Hot off the press!

Delighted we're in the papers again. Check out the August 29th Sunday Herald 'Parenting/Entertainment' supplement for a (huuuuge) fab photo by our pal Angus Clyne of one of our campervans, plus some really inspiring words:

'Hit The Road - Campervaning in Scotland. This is the perfect way to explore Scotland's great outdoors during the autumn months. One company that offers 21st-century vans with a great range of modern luxuries, comfort and heating is Perthshire-based Big Tree Campervans. You can travel to out-of-the-way places or well-equipped campsites, and take in walks, mountain biking centres, or the cultural highlights of towns and cities. Whatever you fancy. The first three readers to book an October school break trip will receive the use of a gas BBQ for free. Quote The Herald when calling. Contact www.bigtreecampervans.com'

Wild Camping - Great Bank Holiday Advice for Campervans

A fantastic pitch on a recognised campsite at Arisaig

Photo Steve Fraser

A campervan trip is a great way to explore the vast, rich and varied natural beauty of Scotland. There are plenty of fantastic campsites that provide a great base from which to explore - and all the good sites are listed on the Scottish Camping website which you can access through our Links Page.

There are also lots of opportunities to "camp wild" with your Big Tree Campervan - you'll never find an approved list of all these places, as that would direct too many folk to the same spot and ruin it very quickly.

So, with the August Bank Holiday almost upon us, it's timely to remind folk about the great advice we give our Big Tree Campervan customers when they ask the question: "Where can I wild camp?"

We teamed up with a few other campervan rental companies, and also folk such as Scottish Natural Heritage and Visit Scotland to produce these simple, commonsense guidelines about camping wild with campervans in Scotland.

If you follow these guidelines, you'll hopefully enjoy "camping wild" on your Big Tree Camper van trip, and help support a sustainable way of experiencing Scotland. That way, we'll all be able enjoy the freedom of of camping wild for many years to come.

Access Rights - Scotland is rightly very proud of its access rights, however when you are looking for places to camp wild in a campervan, it is important to bear in mind the following key points:

• The Scottish Outdoor Access Code and the Land Reform Act do not apply to motor vehicles.
• Most un-metalled roads, unfenced land and beaches are generally private property, and therefore you don’t have a right of vehicle access unless it’s authorised by the landowner by verbal agreement or signage.
• The Road Traffic Act 1988, states that you can only drive a vehicle off-road (ie off a public road) for the purpose of parking, within 15 yards of a public road.
• Some communities (eg Calgary Bay on Mull, and the whole island of Tiree) have established their own guidance for campervans and the use of designated overnight parking spaces... if you’re in such a place, follow the guidance!

Commonsense guidance

Do:

• Use commonsense and think whether the spot you have found is suitable for a vehicle.
• Think about the cumulative effect of camping in the "fantastic secret place which I’m sure no-one else has ever been"...it is very likely that others will use the same spot, not just you!
• Take great care to avoid fragile ground/sensitive habitats, (eg wild flower rich machair on the Western Isles) - never drive down to beaches or on to grass verges as it destroys the habitat.
• Avoid overcrowding. If another vehicle is parked in a secluded spot - try not to park right next to them and find your own spot elsewhere.
• Use only biodegradable detergents and drain kitchen waste water tanks in campsites at designated areas. If it has to be emptied in the wild, keep away from water courses and be aware that animals will be attracted to the scent.
• Carry a trowel to bury any human waste and urinate well away from open water, rivers and burns. Toilet paper should be bagged and taken away by you – not buried (animals dig it up).
• Do a full "litter-pick" before you leave, taking all of your rubbish, and any you found there already, and disposing of it properly when you’re back in civilisation.
• Support a sustainable tourism industry – buy groceries in local shops.

Don’t:

• Park in areas where signs state "no overnight parking".
• Park overnight within sight of people's houses, even in car park bays.
• Block access tracks to estates and fields.
• Light BBQs or fires unless it is safe to do so, and you can supervise it properly. They should be fully extinguished when finished and no evidence left behind.
• Empty any chemical toilet waste anywhere other than at a designated chemical waste area. All campsites have facilities for the emptying of a cassette toilet. Most public toilets are not suitable places to empty chemical toilets as it upsets the sewage treatment process.

At Big Tree Campervans we're really proud of the fact that supporting a sustainable and fun way of experiencing Scotland is at the heart of what we do.

