Monday, 4 November 2024

Baker's 2024 Holiday



In August 2022 we took Baker on a trip to celebrate his 10th Birthday. He loved it so much that we went to the same place again in June 2023, but it wasn't as good as the year before. So this year we packed up our car and headed out on a 'wild camping trip' to the Highlands...














Our first port of call should have been a sign that this trip wasn't going to go to plan. We went to the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick but we didn't even stay 30 mins. The weather was scorching, the town was packed, the tourists were rude and my Autism was like 'No thanks!'. One day Josh and I will head back up without Baker specifically to see Bass Rock but until then I'd like to erase this visit from my mind!
After trying (and failing) to get Baker to have dinner, we got back in the car to head for our campsite.






A lot of driving later we needed to take a toilet and leg stretch break. I have no idea where this was but wasn't it stunning?!

















Arriving nice and early we secured our park up somewhere North of Pitlochry. Gorgeous but very open to the elements and although sunny it was very windy. While Mr H sorted tea, I had a paddle to try and calm my stress but after the day we'd had I wasn't feeling great. It would seem that Baker was struggling too because yet again he refused to eat so after we humans ate, we retreated to the car for cuddles and to read before settling down to sleep.
The next day the route was to head North towards Ullapool, sleep our second night somewhere in the middle of nowhere, that morning stop by Loch Ness and drive towards Loch Lommand to find a campsite. On our last day, we would then head East again and go home but that is not what happened. 
The holiday was cut extra short as we decided that if Baker wasn't eating it wasn't safe or fair to stay away from home. When we woke up the weather was telling us to go too as the winds had been joined by lots of rain. 












Determined not to leave completely defeated and as Loch Ness was only an hour and a bit North we trudged on with the hopes of getting a family photo with Nessie. Allt Na Criche forest seemed like a great place for a walk and apparently had viewpoints that you could see the Loch from. This is where I underestimated how bad my chronic pain had gotten and the steep hike pushing a dog buggy was brutal. With no viewpoints in sight and limited signage, we looped back down the hill to the car, fired up the camping stove and had vegan bacon sandwiches to fuel us for the drive home. 
I was completely gutted and as a last attempt to salvage something of this holiday, we went against our usual actions and parked in the centre of town. We managed to find a small 'trampled' path off to the side of the main 'Loch Ness' tourist sign away from other people. Here Baker had a paddle, got his photo taken and said hello/goodbye to Nessie.

One thing that gave us a huge boost and led to many smiles on the drive home, was this super cute honesty box we passed on a random road. We actually saw it but were passed before we realized what it was so we went and turned to come back. We adopted a handmade pet Haggis and got a couple of pick-me-up snacks for the drive.

We got home later that day, around 6/7 hours later. It was pretty sad that Baker's 3rd annual camping trip didn't go to plan but we're lucky that we were able to have the trip we had and that on the way home, at a service station of all places, Baker finally ate! It seems he just wasn't keen on the bowl he had to use haha. He's a particular boy just like his Mam.


To see our successful trips from 2022 and 2023 see below...



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