Campervan hire/Scotland road trip

Little_Vics

We're planning a road trip in Scotland this year, and are very keen to 'wild camp' - but I've got a few questions!

1. Is wild camping allowed in a campervan?
2. Does anyone know of any hidden gems of sites we could use?
3. Has anyone got any idea where we can hire a cheap campervan from?? I'm not particularly keen on having to pitch a tent every night.

Ta heaps!

agrinnall

Can't help you with number 3 but I have camped a lot in Scotland and in 1998 I had a campervan for 6 months, most of which was spent in Scotland.

Wild camping is a bit of a grey area, it happens a lot and I've done it myself, but I think the landowner could ask you to move if they wanted to. In reality you're unlikely to have a problem as long as you choose a place where you're not causing a nuisance to anyone else, you don't make a mess and you don't cause any damage. I generally got onto minor roads and found a place where I could park off the road so that if any other traffic came past I wasn't in the way. I only once had anyone speak to me when I was wild camping, that was in Mull when a police car stopped and asked what I was doing, but that was only because they were worried about illegal collection of eggs from eagle nests.

I think my favourite site is at Achmelvich, near Lochinver in the far North West, but there are lots of others: Ullapool, Sligachan on Skye, Durness, Gairloch, Craignure on Mull, Glen Trool in Galloway, Cannich, and I'm sure many more that I've forgotten about. When are you planning on going? If 2012 turns out to be a bad midge year then any time after May you could find yourself barricaded inside the van for several hours each day!

Little_Vics

wow - thanks for that!!

We're either going to go over Easter or in the summer (gulp). I really want to see whales though - but have no idea when the best time to go would be!

daveyjp

Mull has a dedicated wild camping site at Calgary Bay.

agrinnall

If the weather at Easter is as good as it was last year then it would be a great time to go, but you could just as easily find yourself in a blizzard! At least if you go in the summer you're only likely to get very wet (and midge bitten). If you google whale watching scotland you'll find a few companies that offer trips from various places on the west coast, I would be inclined to take their claims of success rates with a pinch of salt, there's a good chance of seeing porpoises or dolphins but it'll be a matter of luck whether you find whales or not.