Caravaning

Family Tour 2018 Day 13-14 - Day 13

Day 13:  04/10/2018, Dallachulish to Lochmaben (175 miles)

So the journey home really began, and we were sad to leave the campsite behind and be on our way.  Our route down took us over a very interesting cantilever bridge at Connel. I was able to snap a quick picture having driven over it, and underneath it on the A85:

We continued on to Luss, beside Loch Lomond.  Some scouting ahead on google maps had told us there was a good sized car park, along with a filling station, both of which were going to be useful for continuing our journey.  There was plenty of space in the car park, and we copied a motorhome and parked across parking spaces, rather than length ways.  We weren't sure how happy bus and coach drivers would be if we used one of the bays marked for them.  However, we are sure that this would be a different matter had we been there at the height of summer on a nice day.

With the caravan parked, we tended to the dogs needs, and stretched our legs too beside the loch, before heading into the village to find lunch

We found The Village Rest, a very nice bistro / restaurant and ordered macaroni cheese for the little one, and Burritos for ourselves We were very impressed with the food, and were glad to have found such a nice place to stop for a rest break

Suitably refreshed, we stopped by the village shop and got some essentials, haggis, Edinburgh Rock and such like.  We circled back to fill the car up at the filling station.  This was a completely unmanned station, which wasn't quite what I was expecting, but as planning on paying by card, it made no difference!  Later, after we got back, BBC featured it in an article about more unusual filling stations in UK: BBC Fueling Communities

We continued south down toward Lochmaben, where we were booked in to the Highfield CL site.  Following the sat nav took us off the M74 a junction or 2 earlier than perhaps ideal, as we ended up on quite a bouncy B road coming into Lochmaben.  We were taking it quite gently when a bullock joined the road in front of us. Given the damage a deer can do to a car, the last thing wanted was a spooked cow impaling the car, so we took it very gently, until he decided to head towards his friends that were on the edge of the field he likely had escaped from.

We arrived at site, and found that the owners had a sense of humour:

We got ourselves pitched up, taking advantage of the hardstanding being big enough to fairly easily position the caravan using the car, rather than cheating with the mover.

Once set up, we took the dogs for a walk round the fields before it got too late

Once back at the site, we spent a long time talking with the other people on the site about many things.  I popped round the corner to a local shop to try and get some salad to go with food that evening, only to find its shelves were very lightly stocked.  It turned out its delivery day was the next day, so they were low on many things!  I don't think I could see a single bit of fresh veg!  I ended up having to search for the nearest superstore and driving there.