!) so decided not to as I really want to spend some time online researching next moves, getting all current pictures uploaded, updating the blog and catching up on emails etc. so it makes sense to do that at a campsite where online time is not restricted. We stopped at the shop for some milk and then parked up next to the beach for an hour so the kids could have some time playing. They made sandcastles, Ady and I drank tea and debated whether the birds we could see were oystercatchers or guillemots – Ady won, they were oystercatchers.
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Then we headed slightly up the hill to spend our lunch time whale watching. The sea was a like a mirror, totally flat for miles and miles. We saw loads of birds but no other marine life. Then we decided we needed petrol so would fill up at Applecross as they have a community owned petrol station and head til we found a campsite with phone signal. This fell apart when the petrol station didn’t take electron cards and was credit / debit card payment only as it was unmanned. Ady was keen to take the shorter route out of Applecross which I was fairly sure was the road Jan and Jonathan had said wouldn’t really be Willow friendly and had signs about it being impassable in wintery weather conditions but I kept quiet and we did it anyway 😆 It was fine, a bit hairy in places, particularly when we were above and in the clouds but a really gorgeous route :). I did tell Ady when we reached the other side 😆
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We reached Lochcarron and stopped for petrol and some food supplies and then decided we would stop either at the best view with phone signal or the first campsite with phone signal for the night, whichever came first. The best view won it – just before Stromferry (no ferry) so we parked up. We’ll find a campsite tomorrow.
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We were parked up nice and early so the kids spent some time playing outside, we’re in a pretty big layby on a fairly quiet road and we watched the loch below go through rain, sunshine and sunset before growing dark. Curry for dinner which we ate listening to the radio and chatting, then a couple of chapters of story before the kids went up to bed. There is plenty to do along the road from here to Inverness so that is the plan for the coming week including an overnight in a campsite before heading back again to Skye for a week or more and hopefully looking at some properties.

Whoosh!

Woke this morning at Loch Maree which by virtue of being to the east of us meant we had sunrise over it which was beautiful. I know the indian summer is gorgeous and all, meaning DJs everywhere are playing Boys of Summer, Summer Lovin’ and Walking on Sunshine constantly but it does make for a hot nights sleep in a campervan which has been cooked in and has four people sleeping in it. We’ve made room in the van for all these bloody coats and put up with them in the way all this time ready for Scotland, knowing we’d be needing them now and no mistake!

Ok, my attempt to show the downside failed then? 😉

Ady was doing a hand wash of pants so took it down to the lochside for a final rinse. I decided it would be nice to have a wash in the loch (and shave my legs too actually if we’re being frank about such toileting habits) so Scarlett and I went down too and had a paddle / wash / wade / shave at the same time. It was very gorgeous and a bit mad and I do have pictures to upload at some point. And here they are!
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We listened to Popmaster (Ady won, he did really well on the bonus questions) and then did the Woodland Trail walk of the reserve we were at. There are two trails – woodland and mountain. The mountain trail was a 4 plus hour trail and recommended day sacks with layers of waterproof clothing and food supplies, which much though I am sure would have provide a sense of achievement and some gorgeous views isn’t really my idea of lots of fun – I like walking, not climbing ;). Also there has been broken glass in the last two car parks we’ve been in so Ady is nervous about leaving Willow for prolonged periods incase of break ins. Plus we don’t actually have a day sack 😆

The Woodland trail included plenty of uphill-ness and took about 90 minutes with stopping for admiring the view and reading from the booklet at each numbered stopping point. The trails all around the highlands are excellent, filled with information, pointers towards stunning viewpoints and with really good footpaths etc.
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We arrived back at Willow and headed off to the next stop off which was still in Beinn Eighe, this time at the actual visitor centre. We did toilet emptying / water refilling and then went in to watch the film and do the indoor exhibits – loads of interactive stuff including a couple of games on touch screens about the geology of Beinn Eighe (proved how much the kids have been taking in this week, they did really well at that :)) and one all about deer which Scarlett and I did and now know loads more about Roe Deer, Sika Deer and Red Deer. There was a senses game with stuff to listen to, smell and feel, some identifying different birds beaks and more. All very good.
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Back to Willow for lunch as we were all hungry by then and then we got out to do the three trails there – the small picnic trail about what various birds eat, Davies read all of those signs 🙂 Then the Rhyming Trail which had clues to riddles to identify various plants and animals and finally the Wee Trees trail which had a story book to read along the way telling various chapters at various points. This was another uphill walk but again with excellent paths and plenty of benches and viewpoints to catch your breath :).
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It was getting late when we left there and we had much debate about what to do next, so headed for Torridon as there was no internet signal in the area and much as the walks are excellent we were ready for a change of scenery again. We found Torridon but it proved far smaller than expected and the Deer and Countryside Centre was just a tiny building which looks like it may not sustain an entire days visit.

