5 Day Scotland Road Trip - Loch Ness, Isle of Skye, Glencoe, Trossachs National Park

We are here in Edinburgh, Scotland and we have just rented a van to explore the Scottish Highlands. Getting close to nature is something that we don't do very often and it's our first time trying this van life and we are so excited! But first up, we have to stock up for some food. Let's go! We are honestly spoiled for choices for breakfast. We have packaged bread, we have scones and we have pancakes and many many flavours of pancakes. The drive from Edinburgh to Inverness is about three hours and we wanted to stop in between to get lunch but I think because we took a little too long to do our grocery shopping, we had no choice but to go ahead and move directly to Inverness. But once we are there, we are going to get some late lunch and then we are going to get some amazing views nearby. The road has been relatively smooth. There was patches of sun but overall it's a very cloudy and rainy day. Can't believe we are in downtown Inverness, probably the northernmost place that I have ever been to so far and in this trip, we are probably going to break records, right? Going more and more north each time around. I know we have lunch at four o'clock and it's kind of ridiculous but I've been starving all the way since and finally we are here in Inverness. We got butter chicken and basmati rice. This place looks pretty nice. Sadly, we only have an hour here in this city. After that, we'll head to try to spot the Loch Ness Monster at the Loch Ness Lounge. We are here at Urquhart Castle which is one of the first attractions of our trip here to the Scotland Highlands. By volume, this is the largest lake in Great Britain and if you are looking at by surface area, this is the second largest. The largest is Loch Lomond. I really love this lake that's around me because you can see the grazing sheep that is just grazing the grass as well as the pocket of sunshine across the lake that's shining through the clouds. This has got to be one of the more scenic drives that we have ever driven on. Probably the only better one that we had was the Great Ocean Drive in Melbourne going across to Twelve Apostles. We're also weaving in and out of the forest with the lake hugging beside us almost all the time. So it's really, really picturesque. I love it. You got water tanks on this one? No, I don't think you have. Have you got a toilet? No. No, so it wouldn't be that. Right, I'll let you in then. We've just arrived at our campsite and it's super peaceful. We are like surrounded by mountains and I'm just like looking at other people's campervans or caravans and I feel like I'm gonna try the rest of the campervans. It's our first time doing this campervan thing and I'm wondering like should we set up the kitchen first to get cooking or should we shower first? I'm thinking that we should set up and prepare for dinner first. There's an electric point. We need to learn how to set it up and then we need to learn how to set up the kitchen at the back. But there's just a lot of flies coming out. Dinner consists of potatoes, onions, mushrooms as well as ground beef. We're trying to put them all together with some sauce and pepper and I think it's a super simple meal. Shouldn't go wrong. Oh my gosh, finally. It's about 9 30 right now and finally we get to eat. The reason why we are choosing to eat here in the van instead of out there and looking at the amazing views is because of the midges. There are so many of them. While we're cooking, they were all attacking us. I can't wait to tuck in because I'm so hungry right now. After a long day of travel, I think we deserve this completely. This is actually really good. It's actually very fresh beef. I know it's ground beef as well as cheap beef. We don't really cook steak and we don't have the temperatures for that. Good morning. Yesterday was a good sleep. But this morning, as soon as we got out of the car, the midges were unexpectedly annoying. They are all inside. Oh my gosh, there's so many of them. Good riddance. There's just a lot of them in front of us right now. Tickling our faces. It's very very annoying. Right now, we're hiding in a camper van away from the midges trying to eat our breakfast. This is what I got from Tesco yesterday. It's a roll of scones. These are six sultanas scones made with real butter and sultanas for a crumbly texture and fruity taste. Char really loves her scones. Yesterday during the supermarket run, she was really in love with these scones and immediately went ahead to get it. At some point of time, I was a little bit shocked because I think maybe she will get the whole entire shelf of scones. For me, breakfast today consists of some oatmeal. I don't typically eat oatmeal but it somehow mysteriously appeared in my backpack. As soon as we decided to leave the campsite, the midges are gone. That is how they're so smart, I guess. I think it's just those few hours in the morning where it's very cold and wet and all the midges are out. So hopefully when we get to the lakes later, there wouldn't be a lot of midges. So we just crossed that bridge to the Isle of Skye and now we are at this town called Broadford. And then later on, we'll be going to that ferry poles right here. Then finally, making a loop all the way up and around before ending at Portree. But first, pump some petrol. Okay, it's starting. How much do you think it will be? I think about 40 pounds. 