Caolasnacon Caravan & Camping Park, Argyle [Scotland]
What an amazing camp site this is!
The drive up leads around Loch Levern and some of the most dramatic scenery we’ve seen in a while.
The camp site looks like it used to be a working farm once upon a time and when we ring the bell a very efficient looking elderly lady books us in. We laugh about the old industrial fan near the office (errr, are they expecting a heat wave in Scotland? Hahahahahaha) and take the lady’s advice to stay *up wind* with a pinch of salt (old Scottish saying?).
Once we get down to business and select the PERFECT pitch still going on about *HOW* cheap this hook up was we discover that most of our neighbours have covered their faces with what? wait……tights??? And then……while taking *THE* most beautiful Instagrams of cooking by the lake while looking at the mountains the penny finally drops…………miggies!!!!! There’s billions of them! In our ears, eyes, mouths, the dogs, inside the van, crawling up our legs, necks, backs……torture!!!! We have a quick (but totally delish) barbie before calling it a day and setting up the van ready for early bed. Midgies are a total nightmare!
The verdict:
Caolasnacon Caravan & Camping Park in Kinlochleven sits in a totally dreamy location as part of Highland farm. There are a few statics on site [opposite the wash block and not visible from where we were] and the facilities are good [although painted in a strange colour but hey – who are we to criticize somebody else’s preference ^-^]. We paid £15 with EHU (dogs are free) and would go back in a shot! We’ve decided on a 5/5 despite the miggies as there’s not much one can improve on when it comes to nature……. If you’re ever lucky enough to stop off here make sure you bring miggie protection though and you’ll absolutely loooooooove it, I promise ^-^
Carlisle [England] –> Ben Nevis [Scotland]
We wake up & pack up in the rain. *Someone* (ahem) forgot to pack the milk and so it’s black tea for breakfast (yuk).
We head for Loch Lomond hoping to be able to stop off somewhere for some leg stretching time for the dogs.
No such luck; the Loch Lomond forest site we decide to stop at is full of tourists and there’s nowhere for us to walk the dogs other than along the concrete path but that’s just not how we roll.
So we head up into the mountains and stop at some random spot for a quick picnic.
Fed, watered and with stretched legs we carry on. Next stop: Loch Lomond.
A quick photo opportunity later we’re back on track for Fort Williams. The scenery en route is stunning; all moody and low clouds yet the rain is holding off. For now.
When the clouds lift and the weather perks up there are dramatic skylines and scattered sunshine.
We stop off at Morrisons to get some meat for the barbie and some wine then head off to Ben Nevis for a quick look. It’s 16:00hrs by now and far too late to walk up (plus the weather has taken another turn for the worse) but it’s nice to return to the mountain we could not conquer 2 years earlier when we chose the 3 Peak Challenge to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary. Then, Big H ended up with a torn paw after hiking up a (very) iced up Snowdon but we never discovered his injury until half way up Scaffel Pike. Memories come flooding back of how we had to patch him up with baby socks and therefore never actually managed to hike up Ben Nevis. This was well before our *vanplusfour times* when we spent a few day over at a fabulous little lodge [Old Pines], just on the outskirts of Fort Williams.
Briar Lea House, Longtown, Cumbria [England] [a.k.a. we’re on our way to Scotland, hoorah!]
Easy drive up to Carlisle on the Scottish border, albeit a wet one. We arrive around 16:30hrs and stop off at the local Spar shop to get provisions for tonight’s dinner.
Briar Lea House is essentially a B&B and – as many other B&Bs – has discovered the power of campers. They let people with wheels stay on their land for what would in some cases initially appear as a small fee. It’s a non-offensive okay looking house [nothing that would get your *house envy* juices going] along some out of town [very loud] road. When we get there we are told that we cannot get on to the actual field because of heavy rain – fair enough, en route we saw that the local area [along with many places in our beloved Wales] is swamped following heavy rain fall. So we set up close to the drive on a sort of hard standing. The fact we can’t get onto the actual camp site is reflected in the price as the owner offers to drop it from £8 to £6, yay ^-^ Yet he then happily proceeds to charge us £2 for each dog [WHAT?]. Here at vanplusfour we don’t agree with charging for dogs [why? they’re not leaving hairs on anyone’s bedding other than ours…..they don’t chomp on grass……and they don’t increase anyone’s workload. Charging for dogs is just…..well…….friggin’ greedy!].