We ended up seeing signs for Applecross and deciding to head for there as it is on our list of places to visit anyway. Our loose plan is to go to Inverness next Monday once rent has gone in and we are solvent again as the kids need shoes, my phone is due an upgrade (and I want a new one!) and I need some new jeans so we need a proper retail destination for at least a couple of hours so we are hesitant about heading to Skye just yet, particularly without much in the way of cash.

We were struggling to find somewhere suitable to stop, Ady was fretting about petrol, I was frantically trying to connect the Mifi and the kids were all out of charge on their DSs when suddenly we saw a golden eagle on a fence post right infront of us. We stopped, but sadly another car (the first we’d seen in *miles*) came the other way and spooked it. It did land fairly close, enough to get a blurry picture, but it was our closest encounter to date which was more than enough to bolster us all again :).
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We quickly found a parking spot after that and despite the mist having rolled in and obscured the view I know we are looking down on a large chunk of sea below us so hopefully it will be clear in the morning. We had dinner and my Mum rang so we all talked to her for a bit, then Eduardo rang so we talked to him ;). We have a vague plan tomorrow to maybe find a campsite for one night to charge everything back up again properly, do a wash, have showers and a night of lights on instead of torches so if we find somewhere for under our £20 budget and where the Mifi picks up signal we’ll go for it, we’re thinking maybe Applecross campsite.

which is one of our favourite sayings at the moment. Mike, our letting agent says it to me every single month when I make my phonecall to him to check on rent collection progress ‘Don’t worry Nicola, we’re on it, we’re all over it like a rash’. Whilst the context is always totally hassle-filled it is a funny saying nonetheless so we’ve adopted it.

This morning we had breakfast observing the gorgeous view and our fellow camper getting up and packing his tent back up. He came to return the borrowed tent pegs but we said he could keep them. Wonder if he’ll think of us every time he uses them? 🙂

It was our plan to spend a couple of days in the Gairloch area as we were hoping to find plenty to do there including a laundrette as we are starting to run low on pants! Infact Davies has run out but we’ve been washing and drying them – the footwell in Willow on my side is always blowing with hot air as we keep the heater on to cool the engine so it’s perfect for drying clothes, shoes, anything else wet – I love the multi-purpose design functions ;).

We stopped at the tourist office and I asked if there was a laundrette in the town. There wasn’t but the woman suggested calling at the local campsite to ask if we could use theirs! The town had a fairly unfriendly feel to it with people stopping to stare at Willow a bit – we’re definitely feeling less free and happy the further back south we come. We stopped to empty the loo and fill up water bottles but the water is a bit yellow tinged so we’re boiling it before drinking even though there was no sign to say it’s not drinking water. We called in to a shop for some milk and put some petrol in Willow and headed out of the town.

We came across a parking area just outside the town so pulled over to see what was nearby and a friendly couple getting back into their car told us about a waterfall walk nearby which was one I actually had marked as a possible thing to do – Flowerdale Falls. We headed off and it was quite a nice walk to the falls and back with some blackberries to forage along the way. There were several bridges to play poohsticks on and a handy eagle soaring overhead for part of the walk :). I do have photos but again they will have to wait, very frustratingly still have no internet signal on the mifi 🙁
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Back to the van we drove across the road to Gairloch Pier which is basically the place where all the wildlife cruises start from. There were loos with hot water though so I was able to wash my hair :). We had lunch there and debated what to do next, deciding to carry on in our planned direction.

We ended up driving further than expected (this is becomming a frequent happening!) and stopped briefly for a walk at Slatterdale Forest Trail before ending up at Beinn Eighe lochside carpark where we have stopped for the night.
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More to say but about to run out of mobile phone charge so will publish and fill in gaps tomorrrow.

We woke up this morning to an ever increasingly gorgeous view as the early morning mists cleared. We had breakfast and hung on in the van for Popmaster before driving back a couple of laybys to the carpark for Corrieshalloch Gorge. It’s a National Trust place and doesn’t have an admission charge as such but does have a suggested donation of £2 per person for parking. We thought £2 for all of us was fair given no one else seemed to have paid at all (you got a pay and display sticker and no one else was displaying them).

There was a longer walk taking you across the gorge or a quicker route straight to the bridge. We went for the longer one. It was such a gorgeously hot day we were all in T shirts and still hot.
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We enjoyed walking along in the sunshine looking at the stone stacks that were everywhere and adding to a couple of them. The gorge was a riot of colour with a load of pine trees giving a deep green colour (and lovely pine scent too) and the rest of the deciduous trees all turning their autumn colours. The gorge is truly impressive and the bridge crossing it is very cool. Scarlett doesn’t like bridges, particularly ones with open sides, gaps in the slats or ones that move about so this ticked all her Not Like boxes. As such I was really proud of her for crossing it there and back, and for plucking up the courage to come onto the viewing platform too 🙂 Brave girl.
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Davies and I loved the bridge, particularly when we realised we could sway it even more by rocking about on it, so we entertained ourselves with that for a while until it freaked Ady out too much (he wouldn’t get on but was standing on the sidelines looking pale!) 😆
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The walk was slightly quicker than we’d expected so we were back on the road again well before lunch. The initial plan today was to not travel very far and maybe even stay in the same overnight spot again, but we did need to find a toilet to empty our loo which was almost full, and stock up on water supplies, so decided to drive until we’d found one and then find an overnight spot.

