Driving north: planning a Highlands trip in a campervan
How to think about a three-week Scotland trip in a custom campervan: the route choices that matter, the spec that earns its keep, and the gear most owners pack and never use.
Co-founder of HubDub Campers. Writes most of what you read here. Spends the rest of his time in the Chertsey workshop.
More about HubDubScotland is the trip most HubDub owners do first. From Surrey it is roughly fifteen hours of driving to the top of the mainland and another six to get back. Owners who try to do it in a fortnight come home tired. Owners who give it three weeks come home wanting to do it again.
This piece is a planning guide rather than a trip report. It covers the route decisions that matter, the spec that earns its keep on a long northbound run, and the gear most buyers pack the first time and leave behind the second.
How long to give it
Three weeks is the figure most owners settle on after a first trip. Two weeks works if you are going somewhere specific and coming straight back. Anything less than ten days is mostly motorway driving with a long lunch in the middle.
The further north you go, the slower you should go. Pushing through Glencoe in a single day on the way up is the most common first-trip mistake. Three days on the same stretch on the way back will reveal what you missed.
Route choices that matter
- The North Coast 500 is famous, busy in summer, and worth doing once. Drive it anti-clockwise to keep the sea on your left and the better camping pull-offs on your right.
- The peninsulas (Knoydart, Applecross, Ardnamurchan) reward slow driving and reward a smaller van. The Crafter MWB feels right on these. A long-wheelbase Sprinter starts to feel large.
- Cape Wrath is the quiet alternative to John o' Groats. There is no through traffic and the single-track to Durness is forty miles of nothing.
- The Cairngorms are the obvious choice in winter and shoulder season. Diesel heating, a good MaxxFan, and a heated freshwater tank make a real difference in February.
Spec that earns its keep
Owners who have done a Highlands trip and come back to talk about it tell us the same things, fairly consistently.
- The diesel heater runs almost every night, even in summer. A good one (Eberspacher or Webasto, properly mounted) is the single piece of kit that earns its place most.
- A 600Ah lithium bank with 400W of solar means most owners never plug in. They use campsites for showers and waste, not power.
- An induction hob and a 2000W inverter is enough to cook anything you can cook at home, including boiling a kettle while a phone charges.
- A wet room sees less use than buyers expect. Owners who do not have one rarely wish they did. Owners who have one often wish they had used the length for storage.
What most owners overpack
Three things show up in most first-trip debriefs. Too many books. A second pair of walking boots that never comes out of the bag. A small Bluetooth speaker that is used twice. The next trip is always lighter.
Common questions
Roughly fifteen hours of driving from Chertsey to Cape Wrath or John o' Groats. Three days at a sensible pace. Five days if you want to enjoy any of it.
No. Single-track roads are fine in any well-driven 2WD. The exception is winter snow above 600m, where you would not want to be in any case.
The peninsulas tend to be the answer: Knoydart, Applecross, Ardnamurchan, the road to Cape Wrath. Use an OS map, follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, and leave no trace.
May and September. Long days, fewer midges, fewer tourists. July and August are busy on the NC500 and the campsite network. February and March reward properly winter-spec'd builds.
