Part Four - Glencoe After two amazing days in the Cairngorms, we were unsure if anything else on our trip would hold a candle to the beauty of Glenmore... That was until we arrived in Glencoe. Looking like it's straight out of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, with its mist covered mountains, green valleys and crisp rivers, we began to realise that we had never been so wrong. The campsite that we had booked for our one night in Glencoe (please note that one night here is not enough!) was the Red Squirrel Campsite and it was as easy to find as it was aesthetically pleasing. We arrived at the site around early evening, and chose a pitch to set up away from other campers, because after all, what is camping about if not getting away from people! Red Squirrel has lots of space, and feels fairly wild compared to some large sites, with pitches amongst the trees and by the streams that run through it. There is a small shop on site with some basic items, including firewood, as well as ample toi...

Part Three - The Cairngorms As we left the lowlands behind and headed up the A9, we started to see and feel the true wilderness that Scotland has to offer. So many beautiful valleys, mountainsides, and forests that appear to be completely devoid of human activity - this is what I had come here for! We arrived at Glenmore Campsite, near Aviemore, early in the evening, and I was initially struck by this site - it was definitely the biggest site we'd been on during this trip, and also the most wild feeling, as it's set right in the woodland. After a brief visit to reception to check in, we found ourselves a pitching spot away from other campers, and right on the edge of the woods, which gave our pitch a relatively private feel, however, it did make us easy access for all the flying insects of the forest! Our first evening was spent grilling some steaks that we had bought earlier in the day, and then, in an attempt to find some Wi-Fi to download maps and plan the next few days, we ...

Part Two - Edinburgh & Stirling After two nights in the Galloway forest it was time to move on to the next leg of our journey - starting with Edinburgh! To avoid the hassle of driving and parking in the city itself, whilst planning the trip we found several park and ride locations surrounding the city, so we chose the most convenient one for us, and headed there Monday morning. With traffic around the built up areas the journey took us just over two and a half hours. We had booked tickets for Edinburgh castle at 11:30, which we did end up being a little late for, but we still got into the castle, to get some great views over the city and to learn more of it's history.   Being the UK school summer holidays, and also festival season it should have been no surprise that the castle and city were both very busy with tourists from all over the world. After being in the forest for two days in a comparatively much less busy area, this was quite a shock to the system, and as I'm no...

As described in my introduction post, I have loved camping and outdoor activities since I was young, and living in the UK, the absolute pinnacle for such activities is without a doubt Scotland! It is a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time, and this year with my better half Catherine, I finally planned a trip that would allow us to visit some of the places that we wanted to see the most.  Over the course of many evenings after work we sat at the laptop, and over a large ' Touring Map of Scotland ' (thank you Amazon ) endeavouring to decide upon a route which would enable us to visit some beautiful natural areas such as Galloway Forest, the Cairngorms, and Glencoe, whilst also giving us the opportunity to see more touristy areas like Edinburgh and Stirling. Some of the places that we had initially planned to visit had to be cut from this trip, to allow us more time to explore others, leaving the planned route to resemble that below: Galloway Forest - camping for two...