This took rather longer than expected so we stopped for lunch at a very beautiful spot overlooking a rocky beach. The kids were looking down with narrowed eyes and then grabbed their binoculars and exclaimed that there were seals down there. Sure enough there were loads of them, all basking in the sunshine on the rocks and sometimes flopping back into the water and splashing about. It was very pretty 🙂
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We had lunch and then moved on again still looking for a loo. Finally we came across one and got the toilet emptied and the waters filled. There was no hot water so I didn’t wash my hair which I was hoping to do but not quite desperate enough to do in cold water just yet – maybe by tomorrow…

Once that was done we were ready to look for an overnight stop and soon found one – a gorgeous spot with panoramic mountains, islands and the sea. The kids were desperate for some running around time so they went off and played in the field next to the parking spot for about an hour while Ady and I planned the next few days of our journey and made pizza dough.
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While we were sitting waiting for dinner to cook a young guy walked up the hill next to us and stopped to pitch his tent. Ady nipped over to offer help and was asked if by any chance we had a spare tent peg. As it happens we do so Ady gave him a couple and lent him our mallet as he was banging his in with a stone (travelling light, I guess there are always stones around so no need to carry a mallet!) so we have a neighbour :).
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At one point I glanced out of the window and just where the kids had been playing earlier was a big stag being all majestic ;). We watched him for ages, trying (and mostly failing) to get pictures, admired him leaping the fence with ease and then trot off into the sunset. Very cool :).
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No mifi signal again so no photos yet, but fingers crossed again for tomorrow 🙂

Popmaster got drowned out by yelling this morning 🙁 The pressure of over a week in the van with no time out at all started to show with Davies and Scarlett yesterday and they were squabbly. They do it so infrequently my tolerance for it is virtually zero and of course they are totally trapped with each other – sharing a bed, a sofa, a dining table and so on. This morning they were both after my attention and when I started reading a book with Scarlett Davies was getting more and more annoying and I lost my temper with them.

Some discussion about just what should be the result has made for a much better day today – I am very conscious of the Big Ask on their shoulders of this year and although I am utterly confident that the rewards are many I don’t want their memory of this bit to be overshadowed by falling out with each other every five minutes and me shouting at them for it. They were both horrified at my suggestion that we call it a day though and have been the very best of friends again all day today :).

We headed in a giant loop around the coast road overlooking the Summer Isles again, having done it last night looking for somewhere to sleep. First to the Summer Isles Smokehouse which is a fab little purpose built smokehouse complete with viewing windows around three sides of the building so you can see the process going on inside. We looked in at the kilns, watched some men filleting salmon ready to be smoked and then watched the process the other end after they’d been done of trimming, de-boning and slicing before packaging. Then we went inside to have a look at the oak chips (they use old whisky barrels) and see what was on offer for sale. Limited budget or not we decided we really should sample something so chose a small pack of smoked salmon to have for lunch. Pricey but very nice :).
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We left there and went to the Hyrdroponicum which is inbetween it’s old incarnation with the previous centre closed down and it’s planned new visitor centre with the straw bales stacked up ready and waiting. We were a bit underwhelmed with that to be honest, despite the friendliness of the woman who chatted to us. Ady has come across that sort of growing method before a few years ago and was not deeply impressed then. We’re glad we went but mostly because the outside growing area, right next to the sea and simply in soil was thriving and showed it is possible to grow stuff even in such extreme conditions which is reassuring.

By then we were getting pretty hungry so we found a good spot to stop for lunch and parked up. We watched another eagle for a while – our only wildlife spot today – and debated what to do next. Our original plan had been to return to Knockan for an overnight and then head to Corrieshalloch tomorrow, via Ullapool for some petrol. But we’d had a windy night there on Sunday and tonight is also windy, plus we are all a little resistant to stopping in the same place twice if we don’t have to, so we decided to get fuel and head for Corrieshalloch today. This was on the basis we were better driving this afternoon in the rain and having all day in the forecast sunshine to explore tomorrow, plus we’d get to charge stuff up off the cigarette lighter for longer!

So to Ullapool, a quick stop in Tescos for some more fresh fruit as the last lot had already almost gone – kids currently inhale nectarines! a small spend on petrol and then back on a real A road again with white lines, road signs and everything. Ady and I both felt a bit sad leaving the wilderness behind really, although we know it gets beautiful again lower down from our time in Tarbert and we’re really looking forward to Skye. We reminded ourselves that we can come back up again if we want anyway.

