The Big Scottish Road Trip

Scotland has everything. Dense forests, rolling hills, mountains, lakes and beautiful beaches. It really was the ultimate destination for a road trip. And we felt incredibly privileged to not only visit some of the best parts of the country in just two weeks in our van, but we also managed to get some decent weather, too. 

We took this trip in July 2019. And as things slowly start to reopen after this crazy coronavirus situation, we thought we’d lay out our two week itinerary and highlights in the video and blog below, full of tips and details about how you can make the most of this beautiful country.

If you want to read the full itinerary, scroll below – but if you just want the highlights watch the video below!

12-Day itinerary: Lochs, Isle of Skye and the NC500

Over 12 days we did a road-trip of Edinburgh, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the Isle of Skye and visited the Scottish Highlands via the North Coast 500

Days 1-2 – Edinburgh:

After a long old day of driving up from London, and an overnight stop in the north of England, we were on our way into Scotland, the land of whisky, mountains, hard to understand accents and kilts.

As you head up – make sure you grab the ultra-touristy, but necessary selfie by the welcome to Scotland sign. Driving our campervan Patricia, we rocked up to our campsite for the next few nights at Drummohr Holiday Park, and headed into Edinburgh for some beers and food. 

The Scottish capital is beautiful. Steeped in history, hills and beautiful architecture, it’s got a thriving nightlife and it’s easily walkable (despite the hills). 

After exploring the bars and a comfy night sleep in Patricia at the campsite, we were back out to Edinburgh for a walking tour, more food and some awesome sights.

The walking tour ran us through Edinburgh’s position in the enlightenment and the Victorian era. The self-styled Athens of Northern Europe is full of visual pleasing architecture in the form of ancient old pubs, statues and castles. We recommend taking a walking tour to learn as much as you can about the city, we did it with Edinburgh Free Walking Tour. After the walking tour, we’d also recommend you take a trip to the National Museum, not least for the view of the city from its rooftop!

Unfortunately, our plan to scale Arthur’s Seat (the massive mountain/hill overlooking the city), was scuppered by incoming rain, if you do have time, we’ve seen photos, it looks awesome. With the drizzle settling in, we found a table at Paradise Palms and gorged ourselves on some tasty vegan junk food. 

The park has experienced an influx of wild camping and campervans over the years, with many clogging up the roads. But thankfully, rather than ban campervans outright, they’re regulating it by setting up specific camping and campervan pitches that you can book via the national park website.

This means that you’re able to find and book pitches that essentially mean you’re on your own, right by the loch itself. We booked two spots for two nights, both by different parts of the park. Our first pitch was our favourite, it was right by Loch Achray, meaning we could enjoy warm drinks while staring at the view. While the second was by Loch Lomond, near to the viewpoint. Perfect.

Highlights over these two days include hiking up to the viewpoint on Ben Aa’n, and cycling along the Three Lochs Forest park way, stopping to admire the huge amount of waterfalls including Bracklinn Falls, Falls of Falloch and The Falls of Dochart.

Day 6-8 – Isle of Skye

A fairly long drive awaited us as we set off from our camp near to Loch Lomond to head to the Isle of Skye.

The scenery on the way is spectacular. Taking you through Glen Coe, you drive through terrain that wouldn’t look amiss from Iceland, with empty plains and a towering peak in the form of Ben Nevis. Unfortunately, as we’re cramming so much into this itinerary, we didn’t have enough time to climb it. Next time though, eh!

After a few hours driving you’ll cross over onto the Isle of Skye via the bridge. We chose to set-up camp at Torvaig campsite which is walking distance from the cute little fishing village of Portree, featuring a colourful harbour and some awesome sunset views from the lookout point.

This was our base for our two days on the Isle of Skye. This is enough to do the main sights, but if you have more time, we’d recommend you stay for longer. Our biggest Isle of Skye highlights included:

– Watching the sunset from The Lump viewpoint in Portree
– A morning boat trip to see Sea Eagles, dolphins, seals and porpoises, booked through Stardust boat trips
– An afternoon hike up to the Old Man of Storr
– A drive along the east coast to see various look out points and sights such as Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls Viewpoint

Days 8-12: The North Coast 500
By this point we didn’t think we would see anything more spectacular than the past few days driving. Around each corner we were greeted by beautiful landscapes, waterfalls, mountains, hills, lakes, rivers, quaint towns and more. It was just silly.

But we were wrong. The North Coast 500 was about to blow everything we’d seen out of the water. 

The North Coast 500 is a loop that traverses the north east corner of the Scottish mainland. The route, encompassing 500 miles, takes you along (mostly) single track roads, weaving your way around stunning coastline views, lochs and mountains. Along the way, we were treated to some of the most incredible beaches, white sand, crystal blue water. As well as intense views of forested hills, and rocky mountains. We had wind and rain, but that didn’t matter. Because each day was so varied and incredible.  white sandy beaches, crystal blue waters. Our route roughly looked like the below, and contained on average 2-3 hours of driving per day.