Top 5 "easier" Munros for campervanners

Take off in a campervan for a gorgeous walk

up the easy-ish Munro, Schiehallion in Perthshire

Campervans are a great way to travel and ideal for enjoying Scotland's great outdoors. In a campervan you can arrive, park up, put on the kettle, have a brew and then get yourself ready for a great walk. It's as simple as that. Returning to your Big Tree Campervan with central heating and all the facilities for cooking a rewarding evening meal is bliss. A few hours later and after a glass of wine or a dram as you watch the sun set and you can be tucked up in bed sleeping off your day's exertions and ready for more the next morning.

One of the biggest walking trends in Scotland is bagging Munros. The Munros are the 283 Scottish mountains with a summit of more than 3000ft. While some of these mountains are only for the most experienced walker, there are a host of easier, beginner-style Munros that would be perfect for your next campervanning holiday in Scotland.

Here we bring you five of our favourite "easier" Munros and suggest a hotspot or two for your campervanning over-night:

Cairnwell (933m), near Glenshee

An easy-to-summit mountain that gives great views for a lot less walking than the average Munro. (Just 595m of ascent). There isn't a path all the way to the top but you will easily navigate in good conditions. As a first Munro this is a great choice.

Where to campervan: It's possible to park discreetly at the south end ofGlenshee Ski Centre but a better option is to continue towards Braemar for about 7km, then take the small road over the bridge on the left. Here you'll find some lovely spots with great fun places to play by the river after a good Munro bag. Do take care here as the ground can be boggy in some places – choose your spot carefully.

There's also a fabulous spot at The Linn of Dee car park, among the gorgeous trees. It's very sheltered, so can it can get a bit midgy at certain times of the year. (Don't forget to buy your Avon Skinsosoft from Big Tree Campervans before setting off.)

Also, Invercauld Caravan Club site at Braemar is popular, and justifiably so because of its first-class facilities.

Ben Chonzie (931m), near Crieff, Perthshire

Ben Chonzie is another great Munro for newbie baggers. Famous for its fabulous heather and sightings of mountain hares, the route is easy to find (except you may need to search a bit for the summit marker!) and it introduces unused leg muscles to the exertions of climbing a Munro.

Where to campervan: There is a car park at the head of the Glen Turret road that feels really isolated. This is because it is isolated! There are some lovely easy walks along the side of the loch, which would be ideal for a post-Munro leg stretch.

20 Shilling Wood Caravan Park in Comrie is really lovely, too. Make sure you phone ahead though if you have Fido in our pet-friendly campervan.

Schiehallion (1083m), Perthshire

This is one of the most popular Munro ascents and also a fairly straightforward route. Choose a fine day if you can and you'll delight in the gorgeous views. The mountain is rather like a broad ridge and at the top you need to walk over boulders to reach the summit marker. Most folk walk Schiehallion by walking up and down the same way. If you fancy something a wee bit different and a little more challenging, then another option is to walk round the south side of the mountain, then strike straight up the "south face" by heathery slopes and some loose scree, heading straight for the summit, where you'll often surprise folk who’ve come up the "normal" way when you suddenly pop up onto the top.

Where to campervan: It's possible to wild camp in the car park which is the usual start-point for bagging this Munro, but please be discreet.

There are also some great spots along the minor road from the car park heading north west (see if you can spot which of the photos on the Home Page of our Big Tree Campervan website were taken along this road!)

Tummel Valley Holiday Park in nearby Tummel Bridge is a good site, but it can be a bit busy in high summer.

Mount Keen (939m), Aboyne, Royal Deeside

This is the most easterly of all the 283 Munros and offers an isolated peak amid gorgeous rolling countryside. There are easy-ish-going routes from both the north and south, and you could cycle in on a mountain bike to the start of the main walking ascent. The views from the peak are jaw-dropping.

Where to campervan: It's possible to wild camp at a few spots in Glen Esk, just past Tarfside.

Glen Esk Caravan Park, near Edzel, is in a lovely setting, with lots of space for the kids to run wild. The mobile reception here is very limited, which is ideal if you're looking for that real get-away-from-it-all holiday!

Ben Lomond (974m), Rowardennan, east side of Loch Lomond

The most southerly of the Munros, and possibly one of the most popular ascents, Ben Lomond offers a fantastic day's walking and a wealth of stunning views, especially over Loch Lomond. There is an easy-to-follow route and an optional return via Ptarmigan Ridge, which can be muddy and a little unnerving in poor weather.

