Week 3

WHEN

19.10.2019 - 25.10.2019

WHERE

Clapham, London, UK

Oxford, UK

Manchester, UK

Scottish Highlands, UK

WHAT

Well. It has been quite a week. We have decided that we want euro friendly gas installed into the van, to prevent us carrying enough UK LPG bottles to last the next 5 months. It would be easily done, if we had no need for sleeping or eating space. So, unfortunately, it’s going to cost us BUT the resale of the van will increase because of it so hopefully it’s an investment instead of a loss. Double unfortunately the only place who can do it before DECEMBER is in Bristol and we couldn’t get in until November 4th. This kind of worked out as the Brexit Chaos around here is a little crazy as we write this, and we are still trying to figure out what exact paperwork we need to cross into mainland Europe and be able to get back in without any issue. So we thought, what a perfect time to try the van out in the Scottish Highlands! It’s the very end of season this time of year so most things that far north are closed but the Van is equipped to be ‘fully off grid’, including solar panel and a leisure battery that charges while we drive, so we free to free camp our way around the Northern 500 and the Isle of Skye.

Initially the gas plans had really put a sour on our thoughts of southern Spain and Portugal this time of year but we can happily say that this week has been phenomenal. I would go so far to say that the highlands and Isle of Skye are other-worldly, like nothing we have ever seen anywhere. We have been pinching ourselves all week to remind us that the only reason we are here is due to what we thought was a setback.

Saturday night we went into London to visit our friend Nick, (read our guide to the best pubs in the UK here) I don’t quite recall the full details but we met some lovely Scotts who suggested the Northern 500 and Isle of Skye when we were slurring complaints of our LPG setback. Sunday we were both…unwell, but felt some degree of guilt about being in London and remaining comatose, so stumbled around Clapham and Soho until our return to our new home/van to get some well needed rest. Monday and Tuesday we just did a few more chores around Surrey including a full mechanical service for the van. To our absolute delight it is in '“unbelievable” condition and was quite confident when we told him how far we planned to take it.

Finally by Wednesday we were ready to head North. We stopped a night in Oxford to visit an old friend of mine, Charlie. Knowing me well, we met him for amazing coffee and breakfast before he graciously spent his whole day off work, showing us around Oxford. read our guide to the city here. For lunch; the pub Bob Hawke won the quickest Yard of Ale record for. Wednesday Night and Thursday was spent in Manchester eating and drinking and by Thursday night we had entered Scotland and free camped at a stunning viewpoint a little south of Glasgow. The week slowed a little from here and we have just been edging our way around the Northern 500 enjoying the insane views, castles, waterfalls and walks and seeing how far we can push the van for water, fuel and gas without stopping at a site. Read our guides to the North Coast 500 here and here.

I will quietly admit - when we found out how long the LPG was going to take I was very displeased. I called 27 different installers from as far as Glasgow down to Brighton and did the best I could. If we didn’t have this ‘setback’ we would not have found ourselves in the absolutely unforgettable landscape of the highlands and to be honest we never really planned on coming here. So as Pat said to me, absolutely full of Guinness at around 2am on Sunday morning in London. “Carlie, When God closes a door…” (NB; he is Agnostic as they come, so God knows why he said that…)