By keef and annie hellinger, Sep 13 2018 09:18AM
Motorhome trip No35 : Aug 27th- Sept 12th 2018 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog
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INTRODUCTION
NOTTS->Scotland and the Isles via Lake District ->NOTTS 1313 miles
Troutbeck nr Penrith, Greystoke, Glasgow, Mull, Iona, Ulva, Kintyre including the Mull of Kintyre, Bute, Arran, much of Argyll & Keswick, Lake District
HISTORY OF THIS BLOG
Slight boo boo - we had 2 trip 34's... Eire came first so made this Trip34A on 12/7/20, no worries , hardly matters just means in reality we have done one more trip in the van than we say , updated 5/5/22 Decided to shift this and each subsequent blog on by one up to the latest at the time which was 177 (now Trip 49, was 48) Back to MENU
SUMMARY OF TRIP
A fab time away visiting our dear friends Chris and Allyson in their new home at Ardtun (pronounced Hard – Ton) on the oh so peaceful Isle of Mull plus pulling in 7 ferry trips, 5 Scottish islands, a lot of miles, 2 great days out in Glasgow (which is a truly fabulous city – much better than when we cowered under the bench overnight in Buchanan street bus garage 40 years ago – city of culture now), a great Sunday dinner with friends Lawrence & Yvonne, Strathclyde country park - the old lady who had lived there all her life and not found the Roman fort (lol), classy Charles Rennie & Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh, the Glasgow Boys,Riverside Museum, Hunterian, George Square, Murals, Kelvingrove, real pizzas, Sir John Moore and true scotch food, Hard Rock Cafe, HOHO bus, Bellshill station, scotch mist,wind and rain a plenty on some of the isles plus lots of sunshine, Connel, trying to find the amphitheatre in Oban, humming Mull of Kintyre, Chris reminding me about a lift we had on Mull all those years ago where the lifter played Planxty, the burg, Cnoc Mor, tea and cakes Bunessan, a revisit to Threlkeld, Keswick and a first visit to Tarzan’s Greystoke, Fionnphort, great walk to coast on Iona in the sun (now costs to go around the abbey - progress?),learning something about crofting and de-crofting,that multi-seen french yacht, 2 busted ferries to and from the Isle of Arran, Crab & Lobster soup in the Boathouse Ulva, Shiela's cottage,Lachlan MacQuarrie's mausoleum Mull (Benmore estate - born Ulva as were Dr Livingston's grand parents) , Uisken beach and the big chair, Ardalanish beach rain and red admirals,Bob Ryan MBE Ardalanish weavers,Tarbert, Campbeltown, Mull of Kintyre, Machrihanish, views of Islay, Loch Fyne, revisiting Tighnabruaich,Rothsay, Winter gardens and harbour, Port Bannatyne, Ardrossan, Brodick and castle and grounds, shifting from the dog lounge to the coughing suite on Arran ferry, the Big stone (both Arran and campsite Troutbeck), Corrie, Lochranza and castle, hills of Sannox (lunch twice),fake sheep and a very convincing seal, my first red squirrel in the UK, seal shores views - kildonan, Kinloch, Old byre visitors centre - Machrie, wild camp A83, learning more functionality on our camera, waterfalls galore in Loch Lomond NP and oh so much more, very relaxing, we really enjoyed ourselves.
UPDATED PLAN / DIARY
DAY 1 Mon 27 Aug 3hrs 30mins 178 miles Home to Penrith (straight there 6hrs 10mins 284 miles… too much for 1 day!!!) stay at Troutbeck head site, Troutbeck, Penrith, CA11 0SS (a C&M site) Booking confirmed £33 0008542092 DAY2 Tues 28 Aug 3hrs 4 mins 155 miles Morecambe Bay to Strathclyde Country Park Caravan Club Site L&Y Bothwellhaugh Road, Bothwell, Bothwell, G71 8NY Booking 0008543275 £70.50 DAY3&4: Wed & Thurs 29 & 30 Aug 3 nights with Lawrence & Yvonne, 2 days in Glasgow… note that is 12 miles away by bus.. see Y&L tues eve , they are off Weds so we will probably do 2 days in Glasgow. Park and ride (free) at Bellshill train station, only £4.40 return to Glasgow Central station. What a fab place it is. The hop on hop off bus is only £16 for 2 days. Guess what Glasgow has a Hard Rock Cafe DAY5: Fri 31 Aug 3hrs 106 miles to Oban, stay at campsite there North Ledaig Caravan Club Site Connel, Oban, Argyll & Bute, PA37 1RU, Scotland C&M club site booked ref 2450 £28.20-£10 deposit paid. Had a quick drive up to find the Victorian amphitheatre at Oban but couldn’t find it, interesting climb on single track road. Campsite wonderful, on beach front with clear views of the isle of Mull DAY6 – 11 Sat 1 Sep – Fri 7 Sep Ferry Oban to Craignure : on Mull with Chris & Allyson. Leave Fri am 6 full days. Take tickets BOOKED leave oban checkin closes 8.10… leave craignure checkin closes 9.25 £41.20 return #wow . Drive to Cnoc Mor takes about 1 hr, allow 1hr 30 on way back because of traffic.
