The Brutal Reality of Travelling the SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS! (NC500, Achmelvich Bay & Durness)

[Music] good morning guys welcome back to a new video Welcome we are on the road we've hit the road this morning I want to say nice and early it's not that early it's 10: to 10: we've had um an interesting morning shall we say I found I found it he found it good don't know what he found but he found it so we have just left at melvic Bay and today we head up whoa and today we are heading up to duress which is going to be the most northern part that we've been to so far on this trip cold and windy one today guys I don't know what the temperature is but it's really cold and because we're getting to the most northern point now we're now and we've gone back about 10 minutes on our route we're in linver we really wanted to try the pie shop but it's shut today and tomorrow no today and yesterday so the only two days we were here so that's fine we found a spa I grabbed some um painkillers just because I've got a bit of a funny head and I think I'm getting a bit of cold annoyingly but it's okay I don't feel too bad and but we've noticed some like changes to us since we've come up here obviously where we live right now we're that's good we're down on the south coast of England and it's like 203 24 25° there right now like really warm and here it's like between 5 and 10 Max look at this I can see it and see me me so so we're basically like going from hot weather to cold weather like overnight and my skin is just awful and I'm really itchy and dry we've got loads of lip balm on all the time cuz our lips have really dried out we're covered in Midge bites it's just like the realities of Van life guys it's all worth it like I wouldn't change it but oh yeah and I've had two nose beds back to back the last two mornings I've woken up with a nose bed luckily you did it like Mama yeah she has got that one luckily I mean we've got beautiful white company bedding in this van so we've got a van from station Scotland if you haven't already seen the previous Vlogs really really cool van um and link below if you want to check out but they've got beautiful white company bedding and I I realized I was having a nose bed so I shot out of bed and like sorted out in the bathroom um but I've managed to avoid any mess so we're all good but really bizarre I don't know if it's like an out thing or a cold thing or I've got no idea what it is but yeah I've had two nose bedes really random but anyway it's all worth it like I said and um today's a new day we are heading up to our most northern point of this trip which is Dess which is like the right top part like North slightly to the west and we're staying at a place called Sango sand Oasis and if anything's got a was this in the title I'm expecting good things we haven't got a booking so we're just going to rock up and Hope they've got space for us but um because we've got the solar panels in the roof we don't actually need Elric right now for tonight we've got a full battery charged so we can just like Park up wherever um if they haven't got space we can just wild Camp which is really nice to have the option um but yeah very excited to get there we're going to head out head to another beach in a second um but George has just said should we see if that Cafe have got breakfast rolls and they do Laur is the like breakfast sausage here in Scotland it's a mixed between beef and pork and I've never tried it's like a breakfast Patty like a sausage patty sorry and they're £3 £350 from this little cafe every other meal on this trip has been pricey it's quite expensive in some of the touristy spots especially on Sky did breakfasts are like I 15 18 12 if you're lucky have you got a lip balm all over your face he's just eating on lip balm just on your lips darling if you want to wear it you put it on your lips it's we I feel like we're now becoming into we're getting into like proper like Highland local territory where it's like cheaper prices um so yeah £350 for a roll which is amazing and then we're going to yeah head off down the road find this beach in cl to do you want to go to a beach sweetheart no oh good van life with a toddler I mean he's been amazing to be fair he's absolutely loved it but it has been a lot of sitting down and driving so we we we like to make sure we stop off and let him run around at different parts in the day otherwise he just sat in a chair all day which is fine for us cuz we can sort of realize that it's temporary but for him he's like why can't I get up are you loving van life yeah what's your favorite bit of Van life soft play pardon soft play soft play yeah there's no soft play on the van what do you like about the van what's your favorite bit in the van driving you like driving don't you all right here we go the rolls are ready they were having big problems in there with like their till and Wifi all sorts of stuff okay I'm going to run back and get some ketchup we actually forgot to pick the camera up we just tucked into these this is amazing this lawn sausage closer which we've never never had in the in England down south um it's made with pork and beef and it's just delicious I've got lawn bacon and egg it's weird saying lawn it's like you've got grass in your that's what I thought