Recent trip to the West coast of Scotland

[Peaceand]

I took the opportunity of having the long Jubilee weekend off work to go back to Scotland and visit an area I hadn't been to before. As it was just going to me and a friend we decided the Carawagon was ideal for this, so on Friday after work I set off Northwards.
The journey up was smooth and uneventful, briefly stopping at Mick's place to pick up some galvanizing he'd done for us The main problem is that once you get to about 50mph, the series 3 heater can't suck air in due to the slipstream, so it was a case of cruising at 60, then when it got a bit chilly finding a truck to draft behind to warm things up again. The TDi performed wonderfully as always, it's a very quiet well behaved machine now.

I got to St Andrews about 1 am and set the Carawagon up at the end of the dunes, tucked away between the sand dunes and the "Royal and Ancient" golf course, having slept surprisingly well I met up with my friend, had a quick walk on the beach then set off West towards Oban.

Our intention was to catch a ferry across to the Isle of Mull, and spend a couple of days exploring there, but when we arrived at Oban the ferry guy just laughed and pointed at the long queue of cars. Every ferry that day was fully booked, and there was already a long queue of 'cancellation hopefuls'.

However Verena wanted to get to an island, of some kind, so she took the map and found a tiny island a little further north called Luing. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip, once we had got over to the island - on the ferry that was only big enough for three cars (or 1 and a Carawagon) we found a gorgeous island, with friendly people and the perfect wild camping spot on a slate beach area.

That night we had the little fire going, eating dinner while watching the sun setting over the other islands. This proved very irritating for Verena as she was forced to get her camera out every half hour as the view became more and more spectacular.

On Sunday we went back to the harbour, intending to go back to the mainland and find a canoe hire place. But the car ferry didn't run on Sundays - the Carawagon was stranded on the island. We took the essentials and went over on the little passenger boat instead. A local vicar gave us a lift to the next town where a tour boat company was based, no canoes, but we did a wonderful tour of the islands, saw seals, sea eagles, deer and various other wildlife.

After hitch hiking back to our ferry, we returned to the island and set up camp again. The solar shower that we had filled up earlier was almost warm, and Verena decided that it must be used. Some string and a tarp clipped to the awning poles made an improvised shower area at the back of the Carawagon, it worked surprisingly well, though should probably be left out in the sun longer than the recommended three hours.

To get warm and dry again, a bit of beach combing found us enough wood for another camp fire, and we settled down to admire some Scottish beauty - this time with a steam paddle boat cruising slowly past. Dinner was cous cous with vegetables and beef.

The drive back to St Andrews was also smooth and uneventful, after calling at the Loch Tay to finally fufil our canoeing desires we got back at about 6, had hot showers and then I headed off to my camping spot in the dunes for the last night.

The only problem I encountered was 3 miles from home, when I stopped for fuel, it wouldn't start again. The main battery was only producing 10 volts, not enough to start it. So I called Dad who came out to tow me back home, a new battery is now in place and seems to be working fine.

Another 850 miles under the Carawagon's belt! I haven't worked out the mpg yet, but I'm guessing it's around 35-40

Patrick

[RMS]

Fantastic, Patrick.

You obviously had much better weather than us over the weekend

Cheers,
Dad. (or Robin to the rest of you )

[AlexB]

Thanks for sharing this. really nice reading and great photos. A far cry from bombing up to scotland with loads of mates and your overdrive packing in!!!
Good job International Dads organisation still works!


What temperature (ish) was the shower thing at (for its three hours) - as was wondering about one for scandinavia next month?

Alex

[Peaceand]

Yep this was very refined and civilised compared to the old trips with 7 people and luggage crammed into an 88"

The shower was definitely above air temperature, but not enough to be considered hot. I think the trick is to put it out in the sun first thing in the morning, and by evening it will be lovely and hot. There are warnings on it about making sure it's not scalding hot, so presumably it's possible to get it up to 70 degrees or so?

I didn't use it myself, I was quite happy keeping watch for walkers on the other side of the vehicle, listening to the gasps and curses of somebody having a lukewarm shower...

I'll bring it to leafers then you can see for yourself

[AlexB]

And a young lady to model it perchance - or is that too much to ask!

My opther option was one of those leccy pumps with a shower attachment, but not having a twin battery system, it probably is not such a good idea.
Apparently Scandinavia is very expensive for (everything) camping, but free camping isn't a problem, hence the need for ablutions.

[michelji]

merci beaucoup pour ce superbe reportage ;)
michel

[RMS]

And a young lady to model it perchance - or is that too much to ask!

My opther option was one of those leccy pumps with a shower attachment, but not having a twin battery system, it probably is not such a good idea.
Apparently Scandinavia is very expensive for (everything) camping, but free camping isn't a problem, hence the need for ablutions.

JohnH will show you how to do a full body wash in a saucer of water, if you ask him nicely

[overlander]

OMG - too much information Patrick but I too have a solar shower but to date nobody's ever stood underneath it!

Enjoyed your write up of the trip.

See you at tLATP at the weekend?

cheers

John H

[WhiteKnight]

Great tale of derring-do, Patrick.

Sounds like heaven. That part of Scotland is so beautiful.
Fantastic photos too! Compliments to Verena.
Look forward to hearing more at T'Pit, with the rest of us shower!

Cheers

Steve

[dudley]

hi patrick

a great trip and great photo's

an area i would like to tour

(maybe i will wait until 200tdi fitted)

see you at leafers

phillip