ONSC in the Scottish Highlands

[GarnerFJ40]

So, the trio of us kept this close to our chests. Since I've been in Denmark for close to 6 months, I've wanted to take a trip to the Scottish Highlands, see some castle ruins and drink some whisky.

This was supposed to be a summer trip, but between my work schedule, airfare prices, and other scheduling conflicts, I never pulled the trigger on going. When I found out I need to return to Copenhagen in January, I needed to get off my arse and do it. So, after looking at hotel and car rental prices, I figured the only way to do it was to Overland it. So, I got in touch with Scotland Overland and rented a Land Rover Defender, as their Hilux was not yet ready, and in all honesty, I wanted this to be an official UK trip and see what the Defenders were all about!

So, I booked the airfare, $38 USD round trip from Copenhagen to Edinburgh, and started to asked our giant UK born Yeti member where I should go. We chatted, and later his wife Andy and I started conspiring to line up for Al to be able to join me. The cat was out of the bag early on, as he needed to get his stolen passport and green card replaced from a short trip to Canada and back.

After Al was lined up, we decided to make this a threesome, and invite our long lost ONSC Colorado member Brett, along for the ride!

This past weekend Brett, Al, and myself ventured through the Scottish Highlands through the most snow they've seen in eight years, and did it in a RTT. Yes, there might have have been some snuggling involved... and definitely lots of Scotch Whisky, and maybe a couple of Italian girls...

So without a further ado, here are some pics, and we'll let this thread begin...

 

[GarnerFJ40]

 

[NCFJ]

More pics, great trip guys!

 

[lt1fire]

It was a fun trip albeit different from the original plan. Although the planning was short due to Andrea surprising me with this amazing late christmas present. It was great as it was the first time in almost exactly 5 years we had all been together.
The trip made sense after first giving Andrea my knee jerk reaction of we can't afford it. Brett and I had actually talked about this exact trip a year ago and Brian and I always wanted to do one guys trip off into the middle of no where. There was actually a forth member of our crew as I brought some of Logan with us to scatter. I always take him on my trips and we had also actually talked about a highlands camping trip together years ago. I Scattered some of him in the Highlands when I was there last year so this year I left some of him at Edinburgh castle and St Pauls Cathedral in London. @alk747triodad I had ordered a special toyota container for him this time but it went on back order so I spruced up your container a bit after finding a few ONSC stickers.

The original trip I had planned for just Brian was more of a distillery tour and with no snow, better driving conditions. Because of the huge snow storm that came out of no where (wasn't planned on any of the weather forecasts) traffic and driving speed was slowed down quite a bit so my projections of where we wanted to be each night was off. Plus the majority of the off the grid camp sites we were going to hit up where impossible to get to with a stock height, non locked Defender on stock height all terrains. Adding to that many of the distilleries were closed to tours our trip changed to mostly sightseeing with lots of beer and scotch that we got from stores/pubs. In that capacity I acted as a tour guide for sights, Scotch, beer and food (lots of haggis, bacon, and fish..... which the Scots do better than anyone especially salmon)

I have a list of the Scotch's we tried on my tablet that i'll post up later.

We did get stuck once trying to take the old dirt road up to the ski resort. It was snow that got progressively worse and Scottish mud that got progressively deeper until the frame and axles were completely buried. After 40 minutes of digging with the Mattrax and getting no where we were saved by a Mitsubishi L200 truck that tugged us back the foot we needed to drive ourselves out. Except for the major traffic jam at Loch Lomond on the final day driving was pretty smooth albeit much slower than i've done it the last few times.

After a great 7 days of Scotch, beer, best friends, family, family friends, the Highlands, Edinburgh, London, camping and off roading I came back to a huge back log of work and have pulled 12-18 hour days ever since. But still completely worth it.

We are already planning another trip up into the Canadian Rockies in Summer.

 

[lt1fire]

i've got a video montage of the pictures that i'll get up soon, and Brian has hours of Go-Pro footage

 

[lt1fire]

The majority of the pictures came out with less resolution than they actually are in the video but still came out pretty good. Picked what I thought would be a song most would like instead of my normal Hard Rock or Metal.

 

[OGBeno]

Dayum. Serious business.

 

[lt1fire]

and maybe a couple of Italian girls...

LOL I was half expecting for them to walk into the pub I was in on Sunday night

 

[lt1fire]

Dayum. Serious business.

Thanks dude.... when have to $$$ to do it one day i'll have to bribe you to play tour guide for a 4x4 trip to Turkey. Always wanted to go... almost did when I was living in London but it fell through.

 

[GarnerFJ40]

Next up... GoPro video.... Still in progress though...

 

[OGBeno]

Thanks dude.... when have to $$$ to do it one day i'll have to bribe you to play tour guide for a 4x4 trip to Turkey. Always wanted to go... almost did when I was living in London but it fell through.

Brett will be giving me a debrief on the antics tomorrow night at dinner.

