Over the last month or so I have enjoyed a few camping trips in Scotland and thought I would like to share some of these experiences with you.
The first trip was to Ardgualich Farm Camping Site on the shores of Loch Tummel; I was on my own for this one as I was 'roughing' it in my little tent:
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| Tent set up and ready to go |
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| View from tent not bad at all |
Whilst it was a great little site with fantastic views what I didn't bargain for was the weather. It was alright when I arrived but the forecast for over night was not very good. they were predicting very strong winds and heavy rain, in other words storm conditions.............and they were not wrong!
My little tent was alright but some larger tents and caravan awnings were damaged and one almost completely flattened, forcing the occupants to retreat to their car.
The next morning we were greeted with some lovely sunshine:
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| Tent survived the storm |
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| Beautiful sunrise over Loch Tummel |
A quick shower and some breakfast and I was ready to go.
The sun really highlighted what a beautiful spot the campsite was, and it had some lovely wildflowers to enjoy as well:
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| Harebell |
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| Heather |
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| Nipplewort or Hawksbeard? |
Once fed and watered I decided to explore the neighbourhood and a ten minute walk took me to Allean Forest:
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| Allean Forest Information Sign |
I decided to follow the Red route and head towards the Iron Age settlement. This was a slightly uphill route but did afford me some great views back towards Loch Tummel:
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| Loch Tummel View |
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| Allean Forest Track (Red Route) |
A short while later I arrived at the Ruins of the Iron Age settlement, which I found both informative and enjoyable as it had turned out to be a nice warm (but relatively midge-free) day:
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| Iron Age Roundhouse Interpretative Signage |
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| Remnants of Iron Age Roundhouse |
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| Entrance to Iron Age Roundhouse |
After visiting the Iron Age site I headed back down the Red track for a short distance before turning back uphill on the Yellow track:
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| Foxglove |
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| Debris from last night's storm |
As the air warmed up more insects took to the wing, including these pretty butterflies:
Firstly a Speckled Wood...........
..........and then a Scotch Argus:
The Yellow track started to get narrower and rise further uphill, as it did the woodland began to change from a regular conifer plantation to look more like an original Caledonian Pine Forest:
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| Yellow track narrows |
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| Dead Log Habitat |
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| Heather & Blaeberry flank the track |
At the top of the hill there was a log bench where I sat down and enjoyed my lunch and the views:
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| Mountain views from top of Allean Forest |
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| Heather-clad Hillside |
After lunch I headed back downhill, continuing on the Yellow route. About half way down I came across this intriguing wooden sculpture:
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| Wooden Sculpture (by Charlie Easterfield) |
I don't know much about it but it was very well done and blended in well with the scenery.
A little bit further along the track I came to another settlement; this was the ruins of an 18th century Clachan Community:
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| Clachan Community Information Plaque |
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| Ruins of 18th Century Clachan Community |
The buildings were a better preserved than the Iron Age Roundhouse, but then it is two thousand years newer. I was even able to go inside one of the houses and try and imagine how the people lived without wi-fi:
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| Entrance to turf-roofed house |
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| Inside turf-roofed house |
After visiting the Clachan Community I headed back to the campsite; somehow my little tent with its cosy sleeping bag didn't seem that basic after all.
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| Ardgualich Farm campsite (my tent is between the trees next to the loch) |
It was a better evening but it still rained slightly over night, however the wind had dropped considerably, so I slept well.
The next morning after breakfast I decided to take a leisurely drive along the side of Loch Tummel and head to Kinloch Rannoch. After Tummel Bridge I stopped on the road at the side of the River Tummel and snapped this lovely view of Schiehallion; which is reputed to be one of the easiest Munros (hills over 3,000 feet high) to climb, but I was happy to admire it from ground level.
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| Schiehallion across the River Tummel |
I didn't dwell long in Kinloch Rannoch as I was feeling a bit lazy after yesterday's exertions. So I stayed in the car, crossed over the River Tummel and headed back east along the Braes of Foss road.
This was a narrow road but had very few cars on it so I enjoyed my drive, stopping to take the occasional snap, most of which featured some view of Schiehallion:
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| Schiehallion from the Braes of Foss road |
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| Schiehallion side view (a whale-back ridge) |
As the pictures demonstrate Schiehallion is known as a whale-back ridge, which is evident when viewed from East or West but looks like a perfect cone (or pyramid) when viewed from the North or South.
After a most enjoyable drive I returned to the campsite, the wind had dropped, the rain had gone and the midges were out (hey that's Scotland for you!). Luckily I befriended a young family from Dunfermline who had a fire-pit full of logs.............which gave off plenty of smoke..........and the midges stayed away.
On my next camping trip I was joined by Moira, this time it was more glamping than camping.