Still. With only one other occupied caravan on site and no alternative camp site to go to we proceed to set up and soon have the prettiest outdoor toilet in England ^-^
Over a [cheap] bottle of red we cook dinner, throw a couple of sticks for the dogs and settle down over candlelight dinner while watching Bride Wars.
Before bed we pick our next site from Cool Camping Scotland and fall asleep dreaming about Fort Williams in the Highlands. Weather forecast: rain & thunderstorms. Yay…….
The damage:
We picked this as a cheap stop over on the way from Wales to Scotland. There are absolutely no facilities here – which we don’t mind – but had we seen on any web site that there’s a charge for the dogs we would not have chosen this site. Competition in Cumbria [and along the Scottish border in particular] is pretty fierce and – although this site is not offensive – we would not stop here again. It’s a 1/5 [and the 1 point is awarded simply because we liked the look of the field…….]
Briar Lea House, £6 without facilities, £4 for the dogs (scandalous!)
Plas Uchaf Caravan & Camping Park, Benllech, Isle of Anglesey [Wales]
Anglesey (Welsh: Ynys Môn) is an island and a county off the north west coast of Wales. Two bridges connect it to the mainland: the original Menai Suspension bridge designed by Thomas Telford in 1826 and the more recently rebuilt Britannia Bridge which also carries the North Wales Coast Railway Line. The name *Anglesey* was later used in the English language as a country name which included Holy Island and other nearby small islands. About half the people who live on Anglesey can speak, read and write Welsh as well as English, and 70% have a knowledge of Welsh.With an area of 714 square kilometres (276 sq mi), Anglesey is the largest Welsh island, the 6th largest surrounding the island of Great Britain, and the largest island in the Irish Sea ahead of the Isle of Man.
We stayed not far from Benllech as we had arranged to meet up with a work colleague on the Sunday morning.
The Plas Uchaf Touring & Camping park is level & well sheltered. It’s spread across 20 acres and has Tarmac roads & street lights. Pitches for vans are hardstanding [good in winter, boring in summer] and the park is near a beach but as it’s a busy family oriented site dogs have to be kept on a lead [here at vanplusfour we do not like this rule and as ours are well trained we rebelled a little and kept them off ^-^]. The 3 heated WC blocks feature hot showers, pot and pan rooms, family rooms, ample sinks and are well maintained and very clean.
It’s a *nice* site [nice as in………..nice, not *WOW*] and is probably best for families and older couples.
I think we paid £15 and can’t remember if dogs & the hook-up were free or if we had to pay extra. It’s a pleasant enough site, the facilities are excellent and well worth the money.
But would we come here again? Probably not…..
Isle of Anglesey [Wales]
Our first trip to Anglesey brought us to Benllech and the Plas Uchaf camp site. Over a barbie the night before we decided to head out and explore the Wales Coast Path first thing in the morning. As expected, the views are mighty fine & pretty impressive.
It seems the weather is holding up [thank you, Weather Gods] and the landscape sure enough can make anyone forget about life’s little [or large] troubles.
After a hearty bacon sarnie on the Sunday morning we head home. And make a promise to return. Soon! ^-^
A dog walk through Delamere Forest, Cheshire [England]
After the wet night at Belmont Hall we decided to make the most of it and to stop off at Delamere Forest in Cheshire for the dogs to stretch their legs.
There’s quite a bit to do in the Forest. First off we came across these funny looking creatures:
The hairy ones are ours but the 2-wheel variety you can hire from Go Ape, a forest adventure company.
Apart from jigging around the forest on a Segway, you can grab your kids, neighbours, friends & foes [or even all of them together, what fun ^-^] and give bonding over & under & across beautiful trees a go. We thought it looked great fun and had we had friends with us and not the hairy companions we would have definitely given it a go!
Or you could just take a walk through a lovely forest and spare a thought for those that can’t.
Morfa Buchan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion [Wales]
Aberystwyth (English: Mouth of the River Ystwyth) is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within the Ceredigion region in Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located where the river Ystwyth meets the Rheidol.
We met up with family on the Morfa Bychan camp site in Llanfarian, not far from Aberystwyth and right from the start it rained…….
The camp site is set in an enviable location, bounded on 3 sides by sheep pastures and surrounded by agricultural land for as far as the eye can see and with spectacular sea views over Cardigan Bay to the West. It has a heated outdoor pool, an activity play area for the kids and a social room with pool tables, table tennis, computer games and a TV. There’s a little fenced-off area at the bottom of the field to exercise the dogs [who had to be on leads otherwise] not far from where we parked & hooked up the van. We weren’t lucky with the weather – in fact this was the first (and worst) of many wet weekends – and so just about managed to set up the drive away awning. We were even more unlucky during the 1st night as [cough] *we* had to get up at 1am to take down the awning for fear of taking off [I say *we* but I guess, technically, I mean *Mr B*].
