Scotland 2021 : Days 1 to 3 / Isle of Arran

SCOTLAND 2021 : Days 1 to 3 - Isle of Arran

This trip was super exciting for us! Not only was it our first trip in the van once we’d completed our conversion, but I mean its Scotland?! There is quite literally no place quite like it.

We had decided to do a fair bit of driving over the 10 day trip. Off grid camping mixed with the occasional stay at a campsite to recharge our batteries (both literally and metaphorically) and enjoy a hot shower.

From our home near Cheshire it’s a decent journey to the border of Scotland (about 5 hours) but we were well stocked with snacks, had numerous road trip playlists downloaded and inevitably ended up playing the ‘shopping list game’ – if you know you know.

As always, the drive up to Scotland didn’t disappoint!
Our first destination was the stunning Isle of Arran. If you haven’t been I suggest you do so.

We headed straight to Ardrossan, on the coast South-West of Glasgow, so we could catch the ferry over to Arran.

The ferry was straight forward enough, we booked in advance online but we arrived much earlier than our allotted time. The kiosk kindly amended our booking and let us drive onto an earlier crossing.
We were both a bit apprehensive about how the dogs would cope on the ferry, but they were great and seemed to quite enjoy the fresh sea air up on the deck.
The ferry itself was super dog-friendly, with areas for dogs both inside and out!

The views from the water are some I will never forget, it was breathtaking, albeit windy on the top deck – we had to keep a tight grip on little Asher, you just never know with those spaniel ears…

We arrived on Arran after about 40 minutes on the ferry, and the sun was shining – something we were not expecting at the end of September in Scotland!
We had planned to spend our first night on the West coast, and with the island being relatively small it really didn’t take us long to drive the bumpy roads to our destination for the evening. The spot we parked at was perfect, the back of the van looked out over the beach, and after a long day of driving we ate our tea watching the sun go down and got an early night.

The following morning we woke to see the most incredible sunrise, and we couldn’t resist an early paddle with the dogs.

Wetsuits on and the dogs equipped in their life jackets we headed to the sea and inflated our board. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was the best place we’ve ever been on the SUP, but it is certainly one I will never forget!
After a few goes each, and once the dogs had finished with their sandy zoomies we headed back to the van for breakfast – bacon sarnies of course! It probably sounds silly, but when we sit down to eat or drink I always feel like I can really take in the moment, and it’s so surreal.

The weather looked dry for the day so we decided to get a decent walk in.
We’d read about the ‘blue lagoon’ prior to arriving on Arran, and it turned out that it wasn’t far from where we were staying so that’s where we went.
In true Scottish style, 20mins into our walk the clouds rolled in and we got well and truly drenched – but we found the lagoon! More of a deep pool really, and maybe more impressive on a day where rain isn’t stinging your face.. but it was super pretty and the walk up to it was stunning.

As we only had one more night on Arran before catching the ferry to Lochranza, we decided we would sleep nearer to the port so we didn’t have far to travel the following morning.
We had a specific spot in mind to stay at, but it was nothing if underwhelming, so we drove along the coast until we spotted somewhere more picturesque.

Now this, THIS was the best night, and one that will be hard to top.
We had parked up right on the beach, lit our fire and sat watching the sunset whilst seals bobbed up and down in the sea.
Once it was dark we popped open a bottle of red (I say popped, we ended up butchering the cork into the wine as we realised we didn’t have a corkscrew and none of the ‘hacks’ online worked) and baked camembert on the embers.

Honestly, sat on a Scottish beach, cuddled around a fire with the dogs, red wine, and cheese is how I want to spend all of the days of my life.

We woke up early the next morning, made pancakes, and headed for the ferry.