Camping in Scotland

Sometimes its nice to travel light. What do you really need for camping? 

1) A tent

2) A couple of airbeds

3) and a view

Camping, at it's simplest.

So it's pretty obvious that I didn't take the ferry to Scotland just to go camping for one night. I was actually in Carlisle to pick up my eldest son Elan who is at the end of his last term of Uni. As an Illustrator, he had an end of year show which is the culmination of his three years of work. 

It was a multi day event so I went from a Wednesday to the Sunday. I stayed in his Student house in a room that is right beside a busy junction on a main road. We also had extremely good weather, with the temperatures hitting 30 degrees on one day. 

The heat and the noise were a bit much for me, and coupled with the fact that my son has some of his own camping equipment that we had to take back to Northern Ireland anyway, it made sense to use it to get out of the city and closer to the ferry so that we would have a shorter journey to the ferry in Cairnryan.

I had a couple of days in Carlisle to hunt out the perfect campsite on the internet, since my son had lots of goodbyes to say to his friends and was busy most evenings and so I was on my own. The Galloway and Dumfries area has more campsites than you could shake a stick at, and most of them look fantastic. I would love a fortnight just to spend some quality time in this area.

I'm a sucker for a view though and so when I came across Castle Bay Holiday Park in Portpatrick my mind was immediately made up. It was only 25 minutes drive to the ferry at Cairnryan. 

Ruin One of the Day

On the Saturday morning we got all of Elans worldly possessions in the car, made sure the camping gear was on top and set off. On the way we stopped at a Cafe just outside Dumfries for a big breakfast to set us up for the day, and to buy supplies for dinner that night. Closer to our destination, we stopped off for a leg stretch at Glenluce Abbey which is not far off the main road on the way to Stranraer.

Next stop Portpatrick and Castle Bay Holiday Park which I navigated to with the Sat Nav. Having booked in at reception and paid our £18 we set up the tent. A couple of years ago I had bought the Olpro Pop which is an umbrella style pop up three berth tent. I liked it a lot but donated it to my son for his own camping kit. The tent is available in three colours and the one I had bought and donated was green. I then bought myself an orange one to replace the one I had given away. I had one airbed with me, which was for Elan to sleep on when we were in Carlisle (I took over his bed) and I'd also brought my own bedding for staying in Carlisle. So all I needed to do was buy one cheap airbed from a supermarket on the way to the campsite and he had a sleeping bag he had as part of his camping kit. We had no chairs, no cooking gear, nothing other than the tent and the beds. And you know what? That's all you need.

Our campsite was at the end of a drive through the Holiday Park, overlooking the sea and also a spectacular ruin called Dunskey Castle. The weather was beautiful, warm but the sea breeze left the temperatures comfortable unlike Carlisle where is was too hot. 

Ruin Two of the Day

There is a public right of way to the castle and apparently it takes you past the castle right into the fishing village of Portpatrick.  We were not there long enough to go on that walk, but we did explore the ruins. It is possible to get right into the castle ruins, up a spiral staircase and into the upper floor. It was a second ruin of the day. 

zoomed in from the campsite

view from the castle

spiral staircase

Back at the campsite, I enjoyed a bit of rest time with a spectacular view overlooking the Irish Sea from which, according to David the warden, you can see Northern Ireland on a clear day.

 

Looking back at the campsite from Dunskey Castle ruin

Our dinner was simple - a french stick, a packet of ham and a couple of beef tomatoes and crisps. Dessert was a punnet of fresh cherries. This was one of the best dinners we had in the whole trip. We each had our own swiss army knife, you'd nearly think we'd done this camping thing before.

About 8pm the scottish midge made an appearance. They were malicious and the only thing we could do was pile into the car and get out of the campsite. Everyone else in the campsite did exactly the same thing. Except these people who turned up in a campervan.

Ruin Three of the Day 

We decided to explore the village of Portpatrick, which is a small fishing village with a couple of hotels on the sea front. We also happened to be in town at the same time as a group who were obviously having a meet and were all Moped enthusiasts. We had come across them camping on a sports pitch on the same road as our campsite, and it seemed they were all from Northern Ireland too.

just a few of the mopeds

We explored the village and came across another ruin in an ancient graveyard. The photo below shows the dovecote which is inside the old graveyard.

Old Portpatrick Church of St Andrews - Dovecote

The following day we packed up our tent and belongings and went back to Portpatrick in search of Sunday Lunch. We were a bit early and went for a walk along the seashore and visited a pottery and a couple of tourist type shops. We bought some locally made lemon and lime marmalade for bringing home. We saw the most enormous Jelly Fish along the shore. A woman was trying to take a closer look at it when her boyfriend tried to push her in!

Sunday Lunch at The Crown

The Marina at Portpatrick

RNLI lifeboat with Portpatrick in the background

This last photo shows the path and steps that goes eventually to Dunskey Castle and the campsite as well as beyond (I believe it's a coastal walk).

