The UK is starting to slowly open up again and although the prospect of foreign travel remains a little daunting and confusing under current restrictions, I’m emboldened by the thought of being able to hit the road and explore a little more of Britain at least. It’s my birthday this weekend and so we’ve decided to tentatively dip our touristic toe out into the wider world by heading on a mini-break around Loch Lomond, The Trossachs, and also a night spent in Dundee. As May enters June, the plan for us is to also see a little more of England, too – with potential trips to Bristol, Bath, and even Cornwall. Then, as the summer months kick into full swing, we hope to saunter on down to Portugal with the car, to soak up some sun on the Algarve (coronavirus situation permitting).
As for our upcoming trip, however; we will be spending two nights camping in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, followed by a night spent at The Landmark Hotel in Dundee. For the camping aspect of our trip, we’ve booked two separate pitch locations; one at Three Lochs Forest Drive and the other on the shore of Loch Earn. Both were booked through the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park website and cost a very agreeable £3 per night, per tent. We had considered staying next to Loch Lomond itself – not least for the grandiose views – but the most accessible spot is at Firkin Point and we just felt it was a little bit on the busy side, and also a tad exposed.
Our main motivation for grabbing a camping permit is that it acts as a rather tame way of giving ‘wild camping’ a go. We’ll have no access to a toilet or wash facilities, and I know from visiting Three Lochs before that we’ll also have no phone reception. I’ve wanted to wild camp for a long time (something which you can legally do in Scotland), but there are certain rules about needing to keep a low profile and not impacting landscape views for others, which makes things a little trickier for a wheelchair user like myself. You see, there’s only so far off the beaten track I can go. Ideally, when wild camping it’s best to do it while hiking – that way you can make it to a secluded spot and there’s no risk of being a major nuisance to others. This form of wild camping just isn’t practical for me (though I do still keep trying to find that perfect location) and so the next best thing is to secure a permit like the ones we’ve got for The Trossachs – especially given that several of the pitches can be reached by car or by travelling over smooth terrain.
In terms of what we’ll take with us; we have a gas stove and we have also purchased a disposable BBQ. My plan is to take a book, a notepad, some candles, a torch, and to pre-load my phone with a bunch of podcasts and an audiobook, which I’ll download before leaving. Other than that, I plan to spend as much time as possible soaking in nature and treating this little getaway as some form of meditative retreat. Perhaps a bottle of wine may be one of the items on my shopping list – I might need it to keep warm judging by the forecast.
Hopefully, we’ll get some fine weather. There can definitely still be a chill in the air when out and about during the month of May. The last time we camped in May was a couple of years ago – again, for my birthday – where we headed up to the Isle of Skye. We were battered by strong winds and rain. Thankfully, this time we have a much smaller two-man tent which is a bit more aerodynamic and therefore should withstand any unexpected strong gales. If things get too rough, we can always resort to sleeping in the car – though I highly doubt that’ll be necessary. Live the adventure, I say.
After two nights roughing it, I thought it would be nice to check into a fancy hotel for a spot of downtime. I love Dundee and I’ve wanted to return there for a while to go back to this really neat café called The Bach – a Kiwi themed joint which serves amazing food and coffee. It’s one of the few places where I don’t let their lack of disabled access stop me. There are a few steps to navigate at the entrance and although usually in the UK I’d just avoid this kind of place; I can’t help but hop out of my chair and clamber up the steps just for a slice of the New Zealand living which I miss so much.
The Landmark Hotel which we are staying at is meant to be wheelchair friendly, so I’ll be writing a review of the place when I’m there and sticking it on both my blog and in The World is Accessible Facebook group. I’ll be writing a blog post from the road anyway, and after getting myself an iPhone 12 the other week, I’m also contemplating trying to make a little road trip vlog – so stay tuned for that. I’ll also give a little run down of accessible things to see and do in Dundee (though I’m conscious of the fact I’ve written about Dundee in the past).
Hopefully, this is the first trip of many this summer and we can get back out there and explore new countries as soon as possible. I think it’s super important to people to stay safe – not just for themselves, but for others. Collectively, as a society. Too many people seem to have lost sight of the fact that you can carry this invisible killer without even knowing it, and therefore run the risk of passing it on to others. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for further changes to restrictions and rulings, and as soon as it feels safe to do so, I’ll be hitting the overdrive button and getting to 50 countries visiting at record speed. Then it’s onto operation 100 countries, as the dream is very much still to see them all.