Highlands trip December 2025

 Decided to head up north for a few days pre Christmas. Id never been to Glen Etive, or at least along thee single track road to Loch Etive.  An amazing drive with incredible scenery. 

On the way up Sam and I stopped off at lochernhead for a stretch of the legs.  Some great views

Then it was up to Glencoe and along the singletrack road to Loch Etive.  Ive seen it mentioned a few times that this is the most beautiful road in Europe, not sure but it is really incredible. 

Good thing about going at this time of year is the road was very quiet.  I think in summer it would be hellish with the amount of cars etc on it.

We made it along to the small car park at the head of Loch Etive , what an amazing place

Video of Skyfall scene

We went out for a walk, had some food then it was sleep time.  Sam seemed rather unimpressed but slept well that night.

Next morning we were up quite early and I felt amazingly lucky that I was in such a place.  Every time I go away in the van i feel so fortunate.

View from the van

After a walk with Sam, some ☕️ we decided to head nearer to Glencoe. On the way we stopped off at thee area part of Skyfall was filmed then off to Etive Mor Waterfall, video above.

Sam seeing if can find Bond

My van looking so much better than the bond car

Near Etive Mor Waterfall

Snow capped mountain

We went along to Glencoe Mountain Resort and had a walk around, a bit of food then I decided An Torr would be better for Sam.  20 minutes later we were parked up and chilling before yet another walk.

All that walking tired him out

That motor home thinking about eating my wee van

After our really good walk around some of the An Torr trails we were back at the van but quite a lot of coming and going, mainly dog walkers out to enjoy the fresh weather.  I decided to head back to GMR and stay there the night.  Along the road taking in the amazing scenery, 15 mins later we arrived.  I got us a spot away from the slightly busier bits, it was perfect.

I also put on the bellows cover for the first time, fetching in its nice blue colour.

Then we went for (another) walk.  Was nice and relaxed, had a look at the chairlift and some of the MTB trails.  On the way back it had started t get darker, a lovely sunset over the mountains.   Unfortunately the weather was too over cast to see the stars etc later on.

That was us, all wrapped up, heating on and in for the night.

Next morning we had a little visitor, very cute

Then I decided it was time to come home.  The drive back was effortless, we stopped off at a nice little bit to take into the lake and let Sam stretch his legs.  Then off again, I think it was just under 3 hours to get home.

Sam was veery pleased to get home, back to his warm house with bed for him in most of the rooms 🐶 

Il be heading up that way again soon.  It’s close, an easy drive and absolutely beautiful.  

Spain Van trip 2025 summary

 For a trip that was decided n two weeks before this went well.

Drive to Dover:

    Very easy, follow the road, a couple of stop offs to rest the eyes and an overnight at a campsite so ready for the early ferry *note - Canterbury C&C site keeps gate shut until 7am

Ferry - Paying for the club deck on P&O is worth it.  Food, quiet and good views

France

I love the french motorways, not the tolls right enough but the roads are great. Getting to the site in Le Mans was simple.  Even when they have roadworks they dont close the roads, at least one lane always open.

Le Mans campsite: yuk, decent sized pitches but the facilities were gross.  Le Mans was fun, went to the circuit and also a Porsche museum. A lot of immigrants here, although absolutely no issues from them and I really wonder why they stay as conditions looked pretty nasty for them (guess thats why they come to UK)

Then to La ROchelle:  I went here as id been with the kids when they were very young.  It’s a nice place.  I also cycled over to Il De Rey island, lots of fun and new to me.  Again, the french campsite was pretty gross.

La Rochelle to Bordeaux : Yay, a good French campsite.  Clean, good flat pitches and a small supermarket to top up provisions.  Bordeaux itself was ok, I had a great burger here.

That was the first 10 or so days.

France to Spain

Again, roads great and no issues.  I had been going to stop off in Andorra fr three days but decided against that as didnt want to risk the roads in snow.

Arrive in Blanes:

Brilliant campsite right on the beach. Great walks and cycling, some amazing places to visit.

Murcia

Campsite between Alicante and Murcia, 5 star with amazing facilities.  Trip to Alicante was fun

My last site was 10 miles west of Cartagena.  Id been away for just over 4 weeks by this point and was starting to feel I wanted to get home (Id started feeling that way in the last site but thought I just needed a change of venue).  Decided on day two it was time to head home.  Booked the ferry from Santander.