We’ve parked just past the Corrieshalloch Gorge in a nice big layby with a view which improved every minute as the mists cleared. We had a lovely dinner of pasta bake with cheese and bacon which came in under £3 and we justified the lack of veg with all the fruit eaten earlier in the day ;). I read a load of Matilda before dinner and a load more afterwards and now despite the wind and rain outside we’re all outside of our sleeping bags tonight as it’s really hot in the van, probably due to the oven being on for the pasta bake!

We had Popmaster this morning at Knockan Crags and then headed to Ullapool. We needed drinking water, I wanted to wash my hair (cold water only at the loos at Knockan) and we had a shopping list of food supplies. This is our last week of the month so we’re on limited funds with the expensive holiday of two weeks ago and Davies’ birthday out of this months cash flow, so we broke out the Tesco clubcard vouchers that we have had in reserve for food. They were mostly from when Ady used to use Tesco for his work fuel and we had about £40 worth.

So we did that, scarily spent £50 but did need to restock on things like shampoo, cotton wool buds, tea bags aswell as actual food and while we got lots of value stuff and tins we also got a fair bit of fresh fruit and veg as I feel really odd not having that now (I know, how things have changed!). We’re trying to balance cheap with healthy, processed with able to bake in the van and not entirely compromise all our ideals about stuff like organic / free range etc. Not easy! Today we went for chicken burgers and chips because they were on offer so very cheap dinner, but did have loads of stuff like fresh fruit, cheese and oakcakes for lunch. The rest of the week will be stuff like pasta bake, steak pie, fish cakes and so on. We’ll manage til next Wednesday but will have to curtail our travelling a bit as petrol will not be a feasible expense for this week like it was last week.

Shopping done we went for a wander round Ullapool – funny place with several shops selling touristy things but no real shops as such. There was a charity shop where I tried on a couple of pairs of jeans as all of mine are falling down. The size 18s were on the big side and the size 16s almost fitted. I’ve not been a size 16 since I was about 21! Didn’t buy any but am hoping by the time I have some money in a couple of weeks I might just be able to buy the 16s :).

I called in to the public loos while Ady and the kids went back to the van and I told Ady to come back to collect me with Willow so I could fill the water containers up. Imagine my surprise (is it just me or does everyone think of the Viz letters page when they see that phrase?!) when I discovered two shower rooms in the toilet block 🙂 🙂 So in we all trouped with towels and shampoo 🙂 Scarlett and I went in the disabled one and Ady and Davies in the other. I can only assume they are there for fishermen or something but we very much appreciated them :). So lovely hot showers and hairwashes all round, water bottles all filled, we got back in the van and headed north again. We suddenly realised it was 3pm and we were all ravenous so we stopped in a beachside layby for lunch. We spent ages watching four eagles circling in the distance and speculated for a while as to whether they were sea eagles, after closer looking with binoculars we decided they were not and given there were four together we thought they must be parents and their young. Later we saw four together again a few miles further north which we assumed must be the same group. This time one of them got close enough for a positive golden eagle ID – so exciting 🙂

We headed back north with the intention of finding somewhere to stay overnight before doing a couple of things near the Summer Isles tomorrow – they had been planned for today but the need for food and water drove us out to Ullapool! We ended up driving way further and for longer than we’d hoped, including passing both the places we’re going tomorrow and driving in a big circle. We were all getting slightly fed up when we turned a corner and spotted a deer, then two, then three and then realised there was a big stag there too – all so well camouflaged. We were so close and able to pull over, wind the window down and take photos while they stared at us before finally getting spooked and all running off. Magical :).
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That cheered us all up and then we found a parking space too :). We all got very excited when the northern lights notifier on Ady’s phone went to HIGH and thought we were going to tick off yet another thing today but it has since dipped back to MODERATE and although I am sitting with the curtain open facing north I can’t see anything. Not sure how long to sit up on watch really, everyone wants me to wake them if I see anything…

We had dinner, I read several chapters of Matilda and the kids had pre-bed hot chocolate. I have no Mifi signal (and infact am not sure how much longer I’ll have the Mifi for, I got a message on it the other day to say it is an internal SIM card and will be disconnected, so have emailed my contact there to ask if it can be kept going but am not sure what will happen -eek!) but Ady’s phone can also work as a wireless hotspot, although it is slow so not able to upload pictures still 🙁 Fingers crossed for tomorrow on that one.

Every time we stop I seem to decide this is my new favourite view 🙂

This morning we woke, breakfasted and headed off. We debated stopping for milk at the supermarket but the little Spar in the village was closed and we decided not to drive round to the Costcutter, we also decided not to bother filling up with water at the public loos. Both were slightly wrong decisions retrospectively but we’ve managed on limited milk and water supplies.

