Wales and Scotland - blissfully quiet

[Glas Robin]

I was worried about crowds. I needn’t have.

We had a couple of days on the end of the Llyn Peninsula at the end of last week, for a quick shakedown trip whilst we waited for a recalcitrant cow to calve before heading off on the main trip. Stayed at one of our favourites, Mynydd Mawr near Aberdaron. Site fully open but half empty. Porth Or/Whistling Sands beach busy but distanced. Roads empty.

Now in the Scottish Highlands, again visiting well-known haunts. Wild camped alone on Kinloch Laggan on Friday night. Most lay-bys empty. Last night and tonight in Ullapool. Site open to self-contained MoHos only. 1/3rd to 1/2 full. Village fairly quiet for August. Drove to Lochinver today for a pie. Quiet. Had the afternoon on Achmelvich beach - busiest we’ve ever seen it with maybe 2-3 dozen people all told. Roads very quiet, even those on the NC500.

Scotland has got COVID19 down to a tee - 100% mask wearing, distancing, sanitising, and one-ways everywhere. But in typically Scottish understated “nae bother” fashion. There’s no drama and no moaning despite what I’ve read reported elsewhere .

Off to Lewis on the ferry on Tuesday - a first. Can’t wait!

So ignore the doomsayers. Get to beautiful N Wales and NW Scotland. It’s never been better!

And everywhere we have been, everything has been open including public toilets.

 

[Razamataz]

Sshh!!
Tell No One

 

[Gellyneck]

Sshh!!
Tell No One

I think "shut yur gob" is the phrase you may be looking for!

 

[glenn2926]

I was worried about crowds. I needn’t have.

We had a couple of days on the end of the Llyn Peninsula at the end of last week, for a quick shakedown trip whilst we waited for a recalcitrant cow to calve before heading off on the main trip. Stayed at one of our favourites, Mynydd Mawr near Aberdaron. Site fully open but half empty. Porth Or/Whistling Sands beach busy but distanced. Roads empty.

Now in the Scottish Highlands, again visiting well-known haunts. Wild camped alone on Kinloch Laggan on Friday night. Most lay-bys empty. Last night and tonight in Ullapool. Site open to self-contained MoHos only. 1/3rd to 1/2 full. Village fairly quiet for August. Drove to Lochinver today for a pie. Quiet. Had the afternoon on Achmelvich beach - busiest we’ve ever seen it with maybe 2-3 dozen people all told. Roads very quiet, even those on the NC500.

Scotland has got COVID19 down to a tee - 100% mask wearing, distancing, sanitising, and one-ways everywhere. But in typically Scottish understated “nae bother” fashion. There’s no drama and no moaning despite what I’ve read reported elsewhere .

Off to Lewis on the ferry on Tuesday - a first. Can’t wait!

So ignore the doomsayers. Get to beautiful N Wales and NW Scotland. It’s never been better!

And everywhere we have been, everything has been open including public toilets.

Sounds great, can tell us if Calmac ferries are still running at reduced capacity please? We’re going next month and I would like to go to Harris. I’m sixty later this year and want to buy a Harris Tweed jacket as a present from my wife. I would like to go to Harris to buy it though.

 

[34127]

Now in the Scottish Highlands, again visiting well-known haunts. Wild camped alone on Kinloch Laggan on Friday night. Most lay-bys empty. Last night and tonight in Ullapool. Site open to self-contained MoHos only. 1/3rd to 1/2 full. Village fairly quiet for August. Drove to Lochinver today for a pie. Quiet. Had the afternoon on Achmelvich beach - busiest we’ve ever seen it with maybe 2-3 dozen people all told. Roads very quiet, even those on the NC500.

Worth a trip to Lochinver just for the pies alone.

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[Gellyneck]

Sounds great, can tell us if Calmac ferries are still running at reduced capacity please? We’re going next month and I would like to go to Harris. I’m sixty later this year and want to buy a Harris Tweed jacket as a present from my wife. I would like to go to Harris to buy it though.

Don't forget the leather elbow patches!

 

[Bluemanc100]

Sounds great, can tell us if Calmac ferries are still running at reduced capacity please? We’re going next month and I would like to go to Harris. I’m sixty later this year and want to buy a Harris Tweed jacket as a present from my wife. I would like to go to Harris to buy it though.

We're up in Scotland next week and SWMBO wasn't convinced when I wanted to go to Skye then Harris so the nearest we'll get it Fort William...