panorama, the burg from cnoc mor, ardtun, isle of mull #bliss DAY12: Fri 7 Sep Ferry Craignure to Oban Then on way back 50 miles 1hr 30 mins Oban to Tarbert ferry via Lochgilphead (all Argyll & bute) Camp near Tarbert @ killegruer caravan park, woodend, glenbarr, tarbert, argyll pa29 6xb email sent to book/ now confirmed pay cash We called in at this campsite and it was YUCK! So carried on and stayed at a lovely site just outside Campbeltown (a great town) on the Mull of Kintyre , Macrihanish Holiday Park. Such lovely views, if a little (understatement) windy. DAY13: Sat 8 Sep Ferry Tarbert (Argyll mainland) to Portavaidie (across loch fyne) Turn up and go, see timetable then around loch riddon, drive Portavaidie to colintraive ferry terminal 40 mins 19 miles, then Colintraive - Rhubodach Ferry £5 1 way for motorhome plus passengers. Now on the isle of Bute, Spend the rest of the day on Bute… camp there then head to Rothsay. Camp at Roseland Holiday park, Serpentine Road Canada Hill, Isle Of Bute PA20 9EH email sent to book response hardstanding pitch secured. Not the greatest site but high up on the hills overlooking Rothsay so close to ferry. Hardstanding was in basically a car park £20 all in so cheap. Washrooms adequate (just) DAY14: Sun 9 Sep Ferry Rothsay to Wemyss Bay , then Drive Wemyss Bay to Ardrossan 45 mins 18 miles, Ferry Ardossan to Brodick - Isle of Arran stay 1+ full days (lots to see and much bigger than Bute)camp at Seal Shore Camping & Touring Site, Kildonan ,Isle of Arran ,KA27 8SE ,01770 820320 £23/night 2 nights.. go anti clockwise around the island… 25 mins 14 miles Brodick to Lochranza, see castle… email sent to book Take tickets BOOKED Arran leave ardrossan checkin closes 12 noon… leave brodick (11th) checkin closes 9.15 £46.70 return Update… due to crane crushing drive on / off ramp had to take a later ferry so had nice lunch and coffee in Asda near the terminal. Drove up to Lochranza – nice place, hills of Sannox fab DAY15: Mon 10 Sep Day on Isle of camp at same site Seal Shore Camping & Touring Site, Kildonan ,Isle of Arran ,KA27 8SE £23/night £20 deposit paid by card, sending confirmation. Fab views across to lighthouse on an island. Bit wet and windy though! Drove right around Arran 30 miles top to bottom so about 60 miles in all. Called in at CalMac Brodick after text re ferry cancellation. As the second ferry from Brodick to Ardrossan was also damaged (how careless, winds from storm , ramp cracked – dry dock) and no vehicles over 2.8 meters high could leave we travelled (for the 4th time) back to Lochranza and got the 5.05 pm small ferry back to Cloanaig (Kintyre), very choppy and getting off was fun. Then A83 Lochgilphead, Inveraray (nice) and wild camp just outside Cairndow with own private waterfall DAY16: Tues 11 Sep then back to mainland via drive Kildonan to Brodick 30mins 13 miles ferry Brodick to Adrossan, then drive Adrossan to Penrith Lake District 3 hrs 6mins 158 miles Stay at Troutbeck head site, Troutbeck, Penrith, CA11 0SS (a C&M site) Booking confirmed £26.80 0008542045 Update from Cairndow (up early) drive A83/ A82 past Glasgow back to Troutbeck campsite DAY17: Wed 12 Sep Penrith home 3hrs 30mins 178 miles longer time wise via M6 about 186 miles
See all our Scotland Travel Blog routes HERE If you would like to seen details of our other trips to Scotland most in the wendy house please have a look at Blog 38 & 152, thanks, they are associated here for your easy navigation, plus our family trip in 1988, use FAMILY page by year, thanks for looking If you would like to see details of our trip to the Shetlands in 2001 or you would like to see Slideshows of our trip to the Isle of Lewis, the Uists and Benbecula in 1988, Edinburgh in 1993 when we holidayed in Lowick, Northumberland or Tighnabruich, Cowal peninsular which we revisited on this trip and it was Craig's 1st holiday back in 1982 visit our FAMILY page here on the site and go to the appropriate year, thanks
SLIDESHOWS
SCOTTISH TRAVEL BLOG ROUTES
RETRO SCOTTISH FAMILY TRAVEL VIDEOS
In 2023 i started to redo many of our very old you tube videos (utubeo) and here is what you get, better quality images and sound #utubeo
nice travel blog, so love scotland