Driving across Spain at night was fun, I think I took about 14 hours to do it but that included a couple of sleeps.

Thing I liked:

The weather, so nice waking up to sun every day

The roads - Both France and Spain have excellent roads and seem so much better managed than UK.

Food - Food in the supermarkets is generally cheaper, but also much better quality and fresher.  They have so much choice on fresh food such as fish and vegetables.

Fuel - Cheaper

Not so good

French campsites ar a bit gross.  to very clean, no toilet seats and seem rather run down

People - Ive often heard that Scots are very friendly, but never really thought that was the case, until now.  Generally we will chat with anyone, say hi etc.  Both French and Spanish seem to want to avoid eye contact completely and dont say Ola / Bonjour back.  Weird.  

Overall

I learned quite a lot about myself on this trip, some of I knew but it confirmed it.  

Seems I have a 4-5 week limit where I want to live in the van before coming home

 I actually DO like human contact. 

I can drive much longer in new places than places I know well

Europe seems to have it so much better than us with food (and in certain sections weather).  It was a bit depressing when I went for a food shop back in UK thee other day.

My van is great, I am so lucky to have it, I also felt very privileged being able to do that trip.

Bring on Spain/Algarve trip 2026 😊 

The final lap (20/21 Nov)

 After a long drive I got t Santander, apart from the dodgy bit in Madrid all the service stop offs were safe and pretty quiet, plus unlike the UK they dont have a time limit before charging.

A look around Santander, some food then headed back to the van (had already checked in for the ferry). Back at the van and had a couple of hours so fell asleep, then a bang on the van, turned out I was getting onto the ferry a bit early, jumped into the front and over the next 30 mins went through the boarding process. 

Up top my room, id paid a bit extra to get a window which was worth it, great views and they also included a tv.

Id used these ferries before and knew the coffee was rubbish so brought my own stuff, so much better

The ferry trip was good and we arrived on time.  

Some poor blokes car battery had died, he was right in front of me but they seemed used to dealing with this and I got out without an issue.

Got onto the motorway, 9-10 hr drive ahead and then… motorway closed, a huge diversion, that was annoying but hey ho.  Driving overnight is generally so much easier, a lot of HGVs but they aren’t any hassle.  I had a couple of stops (back in UK so less than two hours at any service station) and on my third stop felt I was struggling a bit.  Thankfully it was just after 6am and the costa had opened, got a huge coffee and that gave me a good boost. From there I didnt have another stop, although did low down a bit on the road from bigger - Howgate - Home, no need to rush.

Home, food, sleep.

Overall it wwas a brilliant trip, with a tiring but uneventful drive home.

I found that ought 4-5 weeks is my limit on these things, but I think ill do a summary to gi into that

Cartagena, then drive… (18/11)

 After my decision to head home I also decided that Cartagena, one of the stop offs id highlighted before leaving for this trip, was only 20 mins away, so head there before my drive to Santander for the ferry.

What a top decision that was, i loved the place.  Amazing buildings dating back 1000s of years, the old town was quite incredible.

I went to the Castle first.  After a pretty cool walk up steep paving and various, mainly hidden, steps I got to the top, that in itself offered amazing views.  Went to pay and bonus, it’s free entry.

On my way up, the tower id take a few photos of and over the city

Did the usual and walked about a bit, thankfully the info boards were also in English so could have a read.  Then I followed a very narrow and steep staircase up to the top.  Quite amazing views.

The fort with mountains in the background

After a bit more reading about the history of the castle I decided to head to the old town, 

Giz a kiss

The old town was everything you would expect in this region, a mix of Middle Eastern, Roman and Greek architecture.  However I wwas on a tight schedule and wanted to visit the fort…

A normal every day occurrence….

I drove over to the fort, this was a bit of an experience.  Very tight roads/streets and it seemed to be a little bit more “dodgy” than some of the other places Id been.  I had to drive very slowly due to how tight the roads were and lots of vehicles parked up.  While doing this I could at least take in some of the grandeur of the outer fort walls. 

As I searched, twice in the space of a few minutes I wa approached by “friendly ladies’ who I am sure were just offering to give me a tour, a tour of what though 😳.  I decided it was time to leave, the fort was about to close anyway.