36.50. Yep, all good. The clouds are super dramatic because it obscures the peak of the mountains right in front of us. And then we are passing this windy zigzag road that leads us down the valley first and then after that up to where supposedly the waterfalls are. It's quite enchanting when we saw the pictures online. That's why we're here. So we are skirting around the side of the waterfall and it looks absolutely spectacular. Something that I've never actually seen before. We were constantly stopping and taking pictures and soaking into the view. It is just beautiful. This hike is supposed to take us 45 minutes to get up but I think we're only halfway through just because of how many photos we were taking. We had some snack for lunch and now we're heading to Telescope Bay. There is a beach there and there is a waterfall and there's also a stack there. We have to walk about a mile to the beach where we parked was like way up there and there's no through road to the beach because the area between the parking zone and the beach is a private property. But the views are stunning. I can already see the beach from afar coming to get there. I think this is the perfect place to have a house you know. Those houses there are just incredible because you are not just by the sea you're also by this very hilly area. I love the best of both worlds. I've never ever seen the beach with the mountains and also a bunch of goats just laying around on the grass chilling by the beach. What in the world is this? I do not know what the beach is made of because from here all I see are stones and rocks. Hey are you a goat or a sheep? I think he said goat. So the next place that we are going to is this place called the Oyster Shad and apparently it sells pretty good oysters. I thought we were going to eat it already. I guess we're waiting for our fish. That's us. Want to trade it? Thank you. It's so huge. Everything is so big. He was just shucking oysters out and they are all so big. Now the moment of truth. Ready? Cheers. Probably the best oyster I've ever had. It's like fresh, salty, lemony. Everything you want for a perfect oyster. This is such a tasty meal. I love it. Maybe it's because we didn't eat lunch but this is so good. Shar, today we have been traveling for the whole entire day. What do you think of Isle of Skye so far? I feel like the day is too short. Even though it's the summer, I feel like we haven't had enough time to explore more of it. But I'm so glad that we have two days here. Tomorrow we are still going to explore more of the Isle of Skye. We're just only covering a section of Isle of Skye. We wouldn't have the ability to travel through all the roads within Isle of Skye. But where we went today so far, it's been nothing short of amazing. The small roads were a little stressful especially where it was one road for two ways. There are some passing areas where if there's an incoming car, then the one that is nearer the extra gap has to go there and wait for the incoming car to pass before going over. Sometimes there are bends and sometimes there are slopes so you can't really see the car in front. But everyone is just very friendly and they will stop and thank you for letting them pass. So it was a pretty good experience. Now we are going to Pottery which is where we are going to explore the town. And that's also the location of our campsite. Hey guys, we're finally here at the campsite. And it is pretty amazing because this campsite has no measures compared to the one yesterday. We're in company with a lot of caravans and camper vans and vans that are probably bigger than us. Vans that tow. This is quite cool. We are going to set up camp here and get ready to make some food. The dinner tonight is going to be amazing. We are cooking Gong Bao Ji Ding which is like diced chicken with some pre-made spice. This spice. But we don't have chili peppers and we don't have peanuts so we're going to substitute it with some beans on the side. I'm so hungry, I can't wait for the food to be cooked. I'm going to try Aaron's food. I hope it's good. Don't blame me if you fall sick with stomach ache tomorrow. On the way into our campsite, we saw someone barbecuing and I was so jealous. But honestly, having freshly cooked meal which is hot and hearty is already way better than eating granola bars five days straight. Finally, finally, finally. Our meal is on the table and we are finally ready