Rewilding and a wonky old castle

 Friday 7 July 2023

Nido's parked up in the car park at Torrieston forest. This is one of many 'Stay the Night' park-ups offered by Forestry and Land Scotland.  The concept has been trialled over a few years and we've used them before when visiting Scotland.  The rules are simple, you can only stay between 6pm and 10am at a flat rate cost of £7; outside of that you need to pay the normal day parking rates.  All of the parking areas have a maximum number of vans that can stay over, in this case it's two and we're the only one here at the moment, although a number of people in cars are parking up to walk in the forest. It's a great idea and one that England and Wales could benefit from if they wanted to encourage vans to park in the right places and earn some money.

Yesterday morning we visited the Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, near Glenmoriston, only about 15 minutes' drive from last night's park up and 8 miles south of Loch Ness. This is an area that's being rewilded in partnership with Trees for Life since 2008, recovering from centuries of damage caused by sheep, goats and deer. By allowing the forest to regenerate naturally, they have expanded important fragments of Scotland's Caledonian forest, providing a habitat for over 4,000 species of plants and animals, including golden eagles, wild boar and black grouse. There's plenty of parking with a visitor centre and café.  The walks are free, with a choice of routes depending on your interest and mobility.  We spent about 3 hours wandering around the routes. But be aware, some of them are challenging and strenuous. We loved the variety and diversity of flora and fauna. In particular, the mature birch and oak trees, dripping in lichen similar to the trees in South Carolina, USA were amazing, as well as the growing areas of juniper and heather.  It's free to walk around and definitely worth a visit. We hope they create rewilding corridors all over Scotland. Wales (and England) has a lot to learn from you.

After our adventures amongst the flora we'd just returned to the van before the heavens opened, so sat in smug comfort with a cup of tea and some Scottish shortbread. Our journey north took us on the A82 along the western side of Loch Ness...no monsters were spotted!  It's a stunning place but over commercialised in areas, so we carried on north.  Reaching Inverness, we stopped at Tesco to refuel with food and diesel, before carrying on east through Nairn to our stop over at a small CAMC CL at Druim Heath, a few miles down the road. This CL is one of just a few remaining that is basic but lovely.  It's in a small grass field next to the owner's home - bins, a fresh water tap and a black waste dump...and all for just £8 per night.  I hope these types of basic CLs will continued to be available, but fear they will disappear as the corporate greed of CAMC takes over.  We set up camp as the rain started, so the awning was wound out and we sat underneath with a hot cup of tea.  Dinner was eaten under its shelter too, before we packed up and moved into the warmth of the van.

It rained in the night but the morning brought markedly higher temperatures and it seems the warmth will increase over the next couple of days.  The Thetford fridge saga continues, with it showing an intermittent error code which suggests the PCB needs replacing - £180 plus fitting costs!  I'm sure this fridge was a Friday afternoon job.  When bought and being fitted only six years ago, the door was found to be warped and a replacement had to be ordered. Since then the heater element and the gas burner have been replaced and now it seems the computer board is on the blink!  I dropped an email to CMS in Conwy to see if I can book it in to be diagnosed and repaired before we head to France next month.  Paul from CMS was only working on it last month to replace the burner.  This fridge is like 'Trigger's Broom' - nearly every part replaced!

We spent the day at Roseisle Country Park, parking up amongst the pines.  The forest runs for miles along a lovely sandy beach that overlooks the coast NE of Inverness as it runs up towards John o'Groats.  It was really warm, as was the sea and we had a good walk before returning to the van to chill out and eat.  On the way to Torrieston we stopped off to visit Duffus Castle, much of which is slipping down the bank it was built on - there's an owner who didn't listen to his builder!  A quick history lesson:

The castle is situated on the Laich of Moray, a fertile plain that was once the swampy foreshore of Spynie Loch. This was originally a more defensive position than it appears today, long after the loch was drained. 

The motte is a huge man-made mound, with steep sides and a wide ditch separating it from the bailey. The whole site is enclosed by a water-filled ditch, which is more a mark of its boundary than it is a serious defensive measure. 