North Coast 500: Day 1

Portree -> Bealach na Ba viewpoint -> Applecross -> Gairloch

We did the North Coast 500 clockwise, so we started with the Bealach na Ba pass, which is a winding road which takes you up the side of the mountain on your way to Applecross. While it’s not recommended for big caravans, RVs or nervous drivers, our VW T4 Patricia easily took on the turns and climb to carry us through to the top. There is a viewpoint back down, but by the time we’d driven to the top, the summit was crowded out by clouds and fog. However, despite the rain, the drive is still incredible and definitely not to be missed.

After grabbing some coffee and a quick bite to eat at the Applecross Inn, we hit the dusty for some more incredible bays and coastal road, taking us past the peaks of Torridon through to Gairloch and towards our campsite Big Sands. 

The campsites along the NC500 are some of the best we’ve ever stayed at. You can choose your own spot down by the sea, and the majority have good to excellent facilities. This one had both; we watched a fantastic sunset from the beach, flew our drone along the seafront (check the pics below and our video) before settling down for the night.

North Coast 500: Day 2

Gairloch -> Achmelvich

We had a lot of plans for this day. Including a hike up a mountain. But let’s just say we met the true force of a Scottish summer. It was blowing a hooley. We had a lot of rain that day. But that didn’t necessarily ruin it. It just changed our plans a little bit. Rather than hitting a hike up a mountain, we chose to take it easy, driving along the windy roads and stopping at the beaches and bays along the way for a short walk, or just a quick coffee stop to admire the view.

Luckily the inclement Scottish weather blows over quickly, and by the time we’d reached our next camp in Achmelvich, it had cleared. This was one of the most incredible beaches we’d been too. White sand, blue waters. It was like being on the Caribbean; only, it was a little cold and had a bit of drizzle.

The campsite – Clachtoll Beach – was also pretty empty, so it meant we could get a full sea view through Patricia’s side window. Not a bad spot to play some boardgames and drink some beers. 

North Coast 500: Day 3

Achmelvich -> Durness

We could have spent a lot longer at Clachtoll beach. And if we had another day in our (pretty packed!) itinerary, we would have. The beach was so peaceful. But the road was calling once again. We were off to Durness for another incredible day of driving, sightseeing – beautiful seas and beaches awaits.

This part of the drive is one of the best. Remote tracks and winding corners. Small hamlets and villages and amazing views.

On the way to Durness we stopped off at Clashnessie falls, which is an incredible fairytale looking waterfall, nestled away behind some farm houses. Check it out below – what a beauty!

We stopped for lunch at Unapool at Kylesku Hotel for some delicious vegan food, before heading onto Durness. Altogether it’s about 2 hours of driving so it meant we could get to Durness and spend some time exploring the area round there, including cycling along the cliff front to the Smoo caves, as well as to Balnakeil beach.

The beach at Durness is incredible, and the campsite Sango Sands is perched right on the sea cliffs, giving you some incredible views down into the bay (if not a little windy!). A perfect place to watch the sunset.

North Coast 500: Day 4
Durness -> Wick

One of the most obvious Scottish things we haven’t included in our itinerary is whiskey tasting. And there’s a reason for that. We were saving it for the last day! After a wander down to the beach, a nice wash in the incredible campsite showers, we were on our way to get well and truly sozzled, via a stop at John O’Groats and Duncansby Stacks. In Wick, the Old Pulteney Distillery was our destination. After a comprehensive tour, we paid for the tasting package, and it did not disappoint – giving us as a taste of the high life by giving us a sample of a £100+ bottle.

We waddled home via Wick’s Wetherspoons and had an early night.

North Coast 500: Day 5

Wick -> Inverness

Wick to Inverness is probably the least spectacular drive after 4 days of breathtaking views at each turn. The drive takes you across relatively flat land until you arrive at the quaint city of Inverness. Here you have a load of options to carry on the sight seeing, including a trip to Loch Ness to search for a well known monster. 

Unfortunately, our time in Scotland had to come to an end; so we stopped off here for lunch before heading back down south. 

Home time
It’s often quite easy to dismiss countries that are either the one you grew up in, or ones nearby. We’ve travelled the world for incredible hikes, drives and so on, taking long-haul flights and the like. But driving round Scotland was as beautiful as this

We had a blast in this country, and can’t believe its took this long before we went north beyond the border. It was hands down one of the best trips we’d been on together. We will definitely be back.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog, or if you have any questions about our trip – pop us a message thesewildjourneys@gmail.com, or follow us on social media and ask us there.