Category: 2021

8th July 2021 – Day 2 – Crossing The Trossachs.

The second day began with a decent breakfast for us all around half 8. By the time everyone was ready, and the car was loaded up, it was pushing 10 a.m., but what turned out to be a glorious drive, was soon to begin. The first half of this drive found us meandering along the west bank of Loch Lomond. A couple of ‘Tourist Stops’ were made, and many photographs were taken. We were also able to walk along the shore line of the Loch, and it felt almost as though we were at the coast. The roads were narrow but the traffic was very light, but we took our time to soak up the majestic scenery.

As we moved away from Loch Lomond, and into the Trossachs, the scenery began to change again, green, mountainous and covered with forestry. Along the route we came across the Falls Of Falloch. This waterfall, located slightly off the main road, empties into a large fresh water pool. You can access it from both the lower end, and, thanks to a Jurassic Park style cage system, at the top end. It was a refreshing break, and if you follow our route I would highly recommend stopping there.

Our final destination for the day was the town of Killin. The name apparently means ‘White Church’ in Gaelic, from when Irish Monks came to the area. We arrived too early to check into our hotel (check in is at 3 pm, no earlier, thank you!), so we went for a walk around the town and went down to the Falls Of Dochart. The falls run through the town and are basically part of a larger river. It was very peaceful watching the water flow by. The peace was interrupted by the requirement to go shopping. Once the hotel allowed us to check in, we all crashed out for a while before having food and then hitting the hay. This travelling lark is fun. Fun, but tiring. A goods nights rest was required, as for tomorrow, the Highlands await us.

7th July 2021 – Day 1

The start to our trip was not as expected. Day 1 was supposed to be a leisurely jaunt up to the Lake District, which lead on to Day 2 and a stopover at Gretna Green before the push to Scotland proper. The NHS saw to it that this leg of the trip was scuppered and Ashley had to go in for a vital oncology appointment on what would have been Day 3. The NHS did not move very quickly and it took them around 2 hours to have a chat and do a blood test. We eventually managed to set sail for Scotland properly sometime after 12 noon.

Sandbach Services

To say it was a long drive was an understatement. The run up the M1 and across to the M6 was okay. The M6 was its usual jolly self, and was rammed with traffic almost right up to the border. We made 2 pit stops on the way, one at Sandbach services on the M6 and the other was at a service station just before Carlisle. Erin was now happy. Seeing the massive ‘Welcome To Scotland’ sign as we crossed the border meant the holiday was on! Once we had cleared Glasgow the traffic dissipated to a trickle, and the rest of the journey was more pleasurable. The scenery also began to change, and everything seemed greener.

We arrived at our first hotel at 8.15 pm – The Inn Keepers Lodge at Loch Lomond. Poorly signed, and not helped by the Sat Nav actually taking us away from the hotel, it was a pub with rooms, right along side a canal that feeds into the Loch. All of us were tired and weary, so we grabbed a quick snack in the bar and had a stroll down to the Bonny Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond (as I hummed ‘Margaret’ by Marillion silently in my brain). Sleep came quickly to all of us, as we geared up for the deep dive into the heart of Scotland.

Welcome To Scotland

355.6 miles, and over 7 hours of driving – this was the longest leg of the trip, and in terms of driving was possibly the dullest! The mountainous drive that lay ahead was what I was looking forward to!

Twas The Night Before Scotland, When All Through The House…..I was expecting chaos, but all was quiet.

The preceding days, however, were a different story. Getting prepared is a nightmare. The crossbars for the roof rails didn’t arrive until a day before departure, then I had to mount said roof box. This involved math, and measuring. The crossbars have explicit instructions on how far apart and how level they must be. It was not like the ones that came with the Freelander! I got it done eventually, with a little last minute help bolting down the roof box itself.

Next came the filling of the roof box. Again, everything had to be weighed and evenly distributed which is no easy task. Having a glass panoramic roof meant we could only hold so much weight on the roof rails, which includes the weight of the cross bars and roof box itself. I managed to sort it, with 10 kg to spare.

Packing was a different matter. Suffice to say, things got heated, words were exchanged, items were removed, but we got there in the end.

The night before lift off was remarkably quiet. The car was fueled, packed and ready. Coordinates were laid into the sat nav, and we all got an early(ish) night.

The Far North awaits…..

As many of you who know us know, my Brother-In-Law, Ashley, has been our constant travelling companion for nigh on almost 20 years. We have driven the four points of the compass in England, with his companionship 99% of the time. No matter what the vehicle we were in (anyone remember the VW Vento?!), or what the weather was like, he would invariably come up with an out-of-the-way place to explore, and, in the right season, hunt for mushrooms. His infamous Green Jacket became legendary, almost mythical.

2021 arrived, and things changed. It was with utter shock and horror that he was then diagnosed with Stage 4 inoperable Terminal Pancreatic Cancer around April of this year, completely out of the blue. A minor discomfort, that turned out to be a major problem. The diagnosis may have come earlier if it were not for the dreaded Covid-19 plague, but it came nonetheless. To date, his treatment by the NHS has been nothing short of diabolical, and, at the time of writing, he has yet to even be seen by an oncologist.

Whilst we were all reeling in a state of numb denial, his pragmatism shone through, and it was decided that a possible final ‘Hurrah!’ to our adventures should be something as monumental (an emphasis on the mental) as physically possible given the current state of world affairs. With this in mind, we needed to find somewhere none of us had been before, by which I mean had ‘properly’ been. We have all been to many places briefly, but to ‘properly’ go somewhere it to explore all it has to offer, to dig beneath the surface and to find the unusual. We settled on a tour of our northernmost neighbours – Scotland.

I sat down and drew up a plan. It involved a spreadsheet, Google Maps and many hours of using maths and brains to calculate times, distances, hotels and so on. Plans were then altered. Eventually, dates were agreed, route was planned and accommodation was booked. Everything looked good.

Things changed, again. Boris and Sturgeon decided we all needed to be locked up a little longer. We moved the dates, Ash booked the hotels. Then the NHS struck. First oncology appointment – 3 days into the proposed trip! So, what do we do? Cancel totally, move, or carry on regardless? Well, we decided, lets just do it! First two hotels were cancelled and a new route from here to Hotel 3 was laid in, but we are still going.

We are now prepping like mad – sorting out equipment, clothing, work, beer – its (hopefully) full steam ahead. 12 days, 11 hotels, 4 people, 1 Land Rover. Trossachs, Cairngorms, Lochs, Mountains, Islands, Nevis, Hadrian, Haggis and (hopefully) Distilleries. There are lots of ‘Hopfully’s in there, but with Covid in our midst, all we can do is hope. England just beat Germany in Euro 2020, so anything is possible!

We will be posting stuff on here, and on all the social media platforms we have, as we go. Please follow us and enjoy the splendor of Scotland along with us. As we drive towards an ultimately different, slightly less interesting, future, we will do what we can to make the present memorable. Drone at the ready……!

Also, if any of you feel so inclined, please donate as much as you can to Pancreatic Cancer UK. This is a much underfunded, and under researched cancer that needs more attention. Thank you.