Touring the North West Coast of Scotland in two Austin Sevens, as a family

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Touring the North West Coast of Scotland in two Austin Sevens, as a family

July 2023

“You don’t have to be in the Alps or the Pyrenees to be on adventure…”

My words echoed around our kitchen table and 4 sets of female Dunford eyes burned straight through me, they did not look convinced.  The truth was that preparing, and then driving, two Austin Sevens around Europe was pushing the limit of what my day to day stress levels could cope with, I wanted a holiday, too!

The compromise was that Tanya would plan a tour of the North West of Scotland and I would prepare the Ulster and Chummy (with luggage trailer) to carry us around some of our favourite places in that area, two cars but considerably less miles to cover, was achievable. 

We’d not been up that way since the inception of the NC500, it looked to have created a problem that was not normally associated with the remote north coastal routes – too many people – so we’d steered clear.  Perhaps the hype has simmered down and the roads and places would be quieter, as we’d known them before?

Day 1

Our chosen start point was Boat of Garten, the cars were loaded and the trailer hooked up to the rear of the Chummy.  Tanya and Willow chose to drive the Ulster which left Daisy, Poppy and myself in the Chummy.  A last minute change of plan saw us ditch the two small tents for one large tepee tent – this seemingly inconsequential change was to be the best decision we made, but more of that later.

   

We left on the day of our 19th Wedding Anniversary, filling up at the Petrol Station in Carrbridge that allowed us to use their workshop to change a blown head gasket 20 years earlier, the owner recognised the car and was glad to see us again.  From here we headed up onto the Dava Moor, just as I reached the summit, I lost sight of Tanya.  It was too tight a road to turn the car and trailer around, so I walked back.  Some friendly cyclists I recently overtaken with a wave told me that, “she’s just around the next corner”, as they passed.  The car had lost power but was soon started, deemed fine and we carried on, passing the cyclist for a second time “see you again in a few minutes” I called out!

Soon we reached the A939 and motored towards Nairn, where we met up with Gez Pardon and Peter Naulls.  Gez and his Pearl cabriolet were about a third of their way around a trip that would take them right around the coast of Britain, Peter had brought his Ulster to work that day and so 4 Austin Sevens sat outside Inver Models, whilst all 7 passengers munched on their packed lunches.  After some chat about the Van body that Peter had made Daisy and the route that Gez planned to take we let him head off in search of John MacKenzie, on the Black Isle, and we sought out the minor roads to Inverness.

       
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Once through Inverness we crossed the Caledonian Canal, following the Beauly Firth to Muir of Ord and on passed Contin.  The cars pulled well and the sun shone.  We were glad to leave the busy A837 and follow the A832 to Achnasheen.  This road allows views of proper mountains and is sparsely populated.  Cutting across to Kinlochewe we were soon on the final stretch to Torridon – our chosen destination for the night.  The road is 8’ wide and classified as single track.  Despite room for both us, and oncoming cyclists, a number of them took it upon themselves to cycle straight at us and not use the 4’ 6” of space to our right.  We waved and smiled at our lycra clad daredevils as they made their point…


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This was to be a camping holiday but Tanya had booked a hostel for us in Torridon, a rare treat that allowed us to have a private room for the 5 of us, sit at a table to eat our Anniversary Curry and drink some ale from the Hostel Bar!  We met several nice people including Daniel, an author specialising in Celtic legends – I bought a copy of one book he had with him and enjoyed it for the rest of the journey. 

The cars had done well, I checked both for oil, water and fuel before heading off for a very nice sleep.  Tomorrow would hold the steepest challenge, we were heading for Applecross…

[Howard Wright]

Hi Ruairidh

I envy you your journey.  Ours was not so adventurous but, we think to us, possibly just as enjoyable. It’s recorded on the ‘What have you done’ thread.

I’d encourage anyone in these days of global frying to try the north.  In a Seven with a little trailer, what could be better!

Cheers

Howard

PS Looking forward to your next instalment!

[Ivor Hawkins]

Two Austin Sevens, four girls and a tent…you must be crackers!

[AustinWood]

Great to see your news. A hostel at Torridon seems a wise choice.
I stopped at the camp site there with my friend Judy a few years ago on the way back from Orkney. The guide said it was prone to midges. We took out the tent and laid it on the ground whereupon it turned black with midges, as did my jeans. We hurriedly but it back in the car and headed on our way. We eventually stopped at the Wee Campsite in Lochcarron. It's an excellent site, unattended but a notice saying that someone might be round in the evening to collect the fee but if they weren't leave the money in the box provided. They weren't and we did.
As we drove in we were amazed to see 2 light blue Chummies. It was Fergus Dobie and another Scottish Austin Seven Club member whose name escapes me. It's a small world.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Midges are non existent up here, this year. The hot June seems to have killed them off completely, it made the evenings very pleasant (mostly).

