Member Since: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Riyadh, KSA
Posts: 3068
A Very Wet and Windy trip to Oban and Mull - Nov 2015
I had a bit of leave to burn up at work, and wanting to escape following a particularly busy couple of months, I planned to pack the Discovery with my camp kit, and drive north to somewhere I could get away from it all to decompress a bit.
I thought you might like to see some of the photos from the trip.
I had a rough plan based around the ferry to and from Mull, as well as wanting to visit Oban and Tobermory distilleries. I also (originally) planned to wild camp on Mull, both in Calgary Bay and also on some land I'd pre-arranged, again on the west coast of Mull but further south.
I was going alone for a real bit of me-time but my dad found out and invited himself along!
We set off early on Sunday morning for the long drive up. Dad drove first which was handy as I was up far too late the previous night
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Traffic on the Sunday was light and despite the continuous rain we hit the border in good time
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I had pre-booked at a campsite 45min north of Oban - the only campsite open for miles and miles around. And as I would be travelling in/out of Oban the next day to do the distillery tour and see the town, I didn’t want to leave a wild camp set up somewhere.
Flooding increased the further north I headed and the A82 around Loch Lomond ended up shut - which put in a delay of over 2 hours just to loop through Dumbarton - infuriating really as I’m pretty sure I could have just waded through it. Anyway, this put us very late and also meant I was driving over Glencoe in pitch black, with 50MPH+ winds and horizontal freezing rain. Most of the road was covered in running water flowing from the hills.
We arrived at the campsite late and in the same weather; the ground was like a swamp. The lovely lady owner said that there was no way we were putting a tent up at that time in those conditions and stuck us in a camping pod, which was a real blessing at this point. We bunkered in for the night.
Everything seemed a bit better the following morning in the light. But it was still torrential showers every 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of high winds, a constantly-repeating cycle (for the whole week, pretty much)
Bacon always helps too.
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Lovely little campsite, there is a bus that will take you into Oban and back for about £8 too. The grass was simply a swamp though. I could only drive and park the Discovery on the hard standing path.
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Yours truly and the ‘life saver’ pod
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We walked to get the bus into Oban. The scenery was already beautiful, in-between the rain. Did I mention we had some rain?
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This picture sums up the weather pretty well actually
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Booked in for the 2pm distillery tour, we wandered around the town, had a pint and got some lunch
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Those on diets, look away now….
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And a couple of pints to wash it down (well you do need to warm up for the distillery tour)
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Good tour (they’re all the same really but it’s good to see the little differences - no photos allowed from inside, sadly). Good shop as always and I bought an Oban and a Caol Ila
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I got my ‘whisky passport’ stamped - I've done every distillery in the Diagio group on the west coast and islands now!
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It was just turning dark when we got out
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Found the ferry ready for the next day.. (It had been cancelled on this day, but they were confident it would run to fit our itinerary)
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Bought my dad another whisky whilst we killed half an hour waiting for the bus back to camp - he's pretty chilled at this point.
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We could have got the tent up on the second night to be honest, but it seemed daft now that we had the pod to use, it also helped us get quick getaway for the ferry the following morning.
Lamb curry was prepared, cooked and eaten. We'd had a lamb leg marinating in the fridge since Saturday so it was pretty epic
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After a good night’s sleep, we were up and away for the ferry the next morning. The boat was a lot better appointed than I thought, we really felt ‘on holiday’ now.
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There was more stunning scenery on the short trip over
Nice gaff…
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Coming into Craignure
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We had planned to visit the Tobermory distillery then drive the the west side of the island to wild camp on Calgary bay. The weather was wet and windy already but we were further warned by the locals that another major storm would hit the island the following day and to stay own the east side if at all possible. So despite wanting the wild camp, I had to be sensible and re-jig the plan a little otherwise we would be (at best) tent-bound in the wild for two days. Thankfully, the guy who owns the (closed for the season) Tobermory campsite allowed us to use a patch of grass/gravel near his static caravans (his main camp pitches were all waterlogged again)
This meant that we had quite a leisurely night and it was great to at last be able to set up the tent, stove, etc. Dad cooked a really nice stew with some fresh fish we bought in Tobermory.
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The next morning, we drove back into town - It was only 1 or 2 miles, but with the frequent torrential showers, we would have been drenched before we even started.
What’s the story….etc
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The old man and me
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The important bit. Personal tour, just for the two of us. Tiny distillery, I bought a Ledaig and a Tobermory.
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I made a spicy paprika sausage casserole for tea. It was surprisingly nice, maybe the two bottles of red helped!
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Very early start to get the ferry back to Oban. We were first in the queue, I was getting worried until others started showing up. I think we were just a bit keen
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We had a big breakfast on the boat and drove south, my plan was to stop in the north of the Lake District to break up the journey home. Driving was hard, the now too-familiar combination of torrential rain, spray and blinding low winter sun was tiresome.
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Had to make one final stop…
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Eventually made it to a cracking camp site, called “The Quiet Site” and set up camp - we only used the main part of oztent despite the wind and rain as we planned to make use of the bar for the evening.. So the stove went under the awning instead to cook tea. The site has great facilities (shop etc.) too.
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One for you wood pile fetishists
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I cooked sirloin steaks on the griddle and did garlic mushrooms and dauphinoise potatoes as a treat for the last night. Delicious - My dad made me promise not to tell my mum how much cream and cheese when into it.
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We migrated from the cold to the bar. How cool is this? They even have their own ale! Dad seemed happy anyway.
