I want to visit Scotland soon with my girlfriend. We’d be coming from London and we plan to get a coach to Edinburgh overnight, then somehow (train or bus) travel to another part of the country where we can hike somewhere nice and find a place to camp for the night before heading back to Edinburgh to spend the night there.
The reasons for doing this are we want to go for a hike followed by wild camping, I believe this is easier in Scotland than England (my understanding is you can camp on public land in Scotland) and finally that we want to see Edinburgh anyway.
Ideally we’d camp somewhere private and for the night in Edinburgh go somewhere with a good bath. And the whole thing needs to be very inexpensive, although within reason.
Does anyone have any advice on any of this? I need to find out:
[ul]
[li]Whereabouts is good to hike/camp that is accessible from Edinburgh without a car.[/li][li]What exactly the rules are about camping in Scotland.[/li][li]Where might be a good place to stay in Edinburgh.[/li][/ul]
Any other advice on the subject might also be useful.
Oh and I’m not certain this is the right forum for this. If not - my apologies.
This is tricky. I want to recommend somewhere in the Highlands/ Trossachs/Perthshire, but the travel times seem excessive for just one night of camping.
That’s the kind of place I was thinking. We could perhaps spend two nights camping - that would make the travelling less intense, at least. But there’s only so long I want to spend away from toilets, sinks and showers. I’ve only ever camped for one night outside a campsite, and when it’s only one night you can obviously do without showers and toilets much more easily. Any tips on that topic would also be welcome.
To be honest, if you want to rough camp then you are going to have to go without showers and sinks, at least for a night or two.
You need to think about what you want your holiday to be. Taking the bus from London up to Edinburgh is not that great, for a start, you are going to be exhausted when you arrive, and then you want to spend more hours travelling.
Can you spring for the night train up to Scotland?
The train could work, but the whole thing is supposed to cost as little as possible. The only reason we’re considering it is because Megabus can be very cheap. The hope is that we’ll be able to sleep enough on the bus overnight, but perhaps it’s wishful thinking to imagine we can sleep on a coach, then get a bus to somewhere outside Edinburgh, walk 10 miles, set up camp and sleep in a tent, then walk another 10 miles to the bus.
The thing is we want to do some camping somewhere quiet, but it’s not generally legal in England and I live on the outskirts of London, so finding somewhere nearby that’s remote enough to get away with sneaky camping is not easy. So it would be nice to do it in Scotland, but it’s not worth going that far just for camping for a night or two. It doesn’t seem easy to fit both in though. For the extra cost of the train maybe we could just stay in a hotel in Edinburgh for the night, then camp for one or two nights, then back to a hotel.
If you want something specific I can recommend a trip I made some years ago. We caught the bus from Glasgow to Dalwhinnie, though coming from Edinburgh you could make a connection in Stirling I think. The bus dropped us off on the busy A9 road, the last road we would see for a while!. There is also a rail station there but I don’t know the details. From there we headed South West along an ancient drovers route which followed the North shore of Loch Ericht, turning off West about 1/3rd way along. We camped beneath Carn Dearg. There is (or was) a bothy there but it looked a bit grim so we preferred our tent. Next day we set off from the tent an did a circular route including several Munros, circling back to the tent. That was a hard day! Next day we headed Westward again along the drover route towards Courrour station, right in the middle of nowhere, and caught the train back to Glasgow.
I can give a few general tips about hiking Scottland, although I’m not familiar with the area around Edinburgh. You may already know this, but just in case:
Very, very rugged terrain, and the trails are unmarked. Easy to get lost, so bring a map and a compass. Once you climb into the highlands – it’s steep, mind you – be sure to have a change or two of dry clothes. I was there in the middle of summer but was freezing cold by the time I got to the top of my first munroe, and caught a head cold that dogged me for days afterwards – and that was after just one day hike.
The hiking is very strenuous, and coming down is much worse than going up, so don’t overdo it! I walked the so-called “Ring of Iron” outside of Fort William, it was supposed to be 5 munroes but I got turned around and wound up bagging 7 of em, damn near killed me. Also, the weather can change dramatically over the course of a day and it’s not unusual for severe storms to come in out of seemingly nowhere. I’m not trying to discourage you – the Scottish highlands are incredibly beautiful, the train ride from Glascow to Fort William was one of the most beautiful trips I ever made by train – but just wanted to encourage you to come prepared.
I did the Three Peaks Challenge in June a few years ago. At the base of Ben Nevis it was a warm muggy day. At the top it was blowing a blizzard. In June. Do not trust the weather.
Also it rains all the time, and when it stops raining the midges eat you. I don’t know why anyone lives in Scotland, to be honest.
Some years ago I spent July as a volunteer for a project studying bears in North Carolina along the Blue Ridge Parkway. On one very rainy afternoon I and another vol were waiting for the van to pick us up, both dressed in just t-shits and shorts and soaked to the skin. It suddenly occurred to me that had I been in Scotland at that sort of altitude in those conditions I would probably require helicopter rescue and treatment for hypothermia. Take waterproofs.
The secret with the wee beasties (a.k.a. midges) is to travel with my dad. They love my dad and leave everybody else alone.
Side question? Are there campgrounds in Scotland (or Europe in general)? Here (at least in the Midwest) there are state parks that have compgrounds in between parking lots for land yachts (most private camgrounds) and primitive campsites (which may include a picnic table and fire ring but nothing else)
The level of service I’m thinking of is a water spigot within walking distance, flush or vault toilets at the same distance, and some limited privacy from your neighbors.
Oh about this, how experienced with this sort of thing are you? And did you bring all your water or did you find some somewhere? I’m wondering about the practicality of hiking with a tent, warm blankets etc., food and water. What food is good?
The primary challenge to hiking/camping in Scotland is the unpredictable weather. It can be glorious but equally it can be very very wet and windy, often in the same day. You need decent rain wear and tent, layered clothing and a reasonable sleeping bag if you intend to stay out in the hills. Scottish mountains are not especially high but they can be rugged so don’t carry more than you have to if you want to keep it fun.
Water usually not a problem. Mountain streams run clear as, well, clear as mountain streams :D. For cooking you will need some sort of lightweight camping stove. Open fires are frowned upon and probably illegal, plus you are likely to be in open moorland rather than forests.
Not getting lost requires good map and compass, marked trails are rare more than 1/2 mile from a parking spot. Fortunately Britain’sOrdnance Survey Landranger maps are about as good as maps get. Highly detailed, accurate, constantly updated, and easily available across the country. GPS is fine but the Mountain Rescue service are getting bored of rescuing people whose batteries run out. BTW in the unlikely event of needing such help, Mountain Rescue is a voluntary funded and free service of experienced local mountaineers and you call them on 999 which is the UK equivalent of 911.
There are no wild animals wanting to eat you in Scotland, except for the Wee Beasties.