We are rather better organised with vague route planning for the coming days instead of last weeks drive up, then along, then back down type notions so this morning we were heading for Knockan Crag which is geologically a Very Important Place as it was here, way back in the 1800s that two geologists very famously came to understand about how our landscape was formed. We’ve been doing lots of learning this week which has been great – interesting all round as we’ve all been finding out stuff but also great for me and the kids as we have really missed spending time together exploring and educating ourselves. We’d already read the leaflet for Knockan Crag so had a good basic grip of what was learnt here – that the rock formations with older rocks on top of younger rocks happened when plates collided forming mountains with younger rocks slipping over the older ones. Ady is the only one of us terribly interested in recent history (I personally have no real interest in Tudors, world wars or Romans. There, I said it!) but all of us are very interested in pre-history, early people, land before time and geology type stuff so this was fascinating.

Knockan Crag is one of the many free gems we have discovered already up here, free, excellent, full of information and education and just really well done. Just like the woodland trails yesterday you can tell this has been done with passion, enthusiasm, by people who really care about their subject matter and want to share it with others. We arrived at lunchtime so had something to eat first, used the toilets (a fab stone building with living roof, toilets and sinks all using water collected from the hillside, therefore a bit brown and not suitable for drinking but *exactly* as all toilet and washing facilities should be) and decided to stay here overnight as there are no signs to say we can’t.

We set off up to the Rock Room which is an open sided, turf roof space with a large sillouette board to tell you all the various hills and mountains around with names, how to pronouce them, what they mean (they are all Gaelic), how tall they are and so on, and loads of information about geology including comic strips explaining John Horne and James Peach’s discoveries, putting the history of the earth into a 45 year old woman’s timeline (eg humans arrived last week, dinosaurs came when she was 42, first rocks were formed when she was 5 and so on), rocks under magnifying glass to show how they have been shaped and formed and loads more.
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Then a choice of 3 trails – the shortest taking you to the quarry, the medium one to the Moine Thrust and the Crag Top trail which is over an hour and climbs right to the top. Naturally we did them all :). Loads of fab features including rock sculptures, poetry and prose inscribed into stones, information boards and of course stunning views.
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We reached Willow again, having looked down on her from very high and took advantage of our being back in the van again so early to cook a decent dinner. We had steak pie (van-made pastry and tinned steak) roast potatoes (tinned potatoes) and chocolate chip cookies to follow (van made using a packet mix). Scarlett and I did that while Ady and Davies looked at some of Davies stories he’s been writing and illustrating while we’ve been on the road. Davies spent ages this morning writing himself out sums and doing them which rather amused me :).

Dinner was really nice, we all shared the last can of coke from the fridge too – Ady and I had some vodka in ours which neither of us actually like much but we’d brought along from home as we somehow had a bottle in the chiller. Have added apple juice to our rather long shopping list for when we next hit a supermarket so we can make Bobs 😆

The sun was just starting to set then so we decided to take a dusk walk in the hopes of seeing wildcats which apparently can be a possibility here. I strongly suspected we would not as we are utterly incapable of being quiet despite all our best intentions but the view and the thrill of being out with bats swooping over our heads was more than enough to make it worth the chill.

Back to the van for hot chocolate and stories (we’ve started Matilda, we all love Roald Dahl) and then bed all round. I have sporadic signal so flickr is being stroppy but I am managing to blog and will hopefully get pictures uploaded tomorrow.

No signal last night so Saturday written in word doc

This morning we walked into Lochinver after breakfast for a look round. It’s a big ish town with a couple of shops, petrol station and various cafes. It is a large harbour / fishing port with loads of wildlife around the coastline.

We went first to the Assynt visitor centre which is the tourist office and also the base for the wildlife rangers. The downstairs has the usual selection of leaflets, maps and tartan tourist stuff for sale and a large display of local history information including maps, models and videos. Ady and Davies learnt all about crafting and the clearances while Scarlett and I watched a video of hen harrier chicks in the nest taken last year on Orkney. They usually have live footage of a local golden eagle nest, but the pair of eagles, who they have been watching for 15 years did not mate this year, which is apparently common after a harsh winter with little food around like last year was but a shame nonetheless. The hen harrier footage was very good if not quite as exciting as webcam stuff from a nest actually nearby.
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Upstairs was the childrens section with various puzzles, interactive bits, computer with local information, scope set up over the harbour and loads of information about local wildlife. They had a board up which excitingly reported very recent sightings of minke, pilot and killer whales, dolphins, sea eagles and other birds. They also had on display a leatherback turtle skull and some ribs from a fin whale all locally found. I spent some time writing down information about the 15 best places to spot wildlife locally and have plotted them in to our coming weeks plans, particularly as they mention wildcats and sea eagles which we’d love to see but know the likelihood is slim of, so anything to maximise chances is good. Ady and the kids spent time watching a heron fishing in the harbour through the scope. We walked along to check out the far shop and picked up some sausages for dinner and some fruit for lunch and checked the prices and opening times of the petrol station.

