Sounds like it could be a Taylor Swift album. It’s not, it’s a beautiful town/village in the Cairngorms, which we simply adore.
A gem of an overnight spot
So, more about my amazing find of a car park – once we decided we were going to drive to Aviemore, we needed a search4site location in that vicinity. There were a few, a couple were free of charge (but looked more dogging than stay the night peacefully) and there was this.
£15, before anyone chimes in and goes that’s a bit steep for a car park, yes it is but it is half the price of any campsite and the money goes back into keeping the Cairngorms functional.
There was a toilet onsite, a crafts shop (closed whilst we were there) and the car park had an attendant during the day. You could hire kayaks, SUPs and a sauna and all the paths are maintained – for that I happily pay £15 and would come back again.
They request that you only stay for 1 night, take your rubbish home with you, no camp fires (for obvious reasons) and in return you get to sleep in the forest. It was quiet, safe – there were at least 7 other vans doing the same as us and you get to wake up to beautiful views.
Last night vs this morning:
Around Loch an Eilein
We woke up, colder than we had been so far this holiday, but we will put that down to being in the middle of a forest! We chucked the heater on and had a slow start to the morning – we were supposed to leave the car park by 10am but they were really relaxed about us staying longer.
When we eventually decided to get up and going with the day, we thought that it should start with the 5km walk around Loch An Eilein and what a beauty of a walk it was.
A walk that should have perhaps taken us an hour, took much longer! You couldn’t help but stop at every available opportunity to soak in the sun glistening on the loch, making the water look like glass.
We kept steering off the path (my fault) but down every little track there was always something – a rock to climb or a tree to sit on.
It was also a perfect opportunity to use the drone, and the footage is amazing! I gave Michael my usual side eye/eyeroll when he wanted to buy it, but the photos and videos we (he) have managed to capture have been brilliant.
Highly recommend a visit, whether that’s a stay overnight or just to walk the loch.
Stunning.
Into Aviemore
We got back to the van, made a coffee and drove into town (4 minutes!) knowing we could park at Aldi for 3 hours which gave us plenty of time to get a few more supplies and wander in and out of the shops in the high street.
We picked up a proper Scottish blanket, we said we needed a blanket and what better than a thick woollen patchwork style one to keep us warm, if the nights are going to start getting colder. We dipped in and out of all the walking shops before heading to our campsite.
We’ve decided to stay at High Range, nestled on the edge of the main town, for 2 nights. So tomorrow, Michael gets a day off of driving!
A simple evening
We got settled, learnt where everything is and relaxed for the afternoon. Played cards, showered, cooked – who says you can’t have hearty meals whilst living in a van eh!
Tonight we had bangers and mash, previous nights dinners include nachos, chicken curry and bbq chicken and halloumi pasta. We try and eat out a couple of times a trip, so planning on eating out tomorrow night just to help break up the cooking!
We washed up, chucked our fire pit on and shared a bottle of Asti (addicted thanks to Charmaine and Russ) whilst playing cards – life at its simplest ❤️