 

[lt1fire]

Brett will be giving me a debrief on the antics tomorrow night at dinner.

whatever he says is lies, all lies

 

[AndrewHadji]

This is great, subscribed

 

[lt1fire]

To summarize the trip.
Brian and I got there on Thursday afternoon, picked up the truck and drove into Edinburgh to have some drinks with friends of mine. Walked around the city for a bit and then had a nice haggis dinner.
Camped at an RV camp that night just west of the city and then in the morning did food shopping and drove to Glasgow to pick up Brett. From that day. After picking up a Bonnie Prince Charlie suit Brian had bought off of craigslist we were on our way north. Snow didn't really appear until after lunch and a great driving road (although not so much in a 4x4) north of Loch Lomond. Tons of snow from there onward with multiple viewing stops. Stopped at Glen Coe ski resort and got stuck on a dirt road in white out conditions. Continued north after that with the road down out of the valley iced over a bit so there was a huge line of truckers and cars waiting for a grit truck to go up the same road. Stopped in Fort William for a huge spread of local sea food, haggis and scotches (with beer mixed in) Kept pushing on after that to Loch Ness and camped for the night in what we later found out was a closed camp site. Local fire brigade member stopped by and let us know after our camp fire had been reported. His dad owned the place and was nice and let us stay after seeing we were already set up and being respectful of the place. Saw the northern lights. Wasn't clear as it was obscured by some cloud but still amazingly beautiful in the pitch black of the Scottish Highlands.
Next day got up, packed up (zippers on RTT are a real Bi$ch with snow and ice on them) Found a public restroom that was open and full of British Telecommunication guys waiting for their marching orders with the extreme ice in some parts of the country there were many lines down. Started bumping in to these two Italian girls that were also on vacation from here on out. Seemed everywhere we stopped they were there or turned up shortly after us. That night shared some stories, scotch, food and good laughs with them at the grog and gruel in Ft William. But during that day we drove up to Eilean Donan (castle I was married in) only to find out it too was closed for the season. So we set up shop in the parking lot and cooked up a ton of food, drank some great beer and just enjoyed the view for a few hours. We also changed into our Kilts for the rest of the day.
From there it was on for some more firewood for that night at Kyle of Localsh and then on to the Isle of Skye and Tallisker (which also was friggen closed that day, closed on a saturday for some reason). Back tracked as I figured all the other distilleries would also be closed. Contemplated one of the amazing hikes on the island but we were set up for snow that deep to hike in. So we found a micro brewery that also had a pub attached and set up in there for a while. Even though they were closing in 10 minutes the owner let us stay for about 90 minutes, gave us a run down on the 500+ different Whisky types he had and let us have some of their craft beer they bottle in the winter. Great stuff all around.

From there we decided to drive as far south as we felt like and find a good campsite to reduce the rush of the next day getting Brett and Brian to two different airports. Got as far as Ft william and had yet to find an open campsite with the off road ones being impossible to get to in the current rig we decided to stop for a drink. It was also currently -8 degrees and the steep icy hill was coming up next. So not wanting to be stuck in a huge trucking line again and wanting to go out for a night on the town we opted to stay in a hotel there to make it easier than searching for campsites only to be met with closed signs for a few hours. It was at this time I donned the shorts for the night due to all my other pants being soaking wet and frozen solid from the knees down due to standing in deep snow at different campsites. It was certainly brisk but nice at the same time... LOL.
Hit up the grog and gruel for beer and scotch where we ran into the Italians again. After that we all headed back to our respective hotels and at ours I thought it was time for a lesson in scotch and to find ones that Brett liked. We found some but at the same time was starting to order way too many.... not sure how much $$ or drams we ordered that night but it was quite a bit. Brett and Brian went to bed around 1230 and I stayed up drinking more stuff with some Scotts, some Italians, and one Russian that appeared out of no where. went to bed around 2. woke up early with a massive headache that I walked of and then after breakfast we were on the road again.
Massive traffic jam around Loch Lomond again which cut down on any sites to see or places to stop. Got Brett to his airport (@shellb how was the walk from your hotel the next morning?)
Then got the truck back to Edinburgh (the porter got a hell of a hook up with good meat and beer that we didn't get to having that day due to the traffic jam). Brian got on his plane back to Denmark, I took a bus into the city walked around for a bit and then went to a friends house for the night.

Got up and flew to London for a few days of family and friends but that doesn't have much to do with this trip. LOL

few pics
first night in front of Edinburgh Castle

the sony A7 does amazing at night but I didn't have a tripod so the majority came out blurry. This was the first night and completely pitch black.

and for some reason the rest of my pics aren't loading so i'll just post these two for now.

 

[lt1fire]

Also would like to recommend the Hannibal brand RTT.

I've read enough consumer reviews and talked to unbiased people in the industry to know that brands like Moombasa, Howling Moon and Hannibal are on a completely different tier for quality when compared to brands like CVT, tepui, camping lab, etc.....

I've seen it first hand at trade shows trying them out, the material used, mattress comfort, etc... is just beyond the others, but i've never been in a Hannibal.

It was basically the equivalent of a Oz tent for a RTT. The Material was top notch and even for this one being a huge 4 person it was easy to open and close (barring the ice/frost on the zipper which normally wouldn't be a problem) The mattress was more comfortable than some beds i've been in and even in sub zero temps and without a temp heater the air in there wasn't that cold.

 

[lt1fire]

There was a foxwing awning on the rig also but we never opened it.

 

[jamesurq]

without a temp heater the air in there wasn't that cold.

Duh... three big dudes in a little tent, s*** tons of whiskey.... yeah.. surprising it wasn't cold. lol.

 

[JohnVee]

I tend to believe everything I see in cartoons. Can y'all confirm if this is true?

 

[lt1fire]

Duh... three big dudes in a little tent, s*** tons of whiskey.... yeah.. surprising it wasn't cold. lol.

Comes down to good insulation from the materials. But my initial thoughts were from first getting in the tent after it had been set up in subzero temps for a few hours, i've sat in other RTTs in much warmer temps that seemed a lot colder when first getting in.

But to your point I did suggest a remaking of without a paddle if it got too cold.

 

[lt1fire]

I tend to believe everything I see in cartoons. Can y'all confirm if this is true?

View attachment 1622415 View attachment 1622416

didn't go to battle so the gowns stayed in the luggage