The full set of photos is on Flickr.

Here’s the full Namibia set on Flickr…

A resident of Barra has been in touch with an update about the freecamping / wild camping situation on Barra and other islands, as campervanning has become more popular. Please read the message and follow the links below for more info:

Since last year when many of the Hebridean islands were overwhelmed with campervans and campers, there have been changes in Barra, as well as in other islands – particularly the Inner Isles.

The area at Barra airport was so damaged, that it has now been fenced off and no vehicles are allowed there at all. That includes locals who also liked to park there and walk on the Traigh.

There have been very positive moves to identify places where people can camp – in particular crofts where crofters are entitled to have up to three vans parked from May to September without needing planning.

Please see these links for Barra, Islay, Tiree, Coll and Colonsay so that you can see the conditions now restricting ‘wild camping’:

• Barra
• Islay
• Tiree
• Coll
• Colonsay

Original post

We took our campervan up to the Hebrides (Western Isles) in June 2009. There aren’t many campsites so we ended up freecamping. This is where you park up at a spot and stay the night free of charge.

Luckily free camping is generally well accepted on all of the islands in the Hebrides, and we thought that we’d write a brief guide to all of the places we freecamped.

Barra is where we started our trip, taking the ferry from Oban to Castlebay, so that’s where the guide starts.

1. Vatersay Village Hall

This is mentioned in various places on the web and in the guide books. We thought it would be quiet, but it seemed that all the campers off the ferry headed for it! The village hall is located just north of the Vatersay village, on the road as you come from Castlebay to Vatersay – about 10 minutes’ drive. You can’t miss it – just as you see the beautiful white sands Vatersay east and west beaches, the village hall is on the right on a bend on the road.

View the location on our map of Barra free camping.

The hall has a toilet (open 24hrs) and an outside tap. There’s also a picnic bench. There are enough spaces for about 4 campervans in the car park, two opposite, one just a little bit away from the hall, and we did see someone parked up further down the road but this seemed to be on the machair and didn’t look like a proper space.

The walk around Vatersay is lovely, down to south beach past the old standing stone:

2. Eoligarry jetty

Eoligarry is at the northern end of Barra, past the airport. There’s a jetty that was in place for the old Eriskay ferry which no longer runs. It’s a beautiful spot with views across to Funday, Eriskay and South Uist. We saw gannets and seals from the beach.

The car park allows around 6 or more campers and there are two 24 hour toilets. There’s also recycling for cans etc.

The jetty is beautiful and there are beach walks down towards the airport or north towards the north of the island. You can also walk inland past fields with nesting corncrakes which you can easily hear in the summer but which aren’t so easy to see; however we were extremely lucky to observe this one making his distinctive call across the other side of a field:

There’s also Cille Barra with a replica of the Kilbarr stone (the original of which dates back to the 9th century), and the peak of Ben Eoligarry.

3. Barra Airport (Cockleshell Bay)

As per the message above, please don’t consider camping here. The area is fenced off.

All these places are marked on our map of freecamping on Barra on Google maps.

We have more pictures of Barra and freecamping on other parts of the Hebrides.

First, though, it seems that getting Pisco in the UK might be tricky. I’ve tried in a couple of off licenses now (Thresher and Oddbins) and neither stock it. I’m not sure if this will be true of all Oddbins so I will keep hunting.

EDIT: googled some here although it’s v expensive.

In the meantime I will need to eke out the small bottle that, despite the best efforts of Madrid Airport’s delightful security, I was able to being back from Lima.

If you have Pisco, the rest of the ingredients are very easy to get and the whole thing can simply be whizzed up in a food processor in seconds.

Ingredients

60 ml (2 oz) pisco brandy
30ml (1 oz) fresh lemon/lime juice
10ml (1/4 oz) simple syrup (ie sugar dissolved in water)
1/2 egg white (more makes it v frothy and it’s not the same drink with none)
1 dash Angostura bitters

Preparation

1. Beat the egg white and sugar in a blender
2. Add pisco, lime juice, ice
3. Blend more and pour into glasses. Decorate with a dash of bitters.

