This is a diary account for our holiday in Scotland in 2004. As with the other's, this diary can be quite long to read, we were camping for about 2 weeks or more so be warned. There are pictures etc. are still to come so please bear with me.

Sunday 9th May 2004
The alarm woke us up at 6:40. I wanted to get an early start and the car still needed to be loaded, so we were up fairly quickly. We washed, dressed and cleared up the kitchen, leaving the cat food out on one of the worktops so our neighbour could find it all. The car was loaded for a quarter to eight, with a thank you note posted through our neighbours letterbox as our last task, before we hit the road to Scotland.
By 8:15, we'd refulled the car, done all the usual long distance checks (Oil, water, tyre pressure etc) and were on the motorway heading north. As far as motorway journeys go, this one was smooth. With it being early on a Sunday morning, the traffic was quite light and we only had one delay just south of Manchester.
As we got to Preston, Nigel started to work out where abouts we'd start: Loch Lomond would have meant a few more hours drive, but we decided we'd start in the south-west, and headed for Kirkcudbright.
We found our chosen campsite by 13:30, not bad since we only stopped for a break once while we were on the motorway!
The campsite was called Seawood, part of the Gillespie Leasure Company. We're right above a firth (Sea inlet) and by 2:15, we were camped. Unfortunatly, I'd mis-understood the owner and we had to move the tent! Wasn't too bad, as it didn't rain while we moved it!
We've been into town, found the Safeway and bought bread and bacon for tomorrow's breakfast. They're in the cooler bag now, staying fresh. I'll some photos to go in here to show you the views, since the sunshine makes ALL the difference!

I read some of the DragonLance book my mother-in-law bought me (Fantastic book, thanks Mummy!) while Nigel took a nap. Before that is when we took the photos ;)
After Nigel awoke, and I'd left the story in a half decent stopping point (One of TLH's fantastic Tas lines!) we drive back to the town in search of our evening meal.
We had spied a restuarant earlier, but after walking through the town and smelling sea air, fish and chips were in order! I ordered Haggis and Chips, since they didn't serve black pudding. We found desert (Nigel a can of cold sprite and me an ice-cream) then we headed back to camp. On the way to camp, we drive to some of the bays, taking in the scenery as the tide rolled out. We returned to camp and Nigel opened the wine we'd bought with us, and we sat in the evening sunshine as god intended, with books, pens, paper on which to write, and drinks (And laughing at the contents of our books!)

We went and sat in the car as the darkness fell (The wonders of car map-lights) and at around 10pm, we went to bed. I swapped onto the double airbed as it had started deflating, letting my husband (Who has a dodgy hip) take the better one.

Monday 10th May 2004
Nigel woke me up at around 7am, I was cold during the night as the airbed let my back touch the chilly floor. Nigel did suggest through the night that I put one of the fleeces under my back (Or wear it) to keep my back warm: I did sleep okayish after that ;)
While we were packing things away, (after a breakfast of bacon and potato scone sandwiches) Nigel threw the double air-bed away (Oh, the zip on my sleeping bag had broken during the night too! Really not clever to keep warm) so the challenge was on: Buy another airbed! We left Kirkcudbright and headed through country lanes up towards Ayr, taking in scenery as we went. There's a yellow flowering tree that's prevalent, but I've not yet found out its name: I will! (For now, we're calling it the yellow stuffs).
We found a suitable airbed in Blacks in Ayr, so that was good. Nigel made a good note with us that we didn't have any alcohol with us for this evening, so we bought ½ dozen bottles. We had lunch in the food emporium in the Kyle shopping centre. While I was paying for lunch, Nigel managed to break 2 of the bottles of beer. he'd put them on a chair and gravity found out and wanted some. Twas a wee bit of a mess!
We left Ayr and headed towards Irvine, though Irvine and up to Largs, on the hunt now for a campsite with views and good facilities. If you drive along the coastal roads, you come across a lot of campsite signs. However, they weren't that noticeable as we drive. We found our way to a ferry port and we thought we'd saw a sign to Duncorn, but we ended up on a ferry to Rothsey on the Isle of Bute! Don't ask how, but we did, so I'll you what happened later, it's a short trip!
Our journey to Bute only took 35 minutes (As long as to write the previous paragraph) and once in Rothsey, we headed up the island to the next port. I had expected it to take me another ½ hour, but 15 mins later, we were on the ferry heading back to the mainland port. That journey gave me 10 mins and enough time to take a couple of snaps.
Once in port, we spent a wee while looking for the two campsites at Donoon. One we hardly noticed, the other we found heading north on the road, and there we set camp.
So far, we haven't had any rain, but the campsite's manager said they've had a fair amount, so check the ground. We'd pitched the tent and had the airbeds up in record time, thanks to the new airbed (Battery powered self pump, it took all of 5 mins to inflate the double and the same for the single!). We then walked all of 800 yards up the road to a pub and another campsite (This one is off the main-road) and a petrol station.
We ate, and then bought some ice-cream at the petrol station while we were looking for orange juice (They didn't have any though) and while we ate, it started raining! We'd been wanting it to rain so we could check the water-proofing of the tent. When we got back, the canopy was dry and so was the inner: Wonderful! As we sat down to diarise today, it started raining again and you can't sit in the rain and write something down (Our chairs mean you can't sit in the tent, we'd hit the canopy) so we took shelter in the car.

