A Great Day (Morning) On The Hill

We're delighted to see our Austrian pal Charly Fritzer back in Scotland for another Big Tree Campervan Scottish winter climbing road-trip, and when I picked Charly and Matthias Wurtzer up from the airport yesterday, they were really keen to get out and climb! So, they headed up to Aviemore in their campervan last night, with plans for a bunch of us to meet up with them this morning in Coire Cas carpark. I was planning to climb with Chadders (aka Mark Chadwick), and Greg Boswell, and Will Sim, and Will's pal Ally had also agreed to come and play - the only problem was whether the crags would be in good winter condition.

We all met as planned at 7.00am in the carpark, the Austrian boys having had an excellent night's kip in their campervan, but I must admit to feeling pretty apprehensive having persuaded all this winter talent to head into Coire an Lochain.... when in fact there was a percentage chance that the crags wouldn't be white enough! The forecast had definitely been better for the west coast, so it was a huge relief when it got light enough to see the crag... in perfect mixed climbing conditions! White with hoar frost and rime, with solid old snow up to the base of the crag, and not too much ice in cracks to make gear placement difficult. Phew!

Chadders and I both had to be back home pretty swiftish (me in time to get to a ceilidh which my daughter was playing at, and Chadders to do an avalanche awareness evening for the Mountain Rescue Team), so we sprinted up Overseer Direct, an excellent fun V,6 route which was very very enjoyable. From our route we could see over to Charly and Matthias who were making (very) quick work of Fallout Corner (VI,7).

Topping out in the sunshine we wandered over to watch Will looking cool on the top pitch of Daddy Longlegs (VIII,9) before we had to head down. It was only midday when we left, and whilst we did see the Austrian boys starting up Grumbling Groove (VI,6), there's a fair chance that lots more steep stuff was done! In a way it was a shame to have to leave so early, but it was a great morning out, excellent company, and a fun climb in superb conditions!

Below: A strong team (Greg Boswell, Will Sim, Matthias Wurtzer, Charly Fritzer). Chadders on pitch 2, Overseer Direct. Will cruising toppitch of Daddy Longlegs.

STS on the Ben with Big Tree Campervans - The Movie!!

An excellent Christmas pressie - the wonderful trio of Simon, James & Dom have just sent through the results of the superb work they've done editing together hours of footage from the 'STS on the Ben'.

The full version (27mins) will be out soon, but in the meantime, here's a shorter Christmas Teaser version to enjoy with your turkey & mince pies.http://vimeo.com/34159850 Enjoy!

STS on the Ben with Big Tree Campervans

Ok, it's been a long time since the last Big Tree Campervans blog, but we've had an excellent end to the 2011 season, with loads of bookings, loads of fab customers, several trade shows, and even a couple of TV appearances... and lots of cool campervan ideas for 2012!

One of the main things we did in the autumn was to sponsor the Scottish Tooling Series (there's a great piece on this on the UKC website: http://tinyurl.com/d6efj2b), and the main prize we sponsored was to take the winning climbers off for a weekend at the CIC hut on Ben Nevis. It turned out to be a superb weekend, with lots of great climbing, great fun, great criac, and (thanks to folk like James Dunn, Dom Scott and Simon Davidson), lots of great photos and film footage.

We particulalry like this shot of the Big Tree Campervan in the carpark on the way out, and draped with the Saltire.

You can see more of Jame's great photos on his site James Dunn Visuals (http://tinyurl.com/cnxbnet), and Dom's on his site: (http://tinyurl.com/cg3mm6v)

Big Tree Sponsors Major Climbing Comp

At Big Tree Campervans we're passionate about creating exciting adventures, and passionate about Scotland. So we're delighted to be sponsoring again the '2011 Scottish Tooling Series' - a major indoor climbing competion which is all about using winter climbing skills, techniques and equipment on indoor climbing walls. There are four rounds in the series -Ice Factor at Kinlochleven on 8th Oct; Glenmore Lodge on 22nd Oct; Transition Extreme in Aberdeen on 29th Oct; and the finals at The Glasgow Climbing Centre on 12th November.