Where to campervan: Sadly, the road up the east side of Loch Lomond has had a fair bit of abuse from unthinking and uncaring "wild" campers’ so there are plans to ban wildcamping (tents and campervans) from this road. If you do choose to wild-camp here - and there are plenty of good spots along this road - be extra sure to take everything away with you and leave it in a cleaner state than you found it. If you do see new "No Camping" signs, go somewhere else!

Other options include Cashel Campsite and Caravan Park at Rowardennan, or the Milarrochy Bay Camping and Caravan Club site at Balmaha.

Where wil your campervan adventure take you?

There's so much more to the great outdoors

Scotland's awesome outdoors
Pic © Angus Clyne

We’re shocked by a new survey that has revealed that more than half of Britons have not tried an outdoor activity due to a "lack of opportunity", while a third claim to be “too scared” to try. The research was carried out on behalf of Go Outdoors and also found that Londoners are most likely not to want to leave the comfort of their homes for an outdoors adventure.

A closer look at particular outdoor activities shows that half of those asked in the poll have never been on a horse and around four in 10 have never swum in natural waters.

But as many health experts extol, getting outdoors is good for our physical and mental well-being so it seems a huge shame that so many people are missing out on a great outdoors adventure.

We reckon that lots of people are put off outdoors pursuits because they fear wet, mud and general discomfort. Of course, some outdoors activities do require participants to get a little wet but that’s usually while wearing a wetsuit and careering crazily down an awesome white water river or canyon. (What? You haven’t tried white water rafting or canyoning in Scotland yet? You don’t know what you’re missing!)

But there are also a host of other activities that are fun and outdoorsy yet not in the least bit OTT. Especially in Scotland.
• There’s cycling on a huge network of quiet roads and traffic-free cycle ways.
• Gorgeous walks along lochsides and river banks.
• Open canoeing in sheltered waters, both on picturesque lochs and at the coast.
• Archery sessions at places such a magnificently scenic Glencoe.
• Land Rover wildlife safaris.

And no-one said you need to sleep rough to enjoy an outdoors break. Not everyone likes camping so why not book your accommodation to suit your comfort desires? Plenty of B&Bs and hotels welcome walkers, cyclists and all kinds of outdoorsy-type folk. Even better still - and we would say this, eh? - is a campervan!

In a campervan you can overnight pretty much where you want. You can enjoy the best of the outdoors, including scenery and nature, but from the warmth and comfort of a heated van. Check out our fabbie hire campervans at Big Tree Campervans.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to up the statistics of this recent report.

Why not just stay in the UK instead?

Swap the potential threat of this....

... for a guaranteed above-expectations scenic holiday in Scotland.

Oh my! Yet more stikes at UK airports could be on the horizon as the union Unite decides later today whether to go on strike. Unite has more than 6,000 workers at all BAA-owned aiports, including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and strike action could well spell more flights' misery for UK holidaymakers.

We're not saying that the workers do not have good cause to strike (it's over pay and conditions) but it does mean that easy-going flying around the UK and overseas could be in jeopardy again.
This comes after the Icelandic ash hell - and other strikes at airports over the year.

But what we are saying is that many more Brits will no doubt be looking to avoid any airport/flights hassle and might well be more favourable towards a stay-in-the-UK holiday. At Big Tree Campervans we have definitely seen a huge increase in the staycationers and our bookings are doing extremely well. We offer to pick customers up at train stations, too, so you can arrive in Scotland by rail at your convenience.

The thing is, too, that so many of our customers our telling us how much they are enjoying their holidays in Scotland. In our opinion it is great to see the tide turning towards UK holidays as opposed to the decades of holidaymakers vanishing overseas.

British holidaymaking is great for our economy and much better for the environment. If you haven't discovered the merits of a Scottish holiday yet then you'll have no idea what you're missing. Why not book one of our gorgeously comfortable campervans and set off for a great adventure? We are sure you'll come back time and again.

More Brits shun overseas travel

New figures reveal that the number of foreign trips made by British people has fallen at the fastest rate since the 1970s in 2009. The report found that there were 58.6 million trips, compared to 69 million in 2008.

ONS says the plummeting figures come after years of steady growth with trips abroad having grown by 4% on average per year in the past 25 years.

It seems likely that 2010 will also reveal a downward trend in foreign holidays by the Brits – while the staycation becomes an even firmer favourite in the UK.

Just last week we heard about the collapse of another travel firm, Goldtrail, and there are further strike threats at six UK airports. More than 6,000 members based at BAA airports, including Heathrow, are in a dispute over pay. This all comes on the back of the Icelandic volcano ash chaos and strike action taken by BA workers.

