Fantastic Scottish road trip

Despite advice to the contrary, Si and Lizzie decided to risk the midges and spend two weeks in June 2003 with van and sports kit in the Scottish Highlands. Over to Si to extol the virtues of Scotland in the summer...

"After spending the last 10 or so summer holidays in the French Alps we decided to stay in the UK, partly 'cos of crazy ferry prices to cross the channel and also so we could take Cap our border collie. The idea was to pile all the usual kit in the van plus my windsurf board and pack a load of sport in. Normally we'd kip in the van or stay with mates but we wanted to travel round various parts of the Highlands so we decided to camp and bought an enormous Salewa Family Sun tent so we could chill out in the evenings or shelter in comfort if it rained for long periods. The other major purchase was most of the shop stock of midge repellent spray, coils and headnets!

We lashed straight up to Fort William to watch our mate Tom Braithwaite compete in the World Cup Downhill Mountain Bike Championships – he had a smoking run until disaster struck nearly at the finish when his back tyre came off the rim... Aaaargh! Our mate Spiny came up on his motorbike to watch the race and was offered the van to kip in style before another six hour ride back the following day. Respect!

On the Monday we took the obligatory trip up Ben Nevis where for a few minutes Cap was the highest dog in Britain! Plenty of snow still in the top of the Corries and boy was it cold up there for June!

Tuesday we started the travels in earnest – past Loch Ness and up through Inverness on the way to Gairloch. The road past Garve which passes through Achnasheen and Kinlochewe is spectacular and runs along Loch Maree with a fantastic view of Slioch (3215') off to the North.

Arriving at Gairloch, we headed off up the coast for two or three miles to the campsite at Sands (Sands Holiday Centre) which is virtually on the beach and in June is pleasantly quiet. As soon as we got pitched it started getting windy and the following morning the surf was up too with conditions spot on for windsurfing. Rigging was in front of the tent and then just a 50 metre carry to the beach! Wind was a Force 5 South Westerly and perfect for a six metre sail on my Bic Astro Rock 285. Beats out to Langa Island and back were taking just minutes and there were some scary spin out moments – mainly due to a cheap and crappy skeg in place of one that broke in the Isle of Man.

Met Saddleworth boy Ian Carr that night up at Aultbea where he was staying with some cragging mates – plenty of fantastic rock in the area including the Tollaidh crags a short drive from Gairloch.

Next day was for mountain biking although circular route finding in the Highlands is often difficult unless you want to do vast mileage. Better to be prepared to go out and back on the same routes – after all, when you reverse single track it becomes completely different anyway! Did a great route from Loch Tollaidh with an awesome but very technical downhill to Loch Maree. Word of warning here – you'll need to be able to wheelie over the multitude of rocky drainage gaps or you'll be doing a LOT of pushing!

More mountain biking along the deserted coastal roads and paths was combined with some cracking mountain walks and trips to beautiful unspoilt bays. These are all places that take effort to access and it's fantastic to go to tranquil places with no litter or other problems that blight much of the British countryside.

If you visit Gairloch then try eating out at The Old Inn overlooking the harbour or the The Mountain Restaurant, home of the Mountain Coffee Company and a fantastic place to chill out.

Bailing out of Gairloch after three days, we hit the road through Torridon and past Ben Eighe (3257') towards the Applecross Pennisula. Only a journey of just over sixty miles but on the single track roads of the Highlands it took virtually all day! Pitching the tent at the campsite just above the tiny village of Applecross we headed back to a hill just above the bay that looked spot on for flying my paraglider. After an hours soaring with amazing views over the sea to the Isle of Raasay and also inland to the mountains I landed on the beach and we hightailed it to the Applecross Inn for an excellent meal and some great beer!

Managed a fairly arduous mountain bike trip right across the Penninsula and back the following day starting at Applecross and traversing Beinn a' Chlachain on the way over to the Southern shores of Loch Torridon. This culminates in a kick-ass descent of nearly two miles down to Kenmore. Take your own food on this one 'cos not only is there no fuel stop in Kenmore but you've also gotta climb back out as you head back to Applecross!

Met up with Mike of Mountain and Sea Guides for a spot of sea kayaking in the bay – was a new sport for us and if I could afford another garage full of kit I'd take it up! Well worth contacting Mike if you're up in that vicinity any time of year as he can offer a multitude of mountaineering and marine based activities. When we got back to the campsite, we met Clive the owner who turned out to be from Huddersfield! He also runs the famous Flowertunnel bistro and bakery – great on wet days for great food and chilling out. Contact details for pub, campsite and kayaking on Applecross's website. Spent the evening (as we spent many other evenings) chilling outside the tent drinking red wine and really enjoying the location, views and atmosphere. For me that's one of the best aspects of camping – your timetable's your own and no need to dress for dinner!!!