Duffus Castle was built by a Flemish man named Freskin, who came to Scotland in the first half of the 1100s. After an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against David I in 1130, the king sent Freskin north as a representative of royal authority. 

He was given the estate of Duffus, and here he built an earthwork-and-timber castle. Freskin’s son William adopted the title of ‘de Moravia’ – of Moray. By 1200, the family had become the most influential noble family in northern Scotland, giving rise to the earls of Sutherland and Clan Murray. 

In about 1270, the castle passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, Lord of Inverugie. He probably built the square stone keep on top of the motte, and the curtain wall encircling the bailey. In 1305, the invading King Edward I of England gave him a grant of 200 oaks from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn, which were probably used for the castle’s floors and roofs. 

By 1350, the castle had passed to a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland through marriage. It may have been then that the keep was abandoned, possibly because it was beginning to slip down the mound, and a new residence established at the north of the bailey. 

Viscount Dundee, leader of the first Jacobite Rising, dined in the castle as a guest of James, Lord Duffus in 1689, prior to his victory against King William II’s government forces at Killiecrankie. Soon after, Lord Duffus moved to the nearby Duffus House. The castle quickly fell into decay. 

History lesson over!

On arrival at Torrieston, I paid using the RingGo app, so no need to carry half a hundred weight of pound coins.  We walked one of the trails on the other side of the road - about a mile long through lovely deciduous forest.  We didn't see another soul, although Salty did his best to find any red squirrels - unsuccessfully.  We're now enjoying the peace with a view over forest, fields and inquisitive cows.  Tea has been drunk, biscuits have been eaten.  It's still very warm and humid, so all doors and skylights are open.  The alarm's set for 0700 so we can be up and walk the other trail before we have to leave here by 1000.

Dundreggan Rewilding Centre and Cafe

A very peaceful CL

Roseisle Country Park

After walking away from the area around the parking we had the beach to ourselves

Duffus Castle

Photobombed by Salty!

The view from the castle loo!

Torrieston car park

Kinlochleven and the Commando Memorial

Nido's parked up at a wild camping spot a little way off the A87 near Bun Loyne. We have mountain views and can just about here the occasional car passing on the road.  Our original plan was to stop over at a nearby cafe then go in for breakfast tomorrow, but they're not open so this was a Plan B. We've eaten and are chilling out, looking out over the views.

We left New Lanark yesterday morning and stopped in the town to buy some food and fill up with diesel.  I had in mind a stop over at the Glencoe Mountain Resort, mainly because the views looked great and it also had a black waste dump and fresh water.  After the usual frenetic motorway drive past Glasgow, we skirted along the western side of Loch Lomond before reaching the Highlands and pulling into the Resort.  It was fairly busy with quite a few vans and cars parked up, some making use of the chairlift running up the mountain.  After a quick look around, we decided it was too early to stop for the day. We had lunch with great views over the mountains and I took a look at the apps for somewhere else to stay for the night.

We decided on Kinlochleven, a small village at the eastern head of Loch Leven.  The village community have built an 8-pitch aire next to the toilets and the Ice Factory, an indoor ice climbing arena. Unfortunately it appears the aire is still subject to some planning issues and has been for several years. But the community are happy for vans to park up in the adjacent Ice Factory car park for a donation, which we were happy to make.  From there we took a walk along part of the West Highland Way, walking up into the glens to reach a small reservoir and dam.  Kinlochleven have made the most of the hills and water and have a large hydro-electric plant which used to supply the now closed aluminium making factory.  Having expected a cold, cloudy day according to the forecast, instead we walked in hot sunshine and were glad of the dappled shade provided by the trees.  Salty enjoyed the many cold mountain streams cascading down the mountains.  Back at the van Cathy cooked a delicious vegetable risotto and I walked into the village to get some cash to pay the park up donation.  We enjoyed the sound of the many seagulls nesting on the tops and sides of the Ice Factory building and later a number of swifts came screaming in, flying acrobatically over our heads - I love them!