We had recently sold our static caravan in Peebles and invested in a second-hand motorhome, which Moira has christened 'Vannie'. Our first trip out in the motorhome was to Sauchope Caravan Park near Crail in the East Neuk of Fife:
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| Moira and Vannie |
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| Moira at Sauchope Caravan Park |
We chose this site for our first trip as it was just over an hour from our house (just in case we had to return because we forgot something or didn't like motorhome camping??)........... and also because it had good reviews from family members who had stayed there.
The site was also very close to Crail and we only had a fifteen minute stroll along a nice promenade to get to the shops/cafes/pubs etc.
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| Promenade to Crail, very nice |
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| Giant Rockpool at end of Promenade |
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| Giant Caterpillar on Promenade |
Whilst it was nice and sunny when we arrived it did get a bit breezier in the evening, however we did get amazing pink skies at night:
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| Sunset from Sauchope, Crail |
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| Vannie at Sunset |
The next morning we woke bright and early and headed down to the toilet block to have a quick shower before everybody else was up and about, then we had our breakfast.
After breakfast we walked into Crail and caught the bus to Anstruther; another good thing about this location is the regular coastal bus that runs between St Andrews and Leven.
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| Boats in Anstruther Harbour |
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| Moira at Anstruther Harbour |
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| Old Boats at Anstruther |
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| The Britannia (not the royal yacht) at Anstruther |
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| Anstruther Lighthouse |
Anstruther (or Ainster) as the local pronounce it is where Moira lived as a young child and she really enjoys going back to visit. We spent an interesting hour or so having a look round the local Fishermen's Museum and Moira even tried her hand at piloting an old trawler:
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| More Steam McPhail |
The outgoing tide meant that there were lots of gulls and waders on the beach at Anstruther looking for an easy meal buried just beneath the sand, including this Redshank which seemed in a hurry to get its share:
These two Curlew seemed a bit more relaxed as they waded slowly along the waterfront:
Anstruther is also famous for its fish and chips, but we chose to have something else that day as we had promised ourselves some fish and chips in the renowned Crail Fish Bar later in the evening.
The next morning we decided to stay local and explore the area around Crail.
We started with a walk along the promenade which, if you stay coastal, leads on to the harbour area. Just before we got to Crail Harbour we saw a weasel-like creature ducking in and out of the rocks along the shoreline and I immediately identified it as a Mink.
This is indeed a member of the weasel family and although not native to Britain it was introduced to this country from North American for use in fur coats and hats. They were originally held on Mink Farms, however escapees and deliberate releases have meant that the Mink population has thrived in our countryside, much to the detriment of our native wildlife as it is a ferocious and very successful predator.
It was moving so fast in and out of the rocks I only managed to capture a brief few seconds of it on film, which I have slowed down to help you see it:
It certainly gave the gulls a scare as it worked its way towards them.
We headed along the coastal path, enjoying the view as we made our way towards the harbour.
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| View from Crail towards Isle of May |
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| Castle Path towards Crail Harbour |
It had turned out to be a beautiful day (albeit slightly breezy) and when we reached the Harbour area we stopped for some elevenses (tea and cake) in a quaint little café. It's hungry work all this exploring you know!
Fed and watered we then enjoyed a stroll round the very picturesque Crail Harbour:
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| Crail Harbour from harbour wall |
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| Eddie at Crail Harbour |
After a stroll around the harbour and a little foray along the beach we continued on our coastal journey by heading up the steep steps called 'Hen's Ladder' which took us to the south end of Crail.
Here we could look back towards the harbour and beach:
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| Crail Harbour from Hen's Ladder |
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| Crail Beach from Hen's Ladder |
We continued our walk along the coast following the Fife Coastal Path, heading towards Cellardyke:
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| Fife Coastal Path route marker |
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| This way to Cellardyke |
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| Crail Harbour from Fife Coastal Path |
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| Moira on Fife Coastal Path at Crail |
We didn't walk all the way to Cellardyke but stopped at a little rocky outcrop for a rest, where I undertook an art installation:
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| Stone Balancing at Crail |
As it was a getting a bit later in the day and we were growing weary we headed back to the caravan park.
We did have a little stroll later on in the day to explore the coastal path to the north of Sauchope; however it did seem to go on for a while so we turned back. I did manage to capture this lovely view of the Fife coastline (the sea really was that blue):
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| Fife Coast north of Crail |
That effectively concludes our camping trip to Crail and draws interesting comparisons with my camping trip to Loch Tummel. The one common denominator is that both camping trips highlighted the stunning scenery we have in Scotland.
Hope you enjoyed the photos, videos and the storyline.
Take care
TeddyBearGryllsEdward