Still…..we braved the elements and spent the next day getting wet out’n about.
And didn’t you just know it….when we got up on Sunday morning, ready to go home, the sun came out and the site looked fabulous!!!
I think we paid £21 per night (expensive for vans). You can’t fault the site (clean, excellent facilities, well laid out, well run) but for us there was just a little *je ne sais quois* missing. The location is superb though and we have already been back – Mr. B’s cousin has a super fancy static there and so we intend to return on a regular basis ^-^
Belmont Hall, Northwich, Cheshire [England]
The plan was to pick a site not far from where we live so that we could simply jump in the van one Friday after work, not drive far yet spend a weekend feeling as if we were properly *away from it all*.
We picked Belmont Hall in Cheshire because it’s literally down the road [45 minutes by car], it’s a certificated site [our favourite] and it looked like the tranquil, beautiful location we were craving.
I guess no matter how long you’ve lived in the UK, you ALWAYS hope for the best weather there can be and sometimes, just sometimes, your prayers are answered and you find yourself enjoying a full weekend of sun. Well, I also guess one of us must have been a very very bad person in a previous life as more often than not we find ourselves battling the dreaded elements that are wind & rain!
Belmont Hall camp site is set in secluded parkland with stunning views over a lake and surrounded by magnificent mature trees. It’s an outdoor person’s dream as there is wildlife in abundance. The Hall itself [now a school we believe] is a very fine example of early Georgian architecture and is a Grade 1 listed building [and comes with its own separate entrance as we discovered when we did not read the TomTom instructions correctly and ended up in front of the building only on the wrong side, oops].
From the moment we sat down in the van ready for our gentle drive to Cheshire it rained. And it never stopped. We found ourselves arriving at the camp site in the rain. Being welcomed and shown to our pitch [by a very nice man] in the rain. Getting acquainted with our only *neighbour* [a Liam Gallagher lookalike from Mannnnnchessssssster] talking in the rain. Setting up then cooking. In the rain. Walking the dogs. In the rain. Watching new neighbours arrive around 23:00hrs setting up their van. In the rain. So when we woke up the following morning and it STILL RAINED we decided to admit defeat. So we packed up and headed home……[in the rain. Of course ^-^]
We paid £13 [if I remember rightly] with a hook up and parked right at the top of the large field so that we could be close to the toilet block during night time [smart move]. There were 2 showers and 1 toilet [very clean and totally adequate for a site this size] and the yard is also used as a storage area for caravans. There were also quite a number of camouflaged men fishing the lakes [some of them even stayed the night in their equally camouflaged tents] and a herd of bullocks roamed around on the other side of the fence.
We met the [very friendly!] couple running the site the next morning [when we broke the news that we did not intend to hang around for another wet day] and spent about an hour or so chatting to them. Despite the rain and the fact we could not actually do anything on this site we did enjoy being there.
I’d give this a 3/5 and would happily return some time next year [when – fingers crossed! – it won’t rain ^-^].
The Olympic torch in Pontcysyllte
With a victory parade being held in London today to mark the success of the London Olympics 2012, here at vanplusfour.com HQ we think this might be the perfect excuse to slightly divert from our usual van & dog pictures and showcase the early morning pics we took when the Olympic torch arrived on the aqueduct in the neighbouring village of Trevor at the end of May ^-^
I took the day off work and got up VERY early to schlep my father-in-law and one of our nephews to Trevor basin where we queued very patiently for over 2 hours only to find the torch arrived, crossed the aqueduct and went back on the road in what seemed like 2 seconds flat…..
Still, I guess I must be more patriotic than I let on as my boss [who is Austrian] was very surprised to hear I bothered to watch a [fake] flame being carried across a [very impressive] aqueduct but I guess if – like me – you had listened to the Chris Moyles show every morning during the build up to the Olympics you probably would have been caught up in all the Olympic hype too ^-^. I’m glad I went – I will be able to bore people for years to come with stories of how we queued and saw the flame cross a very magical place. I particularly liked how the stars of the show – the world famous Fron choir – took out their mobiles and cameras to record the young lady with the torch while happily singing their songs, priceless ^-^
van plus 4 