A week-long road trip in Scotland

We made this trip to Scotland as a couple, before Victor was born.

And Scotland already had a special place in our story.

I had spent a year in Glasgow as an Erasmus student and kept a strong attachment to both the city and the Scottish landscapes.

Years later, when we got a dog, that connection would even inspire the name we chose for her: Glasgow.

The road trip began after a week in Cornwall for the wedding of friends.

We arrived in Glasgow and collected a small red Fiat 500 for a week on the road.

So unlike the classic version of this kind of Scottish trip, there was no campervan.

Just a small car, a tent and camping equipment packed into the boot.

After an evening in Glasgow, including the West End, where I had lived during my Erasmus year, we headed north.

Glencoe, Loch Ness and the Harry Potter viaduct

Loch Lomond, the Glencoe valley, the Glenfinnan Viaduct and then our first night under canvas at Fort Augustus, beside Loch Ness.

The next morning, after a short cruise on the loch, we continued towards the Isle of Skye.

We passed Eilean Donan Castle before crossing the bridge onto the island.

Around the Isle of Skye

Our first walk on Skye was to the Fairy Pools, a succession of small waterfalls and natural pools beneath the Cuillin mountains.

Then came the first night on Skye, at Glenbrittle campsite.

The site is wedged between the mountains and the sea.

It was exactly the kind of landscape we had come to Scotland for: not necessarily comfort, but the feeling of sleeping directly inside the scenery.

The campsites were also much more basic than the ones we had used in Iceland.

No large communal kitchens here.

The following morning started with a visit to the Talisker distillery, in Carbost.

Then came lunch in the little harbour at Portree before continuing along Skye’s east coast.

Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock and finally the Quiraing.

The Quiraing is one of the walks I remember most clearly.

Around two hours through a landscape of cliffs, strange rock formations and huge green slopes.

There were surprisingly few people on the trail that day, which made the place feel even more isolated.

That evening, we pitched our tent at Kinloch campsite beside the water.

The setting was beautiful.

Dinner beside the loch was slightly less enjoyable.

This was where we properly discovered Scottish midges: tiny insects that seem to arrive in thousands at exactly the moment you want to sit quietly outside.

Unlike many of the experienced campers around us, we had brought neither repellent nor head nets.

After trying to tolerate them for a while, we eventually retreated into the tent.

Our final day on Skye began at Dunvegan Castle and its gardens before continuing all the way west to Neist Point.

The place feels extremely exposed: wind, cliffs, seabirds, the Atlantic and the lighthouse at the very end of the headland.

We stopped for a quick picnic before getting back into the car.

And Skye was only one section of the wider Scottish road trip.

The rest of our road trip in Scotland

From there, we continued north along part of the North Coast 500, spent another night camping behind sand dunes beside the sea, then travelled through Glen Affric, Inverness and the Cairngorms.

We went canoeing on Loch Morlich and spent our final night beside Loch Chon.

But if this map focuses on Skye, it’s because the island captures the atmosphere of the whole journey particularly well.

A tiny car.

A tent pitched in a different landscape almost every night.

Temperatures that were rarely very warm.

Rain, wind and midges.

And despite all of that, a constant desire to stay outdoors.