As we are in our final stages of planning for early retirement, we are looking to maximise our savings from our final few months of salaried income. This involves living to a purposely tight budget, to not only minimise our outgoings and maximise our savings, but also to condition us to a much more frugal lifestyle than we have been previously used to. However at the same time, we desperately want to get away and unwind after a hectic term of work, as that is what we do (and enjoy) every holiday.
The solution- a bit of real-time, action research to see exactly how cheaply we could have a week away in the van for, whilst still having an enjoyable and relaxing break. We currently work on a £175 a week budget, with £100 on food and spending money, and £75 on fuel for the van and Jackie’s car.
How much more money would we need in addition to this weekly budget to have a week away on the road in Scotland?
In preparation for this trip, we did a standard weekly supermarket shop that came in at £100 including beer and wine for the week.
Sat 19/2/22. A quick visit to Mum in Yorkshire to check that she was all OK for our week away, followed by the long drive up to the start of our planned tour at Blairgowrie. The Park for the night app gave us a good suggested park up at the riverside in Blairgowrie, which looked fine as we pulled up in the dark. It was even more beautiful on a quiet Sunday morning, waking up to the sun streaming through the trees and the sound of the river as we made a lazy start to the day.
Costs: £60 petrol at ASDA in Bradford (much cheaper than Cheshire!), and £50 petrol in Blairgowrie before we ventured into the wilderness.
Sunday 20/2/22. We headed north through the Grampian Mountains towards Glen Shee on the aptly named Snow Road. Thankfully as you would expect in these parts, the efficiency of the snow ploughs and gritters could not be faulted. The beautifully clear road carved it’s way through the snow fields as we gained more and more altitude. The sight of deers in the fields was too much for Jackie and we had to stop for a chat with them, as well as a hot chocolate at the adjoining cafe (very clever marketing!). The Ski centre at Glen Shee was busy as we passed by, preferring not to stop as the clear skies and high winds made for a brutal wind chill temperature. At the bottom of the pass lies Braemar, home of the annual Highland games gathering and allegedly a popular visiting spot of the Royal Family. We pootled down to visit the castle in the snow, in reality we found the castle shrouded in scaffolding and closed for winter refurbishment! We fancied a bit of wilderness for the night, so again after checking the Park for the night app for ideas, headed up to the Linn of Dee, a 7 mile dead-end road to nowhere. It didn’t disappoint as we set up camp as the snow started to fall. An evening of complete comfort followed- Paella, a good book and 10 hours of quality sleep.
Costs: £7 for hot chocolate, coffee and a croissant. £3 for parking charge for the night.
Monday 21/2/22. We woke early to a beautiful blanket of fresh snow and clear blue skies- getting up and off reasonably quickly for us as we feared the weather window wouldn’t hold. A quick walk to explore the Linn of Dee, followed by a further 4 mile dead-end drive to find the splendidly isolated, and rarely visited Linn of Quoich- a favourite place of Queen Victoria- for very good reason. When in the Royal Dee, it would be wrong not to visit Balmorral wouldn’t it? We were keen to seek out the little publicised royal cairns hidden in the estate grounds. After a long and muddy climb, we came to the impressive pyramid of the Prince Albert cairn, looking out over the meandering Dee below. We wondered how many of the thousands of visitors to Balmorral even knew these places existed.
We planned to camp at the isolated Loch Muick that night, but it seemed that the forestry carpark recently stopped allowing overnight visitors. We would have quite happily paid the £10 to stay, but instead stayed partway up the valley for free. It was a wild and windy night as the weather front whipped up the open valley, but we were rewarded with the views of the wintery mountain vistas and groups of wild stags who had survived to the end of the hunting season. Needless to say, they were a little mistrusting of humans! Another comfort meal of a chilli stew from the freezer and a quality red to wash it down ended a great day.
Costs: zero.
Tuesday 22/2/22. After the storm that kept us awake for most of the night, we woke up to an amazingly clear and crisp morning. After calling at the famed Ballater butchers (by Royal appointment of course) for the essential peppercorn sauce for later in the week, we followed the old military road south to Montrose. After hitting the coast road, we headed north to St Cyrus’ nature reserve and then onwards to Dunnottar Castle.
After 3 nights of wild camping, we felt that it was about time to find a campsite for showers, a water top up and some mains power. Campsites that are open at this time of year are very hard to find, so we were forced to resort to a cheaper alternative in Stonehaven- a hot shower at the leisure centre, fresh water from the dispenser at the park and an great fish and chips supper overlooking the sea. As we still had daylight hours to spare, we headed north again to wild camp at Balmedie beach.
Costs: £5.30 showers. £19 fish and chips. £10 emergency wine top up. Butchers £3.50
Wednesday 23/2/22. I took the opportunity to leave Jackie in bed to wander into the dunes for a wild and windy walk at first light with the camera. It was truly inspirational and the feeling of solitude was joyful.