Tuesday 11th May
The day started off dull, foggy and overcast. After breakfast, we broke camp and headed to Loch Lomond. We took a detour route, since we were going to get caught behind a slow moving long HGV, so we took the scenic route. Glad we did as we caught sight of a bird of prey! (Yes, with photos, they'll come later) but we'll work out what kind later on.
We drove alone Loch Eck, which was like a mirror. Everything was reflected on the calm still water, from the fog / mist covered mountains, to the incredible shoreline. I did take some photos.
We reached the shores of Loch Lomond and we made several attempts at finding the one I remember, so after a few hours of trying various sites, we found the same spot and as we finished pitching the tent, the sun came out to burn away the mists and fog, as well as dry the tent for us.
Nigel showered while I read, then we drove into Drymen and bought some bacon, tattie scones and bread for breakfast tomorrow. We also bought some orange juice, since we'd ran out of that too!
We drove back to camp, where I went for my shower and we'll sit and read our books until dinner time, for then we'll walk to the pub for food and drink: I just hope it's not too far and it stays dry!

Well, the Oak Tree Inn wasn't too far away, and a 3/4 of an hour walk there, on a trail through the park and into Bahma. The food was wonderful, all 3 courses of it! I even had a coffee, since I liked it so much. I wasn't hungry when we started our walk, but I was when we arrived! There are SO many wonderfil scenery pictures to take... I'll go back there tomorrow (Well, the part of the walk that was pretty with the bluebells) and take some photos.
As I look out to the shores, I do find it somewhat hard to remember that we're not that far from Glasgow. Strange, but there you have it.

Wednesday 12th May
We awoke and breakfasted to a dull and chilly morning.I didn't mind, we were on holiday! After we washed up, we sat in either the test or the car and read a while. As we read, the sun came out and made the day lovely and blue again. By eleven, we really thought about getting dressed (We were still in our PJ's at this point!) so we dressed and decided we'd head into Glasgow.
I introduced Nigel to Sauchiehall Street's book shops, clothes shops and coffee places, which we enjoyed while we read our books. Nigel decided to go and get his eyes tested, since he was having trouble reading (Tis always the first few days when your body is winding down that you notice how wound up you actually are. Nigel notices it more in his sight, me, I sleep. I can sleep for Scotland!)
The results of the tests were good, he doens't really need glasses: Not bad, for someone who hasn't had his eyes tested for over 20 years!
We made arrangements with my uncle to go and see him. It's been a while since we'd seen them and they couldn't come to our wedding, and I wanted to meet up and have a wee natter, so we did. By the time we got back to camp, it was late, nearly eleven pm, so it was straight to bed: by candle light.