you said when you read it on the menu and said that c is sharing with us as well yes very very tasty you showing the camera well done darling from a little place called what was it in beer branches there you go now quickly when we first started making these videos on YouTube there was a limited amount of gear around that you could actually make your videos with but now we live in a different time and I want to quickly mention a product which is this the I steady V3 from home now this is a smartphone gimbal with AI tracking honestly I'm Blown Away they have sponsored today's video they haven't told me what to say it's my genuine honest opinion of the product I am amazed it is awesome so this here is the gimbal this is the AI tracker which you can use both ways on this gimbal a 3axis gimbal the image is super steady and a lot of the features on the gimbal are controlled by gestures so if I show my phone this gesture it's then going to start tracking me around the room wherever I go if I stand up it's going to meet me there if I press and hold this wheel button on the side I get a light it has a warm light and a cool light you can then use this wheel to make it brighter and dimmer if you want to flip the screen you just do this gesture and it flips around on its own just like that put the tracking back on with that gesture and then if you want to go back to Portrait or you have to do is a double thumbs up put the tracking back on you can also stop the tracking at any point just do that and then you will not be tracked I could definitely Vlog on this super super stable just going to come to some other rooms in the house the AI is tracking me this is so cool this is great I've got the extension Rod out so it's like perfect position to hold for vlogging this is what it looks like it is really easy to attach your phone you just clip it in like that long press the shutter button and then gimbal balances this also comes off as a remote you can now use the remote to start recording you can manually adjust the gimbal the gimbal itself for the stabilization works really really well you're not going to get any shake like it just works so nicely this thing is super portable you can just fold in the builtin Tripod fold down the arm that probably not much taller than the large iPhone and it's not heavy at all so yes very impressed with this indeed do go and check it out there's a link in the description you can go ahead and purchase it straight away this fully has my stamp of approval going to be keeping this in my camera bag using this on the Vlogs Instagram content Etc yeah very very cool product go and check it out all right clutch to beach just parked up Lulu the van we've mentioned it in these videos and there's always a link in the description of where we hired this van from company we're collaborating with on these Vlogs and on our Instagram stay Scotland they helped us plan the trip as well very very helpful the Vans are 2023 super modern it's got Wi-Fi kitchen bathroom toilet sink the lot double bed two double beds actually I sleep up in the roof if you haven't heard us talk about these guys yet vacation Scotland had so many people message us on Instagram saying I really want to try firstly Scotland in general Scottish Highlands but and Van life in general living in a van so so much fun anyway we have just paid to park although we didn't have to this is cool it make when you don't have to it makes you want to do it people in England where we're from and down the South everyone moans about paying for parking people hate to pay for parking which I get like you have a car you have to park it somewhere if you're going somewhere why should you pay just to park like on the street or whatever this is a bit different it said you are invited to pay for your parking to help support our kind of local area local community and stuff like that and by putting that sign up I bet they have more people paying than not paying because as soon as I saw that I was like oh yeah well I'll pay it was a pound one pound for 2 hours so I was like yeah I'll definitely do that it's a bit cold so I'm going to open up the back get our coats out and then we're going to head down here and check out this beach looks like another white sand beach we were at a melvic bay yesterday or in the last Vlog you may have seen and that was like a beautiful white sand beach but we've got clearer Skies today so I'm thinking we get the Drone up have a little look it's going to be quite nice when we wake hear the birds and see the sun side by side our face are done all the good times just [Music] begun oh we know what we have let's Hold On Tight found what we're looking for in life call us crazy but things are finally right with you and I the future is right oh you and I we got it oh we don't need no [Music] more even in the hard times you and I can weather any stor before I sleep hear the cricket see the [Music] moon side by side and through and through no limit to what we can do oh we know what we have let's Hold On Tight found what we're looking for in life call us crazy but things are finally right with you and I the future is bright oh You and I we got it we don't need no [Music] more it's really easy to drive like you soon get used to the size of it this is probably the biggest thing I've ever driven