Vanlife Road Trip - Part 6: Ayrshire. 14th - 16th August 2021
As a professional waterfall chaser, you need to be prepared for anything. That means swimming costume, wet shoes, towel, walking boots, ropes, harness, hard hat, dry suit, crampons… oh no, that’s right; we weren’t mounting an expedition to some remote cavern, we were just visiting a couple of waterfalls in Scotland… Apparently!
Now I must start this blog by apologising dear reader for the extremely long gap in my writing… unfortunately, for you, I’ve just been having too much fun to write! Plus, my laptop decided to delete all my work, which was rather frustrating, and once back south I just haven't had time to write; but hey ho, here I am…
So, anyway; there we were mooching along a lovely single track forest road in search of a couple of waterfalls I had found on the OS map. The drive was pretty epic as we drove through the avenues of towering trees, before descending to a narrow lane bordered by an old stone wall and a woodland beyond. We found a layby large enough for the vans, grabbed the dogs and our rucksacks and headed off in search of the falls. The woodlands were old and clearly not traipsed through often, as the undergrowth wrapped around our ankles as we forged our way along the hidden path. We could hear the force of a fall through the trees and as we climbed over a small crest, we saw the cascades of Hells Hole below. It was a steep, muddy, and rather precarious descent, so we decided to venture on to Bucks Linn fall to see if that faired any better for a little waterfall dip… after a little off-piste action we came across the remains of a rickety bridge which spanned the gorge. The small falls below tumbled into tiny pools but unfortunately none were big enough for a dip. Sometimes waterfalls aren’t meant to be conquered!
After lunch by the roadside… see it’s not all stunning locations and epic views!... we hopped back in the vans and pootled to St John’s Town of Dalry for a mini shop and then along some beautiful scenic roads to Loch Doon. As soon as we turned off the ‘main’ road towards Loch Doon we were rewarded with views in every direction. The woodlands hugged the road on the first part of the drive, with the Loch stretched out in front of us; to our right there were rolling fields scattered with sheep, church towers poking above the distant canopy of firs and the sun glistened off of the meandering river weaving its way through the valley.
We pulled off the road before the Loch, swinging in to a slightly dubious parking spot, and grabbed our bags ready to execute our mission to hike to and swim in Dalcairnie Linn Waterfall. Not a massively long walk, but what a beautiful one. After only a few minutes of walking we were descending down a narrow track alongside a tiny stream with wild raspberries bursting forth from the bushes and birds singing happily as they flitted past. We crossed over an old wooden bridge that looked like it wouldn’t take the weight of the horse and cart it was originally designed for, let alone a laden tractor (!), and followed the track up to Corson’s Knowe, where we were rewarded with views of the towering turrets of Berbeth House. As we went through the gate at the end of the farm track, three gorgeous horses met us with a whinny and proceeded to follow me for a kilometre, as I was clearly their new BFFs… George not being a fan of large animals wasn’t quite so excited by this! And, nope, I didn’t have a pocket full of mints! Once we entered (or in George’s mind: escaped!) through the next gate, I said goodbye to my new chums and started chatting to the inquisitive sheep instead! So, OS maps prewarned of a little body of water over the brow… Wee Berbeth Loch certainly lived up to its name. This little Loch was certainly picture postcard pretty with its lily pads bobbing on the surface and wooden boat houses sitting above the waters edge. The perfect spot for a snack stop…
After snacks and a lie down in the sun, we continued our search for the waterfall. We crossed more fields of sheep, stopped to admire ancient trees, old stone buildings and epic views across the valley; the sound of crashing water could be heard in the distance and we picked up our pace in search of our destination and swim spot.
So, you know when you walk miles with all your kit to a beautiful spot, only to get there to a busload of tourists??? Yup, that was exactly what happened… It happens to me a lot (insert eye roll!)… After getting over the shock of so many people in one place, we fought our way through the large group cluttering up the narrow slippery path to the side of the falls, taking their selfies and fretting over the dogs passing by them, and came to a good viewpoint of the waterfall dropping from the bridge spanning the Dalcairnie Glen above. The falls thundered over the drop, with large branches precariously hovering on the edge waiting for the right moment to drop in to the pool below with an almighty crash. So how could we get down to that rather lovely pool… There wasn’t a path, but I felt it was an achievable scramble. Here enter the need for extensive climbing and caving gear for future waterfall chasing expeditions. After some very unladylike scrambling, butt sliding, scary clambering, dog carrying, leap of faith drops and, well, just a very very dirty bum, we made it to the bottom! Next, we needed to cross the river to get to the pools access point… I literally threw the dogs over in my normal loving manner and waded across. George on the other hand decided she didn’t want wet boots, so removed them and ‘threw’ them across. I say ‘threw’ because it was quite possibly the worst attempt at throwing I’ve ever witnessed, baring in mind how pants I am at throwing a simple tennis ball; her boots plopped in to the deepest part of the river and looked set to tumble over the next fall to never be seen again; but as I’m such a nice person, I stopped rolling around laughing and plunged on in to retrieve them…
After the drama of the descent, a swim in a cold pool of water under a rather dangerous looking waterfall seemed pretty mild. But we grabbed our cossies and in we waded. The pool was deep and the towering cliff walls on two sides and the waterfall ahead made it feel quite intimidating. We kept away from the fall itself after witnessing the force the branches overhead crashed down, and swam around nearer the ‘shore’, enjoying the beauty of this rarely documented fall. After getting as dry as we could with wet boots, socks and shorts; we climbed back up out of the gorge via what can only be described as a path!!! Yes, that’s right; on the other side of the tourist path there was a little path made by animals and photographers over the years looking to access the pool below. Typical!
