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Scotland Galloway trip photos and write ups

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A couple of photos from Bridge Of Orchy where we popped in to say hello :)

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These are the only other photos that I took. Check out the water level ! :eek:

Write-up to follow..... :thumbsup:
 
Kneef's Log Star Date 02/2020

Episode One

As previously mentioned the drive north was undertaken in pretty horrendous road conditions caused by a strong headwind, occasional sideways gusts & driving rain. We did see a casualty on the way up in the form of a high-sided delivery truck which had turned into a low-sided delivery truck as a result of being blown over. :eek:
I honestly have no idea how @Matt can drive that sort of distance in those conditions but he did & deserves great credit for doing so. :thumbsup:

We stopped off a few times on the way & tried to get a couple of hours kip in the odd car-park but it wasn't happening. The sat-nav took us to within breakfast distance of @Ark79 as we passed a signpost for Crieff (Not sure if it's Good Crieff or not).

We waited in a layby until it got light & we then headed to The Green Welly Stop for breakfast. Suitably fed & watered we then decided to kill some time by driving to the Bridge Of Orchy where we had stayed on a previous visit. Our journey then took us on to the Glencoe Mountain Resort which we had intended to camp at prior to their restaurant & rest-area cabin being devastated by fire a few weeks ago. Whilst sat in the car-park checking the weather for both Glencoe & Aviemore we decided that with no guarantee of the white stuff it wasn't worth staying at either venue. So following our overnight pit-stop we would head straight for the Galloway Forest.

Luckily, John at the Inverardran Guest House was kind enough to let us check in early which was both a huge relief & a very kind gesture :thumbsup:. We both managed a couple of hours of broken sleep before heading over the road to the always excellent & welcoming hostelry that is Ben More Lodge. Two Pie & Chips later with @Matt also consuming a deserved Sticky Toffee Pudding for afters we headed back to our accommodation in order to get our noggins down. Following the usual top-notch breakfast fayre we settled our bill & said our goodbyes to our wonderful host & hit the road once again. :)

Episode Two to follow........... :thumbsup:
 
Episode Two - The Force Of Mother Nature Awakens (As if she was ever asleep anyway :))

On the way to the forest we stopped off in Dalmellington which is an historical rest area, market town, weaving centre and mining village. We gathered up some fresh produce to supplement our tinned rations (The bread rolls from the bakery are excellent) & we were off again. Just outside the forest we drove past the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory which is no doubt of interest to @G1ZmO who is rather knowledgeable on the subject of star gazing. :thumbsup:

As reported we had some issues trying to find the agreed location & with time running out to find a pitch we found a spot that I will nickname Moleys Mound which was fairly flat after we made good with our shovels. It also had a decent view out over the loch. As we were unpacking the Landy @Matt tapped me on the shoulder as he had spied two deer (They were not cheap :D) walking across the track in the direction of the water. Tents up food snaffled & it was off to bed. We awoke to a dusting of snow, had breakfast & I think it was at that point that @Matt drove out to the phone signal area in order to get the info we needed on the area we should have been in. That done we packed up & moved to the correct spot.

We got our bearings as we both pictured the recce video in our heads before we tackled Hamburger Hill (This was basically a fairly steep incline that rose slightly again once we thought we had got to the top. Unfortunately there were no hamburgers to reward us for our efforts but at least there were no bullets whizzing past our ears either :D). We found what we thought was a suitable sheltered area behind a dry-stone wall with a convenient stream close by. Up went the F1 French Army tents with our trusty DD 4x4 tarps over the top & we settled in.

This is where things got a little blurry for me & @Matt as we both lost track of how many days we spent in which spot as we battled against the near constant rain (Cats, dogs & hamsters thrown in for good measure :D) & the close to gale force winds. Within a day or so it became obvious that a slight change of location was in order as our camp area soon resembled The Somme. We then decided to move to the area on the other side of the wall where we would also be sheltered to some degree. We went for a stroll after tea & in doing so we stumbled on an area or two to keep in mind for future trips. That night we were again battered by the weather & the sound of tarps flapping in the wind was commonplace.

Following breakfast that morning (Which @Matt thought was Wednesday & I thought was Thursday :rolleyes:) we drove out to the phone signal spot to check-in & we suddenly realized that it was indeed Friday :eek:. Paul @G1ZmO was due to arrive at around 10:30 & within ten minutes or so there he was (A bit like the shopkeeper on Mr Benn but a tad slower ;)). We followed him down to the parking area & he went up the hill like a mountain-goat in order to scout out a suitable place in the woods to set up his hammock & various tarps.

With the rain still lashing down & the wind doing what it does best @Matt & I had our evening meal before joining Paul in his rather splendid makeshift shanty-town for a few gulps of our favourite camp-fire rum based tipple Dark Matter before going back to our third camp area (Which by now was also swamped :() in order to retire for yet another stormy night.

We rose at first light & skipped breakfast in order to take advantage of an extremely rare break in the weather to pack up our gear & get out of dodge. We were leaving due to personal domestic circumstances (Now sorted :thumbsup:) but to be honest I think we were both done in with the constant bad weather & we may have left anyway. The circumstances led to a lot less fun & banter being thrown around which is something that makes these camps memorable for all the right reasons.

Paul was up & about as we were packing up as he was doing his official camp (Make of that what you will ;)) photography thing. He then dashed off into the woods for breakfast saying that he would catch us later. By this time he too had decided to leave for safety reasons not only due to being alone with some dodgy trees in his location but because a red weather warning had been issued. In the end we didn't get a chance to say a proper goodbye to @G1ZmO for which we both apologize but @Matt did blast the horn on the Landy three times on our way out. In truth we had been beaten by Hamburger Hill & we couldn't face one last climb !

So here we are all back home safely & I would like to say sorry to the other chaps who were due to join us but it was just one of those things. We were very unlucky with the weather. Having said that I personally feel that 5-7 days is probably the most I that I am capable of doing on any future camps. I'm just not up to it !

I would like to thank @Matt for kindly taking me on this trip & for once again being very patient with me on several occasions when I was struggling to get myself together ! :thumbsup:

I know that everyone on the forum who has been following this trip has been extremely complimentary to us regarding how long we stuck it out in our daily war against Mother Nature but to anyone else I say .........

:D

This took me an hour to write so I'm off for a lie down in my padded cell ! :p
 
Great write up matey. Witty as ever. Not sure about the Mr Benn reference lol
Hamburger hill indeed hehehe
Pity you both had such crappy weather but that's February in Scotland. I'm still hoping to get back down there later this week if it improves a bit. :)
 
Nice write up @WildWood1965 , enjoyed reading that mate 👍🏻 Yous definitely made the right decision to call it a day, the weather really hasn’t improved. Glad the personal reasons are all sorted to 👍🏻 Dare I say it, hopefully next time it’s better weather and I can also make it:whistle:
 
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