Fancy going to Scotland in the summer starting on the west side then up to loch ness and back down the east side. Anyone done that (bet you have). Where are the best places to stay and are midgies a problem?
Don't forget to leave a review of the campsites you have visited this year or last!
There's a nice site at Peebles, near the east coast. Ideal location for exploring Edinburgh, 22 miles north and good buses running. Also very handy if you enjoy walking/cycling as its by all the Tweed(river) walks/cycle routes.Stayed there last october and there was no midges there then.
Its name is Crossburn caravan park, Peebles. Got a website if you do a search.
------------- Caravans, love 'em or hate 'em, I can't get away from them!
We've been up the west coast all the way to Durness, along the top then back down the west coast. I've used more campsites north of Inverness than I have to the south but I'd recommend the caravan club sites in Oban and Braemar as both of those could be included in your route.
You get more midgies on the west coast, especially near trees and water. June-August are the worst months.
How long are you going to take on the trip? I would say you need at least 2 weeks to go all the way round. Do you want to stay mainly on the coast? As you are already on the east side why not continue up that side taking in Edinburgh, Stirling and Aberdeen. Then , unless you want to stick to the coast, you could head inland up Deeside and over to Cairngorm then to Loch Ness and Inverness.
From there all the way up and round the top and down the west coast- lots to see there and very scenic. You could easily use 10 weeks on such a trip!! We have done it twice (26 years apart) using 2 weeks, once going from Glasgow to Aberdeen then Inverness, and the second time directly up the A9 towards Inverness. We plan to take a more leisurely trip once we have retired.
Any CC or C&cc site would be reliable, but there are many others.
We too are heading for Scotland this summer. If you want to look on the back pages on here (page 5 at present) you will see a thread entitled 'SCOTLAND' where we were asking the same questions as you and we got 3 pages of replies. They may be of help to you if you want to thumb through them.
Good Luck, (we might even see you up there.)
Regards
Les Wilson
Don't forget to leave a review of the campsites you have visited this year or last!
Can recommend the Witches Craig caravan site in Stirling. Thats where we had a rally last June. Beautiful, clean site with stunning views. Midgies were a bit of a problem. The other place is in Jedburgh, i think its called water something site. We used it the year before on our way to Scarbourgh, to break up the trip, stayed two nights. Very friendly and again clean with fantastic views, right on the river bank. No midgies here!!
Hope this can help you with your search. Good luck.
Ive done the same trip almost every year for the last 10 years & still don't know the best places to stay, every year I find just one more campsite to squeeze in. One year I stayed at 9 different campsites in 15 days!
My advice would be to find a good touring map & mark off your "must see" places then plan your trip around that. The hidden gems are the places you find yourself by accident.
If you have the time I'd add Kintyre to your trip and a visit to Islay & Gigha. There is an adaquate(cheap & clean) campsite near the ferry terminal. You won't need the car for either island so that keeps the costs down.
On the East Coast Inverness is very underated & well worth the visit, and in my opinion far better than the more popular Aviemore.
Over on the West Coast I can never resist a visit to Oban & Fort William.
Hi all, I can't help with campsites as they will have all changed since I was a kid growing up in Scotland but I can tell you you are in for some beautiful scenery. We used to go to the Isle of Skye every year (pre bridge time) and all up the West Coast is gorgeous .
As for the midgies, yes they are not nice and as a kid we used to use bracken like a fan to get rid of them as we walked.
Hardly anyone has mentioned the east coast and south central scotland. the east has the kingdom of fife, angus glens, perthshire loverly scenery there and from there u can go north to inverness and nairn loverly by the moray firth.
When you drive up the West Coast past Loch Maree heading for Ullapool (Great site by the way next to golf course) you will pass the entrance to the best site ever at Big Sand Gairloch. We did this many moons ago and took the kids back to Big Sands for many years at their request. The air is pleasant (gulf stream) and the scenery is brilliant. The Camerons who own the site are the best. Try it and enjoy it.