Travels in a Campervan: Wild swimming in the Cairngorms and a view of the Firth of Forth

Sunday 14 July 2024

Nido's parked up at Silver Sands in Aberdour, between Dalgety Bay and Burntisland, on the northern coastline of the Firth of Forth. There's about a dozen dedicated motorhome parking spaces and we can stay overnight for a voluntary donation. There's no facilities apart from bins, but we have a sea view, the sandy beach is lovely and across the Forth we can see Edinburgh. I spent about 15 months living just a few miles from here - in Rosyth - when I was serving in the Royal Navy but never really had the time or opportunity to explore the area. But I've sailed in and out of the Firth of Forth more times than I can remember. It's school holidays here and lots of families have been enjoying some fun beach time. It's a bit grey and windy now though, so it's pretty quiet.

Yesterday I woke early so popped out to service the van before taking Salty for his morning constitutional. There were five vans parked up overnight, but luckily no ravers or rabble rousers, so we'd all enjoyed a quiet night. Last night as I put the van to bed, the hinge for the Remis blind on the driver's window snapped. A quick Google and a couple of YouTube videos later and I learned that: a. this is a common fault (that Remis seem to be ignoring!) and b. replacing the hinge is a bugger of a job because it's really difficult to remove the broken part that slots into one of the arms. I found an English chap on eBay who has no doubt spent hours swearing whilst trying to remove a similar broken hinge on his Remis blind (something I'll be doing next week!), so is now selling the hinges, perhaps 3D printed. I've ordered a pair and hope the DIY gods are looking down favourably on me when I try to fix it. That's after I've tried to fix the forever-flushing loo first!

We stopped in Ballater to top up with groceries. We visited last year and it's looking a little run down since then. Don't get me wrong, it's still an upmarket place that thrives on its proximity and links to Balmoral Castle and the Royal Family and has multiple new Range Rovers parked up, but the bakery had closed down (lack of staff according to the sign in the window) and even the New Shanghai chinese takeaway next door had lost it's Royal Warrant! We drove back past Balmoral and onwards, through the small village of Braemar and down a narrow, winding road that followed the River Dee for 5 miles, before crossing the river and doubling back on itself, then carrying on for another 5 miles to the Linn of Quoich, which was our overnight stop. We stayed here last year and liked the peace, quiet and walks so much. It costs £5 per day to park - £10 to overnight. The pay machine takes cash or cards. If you're a NT Scotland member it's free. Once parked up I promptly got my bike off the rack, changed and cycled the 10 miles back to Braemar! My plan was to grab a coffee in the village but the one and only tearoom was also a restaurant and looked very posh as I stuck my nose to the window - so definitely not for me. I ended up with a Costa coffee from the local shop which was dreadful. Only as I walked with my bike down to find a bench did I notice that the local fish and chip shop had a full-blown Italian coffee machine - drat!

I retraced my route back to the van. With everything put away and changed, we headed off on what was planned to be a circular walk along the Linn. It was everything we remembered, with ancient Caledonian pines and water gushing through very narrow gorges and tumbling across waterfalls, with the odd quieter area that would be ideal for a wild swim....if this summer wasn't more like late Autumn! We managed to tackle a good section of the waterside path but it looked like a recent landslide of rocks had taken out the path and there was no alternative but to reverse our route. By the time we returned all the day trippers had left and we had the place to ourselves; the silence is deafening. Dinner cooked and eaten, cup of tea and shortbread consumed (note to self - add more shortbread to the shopping list), the rest of the evening was spent reading or staring out at the forest and mountains, the latter capped by slow moving low clouds.

View of Nido from across the valley

This morning we woke to hot sunshine - hallelujah! Kettle on, I took Salty for his morning walk and Cathy made breakfast which we ate sat outside, only the second time we've been able to do so this trip. But the beauty of Scotland doesn't rely on blue skies and sunshine; in fact it's enhanced by the clouds and watching the rain race in then quickly pass over. After our walk last night, I suggested we return for that wild swim. We quickly changed, packed a rucksack with towels and walked back to one of the spots we found last night. The sun was shining on the smooth, flat rocks - a perfect place to change and dry off later. The first steps were very cold but we took the plunge and were soon whooping with joy in the oxygenated, green-tinted but clear water. It was a fantastic swim; we felt ALIVE! These moments have to be grabbed, enjoyed and banked for the future. We sat on the rocks awhile to dry off and enjoy the warm sunshine before changing and walking back to the van. We'll certainly be looking out for further wild swimming spots. Back at the van we had a hot cup of tea, packed up and hit the road.

Linn of Quoich

Our swimming spot!

A quick stop at Tesco in Blairgowrie to refuel before carrying on south to our current stopover. Supper tonight was vegetables roasted in the Omnia, with boiled basmati rice. We wrapped up for our evening walk as the wind coming off the Forth was chilly. After a walk up to the Ha Lighthouse, we had a quick wander on the beach before returning to a warm van for Cava and snacks and some Sunday night YouTube catch up. We have that EU vibe again, with half the vans parked up around us from Germany and the Netherlands. It's only five weeks until we cross over to France for a few weeks; I have a few repairs to do on the van before then!