Thursday 13th May
I awoke with cold feet (Had cold feet all night) and discovered that the zip at the bottom of my sleeping bag had unzipped. Time for a new sleeping bag we think! We ate and dressed, then made arrangements to start breaking camp. No idea where we're off to today, let you know later on.
We took photos of the bluebell walk, and remarked our theme this holiday is "Blue Bells & Yellow Stuffs", some of it is goats willow.
We drove on the A82 to Innverary, then onwards to Lochgacraig, where we got onto a ferry to Jura and Islay (Islay first). The weather however is somewhat taking a turn for the worst, but it's not the persisting down rain we had in Ireland 3 years ago! Means we'll more than cope with the weather.
I bought a new sleeping bag in Lockgarcraig. Nigel says it'll be too big for me, but I'll be nice and warm, I can tell you that! Anyway, time to eat while we're on the ferry.
We landed in Port Askaig and decided to head south, to the only campsite on Islay: Kintra. The site itself is right on the coast and though it's overcast at the moment, it's beautiful. We made camp overlooking the sea on a high grassy ridge. Once we made camp, we went to explore Port Ellen.
It's a quiet island town, pretty with hard-working, cheerful locals & it has a good curry house! The Maharaja was good, and after Port Ellen, it was time to head back to camp and read, then to bed.

Friday 14th May
We awoke at 8am, I'd spent a rather warm night in my new sleeping bag, so after breakfast, I'd realised we were going to be here for 3 nigts and 2.5 days, so we booked into Kintra for another night. We set off to look at an American momument at Mull of Oa, and parked as close as we could. I'd decided today was jeans and jumpers day, so along with my fleece, I was warm, if not somewhat muddy at the point of reaching the monument.. We rested a while, then hiked back to the car, and drove up to Bowmore for a look around. I bought Anine her christmas present (It's her birthday tomorrow and her birthday present is already there) while looking for something to get the neighbours who are looking after our cat.
From there, we drove to Portnahaven, taking in Port Charlotte (Oh, we had lunch at the Harbour Inn in Bowmore, very nice hotel and restaurant!) both there and back. After a wee drive, we came back to camp to rest and read some more.
For tea, we thought we'd head back into Bowmore to a place we'd seen earlier today, but when we got there, it was closed! So we bought dinner at the Co-Op and headed back to camp to eat. Just as well we have a camping stove to heat food up in, and plates to eat from! Oh well, more washing up!

Saturday 15th May
We awoke and slowly organised ourselves. Two hours later, we left Kintra and headed to Port Asaig for the ferry across to Jura. It's only a 10 minute ride, so not long now until we're aboard. We're boarded and headed for the campsite at Craig*. At first, we couldn't find it, and when we asked, we were told it was in frontof the Jura Inn, 400 yards from where we asked! We settled up our camping donation (It's not an official site, it's a field that the Council allows people to use if they donate some funds to the local charities) then pitched camp.
The scenery and the site is wonderful. Much calmer than the site at Kintra, and with much better facilities. We took a drive to the most northern part of Jura, and saw some wild deer! Parts of the Isle are used for forestry and in the those woodlands live 5000 odd wild deer, so I am told. Anyway, we saw a herd and I had never realised what graceful and skittish creatures they were.
We didn't think of going that route, until we greeted a woman who comes back to Jura annually (Save the Foot and Mouth thing us Brits had). Her name was Lyn. Thanks to her, we really saw Jura, or what we could drive to! Thanks Lyn!
We ate our evening meal in the Jura Hotel, and again, it was lovely, asit was at the Oak Inn near Loch Lomond. THe light is fading, time to retire.

All this week, I've been reading the "DragonLance Chronicles" and I've been enthralled, camptured, and left wanting more. If you like fantasy novels, please read these!