This morning was hot and sunny in Kinlochleven and I enjoyed my morning walk with Salty as Cathy made breakfast.  First task of the day was to service the van and there are quite a few service points in this area.  One on our route was at the Kilmallie Community Centre in Corpach. They've built an excellent service point that is far better than many we've used in France and all they ask is a £5 donation, which we gladly gave.  Without these forward-thinking communities, we'd probably have to book into a campsite and it helps keep their services going - well done Kilmallie!

Not much further on was a place I've wanted to visit for a long, long time - the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge.  It's dedicated to the men of the original Commando Forces during World War 2 and it overlooks the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 in Achnacarry Castle.  It's an evocative monument with three commandos looking out over the Nevis range, with Ben Nevis clearly showing a couple of snow pockets near the summit. Alongside it is a garden of remembrance.  This has many plaques, wreaths and epitaphs to the many Commandos who have made the ultimate sacrifice in so many wars and conflicts.  As a Falklands War veteran, it was humbling to see the names of some of the Royal Marines who died in that conflict.  But perhaps even sadder were the many epitaphs to those killed in Afghanistan this century, many of them just in their early 20s.  I stood a while and shed a tear.  

Per Mare, Per Terram.  Lest we forget....

Lunch was taken at the top of Loch Lochy at the Great Glen Way, after a walk along part of the Caledonian canal.  We watched a couple of yachts pass through Laggan lock, coming from Loch Lochy into the canal and towards Loch Oich and no doubt eventually Loch Ness.  It was while we were parked up having lunch that I found the cafe wouldn't be open tomorrow, so we ended up in this spot.  Salty's been out for a short walk but it's raining heavily now, so he'll get one final walk before we turn in for the night.

Glencoe Mountain Resort

Sculpture by the river at Kinlochleven

Reservoir at a turnaround point on our Western Highland Way walk

Coming off the dam at the reservoir

It'll be a great aire once the legal wranglings are sorted

View from the Kinlochleven park-up

Kilmallie Community Centre

Commando Memorial, Spean Bridge

Even in death, this young Royal Marine's zest for life shines through. Stop and take a wee dram.

Laggan Lock

NE and Central Scotland Tour 2023

Monday 3 July 2023

Nido's parked up at the New Lanark UNESCO Centre.  It's just £3 for 24 hours parking here and overnight stops are allowed.  There's no facilities, but plenty of room to park; tonight there's only one other van in the main car park.  We're in one of the smaller overflow car parks.  Salty's beside himself and on-guard as loads of grey squirrels and rabbits (plus one stoat) have been hopping around the van.  He's been very self-disciplined, just watching them intently and shaking all over!  He's attached to the van by his lead so he can't chase them, but tonight I think he'll be dreaming about exactly that!

We left home yesterday morning (Sunday 2 July), with a planned stop at the C&CC temporary holiday site (THS) in Kendal.  The satnav showed a 3 hour journey, but once again (on our last trip north the M56 was closed both ways and we sat stationary for 2 hours) the motorway trolls got us.  This time the M6 north of J31 was closed both ways after a milk tanker overturned and straddled the central reservation.  This time I heard about it in advance on the radio, so had time to pull over and plan an alternative route, which is just as well as the motorway was closed for most of the day.  The revised route took us past Bury, Clitheroe and Settle. It still added over 2 hours to our journey but at least we were moving through the lovely landscape of Lancashire and North Yorkshire before reaching Cumbria.  I had considered stopping at a CAMC CL just outside Clitheroe; a lovely grass meadow with just a tap and toilet disposal.  We've stayed there a couple of times, it used to be owned by a local farming family and they only charged £7, but it's been bought out and the new owners now want £15 - no thanks!

As we drove through Kendal the heavens opened as monsoon-like rain poured for the sky.  I checked us in to the THS (£10) and we parked up on the grass close to the entrance, as we were only staying one night.  Dog walking options were limited (we were near an A road and out of town stores), so it was twice round the field for Salty before we had something to eat and settled down for an early night.

