Up North to Aviemore

Aviemore and the Cairngorms 

So this is what the Cairngorms looks like early March! Beautiful and covered in snow! This was my first time driving up to the Cairngorms, and we did it in one day. From Glasgow I reckon it was just under a three hour drive one way. We were trying to keep the trip low budget which is why we didn't stay overnight, but I think you could definitely justify the cost of accommodation. It is a big day if you are driving! So at least bring coffee. We made a point of leaving Glasgow early to get there around ten, and left at five and had plenty of time to do and see what we wanted. 

The drive is pretty easy and mainly straight forward from Glasgow. Take the M8, get onto the M80 until it becomes the M9. Past Perth it becomes the A9 and you just follow signs for the A9 North until Aviemore becomes signposted.

Once you hit the Caringorms it gets pretty spectacular...

What to do?

Once we arrived in Aviemore, we went to the main town area and went into the visitor centre where they gave us some good leaflets and recommendations. Before I left all my friends who had been had talked about the funicular railway at the ski resort, and also Loch Morlich, which is pretty much what we ended up doing. We also picked up some stuff for lunch in the wee tesco in the town, pretty essential as once you leave the town there is nothing but nature 

Going up...

One of my most favourite pictures

Funicular Railway

I don't know if I was being daft but everyone kept talking about this and I had no clue. Maybe it's coz I don't ski so I am uneducated about how to get up mountains quickly... But! We figured it out. If you aren't at Aviemore to ski (which I shall be putting on my bucket list!) you can just get a pass to get up the mountain on the train cart. One of the leaflets we got given actually had a 20% voucher in the back of it, so have a look if you do go to visitors information. You might also be able to get discount vouchers online! If you are a student you are also able to get a discounted ticket. As we were walking through the car park a lady gave us a free ticket! So if you are done with yours, make someone's day and give your ticket away.

Mel was surprised at how much snow there was! The views are obviously incredible at that time of year and it was great being up high on such a clear and sunny day! You can see Loch Morlich from the top. There is a nice enough looking cafe at the top with a shop, and outside a lovely viewing platform! 

It was really, really bright and that is why we are squinting in this photo

Loch Morlich

We got to Loch Morlich at around lunch time so we started off the only way we know how - with a tasty lunch. We were again lucky that the weather was so great, so we just made use of the picnic benches. There are a few options that we found for various walks in our leaflets. There is a really obvious path around the perimeter of Loch Morlich and that is the one we walked around. It took us a couple of hours at an easy pace, and is pretty flat with a few gentle inclines. Ideal for people who don't want to do anything intense, but do want to spend a decent amount of time walking. I think it was just over a 5km or 6km walk from what I am able to remember. 

It's pretty cool, because you could see the ski resort we had just left. Even though it didn't take us that long to get down to Loch Morlich, it looks like it was miles away.

The photo below makes me feel so calm when I look at it. Everything was so still and wonderful. The walk was really nice as it wasn't overly busy either.

And driving back was pretty great too... I love the texture on all the mountains, with the way the snow has melted in different patterns. A sucker for scenery really!

Skye Wig Wam Wonders: Part 2 - Where we stayed

Being part of Scotland, when you go to Skye you should expect the unexpected - especially when it comes to weather! But alas, I don't need to tell you about the weather in Scotland, for if you live here you will know. However, the weather in Skye is notoriously unpredictable.

When we first started planning the trip we had good intentions to go in summer but because of work and a few other bits we ended up booking to go mid October. For a summer visit we had initially considered camping, which when there is a 70mph wind warning (which there was) would have been awful! I have heard tales of people waking up in the morning in Skye to find their campsites deserted because the weather has been that bad.

As we were moving into the autumn I was a bit concerned about cold and rain so I had a think about trying to find a B&B that was cheap, and I was asking around some friends and they suggested trying to find a bothy.

I googled 'Skye bothy' and this link came up

http://skyehostels.com/    aka The Croft Bunkhouse!

I had a wee look and immediately was so excited to stumble across the wigwams!

For anyone thinking about going I would seriously recommend getting in touch with Theresa about staying there. Our wigwam cost us £40pn for two people, and it is even cheaper per person if you have four people staying inside. It was such a great alternative to camping!

The wigwams are highly insulated and super warm, with a heater, then we also had a kettle, mini fridge, a microwave, a radio as well as working lights. The main bunkhouse itself is great, I wouldn't have an issue staying there either. There is a great social area where we spent one night making friends with some other traveler's and I was so, so impressed with the kitchen that had everything in it that you could possibly need to cook!

Theresa has done a great job at making a warm and friendly, but affordable place to stay. The bunkhouse is located in Portnalong on the island's mid-West coast. It is really close to Glen Brittle and the Fairy Pools, as well as the other main roads for the island.

I didn't take loads of photos but below you can see the inside seating area. There are slats that you can use to bridge the gap between the seats creating a massive double bed area! It was super comfy and great to have so much room to sleep.

On our last day we were so sad to be leaving the wig wam that we took a selfie with it to say goodbye. 10/10!

The Road to Crinan Ferry

Our trip to Crinan Ferry was actually the second night of a weekend camping trip, so we started off on Saturday from Firkin Point on Loch Lomond. I spend a lot of time at Loch Lomond and there's lots to write about it, so I will talk about that in another post.

It was the end of my second year of uni and I wanted to have a camping trip to celebrate and unwind after exams, and I fancied somewhere to camp on the beach. I had googled a few places that were recommended on the West Coast but all of the ones that struck me happened to be on the isles and we were looking to keep costs down.

So essentially we winged it. I think once you get into the countryside of Scotland you can't really go wrong and end up somewhere horrific, so I liked the idea of driving around until we found a spot that suited us. So, from Loch Lomond, we followed the A82 until the point where the road splits into two directions, straight on for the coast (A83) or you keeping going towards the West Highlands.