Back to Willow for lunch and then we nipped into the town to get some petrol as it’s closed tomorrow and then back to our parking space for a walk around the woods. The woods are excellent – a community run project with various walks, loads of information boards and features. We did a couple of the trails including the ‘All the time in the world’ one which included information about how old trees were, how we can date seeds from peat bogs to discover how long various species have been around, cross sections of tree trunks so you could see the rings, a peat bog, sculptures and woodland art including a massive birds nest complete with egg that we clambered inside, giant spiders, slugs and other creatures made of wood hidden in the trees. We came out at a play area where we paused for a while and then took the path to a view point, which was quite a climb but well rewarded with a view to the north one side and then higher up a view to the south, both beautiful.
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Back down again we took the path called ‘are you brave enough’ which was over rivers on log bridges, through close trees and over rougher terrain. We all decided it would be a good path to do as it was getting darker. On looking at the map we saw there was a second car park to the woodland so decided to return to Willow and drive to it to see if it had a better view than the carpark we were already in. It’s only a mile up the road and unfortunately has no signal on phones or internet but the view is indeed lovely so it’s worth it for one night. On the very short drive along the road I looked up at the mountains and saw two red deer silhouetted against the sky so we stopped and looked at that for a while, rather spellbound. I’d been saying to Ady I wanted some ‘majestic’ poses from the eagles and deer and this was very majestic indeed J.
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We decided to have cooked breakfast for dinner so a feast of sausage, bacon and eggs was cooked up and very much enjoyed and then as it was properly dark we grabbed our head torches and went off for a late night walk in the woods. Ady swiftly decided it was not a good idea but got shouted down by the rest of us and we did 100 paces into the woods then all turned our torches off. It was almost totally dark but the stars were amazing and our eyes quite quickly got accustomed to the light and we could see shapes and outlines. We all stood back to back and turned our torches back on again but didn’t see any wildlife. We walked back up the road a little way too as it overlooks a loch but although we heard some owls too-witting we didn’t see anything other than some bats swooping around. Still, always exciting to be out in the dark with torches J.
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Ady went back in the van first to get the beds sorted, always easier without anyone else in the van, and the kids and I stayed outside star gazing. We all snuggled up on the bed chatting for a while before they went up to bed. I’ve been doing some research online and with various leaflets I’ve collected and our map and have plotted out a rough idea of places to visit for the next week or so – all free, mostly walks or nature reserves and all with just short drives between them each day to conserve petrol. This coming 10 days will be tough as our budget is now very tight having already spent lots on petrol (about £150 this week I reckon) but we have done loads more of the miles we were due to do already so in theory that will balance out. We do have sufficient tinned and packet food to see us through so we’ll be fine but it will be more critical than usual that the tenants don’t mess us about with the rent this month.

Lots of driving today.

We started at Keodale when after a night of very heavy rain we were already sure the cave tours would not be running. Scarlett and I had a long discussion about brushing her hair which was starting to look very tangled even to my rather tolerant eyes, which ended with it being brushed 😉

We drove back to the caves and went into the waterfall chamber with proper coats and shoes on and then walked along the beach there. I noticed some of the larger stones on the beach looked like the ones we’d been splitting on a fossil hunting event back at home last year with a local expert so we split some open to see if we could find anything interesting. We didn’t, but it is always fun hitting rocks with other rocks 🙂
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We got petrol from the very expensive attendant served single pump and stocked up a bit in the Spar shop so we have enough food for about a week now if money runs very low / we can’t find shops. Stuff like tinned steak which I can make a pastry lid to do a pie with, some tinned fruit and veg, some instant mash we can use to make fish cakes with etc. We drove along to Balnakeil Bay which is easily the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been on and Davies flew his kite while Scarlett and I took pictures of each other inside a rainbow – the sand was so white it reflected everything so the rainbow above looked like an eye with it’s own reflection beneath. Davies is getting really good with his kite too 🙂
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We stopped there for lunch and then drove back to Keodale to see if the ferry or bus was running to Cape Wrath. Neither was today (although they may have been earlier in the day, it was nearly 3pm by then) so rather than wait around til tomorrow and spend nearly £30 on getting to that north west most tip we decided to carry on.

The road starting due south is an A road but still a single track with passing places. It continues through loads more landscapes in a twisty, turny fashion with a new breathtaking sight round each new corner. I know we have used loads of petrol this week but I really would be happy just driving up and down these roads on a constant loop. Autumn is really rolling in this week with bursts of sunshine inbetween showers, rainbows everywhere, the leaves on the trees and the heather turning all shades of gold, red and burnt oranges and there is the constant promise of exciting wildlife to be looking out for – eagles in the sky, deer or wildcats on the land and otters, seals or even whales and dolphins in the water.

We drove quite a way without really seeing anything other than views and then crossed the Laxford Bridge and headed down to Unapool. We saw signs for Lochinver so decided to head for there for the night and chose the sign promising the ‘scenic route’ at only 7 miles longer. It took us on a little B road all the way around the coast, up and down huge hills but the views were totally worth the extra fuel cost. Plus we saw a red deer! I’d been singing my song – I have this song that I sang last week to call the dolphins and it worked so well I have adapted it for other Scottish wildlife. It brought me eagles yesterday and the red deer today 😉 even if no one else believes me I know Kirsty does!
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Photo is rubbish because it was so well camouflaged by the heather but there it stood, staring at us all ogling it from the van :). Davies and I also think we saw another eagle landed on a fence post but by the time Ady had reversed back to where it was it had gone.

