Blog 152 Abandoned NC500, Harris-Lewis-Mull Trip, Scotland, 3rd Visit

Updated: Mar 29, 2023

by keef & annie hellinger 20 June 2021, 5.20 pm

Motorhome trip No 43 : Jun 14th-19th 2021 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Birnam Perthshire Scotland ->NOTTS by 3 relay transporters (boo!) 497 miles

This was to be our 1st true motorhome trip outside of lockdown for a month to Scotland taking in the North Coast 500, Harris and Lewis and pals on Mull. Sadly it didn't end as well as we had hoped but we did have a fun few days in Glasgow beforehand.

After all the meticulous planning and wrestling to get campsites on the heavily overbooked NC500 sadly we only got to do 6 days , but what lovely six days visiting pals Mandy and Colin in the Lake District, staying and visiting Coniston Water, an interesting Caravan and Motorhome club site in the Coppice woods with now 350+ pitches (we stayed on pitch numbers 302 & 194, they also have glamping pods) with a lovely walk down out of the site across a farm to Coniston Water, revisiting reunion site at Threlkeld, and 3 lovely days in Glasgow staying at the Strathclyde Country Park (pitch 99) and using Park & Ride from Belshill to get into central Glasgow, a city we dearly love, the highlight of and there were many 2 days on the trot in Mrs Cranstons Charles Rennie Macingtosh’s art nouveau inspired Willow tea rooms.

menu for our fabulous high tea in glasgow, scotland — menu for our fabulous high tea in glasgow

Class plus some fab art by his wife Margaret MacDonald (esp. the gesso panel on the stairs) and the Mad Hatters tea party was a true delight, plus the Kibble glass house at the fab Botanic Gardens , in our humble opinion a true competitor of Kew Gardens.

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DIARY

We endured / listened (quietly to hide our accents) the Tartan army ready to travel to Wembley at the Central station and again in George Square, very loud of voice but happy and well behaved (maybe?) with liquid food (Tenants) for the journey. Anyhow SADLY because on the way up to Inverness on the A9 to start the NC500 after seeing now both Perth’s (Scotland and Western Oz) our lovely Wendy house started to make the most incredible noise from the engine and power slipped, we pulled off on a side road sign posted Birnam and stopped it. I have had an experience with an old Cortina years ago where the engine timing belt snapped and knew it could damage the engine. We contacted the insurance folks who sent out a mechanic from Blair Atoll who said it’s the timing chain. Sadly no garage in the Highlands could do it and after ringing around getting it fixed in Perth / Glasgow would have meant up to 2 weeks in a B&B / Hotel, no fun so reluctantly we decided to get transported back home. Bad news, but no one is hurt, we will get the van sorted locally (hopefully it doesn’t need a new engine but who knows) and will redo this trip next year.

motorhome parked up near the river in perth, scotland

If you would like to see slideshow of our “limited” fun please CLICK HERE, thanks PS we now LOVE French Earl Grey tea, give it a whirl if you can find it PPS the first transporter driver from Blair Atoll quipped "I love nothing better than deporting the English from Scotland" ;) plus remember after the England / Scotland 0-0 draw at Wembley in Euro 2020 (played 21 because of Covid) the Scots TV station played Braveheart ;) Thanks for looking, folks. PLEASING UPDATE: 14/7/21 after 3 and 1/2 weeks in major surgery our beloved Wendy House is now back on the road and as recuperation we took her out for a 40 mile spin to put the engine under pressure, I am pleased to say all OK so can now start planning a few local trips to continue her rehabilitation ;)