So much to discover in Scotland:

So many more people are choosing to stay in the UK for the holiday instead of risking an overseas vacation headache.

Anecdotally we're hearing from so many holiday companies in Scotland who are seeing an increase in stay-at-home holidaymakers. And many of our customers – we're pretty much fully booked for the summer – tell us that they feel happier spending money on a holiday at home because it feels less risky. The sunnier start to the summer also encouraged more people to choose outdoors-type holidays, such as camping and campervanning.

We're hoping that the more people who see what Scotland has to offer – and campervanning is a fantastic way to see the great outdoors – the greater the increase in the staycation in years to come. Why not check out our Big Tree great adventure section?

5 campervan hotspots for adventurous mountain bikers

Head to Dalbeattie in the Scottish Borders

for a great range of adventurous mountain biking

If you’re into mountain biking then you’ll know that Scotland is one of the best destinations in the world. Here you’ll find a wealth of challenging trails at tailormade mountain bike centres, as well as mile upon mile of exciting cross country routes.

And if you're looking for a great way to travel with your mountain bike then why not hire a campervan? If you hire a Big Tree Campervan you can also take advantage of our sturdy bike racks. We can supply bike racks for two to four bikes for an additional cost of only £20. The racks are tow-bar mounted and make easy work of carrying all your bikes.

With a campervan you can park up, eat, sleep and then spend all day mountain biking. Sound good to you?

Hear we bring you another in our blog series of top five great places to go campervanning in Scotland.

Five great campervan spots for mountain biking junkies

Highland Wildcat Trails, Golspie, Sutherland

What’s here?: This centre is famed for its fantastic views and Scotland’s longest purpose-built continual single track descent at 7km long. There is also almost 14km of black trail and for those with a little less energy and experience the blue route won’t disappoint. Where to campervan: You’ll find several lovely spots for wild campervanning just past the golf course along the minor road towards Littleferry. For a couple of recommended campsites, head to Brora for Dalchalm Caravan Club.

Glentress, near Peebles

What’s here?: This is Scotland’s premier mountain biking centre and one that is famed worldwide. The original of the Scottish Borders' 7Stanes centre, Glentress offers a trail for every ability but for the MTB junkie this is riding heaven. You’ll find more than 20km of red route and 30km of black route. There’s also a fab freeride park and skills area. Where to campervan: We’ve seen campervans parked up overnight in the Buzzard’s Nest car park at Glentress. If you’re asked to move on we’d suggest you do, but if you’re nice and quiet then it’s likely you’ll not be noticed. There are also a few wild camping spots along the B709, north from Innerleithen towards the Moorfoot Hills. These are mostly by the side of the road, but it’s a very quiet road and a very tranquil glen. There is a wonderful bubbling burn running alongside the road. For good campsites try Tweedside Caravan Park in Innerleithen, or Crossburn Caravan Site in Peebles, as well as Rosetta Caravan and Camping Park, also in Peebles.

Nevis Range, near Fort William:

What’s here?: This centre is famed for hosting the annual Mountain Bike World Cup. You’ll have the chance to ride the crazily challenging downhill track and also a range of fabulous cross-country style routes. Where to campervan: It’s possible to wildcamp in the upper parts of Glen Nevis, but be very discreet. The “North Face” car park in Torlundy is also a good spot but it does get busy. Meanwhile, we’d recommend Glen Nevis Caravan and Camping site. (Make sure you book ahead at the height of the season.) The Bunroy Park Caravan and Camping site at Roy Bridge is great and only a short drive away.

Dalbeattie, near Dumfries

What’s here?: One of the famous 7stanes centres located in the Scottish Borders, Dalbeattie boasts 25km of red route and some fantastic black graded sections. Don’t miss the infamous Slab. That’s all we’re saying! Where to campervan: There are some great spots on the minor road that links the B793 to the A710. For official campsites head to Kippford Holiday Park or Sandyhills.

Glen Sligachan, Isle of Skye

What’s here?: This is remote riding at its best! Glen Sligachan cuts a glaciated route through SE Skye offering a fantastic route between the Black and Red Cuillin. At 45km it’s no small undertaking and only the most experience riders should try this one. Where to campervan: The Sligachan Campsite is beautifully located at the head of Loch Sligachan. The site offers awesome scenery, fantastic walks and a pub/hotel that is so close that it feels as though it's an integral part of the campsite.