Wild camping weekend in Loch Laggan, Scotland
| country: | Scotland, UK |
| location: | Scottish Highlands |
| trip type: | Stenuous walking holidays |
| departures: | 2010: 18 Jun, 16 Jul, 13 Aug, 10 Sep |
| price: | From £150 (3 days) excluding flights. Includes 2 days guided walking, transport from Edinburgh, packed lunches and camping dinner, and evening meals on outward and return journeys. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Wild camping weekend in Loch Laggan, Scotland
This short weekend wild camping expedition to Loch Laggan takes you around one of mainland Scotland's most rugged and inspiring wilderness areas. The tour will include an ascent of one or more of the many 3000ft mountains surrounding the campsite on the shores of Lochan na H-Earba as well as time to explore the forest of Dunkeld on the return journey.
The area between Loch Laggan in the north and Loch Ericht in the south is a great tract of upland wilderness with no roads and few tracks containing numerous munros, lochans, mountain rivers and streams. Wildlife is plentiful especially grouse, mountain hares and deer and being situated in the central highlands the views are vast, stunning and 360° panoramic. You will be leaving urban life and modern comforts behind - the only way to experience and appreciate wild Scotland at its most glorious!
We will be walking for about 1 hour on Friday night, 6/7 hours on Saturday and 6/7 hours on Sunday.
Walking: We will be providing modern lightweight 2-man dome tents, easy to erect even in the most testing conditions. All cooking equipment and utensils are also provided.
You will need to bring sleeping bag and mat, waterproof jacket and trousers, spare warm clothes, walking clothes, insect repellent and personal wash kit. You will need a minimum of a 50 litre rucksack. Quality sleeping bags and mats can be hired for a small fee. If you have any questions about kit required, please do not hesitate to contact us.
The area between Loch Laggan in the north and Loch Ericht in the south is a great tract of upland wilderness with no roads and few tracks containing numerous munros, lochans, mountain rivers and streams. Wildlife is plentiful especially grouse, mountain hares and deer and being situated in the central highlands the views are vast, stunning and 360° panoramic. You will be leaving urban life and modern comforts behind - the only way to experience and appreciate wild Scotland at its most glorious!
We will be walking for about 1 hour on Friday night, 6/7 hours on Saturday and 6/7 hours on Sunday.
Walking: We will be providing modern lightweight 2-man dome tents, easy to erect even in the most testing conditions. All cooking equipment and utensils are also provided.
You will need to bring sleeping bag and mat, waterproof jacket and trousers, spare warm clothes, walking clothes, insect repellent and personal wash kit. You will need a minimum of a 50 litre rucksack. Quality sleeping bags and mats can be hired for a small fee. If you have any questions about kit required, please do not hesitate to contact us.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Lochan an h-Earba. We will be departing Edinburgh at 6pm - heading via Blair Athol to Loch Laggan. An evening meal will be provided en route. On arrival at Laggan, we will walk for an hour along easy tracks to the shores of Lochan an h-Earba where we will set up the first nights camp. |
| Day 2: | Geal Charn. After breakfast, we will head up the shapely munro Creag Pitridh (924m/3031ft) before heading over to the higher Geal Charn (1049m/3442ft) which has wide ranging views over much of the central and eastern highlands. If the weather is good we will descend to the lochan for a bracing optional swim before dinner at our campsite. This day includes 9km/5 miles 700m ascent, some rough ground, 6 hours walking. |
| Day 3: | Loch Laggan. Our final day will be spent either heading up Beinn a Chlachair (1087m/3566ft) or exploring Ardvreckie Forest before breaking camp and descending back to Loch Laggan. On the way home, time will be spent looking around Dunkeld and the tallest trees in Scotland at the Hermitage before having a post-trip meal and heading back to Edinburgh in the evening. This day includes 16km/10miles 600m ascent 800km descent, some rough ground, 7 hours walking. |
how this holiday makes a difference
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All our guides have a minimum of the Summer Mountain Leader Award and have an extensive knowledge of the history, culture and wildlife of the Scottish Highlands. The guides are paid a professional wage and in addition, have their accommodation, food and travel expenses covered.
This trip is an introduction to "Leave No Trace" wild camping in the Scottish Highlands. Everything carried in to our overnight camp on Friday night is carried out again on Sunday evening - we cook on lightweight stoves and avoid using packaged food where possible. Water is carried in and then stream water is used (filtered and boiled). Human waste is buried away from the campsite and away from water sources - toilet paper is sealed and then carried out with the (small) amounts of litter. On the Friday night, we break our journey from Edinburgh for a meal at a rural pub - this gives us a chance for a run-through of the weekend's activity, sort out and split equipment as well use the facilities. We usually visit the same pub on the way back. All equipment is provided - modern lightweight tents, rucksacks, sleeping bags and mats as well as communal cooking equipment, which everyone has to carry a share of. We rotate the venue for each trip so that we are not creating well-used camping spots by dispersing our impact throughout the year. We have a no litter on hill policy and have impromtu beach and mountain path clean ups where possible. We encourage guests to recycle their waste. We buy new bottles at the start of each trip and then refill them in the week. Old bottles are turned into whitewater rafts for another long term project. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
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