I would recommend Castle Bay Holiday Park because of it's spectacular views, the easy walks to both Dunskey Castle and along the shore to Portpatrick. The village had plenty to offer too with a few hotels, a couple of arts and ceramics shops and a lovely marina to explore. Portpatrick is very convenient to the ferry but there is so much more to explore in this area and the next time I'm in the area I hope to find out more about the place.

Camping gear used on my road trip Summer 2017

This was my first long solo camping trip. The kids are no longer kids, in fact they are 19 and 20 years old and so therefore the only company I had was the dog, Coco. The plan was to travel light and move often, but car trouble meant I had a two destination trip in the end. 

I've had many weekends and overnight solo camping trips, and am well used with travelling alone and so that was not a worry for me, although it was a worry for the rest of my family. My main concern was when the car started giving me trouble, I was concerned I would have to call upon family to come and get me and since I was 6 hours away from home that was a big ask! However I am with the AA and I would recommend that any solo campers would take out breakdown insurance with whichever company you prefer. 

I brought a tent I had bought at the end of last year, which is in fact the same make and model as a tent I bought for my son to use as a 'Pup tent' when we went to England last year. I had bought the Olpro Pop which is a three person small dome tent, but I gave it to my son to use when he's at University. So I bought myself another one at £54.99 it is a relatively inexpensive tent, and I fancied a different colour so I bought the orange one. The choice is green, blue or orange. 

So the plan was to keep the majority of my camping gear in the car, and just keep the tent out for sleeping in. That meant when I wanted or needed a chair, I'd just reach into the boot and retrieve it. I also kept a big rectangular bag with lots of external pockets that is permanently packed out with lightweight cooking equipment, and dry goods. This all worked really well in good weather. 

In bad weather it was not so convenient. The tarp I had brought became really important in the rain, as I had a few rainy days in Garretstown House and to make it worse I was without a car so all that stuff I planned to keep in the car had to get crammed into a small tent along with me and the dog. One night there was thunderstorms, lighting and very heavy rain. In that small tent it was like the walls were closing in.

I pitched the tarp low over the tent with an overhang so I could get in and out of the tent without getting wet, as well as having a small porch to cook in. It wasn't much fun though and this was part of the reason I moved East. 

Later in the holiday, when the sun was a bit too hot, the same tarp was invaluable for shade. It was also useful to have the longer guy ropes for hanging towels on. 

Other camping equipment I used was a Vango camping chair, a three legged Decathlon Quechua stool, a Coleman Mini Table, a backpacker type stove and windshield and a Decathlon Quechua single airbed with foil backed foam mat underneath, Unfortunately the airbed had a slow leak which I repaired but that only meant it went down a bit more slowly again. I found that it was ok as long as I went to sleep straight away but in the morning I woke up on the floor. I tried to source a replacement but the shops in the holiday areas were so expensive for a single airbed I wouldn't buy it. So I just put up with blowing the airbed up every night and waking up on the floor every morning. 

Most of my camping gear in one pic.

Coco on a cooling gel pad, in her crate, with a blanket to keep her in the shade

Olpro Pop tent at Garretstown House, Co Cork

Shade from the tarp, at Dunmore East, Co Waterford

Walking boots, cool box for the pink fizzy cider and one comfy chair.

Curing my addiction to tent buying

I have, amazingly, sold not one but five tents in the past month. There is a variety of reasons for this. Partly, the Bell Tent is such a success now that I don't envisage me not using it for the majority of camping trips. Partly, it was getting ridiculous, the amount of tents I had stashed in my attic. Lastly, I am going for my annual fortnight long camping trip to the Lake District this summer and the sale of a few tents has offset the cost of the ferry between Belfast and Cairnryan. 

But do not worry my tent buying loving amigos, I did buy one little ickle tent. It hasn't arrived yet as the release date is a few weeks off yet. This is a replacement for the Vango Halo 300 which I sold recently because I was finding that it wasn't quite the 'no faff' tent I wanted. That third pole was tricky to install. It held its value well and now someone in Somerset it the owner of my not oft used Vango Halo and I hope they get years and years out of it because it is a great tent. 

I have bought an Olpro Pop, which is a two berth dome tent. At £59 it was cheap anyway but an extra 10% off on a Bank Holiday sale certainly made me feel even better. The poles are already in situ on the tent, Khyam stylee. Where it wins over the three berth Vango Halo is the extra 10cm head height inside. It is also, for a two berth, bigger inside. It's 210mm by 210mm whereas the Halo had a useable inner of 210mm by 180mm. The pack size is comparable to an umbrella fold camping chair. 

This is my 'no faff' tent (I hope) for those times when the sun is out, the weather is predicted to be great, and it will probably just live in the car boot most of the summer. Then, when I go camping to the Lake District with my son, he and his girlfriend will be taking up residence in it as a pup tent, preferably on the other side of the camping area. 

Olpro Pop