Vanlife Scotland - A White Christmas 2021
Can you have a white Christmas while travelling around Scotland in a 30 year old bus?
Oh yes. Yes, you can.
Immediately as we entered the glorious Cairngorms National Park, we were awe-stricken and knew we wanted to spend a lot of time nestled away in the mountains. At this point in our trip, we had already met up with a close friend and it was reassuring to have another set of wheels keeping us company - especially when the snow arrived!
For Aidan’s birthday on the 21st of December, we headed to Edinburgh to explore the infamous city. After spending a considerable amount of time nestled away in the raw Scottish wilderness, it felt slightly odd to be in the centre of a bustling city full of so much life. It wasn’t long before we returned to the snow-dusted mountains and met back up with our other van dwelling friend for Christmas. As the temperature began to rapidly drop below zero, we spent a couple of days in Braemar, in the centre of the Cairngorms. This delicate village boasted waterfalls, mountain views and quaint shops full of Christmas warmth along with an ideal place to spend a couple of nights.
As the big day neared, we stumbled across a glorious park up in a clearing of white-coated pine trees in the Muir of Dinnet Nature Reserve, east of the Cairngorms. On the 25th, we woke to gentle snowflakes dancing onto the vans and after clearing the snow from our solar panels, we headed out for a forest walk with a cuppa followed by an Omnia oven vegan roast.
After Christmas, we crossed paths with some other friends travelling in Scotland at the same time and we decided to convoy and explore together for a few days. We hiked to hidden pyramids, drove over nervously snowy mountain passes and had plenty of time talking and laughing in the vans by the log burners. Community is such a wonderful element of this lifestyle. Many of our close friends live life on the road and when we get together for a night around the fire, you can feel the spirit of community flutter from person to person. On our travels for the past two years, we have met other van dwellers from all around the world from Rotterdam to Portugal and even Western Australia. The tales and tribulations of different life experiences from traveller to traveller both educate us and encourage us to pursue our dreams of exploring as much of this planet as we can.
As our Scotland trip came to an end and we returned back to Southern England, we felt refreshed, a little chilly and ready for the next adventure. When we began sharing our travels over on Instagram, we didn’t realise so many people would follow along with our journey in our hippy bus. We hope these blog posts inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and maybe try and visit a new place once in a while. Travelling makes us grow in indescribable ways and one day the adventures you experience will become stories you share with those around you.
FAQs
Is it hard to find places to park overnight in a campervan in the Cairngorms?
We have never really struggled that much to find park ups for the night, however, during our time in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, we found ourselves circling the same few spots. Being up north for winter, the weather was rather ferocious at times and so we were nestling away in spots and spending a few days at a time in each one. Often, we randomly stumble across places to park, but if this fails us, a great way of finding new places to stay is by using Google Maps in satellite view. Aidan will often use Google Maps to find tracks or open areas and see if they are accessible and van-friendly for the night e.g. not near houses, busy roads or cities.
What tyres are best in ice and snow?
When researching the best tyres to put on Peppé for the icy, snowy conditions of Scotland, whilst also considering European heat for the future, we opted for Michelin Cross Climate Tyres. Yes, these tyres are a pretty big investment (especially when you have 7!) but for the miles we do, we like to put money into important things like our tyres. Overall, the tyres performed well and successfully got us out of some particularly hairy situations…
How to stay warm in a campervan during winter?
A crucial part of staying warm in a campervan during the winter and cool during the summer is insulation. Without correct insulation, you will struggle to keep any heat in the campervan and have to generally work a lot harder to stay warm. In Peppé we have 2 sources of heat; a diesel heater and a wood burner. We treat our diesel heater as more of a backup heat source as fuel is expensive! For the log burner, we forage and dry our own wood which may seem taxing, but when it’s toasty warm inside and -10°c and snowing outside, it really doesn’t seem that bad.
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