The TentBox Lite 2.0 was the most spontaneous yet rewarding purchase I made this year (ok technically last year – I’m writing this blog a bit late), with summer being filled with plentiful trips around the UK. My car-camping adventures had gained a major upgrade, and the extra space gained from not needing to sleep in my car each time meant I was free to install cooking facilities and take extra gear without concern.

All meaning that trips could be longer and more fun, and very useful when I’m taking paddleboards or bags of caving gear. Most trips throughout summer have been long weekends; national parks, a couple of festivals. But I wanted to get a good week-long trip in before the year was out and try somewhere new at the same time. Autumn was settling in, so I thought it could end up being a good time to visit Scotland without the summer rush.

How right I was!

It had been many many years since I’d visited the likes of Fort William and further north, so it essence it would almost be completely new to me. There was a lot of distance to cover before I reached there though, so I started off further south in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.

The Queen Elizabeth Forest Park is located close to the boundary of the national park and contains the Three Lochs Forest Drive, a track running through the park where you can take your vehicle and stay overnight. I believe a pre-paid permit is required for the summer months, but as it was October I found no issues in finding a spot to park up for the night.

It was also delightfully sunny come late afternoon, so I felt obliged to get the paddleboard out on Loch Drunkie as I wasn’t anticipating having such good weather all week. Such serenity when out on the water was incredible! Bar the bit of distant chatter from people walking around the loch, it was almost silent. It was a great starting point before heading up to Fort William, with this section of driving containing some of the most dramatic landscapes of the whole trip.

The next day’s big challenge was Ben Nevis – the UK’s highest mountain and the final of the UK three peaks (Scafell Pike, Snowdon and Ben Nevis) which I’d endeavoured to complete throughout the year. Having climbed Snowdon for the first time a few weeks prior with relative ease, I wasn’t expecting too much extra physical exertion for the additional 250-ish metres extra height. A wrong assumption! After an initial steep climb and then a reasonably easy, gradual ascent for some duration, the upper section of the mountain deteriorates into loose, rocky paths. Visibility cut out as I entered the clouds and to some extent the way on was not exactly obvious – of course when climbing a mountain the easiest solution is to just head up! Large patches of ice scattered the area at this point, and I’d hazard a guess that this was coming towards the end of the “easy climb” season; a few more weeks and you might need specialist climbing gear.

I struggled on through the cold, moist air – arriving at the peak 4 hours after setting off. I didn’t have spectacular views to be rewarded by on this occasion but nonetheless, the challenge was complete. Well – it would be 3 hours later when I got back to the bottom.

The day ended with a visit to the Grog and Gruel pub in Fort William (great food!), and the next morning I fancied a visit to the nearby Glenfinnan viaduct. Made famous through its appearance in the Harry Potter films, this was certainly a popular destination for many international tourists, and contained plenty of scenic walks around the railway and nearby lochs. I had a lengthy trip to the Isle of Skye ahead of me so I set off in good time. Daylight hours for obviously shorter around this time of year, and experiencing the scenery during the day I think is a big part of any Scottish road trip.

The destination on the Isle of Skye were the Fairy Pools – a collection of waterfalls, rock pools and streamways running through a large valley. A perfect wild swimming spot in the summer months I imagine (or any time if you’re one of those cold-water swimming nutters). Again this was obviously a popular tourist destination, but it didn’t feel crowded. How this compares to the summer months would be interesting to know.

It was a beautiful spot, and if anyone is visiting Skye then I would highly recommend stopping by. I’d like to have seen more of the Hebrides area (of which Skye is apart of), so this may well be the next Scottish road trip destination, whenever the time comes.

After Skye it was time to head up to the upper Highlands, where a sense of remoteness really starts to kick in somewhat. Small towns are scarce and the ones you do find are minimal. I’d definitely advise to be prepared and self-sufficient at this stage because you won’t be finding many supermarkets on route! The driving at least is superb; effortless and interesting. I would end up joining the NC500 route and I can see why this is such a “to do” adventure.

There was no plan at this stage, just drive and see where I ended up. Detouring from the normal route in places, just for the sake of exploring. I had wanted to take the paddleboard out on Loch Marie – my stayover spot for the evening – but high winds put an end to that idea.

I continued the drive around the Summer Isles the next day, stopping in Ullapool for supplies and a Scottish fry-up at the Bothy Coffee shop. Beyond here really was away from civilisation, and even the odd village or small town I found further north felt barren and empty. I guess that could very well be either Utopia or Hell, depending on who you are.

The most northern spot for this trip peaked at Loch Assynt – still come distance away from John o’ Groats (basically the most northern point of the mainland UK) but I was never intending to go that high up. Driving back down through Inverness and into the Cairngorms was quick enough, allowing me a stop at both the Tomatin whisky distillery and also the Highland Wildlife Park. Going to Scotland and not buying a bottle of scotch would be criminal in my eyes, and the Tomatin Legacy single malt is now a personal favourite of mine!

The wildlife park was great, a safari/zoo combo with lots to see. I had the sole objective of seeing the resident snow leopards (who were all adorable) as I’d never seen snow leopards before. I’d hesitate before outright stating that they seemed like very domesticated animals – but in all fairness they were behaving like giant house cats.

With some more spare time to spend before sunset, I took a walk through the national park – noting some nice areas to camp over in the future. By now there were lots of future plans already loaded into my head for Scotland, and it will probably take a fair amount of time to complete all of it!

A perfect venue for the TentBox, and an amazing time of year to go! Maybe I was just lucky in the fact the only rain I had was over one evening, but even so – the autumn colours were incredible and I think that in itself is reason enough to visit at this time of year.