Sunday 16th May
We awoke later than usual, at a quarter to eight, so we rose and started making breakfast. The hotel's dog decided to join us for breakfast, so Nigel was giving him all my Abernathy buscuits and cooked bacon rind to munch on. All we needed now were two kids ands more midges to munch on us!
We broke camp after clearing up, then headed to the ferry, spying some more wild deer along the way. I managed to get my text message to Anine to wish her a happy birthday, but Jura didn't carry any signal until I was at port.
We made tracks to Port Ellen and along the way, I saw signs for a quilter and art studio's, so we went and had a look there. There was a wee brewing house, which opened on the 22nd of March. There's no website yet (There might be now, I think it's www.islayales.com) but we did enjoy the free samples we were given! Nigel bought 12 bottles, 6 dark, 6 fine, while I bought 4 glasses, 2 pints and 2 half pints. The gentlemen running the place were from the Midlands originally, who have retired to Islay and set this up to keep themselves out of mischief (Their claim, not ours!) and busy.
The beer / ale is very nice, and they can make 1150 bottles every brew, and they can brew 8 times in 3 days. I've seen it in local pubs here, so it's got some market place. When I find their website (See above) I'll let you know!
We hit the mainland just after 6pm, and headed for Lochgilphead. Pitching the tent, we went to go to a pub for dinner, but ended up getting chinese take out, and walking back into town for our desert.
It's a calm day, and a fairly quiet site, so night night!

Monday 17th May
We awoke and within moments, we could hear the rain pattering on our tent. We broke camp slowly after breakfast, hoping that the rain would pass, and by half nine, it had, so we broke camp, fixed the spare tyre cover then headed to Fort William.
We passed through Oban and noted the changes to its shops, there's now a new building at the pier, but it looks out of place.
Carrying on to Fort William, we made good time and foudn the campsite at Ben Nevis' foot quite easily. We selected a different part of the site this time, away from the water works the site has! (It kept us awake the last time).
We had just finished putting the outer on and pegging it all down when it showered: perfect timing! We bought new pegs at the camp shop, because the cheaper ones we'd bought to add to the tent's own were bending WAY out of shape, and weren't holding the tent down too well.
Once we'd finished, air beds and all, we went to go and have a look around the town, to see what had changed. McTavish's Kitchens were still there, as was the chip shop, though I can't work out if there's a new sign, or if it has a new name. We had lunch at McTavish's, browsed a few shops, then headed back to our tent, with the intention of reading some of our books, but they were cutting the grass, so we headed to the "Lower Falls", part of the Glen Nevis estate, and took some photographs of ourselves near the river. I really ought to get a small bag to keep my camera in when we go walking, so I'll a look for one tomorrow.
Looks like the RAF still do sorties over Ben Nevis as we heard, then saw, three fighter jets today alone. Glad to see they realise the mountains don't move!
We headed back to camp and we huddled in our fleeces and jumpers to sit and read, but it got too uncomfortable with the wind so we sat in the car and read until 6pm, then we went into town for our supper. Nigel wanted a cod supper, but they were out of cod, so he had haddock instead and I had the usual black pudding supper.
Back to camp and we'll sit and read (and write) some more, while drinking beer.

Tuesday 18th May
We awoke and had breakfast inside the awning, mainly because it was raining. After we cleared breakfast away, we both showered and changed. It didn' rain for about an hour and then it showered. It really started phising down after lunch: up until then, i was a drizzle with wind. Now it was a soaking "bounce" kind of rain.
We went into town and I bought myself a wee camera bag. I did want to sort my things into it, but not in this rain! Most of today (Well, half) was spent trying to find waterfalls and I did comment that well, there hadn't been too much rain of late for them to be apparent... I had tempted Fate and now Fate was out to try and soak me!
Our tent is holding up wonderfully though, thankfully, the wind is making the rain come in like this /, so I'm as pleased as heck that we're going to be dry tonight. At least with the rain, it'll be warm too!
When we're not on the hunt for waterfalls (Monessie falls of the A86) we spent time reading in our car. Our tent doesnt allow for sitting in a reading with the chairs we have. Oh well, back to more reading!
We went to get bacon for the breakfast, and decided to go bowling. Nigel thrashed me 3-0, and I'm surprised! I bowled worse than a group of 7 year olds who were a land away from us!
We ate the Glen Nevis restaurant, well, the bar part, and enjoyed a beef burger and Aberdeen Angus steak. Yummy!!
Oh, just so you know, it's still phishing it down, and bouncing of things that it hits, like our car bonnet. Inside the tent is still dry, thankfully! Back to reading our books!