We didn't wake up this morning until nearly 0900. Breakfast was 'enforced' scrambled egg; enforced because the dozen eggs in a top cupboard fell out on the drive up yesterday and six were smashed. But they were saveable and went into the fridge in a plastic container ready for this morning.  Although it was only day one, I topped up the fresh water and emptied the loo, as we had the facilities there.  The drive up to Lanark was uneventful and we arrived at about 1.30pm.  After lunch and a cup of tea, we packed some raincoats and water in a rucksack and walked down the path to the centre.

New Lanark is a former 18th century cotton spinning mill village located on the banks of the Falls of Clyde, a deep gorge with vertical rock faces and several waterfalls.  Recognised as one of 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Scotland, as well as the visitor buildings and centre, it's a resident village community of 65 households, mainly apartments in the old mill buildings and workshops. It's nestled in the gorge within a National Nature Reserve. The centre spins their own traditionally produced organic wool and produce their own hydro-electricity.  We didn't pay to visit the centre and buildings; in fact if we wanted to we couldn't even find the visitor centre!  They could do with more signs as quite a few people were wandering around, unclear of where to go and what to do.  Instead we followed the paths and boardwalk that followed the river running through the gorge, deep and wide in some places (it reminded me of some of the rivers we've walked along in inland France) and churning white across rocks in other sections, plus some spectacular waterfalls.  There looked like some good swimming spots, but it's unsafe to try and get to the river down the steep cliffs, plus the river can quickly become a raging torrent when the hydro-electric pump stations increase the flow.

We spent about 3 hours on the walk, stopping to watch the water and the wildlife in warm, dappled sunshine.  Only on the last stretch did it start to rain, but by the time we'd returned to the van the sun was out again and we sat in the warmth with a cup of tea.  It's very quiet here this evening and hopefully we'll not be visited by the boy racers (as some previous vans suffered in the Search for Site reviews).

Tomorrow we head further north.  The rough plan for this trip  - over about a fortnight - is to make our way up to Inverness, via Glencoe and Loch Ness, before spending a few days hopping along the coastal harbours and villages along the NE coast of the Moray Firth, hopefully doing some dolphin watching.  Then we'll start to head inland and south through the Cairngorms.  That's the rough plan although the weather and midges will determine where we end up!  We have midge head-nets and a can of Smidge, but they'll not help us much if they descend on us in their millions.

New Lanark Cotton Spinning Mill

Craig Croft Aire, Laurieston

Nido's parked on a lovely little 'aire' (more of a very small campsite really) with 4 pitches (3 hardstanding and one grass), called Craig Croft (///collapsed.cadet.backers).  It's a lovely peaceful spot just on the edge of the Galloway Forest Park, close to the village of Laurieston.  The owner - Pauline - is very welcoming and told us all about the birdlife and wildlife here; she feeds the birds and the species visiting are too many for us to count!  I found it on the Search for Sites app and the reviews speak for themselves. It's £10 per night with electricity charged separately on a meter.  We hadn't planned to use EHU as we have plenty of leisure battery power and a full-up Ecoflow, but this afternoon I noticed the van fridge had stopped working on gas and all the frozen food had defrosted; it was fine yesterday.  So I hooked up the electric and the fridge is now cooling down and the freezer is doing it's thing again.  There are no error codes being displayed, so a quick read of the user manual and a Google would seem to suggest a problem with the burner or thermocoupler (whatever that is - I don't touch electrical or gas systems!).  Luckily the remaining nights of our trip are all on EHU, so at least I won't be forced to drink warm beer!  I've emailed the company - CMS North Wales - I use for van maintenance and repairs (a husband and wife team based in Conwy, to ask Paul to come out and take a look when we get home.  The fridge is only 6 years old and we've had a few issues with it in the past.  Top tip - avoid Thetford motorhome fridges!

Our night in the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse car park was extremely quiet and peaceful.  There were only two other vans staying, plus there was no wind at this highpoint so we all slept well.  I was up at about 0630 and took Salty for a good walk around the circular path that runs on the clifftops and alongside the lighthouse and attached buildings. It was cloudy and still and a little cool. After a lovely hot shower (I'll never get over the novelty of showering in a car park!) and breakfast, we made our way back down the single track road, making use of the regular passing places to allow oncoming traffic to pass.