to eat. On today's menu, we have Gong Bao Chicken, some delicious beans, and then we have noodles which the sauce is underneath. But it's going to look so good afterwards. Let's tuck in, I'm so hungry. Hello guys, day three of our campervan experience. We're super excited today. It's a beautiful sunny morning where we woke up early and hopefully we can catch more attractions around our sky. For breakfast, we are going to have avos and cheese and scones and also strawberries. It's a bit of a mixture of whatever we have left. But since the weather is pretty nice today, we are going to eat outside. I'm going to try this. It's the same scones that we had yesterday. Let's go get some water. After everyone refilled the water, I went to throw the trash that was in our kitchen. Then both of us cleaned the windshield and now we are ready to head off to our first destination. It's only 8am right now and we are here making our first hike of the day. It's freezing. If this is what normal temperature is every single day during the summer, this is really really rough. The views are just amazing. On one side you can see the lake and the other side you can see the stores. The next part of the climb will be the more challenging one because we have to walk all the way up there. It looks like the incline is 45 degrees. I might have to crawl up. Drinking some of my leftover morning coffee for some energy boost before we head up. The map says that it takes 40 minutes to reach the top. It's been 45 minutes and we are nowhere near the top. I think the map was made by Scottish people with long legs. My legs are a little bit wobbly walking up this flight of steps. This is like me being untrained for quite some time already. But finally, we are getting up to the summit which is not far away. Maybe about 5 more minutes. This has amazing views. We can see the road from here, we can see the lake and we can see all the stores. It took us about 1 hour and 10 minutes. 30 minutes longer than what we expected. I love how the views are so dramatic. This is one of the more easy hikes that we have been on too but it's nonetheless still equally tiring. So we are back. Finally back to the car park and back into our car. And also enjoying a little bit of the warm because it's way too cold outside. I think it was generally one of the more distinctive hikes of Alaskan, I would say. Like you can literally see this landmark when you're driving into Portree and it's really beautiful. Next up, we are going to do something simpler at Kilt Rock. Yes, let's go. Is anyone feeling the same way as I do? The clouds look crazy insane. It's like circling itself like a spiral. I'm sure there's a scientific name for it but not that's something we know. So we just arrived at our next destination. This place is called Kilt Rock. And Kilt Rock is where on the side of the cliff, you can see a waterfall. But because we're on the cliff, we can't see the best view of the waterfall. It's kind of like the same situation where you get to Niagara Falls and if you're on the US side, you can't really see a good view of the waterfalls. But then when you are at the Canadian side, you can have a better view of the waterfalls. So this is the same perspective. We just went down to look at the rock formations and also the waterfall. It's super beautiful but it's so cold and it started drizzling. So we spent like five minutes and now we're back in the car trying to get some warmth. Even with me wearing four layers of jacket today, it's super windy. We are here at the northernmost point we've ever been to in our entire lives. This place is called Kimaluk Bay and it's super windy and I can smell the sea from here. This will probably be the northernmost point we'll be in for a good while. There's nothing much to do here. We just wanted to set foot and enjoy the view before continuing on our road trip. We've just arrived at the parking of Ferry Glen. We're going to walk towards the Ferry Glen itself. From pictures we've looked online, it is a bunch of stones that are arranged in a certain way. Kind of like a mini stone edge. Except that the stones on the concentric circles have been moved around. So it doesn't look like a solar system kind of concentric circle anymore. But you can still see the imprint. It started to drizzle a little bit but the amazing view at the back has marveled me. I never really expected Ferry Glen to be this pretty. Because I have no idea what exactly to expect in the first place. But coming here suddenly, I felt like wow the nature has just unfolded itself. From the small little motiles all the way to that really cool looking castle-like sculpture. And then after it unravels itself to the beautiful landscape where you can see at least two waterfalls in the background. It's just quite magical. I think this is why they call it Ferry Glen because it is pretty pristine of an environment. It's almost as if ferries will land here in