Day 2

After a decent night’s sleep in a very noisy B+B, we made the most of the shower facilities before making a food shop list and then driving round the corner to pick up the van (whom we have named Jim). Read through the very clear instruction manual then emptied the car into the van, wondered how on earth we were all going fit in there and whether two paddleboards were entirely too many paddleboards.

Mary was brave and took on the first bit of driving – 2 minutes to the Lidl for a food shop… more stuff to put in the van. From Lidl we headed out of Fort William towards our first planned stop – Urquhart Castle.

Stopped on the way at a viewpoint where we decided to empty the van and try and get it looking a little more organised before continuing on with Ros taking over driving to get a feel for the van.

On the way, we drove past somewhere that looked interesting to stop so parked up and went for an adventure through the woods to a waterfall in Invermoriston. Were starting to get a bit peckish so Ros made some sandwiches and we sat in the van as the weather started to change and the infamous Scottish rain began.

Continued on to Urquhart Castle driving along Loch Ness. Arrived after no Nessie sightings and sat in the car park for a while contemplating whether or not we wanted to get out in the heavy rain – eventually decided that we would need to get used to doing things in the rain otherwise we might not see anything at all.

Urquhart Castle was very well organised. A lovely visitors centre with shop and cafe. Excellent displays showing some of the history of the castle. Visitors are invited to watch their 8 minute film showing a more detailed history of the castle which we did and at the end the screen raised and the curtain behind opened to reveal the castle, much to everyone’s amazement (except Mary who had already figured out that was going to happen). Great time wandering around the castle in the intermittent rain, searching for wolves and some fantastic views over Loch Ness. Mary even found a duck – holiday made.

Final destination for the day was our first campsite where, after much deliberation about where to park the van, we got settled in, spent yet more time trying to organise where the hoards of stuff was going to go, ate a delicious pasta carbonara made by Ros and snuggled down with a cup of coffee, biscuits and a movie with the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Hot water bottle definitely needed.