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Scotland Roadtrip – In a QuirkyCamper

December 8, 2018

Scotland Roadtrip in a QuirkyCamper

Day 1 – London to Kendall Lake District
Day 2 – Lake District to Glasgow
Day 3 – Loch Lomond to Fort Williams
Day 4 – Fort Williams to Isle of Skye
Day 5 – Isle of Skye Circular Route
Day 6 – Isle of Skye to Edinburgh via Inverness
Day 7 – Edinburgh to Kendall Lake District

Emma (Quirky Camper)

We had read a lot of vanlife and really wanted to try this lifestyle for ourselves. What better way than to visit Scotland in a van we thought!. We hired Emma through Quirky Campers and it was just an amazing experience. The van had everything we needed to sleep and cook in and it was much more spacious inside than it looked. The custom made cabinets added a very homely feel to it and there was just enough space to cook a proper meal and clean up afterwards. The portable loo was surprisingly handy as we were caught out without spare change for toilet stops. It was also very extremely handy for the midnight wee.

The only downside we had was the lack of heating source in the van, but that was only a problem on one-night where we spent the night near the Loch.

 

 

Day 1 – London to Kendall Lake District

We started the trip from London Kings Cross on a direct train onto Oxenholme in the lake district. There was a storm brewing and we found ourselves stuck in the local Riverside cafe. The owner of Emma from Quirkycampers was very helpful in picking us up as it would have been a struggle to get to the car yard in a storm.

The rest of the day was spent in traffic and powering through flooded roads and we ended up parking at a Lorry stop off the side of the road which was no longer used.

 

Day 2 – Lake District to Glasgow

Woke up nice an early for a short drive from the overnight Lorry stop to Glasgow central. Sunday parking is free in the city centre so we left Emma in quite a convenient location for the whole day!

First up, Breakfast at The Glasvegan. The food was average and they used a microwave to heat most of the food..

The breakfast wrap and kebab

Some city sight-seeing by walking on foot.

Interesting art displays at and near the Gallery.

Wandering through Glasgow Green.

 

Glasgow Cathedral

Interesting street art all around the city.

For lunch we had Stereo Cafe Bar. The food was tasty, however the fish (jackfruit) and chips was quite too soft for my liking.

Leaving Glasgow behind we drove up north onto the Loch Lomond district. We had found a nice spot to park Emma overnight and felt safe that there was other campervans doing the same.

Our views and parking spot for the night.

Day 3 – Loch Lomond to Fort Williams

There was a lot of driving today as we tried making our way to Fort Williams via Glencoe. The weather cleared up very nicely and we even had time to go on a hike!

The cows guarding the start of the hike to the top.

Magnificent views open up the higher you go.

The view from our overnight parking spot along with some sheep!

Day 4 – Fort Williams to Isle of Skye 

We started the day with coffee and toast at the Wildcat Cafe. It was quiet good and even had a cute sections selling grocery items. The local Morrisons here was amazingly well stocked and we also even had a shower at the train station. It was about 3.5 pounds per person!

 

We had driven up to see the famous GlennFinnan Viaduct in Harry Potter films. It was quite amazing seeing so many people wait for the steam train to pass. Very exciting really.

Passing through very choppy weather we ended up at the Eilean Donan Castle before arriving at the off-road overnight stop for the night. It was in a very good location in the Isle of Skye away from all the elements as the weather quite brutal.

Day 5 – Isle of Skye Circular Route

This whole day was spent driving around the Isle of Skye, stopping at viewpoints and locating local eateries. Unfortunately most of the food places here were closed as it was the off-season!! We had really wanted to try the vegan pie at the Sky Pie.

Waking up to such amazing views was definitely a highlight of travelling and living in a van.

Stopover at Portree at “The Lump” and being able to see so nice views from atop.

Heading for The Storr we were faced with constantly changing weather but amazing views and also double-rainbows.

Making our way up The Storr.

Continuing on the rest of the Isle of Skye we stop by Kilt Rock.

A coffee vendor in the middle of the route. It wasn’t very good, but I still drank it all.

The fairy pools was last on our to-do list and we hiked a bit before we decided to beat the sun onto finding our next location for an overnight stay.

The sun is getting low..

We managed to make it back to our location where we spent the night before, but it had been taken by other campervans! With the awesome Parkovernight app, we managed to find an even better and secluded location about 1 km away.

Emma is tucked into overnight spot quite comfortably.

Day 6 – Isle of Skye to Edinburgh via Inverness

We start the day with a very long drive to Inverness, with minimal stopovers. It was quite an uneventful drive and really used Inverness as a stop over to re-fill our supply needs and cook lunch before heading into the city of Edinburgh.

We had arrived late at around 6pm so once again street parking in the heart of the city was free !

Our first stop Holy Cow. It was surprisingly an expensive meal at 11 pounds each but the food and atmosphere was good.

Edinburgh at night.

 

We had firstly planned to camp overnight on the streets in the city centre, but due to the amount of traffic and noise we decided to drive 15min out into a paid commuter parking where we can also leave it for the next day.

No photos of the view here as it is a parking lot at the train station.

 

Day 7 – Edinburgh to Kendall Lake District

The day beings with a Free Walking Tour where we are shown around the history of Edinburgh.

We had lunch at Hendersons. Although it was amazingly tasty, we once again found the portions quite small for the price.

After this meal we made our way back down south to the Lake District in England. It was quite tricky trying to find an overnight spot but we had managed to find a Ferry port where there are other campervans also spending the night. The place had proper facilities to a bathroom and we even managed to use the showers here.

 

 

 

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