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As with previous years, I'm looking for inspiration for our annual jaunt away without risk adverse mum. Previous trips include Arran, Mull and Moray. All of which were perfect but we like finding new places.
Kids are 14 and 12, they like biking, surfing, climbing, kite flying, fire building, wildlife, exploring and hill walking (less so on the hill walking) and generally being a bit feral without much of a plan.
Its an early, shorter trip this year, May bank holiday weekend so four nights (Fri to Tues). This limits options slightly as don't want silly amount of driving time. Ideally within four hours of Scottish Borders. Doesn't need to be Scotland but prefer to avoid crowds wherever possible
Requirements are:
- Somewhere beautiful, forests, coast and hills. Happy with two out of the three.
- We like getting a ferry, not essential but always feels like an adventure
- Decent hostel or Air BnB
- Dog friendly (although she is happy sleeping in car so not essential to come in to building)
- Not totally isolated, I will not be planning ahead at all so need reasonable access to cafe / pub / Coop otherwise kids will starve.
I did wonder about seeing if I could hire a camper van for not silly money and dotting around the west cost, but I would need a route to get the ratio of driving to adventure time right. I wouldn't want to be behind the wheel the whole time.
Places and boats booking up fast so need to get organised.
What are your thoughts?
Mourne mountains and surrounding areas?
What about the coast between Dalbeattie and Mabey.
Some great beaches, good cycling, well stocked shop and cafe in Colvend, more in Dalbeattie. We camped at Sandy Hills, I think there are chalets / lodges over the road. Small shop at the campsite and pub nearby. Lots of choices from there or the other towns and villages on that coast. Kircubright and Castle Douglas are also nice but would need the car to get to the trail centres but bound to be local cycling too.
Found this website which lets you choose a place in Scotland and see what is nearby when checking my remembered facts. Enjoy wherever you choose.
https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/sandyhills-p314961
Can you get to the lakes? Stay in Keswick.
Do the slate via ferata at Honister
https://honister.com/product/via-ferrata-xtreme/
Take 'em up Scarfell.
Do something on the water
Day out at Whinlatter
Northumberland has all of that apart from a ferry but you can get out to the Farne Islands on a boat trip.
Belford would be a good centre as you can ride from there to the coast or the local forests. Big hills inland, great beaches, castles, pubs, cafes etc.
Maybe a "cabin"/wooden tent somewhere that allows fires would be okay
How about Angus.
So cracking belters of beaches lunan bay etc. The glen's etc for hills and the like.
Dunotter and various other epic castles. Great quiet roads for cycling.
Not sure whether you'd want to do it over a bank holiday, but Galloway activity centre will tick all the boxes except the ferry. lots of different option on accomm from camping to glamping and loch side cabins.
Argyll surely meets a lot of that? Feral in Argyll is on my plan in the spring with the canoe around Loch Sween and the Fairy Isles.
Somewhere near Kilmartin - you would have day trips by ferry to Jura, Islay or Gigha not that far away, beaches aplenty (sand or rocky) for some swimming/paddling/fires, Loch Sween has some great wildlife and kayak hire, hills to walk all around, bike on and off road is good (some of the MTB is either overgrown a bit or quite 'old school'). Tayvallich has a great ice cream place.
River Esk scramble in the Lake District. I've given this a lot of thought during dull days at work and concluded that it is one of the few genuinely world class days out in Britain.
By that I don't mean good, or very good, I mean " if you had a blank canvas and had to define the best possible gill scramble to solo with kids then how would it look"
We did it again this year and it is just sublime.
We've done loads of skiing and boarding and mtb uplift days in France, Scotland, Austria, Germany, Italy etc
Weeks bouldering in fontainebleau, kayaking various places sleeping in caves and building igloos etc etc but still the biggest **** off grins the kids have had is half way up Eskdale as they discovered yet another crystal clear pool to launch themselves into followed by another tiny cliff/ waterfall to climb up
If you knock off the beaches and ferries, Yorkshire Dales can do lots of what you want, but with loads of underground stuff on offer with all the cave networks and caverns. There are places where you can have instructor led stuff too which helps if pressed for time, e.g.
Not as remote as West of Scotland, but never as busy as the Lakes honeypots. Forbidden Corner is worth the trip in itself if your kids haven't been.
Loads of good advice here, thanks.
NI just out of reach really for four days, just oo much travelling
Northumberland, we just cam back last week. We hire the same house in High Newton every Oct so already a regular haunt
Lake District, tempting but we tend to head for quie a few day trips outside f peak times so will probably look to avoid staying for bank holiday w/e. Esk scramble and Honister both on the list for future
Arran or Argyll look like front runners
The Black Isle?
Great area ,and if the weather turns bad you have Inverness close by as a back up for indoor stuff .