We started to look for somewhere to stop for the night and nearly stopped at Stoer lighthouse but I had no signal on my phone or mifi and there was a burger van parked there which we were worried might be upset about us so close to his pitch in the morning so we carried on.
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We almost stopped again near Clachtoll but came all the way down to Lochinver in the end and suddenly hit proper civilisation again with people walking about in the streets, shops, banks, restuarants and even flashing neon lights! We struggled to find somewhere to park, it was getting dark and everyone was hungry and had been sitting in the van driving too long really. We finally found a carpark at the end of a windy path which is for a woodland walk and were encouraged to stay by another campervan parked up for the night with all it’s curtains already drawn – safety in numbers!

We’ve had a nice evening playing music, eating dinner and reading stories and I’m already a bit sad to have left the north coast behind. I’m going to research some of the many touristy things on my map and hopefully find a good few days worth of stuff to do very nearby to make up for all the driving and petrol spending so far this week.

From a word doc typed in desperation last night, because those words have to go somewhere 😉

So it might be hard blogging in two places at once but being unable to blog in either is really torture! No internet signal here tonight (although phone is fine) so having to compose this for blogging later.

This morning we were all up around 830am and had leisurely breakfast admiring the view. We had noticed we were parked next to a sectioned off area with a sign saying ‘Marie Curie field of hope’ so we decided to lob some of the seed bombs Davies had brought along in a kit from the seed bomb workshop we did last year. Davies made them and we threw two in – one for Eira and one for Ady’s sister Deborah. Then back to the van for tea / coffee and Popmaster which has become a daily routine. The kids join in too and we keep score and everything – it’s the closest they are getting to a structured education but does involve holding a pen and adding up! 😉

I’d done some research of tourist places we may come across and had a couple on my list. The nature reserves tend to be plots of land owned by RSPB etc. which are interesting for a few weeks or months a year as migratory birds pass by, nest or breed there but are otherwise unoccupied by people / visitor centres / anything obvious to the casual observer. Some of them are SSSI because of the different butterlies or wild flowers or even type of heath / moorland or whatever which is excellent, but not actually that interesting to just go and observe, so we have found less places to go and spend time. We did stop at Strathnaver and grabbed some leaflets from the tourist office and peeked at the museum but it was one with an admission charge which although I am sure was worth it crosses it off our list of places as there are so many excellent free ones and even the signs along the roadside are full of information and educational to stop and read for nothing.

We did stop at a viewpoint taking in mountain ranges including Ben Loyal and Ben Hope from a distance and we had a drink and read a booklet we’d picked up somewhere about the history of Sutherland and the woodlands. Then we spent ages watching a bird we were fairly sure was a golden eagle. I was really slack about chasing free stuff before we headed off this year but the two bits of kit I’d have love to have gotten hold of retrospectively are decent binoculars and a good camera, even to loan / borrow / hire. I wish I’d thought of that before we left… We studied it’s flight patterns and sillouette though and then poured over our various bird books and decided it was almost certainly a golden eagle which was very exciting – top of Scarlett’s list of things she wanted to see J.

We stopped at a public toilets to empty the loo and fill up the water bottles – this is a routine we will have to do at least every other day really but is easy enough – Ady takes the cassette into the gents and deals with that while I go to the ladies with the 5ltr bottles and a beaker.

We stopped for lunch in Borgie – stunning views of lochs and mountain ranges. We passed various places which would have been great to stop at with footpaths down to the gorgeous sandy beaches but the weather has been really changeable today and severe downpours of rain were every half an hour or so and we were not sure where we’d get to to park tonight so we headed on. We did the long drive past tongue and the crossing of the Kintyre then all around Loch Eriboll with it first on the right of the van and then on the left. We drove past Ben Loyal and Ben Hope and the scenery was just stunning. I kept taking photos although I knew none of them would do it justice. The heather and gorse is starting to change to autumn colours and it is as gorgeous with sun illuminating it as it is with rain lashing it and the resultant rainbows every few miles just added to the beauty. I almost wish I didn’t use all these words so often as I fear people will think I am crying wolf about how lovely it is!

As we rounded the corner towards Durness we suddenly saw a large bird soar and hang in the sky before dropping right close above the van, close enough to glimpse the plummage and definitely identify it as a golden eagle. Ady was able to stop briefly so we could all watch it for a little while before it swooped off over the hill tops.

I had Smoo Cave on my list of places to stop at so we did although it was gone 5pm by then. We went down the steps and into the first waterfall chamber and all got soaked. We’d not expected it to be so wet or amazing and were all in flimsy fleeces and silly shoes. We pledged to try and park near enough to head back tomorrow properly attired and with fingers crossed that the tours will be running too.

