Back in mainland Scotland, we had some exciting plans in the lower highlands. First stop was our longest hike of the trip, up the infamous Ben Nevis. Whilst we were hoping for some amazing views, the clouds had a different agenda.  Danni, briefly, being the tallest person in the UK atop Ben Nevis. After powering our way to the top we opted to have lunch in the tiny, smelly, yet dry, snow shelter on the top of Ben Nevis. The back of the head of a very pleased and accomplished feeling Rob. Although it will hurt for a few days. Living in a van in the UK can be tricky given how spread out the services are, but boy when we found a campsite offering hot showers, water filling, bins, waste disposal, AND hot pies. Were we happy! Our next morning started in the pouring rain (despite smug claims of 26 degree heat from some London friends) but we did get an excellent view of the Harry Potter train atop the Glenfinnan viaduct. Due to some biological concerns, that pie did not agree with Rob, R...

For the first time on our trip, we left Britain and headed for the Isle of Skye. The Skye bridge, while not huge, did not disappoint. First stop on Skye was finding a local highland cow and bothering him as best I could. Our first day was spent largely at the famous fairly pools, a whole hillside of a huge number of mini water falls. Almost as many waterfalls as there were American tourists.  One wrong direction later, Rob had taken us through a bog and got us suitably stinky. Deciding to treat ourselves we pulled into a building with parking, a candle shop, a restaurant, and a cinema. Two pizzas and two drinks later we headed in to watch the latest Mission Impossible (not bad actually). Nice and satisfied after our meal and film we settled down to sleep in Moira. Sadly we were about to be caught out by the side effect of our first non-rainy day in the highlands so far: all the midges! Day two on Skye and we pulled up in the capital of Portree for some classic tourist shops, chips,...

Leaving the comforts of our campsite we embarked on our voyage further south with empty bins, full water, and a renewed desire to travel. Our first stop only slightly down the road from the campsite was the castle of Ardvrek. Like many of the surrounding castles it was completely demolished and many of the surrounding buildings are no longer even visible. Its almost as if someone created the castle just so a romantic ruin could be seen on the shores of yet another Scottish loch. Another day another waterfall. Our big stop of the day was the Bone Caves which held some of the oldest bones from all of the Highlands, These caves we sealed off by the advancing glaciers in the valley outside. This process did destroy all of the evidence of inhabitation outside of the cave but inside bones over 8,000 years old were preserved like a time capsule. Heading up the east coast to the towns of Wick and Thurso we were a bit disappointed by the unaesthetic nature of these remote towns. The reason, it ...

 Now on our way back down, albeit very slowly, time had come again for another mountain day. Our first mountain of the day was Spidean Coinich with its super impressive views of the sea, called the Minch, just off the coast. Having not had any internet access the night before, the summit of the mountain was the place we needed to find a shower for the evening and low we found a lovely cheap campsite just round the bay. However, we did need to check in relatively soon before they closed so sadly we cut short the other two mountains of the day.  An example of the Danni style of hiking: the carefree amble.  Rob on the other hand has a far more determined gait. And then you have the class Danni stare. Usually at a waterfall or perhaps a highland cow. Very achy after a busy active day we pulled into Clachtoll campsite, our first official campsite of the trip, for a bit of a treat. Since you have to book two nights at once for the campsite we thought we'd have a further tr...

Our first week of our Scottish trip had very much been all go with a huge distance covered in a short amount of time including plenty of little stops along the way. To contrast this we decided to keep up the distance travelled along the north coast but with fewer massive walks in between to give us a bit of a rest. Friday kicked off with a drive along the coast to the beautiful headland of Betty Hill and a walk around a very unmade path. Obviously we took in plenty of stacks and stumps along the way. And saw our first of many magnificent beaches along the north coast. Parking up in the evening with the view of Ben Loyal and Ben Hope, the northern most mountain in Britain, we had a lovely Indian courtesy of Danni and settled in for a chilled evening. Day two of the north coast had plenty more beaches for us but also a zipline across one of them. Despite our best efforts to enjoy the beach like a southern Italian one, we left very cold but suitably sandy. Heading south now and further in...

3 months on from our southern most stop of the year at Naples we're now finally at our northern most point of John O' Groats. That's one week of our Scottish trip down, 2-3 more to go! Before going to the end of Britain we stopped off at Wick, where we had spent the night before to visit a whopping big cave. This cave, no doubt the cause of a safe harbour to many in a storm. Today however it chose violence as evident by the big green stain on Rob's bum. Further around the bay we came across the new industry that has revived Wick from the decline of herring fishing: green energy. Wick today is one of the major ports in Scotland responsible for the construction of North Sea wind farms. Further up the coast you can see a history teacher doing history teacher things. The old brick pillbox that brought Rob much excitement is the remnant of a hectic and fearful time in 1940 when a German invasion of Britain seemed very likely. As scary as they are I'm not sure two Scotsme...