Caolasnacon campsite, a dip in the loch, and a little tour of my van

I decided another day of relaxing was called for, so I headed up to Caolasnacon campsite. This place is popular, but doesn’t take bookings, and a Wednesday seemed a good bet to get a decent spot. I was able to get a choice pitch looking down the loch. You can see why its so popular:

Down at the loch the water was so still and clear, it would have been rude not to at least have a paddle. Water in the lochs is about the warmest it’ll be all year having heated up through the summer – but you wouldn’t know it!! I put on a bikini and pulled a big hoody on top – let’s not be silly here – and waded in over the stones in my swimshoes. Tiny yelp as it got over the ankles, gasp as it swallowed my calves, and maybe a whimper when we got over the knees. After standing there a while (still snuggled in my hoody) it started to feel… ok(?) as the numb set in. I’ve read that you should acclimatise to the water, especially if you’re not used to wild swimming, because the cold can send you into shock which is what gets you into trouble. (I also know not to wild swim somewhere new to you on you own – there were other campers spying this with bemusement over their books). I walked out, debated with myself whether to ditch the hoody and swim, decided against it, then decided against that since its only going to get colder from here, and forced myself to give it a go. In any event, “swimming” is definitely an oversell of what was happening here. I think I managed two dunks, both accompanied by a squawk and lasting no more than 2 seconds. But I emerged from the water triumphant and smug that I got my shoulders in, however briefly, and much to the amusement of the other campers.

After a hot shower, it was nice to take the time to do a bit of a tidy up and re-organise now that I’m getting a feel for which things I use most often, and which things can be squirrelled away to the back of cupboards. Since it was probably the tidiest it will be for a while (/ever?) I took some snaps to give you a little tour of the van.

Here is my little two-burner gas stove, and sink with running (cold) water.

There’s a very cleverly designed pop-up table, which slides backwards and forwards, and stows flat along the side of bench seat. The driver and passenger seat (known as ‘captains chairs’ to us campervan dorks) both spin around to face into the van. I usually tend to only spin the passenger seat round since its just me and I’m often only staying a night or two, and spinning the drivers one is a bit more faff to get it round past the steering wheel. I’ve also got a little box stool behind the drivers seat, which cunningly covers my porta-potti chemical loo. Some vanners like to wild it and go outside, but its not always easy to find an ok spot (i.e. discreet and far enough away from water sources) and if a lot of wildcampers or vanners are visiting certain places it will eventually damage the local environment. So personally I prefer to have a loo which can be emptied it at proper points in campsites, which makes me more confident I can leave no trace other than footprints (/wheelprints).

The two cupboards under the stove and sink house most of my food, and my pots, plates and other cooking things.

The van has what VW describe as a wardrobe, but I can’t see myself hanging things up on coat hangers so its liable to become a bit of a dumping ground with stuff thrown in. I got hold of shelves designed to fit in here, which were pretty simple to install. Much more useful as a storage cupboard for toiletries, books, useful things etc etc.

Clothes-wise I installed window bags which holds a lot of smaller items of clothing like underwear/socks, vests and leggings. This does make it a bit darker in the van but it fits So Many Pairs Of Hiking Socks, so I think totally worth it. Most of my trousers and jumpers fit in the airplane style overhead locker.

Anddd.. after walking the next day up Beinn a’ Bheithir… the van was messy and muddy again! Funny to think that some people asked me what I’d do in my evenings up here – mostly I’m moving things around continuously tidying up one area while simultaneously messing up another…