Raasay Day 1

After a four and a half hour drive in my campervan, I finally made it to my destination: a John Muir Trust carpark near Torrin on the Isle of Skye . I opted for this car park as a) it was only 20-25 minutes drive to the ferry port at Sconser; b) the car park had toilets open 24 hours; and c) it would be very quiet and peaceful - much better than trying to sleep in a lay-by with traffic passing by all night long. The car park even boasted a 5G phone signal! Having paid the £15 fee for stopping overnight (another reason for it being quiet), I had a nice comfortable nights sleep.

Early next morning I whizzed it around to Sconser ferry terminal, desperately hoping there were spaces available in the car park. There was thankfully plenty of space. I had seen on a website, there was now a council sign saying no "parking of vehicles manufactured for or adapted for the purpose of sleeping between the hours of 22:00 and 08:00". And yet on the Calmac website it says the carpark is free. Very confusing, so I asked the Calmac ferry guys if it was ok to leave the van there. Their response, somewhat confused by my question and responded with a shrug was "the car park is free". So I decided to leave the van there for the duration of the trip. If I end up getting a ticket, I would vehemently dispute it. I mean what are you supposed to do when visiting Raasay when you drive a campervan? It is not as if I am sleeping in the van.

Soon the others arrived: Leigh, the leader of the trip, Simone, Jade and Iain. There was a slight panic when Iain arrived as he was missing a hatch cover from his boat. A search part set off immediatley and luckily, they found the hatch cover in the road not too far away. Phew!

We packed the boats with our camping provisions and set off into the mist and rain. Having made the crossing across to Raasay, we followed the east coast of the island, hugging the shore. Even through the mist and rain it was very pretty and atmospheric. I was amazed to see some houses up on the cliff. Talk about being remote - I don't suppose Tescos deliver up there.

Passing Rubha nà Leac, a waterfall came into view, dropping off the cliff edge into the sea. Some of the group chose to paddle under the shower of cold water, whilst other stayed dry and warm. This whole coastline is so dramatic and probably hasn't changed much over the last couple of thousand years.

Later in the day we stopped at Brochel with its ruined castle. It was good to get a leg stretch and some food, before setting off to our campsite for the night at the top of Raasay. I could write about taking the group on a wild goose chase for a better camping site, but I cannot say I know anything about that. The original camp site picked out by our leader, Leigh turned out to be fantastic. It was as if someone had mown the flat area of grass all ready for us.

We pitched our tents, cooked our food and looked at the forecast for the next day - it was not looking too good,

nighty night!

16.3 nm  9 hours