Wednesday 19th May
We awoke to find that the rain had cleared, which is good! However, when we tried to cook breakfast outside on the picnic table, the bacon didn't cook so well, so it's back into the awning. After breakfast, it was a quick wash and break of camp, then time to hit the road to Inverness. We found an interesting wee shop when we stopped at Innvermoriston, a Clog, Leather and Gift shop. Interesting fellow there. We took some photos of the Falls of Morriston from the old bridge, we even tried to play Pooh sticks, but the water from the rain the last few days made it hard to see the sticks.
We carried up into the A82, towards Inverness. I hadn't ralised the Loch was SO big! Trying to find a campsite along it, or near it, is somewhat hard to do though. We drove into Inverness, then back out and down the A862 and A852. Nice quiet villages around there.
Nigel guided us to a campsite off the A9, , not far from Craggie. It's a nice, quiet place with good facilities. Once we were camped up, we headed into Inverness and browsed around shops we were familiar with, and places we remembered. I remembered to send my Aunt her birthday card, I just hope that it's there before, or on time for, her birthday!
We headed back to camp and were back at 4pm, allowing us reading and relaxing time.
We ate at the Deerstalker, the Pub and Restaurant right by the site, and did we enjoy the meal! It was very nice inside, the restaurant part, and we sat near the open fireplace. I nearly feel sleep, I was so hot and relaxed! The meal itself was wonderful,a nd I enjoyed my venison while Nigel liked his Claymore (THat's steak rolled over haggis with a whisky sauce). I didn't have any room for a desert, though I certainly would have, if I could have!
We went back to the tent and car and read for a bit, and just after 10, we went to bed.

Thursday 20th May
It went cold at somepoint during the night. I remember thinking that I really should have worn socks to bed, but that was nothing when I realised that the airbed had gone down on me! THat's two I've broken this holiday, somehow. I even double checked the air valves and things before I pumped it up yesterday, so I know it's not down to that.
We finally had to change the gas on the stove. That's done us 3 camping holidays, so we certainly got our monies worth from it.
After breakfast, we broke camp and between the sunny showers that were happening, and two hours after we awike, we were driving down to Perthshire. We found a campsite just outside Blairgowrie. We pitched camp, then headed for lunch and a look around the town. We're only 11 miles from Perth, and not that far from Dundee either.
We've organised to see an old family friend of mine tomorrow, so we'll be heading back to Glasgow tomorrow.
I went for a shower while Nigel sat in the car and read some more of his book. I've read 4 books so far this holiday, Nigel 3, so we're certainly relaxing! On the way into, and out of, Blairgowrie, there's a huge wall of trees that stand very tall. And I mean tall! I'll try and get a photo.

Well, I got the photo of the Beech Hedge (That's it's name) and we drove down through wee villages to Dunkeld and visited half a ruined Cathedral, saw the river Tay and had a wee mooch around the village itself. Certainly a peaceful place, very pretty too.
We drive back at around 5pm, and heard that groundfrost was / is expected tonight. My toes are going cold thinking about it! It's going to be jumpers and fleeces in the tent tonight; if it does freeze, we'll know it!

We were recommended a pub in Meikleour, and it was closed when we got there at half five, so we went back to the site and waited a while by reading our books, then we returned about an hour later. Again, it's very good food at a very reasonable price. As we left the pub, it was raining, so no frost! (We hope!)
Time for more reading and some beer I think! And it can rain all it wants to anol, I dinnae care!

Friday 21st May
We rose late. Both of us were warm and comfortable, so we slept through until a quarter to nine! We rose, had breakfast and while Nigel showered, I went and washed up the dishes, then got washed myself. I was dressed by the time my husband returned from the showers and then we quickly packed away. I promised Nigel we wouldn't leave untl he had finished his book, as this is the last time we'll both get a chance to sit and read this holiday and he really wants to read Catch 22 through to the end!

It didn't freeze last night, it rained and we were dry: Thankfully!