We haven’t really had time to stop and think and reflect on the trip, which has meant that it seems like we never really went away, let alone for six months. I’m hoping that we do get some time to relax and go over the trip. Last night we visited the house which was a bit strange; we thought that we’d feel like moving back in but, because there’s none of of our stuff there, it didn’t really feel like our house.

Luckily I have had time to go through our Peru photos. These have now been uploaded to Flickr. So please take a look.

As we are nearly at the end of the trip, we thought we had better write something about Peru, so here goes!

Well, getting to Peru was a bizarre experience. We went overland from Arica in Chile to Tacna. On arrival to the bus terminal in Arica, we were met by numerous collectivo (taxi) drivers bidding for our business to take us to Peru. The guy we picked was pretty gruff, but he whisked us efficiently into the office to pay – then we saw his car! A massive and very old Ford complete with red fur seat covers, dashboard cover, and wait for it….a red fur-lined ceiling inside! Of course he drove very fast and played terrible techno music very loud all the way to Peru! That said, he did get us across very quickly and made sure we stood in all the right queues with our passports.

We immediately flew from Tacna to Lima nad then Cusco – this involved spending many hour in the middle of the night lying on the cold tiled floor in Lima airport – not recommended!

Things looked up considerably when we arrived at Cusco airport and Zoe and Steve (from Australia) approached us to see if we wanted to share a taxi. Big hello to Zoe and Steve! They seemed far more with it than us, and made sure we didn’t pay too much for the taxi. Anyway, more about them later as we continued to meet up and go places.

Cusco is really nice, if a bit nippy at night. Hmmm my time is running out so I will have to continue tomorrow! We are staying in a place that limits internet access – a place that feels like a ghost hotel in the middle of nowhere – it is pretty weird – and to top it all we are booked in two nights – aaarghh – BUT we should see some boobies (birds), penguins and sea lions tomorrow so hopefully that will make up for it! Then we will be back to Lima for our last night and day before the long journey home.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

It was a bit of a change going from the wet and windy Rapa Nui to the barren and arid San Pedro de Atacama. The Atacama desert stretches over almost all of northern Chile and, because of a constant high pressure over the sea, it almost never rains. San Pedro is near the Andes and so nearby there are mountains, volcanoes and geothermal areas. It was a bit of whistle stop tour but in three days we’d been to the Valley of the Moon, taken a day tour to Lake/Volcano Miniques, spent a few hours star gazing through a Frenchmen telescopes and seen the El Tatio geyser field. Take a look at the photos!

I’m writing this in Arica, which is the northern-most city in Chile, just back from a 4 day tour to the Parque Nacional Lauca which is in the midst of the altiplano of the Andes. There were 6 of us on the trip, 4 of whom were from Belgium (hi to Inge, Brecht, Marc and Pia). We didn’t go below 3500m the entire trip, with 4750m being the highest point we reached. The scenery is spectacular, with barren basins and salt lakes framed by 6000m + mountains and active volcanoes. Becs wanted to take home a vizcacha (chinchilla that looks just like a rabbit), and we also saw plenty of the camelids – llamas, vicunas, guanacos and alpacas – as well as flamingoes, Andean condors (sorry no photos), woodpeckers and turkey vultures.

The full Chile set is here.

Or click here for the ones of San Pedro and Parque Nacional Lauca.

Next stop is Peru, where we’re staying for some time in Cusco as well as taking a trip into the Amazon jungle.