For once, we were definitely racing the weather, heading north again and enjoying a visit to a very wind swept Slains Castle. As the weather closed in, we did what all intrepid explorers do in those circumstances, find the nearest Witherspoons for a pint and some much needed charge for the laptops! The rest of the day was spent discovering tiny fishing villages on the Moray coast and drinking tea as we sheltered from the regular winter flurries. Home for the night was at Cullen harbour as a snow storm hit, providing another night of interrupted sleep as the windscreen cover was repeatedly blown off in the early hours.
Costs: Pints at Witherspoons £6.50. Local parking 50p.
Thursday 24/2/22. A cold and frosty start on the harbour front, with the unique experience of snow settling at the seaside. It was definitely a double jacket day, but getting up, getting out and feeling the icy air in our lungs was quite refreshing…after the initial shock! It was my 51st birthday so the plan was to start the day with a full on Scottish cooked breakfast…cue the start of a mini rant! Cullen is a reasonably sized town, but had nowhere open for a breakfast service. This trend continued throughout the day. We had money burning a hole in our pockets and could not find anywhere to spend it. It continued into Avimore, a large town in the middle of the ski season. One pub had run out of the beer we fancied, and the other closed for lunch! One of underlying principles of Campervaning is to try any put money into the local economy. We had previously questioned our ethics of this experimental “budget” trip, as we knew that we would not be spending very much locally, but even when we tried to, it proved almost impossible.
On a more positive note, we headed south, following the river Spey to Avimore via the little used B road on the west bank of the river, witnessing first hand the impact the Whiskey industry has on this part of the world. Wild camping has become much more limited in Avimore of late, with many favoured spots now being restricted. We decided against camping high up at the ski centre as heavy snow was due, so we camped much lower at Glen Morr, within walking distance of the Pinemartin Bar, which was open, which was welcoming and who happily took our money in exchange for beer…at last. With a birthday tea of steak au poivre, new potatoes and fresh salad, who says living in a van isn’t luxurious?
Costs: £60 Petrol. £8 beer.
Friday 25/2/22. We had a surprisingly peaceful night on the shores of Loch Mortich, next to the main road up to the ski station. The main benefit of this spot is there is no traffic after early evening, until about 6am when the snow ploughs start clearing the road again. With fresh snow on the ground, and people pouring into the ski resort, we made the decision to avoid the crowds and head for a renowned forrest walk. Inshriach Forest and Uath Lochan didn’t disappoint with their fresh blanket of snow and bluebird skies. We had a good two hours of this winter paradise to ourselves before we saw another soul.
After a quick budget lunch in the Forrest, we headed further south via Fort William to Glen Coe. We deliberated wether to book a campsite in Glen Coe, but via the Park for the Night app, we realised that the Kings Head hotel had public showers attached to their bunk house facility. What a luxury this was, hot showers for a pound! We stayed for a pint at the bar, feeling guilty about the ridiculously low price of a shower, then headed to a favourite wild camping spot just above the Clachaig Inn where we went for dinner.
Never has a walk to the pub being so wild- it was hosing it down, with the wind driving the rain horizontal. About half way to the pub, a friendly VW nut stopped and offered us a lift, which we duly accepted. The Clachaig Inn is a mountaineering institution, with such a rich history of visitors. Having a cosy night in a warm pub, with great food was a fitting start to the final weekend of the holiday.
Costs: £50 petrol. £30 top up shop for wine and beer. £10 pints at the Kings Head. £40 meal at the Clachaig Inn.
Sat 26/2/22. After yet another night of storms, we were not feeling in the mood to discover the lost valley of Glen Coe in decidedly wintery conditions. We decided to make a move south for home sooner rather than later, looking to break the long haul home into two manageable chunks over the next two days. Having never explored the borders, we dived off the M74 and headed for Dumfries and then onto the most wonderful, community managed park up for the night at Glencaple. There was ample space for 5 vans overnight on the jetty overlooking the river Nith, with voluntary donations accepted for the privilege of staying in such a glorious place. It was wonderfully refreshing to see a small local community taking the lead in such a development for their village.
Costs: £10 Witherspoons beers. Showers £2. Donation £5.
Summary of overall costs
Standard weekly budget of £100 for food and spends, £75 Fuel
Fuel | £160 |
Coffees/eating out | £66 |
Parking | £8.50 |
Showers | £7.30 |
Shopping top up | £43.50 |
Pub | £34.50 |
Total for 9 days and 1250 miles | £283.80 |
Things to take away:
Our fuel costs single handedly broke the budget. 1250 miles of driving was always going to use a lot of fuel. As we only had a week to explore the area we hit the milage hard. On reflection, when we have unlimited time in retirement, we would travel less frequently, exploring an area fully before we move on. The wanderlust for mountains and beaches was a costly choice!
We could have eaten out less- but it was our holiday and £40 for a birthday meal once a year at our favourite pub is not an unreasonable expectation! We would have spent at least this if we had stayed at home.
Saving money on campsite fees has a cost impact on other parts of the holiday. As we had no access to electric hookups for 9 days there was a cost of the pub in order to get power for our laptops which cannot be charged from the 12v system in the van. A solution to this could be to transfer our work on laptops onto iPads that can be changed using a 12v system.
The Park for the night app was an absolute money saver in terms of highlighting camping locations and also highlighting where we could get showers whilst on our travels.
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