Her rationale,. "You've been to Skye"... That's true but I was driving the LAD at the rear of a Rapier Sqn convoy on the way to the Hebrides from Honington in Suffolk (quite a trek) so not exactly a tourist trip ;-)

 

[Grianan]

They’re all in Torridon ... tearing down the old hawthorn trees in Applecross according to the upset locals and an enormous group of tents/vans above Shieldaig who had ‘rearranged’ a pile of the farmers’ breeze blocks to make barbecues ...

 

[Glas Robin]

Sounds great, can tell us if Calmac ferries are still running at reduced capacity please? We’re going next month and I would like to go to Harris. I’m sixty later this year and want to buy a Harris Tweed jacket as a present from my wife. I would like to go to Harris to buy it though.

We are doing Ullapool to Stornaway tomorrow and Harris to Skye later in the week. Getting a crossing booked was difficult, but the numbers coming on/off the steamer in Ullapool seem much lower than normal this week. I think the CalMac site is opening bookings a week in advance according to the co-pilot, so I wouldn’t dally in getting yours booked.

Will feedback if I learn more tomorrow.

 

[David and Sally]

Went to Celtic Camping near St Davids over the weekend.

Very busy. Tents, campervans, motorhomes, bunkhouse accomodation. Very little sign of social distancing, especially from younger people. Plenty of multi-family BBQs and campfires going on.

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[TerryL]

We are doing Ullapool to Stornaway tomorrow and Harris to Skye later in the week. Getting a crossing booked was difficult, but the numbers coming on/off the steamer in Ullapool seem much lower than normal this week. I think the CalMac site is opening bookings a week in advance according to the co-pilot, so I wouldn’t dally in getting yours booked.

Will feedback if I learn more tomorrow.

When we did the Outer Hebrides a few years ago we only booked the first crossing, from Oban. After that we just turned up and never failed to get a place on the six other ferries we used. One crew actually saw us coming down the road and waited for us!
Calmac do a round trip package but it didn't work out any cheaper for us, plus it then restricted us to the route.

 

[2x2camper]

When we did the Outer Hebrides a few years ago we only booked the first crossing, from Oban. After that we just turned up and never failed to get a place on the six other ferries we used. One crew actually saw us coming down the road and waited for us!
Calmac do a round trip package but it didn't work out any cheaper for us, plus it then restricted us to the route.

We go across in a couple of weeks. There is still a restriction on the number of passengers for each sailing so SD can be maintained, as well as a different timetable, 2 of our sailings have been changed

 

[The general]

Worth a trip to Lochinver just for the pies alone.

And the road trip especially the back rd

 

[The general]

Went to Celtic Camping near St Davids over the weekend.

Very busy. Tents, campervans, motorhomes, bunkhouse accomodation. Very little sign of social distancing, especially from younger people. Plenty of multi-family BBQs and campfires going on.

Sounds par for the course

 

[PhilMary]

Sounds great, can tell us if Calmac ferries are still running at reduced capacity please? We’re going next month and I would like to go to Harris. I’m sixty later this year and want to buy a Harris Tweed jacket as a present from my wife. I would like to go to Harris to buy it though.

I'll bet the jacket will be cheaper at TK Maxx and guaranteed genuine knock-off. Think of the diesel saved.
Phil

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[Stealaway]

We left Ullapool on Saturday. Now in Fort William. Lots of vans down here but all going north, maybe to the NC500. Been in Scotland for a week and it's far from packed

 

[34127]

One crew actually saw us coming down the road and waited for us!

This is typical of western isles and elsewhere in Scotland. I remember watching the ferry set of from Eriskay when there was 2 cyclists trying to catch it. The ferry stopped, reversed back to the quay and tied up again so they could aboard.
It is a culture in the more remote areas to put yourself out to help others as that makes life easier for everyone.

 

[Glas Robin]

Sounds great, can tell us if Calmac ferries are still running at reduced capacity please? We’re going next month and I would like to go to Harris. I’m sixty later this year and want to buy a Harris Tweed jacket as a present from my wife. I would like to go to Harris to buy it though.

Just boarded and the car/lorry deck is full to capacity. Distancing and masks throughout the ship. No catering facilities open though..although hopeful they may do as they’ve just applied stickers to the floor to aid queueing.