the past. We had our second and last day at Isle of Skye. We went to quite a few places. I think the highlight of today was the Omen of Storm. I think the highlight for me was to get towards the northernmost point for us in terms of latitude. I think that's going to stick within me for quite some time. And there's just a lot of ferry stuff that we have been to. Like the Ferry Glen or the Ferry Post. All these ferries put together, do you think that we will become ferries? Or do you think ferries will bless us at some point of time? The only ferries that we have around are the midges. We prepared everything in 40 minutes because the dishes are really easy to make. We have pan-fried salmon and we have stir-fried vegetables. And also some tomatoes on the side. And for our carbs, we have potatoes which are very easy, we just boil it. The best kind of van life exists when everybody is sharing food and talking to each other. And that's the impression I always get when I'm seeing movies. I wish that there's more of a community right now. Because everybody is tucked inside because it's too cold. Kind of lacks a little bit of spirit, I would say. We got three things from the minimart nearby. The first is yogurt because I've been trying to get my digestive system working. And then we also got this Reese's peanut butter bar. A version of Reese's we've never seen before. So excited to try this. And the last one is something for tomorrow's lunch. It's called smoked rashers. The whole van smells like our dinner. The sun is still out so it feels kind of weird to be heading to bed so soon. But it's actually pretty late already. We're going to shower now and then head to bed. We have just parked our van in front of this very beautiful spot. And we'd like to show you the insides and the outside of the van. That we have rented from Alba Campers. This 7-seater MPV has been converted into a camper van for two people. And let me show you inside. Welcome to the Honda Stepwagon. We are using an automatic transmission. On the driver's side, it's very very standard. With the steering wheel, the blinkers and the wipers. But one interesting thing is that instead of the handbrake, it's actually a footbrake. Apart from that, what I love about this Honda is that there is a lot of compartments. That you can open and put your water bottles as well as maybe a coin pouch. As well as this glove compartment here where we actually put our inset repellents. There is lots of USB dongles. So there's two on the outside and then two more in the glove compartment. This screen is really interesting because there is an offline dongle that connects to this screen. So that you can actually view your offline maps. There are multiple places around here that doesn't really have access to internet. We used this for the first day and it looks pretty reliable. The only caveat is that it doesn't tell you like the latest updates with regards to roadworks or road diversions or whatsoever. So let me now show you the middle part of the camper van. So what I really love about this camper van is the fact that like you can actually sit about four people even though it's only meant for two people. This camper van comes with a table which is on the right hand side behind the driver's seat. And there's three of these kind of like back cushions which double acts as your mattress when you sleep at night. This table can be easily dismantled and alongside another plank, you can put it as a frame of your bed at night. All you have to do is to align the table against these ridges. There are storage spaces underneath both seats on the front as well as on the back. The front storage compartment consists of a lot of essential equipment provided by Alba Campers. This includes a fire extinguisher, the wrap that goes to the front of the windows at night, insurance documents, power extension, as well as a brush that allows you to clean the vent if you need to. And now we're going to move on to the next section which is the kitchen at the back. So this is our kitchen. It is a very simple setup but it has everything that we need. First, we have a cooking stove and it runs on a gas canister. And right beside it, we have a sink. This sink is a pump sink. We just have to use our hand to pump it and the water comes from a jerry can which we always refill whenever we are at a campsite. Underneath the sink, we have a few of our pantry items starting with the cooler box. And this is where we keep our fresh groceries such as vegetables and also meat. And then we have our dry pantry which is where we keep our dry things like our noodles and sometimes our potatoes. Right below, we have a tub and this tub consists of everything that we need to cook. Includes our utensils such as our plates, our bowls, our fork, spoon and also pots and pans. We are here at Glencoe, about to start our first trail and it goes around the lake. This lake is super beautiful. We are