The other blue Chummy was John Rooney’s.

[Steve Jones]

We were on Arran and in the SW below Newton Stewart for 3 weeks in June. It was hot and we never saw a midge. Mind you, before arriving at the camp site in Kinlochewe in July 2017 we'd been warned that it was Scotland's 'Midge Capital'. Never saw any there either. Skye on a showery afternoon in June 2009 in an MX5 with the top down was a very different experience.

Looking forward to reading your next instalments, Ruairidh. It's an area we know quite well.

Steve

[AustinWood]

Glen Nevis is the worst for midges in my experience. The midge map on the internet always has it at level 5, the highest.
I think it's one reason that little or no cricket is played up here. At school fielding when the midges were out was murder!

[Charles P]

I always go for a sandy beach on the west coast of an island. Never had a midge problem - the breeze keeps them away.
I can imagine Glen Nevis is hell

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Day 2

We slept well in the Hostel, it was quiet and well equipped. We exchanged stories with a French family and said our goodbye to Daniel, the author.

We headed south, hugging the coast. At Sheildaig we pulled off the main road detouring into the village itself and charming, but small, campsite caught our eye and was stored for future visits. The local store was open and we purchased food for a picnic lunch – this proved to be a good decision.

The road narrows from here and you end up sandwiched between steep mountains on either side, glimpses of peaks sneaked from the clouds and soon we found ourselves at the base of the road that travels up and over Bealach na Ba (Pass of the Cattle) to Applecross. We have been over this several times in the Austins but never with a trailer on. On a clear day the view is spectacular and the hairpins can be seen clearly, winding up and over the summit. Today was not clear and the dark black clouds hung ominously low in the gullies – an omen of things to come..?

       

       
We climbed the first part with me leading in the Chummy and then pulled in to discuss how best to approach the climb. Tanya and Willow would head up in front and we would follow in the Chummy, our decision being made so that if Tanya got into trouble, I would find her and be able to help, if I faltered she would be able to turn the Ulster and come back to me. Plan sorted and off she went, into the cloud. We started our climb a few minutes later – the road was largely clear and I only had to pull in once to allow a car to come down past me on the single track. At the start of the very steep climb and hairpins a car pulled into the passing space, stopped, saw me coming up and then continued down towards me. With a sheer drop to my left and a gully to my right, I was unable to do anything but stop. The car continued towards me up until the point that they understood that I was not reversing back down. After much excitement on their part they eventually returned to the point that they should have stayed and, after some clutch warming, I continued the climb up the final hairpins. I noted that on both final sweeps the rear wheel lifted from the ground, momentarily preventing progress!

We were now in thick cloud and some 300 yds from the very summit I came across Tanya, parked at a jaunty angle. The space was just big enough for us to pull in, in front. The car had lost power and ground to a halt. At this point the girls’ experience and maturity kicked in. They knew the cars were not safely parked and that visibility was down to a few yards, it was raining and we had a problem. Without many words all three of them helped move the stricken Ulster up the incline and over to the side, then the same with the Chummy, which they moved into so that Tanya and I could diagnose the issue.

The car would start and run, but only on three cylinders, there simply was not enough power to pull up the final stretch of track. I changed the plugs, no difference. I had spark at all plugs but straight onto three when back in the head. I could feel 4 compressions on the handle but number 2 was the cooler plug. I decided to remove the head, half expecting to see a failed gasket, it was perfect. All valves were doing what they should and I just could not find the issue. The car was running an electronic distributor and although these do fail, they normally fail completely, despite spark at all four plugs I changed to the spare baseplate, same issue. Spare coil provided no improvement and eventually, with little else to try, I fitted the spare Lucas distributor with points – this solved the issue, and the car ran on 4 once more (the electronic baseplates turned out to be fine, the problem manifested elsewhere and I will come back to this later). The relief was palpable, throughout, I was trying to work out just how the five of us would continue on and then return to rescue the Ulster, a lot of crazy ideas passed through my head and I was now very happy that none of them would be tested!

   

The diagnosis and attempts had taken nearly 2 hours. Tanya and I had stood in the rain for most of this, the girls had sat in the Chummy wrapped in blankets without a single word of complaint throughout, we are very proud of our girls, they knew the situation was serious.

We re-packed the Ulster with the spares and luggage, Tanya led and soon we were heading down the other side of the pass. At the Campsite we regaled our story and were given a tent spot near to the hot showers, which we all used after the tent was erected and set.


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[Ivor Hawkins]

Ruairidh, I withdraw my comment that you must be crackers! This is an epic adventure, great reading yes, I agree, you should be justly proud of the girls, most would be whining about the hold ups and the weather!

We’ve decided to give the South of France a miss and Rosie fancies Scotland…you’ve convinced me! Hope everything hangs together and good luck for the rest of the trip, I’m sure it will be brilliant.

Ps. Sometimes old technology is the best!