realistically it's kind of weird not having um a mirror here I had to get used to that cuz obviously people that drive vanss all the time will totally get that but for me I'm like looking to see who's behind me but all I've got is my mirrors either side racing down this road and I went George stop there's Highland cows we saw two in sky and that's all been so far and I love these cows so much mainly because as a kid I think I went to a farm on the aisle of white and I saw one and my hair color is the same as like this gingery one at the back here the like classic color and I put my hair up against the cow's hair like right up against it and it was the exact same shade and since then I felt like some sort of connection to these animals there's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 of them here just in this field there wasn't really anywhere to stop I don't know where George is he's gone around a corner somewhere so I'm now stood on my own in the middle of nowhere but they're so cool big faury cows with ginormous horns I love [Music] them so about 45 minut later the camera you see yourself This Boy's woking up from his nap and we've arrived at our next stop which is not what I was expecting we have driven probably our most remote drive yet so we're literally middle of nowhere like the house every half a mile dotted on a hill cheese is coming in my mouth the cheese is going in your mouth good um yeah no idea where we are we're in the middle of nowhere tiny roads um a random White House in front of me on the drive a little flag that has a sign for his business so this guy sells like um he's got a Smoke House and sells like meats and cheeses it is your pizza wrap um he sells meats and cheeses out of his back Garden so really random but what a hopefully what a great find so George literally rang his doorbell to his main house he lives here and he had like a big smile on his face strolled in um George is now just gone into this guy's house and he's having a look around so no idea what to expect no idea what he's going to come out with um but what a crazy little find it was just on Google I Google deli's near me cuz we need to get some bits for tonight there's literally nothing apart from this guy's house um so fun to support the local people here um but also hopefully get some cool food for later but yeah look where we [Music] are that's 26 brilliant okay Mission success back to the van what a lovely guy so Richard I think his name is of the Highland chut and Smokehouse limited what a nice guy he was so funny when he when I walked in he went did you send him first to check that I'm not a mass murderer and I was like didn't want to say it but I said I hope you're not it's too late now um but what a nice guy he literally in his house I could see into his living room he's got an open sign on his living room window he's from lead originally he moved up here 22 years ago or 20 28 years ago remember 20 something years ago and he just pulled out loads of his selection just went through them all the prices um and we just picked a few bits so we've gone for hot smoked chicken free range Highland pork salami with fennel seeds and GS flowers which Mees it's more Scottish apparently the GS flowers smoked Scottish mature cheddar Highland walking sticks lightly smoked an air dried pork sausage so that all came too I don't know it's a good price or not I think that's really good for like all home done homemade stuff £26 all done on site this is the details if you're interested but but um yeah I was saying to him what's it like living in such a remote place and you're probably wondering where I was we were Ching for ages I was saying to him what's it like living somewhere that's sort of more remote cuz he's obviously been from leads and coming up here if you're born here I think you get used to it but he was saying that every Town's got a doctor and the doctor will come and see you and then you can always get Space there and it's something really bad bad happens there helicopters there's a little Cinema that comes once a month there's a primary school and Nursery in every town There's a high school down the road there with 24 kids in everywhere you go you've got everything you need there's uh Tesco's delivery that delivered to the hotel eBay and Amazon you can get delivered on little corers here I thought that you had to kind of give up stuff to have this life but I said do you get bored of the views and he said you never get bored of it and because of where they are on the west coast it stays fairly mild during winter you get a little bit of snow on the PE mommy did you you get a bit of snow on the Peaks and you can drive Inland if you want to see the snow more but you don't get too much here so it's like a really it's a really nice place to live he was saying we were looking on right move before for what you can get for your house like values wise up here is just better and he said you can get a few sheep and a cow and some chickens and like have a really nice life up here um and yeah I was like you sold all this to me plus this life so amazing very cool right I'm going to try this this is the soft sausage oh my god oh it smells amazing sausage stick local made here that is so good that is like nothing you could ever buy in a supermarket thck one M you