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

Dockray Meadow CAMC Site- Lamplugh

Nido's been parked up at Dockray Meadow (///lift.bibs.wardrobe) for the past two nights. It's a short distance from the village of Lamplugh, a very quiet area on the very western perimeter of the Lakes, about three miles from Ennerdale.  We don't normally use the Club sites, much preferring CLs, but this one is fairly relaxed, with no toilet block.  However, it does have the ubiquitous 'pegs' that you MUST park between on pain of being drummed out of 'the club!'  To be fair the wardens are lovely here.  They're making a real effort to encourage wildlife into the site by leaving areas of grass to develop into wildflower meadows.  In only two years over twenty five different wild flowers and plants have appeared and the whole site is awash with birdlife and red squirrels. As I type this evening, I can see thousands of newly-hatched may flies floating in the still, warm air.

It took about an hour to drive here from Glenridding.  There was a slightly shorter route, but we decided to stick to the main A roads.  Once pitched, we all took a walk of about 3.5 miles towards a small reservoir with a dam and weir, nestled down in the crook of a hillside covered in pine plantation, although much of it had already been harvested.  Dinner was a tuna salad and a quiet night in catching up on some YouTube vlogs.

It was quite a chilly night and it took a while before the sun reached the van, but Thursday turned out to be a still, hot and sunny day.  It was Pete's turn to celebrate a birthday; he and I went off for a 14 mile bike ride.  Although on the western edge of the fells and much less lumpy than the main parts of the Lakes, we still managed to cycle up about 1,300 ft of height gain!  After a shower we went off for another walk with the dogs, this time a circular route taking in Lamplugh Church.  I'd booked a table at The Countryman pub, which is about a 20 minute walk from the site.  It's dog-friendly so Lola the Spaniel came along, but we left Salty in the van for some 'me time.'  We enjoyed our meal and were back in the van by 8pm.  Cathy sat out for a while reading while I sat inside with my feet up after what felt like (to me) to have been a busy day!

We're leaving early tomorrow heading for home via the IKEA in Warrington; not somewhere we look forward to visiting, but we need a few storage things for the van and house.  Our daughter and her partner have been housesitting for us for the past week, so it'll be lovely to see them before they disappear back down south over the weekend.  But first we need to battle the combined bank and half-term holiday traffic with everyone - know doubt - heading for North Wales during this spell of lovely weather.  The butties and flask of tea will be prepared in advance, ready for the inevitable traffic jams!

We've had a lovely fortnight away.  Dumfries and Galloway was outstanding and the Lakes have been quieter than we expected.  And with great weather throughout, with only one evening of rain, we feel blessed.  Once home and assuming the fridge problem is fixed (booked in for a diagnostics check next week), planning will start for a July trip to Central and NE Scotland.

Wildflower meadows everywhere

The Blue Tit next is actually under the cone!  Mum & Dad enter at the top to feed the chicks.

Cathy chatting to one of the wardens about developing the wildflower meadows

Gillside Farm Campsite - Glenridding

Nido's parked up at Gillside Farm Campsite in Glenridding (///conveys.unrated.seatbelt), at the southern end of Ullswater in the Lake District.  He's been joined by another campervan owned by our friends - Pete, Liz and their cocker spaniel - Lola.  This is our third night camped here. It's been fun to catch up after about a year since our last meet up, with a short walk and a BBQ on the first evening.

Gillside Farm is a large campsite that caters for tents, motorhomes, caravans and also has some static mobile homes.  We're pitched together with the statics on a flat area with electric hook up (our fridge is behaving itself on EHU....for now!).  We arrived first, checked in and found a spot for both of us. Pete and Liz arrived about an hour later.  It's £27 per night for two adults, one dog and electric.  There are toilets and showers, washing machines and a washing up area with piping hot water. We're surrounded by mountains, the nearest of note being Helvellyn and Striding Edge.  We're not into that sort of hillwalking any more, so we stuck to the valleys.

On Monday Pete and I unhooked our bikes from the van racks and headed out for a ride.  I'd planned a rough route to take in some minor roads and 'a few hills'.  In the end we covered almost 18 miles and over 1,800 ft of climbing!  The views were spectacular and we had the chance to enjoy them as we regularly stopped to regain our breath and suck in some water!  The coffee stop back in Glenridding was very welcome.

We all later took a walk over the hill to Lanty's Tarn.  The level was low with mud exposed, but Salty managed to find a better spot to get in the water and cool off on what had turned out to be a hot day.  After a refreshment stop at the Lakeside Kiosk, both dogs had a splash in Ullswater, before we returned to the van for food and an early night.

Tuesday was Cathy's birthday and our friends' Silver Wedding Anniversary.  Cathy and I were up early and out walking with Salty by 0730.

We took route from Patterdale along the Grisedale Valley.  It was quiet and still and we were soon moving off the tarmac track and up the stony paths, heading further into the valley.  At the half way point we reached the climbing hut called Ruthwaite Lodge, refurbished in the memory of two local climbers who were killed climbing Mt Cook, New Zealand in 1988.  We enjoyed the break with a cup of tea and some snacks before heading back, following a path on the other side of the beck, with hot sunshine on our backs.

Back at the van we just had enough time to grab some lunch and shower before our friends Dave and Angie, with the cocker spaniel Fudge arrived.  We haven't seen them for about a year and I think it's several years since Pete last saw them. Both Dave and Angie also served in the Royal Navy (as did Pete) - between the four of us we had about 130 years of Naval service!  We walked down the road to let the two spaniels have a play in the lake (Salty stayed in the van for some 'me' time!) before carrying on to the Patterdale Hotel for a drink and a catch up. Returning to the van I broke out the birthday cake and cremant, enjoyed sat outside in the sunshine before they headed back to their home about 40 minutes drive away.

I cooked dinner and Cathy later had a Zoom meeting with a number of different organisations about learning Welsh.  At the end of the day we're all really tired, so it'll be an early night. We leave here tomorrow and move to a CAMC site at Dockray Meadow, near Lamplugh, on the western edge of the Lakes, for our final two nights.

A Patterdale in Patterdale!

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