The hike back was less exciting and we were getting hungry and tired… We clambered in to the vans (after removing muddy shorts), fought away the large population of flies that had entered the vans in the two minutes the doors were open, and started our drive down the edge of Loch Doon in search of the perfect park up for the night.
Now Loch Doon is pretty big! In fact it’s the largest in land Loch in Southern Scotland at 7miles in length; with a vast history, castle ruins, huge hydro-electric dam, nesting Osprey, a waterfall, a café, a caravan site, four hill ranges and five Corbetts! And it’s super van friendly… the shore line was scattered with campers in tents and vans, and it was looking unlikely after over 20minutes of driving, that we wouldn’t find a space. Well, ‘just keep driving’ is my moto; and as we reached the furthest point that we could drive to, we came across an empty carpark with gorgeous views over the Loch and a rather convenient waterfall right next door. The midges were in full force, so unfortunately it was another night huddled in the van and not eating down by the Loch, but the view meant it wasn’t all bad!
After a peaceful night’s sleep, we wondered down in our Dryrobes and water shoes in search of the waterfall marked on the map… We ploughed through the undergrowth, through bogs, over tree stumps to the river where a pretty fall tumbled down towards the Loch. After a scramble into the only pool that looked accessible, we floated around and swam against the current pretending to be salmon swimming upstream! Oh, guess what was on the other side of the river? Yes, you guessed it, a well-worn route, also known as a path! Back at the vans we warmed up, enjoyed a lazy breakfast before pumping up the SUP for a little water exploration. Max took to SUPing like a cat to water… he put up with it but did not enjoy it! I landed the three of us on a little island and went off exploring. After a short paddle, the rain starting and being bomb dived by a colony of gulls, I retreated to the island to recover George and Max. On our way back we discovered the actual waterfall, a wide, fast series of falls tumbling at force further down the river from our previous spot. Well, it seemed rude not to hop in! It was so powerful that swimming was impossible and there was a lot of debris underfoot, but it felt great on tired shoulders!
The long drive back up the Loch was just as epic, and we reluctantly left the area to head towards the coast. We rejoined the main roads and headed up past Ayr, West Kilbride, and Largs to a quaint park up just outside of Inverkip, at Lunderston Bay. We were exhausted so after dinner we clambered in to bed for an early night, with excitement over more waterfall hunting planned for the next day.
Waking up on the coast is always such a lovely experience, and as I walked the dogs along the coastal path, I was greeted by friendly locals starting their day under the beautiful sunrise, with the lights reflecting over the water, and the Isle of Bute peaking through the mist across the firth. We jumped in the vans and set off to avoid work traffic heading to Glasgow and headed up into the hills. A lovely single-track drive took us past the visitor centre at Loch Thom and across breath taking open moorland with giant waterfalls cascading from the surrounding fells to the burn below. After a slight altercation with a local ignorant driver and a herd of cattle (neither wanted to move!), we made it to Outwards Reservoir and parked the vans ready for a short walk to a series of falls marked on the map. After another scramble and bog dodge, we retreated back to the road with no waterfalls bagged… one sat on private land and the others were inaccessible due to new deer fencing. Disappointed, we mooched back to the vans and decided to just carry on with our drive to our next park up. After another encounter with the herd of cattle, we took a chance on a little pull in where another fall was marked nearby… what would we find? Would we be able to get to it? Would it have a pool deep enough to swim in?
It was epic… not far from the farm path that rolled across the moors, we could make out a small stream and could hear the roar of falling water. We rushed across the heather strewn bog in anticipation and stood on the edge of the peaty cliff staring at the most perfect fall and pool below. After another iffy clamber down, we decided to just shed our kit (clearly no one ever came here) and jump on in… it was perfect. The water was cool, but the pool deep enough to jump and dive in to, the falls themselves weren’t too high, so the chance of being hit by tumbling branches etc was slim and there was absolutely no one around… bliss. After frolicking in the pool for a while, we clambered out and headed back to the vans for a hot drink and chat enthusiastically about our find on the edge of the road.
The drive out of the area continued to stun as the moorland changed to villages and eventually the hustle and bustle of the A8 and the outskirts of Glasgow. We skirted across the Erskine Bridge and arrived in Dumbarton to refuel, get water, groceries and, as the traffic was busy when we arrived, we decided to have a pizza! Once the traffic had subsided, we drove around the corner to a Park4Night spot right by Dumbarton Castle. A lovely quiet spot at the end of a road by the bowling club. Again, the locals were super friendly and we chatted to lots of dog walkers and an ex vanlifer about our adventures. A quick climbing race up the bottom section of the castle wall resulted in defeat (she cheated) and I skulked off to bed to plan the next stage of our trip to Loch Lomond.
Loch Lomond held the promise of more waterfalls, epic swim spots, stunning views and a Scottish faerie land.. what more could a girl wish for?
Join me next time for more adventures and some of the most stunning waterfalls in Scotland… safety kit not required.
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