http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk Our round the world blog Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:11:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=88#comment-193 Sun, 20 May 2007 03:44:01 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=88#comment-193 see you very soon and happy birthday to becs again! love from all the d-v’s! http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-191 Fri, 04 May 2007 13:33:42 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-191 That’s a pretty impressive beard Paul. I don’t think any man can go all the way around the world without experimenting with facial hair. Just wondering, are there any extreme sports that you guys won’t do? Love the South America photos. I’m off mountain biking in the Brecon Beacons with James this weekend, last time we went I fell off and broke my toe so I’m hoping it will be uneventful this time. Also hoping the weather will last out, we had the hottest and dryest April on record, which was nice. Lila just turned 6 months and started at nursery this week. Take it easy Ant http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-190 Thu, 03 May 2007 09:03:49 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-190 the photos are fantastic once again – i loved the lake at the foot of the volcano! Have fun and see you on the 23d….my car will be available on the 21 & 22! Bisous. Katia http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-189 Wed, 02 May 2007 20:02:47 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-189 Photos now sorted out, so they are in the Chile set. Click away! Love P. http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-188 Wed, 02 May 2007 19:46:39 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=87#comment-188 hi there – it looks like he new photos didn’t load….ut it was nice to read you anyway! I’ll go down Notcutt Garden Cetre tomorrow and buy a Chinchilla for Beccs…should just be able to house train it for when you come back. They are very very cute, and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to get one for age..I’ll just blame it on Beccs : ) They always sleep when we go and see them so they should be easy-going! Have fun in Peru and in the jungle and see you in a few weeks, Katia and co. http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=85#comment-187 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:45:16 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=85#comment-187 Tres Bellamyesque!! Not the Paul we know and love . . . I suppose this photo will become known as your “world phase” just as artists have certain periods and moods to their masterpieces. http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=54#comment-186 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:40:06 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=54#comment-186 It sounds amazing you two!! I can just imagine how happy you both must be to see all marvellous things first hand and meeting fascinating people who can give you all the gen on the sights. We just had a noisy family Christmas and got up to Newcastle to stay with Grant and CJ for New Year. Managed to catch up with Matt’s family and see our pals for a few ales and a chin wag! Even though you felt a little strange out there at Christmas which I can understand (missing family and all that). . . you simply can’t have any regrets! http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=59#comment-185 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:28:41 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=59#comment-185 Minging Mombassa eh! http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=63#comment-184 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:25:57 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=63#comment-184 Glad you had a great time chilling and snorkelling. I do seem to remember you both enjoying the all inclusive buffet in the Land of the Pharoahs too!! http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=56#comment-183 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:21:33 +0000 http://www.paulandbecs.co.uk/?p=56#comment-183 Creatures sound lovely but not sure about the soda lake and the boiling water!! It’s miracle how wildlife and plants adapt to such evil surroundings. Belated Happy New Year to both of you too! See you both next year . . . if you decide to come back at all!!

Firstly, thanks to Michelle and Uncle Michael for their lovely comments.

So since we last spoke we have been to Valparaiso – or Valpo for short. It was a huge relief to get out of the smog of Santiago and into the fresh air and colourful surroundings of Valpo. It is a fascinating place surrounded by the most colourful hillsides you have ever seen and lots of interesting nooks and crannies with murals everywhere. The “ascensors” – funiculars, are dotted all over the place saving your legs from the worst of the steep climbs around the city – mind you, they are not so easy on the nerves if you are at all scared of ascending in a rickety old lift that you can see through the bottom of in places   All part of the fun! Somehow time disappears in Valpo – you don’t need top do much more than mooch about the aforementioned nooks and crannies and stop for coffee or food to have a lovely time here.

We stayed in a lovely hostel too – Hostal Luna Sonrisa, with yummy breakfast and clean rooms – a far cry from Hostal Forestal in Santiago in which someone had managed to write “dirty” in the dirt on the shower wall (needless to say we were quite pleased to move on from that one).

In Valpo we visited a house – La Sebastiana – that had belonged to Pablo Neruda. The house was like a mini Valpo in itself – full of colour and nooks and crannies.

For the thrill seekers out there we would recommend going on a local bus around the hillside Cerro Alegre (from the bottom El Plan). When they are in a rush they barely stop moving to let the passengers off and on, this combined with the twists and turns on narrow roads makes for an exhilarating ride that tops most rollercoasters. Not all of the buses go at the same heart stopping rate, but we were luck enough to experience one:)

At the hostal in Valpo we met Kirsten and Hywel (hello if you are reading this) who had previously met a Canadian traveler that lived in Valpo – Kenny. Kenny had invited them out so we tagged along… hence the hangover.

We went to a small bar with live Chilean music – there was a fantastic lady singing her heart out accompanied by a guitarist and a man that switched seamlessly between drums, oboe and violin. At 2 am and too much red wine and pisco sour later we walked back up the hill to the hostal – a walk that seems much easier after the red wine than before it.

Next day was bye bye to Valpo, hello to Easter Island!