Spent a frustrating next morning sorting out permission to paraglide again. The first time I flew was OK as it was on a Saturday and there was no low flying jet activity. At Gairloch midweek there'd been loads of aircraft screaming over us but I hadn't really noticed anything at Applecross. I rang the Military NOTAM controller to declare an intention to fly and get my location known to the RAF. Within minutes of getting up on take off the first of about seven fast jets turned up to make the flying more interesting! Later on that day we walked in to The Cioch to do a recce of The Nose, a classic 1000' climb of about V Diff. Idea is to go back with a mate on the motorbikes one weekend and climb it followed by a night at the pub and then bike back the next day.

We couldn't leave Applecross without cycling up the famous Bealach na Ba (Pass of the Cattle). Has anyone else done it on a downhill equipped Santa Cruz Bullitt? If so get in touch and we can compare the pain factor of going from sea level to over 2000' in 50 mins!

Time now to head towards Skye via Lochcarron, Plockton and Kyle of Lochalsh. Plockton is well worth a visit as it has won the accolade of Scotland's best kept village and is also where TV's Hamish Macbeth was filmed. We also stopped off for a couple of hours at the Kyle of Lochalsh where we took a well worthwhile trip on the glass bottomed boat Sea Probe. By amazing good fortune, as well as seeing the usual quota of seals, seabirds, fish and crabs, a pair of dolphins spent 15 mins playing around the boat as we watched through the glass!

On over the bridge to Skye and we did a whistle stop tour of the Trotternish Penninsula to see the awesome geology of the region which includes the Old Man of Storr and the Quairaing near Staffin. Ended up camping at Portree and feeling seriously self conscious about the size of our over-commodious tent compared the the 2 and 3 man domes and tunnel tents nearby.

Now we were on Skye the weather started to deteriorate as expected and although we squeezed a dry mountain bike ride in on the remote Duirinish Penninsula, by the time we got back to Portree it was blowing a hooley and lashing down with rain. The tent started demonstrating that despite being a good brand made of good materials, it wasn't happy with our pitching and several times during the night the living area got blown flat, scattering plates and utensils everywhere and scaring the hell out of everyone within a 50 foot radius! By 3.30am I was standing in the front section of the tent in a sort of crucifix position, holding the roof up and waiting for a lull in the wind so we could pack up and bail out! I stayed like that for an hour when, just as my back was screaming "no more...", there was a slight drop in the wind. Packing up was swift and by 5.00am we were ensconced in the van with a load of soggy gear and a highly pissed off sheepdog. Thank God for the Futon bed we've got in the VW – we got a few hours kip before heading down to Glen Brittle and the Cuillin Hills.

Low mist and cloud on the Cuillin Ridge made visibilty virtually nill above about a thousand feet so I can say that I've walked in the Cuillins but not actually seen them! Cap had to behave as there was a sheep drove going on and we stopped for a while to chat with one of the shepherds. If you're planning to take your dog up to Scotland you'll find everyone generally welcoming but on Skye you'll need a lead no matter how how obedient they are. Tried to dry the remains of the tent out on the beach at Glen Brittle and had to endure several people shouting, "You can't camp there you know"! Yeah we DID know thanks...

After heading back over the Skye bridge we kipped in the van at Shiel Bridge en-route for the Lakes to meet mates, Spiny, Al and Mick in Threlkeld. However, while passing Fort William we couldn't resist stopping off to ride the World Cup XC mountain bike course which has got the most awesome down hill section I've ever seen on a cross country course. Totally ace and so good that a fair few riders were on it with full-on downhill bikes and body armour!

After that there was just time in the fast improving weather for a superb barbeque on the banks of Loch Linnie (thanks Lizzie!) and then we hammered back down South to meet the boys who had rolled out of the pub in Threlkeld and were already crashed out in their bivvi bags! Let the dog loose on them early in the morning to wake them and pretty soon we were all troughing breakfast in Keswick watching the sun grow stronger and the paragliding conditions getting better and better.

Spiny, Al, Mick and myself took off at the top end of Lorton Vale and flew down the valley to Crummock Water and back in a gaggle. There was a guy climbing one of the steep crags leading up to Grasmoor and I remember passing him really close by in an 8 up thermal (that's 800 feet a minute) and seeing his look of disbelief that a load of fabric and string could pass him so quickly! After landing back on takeoff and chilling out in the sun for an hour we took off again in rougher air and zapped down the valley to land near Hause Point by an ice cream trailer where Liz met us with the van. Perfect end to a perfect holiday – roll on next year and we'll do it again.

I can't recommend Scotland highly enough and even if you spent a solid month touring around you'd only just scratch the surface of what there is to see and do.

Go check it out if you haven't already and if you have then you'll know what I'm talking about!"