want the whole stick the thing I can refer it to is a pepperami but not in any way at all it's like a million times nicer isn't it so good the flavor is amazing amazing so funny take a picture looking there I got it like a dog like a dog yeah [Music] chocolate chocolate shop chocolate shopo another 45 minutes is on the road and we've arrived somewh called Coco Mountain very quiet should we go for guys I want that one saled butter caramel that ready go here we go mommy's getting yours ready okay you need a spoon if you want to you might like spoon it inad her chocolate for M yes like it you like it he's happy Okay so we've gone for a regular hot chocolate flat white and then they do a hot chocolate Chaser so you can get like a hot drink with four chocolates with are two hot drinks we've got eight chocolates that we're going to try probably later in the van maybe now as well with the hot chocolate they drizzled like milk and white chocolate on it so as you drink it you get a bit of it as well so you drink it as well it's brown it's really good that I drink it like that yeah you can drink it like that if you want to do that we'll take GRE out so creamy so we've got an orange and geranium one here it's nice it's always got like a Turkish delight taste have little bite M the texture itself as well really good coffee is not bad hey good news we have a space here however she said tonight there was someone in front of me booking with just with a tent and she said if you're brave enough I have space for you because tonight there's 40 mph winds wow and we're the guy was Scott he was like a there nothing up here that's not a Scottish accent but no don't know where he like don't worry about that he say that's nothing yeah but it is quite a lot isn't it in a tent yeah I mean we're now at the if we put on a map here we're in Dess so we're at the Northern West most Northerly Western Point um and it's a furthest North we're going but it's basically the top left of Scotland yeah and we're right on the coast here you know what's cool though they have a pub yeah well she said the Pub's open she didn't say where the pub was but they've got like a breakfast bar they've got like a restaurant they do dinner we can get dinner here they do proper food I took a picture of the menu proper facilities so should go up here there's a field over here it's lucky that we've got this whole like this one daddy battery and inverter and whatever because she said it's she's got no more electric places available tonight okay I said don't worry we're off- grid living with our showers and facilities and breakfast bar flat whites Wi-Fi and you know bacon rolls in the morning other than that off goodd living so Lucy's just putting my bed up getting my bed preparing my bedroom for the evening but um yeah these 40 mph winds she did the lady on reception warned someone cuz they were like in a roof tent she was like I hope your roof tent's strong and I just pictured like imagine a car with roof tent and the tent just flies off and the person's just flying whoa it's going you got why I'm not doing that you're right good I'm holding now I'm holding the wa no Let It Go it's on yeah you're good come here no word of a lie then I was holding it tight waiting for you to say go and it took it and it took it without my control basically got rope Burns so I could be flying no you're fine it's got like big metal bolts everywhere we got we got these big metal struts look did it yeah you got rope burn that's crazy then winds wind is I find Wind very scary actually wind is quite a scary this is it harsh realities of Van life guys that sounds like a YouTube title doesn't it might use that let's let's use it for the title of this video all right that's the title of the video it's a good point like this is not it's not a your typical like relaxing trip or holiday um van life just isn't because there's so much to do there's so much to do there driving all day yeah but to me it's like way better it's an adventure I prefer it to uh all inclusive sit on a be Beach I mean that's nice sometimes but do nothing holiday did your bed in get wet last night did my did are you asking me if I wet the bed when that door no as did you put it against something wet no I don't think so is my beding wet yeah how wet uh only a bit of it is but it is wet don't worry about it it'll be fine um yeah so like on the beach earlier we were all wrapped up gale force winds freezing cold just now coming here setting up the wind is blowing we're on like the edge of a cliff yesterday we were wondering if we would run out of fuel because we didn't know if we would find a petrol station luckily we did we found a little cool local one um there are some like realities to Van life that you need to be aware of and you need to kind of embrace but we are honestly loving it it's like it's such an adventure this road trip life this van life this living in a van despite the um and like the conditions some of the conditions at the campsites like the showers some some of them aren't great some of them are amazing if you shower in the van itself it's quite tight but it's doable and it's amazing that the van has the facilities finding food as you go but you have this sense of like accomplishment when you set up for the night and I'm going to swivel these chairs