We had a very quick pit stop in Inverary which is a place I have been to before with the kayak club on our annual surf kayaking trip to Machrihanish. I have stopped off there four times, but because its been on the way to Mach, I have never properly explored, but it looks really pretty and there is a really nice chip shop that we always go to! We saw a lovely rainbow, which is why we pulled over.

This photo does it no justice

A bonny wee lass is oor Alice.

They did this every time I turned the engine on!

We continued driving for a bit, and we tried to be young and adventurous, so I didn't actually keep track of what way we ended up going to get to Crinan Ferry. We were driving about for quite a while and I was getting tired and if I'm honest almost about to give up. We had doubled back on ourself and went back past a sign for Dunadd Hill Fort  which we hoped might be a lead for somewhere, and turned down there. Me and Reubs later hiked up the fort in the morning.

We pulled into a car park and asked a nice but scary looking (silly us) fisherman if he knew anywhere to wild camp, and he told us about Crinan Ferry and how to get there.

Mr Scary Looking Fisherman, we were so wrong about you, because this was a wonderful place and we thank you so much for telling us about it.

Fields on the way

Feast your eyes

View from the top of Dunadd Hill Fort

A wee selfie from the top

He told us that once we got there, there would be a tree with a swing by the car park. So we parked up, headed down to the beach.

We set up camp and me and Reuben went to get firewood to make a proper campfire. When we pitched up there were signs saying no camping allowed without permission, but we weren't certain if the land was owned by anyone. Whilst me and Reuben were away the owner(?!) came and spoke to Alice and John and we ended up getting permission to stay there as long as we took care of it. I don't know how official it was that he owned the land, but I am 110% for looking after the country and nature, so it was fine. 

So pleased with ourselves.

Where the fairies live

We got our firewood from a wooded place that was on the way to the camping spot, and we were lucky because there just seemed to be random massive piles of dry firewood set out. In the same area was a beautiful pond that was surrounded by so many tiny and beautiful green and purple flowers and it was truly magical.

The weather was actually pretty good that night as well so it meant that we were able to properly enjoy the camp fire. The sky was so clear because we were so far away from any cities and the stars were incredible, and we even saw a couple of shooting stars which was completely magical.

I will definitely be back to explore more of the Western coast of Scotland, there are loads of places on the way to Mach that look incredible that I would like to visit. I think hearsay is probabally a great way to learn about a place and find out the secrets from the locals, otherwise we would have just drive by and never been to Crinan Ferry. If you want to have a chilled weekend of camping and relaxing by the sea I would really recommend going here, as it was remote and peaceful.

To the summit of Ben Lawers

The climb gives excellent views of Loch Tay 

Ben Lawers Perthshire

Technically Ben Lawers was my second munro, but that's only because you have to climb Beinn Ghlas to get to the summit! Before then I had never climbed any mountains or munros, so I was a complete beginner. Cara had done the Brecon Beacons, but this was her first Scottish Munro.

I hope you are lucky like me
to have an amazing hiking
partner

If you are thinking of climbing both the munros Walk Highlands has a lot of good info on all the hills and munros in Scotland. The info for this climb is here: http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/ben-lawers.shtml

I am really lucky to have a lot of friends who know lots about the outdoors and we did this climb based on a recommendation from my friend who does a lot of hard climbing. I was looking for something that was near to Loch Earn in Perth as that was where I was collecting Cara from, but also something fit for beginners.

The turning is just off the A827 which runs alongside Loch Tay and the car park is easy to find. The turning is sign posted. There's a donation that I think?! is compulsory, but also completely justified. The national trust have done an incredible job at maintaining the walk and making it one that is easy for all levels of walkers! The route is really straight forward and easy to follow. On the way down, we took a different route and it took us just under five hours (walk highlands reckons 5-6) and that was with plenty of time for us to rest going up and take cool photos at the summit etc. The route upwards takes you over the summit of Beinn Ghlas, and then onwards to Ben Lawers. Then, if you are facing Beinn Ghlas from the BL summit, to the right hand side of the munro you can see an alternative, much lower altitude path which you can take down, which is a real treat having climbed two munros because it is all a nice gentle down hill walk, instead of re-climbing Beinn Ghlas. I believe this is called the Erdamucky trail.

From the summit of Ben Lawers you get some amazing views of the rest of the Grampain range, and also of Loch Tay. There are a few other lochs that become visible from that height that you don't see on the way up. Apparently lots of people don't realise that Beinn Ghlas is a munro which is crazy because you can't actually see Ben Lawers until you get to the top of it.... The Erdamucky trail gives you an awesome view of the valley below as well, and there are lots of picturesque little streams etc. that make it an equally nice walk down, as the one upwards.

I made paella for lunch and the carbs were greatly appreciated

One of the things I found as an inexperienced climber was that you honestly can't be too prepared! We started off wearing lots of warm clothing with spares in our bags, only to take it off for the first few hours of the climb as it was actually really nice weather for Scotland! wooo. Then, as you get closer to the top, because it is more exposed we ended up putting on water proofs just as a wind break because the wind was proper going for it! Another thing I thought was that having enough food and snacks to keep you going was important. I wish I had bough more water anyway, and then I ended up dropping my water bottle and loosing a load at the Beinn Ghlas summit which was obviously less than ideal!

But to be honest, only that and the fact that I had a cold were the only faults I could find in the day, and I would definitely recommend the climb!

Such a majestic eagle

From what I remember I took this from the middle point that joins the two munros, but that's Loch Tay

What a trooper

Ben Lawers ( I think) as seen from Beinn Ghlas. Ben Lawers is the highest munro in the Grampian Range

Throwing shapes in the clouds