The only problem looks to be this today:

 

[34127]

Good luck crossing the Minch in that

 

[Otter Spotter]

When we did the Outer Hebrides a few years ago we only booked the first crossing, from Oban. After that we just turned up and never failed to get a place on the six other ferries we used. One crew actually saw us coming down the road and waited for us!
Calmac do a round trip package but it didn't work out any cheaper for us, plus it then restricted us to the route.

Known as Hopscotch tickets and they worked out cheaper for us 2 years ago.
Calmac have just started sending vids via utube, telling tourists that the islands are open for business get your bums up there and enjoy.

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[george w menzies]

we had a few days in Inverness 13th to 18th July just when it opened up it site ended up full to the brim a lot of new motorhomers by the look of them
off up to Oban next week we will see what its like

 

[Rolly]

Times This Week (3-9 Aug) as published by Daily Gael

Here’s the permitted travel times for Campervans and Caravenettes to be travelling on the Northern 500 for this week beginning Monday 3rd of August.

Garve to Lochcarron Section 0600-0800, 1900-2130
Shieldaig to Kinlochewe Section 0630-0830, 1830-2030
Lochinver to Kylesku Section 0400-0730, 1900-2300
Scourie to Durness Section 0800-0930, 1700-1900

All other sections are 24 hour this week other than Wick to Helmsdale with no Campervan Travel advised between 1000-1330 on Tuesdays and Thursdays until further notice.

Remember if you have to travel outwith these times, please ensure you have a passport, proof of address and certification of safely disposing of your chemical toilet at one of the three approved decanting points in Ullapool, Melvich or Dornoch.

Be advised also that the one-way system is still in effect so doing the route anti-clockwise is not advised and goes against Scottish Government guidance. We are hopeful that this will be resolved in Phase 4 because nobody wants Alness to be the last thing they see after a beautiful drive.


Joking....

 

[Ingo Sundowner]

We're fully intending to do the NC500 in a couple of months and hope the first "wave" of vans will have subsided

 

[IRHP]

I think you can now book with Calmac up to 7 weeks in advance. Social distancing now down to a meter which is better but still limiting. Ardrossan to Brodick is doing passenger only “outside tickets” loads stranded there today due to ferries finishing early because of the weather.

 

[Dan and Jan]

We're up in Scotland next week and SWMBO wasn't convinced when I wanted to go to Skye then Harris so the nearest we'll get it Fort William...

Her rationale,. "You've been to Skye"... That's true but I was driving the LAD at the rear of a Rapier Sqn convoy on the way to the Hebrides from Honington in Suffolk (quite a trek) so not exactly a tourist trip ;-)

Two years permanent staff in Benbecula. Lovely place.

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[34127]

loads stranded there today due to ferries finishing early because of the weather.

Quite a common problem from experience.

 

[Glas Robin]

Crossing was fine. The “new” boat doesn’t move for much...just carries on through the waves.

Lewis is rather nice, but even more barren than the Highlands we are used too.

This was last night’s wild camp, just us and a VW camper:

We risked it, even though none of us even know a Garry.

We drove to, but chickened out of the decrepit Bridge to Nowhere. The track the other side petered out to just grass very quickly.

Today we are doing the Western Side of Lewis - pretty desolate. We are reduced to visiting those sites that didn’t make our guide’s top six, as there are too few worthy of a top ten it seems.

Sadly, the two historic black house sites I was looking forward to are both closed due to coronamonkeypox. It’s the first time we’ve felt unwelcome - and I can half see their point. But life must go on, if these remote communities want any tourist income in the next couple of years.

 

[Gellyneck]

We drove to, but chickened out of the decrepit Bridge to Nowhere. The track the other side petered out to just grass very quickly.

The Bridge to Nowhere, built by Lord Leverhulme (who was a soap manufacturer - Unilever!) in 1920's.
Allegedly, the concrete was all mixed by hand with a heavy involvement of the residents of North Tolsta, the village you'll have passed through.
A few famous folk originated from this tiny wee village one of them being Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the Scottish explorer for whom the MacKenzie River in Canada is named and a Commander in Scotland Yard, John Morrison who left school at 14! His nephew was also in the Royal Protection Department of The Met.

 

[WillH]

Busy enough here in Dumfries and Galloway, just like a normal summer.

 

[Glas Robin]

Stopped on the “border” between Lewis and Harris. Still uncannily quiet. Pop-up seafood shacks seem to be all the rage....and it would be rude not to contribute to the local economy whilst we enjoy this view.

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