Sure enough we have stopped at Keodale in a carpark overlooking Balankiel Bay so the plan for tomorrow is back to Smoo for a proper explore and maybe a tour, a look to see whether driving to Cape Wrath is possible and if not checking out alternative ways of getting there before starting to head south again along the west coast. We need to do some proper research regarding where we want to stop and visit and also work out some food stops and petrol purchasing based on next weeks budget. We have definitely spent more than I expected on petrol although we have also travelled further than I anticipated too. We’d debated briefly heading to Orkney yesterday but decided the ferry cost was too much with Willow (£30 one way trip plus passengers). Food budget is doing well though with nothing spend yesterday or today (tonight we had fish cakes made with two tins of tuna and the remainder of Kirsty & James’ potatoes and a tin of beans for Ady and Davies – sum total of about £1 given they were value tuna and beans) but we have now run out of cheese, fruit and veg so will need to get some supplies in tomorrow and may blow more budget on Cave Smoo tour (it’s a tenner for the four of us) if they are running. So far though we have done really well and already ticked loads of things off our list.

particularly with limited power, and I really want to update the WW one daily as much as possible while we’re on this leg of the journey.

So I’ll post here my fervant hope that we don’t get blown away by the gale howling around the van tonight, my joy at Davies thanking me earlier for bringing him on this exciting adventure and telling me that he loved WWOOFing but he really loves this bit! My sneaking suspicion that the seals we saw frolicking today at Gills Bay and John O Groats were indeed sent by Kirsty and my glee that Willow made it all the way up here despite so many people thinking she’d struggle to get out of Sussex!

We had dinner tonight in the carpark of Dunnet Head viewpoint, the most Northern point of UK mainland – we’ve reached the top! 🙂

This morning we left our overnight stop with a view to stopping in Helmsdale for maybe a couple of nights as our map looked like it may have a few interesting places to be. We missed the two best looking walks, which is a shame but we are cagey about leaving Willow fully loaded for any length of time while we go off walking in the wilderness, she is just too vulnerable with all our belongings in her! We stopped at a small town to empty the loo in the public toilets, refill all our water bottles and check out the local Thrift Store (two pairs of trouser for Tarly for £3 – hurrah!) and Co Op (loads of reduced to clear fruit and veg for lunch / dinner – hurrah!). We got to Helmsdale and looked at the various information points, collected some leaflets and retreated to the van for lunch. We decided against the Heritage Visitor Centre on the basis that there are so many excellent free places to see and learn we don’t need to blow most of the days budget on admission to one. We pondered our map a bit more and decided we are just biding time on the east coast really when we already know the west coast is where our hearts lie and the north coast is where we have not yet explorered so we’d head to John O Groats and stop if we see anything interesting but carry on along the top if we don’t.

That led us to Badbea which I had looked at online and was very interesting (I’ve linked to all these places on the WW blog, don’t have enough battery to do it again here), then Lybster where we started thinking about stopping for the night as it was close to 5pm but nowhere looked promising. On a whim we decided to head back to the A9 towards Thurso (north coast) as we wanted to see the Flow Country and had marked a couple of other small places of interest along that road, find somewhere to stop for the night, explore there tomorrow and then go back to the east coast towards JOG.

This proved interesting – what an amazing contrast the flow country is – so very, very flat! We saw wind farms, crofts, loads of buzzards (we’d identified birds we’d seen earlier today and knew by their colouring and flight habits were not buzzards as ospreys) but not a lot else! By then Ady was stressing about petrol and we’d not found anywhere suitable to stay overnight so we decided to head all the way to Thurso. We found a Tescos and a petrol station, called into a Co Op as they reduced a load of meat down in price (so that’s tomorrows dinner sorted 🙂 ) and then decided to head back towards JOG to find somewhere to overnight. We were very taken with Dunnet Bay – will try and be there in daytime on the way back and spend some time / get some pictures, it was stunning, but no overnight parking signs were everywhere. We then spotted a brown sign for Dunnet Head viewpoint so climbed up the steep and winding road towards that. We saw deer, Ady saw something that may or may not have been a wildcat shoot across the road and we saw two other campervans parked up in the only likely spaces along the way. At the very top we were treated to a stunning view, the lighthouse, RSPB signs about wildlife (mostly seabirds, mostly out of season now) and it being the most northern point of UK mainland, and a big yellow NO OVERNIGHT PARKING sign!

It was getting dark so we decided to pull over, park and cook and eat and then travel on to find somewhere to stop afterwards. We debated putting the bed down so at least the kids could sleep if needs be and I think in the future we may well do that but it was only 830 by the time we’d eaten, washed up and were ready to go again so they watched a film while we drove on looking.

We’ve ended up next to another campervan in a layby at Gills Bay. I have no idea what sort of view we’ll wake up to as it was totally dark by the time we arrived, although the stars are some of the most stunning I’ve seen yet. The wind is howling around us but we’re snug and cosy in Willow.