Then the drive

I headed towards Madrid, I decided id at least have a short stop off there, as id never been before.  On the way I watched the sunset over mountains, that was pretty cool. What I also watched was the temperature drop.  When I left Cartagena at roughly 7:30pm it was 17 degrees, after about 5 hour it was hitting -2, brrrrr 🥶 

Id had one stop off, watched the end of the Scotland game, that was fun 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 then off to Madrid.  I was trying to find a parking space that looked safe.  Nope, and with my van having UK plates I kinda stood out so decided to move on, hey ho, maybe next time a longer daytime visit to Madrid would be good.

I was getting sleepy, so decided to find a HGV stop off, as they are generally safer, then crashed out for about an hour.  By this time it was about 3am so a new day….

Burn out (18/11)

 I woke up today and had no energy.  Here I am with the sun shining, beach beside me and surrounded by mountains, should be up and at em but no…. 

I kinda felt this nearer the end of my last site, but just thought that was down to being there for a couple off weeks (longest ive been in one place in a campervan prior to this trip was 5 days.

I went out, had a walk on the beach, then up and got a nice baguette for breakfast, hoping this would reinvigorate me, but no.  I thought about my next stop, Madrid, and had zero excitement so decided that was it, time to head home.

I booked the ferry for the next day and was going to leave the next morning but realised that would be cutting it tight for time (roughly 10 hours drive) so decided stuff it.  Packed up early afternoon and drove over to Cartagena, a great decision.

I will do that on its own page, deserves it

New site 17/11

 Up and at em early read for my move to a new site.  Packed and set off at roughly 11am, took it very easy and the journey still only took 1hr 20mins.  Checked in and setup right beside the beach (Only a couple of euro more but great views and a huge pitch.

I then went for a walk to check out the onsite restaurant and supermarket.  Both looked good so sorted there, although good chance I wont bother with the restaurant .  

View from restuarant 

A walk back down, im glad I went for a bigger pitch as some of the pitches on site are quite tiny, even my wee van would struggle never mind some of the monster camper vans ive seen over here.

Back to the van and a little walk along the beach which is roughly 20 seconds walk from my van.

Its a “naturist” beach (optional) which I dont think ive ever been on one before. I dont really get the thing about it, getting sand in your “bits”, no thanks.  Its most teenage boys dream, all these naked people, well no, no one, even a teenage boys dream could get excited at these sights 😮.  Mainly old saggy men with a few overweight old saggy women.  Quite funny as some try to come into the campsite like that, but the site has security that approach them rather quickly, I did see one old bloke with his bits dangling arguing as I think he wanted to go to the loo - nope, security woman was having none of it, and sent him and his exposed dangly bits back to the beach.

A couple of photos from the beach, thankfully no naked old people

Lots of walks up the hills/mountains from the campsite so thinking I will spend some time doing them over next few days, possibly have a cycle into Cartagena with is only about 8 miles away, that will be n prep for my day of walking about in the ancient city to do some visiting of castles etc.

Its just got dark here (18:20), thats a bit earlier than where I was previously, or possibly ive just not been paying attention.

Sleepy for some reason so some food, watch a movie then sleep for me I think.

Bike ride to Cox and a castle (16/11)

 As today is my last full day before moving to a new site near Cartagena I decided to get out on the bike and visit somewhere new. A place called Cox, with a castle, big church and fancy gardens, off I went.

Cycle there was amazing, passed by / through Olive, Lemon, Pomegranate and I think tomato growing place (El Rancho, again an excellent name.).

So the local church had its bells a ringing 🔔 and all the god people were going in.

  Then it was onto the castle, the walk up that path to the castle in my bike shoes was NOT easy.

That path was so slippy….^

The castle from the outside of the town

After a brief visit (left me bike at bottom of path) then went onto a view point for the mountain and a garden thing that was pretty cool (if you like gardens).  

The climb up to here was pretty hard work, worth it though

Then the cycle back, roughly 18 miles in total inc a bitch of a climb to the viewpoint, and in 25degrees + I definitely was glad to get back to the van. 

Back to the van, showered, food and coffee then watched some Slow Horses in the shade almost finished season 5.

Later I will make a stir fry type thing and then its get ready for tomorrow. Off to a campsite near Cartagena, I will probably just stay there for the next two weeks or so, then head to Madrid for a day or two. The campsite is kind of in between a few places I want to visit including Murcia so hoping its a good one so as mentioned i can stay for a couple of weeks.