standing on top of a hill and on the hill, there is a reservoir. Behind the reservoir, there's some woods and then behind the woods, there's another mountain. I can't believe we drove more than two hours to get here from Glencoe to this place called Brecklin Falls and we saw online that there is this triangle-like bridge that looks pretty cool. I was looking for the A-bridge but they apparently replaced this last year with another bridge which is a little bit more sustainable than the A-bridge. I guess this bridge is the post-modernist version of the Brecklin Falls. Also, one other thing that I want to point out is that like we stood in the same place that Queen Victoria actually stood upon about 150 years ago. Now, we're going to go get some dinner. Can't understate how hungry I am. We are in a bar in the middle of the national park. This is quite crazy. Unfortunately, they ran out of pizzas so they sold us to Amazing Burgers and I think it is going to be worth every dollar spent. We just had our last night in this campervan and doing it off-grid was kind of weird at first but after a while, it became a good sleep. Now, we are going to get to Ben An Mountain. Shall we go, Shar? Let's go! I think by the time we get up there to the top of the hill, it's going to be really foggy. Most likely, we won't be able to see anything. The starting was a little bit too brutal for me. The steps were like so high, it was like knee level but then right now, it's like a gentle slope up. But I can see right ahead, it's going to be steep again. But I'm still going to be glad to reach the peak regardless of the view. There's something really meditative about hiking in the forest and something that I really like about is the fact that you can hear the birds chirp while climbing up and seeing this really beautiful nature. And even though my glasses fog up a little bit or maybe it's because of the rain, I still really love it. Almost there. 20 more steps to go, we are almost there. 17, 18, 19, 20. Finally, we are here at the peak of Ben An hill. The view, I can't say it's gorgeous. I think this got to be the most unrewarding hike because at the top of it, we can't really see anything. Well, they say it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey. And it was a pretty cooling and peaceful journey up. Char, let's take a second, right? To kind of like imagine what is it like beyond this fog. Maybe a grassland, a lake, a ship. Maybe like sharks, sand, beach volleyball and a glass of martini. You can see a glass of martini all the way up here. It took us an hour and a half to get up here. Now, we're just going to head down and then get to the car and dry ourselves off. Going on a camper van life is very easy, very convenient and very mobile. And I really love the fact that you can wake up in the morning anytime you want to go on a hiking trail that is probably five minutes away from your car park. And this morning was a very good example of that. Where we slept was about five minutes away from our hiking trail. And even though there's a mist and fog and we can't really see anything, I think it's still very meditative to be up here before anyone arrives. Five days worth of van life. It's been nothing short but incredible. We've watched so many videos on YouTube about van life, but trying it for ourselves is totally different. And there are a lot of things that we had to get the hang of. And we did get a hang of as days went by. What was unexpected for me, I think it's the number of midges. Just a sheer amount just waiting for you at dawn and dusk every single morning. Waiting for you, yeah true. That was quite crazy, you know. This is why we definitely need the midge spray during the summer. For me, I didn't expect the car to get dirty so quickly. Back at home, I used to sweep my room once a day. But in this car, whenever we get out for a hike and once we come back, the car is dirty already. And whenever we cook at the back, the whole car has the smell of the food. So we have to wind down the window and wait for the car to air out before heading to bed. Trying van life in Scotland was definitely worth it, especially with the amazing views. So driving everywhere makes it enjoyable. And there is a pretty friendly community too, because people are always kind of looking out for each other. People are kind of subtly acknowledging the same pains and the same gains that you have too, with this freedom that you have when you're traveling in a car. They're kind of subtly looking out for you, I feel. So what's up next? We're going to England, which is just south of Scotland. We're going to visit many cities around England, including Manchester, Liverpool, York and also London. And if you haven't caught our last video, you can check it out. We visited Edinburgh. See you guys soon! Take care! This is quite crazy because had we been there 30 minutes later, we could probably see the entire scenery below.