Thursday 21 February 2013

Fort William Mountain Festival Film Competition: 'The Van and The Clan'



So, the results of this fab film competition are in, and we're a) sorry we didn't win, b) delighted to have been shortlisted and c) really pleased for the winner which was James Dunn’s brilliant film ‘When’.  We know James really well and he’s another hugely talented filmmaker, and in fact he’s responsible for two of the other films you can see on the Big Tree Campervan video wall – ‘Greg Boswell’ the profile of the talented climber, and the two ‘STS on The Ben’ films.

You can see Jame's film at the Fort William Mountain Festival which is on this week, and is a fantastic celebration of all things 'mountain'.    

So, congratulations to James, and also to Paul MacDonald for producing ‘The Van & The Clan’.  Paul's film is we think, one of the best wee films we’ve seen in ages, and it really sums up the spirit of a Big Tree Campervan adventure in Scotland.

We really enjoyed working with Paul on ‘The Van and The Clan’, especially the day when Ed and I were at Laggan Wolftrax filming and riding with Paul and the awesome Duncan Shaw and Ricky Crompton... thanks guys!

So, if you’ve got any ideas on some cool themes for short films involving beautiful Scotland and brilliant Big Tree Campervans, do let us know!

Saturday 16 February 2013

Top Tips For Ferry Adventures


We're getting lots of enquiries in just now from customers who want to include some of the fantastic Scottish islands in their Big Tree Campervan adventure. We find folk often have a few questions when they're thinking of including islands and ferry crossings, so we've put together our 'Top Ten Ferry Tips' to help plan your island adventures:

  1. 'CalMac' as they are known across Scotland (or to use their proper name 'Caledonian MacBrayne') are the biggest ferry operator in Scotland.
  2. Their website http://www.calmac.co.uk/is great for planning your island hops, especially the really useful Route Map which we've shown above. If you'd prefer to talk to a real person, we've found the folk who run the 'Enquiries and Reservations line (0800 066 5000) are really helpful and enthusiastic.
  3. Think creatively about using CalMac routes to plan a really big adventures, eg a ferry from Mallaig to Armadale, then potter through Skye, and even then head off out to Harris on the Uig - Tarbert crossing, before coming back to the mainland at Ullapool.
  4. There are lots of useful shorter crossing as well, for example if you want a probabaly much quieter way of getting to/from Mull, then the Lochaline - Fishnish route is great fun, and often much less frequented than the normal Oban to Craignure crosing.
  5. Think carefully about the type of tickets you want to buy - if you're going to making lots of crossings, it may be worth buying one of the 'Island Rover' tickets, or even a 'Island Hopping' ticket - there's loads more information about ticket types on the CalMac website.
  6. It's worth making a reservation if you have to travel on a specific crossing in the summer months, especially at weekends ....
  7. .... but you should also think a bit creatively about the time of crossing you want/need to take. For example, the we once tried to book on the 9.45am Kennacraig to Port Askaig crossing when planning a whisky tasting adventure on Islay, but that crossing was full.... so we simply got up earlier and had an almost deserted (and very beautiful) early morning crossing at 7.00am!
  8. Some crossings are more expensive at peak times (eg the Oban to Mull) becasue you have to have a Full Fare ticket, so again, check out the ferry times with CalMac and think about and earlier or later crossing.
  9. Big Tree Campervans are 4.85m long, so they fit into the pricing category of 'Motorhome Under 5m', which is great news as it means they are the same price as a normal car!
  10. If you've rented a Big Tree Campervan bike rack, then your campervan will be over the 5m length... but here's a simple idea which we've done several times: book an 'Under 5m' ticket, and when you get to the ferry port, take the bikes off the back, and put them and the bike rack into the campervan for the crossing. Ok, you may have to take the wheels off your bikes, and it will take a few minutes to assemble/re-assemble, but it's worth the ££ savings!

So, we hope these help to plan your island hopping Big Tree Campervan adventure!

Friday 8 February 2013

'The Van and The Clan' - WOOP WOOP, WOOOP!! Thanks so so much to everyone who voted for our film 'The Van and The Clan' in the Fort William Mountain Festival Film Competition. WE'VE BEEN SHORTLISTED... HURRAAHH. So, the winners will be announced either at the Festival Launch Dinner on 20th Feb... or possibly before! So, once again, huge thanks for voting for us, and keep fingers crossed for the final result!!