Well that’s what happened, we had planned a trip to Scotland in September 2015 in our caravan we had chosen and booked all the caravan sites early that year to be sure we wouldn’t miss out, the route meticulously planned a total of 23 days in all. I could almost taste the whisky tours and smell the porage. Then after a call to my son in Perth Australia in the August all was changed to a three month tour the Antipodean region. and so my Scottish tour was put on the back burner! Then six years later and on year two of the Covid 19 pandemic we decided to go through the holiday cupboard of places not yet done. Right there at the bottom of the drawer was Scotland calling yet again. The Plan was – oops… we’ve sold the caravan, ah well back to the hotels. We set about planning the venues and before long we had the makings of our new trip on the skeletons of the old one. Staying at Oban then travelling up the Caledonian canal and Fort William to Nairn near Inverness, before heading south again to Edinburgh and then calling in on our daughter in Harrogate for a few days before returning home.(Then our daughter Alexandra told us of a sudden change in their lives, her husband Steve was to take-up a new post in Poole Dorset, never mind we’ll miss Harrogate)
The New Plan
The original plan was to leave Devon on the 6th os September and drive straight to Oban, however after some secondary thoughts we departed on Saturday the 4th planning to make our first stop just shy of 300 miles from Devon at Over Kellet in Lancashire just a few miles off the M6. This one night stop would make the difference, but after some revision we inserted another night at Dumbarton in Scotland reasoning that we would be able to make this the start of the holiday by sightseeing along the Main highway A82 and the beautiful Loc Lomond we would be assured of some of the finest scenery Scotland had to offer.
Over Kellet – end of day 1
That’s the plan now is the reality. The journey out of Devon was without incident and the traffic was fairly free flowing. It was, after all, the end of the children’s schools hols so we had expected more issues. Anyway plain sailing as you say, the weather was pleasant, sunny and not too hot. No matter we had the windows of the car closed and the air-con on to keep wind noise out. Two reasonable rest stops and we were at our destination the Chapel Lodge Bed And Breakfast. Janice met us with a lovely greeting and we soon headed off for a meal we had booked at the Eagles Head in the village. Well this was to be a real humdinger, we could tell at a glance the food was going to be good, I had Lancashire Hot Pot when in Lancashire… What a choice, the service was second to none. A family run place and they knew how to produce real food. It turned out that the daughter of the owners had a sister in Dumbarton so we soon had the heads up for the following night’s meal as they knew the area well. After the meal we made our way back to Chapel Lodge Bed And Breakfast and climbed into the bed. The place was perfect for our needs and we were soon pushing out the zzzzzz’s
Day 2 Over Kellet to Dumbarton
After rising at a reasonable time we had arranged breakfast for 9am the night before. What a surprise, breakfast was perfect after having large meal the night before Janice laid on Fruit and Yogurt Toast and all manner of breads and sweet breads, croissants, cereals, we couldn’t have done better if we had tried. Before going to bed we had revised our planned trip to Dumbarton. As it was only a couple of hours away so decided to run across to Ambleside in the lakes for a look around (Malcolm’s first time) before heading back onto the M6 and continue on our way.
Ambleside and Lake District
We ambled across from Over Kellet to Ambleside (sorry couldn’t resist) after passing through Kendal and Windermere, choosing not to stop because of the number of people about so we went on to Ambleside which as you may know sits at the top of Lake Windermere. Parking was easy at the Lakeside car park.
We then strolled over the road and had coffee in the garden of Wateredge Hotel, Waterhead, Ambleside LA22 0EP and just soaked up the sun watching the world and his wife go by. The lunch menu looks popular and sensibly priced as well. Soon we had to wake up to the travel plans ahead and so headed up the Kirkstone Rd towards the Kirkstone Pass at (the highest vehicle access road in the Lake District) Kirkstone Pass Inn on the A592 finally running down to Brothers Water and Ullswater stopping at Red Pit Parking area on the way down for some fabulous pictures of the scenery imaginable, mindful that the blue haze didn’t help the outcome, a camera filter might have helped!
Before long we were on the M6 again and headed for Dumbarton a couple of hours away. The venue was not our first obvious choice and I’m not promoting Travelodge, however it was on route and cheap, need I say anymore.
Day 3
The following morning we headed to the bottom of Loch Lomond sadly the view and experience this day was ☹️.
They say a picture paints a 1000 words so that says it all… So onwards to Oban as they say, the journey plan didn’t change and for much of the time the weather remained pretty much the same but this didn’t dampen the spirits and by the time the miles had dripped away the Skys started to lighten a little.
Well I did say lighten a little, but thing did improve considerable the day after and we begun to feel the benifit of the change we had arrived.
Malcolm & Delia 