It may have been my craziest idea yet: camping for 8 days in the wilderness of Scotland and England. We wanted to have the freedom to go to some of the most remote places on the island without having to make reservations days in advance, and we’d already be renting a car so it made sense. There’s this appeal about camping that’s kind of romantic to me, you get to haul around your home in your car and bring all your own food and alcohol and try to survive out there as a team.
So, we picked up our car in Edinburgh and headed to an Asda, which Walmart bought and has kind of Walmart-ified. We were able to get some cheap pillows and a king-sized duvet for extra padding or warmth, as well as food and wine. We had already picked up our cheap tent and two sleeping bags from an Amazon locker the day before and were ready to roll.
Day 1:
We drove north to Craigievar Castle, then west to Loch Ness. It was a great start to our trip. The weather was sunny and beautiful, the landscape changed to large rolling hills and forests, and we were able to see one of those castles I’d had my eye on since it caught my attention on Pinterest a year or so before. We walked around the forest paths, which included a circular area 30 minutes or so into the woods that had been cleared except for a tree in the middle, the stone circular wall that had enclosed it was covered in moss and caving in. It felt like something had happened there, and we both had creepy feelings about it. We walked through the circular area into taller and darker woods, with lots of little huts that had been assembled next to fallen down tree trunks—some of them looked like they’d been there for quite some time. It was pretty terrifying because of course my mind just started running wild with what or who could be out there.
Once we made it safely back to the car without being murdered, we headed to Loch Ness Camping and Caravanning Club. It was a beautiful drive, but Ian wasn’t able to enjoy it too much. It was full of twists, one lane roads with little to no place to pull off when encountering traffic (there wasn’t a lot, thank goodness), and plenty of signs with warnings like “Weak Bridge.”
We camped right alongside Loch Ness, it was lovely, and our cheap tent was able to withstand the intermittent rain all night.
Day 2:
We got up early to head north to Dunrobin Castle. This was also a great day—and Dunrobin was truly a magnificent castle. It was huge, and reminiscent of a Disney castle with it’s pointed spires and massive garden alongside the ocean. We watched a falconry demonstration and really enjoyed getting a good look at the birds and learning more about their hunting and living habits. The castle was decorated in a way that was very different than the castles we’d seen before, with large hunting trophies on the walls and more modern furniture and portraits of the residents of the castle.
From Dunrobin we had a long drive ahead of us, going southeast to the Isle of Skye. With the dramatic change of the landscape into large green and stone mountains also came the dramatic change of the weather. The rain, while still off and on, was coming down harder and horizontal at times, with the wind becoming pretty ferocious even when it wasn’t raining.
We set up camp twice on the Isle of Skye, at a campground conveniently located between the Fairy Pools and the Old Man of Storr. We ended up staying in our car that night. We had no cover at the campground, and taking the full brunt of the wind and the rain was working its way into our tent no matter what we did. So, we packed up, went to the bar across the street, then fell asleep in our car. Not the most comfortable sleep I’ve ever had, but it was better than being blown away in the storm.
Day 3:
Although rain was called for all day, we risked it and headed to the Fairy Pools early that next morning. It was a great walk, with so much recent rain the waterfalls were strong. The poor weather also delayed most of the crowd from heading out early, and the dark ominous clouds really added to a surreal experience walking closer and closer to the jagged peaks of the mountains behind.
The rain did come in and find us again, and with every day of the next 10 days looking the same, we decided to get out of the Isle of Skye and make an attempt at finding better weather. I wasn’t down for sleeping in the car again, and I wanted to get some hiking in, not quick walks before another storm.
So, we made a longer drive south toward Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. I had wanted to hike Ben Nevis, the tallest peak on the Island, but it wasn’t going to happen, it’s as if the weather was following our car. It was the kind where clouds just sat on top of the mountains and you couldn’t see anything but gray and the road in front of you. We picked up a newer tent from a store in Fort William, with ties to keep it from blowing away, and spent another stormy night camping in Glen Coe.
Day 4:
We woke up to, you guessed it, more rain. We packed up the tent in the pouring rain—which turned our car into a humid box. Again, a check of the weather showed heavy rain for the foreseeable future, with little to no breaks. I was a bit bitter about not being able to climb Ben Nevis, but we headed toward the Lake District where it showed rain at 50% everyday, not 100%. When we got there the two campgrounds I’d picked out were flooded, so we backtracked out of town to a farm that had space. It ended up being a great location, closer to the two places I wanted to hike anyway.
Tent pitched, we weathered another night of rain and wind.
Day 5:
We got up and headed to Aira Force Waterfall and the trails surrounding it. It was raining, but not as heavy and without the wind. The walk was a nice break from being trapped in our car and tent, and while some of the mountain trails were pure mud or grass trails covered in water, it was just nice to be out.
On our way back toward the campground, we made a game time decision to climb Blencathra. It was my Ben Nevis of the Lake District, and I wanted to get to the top of it. There were a few paths up that were a bit more precarious, and said all over the internet not to climb them if it’s raining or if you’re not ‘experienced.’ So we took the easiest route up over Blease Fell. It was a good climb, a good distance and the views were incredible over the Lake District from the top. The farms, mountains, lakes and the storm clouds were gorgeous. Until the storm clouds headed our way that is, and caught us as we were about a quarter of the way down from the summit. All was good in the end, we were just soaked completely through by the time we slid down into the parking lot.
We decided to stay in the Lake District for another evening, and figure out the next day when we had more energy.
Day 6:
We woke up to rain, and packed up our tent again in the rain. I said enough, we are driving until we see the sun. So we did, and we ended up heading down into Yorkshire Dales National Park. We drove through beautiful green farmland with sheep and cows everywhere. We stopped in the city of Malham and did a circular route that took approximately 5-6 hours to complete. We got a good look at the Gordale Scar, the Malham Cove, and walked up behind the cove to the lake. It was beautiful, it didn’t rain, and our spirits were lifted. We drove on to a campground at a farm about 30 minutes from there, and enjoyed setting up and taking our tent down the next day in the warm sun.
Day 7:
We drove down to the Cotswolds region and set up camp in the sun (again!) near Sudeley Castle. We went on a lovely walk through the countryside along the Cotswolds way and enjoyed just being outdoors.
Day 8:
We woke up early to grab breakfast and check out Sudeley Castle, where Katherine Parr, the 6th wife of Henry the XIII was buried. The estate is still lived in, so we couldn’t see a lot of the inside, but the grounds were beautiful and I learned a lot more about history than I expected. I also really enjoyed that the family living there had had a badger while their children were growing up, and we got to learn all about Brock the badger.
From there we headed to Stonehenge. Ian had looked up some way to get from Woodhenge (which does exist, I had thought he was joking) and taking a trail from there to Stonehenge without having to pay $50 ($25 per person). I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was an actual trail that you could take, complete with markers that taught you about Woodhenge and Stonehenge and the people that lived there along the way. We were able to walk all the way up to Stonehenge, in a field adjacent to the path for people that hike from the road without paying, which was adjacent to the path that people get to use if they paid. It was probably 4 feet behind the paid path, and we had a good enough look at the stones.
We drove to the campground I’d picked out earlier that day to find that it was closed. We had tried to find a place close to London so that we could easily drop off our car at the Heathrow Airport the next morning. The closest one to that was for members only, and the one I called after that was closed for the evening (no one was in the office). So, we booked a hotel by the airport on the Hotel Tonight app for a discount. Our camping had come to an end faster than I’d thought, and I had mixed feelings about it—it felt like giving up. On the other hand, I got to take a shower indoors in a bathroom I wasn’t sharing with a bunch of other people, so that was nice.