After a brief stop in the Red Deer Range car park (///rock.feasting.areas) for a cuppa (we were in tea deficit again!), we arrived at this place. Pauline had emailed to explain the road up was signed as closed, due to a bike race (not any old bike race - it was a qualifying event for the UCI World Gravel Bike championships!), but we could carry on up as the road has been closed after the site entrance.  It's a cosy little aire and again very quiet with no artificial light.  The sun came out when we arrived so we took her advice and followed a circular walk that took us through the forest, which is mainly temperate rainforest, as seen by the beautiful green mosses everywhere. We stopped off at a bird hide where the locals feed the many species of birds.  We didn't spot any of the red squirrels, pine martens, adders (thankfully!), slow worms or deer, although Salty did try to roll in a few patches of fox poo!  Luckily I was on the ball and got him away in time.  But just in case we carry a tube of Fox Poo shampoo for dogs, plus the aire had a fresh water hose and I wasn't afraid to use it on him - he had a lucky escape!

Apart from a couple of walks we've not done much here.  There's no mobile or internet signal, so we've both been reading and after a simple meal, we walked the circular walk again, only anti-clockwise this time.  It's cooled down a little and there are a few spots of rain, but nothing to worry about.  We've been very lucky with the weather over the past week.

Tomorrow we leave Scotland and head for the Lake District to meet up with old friends for a few nights on two different campsites.  We've loved our time in Dumfries and Galloway and I've no doubt we'll return in the future to visit some of the areas we missed this time.  Initial thoughts are to return to Scotland in July for a tour based on the Heart 200 and North East 250 routes.  It's my 60th birthday (eek!) in mid-July and it would be nice to be away in the van...so long as the fridge can be fixed in time.  

Temperate rainforest - there's not much of this left in the UK

Craig Croft aire

Mull of Galloway Lighthouse

Nido's in the car park at the most southerly point in Scotland at the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse (///flattery.seatbelt.iceberg).  It was very hot and sunny when we arrived but it's now cloudy and has cooled down quite a bit.  Despite that, the 360' views from this highpoint are stunning.  There was just us and another van for most of the evening, although one more has just turned up.

After about half an hour of rain last night, it was warm and sunny as I took Salty for a walk at Whithorn at 0700 this morning.  We'd had a recommendation from Carol Kubicki to visit the Logan Botanical Garden on our way to the lighthouse.  She'd kindly sent us a link to one of her blogs listing some gardens she'd visited in Scotland.  I had Logan on my list and was happy to take her advice - diolch Carol!

It was about an hour's drive to get there and the drive up to the gardens was lined on both sides of the road with hundreds of palm trees (///catching.exists.acquaint); we thought we'd been transported to Spain or Morocco!  The garden's aren't too big to walk around and the entry fee is reasonable at £8 each.  We really enjoyed our tour, admiring the many specimens of trees and shrubs from as far afield as Chile and New Zealand.  It's definitely worth a visit.

Just a few minutes down the road is Port Logan (///roadblock.taken.trying).  We parked up for lunch, before walking along the beach to the old harbour, with a quay and bell tower designed by Thomas Telford.  Salty enjoyed being back on the beach, with lots of zoomies into the surf and sand.  If you ever watched the BBC series 'Two Thousand Acres of Sky', starring Michelle Collins and Paul Kaye, it was filmed in Port Logan.

Once parked up in a level spot at the Lighthouse, Cathy had a snooze while I sat on the van step enjoying the heat of the sun.  Dinner tonight was a chicken madras, followed by a short walk around the cliff tops and up to the lighthouse.  It's weird to think that from here John o' Groats is almost as far as London - Scotland is a BIG country!

Now enjoying the peace of the evening, in the warm of the van and after a hot cup of tea. it's time to settle down for the night.  Tomorrow we move on to a pre-booked aire close to Galloway Forest, which will be our last night in Scotland (for now), before we head for a campsite in Glenridding in the Lake District to meet up with old and very dear friends.

Port Logan