again in a minute so I'm going to create our Lounge area and I think I'm going to treat myself to that beer I bought the other day tonight once you're sat down in the evening everything's set up you've had some food you found camp for the night you've done a whole day of driving you've seen some amazing things and for us like created some great content flown the Drone and captured all these memories that we're going to remember forever there's nothing quite like that and you don't get that with like a hotel Holiday or allinclusive or a week in Spain in the sun like a lot of English People Like Us British people that typical British holiday that people do I think I would choose this every time [Music] I this wind is just nuts I'm given up on my hair you probably can't even hear me because of how loud the wind is with the microphone but there's a nice view point where you go down and um have a look at the beach but it's just a big drop on the side and when the wind picks up you kind of lose your balance so we decided not to do that we had little look from the fence we've made it to the car area and there's a little sign post here where are we where are we closest to we're 3,000 km from the North Pole we're 800 km from London around me I know you've got Secrets but I can keep on and we're fing in and out to together the fs wide open Stuck in the [Music] Moment the f w open in the [Music] mumber Cucumber okay Provisions have been bought from the shop got some burgers and some other bits show you when we go back walking back now there's the campsite it's very nice up here really nice lady in the shop heard to at an apple while we were walking around the shop so I had to pay for that at the end with bite marks taken out of it but she didn't mind which is all good and I think it's just started raining we were going to get a takeaway at the shop on the site but let me f my face that's fair you can see me talking now um we were going to get a takeaway at the shop uh at the pub that we were just at but we've had a lot of um think we've had a lot of takeaways on this trip so far like every day multiple feeling a bit takeaway out so home cooking tonight I want to do a bit of a platter I want to do some pasta some burgers we've got our choc tree from earlier make some guacamole or something I've got avocado to use up some crackers and um yeah just enjoy the van tonight cuz we swivel the chairs around again we're going to sit here and um oh the sight's full goodness me luy we got when we did there filled up very quickly you Daddy you want some mommy Daddy's Burger as well no just your pasta I need some oh Dar that's cute okay my favorite time of day after breakfast and lunch dinner Lucy's made what have you got here um just random bits random bits we like random bit so we got using up the stuff yeah we found some burgers in the shop here so we got burgers and onions we've got some chips and guac crisps and guacamole guacamole cod's got his pasta how's the pasta mate good good and then we got these little cracker things right oat cakes yeah Scottish oh man delicious with all the bits we got from our friends oh and then of course all the extra cheese and da meat and it's a little bit rainy outside a little bit windy and we're in here cozy we got some music on oh dear okay okay Mommy Mommy Mommy okay we've just finished our dinner and Lucy's had I won't film it but get it too graphic but Le had another nose bleed it's so weird I don't know what it is code not going to do that with all of them Let Go Darling please so we currently have a 2-year-old who loves to throw things so what coloring have you been doing so yeah gonna end off today's Vlog here gonna make sure luc's okay sort her out get CED to bed the usual evening routine and then wind down um and again in Scotland it doesn't seem to get dark until around later nearly midnight yeah we're we're so so North right now so tonight it says half1 but really that's when sun sets but it's bright until like it'll be like half 11 midnight until it gets dark which is really cool we will be long asleep by then we were saying it's funny like when you camp and when you're at these sites and everyone's got their van and T stuff you kind of feel like you're part of something like a community but a community that don't particularly speak to each other or interact that much you sort of wave and say hi to people but and everyone's got their own little homes in their vans from the outside it looks really funny just people like parked up and just all sitting in their Vans and stuff but when you're inside it's your own little base and your own little home yeah another great day on the road thanks so much for watching this Vlog if you haven't seen some of the previous videos we've been filming every single day of this trip and we got few more to go as well so thanks so much for watching today if you enjoyed the video please give it a thumbs up subscribe if you're new around here and we'll see you hopefully in the next video which we will be starting tomorrow see you guys then bye when weake the and see the sun side by side our Fe are done oh the good times just begun oh we know what we have let's Hold On Tight found what we're looking for in life call us crazy but things are finally right with you and I the future is bright [Music]