Last weekend's first round at The Ice Factor was a sell-out, and saw some incredible performances from folk like Dennis Van Hoek, Marianne Van Der Steen, and Harry Holmes.... and I even managed a humble third place in the adult vet category! We'll have more of the next two events at Glenmore and Transition Extreme, and of course the final in Glasgow in November!

Big Tree Campervans are sponsoring the overall series, and putting up a great prize: 'STS On The Ben' - the STS adult winners and selected runners up will be based at the CIC hut on Ben Nevis for a weekend of awesome mixed climbing on one of the most famous winter climbing venues in the world. We'll hopefully have some great blogs to share from this, as well as some cool film footage from top european adventure film-maker, Hans Hornberger who's coming over from Germany to film the STS On The Ben.

Stuff On Your (Our) Doorstep

At Big Tree Campervans we have loads of customers who are keen to head off to the fantastic west and north coasts of Scotland, and so zoom from Perthshire out to the west. Dont get me wrong, the west and north coasts are awesome places, and perfect for a campervan adventure.... but here's a thought: in my humble opinion, Perthshire is one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland, and well worth at least a couple of days (if not a whole holiday) spent exploring some of it's gems.

So, here's a few of our favourites, right here on Big Tree Campervan's doorstep:

Swimming at Rumbling Bridge - if you're into wild swimming, there are some fantasic rocky pools a couple of hundred metres upstream from Rumbling Bridge. It's easy to find - turn off the A9 onto the A822, and it's signposted on the right after about 2miles.
Camping wild - a couple of great local spots, one at the ford at Little Glenshee, just north west of our base in Bankfoot; and one in the wooded carpark at Rumbling Bridge. Slightly further from Bankfoot, there are some lovely wee spots in the upper reaches of Glen Lyon. As with all wild camping, be sure to follow the simple guidelines which we published on a recent blog (a copy will be in your campervan).
Great campsites - our favourite has to be Inver Mill (0044 1350 727477) which is a great campsite beside the river Braan, and just near the lovely picturesque village of Dunkeld. Our pals who run Inver Mill have always been really helpful in finding space for a last-minute Big Tree Campervan customer, and as it's only a few miles up the road it's a great lazy option for a first or last night.
Highland Safaris - (http://www.highlandsafaris.net/leisure/) if you fancy seeing and experiencing a bit more of the real highlands on a fantastic 4 x 4 Safari, then Donald & Julie's business just up the valley from Aberfeldy is a must. They also have a great cafe there, and are always looking to add different things, and have recenly opened Bike Trax, which is a fab moutain bike skills course.
Stewart Tower Dairy - if you love icecream, you just must make time to pop in and sample some of Neil & Linsey's awesome 'proper' italian gelato icecream... and it's only about 2 minutes drive from our base in Bankfoot!
Adventure Stuff - loads to do to get the adrenalin pumping: river rafting with Nae Limits http://www.naelimits.co.uk/) or Splash (http://rafting.co.uk/); Progression Bikes, which is the new mountain biking uplift facility at Dunkeld (http://www.progressionbikesscotland.com/), and one of our favouities - Highland Fling, (http://www.bungeejumpscotland.co.uk/) which is the UK's first static bridge bungee jump.... 40m of real buzz!!
The Bankfoot Inn - (http://www.bankfootinn.co.uk) we couldn't end this blog without mentioning what we think (ok, we're probably somewhat biased!) is one of the best real ale pubs in Scotland! Fantastic beers, great food, really comfy and welcoming rooms, and of course the increasingly famous Wednesday night music sessions - if you're into trad music, then you simply must get along on a Wednesday evening when there is a regualr crowd of lovers of trad music: a couple of fiddles, a guitar or two, an accordion, and lots of hearty singing voices all in a hugely welcoming atmosphere. Perfect!

'We Are Sailing... We Are Sailing..'

With the start of summer upon us, lots of our customers are heading off to explore the fantastic range of Scottish islands. We find folk often have a few questions when they're thinking of including islands and ferry crossings in their Big Tree Campervan adventure, 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 '6 Journey' 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!

How cool is this...Adventure Of The Week!

We're really really proud of this write-up in Adventure Travel magazine! Have a wee read yourselves, and you can see why we think it's so good!