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Back at the tent the stove was still going (just) so I couldn’t resist cracking open the Caol Ila for a nightcap - It seemed the perfect moment to do so
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The morning was very cold, but nice in-between very heavy hailstorms. We loaded up with strong coffee..
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…packed up pretty quickly and headed home feeling pretty happy.
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We didn’t have as much of a wild-camp experience as I had planned unfortunately , but I just had to adapt and be sensible given the extreme conditions. I know a lot of these photos are ‘sunny’ but it was one of the worst weeks for weather I’ve ever experienced for camping. But a great few days away anyway, with some great memories.
Hope you didn’t mind me sharing.
James
Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated D4 XS, gone, much loved, never forgotten
2018 FFRR SDV8 Autobiography - Gone to someone with less sense and more time to enjoy it
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22nd Nov 2015 4:46 pm
bawny
Member Since: 27 Aug 2015
Location: Leeds
Posts: 58
Brilliant write up mate
Looks like a great trip and I think I may follow in your footsteps at some point
Great write up - love that bar, could spend a few hours in there. Would love to have done a trip like this with my Dad but never had the opportunityI started off with nothing and Ive still got most of it left.
22nd Nov 2015 5:00 pm
Andy Foster
Member Since: 27 Dec 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 6551
Dispite the weather looks like you had a great time.
Love your Oztent setup, what model is it, looking at your photos reminds me just why I'm after one
Cheers
AndyD4 MY15 SE TECH
D3 gone but never forgotten.
22nd Nov 2015 5:01 pm
nestu
Member Since: 12 Sep 2011
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 392
Great pics...great break...shame about the rain
22nd Nov 2015 5:04 pm
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: Wiltshire
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A great write up. It just shows what you can do irrespective of the weather.New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!)
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22nd Nov 2015 5:10 pm
Buckster
Member Since: 04 May 2015
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Superb, thank you for sharing 2003 BMW M5- 5 Litres of V8 Optimax Slurping Goodness in Carbon Black
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Visiting from the RR Sport forum:
22nd Nov 2015 5:11 pm
Russell
Member Since: 24 Aug 2007
Location: Kent
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Great write up looks lovelyMY17 D5 1st Edition Namib Orange
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Tow bar, full length roof bars, side steps, tow bar storage unit, surround camers.
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22nd Nov 2015 5:14 pm
Jumper9895
Member Since: 10 Jun 2015
Location: Swanmore, Southampton
Posts: 226
Great write up and beautiful part of the U.K.!......did you get to the Caol Ila distillery? Visited it in a patrol boat once and, though not being a whiskey drinker at the time, havnt looked back since!Best Regards,
Dave.
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22nd Nov 2015 5:15 pm
NellyD5
Member Since: 01 Apr 2013
Location: Newton Mearns
Posts: 740
Where is that pub? I have to go!D3 2005 TDV6 7 Seat Zambezi Silver
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22nd Nov 2015 5:49 pm
davess1402
Member Since: 07 Jul 2013
Location: Grampian
Posts: 175
Great pictures, looks like you had a hoot with your old boy, at least there wasn't any midges.
Growing up is optional, growing old is mandatory !
08 Discovery 3
GSX1402
22nd Nov 2015 6:39 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72796
Looks like a great trip in spite of the weather.
How did the Frontier stove stand up? Still to use mine. Is that the APB bent flue?
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22nd Nov 2015 6:46 pm
James W
Member Since: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Riyadh, KSA
Posts: 3068
Thanks for all the lovely comments, let me answer some of the direct questions!
Andy Foster wrote:
Love your Oztent setup, what model is it, looking at your photos reminds me just why I'm after one Thumbs Up
It's an RV3 Andy, with Deluxe Side Panels. Mate, you really need to bite the bullet and get one If it helps, I'm happy to meet you at New Bridgeton dips one weekend if it's dry and show you (and Mrs Foster?) - it may help sway your decision, see how it all works etc.
Jumper9395 wrote:
did you get to the Caol Ila distillery?
Not this time as it's on Islay and we didn't go into that island. I have however visited the distillery in a separate (non-camping) trip several years ago where we did every distillery n the island (+ Jura) over a few days TBH Caol Ila isn't the best visit. Ardbeg was the best IMHO.
NellyD5 wrote:
Where is that pub? I have to go!
It's the campsite bar on "The Quiet Site" - I can heartily recommend the whole campsite - great place.
DSL wrote:
How did the Frontier stove stand up? Still to use mine. Is that the APB bent flue?
Good, for its first use. It wasn't as hard to get going as I expected, but needs plenty of kindling initially, and keep the logs really small too for the first hour or so. Cooked three meals no problem on it. Yes, it is the APB bent flue. My dad wanted to know why I'd brought a bit of exhaust pipe off a Ford Escort with me
JamesD4 XS, gone, much loved, never forgotten
2018 FFRR SDV8 Autobiography - Gone to someone with less sense and more time to enjoy it
2016 Toyota Hilux Invincible - Liberating experience
22nd Nov 2015 7:01 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72796
22nd Nov 2015 7:07 pm
grzesiul
Member Since: 11 May 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 6266
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, but I just had to adapt and be sensible given the extreme conditions. I know a lot of these photos are ‘sunny’ but it was one of the worst weeks for weather I’ve ever experienced for camping. But a great few days away anyway, with some great memories.
If it helps, I'm happy to meet you at New Bridgeton dips one weekend if it's dry and show you (and Mrs Foster?) - it may help sway your decision, see how it all works etc.
